Chapter 955 - Glorious Purpose

With just two days remaining until the tournament, I make my way through Megacity as I visit Crimson Forge, the biggest of the auction houses, and the guild headquarters. I leave some messages to be sent to Duncan and Lochi on the second floor and also meet with Talon and the vice guild master. I even run into Fiona and Vesta, who are currently taking a break in Beyond.

Being unable to resist spending some time with the forbidden salamander, I accept an invitation for tea from the crazy Duchess.

During the tea, I observe the S rank and her bond, thinking of Biscuit and how he might be doing currently. Still, I do not think there is any Beyond quest to take me to meet him, so for now, I try to drop these thoughts to the background.

From Duchess Fiona, I listen to rumors about what the Replica of the Last Elf was up to and how much of a commotion he caused. For the most part, he actually did nothing egregious other than pissing off people by just existing. However, those same people would sacrifice their firstborn just for an opportunity to kill him for the reward of the eradication quest.

This cycle of the tutorial continues to be the most fucked up in a long while. We have Lissandra escaping alongside the one winged wyvern, Pride clearing Beyond floors, Adrian's rebirth, Calvorn being taken out of Beyond to Brich's planet, and the Wraith being on Earth with Adrian. Not to mention The Boys, Myrra, Starless Sky, the stigma on Vic, and likely a few other things. It is like once such things begin to happen, it all continues to compound until it grows into a truly glorious mess.

After the tea, I notice that there are some people, be it attendees or locals, staring at me. None of them approach me or do further scans other than the usual ones that are considered polite.

These people do seem to recognize me. Due to my usual style of clothing, my eyes, and likely the fact that no mana can be sensed from me, these seem to be well known facts at this point. Though, as of late, I have gotten myself into wearing longer sleeved shirts, hoodies, or jackets.

Not seeing my slimed down body does not change anything, but subconsciously it feels more comfortable. I would not say that I am ashamed of it or take it as a weakness. Even as I am now, as I walk through the city, I am confident I could wipe the floor with almost anyone here. Plus, there are scars on my face and neck too, and it is not like I am hiding those. Feelings are just weird like that.

Still, despite the changes to my body, despite how I look currently, or how many scars I carry, I have never been more powerful.

With my evolved trait, my mana continues to hum inside of my body. It is compressed within it, and I am able to store so much, using my body almost akin to the crown that used to float over my head to act as a mana battery. I just continue to gather more and more mana. I cycle it constantly, and my trait stores and concentrates it.

All of it became even simpler after the [Mana Manipulation] level up and trait evolution. And best of all, I think if I want, I can just dump all that gathered mana out, either letting it explode omnidirectionally or try to aim it. I even think it would not put much strain on me, as my evolved vessel seems to allow it.

As for the part mentioning a biological reactor, my Mana Heart is generating mana faster. It is not to the point of a Regenerator attribute upgrade, not even close, but faster enough for me to notice.

But there is a part about the trait that excites me the most, the part about the inner volume being bigger than it might seem from the outside. Yes, it applies to mana only, but even then, it is just yet another thing to take inspiration from.

Between this evolution and the talnium I studied, maybe I will get my hands on a spatial cache one day, and then I will truly start messing with spatial compression.

The last day before the tournament, I visit the Doc, delivering more barrels to him and taking some from him for my tree, and that is mostly it. As always, I quickly escape before he remembers he wants to lock me in his bunker, and I make my way to the tutorial's 12th floor, where I teleport Lily and myself towards where group 4 is located.

I do it through the [Weave] that is part of the sky, akin to the Veil on the floor where I met my minion. The [Weave] just lights up for my eyes, nearly impossible to see for anyone other than people with great senses. Then we move over the distance of an entire continent with my mana reserves supplying the teleportation requirements easily.

As per usual, I find my place by the side, creating a thermal cube that imitates a campfire to perfection, complete with the smoke that just cannot be missing.

Watching them, I wonder how many shards they currently have. I know that the ones with access to Beyond have been selling the kaiju's parts there. Taking into consideration that kaiju are enormously huge, there is a lot to sell.

Well, in the end, it is simple, with Lily likely being the richest as she dabbles a little bit in healing. She has also been selling some items charged by the Demigod's heart the same way as me. That heart is now about half the size, so it is not the size of a van anymore.

Seeing her so often sitting near it with baby Kindness nearby is quite scary, though.

Still, killing kaiju is not simple, and I know the others spend weeks and months planning different attacks on each and every single one of them, which continue walking towards where we took the Demigod's body out of the water.

It is a bit of a proud moment to see that the portals to the 13th floor are still there, nearby, yet everyone remains greedy for a little bit more experience and achievements from these huge monsters that I know most tutorial attendees cannot even hope to touch.

They grew up so fast.

All of this changed them a little too, and I think not having a healer or me nearby allowed for some of that growth. But, in the end, they are lunatics, the same as everyone in Hell Difficulty. I have seen it.

