Chương 85: (B2 Chapter 36)

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and motivated. Yesterday, Lucas and I had discussed at length how to go forward, and we had come up with a pretty solid plan. Mason had also joined us, and he had revealed some news that was extremely encouraging. With the system store now having materials, the production classes had started actually working. Moreover, they even had a separate tab in their store that had equipment like anvils for smiths, beakers for alchemists, and tanning racks for tailors.

Another thing that had become a blessing in disguise was the fact that the people who had failed their tutorials had now joined us, and they were much more motivated at becoming stronger. They had faced insurmountable odds and failed, badly, so they knew what was at stake if they slacked off.

According to Mason and Lucas, hearing about their horrifying experiences in their tutorials, which were a sharp contrast to the comparatively relaxing tutorial we had taken part in, had finally made a lot of people realize that they needed to start getting stronger. Nathan and Kate were surprisingly vocal about their own nightmarish experience as well, and were helping out anyone that wanted to level up.

The two of them still wanted to join our party, but I think they had figured out that they needed to be much stronger before they could join in, so they were working hard. If I'm being honest though, they would probably not join our party… we simply didn't need so many rogues. The plan Lucas, Mason, and I decided on involved multiple small parts. We would dig deeper into the nature of our dangerous new world and emphasize the importance of levelling up.

We would also highlight the role of the production classes, and how they would be able to secure their help for levelling. The myriad weapons, skills, and armour now available from the store were another aspect we would lean on to motivate them. Lastly, if all of that still didn't work, we planned on giving them an ultimatum – either contribute to the group effort or leave. Lucas really didn't want to do this, but even he knew that it wasn't possible anymore to have people who were actually fit not do anything.

Not with so many dependents in our base now. Lucas and Mason had also been on board to observe other people, children especially, for any further hints on the effect the system was apparently having on us. If we could conclusively prove that the system was indeed elevating our latent potential, then it would make it much easier to plan out strategies for people, and even set out a long-term path for the children.

There was also the question of the possible effect levelling up and increasing stats would have on the old and the mentally challenged. If vitality were to be increased, would our lifespan increase too? And would that make the older people be able to somewhat contribute to our base as well once they had levelled up and gotten physically more fit. Or did the characterization of 'unfit' by the system doom them all to not being able to change anything? Personally, I didn't think that would be true.

If it were, the children would never be able to gain levels or get a class, and I didn't think it was plausible that the system integrated everyone just for it to have a single generation be its only users. All in all, I believed that we would be entering a transition phase, and we would need to heed the system's advice to adapt quickly.

After a quick breakfast, I headed outside alone under concealed presence. I hadn't forgotten the system's announcement of there being more opportunities for users to grow stronger, and I wanted to see for myself what these 'opportunities' were. I went past the crowded and noisy entrance of children running around and the elderly speaking amongst themselves.

It was endearing seeing such a lively community getting started, but I had a foreboding feeling that all these people were bound to attract the wrong kind of attention. Firstly, I did a quick circle of the surrounding buildings, just to make sure the vicinity around the base was clear. I knew Lucas and Mason had set up patrols over the area, but after the system's announcement yesterday, I wanted to see the surroundings with my own eyes.

I didn't know what I had been expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised at there being absolutely no danger that I could spot. There wasn't a sudden influx of monsters in the area, or numerous dungeon portals all around. Still, I wasn't going to go into a false sense of security. If the system had said something had changed, then I would always assume the worst change possible and go forward with that assumption in mind till it was proven wrong. And with the track record of the system, I didn't think I was wrong.

Picking a random direction to go towards, I headed deeper into the buildings. One thing that immediately stood out to me was that I saw a lot more people, and I had to constantly undo concealed presence to go towards them and point them towards our base, after I had observed each of them for a while that is. I didn't want problematic individuals to reach our base after all. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Whenever I pointed someone towards our base, I always asked them about their tutorials, and I always got the same answer about how impossible it had been. The design of the tutorial remained the same no matter whom I spoke to… but that all changed when I ran into the first group of teenagers I had seen since the system arrived. It was a group of three girls who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. They seemed extremely relieved at seeing me, and had been excited to go to the base.

