Leo sat around a small fire that he’d helped kindle, small sparks of flame crackling into the night. It made him realise just how bad his mana control actually was when he tried to send a small flame into the bottom of a pile of wood. The amount of focus it required was enough to make him sweat. Sure, he could have just put his hand closer, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was to shoot a fireball.

“Ahem,” Cecelia coughed, pulling him from his firegazing. “You were talking about the Tower’s apex?”

“Sorry. Yeah,” Leo apologised before continuing. “There was a white crystal atop the Tower and it asked if I wanted to break it. So I did.”

Cecelia pinched the bridge of her nose. “We got that already. What did it say after you broke it?”

“Oh. Whoops.” Leo explained the system’s message, and the five day timer they were currently counting down. He was surprised that there hadn’t been a system message given to everyone but supposed that the shield hadn’t actually come down yet.

“I see.” Cecelia nodded sagely. “Five days should be enough to prepare for whatever happens when that shield comes down.”

She moved to address Bjorn. “Can you talk to Hector tomorrow when we return? We need the crafters to prepare any armour upgrades and supplies they can muster.”

Bjorn nodded. “Sure thing.”

“Ron,” Cecelia addressed him next. “We need to find an optimal path into the shielded area in preparation for when the shield goes down. Know where we are weak to ambushes and reinforce them with scouts.”

“Hm,” Ron agreed.

“Anything else I think of I’ll come to you. In the morning I will address those gathered here, including those of Gareth’s camp. Hopefully Gareth returns so we can discuss an alliance further. For now, get some sleep. You all look like you need it.”

And with that, everyone was dismissed. Leo had just recently napped but the fatigue from the day was still there. His body and mind needed a proper rest.

He quickly found Ellie, who was held in a cuddled embrace with Ashley. Leo just smiled at the sleeping pair, laying down not too far away and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the ground.

~

Gareth chased the irate woman into the dark, with the moonlight thankfully giving enough illumination to keep track. She was surprisingly fast for a mage.

“Ruby! Damnit, wait would you?” he cursed.

She stopped in her tracks surrounded by antling corpses that hadn’t been properly disposed of or stored yet.

“What?”

Her eyes were cold, and also deadly. Gareth recognised this look. It was the true Ruby. Behind the unhinged facade was a calculated killer with little to no empathy and an ego the size of which Gareth had never seen. She truly believed herself to be above all others and would kill any that got in her way.

He decided to approach things carefully. A wrong word could get him killed.

“Who is Pyronis? You’ve said the name during one of your spells, but I didn’t know he was real.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Some god or something that gave me his blessing. I got a fire skill that had his name in it, and then after that he was able to talk to me. Asked me shit about this tutorial and seemed really interested in Leo.”

Gareth frowned. A god? Leo had mentioned that he received his dragon from a god but what did that even mean? That there were multiple gods, and they gave out blessings and dragons? This was all too confusing.

“Can’t say I really follow all too well,” Gareth spoke with no hint of disappointment. “What does all that matter though?”

The heat started to rise ever so slightly. “Ever since we met Leo it’s been all anyone talks about. “Save us Leo, fight for us Leo! You cleared the Tower, oh my god you’re so strong Leo.”” She was spitting the name with venom.

“Why is everyone so obsessed with him? He’s not all that special. Not like me.”

Ah. So this was why she was acting out.

So far in this tutorial she had been looked to as a source of true power. She had apparently protected that guy Nolan’s group when the tutorial first started, and since then she had taken care of any issues that his own group had come up against.

“He’s just a man,” Gareth started and instantly got Ruby’s attention. “A strong one—a bloody monster if I’m honest—but he’s just a man. We’ve been here, what? Less than three weeks? Out there he could be just another random guy. We don’t know what the world will be like in a month, a year, ten. Don’t get hung up on what happens here. Just focus on surviving.” He gave her a smile. “You’re still our ace.”

Ruby smiled at him. Chilling and warm at the same time.

“He’s just a man,” she repeated as if it were her favourite words. “I like it.”

“Okay! I’m happy. Let’s go back and sleep so I can burn some things tomorrow.”

Gareth felt like he’d somehow defused a bomb that was dangerously close to going off. It wasn’t the first time, and was unlikely to be the last.

Worth it to survive.

~

The sun had finished changing the sky from the dark night to the ever returning, cloudless bright blue.

Some had awoken already and moved out in groups back to the main camp. Others had been tasked in corpse disposal for the large number of antlings that were dead in the long stretch before the Tower. Leo ended up being one of the last to awaken and it wasn’t until Ashley kicked him in the leg did he actually get up.

“You could have just woken me normally,” Leo groaned, pretending to be hurt as he rubbed his leg.

“I did. You just slept through it. You’re lucky Lena isn’t here or you’d be currently drenched.”

Yeah, he did agree that being kicked was preferable to being drenched.

Leo was in the last group to go back and it didn’t take long for them all to return to camp. What awaited them was a perfectly normal camp with no signs of battle or invasion whilst they were away. A true relief.

The sounds of crafting could be heard echoing out as people were hauling corpses or materials between makeshift stalls and other storage locations. Leo loved this kind of atmosphere. It felt like being in a fantasy world. A world where he returned as a warrior to a small village of crafters, bringing his spoils to sell in order to pay his way in the world. He just needed to find a shady merchant to haggle with for secret potions.

The question was, what did he do now?

He wasn’t a crafter, and fighting some ants that were probably ten levels below him sounded like a boring way to spend a day, although grinding was never something he disliked in games, as long as the grind was worth it.

Just as he was contemplating what to do, a long overdue system message appeared before him. And based on everyone else stopping in place, it wasn’t only him who got it.

