The teleporting dog suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Serenity. It snapped at him, and he shield bashed it in the side of the head.

It shook its head, disappeared, and reappeared behind Lancaster.

“BEHIND YOU!” At least three people shouted.

Lancaster fell to the floor and swept his sword upwards at the giant dog. The sword missed, but the skill didn’t and the dog was knocked up and backwards, losing its footing.

The dog disappeared again, and this time everyone was watching as it reappeared - and Rissa immediately stabbed it.

The dog yelped and disappeared again. It reappeared back where it had first appeared, but with an injury from Rissa’s attack.

It repeated exactly the same sequence, but faster. This time, Lancaster was prepared for it, and stabbed it before it snapped at him.

It stood there, panting and bleeding from several spots, when Moira finally regained enough mana to throw a levin bolt at it. It disappeared right before the bolt would have hit, and appeared, lunging at Rissa.

Rissa already had her spear ready and aimed at the dog, and its lunge drove the blade deep into its flesh. It tried to tear the spear out of Rissa’s hands, but she wouldn’t let it.

As long as Rissa held the spear, the dog didn’t vanish. Serenity and Lancaster converged on the dog and stabbed it in the spine and the neck.

The fight was over.

“Bets the exit is inside the house?” Lancaster stood over the dog, winded.

“I hope so,” Moira said with a grimace. “I have a terrible headache.” Her hands were rubbing her temples.

They waited until Echo and Moira had some mana back and the headaches diminished before heading into the house’s entrance. Serenity used some of the time to recover the few monster cores that had been present.

The door led into a short entry hall; once they were past that, it opened into a large room that held the pedestal, crystal, and two more chests. Serenity forced himself to step to one side to let the others past him, into the room. He kept his eyes open, but they didn’t leave the crystal.

Serenity was trying to control the impulse towards the crystal, not just avoid it. “Let’s open the chests first.”

Rissa gave Serenity a concerned look, but walked up and opened the two chests. One held a small crossbow while the other held a waterskin.

Rissa held up the crossbow. “Serenity? You don’t have a ranged attack?” She held it out to him.

Serenity shook his head. “Neither do you, and I’m supposed to be in the front.” He looked around. Moira and Echo had magic, of course, and Lancaster still had his pistol. Serenity wasn’t terribly impressed with pre-integration guns, but he suspected it was as good as the crossbow. “I’d rather you not be in front, it’ll give you something to attack with when no one’s hurt.”

The waterskin seemed full. Moira reached into the chest, picked it up, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip. “Tastes like water.” She turned it upside down and emptied it into one of the chests. “Looks like water, too. I don’t see any magic in it.” She put the cap back on and turned it upright. “Huh. It’s getting heavier.” She unscrewed the cap and it stopped getting heavier, but when she turned it over more water came out. “I think we’ve found an endless waterskin. Mind if I carry it?”

Once they were done, Serenity walked up to the crystal, picked it up, sat down, and ate it.

[Tutorial Great Dungeon Level 2 Complete]

[200 XP awarded]

[200 Ev awarded]

[Ev diverted to Core progression]

[Exit Dungeon]

[Proceed to Level 3]

[Wait]

[Compatible Crystal Core material detected]

[Reinforce Core?]

Yes.

[Pleasure resistance increased]

The level had taken most of the day. They’d just have to settle for one level a day. That didn’t seem too bad, really, but it was a lot slower than the Trial Dungeons, for worse rewards. On the other hand, the rewards had doubled for the second level - maybe they’d get even better as they went deeper. It also hurt that this was in a group instead of solo; the rewards for the Trial Dungeons were a lot better when he soloed them.

The XP and Ev weren’t the real reward, anyway; the gear in the chests was. Now that he’d used the shield, Serenity was confident that it was sturdy enough to hold up well into Tier 1, which was better than anything else he’d seen in the Tutorial. It didn’t have any special features, but being sturdy was all he needed the shield to be.

Crossbow of Bolt Generation

This crossbow is enchanted to create its own crossbow bolts and does not require loading or winding.

Eternal Waterskin

This waterskin will refill itself with water when capped and held upright.

Like most magic items, they would both require monster cores periodically to stay charged - but even so, they were both useful.

Name: Serenity

Species: Human Chimera (Altered Template)

Core: Connecting

Progression: 88.5%

Features: 2/10

True

Crystal

Path: Paths Available

Level: 97 (720/980)

Tier: 0, 0/97 Spent

Path History: None

Condition: Healthy

Healing Available: Full

Mana: 830/830

Stamina: 850/850

Might: 75

Agility: 75

Phys: 75

Understanding: 73

Will: 77

Mind: 73

Perception: 75

Luck: 71 - 168%

Ev: 23

Resistances

Chemical: 137

Cold: 553 (53 active)

Curse: 263

Darkness: 277 (27 active)

Heat: 532

Light: 298

Pain: 1034 (34 active)

Pleasure: 24

Shock: 334

Sleep: 1

Unknown

Affinities

Death: 101.83%

Life: 14%

Mind: 30%

Arcane: 50%

Plasma: 42%

Liquid: 6%

Vapor: 14%

Solid: 17%

Energy: 40%

Void: 60%

Time: 15%

Space: 5%

Essence: 92.5%

Concepts

Death

Mind: 15%

Arcane: 78%

Plasma: 26%

Energy: 52%

Void: 25%

Time: 5%

Space: 20%

Essence: 2%

Aspects

Essence: Initiated

Unknown

Titles

Previous Supreme Existence

Altered Template

Named

Ghost in the System

Aspect Pathfinder

Coin

1 Etherium

Day 32 was a Mandatory Trial day. Serenity was well used to the routine by now, but Rissa wasn’t. She went back to sleep after Serenity left.

