Carrie Duncan lunged forward, the tip of her rapier plunging into flesh as she ducked under the savage swing of her opponent’s blood-formed axe. Promptly, she yanked the weapon free and delivered a sharp kick to his midsection, making him gasp and stumble backwards.

Quickly, she capitalised on his brief moment of inactivity, and utilised the first Technique of her Ascendancy, grinning as her speed increased explosively, her own time accelerating. Blurring thrust after thrust tore into her foe, showering the expanse around them in his blood and forcing him on the defensive as he conjured an unending amount of small crimson shields to try and nullify the damage.

As her Technique finally expired in its duration, Carrie stumbled as she slowed down mid-attack, granting Ryan just enough of a respite to hit back in kind, smashing her across the cheek with a hammer of crystalised red, deciding to change his approach. A wet crack resounded and she flew off to the side, the man’s superior Strength enough to overpower her easily.

“You’re not going to win, Carrie. You know should know that.” He spoke, his face a mask of emotionlessness as regarded her.

His opponent managed to halt her momentum as she skimmed across the plains, and she returned to a low crouch, rubbing the rapidly darkening bruise across her cheek. Idly, she wiped away the blood oozing from her nose, “I’ve been doing pretty well so far.”

Off to the side of the battle, a small group watched on closely, intently invested in the victory of the blonde-haired woman and her subsequent survival. Mostly because it in turn would ultimately decide whether they lived or died.

The crowd was reduced to only five now, a vast contrast from their previous number in the thousands. Over the days of running and continued attacks, they had slowly fallen one by one. An especially large number had perished when the beast waves had resumed.

The battle between the two superhumans had raged on for over five minutes already, and if Carrie’s count in her head was accurate, there were roughly two minutes until the Tutorial ended and they were transported back home. She could only hope that their locations were individually randomised.

Ryan dashed toward her, and she parried a powerful swing from his great hammer, redirecting it just enough to cause the man’s weapon to ravage the earth beside her. Ignoring the explosion of dirt and grass, Carrie slid forward and caught Ryan with a brutal kick to his knee, shaking his balance and giving her enough time to twist her blade around and skewer his thigh.

He grimaced in pain and growled at her, and with a flick of his arm, he sent a slew of crimson daggers shooting her way. Frantically, she managed to deflect a handful, but ultimately her blade wasn’t meant for that kind of use, and several slipped past, embedding themselves in her body painfully.

Resorting to dirty tricks as her foe heaved his hammer in preparation for an overhead strike, she grasped a handful of dirt and loosed it at his face, blinding him as it landed.

Swiftly, Carrie extracted herself from the disadvantageous position and swung her blade across, the tip catching Ryan in the stomach and cleanly shaving through the flesh of his belly, rewarding her with a waterfall of blood. His organs too began to spill out, but a plate of controlled crimson solidified across the wound, clinging to his midsection and keeping his insides from becoming outsides.

Carrie pressed forward as her grievously wounded foe scraped the dust from his eyes and swiftly shifted his hammer into a sword as he swung it up to meet her follow-up attack. Their weapons clashed, and Carrie was shocked to find the blood from her adversary’s weapon melding around her around, keeping it locked in place.

She wasn’t given much time to lament on it as Ryan stepped into her guard and smashed his foot into her chest, studs of crimson goring her flesh and sending her flying back in bloody agony. She rolled a few meters before she stopped and propped herself up weakly on her elbows. Coughing up a mix of blood and bile, she watched her foe morph his bloody armament back into the brutal hammer it had been before.

“I told you, Carrie,” Ryan began, his eyes flashing a luminous crimson, albeit briefly, “You cannot win.”

Carrie looked over at the group she had fought so hard to protect, now only containing Kim and some other random people that had been put in the Tutorial with them. Hopefully, they’d get out safely after her sacrifice. And Ryan’s sacrifice too.

She hadn’t realised it earlier, but that was definitely not Ryan. She didn’t know what, but something insidious was hiding within him, controlling him. Twisting him.

“Ry-”

“Goodbye, Carrie.” Ryan cut her off and swung his hammer down with all his might, but both he and Carrie began to flicker with lightning. Just as the weapon reached his defeated foe, they both flashed from existence, a single prompt having appeared in their vision beforehand.

[The Tutorial has concluded. Welcome to the Multiverse.]

**

Jane Carter slid under the blow of the monstrosity before her and swiftly severed the offending limb with her katana, showering her body in its radiant green blood. She wasted no time as she spun around and avoided its other arm, simultaneously unleashing a slew of kunai at the beasts’ eyes, forcing it to back away while she pressed forward, the tails of her blindfold flapping in the wind.

Behind her, a crowd of people cheered her fight onward, exciting themselves in the act of their fellow warrior’s honourable combat. They too were armed with katanas, some even wearing traditional Gi’s as they had been taken to the Tutorial part way through their personal training sessions, like Jane herself had been.

And even further behind all of them stood a duo of elderly looking Treants, watching the fight unfold with interest, evidently invested in the growth potential of this human they had been tasked to watch over. While they were not privy to the other situations in the other instances of the Tutorial, they felt confident that she was to be one of, if not the most powerful human on the planet when the Tutorial concluded within the next two minutes.

They dearly hoped she was, as the System personally granted the Tutorial overseers with the highest performing Tutorial takers with rare Treasures and items. And sometimes, in the case of an incredibly outstanding individual appearing, they’d even get a chance at gaining a mythical ‘User Tailored Treasure’, a special variant of the usual Treasures that had the potential to both ensure a boundless future for the devourer and grant them a rare and powerful title.

Needless to say, entire civilisations had been extinguished over UTT’s that even remotely seemed compatible to the powerful individuals that sought them.

