Supreme Swordfiend

Leon wished he'd gotten more fish.

Selena had stayed on his side of the fire after they'd struck their deal and the others had stayed on their side. The teenage boy- Francis- had left and returned with a bundle of wood. Leon didn't know where he'd gotten it and as long as the fire stayed lit he didn't really care either.

Francis had met Leon's eyes as he piled on wood though he'd quickly averted his gaze, stumbling as he retreated to the main group. That had been an hour ago and still no one had come to strike a deal with him- yet. He supposed it was the group dynamics at work- no one wanted to be seen as a traitor.

While the lack of fish was a slight concern, Leon felt he'd gotten enough to keep him going until tomorrow. If no food was forthcoming he'd have to go hunting for some, which wasn't the worst thing to do. A hunt would help him scout out the island while he worked on keeping his stomach full.

Selena had been quiet, staring into the fire. Leon was happy to wait until she she chose to break the silence. He was absorbed in the Shifting Tides Manual again, learning more about the origin of the techniques contained within from a short passage just after the introduction.

"My brother is an accomplished swordsman, second only to myself within our clan. Yet he persists in pursuing the art of sword smithing, a course of action I cannot fathom. Were he to focus exclusively on his martial technique he would rival me within months, surpass me within years. Still, this obsession of his has produced a true masterwork at long last. Incompatible with any normal technique, I created the Shifting Tides Style to complement that blade. As written prior- this style excels in grinding down your foe, the longer you engage in battle, the stronger you become. Whether you stand against a Worldbreaker or an army of millions, they will fall to the shifting tides. The slight issue being that should Tsunami fail to kill your opponent the recoil from the move will leave you open to reprisal, though I will take steps to rectify this shortcoming on my ascension to [E] Grade."

Judging by the lack of any [E] Grade techniques contained within the manual Leon assumed the author had died or lost interest in refining the style. Still, he had no real idea of how strong each Grade was. He'd gained six stat points in total today but had no idea how that actually affected him. So many questions and no answers in sight.

Leon pondered a while longer, mulling over his course of action for tomorrow and as the sun vanished below the horizon, blanketing the Tutorial island in thick sheets of inky blackness, each human was forced to confront a primordial fear, one baked into their very DNA.

Darkness, obscuring their sight and turning the peaceful forest into a sinister and foreign locale. The light of their fire a solitary pinprick of light in the tapestry of the night.

Selena scooched closer to Leon, her shoulders bumping against his, her voice quieter than ever.

"What's the plan? We sleeping in shifts in the dirt or do you have some magic house in your pocket?"

"Unfortunately not- I'll take first watch."

"Figures, I knew you were useless."

Selena scooched back, Leon just catching her smirk before she lay down, her back to him.

The appearance of a blue box was the last thing Leon expected at that moment but the day had been full of surprises.

"Day 0 Complete! Congratulations to the 80% of you who survived! Now displaying the ranking for your instance!

1. Leon Knox

2. Bill Schultz

Your ranking is in direct correlation to your personal growth, please strive to grow during this Tutorial! The top ranker for your instance has received a reward for their excellence!"

Leon felt a small stone tablet, roughly the size of a phone materialise in his hand. The System continued to make physics its bitch. It was thin and brittle, numerous crack already covering the white rock. The tablet held a simple inscription:

"Snap for help."

Leon did so, pointedly ignoring the other groups' restless mutterings. Once he had done so a foul smelling blue smoke poured out of the broken stone, swirling and shifting until it all settled a few feet away from the fire. Once the smoke cleared a small cottage was left and from it emerged a small humanoid.

It was roughly five foot tall with pitch black skin covered in luminescent red veins which were pumping what looked like liquid fire through the being's body. Clad in nothing save a pair of blue shorts, with a pair of long horns protruding from its forehead the creature looked downright demonic, though this was offset by its chiselled features forming a suitable contrast between ferocity and attractiveness. Though it had pale white eyes with no irises, which tilted the contrast back towards 'otherworldly horror'.

His instincts told him this creature was powerful- it was suicide to attack it and strangely with that realisation the instincts retreated, leaving Leon calm and composed rather than ready to attack.

When it spoke its voice was smooth and unaccented though the creature's cadence was swift and somewhat brusque, reminiscent of a businessman, a wheeler and dealer. It also notably spoke only to Leon ignoring the other humans.