The crystal atop the East Tower has been destroyed.
The barrier will fall in five days, or sooner if the West Tower crystal is shattered.
Prepare yourselves. The Queen’s forces will no longer be suppressed by the shield.
Time to Collapse: 4 days, 12 hours.

Not too long to wait at least. In the meantime, Leo could focus on improving himself in other ways, mostly mana and stamina control. Definitely help Ellie get better at fighting too.

He could even assist Ron in scouting out areas of ambush and where to access the inner city that held such tantalising things. Plenty to do, once he actually thought about it.

Leo checked out the tutorial window for the first time in a while. He’d avoided looking at it due to the death count rising ever higher each day and it wasn’t any different today.

Time remaining: 46 days

Survivors: 305/1500

Almost 20% remained after just thirteen days.

With the rate it was currently going there would be a fraction of a percentage left at the end. It was tragic, but there was nothing more Leo could do. He’d protect those dear to him. And let’s be honest, anyone who needed it.

If he counted all the members of his camp and those of Gareth's he knew about, it was around sixty people. That wasn’t including how many people Gareth had crafting, if any.

The next day went fast, and was spent with Leo trying to turn his mana into magic. It was something that he enjoyed and could spend hours upon hours practicing.

What young boy didn’t dream of casting spells when growing up? Now he had the chance to do so. Perhaps if he practiced enough then he’d be offered a skill that would let him finally cast a fireball. Of course, it would probably be common rarity and passed up for some kind of punching skill but he hoped it would at least appear.

Time flowed quickly with another two days passing, this time he practiced fighting with Ellie and training up her attacks. It turned out she was a damn natural.

Even with Leo’s enhanced stats she was a force to be reckoned with. At least in her breath attacks. Her bite attacks, or chomps as Leo was forced to call them after a look from Ellie, were strong but highly telegraphed.

She was genuinely fighting to injure him without treating it like a game, which made Leo glad. The last thing he needed was for his companion to not realise how important it was to take things seriously.

Later in the day they talked about her free points that she would receive with each level and where to put them. It wasn’t easy to discuss with a dragon that didn’t speak English. Although she could comprehend his words, she couldn’t easily communicate back that “No. Leo doesn’t like Toughness so I don’t.”

When Leo had realised why she didn’t want to put points into it he couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. To hate Toughness as a stat was irrational, Leo could admit, and to try and get Ellie to at least put some points into it was a bit hypocritical. But she lacked Leo’s stat bonuses so she couldn’t be as fast or as healthy. With Toughness she would gain some kind of defense if she was hit.

Leo wasn’t looking forward to the day she took her first hit or began to bleed. On one hand he was hoping that he didn’t see red and lose it. And on the other he hoped she wouldn’t freeze and end up more injured. It might be worth having a conversation—or at least trying—about her getting hurt in the future and what to do when that happens.

Taking her out to fight some antlings herself could be a great idea actually. It would allow Leo to see just how capable she was and in an environment she was unlikely to be gravely hurt in.

“Hey, Ells.” Leo stopped her from chomping one of the rocks they were using for practice. She looked up at him with curious eyes.

“Want to go kill some ants? I think it would be good for you to get some practice fighting.”

She exploded in excitement, jumping around in circles before leaping into Leo’s arms. God’s she was cute.

Carrying his companion into the bustling camp, Leo walked along greeting those who would look at him—which wasn’t many. There was still fear and weariness when people interacted with him. Most of which he’d found out was due to his little bloodline exposure the other night. He tried to pay it no mind, but it did weigh on him when all he wanted was to protect them.

He didn’t idle for long. Time was ticking down so it was best to get out there and do this thing. If worst came to worst, his crystal would be enough to heal her entire pool of vitality.

He thought about informing Cecelia, but instead just told someone to give her a message. He wasn’t privy or included in much of the politics or leadership talk about camp dealings, he didn’t even know what was going on with Gareth and Ruby, as so far there had been no sign of them in the camp.

Leo just assumed he would be called upon when necessary. It wasn’t like he cared much about all that. He sort of liked the idea of being a secret weapon—if that was her intention. No doubt they would come up against some other humans before the end of this tutorial, so preparing now was likely something she had considered.

“I’m not sure how long it’ll take to find some ants for you to fight,” Leo said while the pair walked down a cobbled street. “Hopefully it’s not randomly a Goliath wandering around, that would be a tricky one to explain to Cece.”

Ellie just tried to sniff the air around her. Leo got the idea and used his Senses skill, something he’d neglected a little since getting them—just enjoying the passive bonus.

Ellie picked the scent up first, her head instantly locking onto whatever it was. Leo’s nose followed shortly after, it was the scent of dirt, but combined with a hint of blood and something else Leo couldn’t describe but knew it from experience.

It was an Antling.

Ellie darted off towards it before Leo could even react. She was so excited, running down the streets without a hint of stealth. He could feel the mana swirling inside her as her little feet rattled the ground. She was clearly preparing to engulf something in flames.

Chasing after a hyperactive dragon that had a better nose than he did proved a little challenging at first. She was darting and dodging along little alleyways like an ant-seeking rocket.

Coming into a slightly larger clearing that had some small houses and overgrown gardens, Leo had caught up with the little menace and looked upon her prey.

Three Antlings, two lesser and one Soldier were just wandering around—possibly patrolling. Leo tried to stop her from just diving straight in but she was too gung-ho. He was about to annihilate the ants but a quick identify made him pause.

Lesser Antling - Level 14

Lesser Antling - Level 13
Antling Soldier - Level 17

Pretty weak.

That was what Leo felt from seeing them. Ellie was a good number of levels above them so Leo just let her experience this herself. He’d be on constant alert of course, but this was something she needed to do.

Little did Leo know, this wasn’t going to be much of a learning experience of what injury or failure could be like. Nor was it a battle to train one’s skills.

This was a slaughter.