Chapter 26

  “Come take a seat,” Tim said.

  Theo walked to the chair, which was a leather high-back chair, and sat in front of the desk.

  “I’m sorry to pry, but could you tell me your class and your level? Because, as everyone who’s tried to use Identify on you, all they see is ‘?’. So, to determine your place in this fine town, I need to know your capabilities,” Tim said in a heartfelt voice.

  At the same time, the mental influence pressure increased tenfold on Theo’s mental defenses; they were nothing compared to the Sorcerer King vampire. With a mock smile, Theo replied, “I’m a healer. Level 25, I picked up a few skills of combat in the tutorial, but I already knew how to fight before this debacle,” he lied, a smile still on his face.

  “All that will be useful. We always need more healers, and our policy regarding healers — aside from a few — is that they stay in the town.

  “So I’ve been told that you came out of a Solo tutorial. How is that?” Tim inquired.

  “Oh, you know, it was not that fun; city of the undead, smelly zombies, and no one to talk to. Quite boring, honestly. Got some good baubles out of it, though,” Theo said.

  Tim perked up. “Interesting! What rewards did you get? I was told that you have a unique cane sword that looks pretty valuable,” Tim said.

  “I wouldn’t know if it’s valuable, but it has been useful,” Theo said in mock modesty.

  For that, we must allocate resources for people who need them, so your cane sword will be used by someone else who needs it more. I hope you understand,” Tim said with a pleasant smile as the mental pressure went up a notch again.

  “I suppose I can let someone borrow it,” Theo said

  “And what other items have you gotten from the solo tutorial. I see the armor you have is a cut above the rest, and since you are a healer that will stay in town, you won’t need that either,” Tim said with a smirk.

  At this point, Theo noticed that Tim was relaxed and completely at ease, thinking that he had him under his thumb. Theo summoned his chain on his left arm with a mental command, then sent it to wrap around Tim's upper torso, trapping his arms. Then, Theo unsummoned his cane sword and summoned it into his hand, already unsheathed. Theo imbued the blade with Gehenna’s flames. One quick slice lopped off Tim’s head in one blow; Tim’s body was leaning forward towards the desk, his head started to fall from his body to the flame on both ends of the cut, his flesh was cauterized, on his face was a shocked 'oh,' and his eyes were opened up in terror. With Theo being an E-rank, the captain is still an F-rank. He moved in the blink of an eye before the guard captain could even move. Theo saw the head plop on the desk and started to roll. He turned his focus to the guard captain, with his guard up. Theo still had the skill Warden Sight running; he could see the thread connecting to the guard captain, and Tim was gone. The guard captain crumpled to the floor and started to scream and wail.

  “Master, master, I can no longer feel your presence,” the guard captain Wail

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  Theo stopped his skill. With a mental command, he had the chain on his left arm smash the window, summoning the other chains on all his other limbs. Theo jumped out the window and used the chains to spear the ground. He lowered himself down quickly to the ground level. All around him, he heard screams and wails. All the people in the town were arriving on the ground, not sure how long his window would last. Theo booked it out of town. Running out of the gates, Theo did not head back into the forest. There was a grassy area on the other side of the city. Theo ran towards it. He kept going until the little village was a blip behind him, took out one chair and the table from the spatial storage, sat down, and leaned on the table.

  “It really was a good idea to nab this table and chairs from the system church. Wait a minute, I literally got done with the trial of mental and soul manipulation bullshit, and what are the odds, literally, going to the group tutorial in an hour, I meet a group of people who had mental bullshit done to them?” Theo thought

  Theo looked up to the sky and yelled, “Oh fuck you, system!!”

  Theo thought for a second

  “Where to go now? I have no idea what I’m doing at this moment. Well, the system that fucker put me in this mess, the least thing the system can do is point me in the right fucking direction to the nearest town,” Theo thought.

  Again, looking up, Theo said out loud, “At least you can point me in the direction of the nearest town that is not fucked up. For recompense for dropping me in that quagmire of a mess.”

  Theo got a notification.

  Ding.

  Would you like to accept the knowledge of the group tutorial's geography?

  Yes or No?

  Theo mentally clicked "yes," so for the geography of the group tutorial, it was a large hexagon. On each corner of the hexagon was a town, so six towns in total, and surrounding all the towns and the outskirts of the hexagon was the grassland, where low-level 1 to 5 mobs. Then, 5 miles away from the town, a forest starts. There are three layers of the forest: the first layer has monsters that are 5 to 10, the second layer has monsters that are 6 to 15, and the third layer has monsters that are 16 to 25. There are also dungeons scattered randomly for the tutorial, some that are fixed and some that scale to your level.

  “The knowledge packet also instructed me to go to Tutorial Town Four, which is three towns to the right of where I am. Theo thought

  Theo started walking in that direction. It took a while to get there, taking down a few enemies here and there; they were all low-level. Theo arrived in the city just before nightfall. It was a bigger town than the one that Tim was running; he could see multiple buildings that were more than a couple of stories tall. He even saw the system church. Compared to the other city he had just left, it was a collection of homes and a few shops scattered here and there; nothing compared to this. Theo arrived at the gate; there were two guards at the gate, and even in the late night, people were coming and going from the city as he got closer to the gate entrance.

  Using Identify

  Elf level? Human level?

  Theo was stunned for a moment, then walked up to the elf.

  “I just got done with the Solo tutorial, and I’m new here. Where can I find a place to stay for the night or until the tutorial is over?” Theo asked,

  “Hello, tutorial participant, go to the town hall, it’s the big building in the center of the town. All roads lead to the center, so follow the road; you can’t miss it,” the Elven guard said

  Theo thanked the guard and went off to the town hall. Theo passed a potion shop, a weapon and armor shop, and many more. There were also people out and about wearing armor. All he could see and Identify were humans walking around the streets. When he arrived at the center of town, in the middle stood a four-story building made of some marble. The building's entrance was raised, and you had to use a staircase to get to it. There was a ledge that connected the first and second floors, and several sculptures surrounded the building. The one right in front of the entrance was a mannequin; the others were all different beings of various races, and some even resembled trees and other creatures.

  Around the building itself were pathways and roads, and on the other side of the road, he could see a library, a training hall for fighting, and another one for magic, along with some other buildings he wasn’t sure about that surrounded the town hall.

  Going up to the entrance, Theo walked into the building. It was a waiting room. On the far side of the room, eight people manned a counter. There were long lines in front of each representative at City Hall, and the waiting room itself had rows of ten chairs. On the outer wall of the waiting room were benches. There were a few people here and there sitting in the chairs and on the benches. Theo walked to the closest line and waited for his turn. Finally, he approached the City Hall representative.

  “Hello, sir, how may I help you?” the attendant asked.

  “New to the city, just got done with the solo tutorial. Where can I stay and all that stuff?” Theo asked.

  “I see,” the representative flagged someone down. Theo could see if this person was a female orc with green skin.

  “Come with me, sir, and I will answer all the questions you have to the best of my ability,” the female orc said.

  Theo followed her to a room, which was a nicely furnished office. She took a seat behind the desk.

  “And what questions do you have for me? But before that, what is your name? My name is Shalazga,” she asked.