"Hey looks like it's my lucky day! Pleasure to meet you kid, you're a real superstar you know, the bookies are giving you great odds after that suicidal solo clear you pulled off today. I've got a few million on you myself! Anyway, let's get business out of the way and move on to pleasure eh? This house is now yours, it's extremely comfortable- I recommend the hot tub personally. The other humans are barred of course, have to foster a hunger for that top rank. I'll be on hand to advise and fill you in on the Tutorial but I'm limited in what I can disclose regarding matters of personal progression and the multiverse at large. Any questions? No? Cool, there's a ping-pong table inside and playing with just myself is tiring."

Leon didn't follow the humanoid back yet, first grabbing his sword, then motioning for Selena to follow him. The humanoid looked back and sighed.

"Look, I wasn't kidding about the others being barred. Doesn't matter even if she's your wife, girlfriend or just a fuckbuddy- she's barred, she can't get in even if you let her try. Go ahead, try anyway, fucking natives man they never believe me."

Grumbling all the while, the humanoid walked in, Leon following him with Selena right behind until she smacked into an invisible wall and was sent flying backwards into the dirt.

She smiled up at him, laughing despite the red mark on her forehead where she had impacted against the invisible wall.

"Go ahead, enjoy your new house- just don't forget our deal psycho."

"You sure?"

"Positive- I'll be fine out here for a night."

Reluctantly Leon closed the wooden door behind him, taking in his new living quarters. They were massive, a huge four poster bed adorned one corner with the recommended hot tube taking up another. The ping-pong table was centre stage, surrounded by chairs of all sizes and shapes. There was also a training dummy to his left and a fridge to his right.

The humanoid spread its arms and punctuated its explanations with gestures to each implement.

"Welcome to your new home away from home! The fridge stocks whatever you want to eat, the dummy is decent for training your moves on, the bed is pretty self-explanatory, better than the dirt for sure and the hot tub is a great way to unwind after a hard day of slaughtering giant murderous lizards- more importantly now that the competition have been shut out let's get down to the real nitty gritty."

Leon couldn't help but cut across the humanoid's speech.

"Sorry, quick question- who, and or what, are you?"

The humanoid pulled out a chair and sat down with a dejected sigh.

"Very offensive question kid, you are forgiven though since you're a clueless native and it's a tiny bit my fault for not giving you a proper introduction."

The humanoid lowered his head in a slight bow as he introduced himself.

"Zerasos, Son of Sulphur, member of the exalted devil species, president of Hellstone Incorporated, [F] Grade warrior, your System approved guide to aid you in milking this Tutorial dry of its resources and a damn fine chef- or so my wives insist- the pleasure is undoubtedly mine."

Leon returned the bow and introduced himself.

"Leon Knox, member of the human species, IT technician [H] Grade warrior- I hope we can work well together."

The devil cackled and leapt out of the seat.

"Little native has some manners then eh? Alright, enough goddamned foreplay- let's get to it."

The devil produced a map from thin air, laying it flat on the table and beckoning Leon over.

The map showcased an island split into four distinct quadrants, each a separate biome. Woods, swamp, tundra and desert. In the centre stood a mountain, rising above all, the waters were marked with a giant fin and the words "here be death".

Leon spoke before he could stop himself.

"So this is the island then? Seems like someone designed it, those divisions are too clean."

Zerasos glanced up at him, smirking.

"You sure you're a human and not some kind of human shaped hammer? 'Cos you hit the nail right on the goddamn head, yeah some guys with more money than sense built a pocket dimension but they fucked it up real bad- could only comfortably support [H] Grade life, stepping out there for me felt like getting constantly punched in the dick."

The devil winced as he spoke cupping his hands over his groin.

"Now these idiot designers sold it off to the System as a Tutorial template to claw back some cash, then some System Admin really liked it for some inscrutable reason and they souped it up, added a whole bunch of caveats and exemptions and backdoors to finally get what you're stuck in- the Proving Grounds, the hardest Tutorial under the System despite all the outside intervention that's been permitted to even make it possible to clear."

"It really doesn't seem that bad so far."

Zerasos cocked an eyebrow in response- or he would have if he'd had any eyebrows. The result was a raised brow and a smirk.

"Firstly, you are an anomaly kid, we'll get to that but for now let's look at those stats the System gave ya at the start. 10% survival rate means 10% of everyone who ever came here lived and died on this island-if you don't clear the Tutorial you're stuck here. 89% die to a monster and the lucky 1% clear it."

That wasn't exactly fresh news but the idea of being stuck on an island for the rest of his life wasn't appealing. Leon needed all the information first before he decided on whether to freak out or not.

"Okay- you said I'm an anomaly why's that?"

