Shen was taken from his meditations by a soundless chime. He couldn't tell what it was, but something demanded his attention and cut through his focus like a hot knife. All his thoughts stopped, and his inner peace crumbled.

He opened his eyes to see a system message.

Tutorial - 3rd Stage

The end of the stage draws near.

This time, the final boss is making the best decision for your Path and having the means to see it through to the end.

You have 2 minutes.

A countdown appeared on the top side of Shen's vision.

Tutorial - 3rd Stage

If you want to progress with a team, name nine teammates.

All ten members of a team must name each other. If more or fewer names are listed by any team member, the entire group will be expelled from the tutorial.

You can add or remove people from your list by clearly stating your will.

Your list will be visible to you on the right side of your vision. You cannot see the list of other people in your group.

That looked simple enough. It left some space for revenge, making it harder to force or coerce people to join a group.

Even if Shen wanted, he couldn't take that path anymore. He had lost himself in meditation and was out of time to make connections.

Tutorial - 3rd Stage

If you wish to progress alone, you must proceed to the AP Arena and be there by the end of the countdown.

The AP Arena is currently disabled. After the countdown concludes, the AP Arena will be reactivated with special rules for one hour.

At the end of that hour, the 10% of fighters with the most net worth will proceed to the next stage.

Net worth, in this case, only considers AP gained and lost in the AP Arena until now or in the incoming fight.

The percentage will be calculated using everyone who entered the AP Arena in this stage, not just those who choose to go alone. If anyone in the top 10% doesn't join the final battle, their spots will be given to the next person.

For instance, let's suppose 100 people fought in the AP Arena at least once during this stage.

That means there would be 10 spots to progress to the next stage.

If 10 people joined the final battle, all 10 might progress to the next stage.

If 11 or more joined, the 10 with the most net worth at the end of the battle will progress.

If someone with enough points to be in the top 10 chose to proceed with a team instead, their spot would be given to the next person with the most next worth.

Those who join the final battle but don't make the cut will be expelled from the tutorial.

That was the first time they were told participation in the AP Arena by anyone in the entire stage increased the odds for those who wanted to fight alone. Shen had been under the impression that only the top ten percent who joined the final battle would progress.

That changed things. It made the battle a lot easier, and he could predict some groups would find themselves missing a more ambitious member.

"Teleport to Alicia Winter," he said and was surprised to appear in the AP Arena's battlefield.

The place was disabled, so people's net worth wasn't showing above their heads. Alicia was close to the middle though—definitely a princess.

Alicia had a sheathed dagger hanging from a belt on her waist. She smiled when she saw him. "Finally awake!" It seemed the restrictions on talking on the battlefield were also gone.

They had little time, and he wanted to talk to her. But not here. His Concept of War and memories from his past told him that staying there would be a bad idea.

"Come to my room," Shen said and teleported away.

She appeared a moment later, already in his room because he had previously given her permission to enter. "What's this about?"

"Cultivator tournaments have something called the dark hour," he explained. "Until the tournament starts, maiming or killing competitors is not uncommon. The perpetrators are almost always found and punished, but that almost is a line of hope for some. It's safer for us in here. Let's leave when five seconds are remaining in the countdown."

Realization dawned on her face. "Oh, that makes sense. And now that people can talk in the Arena, they could talk to enough people and quickly form a big executioner team. They could kill us without dying from the double damage return."

"Yes. I didn't see Mark when I stopped meditating."

"He left the tutorial, but he said your secret is safe with him."

"He left? Really?" Shen hadn't seen that coming.

"Getting his madness healed... It changed him. It unlocked memories that made him suffer. He clearly couldn't continue."

Shen didn't know how to feel about it. If Mark had remained in the tutorial, he would know if the boy betrayed him. But now, he might come out of the tutorial and find out everyone on Earth knew about it—if Alicia's claims about instant information sharing tech weren't an exaggeration.

One minute remaining.

"It is as it is," he concluded and saw his spoils of war at the corner. He approached and grabbed the backpack. "I almost forgot, do you want armor or to check the robe I got from a middle boss?"

"I don't care for armor, no, but you never told me what the cloak and the robe do," she replied.

Shen pulled the black cloak he had been wearing when she approached. "This one has anti-wear and face-hiding enchantments, but it limits the field of view." He pulled the black robe. "This one has anti-wear and dark-magic enhancing enchantments, but it limits mobility."

"Not interested," she concluded. "I need to run in the battle." She patted the knife on her waist.

"I was surprised to see you in the Arena," Shen pointed out.

Alicia shrugged. "I want to follow you, so I need to grow stronger and learn to fight, or I'll become a liability. I also realized I'm not that bad in the middle boss."

He nodded. Growing stronger was rarely a bad decision. "Good luck."

"You too!"

Five seconds left.

"Teleport to AP Arena," both said at the same time.

They were received by a system message as soon as they arrived at the Arena.

Tutorial - 3rd Stage

"To exist is to exclude others. We exclude others from the very physical space we occupy. We exclude others from the things we alone own. We exclude others from the possibility of having our own unique existence. To deny this simple truth is to exclude the whole truth from our Path, thus crippling ourselves until we remedy such shortcoming. No being can Ascend without facing both the beauty and ugliness of their entire existence."

