Olek opened his eyes and once more he was in a place he didn't recognize.
'Stupid, stupid Olek! Why didn't you ask any real questions. Ugh, dumbass.' He lamented.
He felt warm stone on his back, and heat over his body, not the nice summer day with breeze heat but the oppressive humid heat that makes you want to tear off your skin. His eyes were assaulted by the glare of the piercing sun above him causing him to raise his arm to block it out.
Sitting up, he looks around, yellow and brown plains with a forest in the horizon. He could see scattered ruined buildings along the plain, roads he imagined were once full of luster, now cracked, dusty and barely intact.
In the far, far distance he saw quite the sight. And incredibly tall, shimmering wall, squaring off where he was from the rest of the island. 'What the fuck?'
"What the hell happened here?" Olek questioned, taking off his hoodie as he already felt the sweat starting to form. He was sick of the heat already. He was from the Northern Europe, his skin was pasty and prone to burning, he hated this type of weather.
To his side he noticed his staff laid beside him, and a newcomer - a satchel. Opening it up he saw some amount of bottled water, some rations, a compass, a flint lighter, and a small knife.
'That's awfully nice of them, destroy my planet but at least have the courtesy to provide a satchel with the most basic items inside. I'm flattered.'
As he sighed, even more screens appeared before him demanding attention.
[ Welcome to the Tutorial ]
Sequence: "Four Walls"
Time Limit: 365 Days | Walls DropIn: 200 Days
Segment: Fractured Dominion | Remaining Humans: 1000/1000
Overview: - Survive, grow, and prosper. Show the worth of your world and segment, as the others will put it to the test. Earn credits and experience through slaying creatures of relative strength and achieving notable feats. Credits are transferable. Credits are the universal currency all beings under the Mana Accord use.
'Interesting.' He looked at it seriously.
It doesn't give many details. It seemed to him to function similarly to a game, with the difficulty set to Hardcore, the punishment for mistakes was his life. It left him with multiple questions.
What did it mean by showing the worth of the world? Who are the others? Were they behind those walls? What'll happen once that magic barrier disperses?
As much as there was to think about, there were two things that were clear. To succeed in this tutorial you must level up and get rich with credits - which sounded very game-like despite the putting your life on the line aspect.
'I should look for Carla... if this Tutorial is dangerous like the Envoy said, it's better if we stick together. I don't intend on doing any heroics for strangers - not for free at least.' Olek thought.
He was surprisingly calm for the situation, it left him wondering if that had to do with the system.
Standing up, he called out. "Carla! You out there?"
It probably wasn't wise to yell. But he had no idea where to start looking for someone.
Thankfully, he got a response, "Olek! I'm over here inside this building, there's others too!"
He grabbed the staff and threw the satchel over his shoulder, making his way along the destroyed pavement pulling up to the abandoned rundown warehouse he'd heard the voice echo out from.
Carla didn't even wait for him to get to the door before sprinting out and hugging him tightly, burying her face in his chest, "T-thank god you're here... I'm so confused at what's happening." She stammered over her words as tears welled up in her eyes.
He was stunned so much that he almost forgot to hug her back, standing there awkwardly for a moment before giving in, putting an arm around her as he held the staff with the other.
She'd taken her hoodie off, she had a bow wrapped around her shoulder, a quiver on her lower back and a dagger strapped to her thigh.
'Didn't take much for her to look like an NPC archer.' He thought, shaking his head. 'Not the time.'
Carla was shaking slightly. 'She must be worried.' His face softened, as he rubbed her back to try reassure her.
"Hey... It's going to be fine. We'll figure it out, we're not dead yet, right?" He murmured quietly.
It earned him a small shaky laugh against his chest. "Yeah... right."
Olek smiled faintly, "That's the spirit."
She slowly pulled away looking a little embarrassed, "Sorry..." She said softly as she wiped her tears. "It was just nice to have someone I trust to go through this with... I thought I'd be alone when I didn't see you around."
Olek raised an eyebrow, "Why is that? We all just got here, no?"