Maya using her [Armament] to punch kaiju in the face, Min-Jae improving on his Orbital-Dino-Killer-Annihilator-Meteor-9000, Tess and her near invisible and too fast to avoid piercing projectiles, Sophie mind-controlling a kaiju momentarily, Izzy summoning a mile wide and tall wall of flames, and Dennis and Aaron moving in bursts nearly comparable to Tacita while creating illusions of entire cities that lure the kaiju.

And of course, Noodle becoming a giant snake for a minute, able to keep a form matching a kaiju, and Blackie continuing to prove that he possessed the body of a demon Champion with an especially powerful and fucked up trait.

I have found myself in bad company, but the weak, impressionable me at this point cannot escape, so I just have to endure until someone saves me.

They throw a few lame jokes my way, so I return with some of my own, and the ones that do not laugh find themselves caught in a suddenly increased amount of smoke from the cube. Even if they complain, it is not like I can do anything about it. My cubes work on a dark algorithm that even I cannot see into, so it has to be a coincidence. Or the wind.

Their coughing is music to my ears.

When the sky turns dark, I increase the lighting output of the cube, training as I always do, right up until the last moment when the notification appears in front of every one of us.

Congratulations on completing your 4th year in the tutorial!

The final tournament preparations have been concluded.

During the duration of the tournament, all Floor quests will be put on hold.

The tournament will have a 14-day duration, and you can decide to participate or not.

More information will be given after entering the tournament floor.

And as usual, one more message.

Would you like to participate in the final tournament of Earth's tutorial?

Yes/No

Group 4 members disappear one after another, and I remain sitting there last.

Where they were laughing, present just a few moments ago, the place is entirely empty and quiet, with the silence interrupted only by the cracking of my thermal cube.

Please decide in the following 30 seconds if you would like to join the tournament.

Another notification appears, and I still give it some time, looking around and taking in this mood of a suddenly quiet place.

Only when the last seconds tick down do I stand up, and I then accept the invitation. Instantly, I get pulled out of the 12th floor in the way the system likes to do.

I find myself in a quiet forest during the sunset, the golden hour, as the last rays of light pass through the crowns of the trees and a breeze gently passes through.

There are many notifications, but a few points catch my interest the most.

First, it is impossible to die during the events or outside of the events during the entirety of the tournament.

Second, there are five events everyone can participate in and five subevents that you can participate in when you are outside of the main five events in the common area.

And third, apparently due to various interferences, modifications have been made to the tournament. The biggest one being that instead of ten planets from one sector, there will now be ten sectors participating.

All for a total of one hundred planets present during this tournament.

POV Althor

Althor and his tutorial group sit in darkness and silence. There are ten of them, with most of them being Beyonders as well. They are velnar from a rural, dark, and cold area of their planet who got summoned to the tutorial together.

Each of them, since birth, was taller and stronger than the usual velnar, even before the tutorial. They hold the remains of a bloodline that differentiated them from other people on their planet. And that bloodline is now partially awakened, brought to the surface as more than just the slight physiological differences from before the tutorial.

That person, that voice they had only ever heard from the darkness, had done that. Torturing their bodies and minds while strengthening what was already inside, not caring for the consequences to the velnar. After each session, they became just a little stronger, and after each session, their lives got cut just a little shorter.

All just because of that one shard.

And now that dark voice speaks to them, for the last time.

“Burn this into your minds. Your desires, your futures, your very lives are entirely irrelevant. You exist solely as instruments of my design. If you fail your task, I will destroy your planet and your entire population. I will extract every ounce of suffering from your people, from every woman, man, kid, or unborn child. Their screams will become the only record your civilization ever leaves behind.”

Even now, the ten velnar sit there in silence, their eyes empty, but listening to that voice.

Speaking louder now, the darkness surrounds the velnar, pressing in on them and filling them with a fear that makes their limbs shake, and their insides scream.

"Survival will be your greatest curse. If you make it through this, I will forcibly heal your broken bodies just to spend the next several millennia breaking them again. I will introduce you to agony you lack the capacity to comprehend. Make no mistake, all of you will die. I care little if you are slaughtered during the tournament, if your hearts explode, or if you survive just to spend millennia in my care."

Even now, none of the velnar say anything. They are all tall and muscular, and their skin has a red tint to it. It is almost imperceptible, but it is there. And there, inside each of them, is something else, something foreign. A core planted by the dark voice.

“Because of that one shard,” that voice spits out the words, “after all I did to get where I am. I could be a Ruler of any other subclass, yet I remained to observe him, to learn from him! And all I get are scraps, a lesson, a training method thrown at me once in a while. Still, I was content with that, I was happy. Competing with the others, killing them as we fought for his attention. I liked knowing each of us could destroy the trash that dares to call themselves a Ruler nowadays.”

The velnar begin to shake, knowing to expect pain when the voice talks like this, and that pain comes. They twitch, they open their mouths in soundless screams, but they do not let out a noise. They long since learned not to, in order not to anger the voice more.

“So, dear Althor, you and your group will kill that trash. You all will die while doing so, and I will set a stage for you to perish gloriously while serving my will. Do not fret about the changes the system made to this tournament. Do not worry about the Rulers. This is my part, and I will take care of it. So tell me, what will you do?”

All of the velnar shout at once, “We will kill Nathaniel Gwyn!”