S.T.A.T.U.S. Initializing...

Complete!

Would you like to access the Tutorial first or directly see your status?

Say SKIP aloud to skip the Tutorial.

"Ski..." wait a second. Luckily I caught myself, years of basic tutorials that went over the same things in video games had conditioned me to always skip the tutorial. But what was I even thinking! This isn't some game, maybe this could give me some of the information I craved.

Something else also bothered me about the Tutorial but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"yes, I want the tutorial" the fact that there was no indicator of how to actually get the tutorial worried me as well but I figured if you skipped it by saying skip then saying you wanted it would work the opposite way.

You gained a Title!

Title: Tutorial Against the Odds

Default: +10% int, +10% will

ERROR: recounting, missed initial hint, resisted control, recalculating.

Title: Tutorial Against the Odds removed

You gained a Title!

Title: Tutorial, Going Against the Odds

Default: +5% int, +15% will

"wha..."

WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL!

*static sounds* "hello? Hello? can you hear me? ya know what, it doesn't really matter, I'm being paid less than galactic standard for this message so ill just get it over with.

Welcome to the Cosmic Trials, what it comes down to is you probably won't see anyone from the council for the next couple thousand years, but some "welfare" activists got all uppity about us needing to give new planets a "fair chance" at accumulating the entry tax for to the council instead of just harvesting it from the "local wildlife" apparently some sentient species that they know nothing about hold a special place in these activists heart.

I think personally that it was a business decision because at least half of them are on the board for the businesses that will be supplying the goods at the merchant shops...

Oh wait I didn't get to that yet did I... OK, basically every planet admitted into the council has to pay a tax, it's collected in galactic standard currency, some people would call it life-force, it can be used to extend someone's life pretty much infinitely and enhance certain aspects of a person also know as "stats" the problem is peaceful planets like yours have no way to transfer or accumulate life-force, so generally the council will just suck the tax amount from a random place on the planet, however recently some species have been saying that is unethical.

Therefore a midway point was settled on, the Cosmic Trials, we give you a way to get life-force, and we tax your use on that life-force until you meet the larger council entry fee. basically, whenever you increase your stats, buy something from one of the many merchant shops that will pop up on your planet, or extend your lifespan a small portion of that lifeforce will be siphoned off to go towards the fee fund.

Now that's not to say that the council won't bend the rules for anyone, in fact, if you are reading this you a probably already an exception to some degree. Titles are given to people who break the mold, for example, someone smart enough to see the hint given to you through the use of the word "Tutorial" in the delegate message, or someone... with enough willpower to break the mind suggestion to skip the tutorial.

anyway, I think I've given you far too much information at this point, really this was more of a tutorial for the mind than actually educating you on the use of your S.T.A.T.U.S, its pretty self explanatory and even has descriptions on everything..."

for the second time today, I spent at least a half-minute staring at the screen blankly with my mouth hanging open.

then, once my mind caught up I started to consider what I had learned. it actually seemed plausible. At the same time I started to get worried, the tutorial man claimed that there was a way to gather lifeforce, but he never specified how, in fact, he really didn't give much relevant information at all.

completely forgetting to check my status screen, for now, I started to think about my next move.

I started mentally listing what I needed to do, I already had some supplies ready to go, but I had a sinking feeling that it would not be enough to combat this new world. number one on my list was to figure out how to get lifeforce, the whole idea excited me greatly, I had always contemplated what the point of life was if everyone died in the end, this change could mean that whole throughline was irrelevant in this changing world.

And for some reason, that felt like a huge crushing weight was lifted off my chest.