Chapter 25

  Theo walked out of the portal and entered the woods. The portal closed behind him. Turning around, all he saw was a wooded area. Summoning his cane sword, he started to walk in a random direction, and every time he passed a tree, he put a small gouge in it and continued walking in a straight line. After a couple of minutes, he heard growling. Wolves came out of the shadows. Theo used the Identify.

  Wolf level 7, Wolf level 7, Wolf level 7, Wolf level 7

  Theo dispatched them easily and continued walking. He got a couple of feet away,

  “Fuck I’m so used to having useless corpses like the zombies and other creatures, I almost forgot about harvesting the wolves, for their materials.” Theo thought

  Marched back and put the four corpses into his storage ring, then continued walking. It was a nice day. Theo could hear birds chirping; the weather was pleasant. He breathed in and out, enjoying the fresh, clean air compared to the undead city. He had a smile on his face without even knowing it. After a while, and a few more run-ins with wolves and a bear, which were below level 10, Theo continued to walk in the direction that he chose from the start, cutting notches in the trees as he went. Theo heard rustling off in the distance, having his sword cane ready. A pair of four men walked out from behind the trees. An Indian man was wearing light armor, an Asian man was wearing leather armor, and two white men were wearing light armor. Theo used the skill Identify on them.

  Human level 14 Human level 14 Human level 13 Human level 13

  “Hi there, ‘We haven’t seen you around here? And what’s with your hair? And your level, all I see is a ?” a man said in an Indian accent.

  “I’m new to this tutorial. I just got done with the solo tutorial.” Theo said

  Theo noticed that once he said that, all of them relaxed slightly. He made a mental note. The four men walked closer to him, and Theo continued talking.

  “For my hair turning gray early, what can I say. and for the? I know my level is in the 20s, Theo said with a shrug.

  “Fair enough, sorry for the rude questions. Where are my manners? My name is Raj,” he said, then he pointed to the Asian guy to his left. “This guy's name is Zhiyu,” he said, then pointed to the next man. “The white guy's name is Benjamin”, then he pointed to the last man, “and the other white guy's name is Chad.” They all waved.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you all. My name is Theo. Could you tell me where the nearest town is so I can get my bearings from there?” Theo asked

  Theo sheathed his cane sword and used it as a cane. The others sheathed their weapons as well.

  “That’s a nice weapon you got there. I’m guessing you got it in the solo tutorial?” Chad asks with an Australian accent.

  “Yes, I did,” Theo replied

  “And to answer your earlier question, yes, sure, we could head that way. It will be easier than giving you directions, and you can meet our leader, Tim, and he will find you a spot in our little community.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “How come Tim picks where people place is in the community?” Theo asked.

  As they all started to walk to the left of where he was making his marks.

  “That’s because Tim has a bloodline that helps people know their place and their strengths and weaknesses, and he can help guide them to be the best they can be.”

  “This is setting off so many warning bells already. I haven’t met the guy, and he’s giving me vampire vibes. I’ve got that skill that I couldn’t use on the creatures in the solo tutorial. Maybe I can use it on them. Warden Sight.” Theo thought.

  Activating the skill, Theo observed the four men. Each of them had a white and black aura resembling yin and yang; for some, the white was more prominent, while for others, the black took precedence. However, an additional aura enveloped them, superseding all four men's auras. It was like black tar. From this aura, it also looked like the black tar aura was devouring and replacing the yin and yang aura. One black tar tether came off it, and for all four of them, the tether extended away from them and off in the distance in the direction they were headed. Additionally, their yin and yang auras emitted numerous tendrils reaching out in various directions, showcasing a spectrum of colors, but they all were muted and faded.

  “I’m guessing this is their karma connections, and the black substance Tim’s doing, I think, fuck me,” Theo screamed in his mind.

  After a 10-second inner monologue.

  “I guess I’ll hear him out and see what he has to say,” Theo said aloud.

  Internally, Theo thought and killed the slimy fucker.”

  Theo ended his skill.

  “That’s good, we all should know our place in life,” Benjamin replied with a Dutch accent.

  They all walked in silence from that point; it took a little while to reach their destination, a clearing with an open office in the woods. Theo saw a medieval town with a wall surrounding it and guards at the gate. The gate was wide open, and the guards dressed in heavy plate armor walked up to the gate.

  “Hello, all! I see you’re back from your hunt early, and you brought a guest.” The left guard said

  “Yes, this is Theo, and he has just finished a solo tutorial. Could you have one of your guards notify Tim that he has a guest who needs to be informed about their place in our small community?” Benjamin said

  Without the gate guards saying anything, someone piped up behind the wall,

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  And Theo saw someone run off.

  “All right, you all go to the Town Hall; Master Tim will meet you there. But first, I need your weapon, Theo, and you’ll get them back after the meeting. You know, precautions for you being a stranger and all,” the guard on the left said

  “Fair enough,” Theo said,

  Theo handed his cane sword over and walked into the town, passing by shops and businesses. The four men were on either side of him, and he was in the middle.

  “Have me unarm and also have an arm escort to keep me in line to go to where they want me to,” Theo thought.

  He used his skill, Warden Sight, and everywhere he looked, he saw that everyone had the same black tar aura over their own aura. His anger spiked again; keeping an outward calm, Theo walked towards the center of town, eventually arriving at the town hall. They were led, and a beautiful young woman met them. Theo turned off his skill at the moment they were led to an office on the top floor of the building. There was an open room and office where a secretary could be stationed. Still, there was a man in full plate armor instead, and around the room were six other men in full plate armor.

  “This is where we depart,” Benjamin said.

  “It was nice meeting you all,” Theo added with a hint of false cheer.

  The man behind the desk stood up and said,

  “Hi, Theo, I'm the captain of the town guard. It’s nice to meet you. Tim is waiting for you.”

  The captain opened the door for him. Theo entered the room; as he walked in, the captain walked in behind him, closed the door, and stood in front of it at parade rest. Theo’s focus shifted to the man sitting behind the desk. In front of the desk was an empty chair. Shifting focus back to the man, he was a young man in his late teens or early twenties. He was Caucasian and dressed in a black button-down long shirt that was not native to the tutorial. His sleeves rolled up to his forearms, and he was casually leaning on the desk. While Theo couldn’t determine his height since he was seated, he noticed that the young man was neither fit nor fat. He had piercing blue eyes and a slightly rounded face, which somehow gave off a friendly and trustworthy presence, though Theo suspected it might be mental manipulation.

  The office was luxurious; for a rug was a bear pelt, and on the wall to the right of Theo was a magnificent stag's head. Theo liked the office; there was no gold, just a dark-stained wooden room that quietly demanded your attention. And for the pièce de résistance, a large window behind the desk offered a view of the entire town.

  “Nice to meet you, Theo. As you can surmise, my name is Tim,” he said.

  Theo used the skill Identify on Tim.

  Human level 24

  Tim’s words carried weight, and there was a mental compulsion that made Theo want to listen closely and hang on to every word he spoke. Due to the experiences of the many encounters with lesser vampires, he was entirely able to ignore the mental compulsion. Theo used his skill, Warden Sight, on Tim. Instead of the yin and yang that he thought he would see, it was a ball of black tar with many tendrils going off in various directions. In that moment, he knew he was dealing with pure fucking evil.