Shaking her head, "I've been here for about an hour already, or at least that's what the tutorial screen says."
He looked at the tutorial message timer.
[ Next Phase In: 199d:22h:54m:34s ]
Frowning, "That's strange. I definitely didn't take an hour with the Envoy." He said.
Why was he delayed? "Was I the only one who was late? You said there were others."
"Yeah... you were the only one. The other 2 opened their eyes at the same time as me." She nodded.
Olek didn't understand why, best thing he could think of was that he distracted the Envoy with his space affinity that it forgot about the time limit, and that time was maybe dilated? That would explain it was so intolerant of him asking another question and why he knew so little about the tutorial. He couldn't be certain though.
"Huh. Well, I'm here now. Let's head inside." He said.
"Mn, took your time. You chose Magician then?" She cocked her head, looking at the white staff in his hand.
"Did indeed. You a Ranger? Thought maybe you'd go rogue, would fit that batshit personality of yours." Olek smirked.
Whack!
That earned him a hit to the back of the head. He reached up and held his head with a pained face. "Ow..."
"Hmph. Serves you right, dick." She huffed and stuck her tongue out.
Olek smiled. 'There she is, enough of the emotional stuff.'
They walked inside the rusted door to the warehouse, it was quite barren, any machinery had long since been removed and all that was left was an empty space with naught but some crates, chairs, and tables spattered about.
Sitting on one of the chairs was a blond man with his head down and hands clasped. He looked like he was in deep thought. Besides that he was dressed casual formal, his dress shoes looked like they would become a problem very soon. 'Poor guy.'
To the right of him was a built brown haired man horizontal on the floor doing pushups. He was dressed in camo cargos, combat boots, and an army green t-shirt, he had a large greatsword on his back. He looked capable, but Olek wondered why he was working out at a time like this.
"Isaac, Marcus-" They both looked up, the army man even stopped doing pushups, now on one knee, she gestured toward Olek. "This is Olek, the friend I mentioned."
Marcus shot up and got close to Olek, taking his hand, "Good to see another person. I think we will need all the hands we can get to get to safety. I'm Marcus, I was a guest lecturer in a nearby hall, talking about my experience as an instructor in the military. I chose the Warrior class."
"Pleasure, like Carla said, I'm Olek, previously a student, now a Magician I guess." He smiled, "Not to be rude but weird time to do some pushups, no?"
Marcus burst out laughing, "Not for me. It's a habit, I do it to deal with stress or unsure situations. Guess it was just trained into me."
"There's a lot worse habits to have, wish I was as dedicated to you are to keeping my body in shape." He said.
He flexed one bicep and slapped it with his other hand, "Sure are. In Vietnam vets did heroin, and I've seen much worse." He pointed back to Isaac, the blond. "He's doing something similar, but he's just in his head instead."
The blond released his clasped hands and let out a flat, single laugh. "Yeah, but I'm more just trying to get to grips of my life I've worked so hard for being taken away from me. 6 and a half years studying medicine, gone! Just like that. Isaac, by the way, Cleric." His body and hands animated as he spoke.
Olek shook his head. "You're acting like you're not going to be the hottest commodity in this entire situation."
He looked up at Olek, thinking for a moment. "You... I guess you're right huh. I didn't really think of it like that."
"Exactly, in a situation where injuries are going to be inevitable, what's more valuable than a healer who's spent most of his life studying the human body?" Olek chuckled.
As everyone mentioned their class, he noticed something this was an awfully balanced group. A mage, ranged attacker, vanguard, and healer. So balanced that he doubted it was coincidence. It was a classic party that he would see in DnD sessions he used to be a part of.
"Looking at all our classes... I can't help but think we were put together on purpose, don't you think?" He asked.
Carla looked around, "I suppose so. That's... odd."
She looked at Olek. Out of everyone here, he was the only one not freaking out about this situation, in fact, the moment he walked through the door, in a single minute, everyone was already feeling better.
'Olek's never been the social or confident type, what's with him?' She wondered.