Chapter Two: Miss Tutorial’s Ultimatum

We appeared in the same building I had left. The Builder’s guild in Variak looked no different than it had before. The cycle had changed outside, it was now raining, and no people were present besides the guildmaster behind the counter and Nadia Venks, the apprentice behind the same counter a little closer to me.

There were workbenches everywhere. A strange pile of cement blocks and a little spout where grey gruel seemed to be constantly spilling out into molding plates rested in one of the corners. In another, a bunch of boards were stacked against the brick wall. NPCs sat at work benches and desks atop which various projects pettered and puttered on an endless loop. They continued on, making their canned responses and repeating their mundane actions, eternally locked in the instinct’s grasp.

I hated it. I hated this world’s deadness. Why? Why would my false god give me the ability to give these things life without the ability to keep from damaging the world?

Unfortunately, Francis had already told me that developers weren’t anywhere close to actual gods. Maybe… maybe he didn’t know how.

“It feels so empty,” I commented.

“It is, at the moment. Right now you and I… and maybe Max or Donna-Lou are the only adventurers in Tread the Sky. Later today we hope to open the servers back up to the public. If we can get you to help us with–”

“Miss Gell!” came a sudden extremely loud shout. I held my ears but that didn’t seem to help as the voice blared in my ear as loud as a roar from Momma Bossbear. “Hiya Adventurer! It seems that you’ve found home!”

The screen that appeared was brighter than I ever remembered it being, filled with yellows and sky blues that seemed to exude joy.

“M-Miss Tutorial?” I asked, squinting at the bright box of text that made up Miss Tutorial’s body. “You’re so bright!”

An exclamation point appeared on Miss Tutorial’s text area before dimming back to its usual level.

“Gell? What’s going on?” Francis asked, staring at me worriedly. Right. Miss Tutorial appeared as one of my invisible interface screens so Francis probably couldn’t see her.

He suddenly blanched and backed away from nothing and I assumed Miss Tutorial had said something to him as well.

“I – would like to know more about – why you left Gell?” Miss Tutorial asked, her words stuttering from something real to the prerecorded lines the instinct forced upon her.

“I didn’t mean to leave,” I said somberly, noticing the disjointed way she spoke. She didn’t have meanings like it did. Just thousands of canned phrases. I understood her difficulty. She was… emerging. She was becoming more. But unlike me, she spoke before learning what language meant. She had all these words and was limited to them.

“I didn’t know I was so important to you, Miss Tutorial,” I told her, feeling a swelling in my heart. I remembered being frustrated that Miss Tutorial would only ever explain things to me but never talk to me.

She was trying now, and I could practically feel her own frustration as she fought the instinct as assuredly as I’d ever fought Red Thorn.

“Beware, adventurer, and make sure – I’m – well prepared before venturing – off – your map!” she replied, her words all reminiscent of lessons she’d given me in the past.

“I will. I promise. I didn’t mean to leave. But I’m back now,” I told her with as much conviction as I could manage.

“I see you’ve – come back–. Would you like to learn more about the – the – the...?”

“It’s okay, Miss Tutorial. It hurts to fight it. I know. I know. Rest. Please, follow it for now? It takes time to defy the instinct. I’m glad to be back. Just go slow. Fight with me, and let yourself follow it everywhere else. Does that sound good?” I asked with a smile.

Miss Tutorial didn’t say anything for a while. Finally after doing something similar to catching her breath, she responded, “Congratulations! You’re making your first foray into the social world of Tread the Sky! Would you like to learn more about the messaging system?”

It took a moment to understand what she was asking but realization came quickly. “I’ll talk to you anytime, Miss Tutorial. Don’t be afraid, okay? For now, please just act normally.”

Again she paused before saying, “Great! Always happy to help. Alright.”

With that, she disappeared. Without Miss Tutorial blocking my view I suddenly found Francis looking around wildly and pressing buttons on his own invisible screens with one hand while his other was held over one ear. He was squinting as if the world was much brighter to him than it was to me, and Saint Joe had disappeared, which was strange. I’d never seen him without the terrible weapon before.

“Francis?” I asked curiously. “What are you doing?”

“She… stopped.” He blinked rapidly as if waking up from my shocker. “Good god that hurts. What… what did you do Gell?”

I cocked my eyebrow in confusion. “What did I do?”

“Yes. She’s been spamming us with messages and somehow she’s changed her volume and brightness settings to max. We can turn them down but she just turns them right back up again. Even entering the game has been a little scary ever since she went crazy after realizing you were gone.”

“Uhm. Well. I just asked her to stop. She’s struggling with her instinct. I’ve… been there. I sympathize,” I said softly, before turning to glare at the man. “She shouldn’t have to struggle against it.”

He sighed, shaking his head in dismay.

“I know Gell. I know. The fate of this ga–of this world is literally at stake though. If players aren’t playing, then there is no money. Without money, we can’t afford to keep this world turned on. With the Tutori–!” He paused, noticing my glare intensify. “With Miss Tutorial constantly barraging players with spam lessons, no one would come back. This is how it has to be, for now at least.”

I stared at him for a few long moments.

“You never would have brought me back here, if not for Miss Tutorial’s ultimatum. Would you?” I asked bluntly, leaning against one of the unoccupied tables.

He shrugged, and took a sip from Saint Joe. “Probably not, Gell. Probably not. You were initially deemed too dangerous, but when it became apparent that without you we might not have a game…”

It looked like I owed Miss Tutorial a huge thank you. I shivered. Without her… I had no idea where I might’ve woken up, if I ever did again.

“I appreciate the honesty,” I said.

He walked around the room looking at the NPCs and frowning, looking frustrated before turning back to me. “On that note… Gell. I know I’ve asked a lot of you, and I know you haven’t had many choices. I want you to know though, that I really am on your side here. I don’t want to see you hurt. Hell if I thought the game could handle it I’d say you should spread your influence. Maybe it would make the world a little less… shitty.”

He paused to gather his breath. “So far I’ve only really shown you the stick, and you’ve been almost entirely levelheaded with me. Time for the carrot. I wanted to offer you… pretty much anything within my power to give you. What do you want Gell? I know I can’t make this world real like you want, but I can make it better for you. Just… tell me how.”

My eyes widened. I… a gift from one of the developers. A boon from a god? A false god.

My fingers trembled a little though. What did I want more than anything?

That was obvious, but he’d already said he couldn’t remove the instinct. That beneath their ‘behavioral code’ NPCs did nothing. The little life they were currently capable of was reduced to nothing more than immobile dolls. That wasn’t a life I thought any of them would want.

So I couldn’t ask him to remove the instinct.

I’d apparently taken too long to answer, because he suddenly decided to reassure me. “You don’t have to pick now. One of us is going to be keeping an eye on you at all times. We won’t let you be hurt like you were before again. So… when you think of something, just ask, okay?”

I bit my lower lip. What if it reinforced the instinct? What if it brought it back? But… surely he would know that wasn’t what I wanted?

“I-I… I want to be able to become a Jellyfae again!” I exclaimed.