That aside, they were rather curious about the happenings within other Tutorials and would get to find out about them soon, being currently barred from communication with other overseers. Despite that, they had heard word through the cosmic grapevine that a pair of overseers had abandoned their Tutorial station due to some mysterious issue with the Compendiums they had been supplied. The overseers of Jane’s Tutorial severely doubted the plausibility of such a blasphemous excuse.

Their initiates were probably such a sorry sight that they felt themselves forced to leave.

Turning their attention back to the star Tutorial taker, they looked on in admiration as a mere level 10 human with a temporary Common Ascendancy fought toe to toe with a beast twice her own level using skill alone, her Stats far from matching the simple-minded creature. Her skills would serve her well in the new world, especially since many of the beasts would have levels in the lower range of F-Grade for the next year or so.

Not all would, but there would be some.

Together they smiled, however invisible the expression remained to outsiders of their race, as she utilised the only Technique she had access to. Rapidly, as she carved into the beast and it once more set its eyes on her, she disappeared in a puff of yellowed smoke, reappearing behind the creature in an instant and sinking her blade down to the hilt as it plummeted through the monster’s skull, murdering it outright.

While she would replace her Ascendancy hopefully with a better one when she returned to her homeworld, her Ascent - or path to power since the Great Root’s integration - would serve as a messy blueprint to guide the direction and base abilities of her next Ascendancy. Chances were, she’d maintain her current Technique, though the Stat distribution might alter slightly.

Either way, as the beast fell to the ground limp, and the crowd of honourable warriors around her cheered as they began to flicker with lightning of green and blue, the Treant’s bid her well in her future endeavours, eager to reap the rewards they have sowed.

A single prompt appeared in Jane’s mind as she let a small victorious smile slide across her face.

[The Tutorial has concluded. Welcome to the Multiverse.]

**

Harry Hoffman watched on as his hero severed the head of the beast assaulting him before hastily moving on to the other monsters along the defensive line, easing up the pressure they placed on the other men and women tirelessly fighting to protect those unfit for combat. He was left in awe at the feats of superhuman abilities, but nonetheless felt sour that he was barred from being able to participate.

Unanimously, those in the Tutorial had agreed that anyone under the age of eighteen was outright banned from actively taking part in combat against the beast waves. Harry was only a few months off from turning eighteen and found it unforgivingly unfair. He too wanted to carve through beasts and be like the heroes he had watched from afar for the past month or so.

The only solace he found was in that he was allowed an Ascendancy, due to it being mandatory. When the more prominent members of their Tutorial had maxed out their levels at ten, he was taken on a heavily guarded escort with others his age to fight against beasts, at least until their levels had also been maxed.

It wasn’t ideal, and many of those around him found combat to be a sickening process, whether it be due to the blood or the stress, but at least they wouldn’t be totally defenceless after the Tutorial ended.

Harry knew all too well how these things went after all. He’d watched anime before.

He for one wasn’t disgusted by the blood and the gore and the terrifying beasts, though he did find his heart rate accelerating rapidly at the sight of any of the three. He wasn’t ill, or numb, he just understood. Understood that this was their world now, and they would either adapt or die. It was a simple thing really.

Law of the jungle, baby.

Often, before the events of current, Harry had frequently fantasised about such System-like happenings, imaging himself as the man who survived against all odds and rose up to prominence in the new world that would ensue in its wake. Though, he doubted that dream would come to pass with the rules set by those older around him. And even when the Tutorial ended, he didn’t hold much hope. His ma was the reason why.

His ma could be a bit… overbearing and overprotective, at times. Namely, all of them. His friends often called her ‘the helicopter’, and while he didn’t like the name they made for her, he wasn’t inclined to disagree.

Although he had no idea how the other Tutorials were going, and the pair of Treants overseeing their own wouldn’t spill even when he had asked nicely, Harry felt pretty confident that the most powerful person in their Tutorial, Calvin, was probably one of the strongest in the world, if not sitting in the higher echelon of power.

He committed incredible feats daily, but the man was really just trying to pull it together. Harry wasn’t exactly the best at reading people, but he could tell that the man was only being the strongest for the sake of the people.

He might continue to pursue power for their sake when the Tutorial ended, or he might just hang it up on his mantle. Though, knowing how these types of things played out, Harry doubted anyone would ever truly be safe, even if you were constantly growing in power.

Silently, he observed the warriors as they cut and carved through the beast wave, protecting them all behind a veil of bloodshed. He wished to battle alongside them, to be regarded as a hero like they were. And maybe, one day, he would. But for now, he would not.

“Hey Hazzy, you want some alien fruit?” Not while his ma was here watching over him.

“No ma, I’m good. What I want is to be out there, helping those people.” He replied idly, chin resting in hand. He said that, yet he still reached for one of the aforementioned mentioned fruits. The boy liked his food, after all. That’s why it was a surprise to all his peers at how lanky he was.

Abruptly, he heard an aggravated sigh leave his mother’s throat and he looked over just as she pulled the worn wooden spoon from the pot she had made good use of since the beginning of the Tutorial. Eyes wide, Harry frantically scrambled back, much to the amusement of the others around them. They had long gotten used to their family antics.

“No ma! Not the spoon! It was an accident, I swear!” Frowning deeply, his ma grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him into her flogging range. Immediately afterwards, she swung the improvised death weapon down to meet his cargo panted ass.

Luckily, a prompt appeared in Harry’s vision and the two of them disappeared in a storm of lightning mere moments before it landed. It was a good thing too, cause it would have been painful. Very painful.

[The Tutorial has concluded. Welcome to the Multiverse.]