It was more “puzzle” Trials. They were just as unpleasant and long as the ones before, but there didn’t seem to be any time shenanigans. When Serenity finished the third, it was well after lunchtime but there wasn’t another Trial notice.

It didn’t take long for Serenity to find his friends; Echo was waiting for him in the breakroom. “Are you ready to go?”

“Go?” Serenity had no idea what Echo was talking about.

Echo smiled, then clapped her hands together twice. “You weren’t at breakfast! Right. Administrator Ekari came in, told everyone they should pack up before the end of the Phase. Apparently the next phase is moving!”

That stirred Serenity’s memory. “Oh … yeah, we move to outside the Dungeon.”

“She said not to move until the Phase changes, that it’d be easier then, but that we should go ahead and pack. So here’s your warning!” Echo smiled impishly, bounced to her feet, and headed out of the breakroom.

Serenity shook his head, grabbed a biscuit and some sausage, and headed to his room to pack.

Packing didn’t really take long, but when he finished he found the copy of An Instructor’s Guide to Integrating New Worlds. Apparently Lancaster had returned it, and Serenity hadn’t realized.

He doubted he’d be able to take it into the next Phase, so he’d better read it now.

[Time Remaining in Stage One: 00:00.05:00]

The last five minutes seemed to take forever, but when they finally passed, the world seemed to blink for a moment.

[Stage One - Training Complete]

[Stage One Results:]

[97% survival]

[Average Level: 43]

[Current Grade: Excellent]

[Reward for Stage One Excellent Grade: Shared Tutorial Map]

[Stage Two - Building]

[Goals:]

[Locate the Great Tutorial Dungeon] [COMPLETE]

[Establish Camp at the Dungeon Entrance]

[Defend the Camp]

[Optional Goals:]

[Defeat all Beast Lords (Completes Stage Two and Defense requirement of Stage Three)]

[95% or higher survival (Required to maintain Excellent Grade)]

[Failure Condition:]

[Allow a Beast Lord to capture the Great Tutorial Dungeon Entrance]

[Failure Consequences:]

[Survivors will be removed from the Tutorial with no additional rewards]

[Time Remaining in Stage Two: 07:00.00]

[Time before first Beast spawn: 01:00.00]

[Time before first Beast Lord attack: 03:09.00]

It was a straightforward quest, as these things went. Serenity’s goal would obviously be to kill the Beast Lords before the end of the Phase, so that he could finish exploring the dungeon without worrying about the people left on the surface. He pulled up the Shared Map and saw that it marked his location, the location of the other students (but not their names), and the Great Tutorial Dungeon. He could zoom in on it and see a representation of the terrain for a wide area, as well.

All of the buildings were gone, and Serenity saw a backpack sitting next to his feet. Looking around, everyone else also had one. When he looked inside his new backpack it was half empty, holding only a blanket, a canteen, a small folding knife, a small rock, a bowl, a fork, and a spoon. Serenity took out the rock and the knife and struck the rock on the case for the knife. The spark confirmed his guess about the rock.

It definitely wasn’t what he’d want as a complete kit, but it was better than nothing.

Serenity dropped his other bag into the backpack; it filled the remaining space.

As he looked up, he realized there was another display, in the corner of his vision. When he concentrated on it, it expanded.

[Tutorials Completed as Instructor: 1/180]

[Note: Population reduction of less than the predicted amount may increase the number of required Tutorials]

[Real Time Remaining for Tutorials (estimated): 6 months]

[Note: Single recursion is permitted with limitations]

[Limitations:]

[Tutorial instruction will consume approximately 30 minutes of Student Tutorial time]

[Rewards are not available from Trials completed while concurrently enrolled in a later-Stage Tutorial]

[Tutorials will not progress past the instructional period while concurrently enrolled in a later Stage]

[Enter Tutorial as Instructor?]

Serenity hadn’t expected to be able to enter another Tutorial until this one was done. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not.

He looked around and realized that most people were still sleeping. The few people who were awake were talking quietly. He looked over at Rissa and found her laying her blanket on the ground. “Come on, Serenity. Let’s get some sleep. It’ll be easier to move in the morning, and it seems like it’ll be safe for longer than that.”

Darkness, right. He could talk to the others and see about the Tutorials and Beast Lords in the morning.

Serenity pulled his blanket out of the backpack and joined her.