《System Dilemma》39. Divide and Conquer
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I was laying on my queen-sized bed, watching the live events happening to Jason.
The negotiations with the deities were smooth, and it took less than an hour for them to agree to my proposal of saving Jason from his doom.
Those geezers were so scared of me, and they quickly decided to send a rescue team.
It was a team of five special ops that were employed for hasty rescues, and they were relatively powerful considering that they were mortal. I was chosen to be their supervisor, as I was the one who suggested this mission, to begin with.
I hate responsibility, but I brought this upon myself.
I had direct contact with the team members, and they relayed all the information they heard to me.
They had the coordinates of the Primordial, and they teleported into the area close to it. They arrived right when the bastard was about to unleash his Mana Detonating Sphere attack, and they said that Jason was nowhere to be seen.
Still, they said that his bag of holding was there. I told them to recover it, as I planned on giving it to him personally.
They said that the Primordial’s mana reactor was destroyed, which was an almost impossible feat for a newbie in the tutorial.
Hahaha! This is just as I expected from someone like Jason!
They followed the monster and found it chasing Jason in the area of the safe room. For some reason, the rescue team didn’t want to participate in the battle, saying, ‘Jason seemed to be handling it just fine’.
I had a hunch that some deity gave them a handsome bribe to force them to neglect their duty, but I pretended that everything was fine for now.
I’ll investigate the identity of the one who wants Jason dead this much, and I’ll send them a couple of suitable gifts.
The kid was running away, and the weird creature gave chase. Jason was able to run away by setting his body on fire to increase his stats, and he resorted to using [Plasmic Torch] when the Primordial regained a great portion of his powers.
Suddenly, the Primordial unleashed another Mana Detonating Sphere, and the rescue team kept giving excuses in order not to engage in battle.
It’s too bad that I can only send projections of myself to the tutorial, else I would’ve gone there on my own.
Jason tried to dodge, but the large scale of the attack meant that only a teleportation skill would’ve saved him. The sphere landed with a loud bang, and Jason’s pure plasma body was within the attack’s range.
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A lot of smoke rose in the air, and most of the surrounding area was destroyed except for the safe room.
Those fairies could’ve allowed him entry, but they preferred to follow their slut of a queen instead.
I sighed and looked away from the screen.
I lost hope, and I was ready to call off the rescue mission when something weird happened. The area around Jason was glowing with an orange hue, and the color’s saturation increased as time went on.
Suddenly, he emerged from behind the smoke.
For a split second, I wasn’t able to read his thoughts at all, as if he was no longer a sapient being.
Or, if he used a latent ability that allowed him to do so…Did he manage to activate it?!
The situation seemed less hopeless than before, but something worried me. His eyes lacked the light that regular living creatures had, and his movements seemed odd.
As if he’s no longer a human, but a puppet instead.
The flames around him burned brightly, and I estimated their temperature to be around twelve thousand Kelvin. I knew that his class benefitted from high-temperature fires, but there was no way for him to withstand such pain.
This might’ve been possible if he used [Shut down], but its cooldown wasn’t over yet. Besides, it only allowed him five seconds of pain immunity; he’s been on fire for at least seven seconds at this point!
All of a sudden, he jumped toward the Primordial and attacked it with a flying drop kick.
The creature grimaced, and his eyes opened widely when Jason penetrated its body and emerged from the other side. The Primordial’s innards fell to the ground, and he tried to make a last-ditch effort to kill Jason.
However, the kid advanced toward his opponent with great speed and crushed his head with an axe kick while mumbling some words.
I couldn’t hear the words as they were as loud as whispers, but I could read lips efficiently.
‘This is what you get for messing with the legion’ he said. A Legion? This must be a clue to finding out more about his latent ability.
It was a mysterious ability, and I guessed that it was a psychic one considering its effect of preventing telepathy. It must be pretty damn good, as it blocked the attempts of someone like me.
I stopped thinking about it and focused on the mortal that I was trying to save.
I took a look at the rescue team and rejoiced when I saw the look of disbelief on their faces.
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Gotcha bitches! I’ll have a lot of fun interrogating them later.
I told them to bring Jason back, and his bag of holding too. Some of them tried to teleport away from the tutorial, but a couple of threats to the lives of their families forced them to follow my order.