"Oh gee I don't dunno kid maybe it's the fact you ran headlong into a murderhole, alone and solo'd a slime king while taking not a single hit? You know that's practically unheard of right? One cut and that slimy bastard would have crawled into the wound and eaten you from the inside out in a matter of seconds. You didn't see the girl get her leg eaten and you should thank God, Buddha or whoever the fuck you pray to that you didn't- that shit is haunting."

The devil shivered before continuing his tone growing increasingly irate.

"That's not even the main reason though- I have a fucking pinnacle sulphur devil bloodline. This means nothing to you, I know, you're an ignorant native- but trust me, I'm hot shit and I'm still feeling uncomfortable around you kid. Somethings screaming at me that you are trouble. I don't know what bloodline you have but it is enough to send anyone, with any sense running for the hills. Hell, I don't even now how you got a bloodline on an unintegrated world but that's really not my bag, you'll figure it out, someday I'm sure."

A bloodline? Leon was shocked, he'd never heard of anything like that pre-integration. His family had been normal. He was tentatively willing to bet it was the source of his new instincts and resolved to keep a tighter hold on his mental state.

Zerasos worked out his shudders then got back on topic.

"Secondly- there are only ten of you. The second hardest Tutorial, the Deadlands- it's this great city defence one, there's some phenomenal clips from a 7th Era run of it, look it up when you get out of here- it starts you in this huge city, filled with instructors for every Job and Class under the System and you're alongside 25,000 others of your species. No rankings, just a united effort to thrive and survive. The Proving Grounds? If you ain't first, you're last, every advantage here snowballs to an insane degree and you need every single one to make it out alive."

Zerasos took a breath and continued.

"Third and finally- the scaling in this place is fucking insane. One slime today, that was it, ooh easy peasy. Tomorrow these woods are going to be flooded with velociraptors, nasty little pricks. Knee high to you, vicious little lizards but they're not that tough to kill as long as you have two braincells to rub together. Then the day after? Carnotaurus, you're knee high to them. By day five the Woods Tyrant emerges, a level 25 T-Rex that breathes fire and spits poison. You fail to kill it? It breeds with a normal T-Rex, lays eggs and suddenly on day seven you've got anywhere from eight to eleven little tyrants running around. Listen- you've got a head start on the level curve, I know you've got a Common class rather than a Starter, which is another tiny miracle by the way, but if you don't butcher those raptors by the bucket load tomorrow you'll fall behind the curve and die, probably in some horrible way that leaves me feeling kinda bad for ya."

Leon slumped back into a chair the magnitude of the situation hitting him. He was...excited, eager to face the hordes come tomorrow. His instincts were screaming at him that this was perfect. An opportunity to grow. His rational mind was crying and breaking down a little but he was ignoring it for now, despite the resolution he'd made not even a minute earlier to properly control these instincts. To make it through this perhaps reckless abandon was what he needed more than anything.

The devil had been overly negative so far and Leon could tell he was setting up some kind of twist.

"Y'know Zerasos you're not selling me on the whole 'here to help' angle- so far its all been doom and gloom. I'm waiting for a but."

The devil snorted in response.

"You'll be waiting a while then, the human with the nice butt got left outside with the rest of 'em. Jokes aside, you're right though, I got a strategy. Paid through the nose for this stuff but my guys and my gut say it's good info."

The devil placed another transparent map over the first- one which outlined several locations with red circles.

"Bingo, bango, bongo kid- every dungeon in this place. You'll hit these on your downtime normally but right now you've a golden opportunity. While there's nothing out there to jump you in the dark, you need to go hit this one here- filled with velociraptors and it has a carnotaurus boss- you'll need the practice. You run it and pray it drops some tasty loot, then you come back here and sleep 'till sunrise- once the sun's up you'll head out and start pumping those levels up."

Leon looked at the devil with new appreciation.

"I shouldn't have doubted you huh?"

"Damn right you shouldn't have! Now get out there, time's a-wasting."

"Got it- do I have time for food before I start?"

The devil shrugged.

"Eh, knock yourself out, can't hurt to go out on a full stomach."

Leon moved to the fridge, the door swung open at the lightest touch revealing a steaming hot hamburger, a slice of smoked Applewood cheddar melting on the patty, a rasher of bacon atop it, all wrapped in a pair of brioche buns. It was divine, prepared specially for Leon and he knew it. This fridge was now his new god.

Leon bit into the succulent meat, barely savouring it as he grabbed a bottle of water from the door to chase the grease laden delight down.

Between mouthfuls he produced the Shifting Tides Manual and threw it to Zerasos to examine.

"Got this from the slime dungeon- can you tell if it's any good or not?"

Zerasos' eyes were wide as he flipped open the manual and relayed his opinion in hushed, reverent tones.

"Holy shit kid- this is fucking primo."