- Magister of Choices (A)

The words from the Magister of Choices created a considerable commotion when uttered. Today, they are accepted as a fundamental truth.

None can take your place without removing you from it. When you're strong, you are envied and must protect yourself. When you're weak, you must take out the strong who bar the way to accomplish your dreams.

Today, you must do whatever is needed to move forth, even at the cost of crushing others.

There are 36,012 competitors in this battle.

There are 15,227 spots to move to the next stage.

Shen didn't have the time to wonder about the Magister's wisdom, but he was no strange to the path to the top being for a few. Cultivators required resources at higher levels, and not everyone could get them. It was inevitable for disputes to arise.

The dispute here would be pretty mild. A little less than one in every two competitors would go to the next stage. That wasn't too bad.

Tutorial - 3rd Stage

Two paths were in front of you: the path of union and the path of supremacy. The fight against the Void requires those willing to walk either.

Others sought to strengthen their position with numbers. You trusted your power more than anything.

This battle will have a time limit of one hour.

All competitors will have infinite energy and, upon conclusion of a battle, will recover lost HP and spent willpower. Whoever dies will be instantly revived.

Just like in the AP Arena, you can point your finger at whoever you want, and you will fight them one-on-one.

Unlike in the AP Arena, all fights are for 100 AP, or as close to that amount as possible.

For instance, if two people with 100 AP or more fight each other, whoever wins will get 100 AP.

If someone with 99 AP or less wins against another with 100 AP or more, they will be rewarded 100 AP. If they lose instead, they will lose their remaining AP.

You need at least 1 AP to be eligible for the next stage, even if there are unfilled spots. Unfilled spots will be lost.

Win trading is allowed. Talking is allowed.

You will see the AP needed to pass on the top right corner of your vision. It will be constantly updated to accommodate for net worth change among participants.

A new countdown for one hour appeared on the top side of Shen's vision. The text "12,992 AP required" appeared on the top right.

Shen liked those rules. It made things move faster, and both gave whoever had dedicated themselves to the Arena an advantage and let those who hadn't devoted as much a shot at making it. It also wasn't strange for it to have social aspects in a place like the third stage.

He looked at Alicia's net worth, 7,722. She needed a little over 5,000 points to make the cut.

The system's translation function let him know a modern hour had sixty minutes. To get 5,000 AP, she would require 50 victories—a little less than one per minute on average—without losing a single time.

That sounded doable yet also failable. Fortunately, Shen could help.

The net worth needed to pass could change. For instance, it would decrease if everyone targeted whoever was close to the stated amount.

"Focus on whoever has less AP, but above one hundred," he told Alicia as chaos descended.

She was close enough that needed AP, and those people were theoretically the easiest to defeat. If she found a dark horse, she would lose 100 AP and recover it in the next fight.

Shen had a slightly different idea. He used his Lion's Roar and said, "Whoever has a friend close to the mark, kill those just above the line to lower it and make it easier for them!"

He certainly wasn't the only one in such a situation. One hour was thirty-six hundred seconds. Shen could defeat a lot of people in that amount of time, but he would appreciate any help.

He looked around and saw a girl with a little over 13,000 AP. He pointed at her, then sprinted at the girl, who was surprised at the sudden attack. Unlike during the stage, there was no preparation for fights here. You got separated from the others, and the battle started instantly.

His Gale Footwork, fueled by Boundless Qi, let Shen get beside his foe in less than a second. His Sharp Spear decapitated her.

There was no resistance, no hesitation, no complex strategy. Only the tyranny of superior power and skills.

He got 100 AP in precisely one second.

He looked around only long enough to find another with fourteen hundred AP nearby. He pointed and attacked.

Alicia might want to grow stronger to walk beside him, which was honorable. But she seemed unaware of one thing: being connected to stronger beings was a power in itself. One she had.

After his meditation, Shen found himself faster, stronger, and more effective than before.

He became a hurricane of death.

Alicia had improved.

Eight fireballs flew against her unarmored opponent. She controlled them all at will. Her willpower met their soul, and she forced their face to burn.

She had recently started taking advantage of the pain and disabilities she caused with her attacks. People staggered when their faces melted, and blind or deaf opponents fought much worse.

It was a bit cruel, but Shen had told her back in the forest in the second stage that it was one thing to fight honorably and another to die stupidly. You did whatever you needed to do to bring an enemy down. You shouldn't involve others, like their families or friends, and you should avoid affecting innocent bystanders with your abilities, but that was about it. Unless the other party surrendered, everything was game.

"Maybe the tutorial is different because we can revive," he had said. "But a fight is usually a struggle of life and death. Many times, the right thing to do is to avoid direct conflict, but once it has started, do your very best to bring your enemy down, for they will do the same to you."

Those words had resonated with her at the time, but only conceptually. She could see how her relatives had seen her as an enemy to be brought down. She could see how her life had been forced to change once she lost.

But it was only in the AP Arena, when she had decided to bet on her future on herself, that Alicia had understood what it meant.

Everyone wanted to keep going, but not everyone could. To be merciful to her enemies was to be merciless to her own dreams.

She rushed at her enemy, her black-bladed F- dagger on her hand, and pushed it into his throat while he was blind from the fireballs.

She had no time to waste, so she looked around and picked the person with less AP around.

She would succeed.