I was disappointed in this rescue team, as they belonged to a non-profit organization that dealt with all deities equally. They should’ve had enough willpower to abstain from taking bribes, so the culprit might have threatened them.
Either way, I’ll find out more when I meet them face to face.
Now, it was time for me to welcome Jason, and give him some information before the tutorial is declared over.
*
I felt something pushing me to wake up, but I fought the urge. I was too tired, and I was having a good dream.
Suddenly, my eyes were forcefully opened. I found myself sitting in a chair, and my memory of what happened before reaching this place was a jumbled mess.
So, where the hell am I?
Many system screens appeared in front of me and they seemed important, so finding more information about this location could wait a bit.
[Congratulations, Host!]
-You’ve fulfilled all the conditions to clear the tutorial!
-Rewards will be given in five minutes.
-Corresponding information on your ranking will be released once all hosts are done with their tutorial iterations.
-Enjoy your time!
More system screens were waiting for me to read, but these had nothing to do with the tutorial.
[Primordial] (Epic) (Level: Weakened) defeated! Host earned 33000000 EXP.
-Host levelled up x12!
-Host reached Level 75! 20 MAG, 20 END, and 60 free stat points acquired.
-Excess EXP stored.
-Awaiting Class Evolution to use the stored EXP.
[Flame-N-Go] levelled up x6! It reached level 31.
[It’s fine!] levelled up x6! It reached level 31.
[Burn that Invader!] levelled up x1! It reached level 17.
[Flawed State of Being] levelled up x6! It reached level 23.
[Plasmic Torch] levelled up x6! It reached level 16.
[Light Steps] levelled up x4! It reached level 30.
-Maximum level reached
[Shadow Assimilation] levelled up x4! It reached level 14.
I opened my status screen with a verbal command, and I was startled to see that I was able to speak in here.
So, this isn’t hell after all! Did I go to heaven?!
Host: Jason Stubbs
HP 900/900 (1 HP/440 seconds)
Class: Living Crematorium
Mana 3600/3600 (5.9 mana/1 second)
Level 75: 205415/1379000
Stat Points: 364
STR: 15
VIT: 170
DEX: 15
AGI: 17
MAG: 334
END:545
Class Skills:
General Skills:
[Flame-n-Go]: Level 31
[Zoom]: Level 2
[It’s fine!]: Level 31
[Shut-Down]: Level 2
[Burn That Invader!]: Level 17
[Light Steps]: Level 34
[Kill Them Before They Spread!]: Level 23
[Shadow Assimilation]: Level 14
[Dismantle]: Level 5
[Plasmic Torch]: Level 16
[Flawed State of Being]: Level 23
Fuck, the progress is fine as hell but I am disappointed that I was alive instead of going to heaven! On the bright side, I can even evolve my class right away!
I held off from evolving my class, as I wasn’t familiar with my current location. I looked around, trying to gather more information about the place.
I was inside a cubic room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were tiled, and each tile was either black or white. The two colors alternated to create a pattern similar to that of a chess board, and it caused some mild visual illusions.
Its area was at least a thousand square meters, and it was empty except for two tables and a weird entity.
The items that I used throughout the tutorial were laying on a table nearby, and they looked as good as new. Some of them were nearly destroyed when I fought the Bahamut, so this must’ve been, the doing of the weird entity.
Are these my equipment, or just copies? Oh well, what matters is that my crown and cape survived! The staff is useful too.
The body of the Bahamut was there, and a mysterious entity was staring at it. He sighed after a while, then went to the pile of equipment. He picked my Blazing Saber sword, and he stared at it for a while before giving a nod of approval.
“Such a good sword collecting dust in the bag of holding,” he said, “I guess you’re too primitive to use such weapons…”
I was salty because I didn’t have the chance to try my Blazing Saber sword, but I wasn’t a good swordsman, to begin with, and bare fists were truly powerful and efficient.
Suddenly, the mysterious silhouette appeared in front of me as he clicked his tongue repeatedly. The outline of the figure was constantly shifting, and its color was black all over which made it impossible to find out any useful information.
Isn’t this the ‘thing’ that I met in the slimes’ dungeon?
“Welcome, Dismantler!,” he said as he raised both of his arms, “I’ve been dying to meet you!”
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