However, when I asked them about their tutorial, I received a different answer than what I was expecting. There had only been teenagers aged 13 to 17 in their tutorial. It had also taken place in a clearing which had longhouses and was surrounded by an endless forest, but their tutorial seemed much easier in terms of the monsters. They had only faced simple monsters like the horned rabbits or the smaller goblins, while none of the larger threats like that snake or even those buffaloes were present.

Either that or they simply didn't know about their existence. But I was of the opinion that they simply weren't present, because the end of the tutorial the girls had described had been completely different to any other that I had heard about. All the others had mentioned a wave of goblins for many hours, followed by a horde of hobgoblins, and finally the ogres that had just decimated them all.

While the waves of goblins were also present for these girls, it had sounded like the waves were much smaller and didn't go on for as long. Moreover, the end of the tutorial had been a small wave of hobgoblins only, with the ogres never making an appearance. It had sounded a much easier version of the tutorial everyone else had faced, and I was very confused on hearing about it. I didn't think these girls had lied to me, so there was definitely another explanation here.

However, our conversation was rudely interrupted by a group of foxes, and I asked them to run away while I dealt with the fire-slinging foxes. This was another thing that had changed now. Earlier, we had been able to cross large distances without being disturbed by any monster. However, now the buildings were crawling full of monsters, and they were almost always in large groups.

The good thing was that they were almost always weaker monsters, so I guess the system's hint of there being opportunities for us to level up had been true. I continued running into people as the morning turned to afternoon, and a person that looked about sixty years old, a few more kids aged 13 to 17, and a group of four people whose ages ranged from 60 to 68 all told me about their tutorials, which had all been the same as the one the girls had described earlier.

The only difference was that there seemed to be two versions of this 'easier' tutorial – one for the teens from 13 to 17, and another for the older people from 56 to 69. It seemed like the system had provided an easier tutorial for the people it didn't consider 'unfit' by its standards, but who weren't completely 'fit' either. These people had been able to largely be successful at their easier tutorials, but as a result they were also of far lower levels.

In fact, I hadn't seen a single one that had reached level ten yet amongst them, whereas the level of most of the survivors of the tutorials like the one we had faced usually ranged from 12 to 17. Obviously, there were outliers who had either far lower or far higher levels, but they were few and far between. It made me think that the children back at base would unlock the system when they turned thirteen, but it was too early to conclude with confidence. For now, I had a lot of monsters to fight.

The constant fights allowed me to experience my new skills. Footwork mastery and dagger mastery shined in melee combat, and the difference was immediately apparent. Subtle changes to my grip allowed me to wield the dagger much more comfortably and fluidly, whereas changing stances and feet positions allowed me to exert explosive force or dodge comfortably.

The two mastery skills allowed me to use my core strengths, my speed and dexterity, to great advantage, and I got increasingly comfortable with killing monsters without having the need to use my skills. Granted, these were mostly weak monsters, but they had the numbers advantage, which made the fights much trickier. Mana mastery also showed its considerable strengths.

It allowed me to vastly improve my spell forming speed, and in tandem with internal mana manipulation, it allowed me to form a crude version of a skill that had been on my wish list, but I hadn't been able to find it in the system store; a boosting skill! I was able to make my mana rush throughout my body in a controlled manner and in a set pattern, which in turn made me noticeably stronger and faster.

Right now, the skill was extremely wasteful and I could barely keep it up for a few seconds before I ran the risk of running out of mana, but I was excited to finally be back on track with mana experimentations. Speaking of which, mana mastery also provided an insight into perhaps a fundamental skill for any would-be aspiring mage – changing the mana type. I had been trying to brute force mana into changing itself, which had actually worked and had given me the wind bullet skill.

But my new skill gently prodded me into another direction, which was more in-line with changing the very properties of mana. It was similar to what I had come to understand with my own experimentations and with arcane comprehension; which had supported mana mastery beautifully throughout the morning. Something which I was very relieved by, as I didn't want another debilitating headache due to two mana skills giving me information overload.

With my mind preoccupied with mana, the system, and the monsters, I almost didn't notice something different about the latest monster that I came across. It certainly looked like a monster, but there was something about it that immediately put me on high alert. Much like the ogre boss in the tutorial, this monster's eyes looked too… intelligent.