It was as if Alex had blinked and found himself somewhere else entirely. There was no warning beyond the system message, no feeling of being thrown through time and space; he had simply… moved. He found himself in a… room? No, calling it a room was a colossal understatement. Though he could see the ceiling high above, the nearest wall was a faint, curved line in the far distance. A huge, circular light was set into the apex of the ceiling, bathing the space in the bright, even glow of an artificial sun. From the glowing sun above to the distant wall, the entire place seemed to be a single, massive dome. He was standing on a huge pillar, one of many that dotted the landscape in all directions, stretching as far as the eye could see. Where a floor should have been, a vast forest spread out below him. None of the trees, however, came close to the top of the pillar. It wasn’t that the trees were small—some looked to be easily over a hundred meters tall—but that the pillar itself was so monstrously high. Just as he began to wonder if the system had forgotten him, the familiar window and voice returned. Welcome to the tutorial A warm glow spread through his body, followed by the sound of another notification. Title earned: [Forerunner of the New World] A title? One that everyone probably gets, Alex thought, quickly inspecting it. [Forerunner of the New World] – Complete the introduction and enter the tutorial as a forerunner of the New World. +3 all stats. Grants the skill: [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)]. A sudden gift of three points to all stats was more than welcome, and likely the source of the warm glow. How much it would actually help, he couldn’t say. The skill, however, was more tangible. [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)] - Allows you to communicate with the myriad races throughout the multiverse. A unique skill granted for free to the forerunners of a newly initiated race. So, it let him communicate with other races. Did that cover speech, writing, or both? More questions. Focusing on the skill description yielded nothing new, and when he tried to use his new Identify skill on it, nothing happened. A sound behind him made him startle. He spun around, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his knife, only to see someone else had just been transported to the platform. He recognized the man immediately. “Daniel?” he asked, the question purely rhetorical. Daniel was no longer in his business suit. He was now clad in chainmail, gauntlets, and leather pants tucked into a pair of sturdy-looking boots. He looked like he’d been plucked from the set of a medieval film. Daniel seemed just as flummoxed, taking a moment to get his bearings before he registered Alex’s presence. “Alex!? God, it’s good to see you! Have you seen any of the others?” Daniel asked, his usual high energy laced with hope. “No, I’m just as surprised to see you here. After we got in the elevator, did you also—” Before Alex could finish, another flash of light erupted on the platform. Before he could even see who it was, there was another flash, and another, and another. The lights continued until ten people stood on the platform. Alex recognized all of them. Five had been in the elevator with him, and the other four were employees from his company. To his relief, Emily was among the new arrivals. She looked unharmed, now dressed in a white robe with a small wand hanging at her hip. A cacophony of voices erupted as everyone started talking at once, their confusion boiling over. Alex hung back, trying to process the situation while listening to the others. After the initial panic subsided, they began to calm down and assess their situation. They were professionals, after all. It had nothing to do with Daniel stepping in to calm them. Not at all. A quick round of questions revealed they had all been transported to similar interrogation rooms and had undergone roughly the same ordeal. Alex learned he had missed a few details, however; the others had discovered that new class skills could be earned every five levels. They moved on, taking a tally of their new classes. Their group consisted of one light warrior, two medium warriors, one heavy warrior, two archers, three casters, and one healer. A surprisingly balanced group, which Alex suspected was the system’s design rather than sheer luck. Their attire had changed dramatically. Gone were the dress shirts and ‘presentable’ work clothes. The light warrior wore leather armor; the medium warriors, Daniel included, had chainmail sets; and the heavy warrior was encased in what looked like poorly made iron armor. The other archer, a man Alex recognized as Chris from R&D, wore the same kind of cloak as him and carried a similar wooden bow. Chris was one of the few people Alex got along with at work. Their jobs required frequent interaction, and they’d naturally hit it off, bonding over shared introverted tendencies and hobbies. He wasn’t sure if he’d call him a friend, but at least a close acquaintance. They also both sucked at romance, which made them kindred spirits. Susan, a caster, was panicking the most, her husband David not among their number. She had likely chosen her class because it seemed the least physically demanding, though Alex recalled her once mentioning that she and her kids loved a certain book series about a scarred boy wizard. He also learned from the conversation that you could have asked for a different weapon during the Introduction. He’d been completely unaware. Maybe he could have gotten a modern compound bow… though he doubted it, given the pervasive medieval theme. The other two casters wore brown robes that seemed far more comfortable than his own cloak, their material closer to silk. They each held a wooden stick he assumed was a wand. Finally, there was their healer, Emily, in her own silk-like white robe with a smaller, white wand. The next topic, naturally, was skills. As Alex expected, everyone had received Identify and the translation skill from their shared title. Class skills, however, were another story. The light warrior had a dual-wielding skill that boosted effectiveness with two weapons, a throwing weapon skill, and a common-rarity skill called Quickstep—the warrior counterpart to Alex’s Archer’s Eye—which allowed for short bursts of speed. In practice, it was thoroughly underwhelming, barely making the user take a step any faster than normal. The medium warriors had five skills, all of Inferior rating: one-handed, two-handed, sword & shield, and throwing weapon proficiencies, plus an ability called Balanced Approach that gave a tiny bonus to all stat effects. The bonus was so small that neither of them could even tell a difference. The heavy warrior had the same sword & shield and two-handed weapon skills, along with a skill called Toughen Up, which temporarily increased the effect of the toughness stat. This, too, was incredibly underwhelming. It had no visual cue, and Walter, the heavy warrior, said it still hurt when Daniel jabbed him, making its effect questionable at best. The archer skills, Alex already knew. Casters had three skills: Magic-Tool Proficiency, which let them use wands and other magical items; an attack skill called Mana Bolt; and a defensive skill, Mana Barrier. The barrier also sucked, breaking from a single casual sword swipe, but the Mana Bolt seemed quite powerful. The healer class also had three skills: Heal, which did exactly what it said; Regeneration, a passive aura that increased the health regeneration of nearby allies; and the same Magic-Tool Proficiency as the casters. Alex was particularly interested in the aura and how it determined who was an "ally." They also determined that the Identify skill didn’t work on other people. It didn’t even return a basic message; there was simply no response. It seemed the skill’s rarity was too low, or perhaps it was prohibited for some other reason. Alex looked over at Emily, intending to ask about her aura, but he was interrupted. “Everyone! Look at the other platforms. I think there are people on them,” Walter said, his voice grabbing everyone’s attention. Alex looked toward the nearest pillar. His improved vision came in handy, allowing him to make out details. There appeared to be ten individuals on that platform as well. A quick scan revealed the same was true for all the pillars around them. He could still see bursts of light on some of the more distant platforms, but after a minute or two, a profound silence fell. The tutorial was about to begin for real. Tutorial commencing Duration: 63 days & 21:47:11 Tutorial Type: Survival Completion Criteria: Survive the duration of the tutorial. Tutorial Rules: Collect Tutorial Points (TP). Tutorial Information: The Great Forest below is filled with danger and opportunity for the new initiates. Beasts roam the forest, hunting for prey. Kill the beasts to acquire TP while gaining strength. Perhaps even a chance to hunt the Beast Lords will present itself… Tutorial Point Rules: Gain TP upon killing beasts, split amongst the contributors. Upon killing another initiate, half their TP will be split amongst the contributors. Final Rewards based on TP and the number of Survivors. Total Survivors Remaining: 1200/1200 As Alex finished reading, he felt the pillar beneath him shudder and then begin a slow descent. He collected himself, instinctively checking that his equipment was secure. He wondered how he could be so calm, and he noticed that everyone else was oddly composed as well, though to varying degrees. Perhaps it was a function of willpower, or more likely, it was due to their reliance on a certain individual. Throughout the conversation, Daniel had been their guiding light. He had made sure one person spoke at a time, that useful information was shared, and that everyone had their turn. It became an unspoken rule that he was the leader of their group—a role Alex had absolutely no intention of challenging. The group calmly discussed their plan of action during the descent, with Daniel once again taking the lead. They agreed to focus on the primary objective: Survive. They all had weapons and potions. The warriors and archers each had three health and three stamina potions, while the casters and Emily had three health and three mana potions instead. Beyond that, all they possessed were the clothes on their backs. The discussion turned to the tutorial’s strange details, like its utterly random duration. They all agreed that hunting beasts was a necessity. None of them were fans of the idea, but they had to eat, and the tutorial rules made it clear that violence was unavoidable. They also collectively agreed not to antagonize other survivors unless they had no other choice. Alex didn’t agree with everything, but he didn’t want to play devil’s advocate or start an unnecessary argument. He had already noticed he was something of an outlier. He didn’t understand their reluctance to hunt. A part of him, a part he was just now discovering, was actually excited by the notion. “First, we need to locate water, food, and shelter,” Daniel said, his voice steady and confident. “The plant life doesn’t look like anything from Earth, so we can’t trust our knowledge of what’s safe to eat. We should try using Identify on the plants to distinguish edible from poisonous. The system also mentioned beasts, so hunting will be an option, if not a necessity. But we also have to be wary of the other survivors. We won’t be aggressive, but we won’t be pushovers either. If we work together, I’m sure we can all make it home safe.” The speech was a bit superfluous, considering they had just gone over these points, but it seemed to get everyone on the same page. Alex was reminded of why Daniel was the youngest department chief their company had ever had. He’d earned it through pure competency and charisma—plus a little nepotism, but that was just the way of the world. Or, the world as it used to be. The only thing that felt off was the sight of Emily staring at Daniel with stars in her eyes. Not that this was the time or place for such silly thoughts. The pillar was getting closer to the ground. As they finally descended below the canopy, Alex spotted several bird-like creatures flitting between the massive trees, though he couldn’t make out any details. Two months. He had to survive two months in this forest. When they were only a few meters from the ground, Alex steeled himself for whatever came next. The pillar reached the forest floor, setting them down in a small clearing. The stone beneath their feet seemed to phase through the ground, leaving only soft grass behind, with no evidence that the massive pillar had ever existed. Taking a deep breath of the fresh, wild air, Alex clenched his fist around his bow. He felt a tremor of nerves, but beneath it, a strange feeling began bubbling up from deep inside him. Excitement. His boring world had been shattered, and he had no intention of letting this damned forest become his grave.

Chapter 3: Forerunner of the New World