As the seconds counted down towards the end of the tutorial, Tyler found himself joining a growing crowd behind the guild building. At first he had simply watched from afar, but as the hundreds of adventurers continued to converge, it became more and more clear that somebody was guiding them. Having killed his final monster, a simple level 1 goblin that felt rather anti-climactic given his earlier battles, Tyler had headed straight to the guild to hand in the 2 completed quests, and accept his rewards. A final rushed monster quest did hold some appeal, but he decided against it, settling instead for a final run through the merchants stores. The pay outs for each quest, not to mention selling the wyvern corpse, had been substantial to say the least, leaving Tyler with a frankly ridiculous amount of coin to spend. Given the warnings that the merchants would be restricted to what his own planet could product after the tutorial, he had splurged. The biggest purchase, costing 20 silver, was a replacement for his ruined cloak. This new one was so good, Tyler found himself surprised it still classed as F rank. In addition to its style, the all black hooded robe was something from his childhood star wars fantasy's, it carried multiple enchantments. Temperature regulation, meaning he could wear it in the hot or cold comfortably, self-repair, meaning he shouldn’t have to replace it, and best of all, concealment. This last enchantment made it so as long as he was wearing the cloak, nobody at F rank could scan his stats. His trip to the spell crafters had been, informative. Rather than loading up on combat spells, Tyler had instead gone for utility in an effort to ensure his survival

[Spell: Analyse F-1 learned]

[Spell: Aura Control F-1 learned]

[Spell: Purify Water F-1 learned]

[Spell: Cleanse F-1 learned]

[Spell: Detoxify F-1 learned]

[Spell: Mana Sheld F-1 learned]

Despite the merchants obvious glee as Tyler handed over 3 Gold coins, he maintained that this was a good deal. The spells all had a solid benfit and would save him money in the long run. The problem was levelling them up. Despite their excessive use over the tutorial, neither fire nor water arrow had risen from F-1 rank. That wasn’t a big deal in and of itself, it had only been a week after all, but cleanse and detoxify especially he wanted as high as possible. Earth was apparently going to be an E ranked planet when they were sent back. That meant both F and E ranked monsters. If any of the E ranked monsters had poisons or something similar, he wanted the ability to clear them. His bodies natural healing was so good that he didn’t think injuries would be a problem, but a strong poison could still kill him. Aura control was the most unique spell in his new repertoire. Unlike the others, it did not need to be cast. Instead the second he learned it, the spell activated. Standing in the middle of the merchant floor, he was momentarily forced to his knees as he suddenly felt the presence of thousands of other beings. Every being with mana would by their very nature, project an aura. Unless you had an aura power, like his new aura control, then you would never know. His power would not only allow him to sense other people or monsters around him, but also exert a certain level of control over how his own aura was released. As it levelled up, the merchant assured him that he could retract it almost to the point of being impossible to detect. He had rounded out his shopping trip by adding a third storage ring, this one full to the brim with various food options, and finally the blacksmiths. Unlike earlier in the week, Tyler was now fairly confident with his sword. He wasn’t great, not by any stretch, but he was good enough that he knew he would be sticking with it as his primary weapon. He had therefore brought several copies of his existing blade to keep in his inventory, just in case he ever damaged one. The wyvern fight had made it clear that was a real possibility. He had briefly hoped for some form of enchanted sword, or at least one that offered some form of perk, but the smith had killed that dream quickly. While magical swords did exist, they could only be made by blacksmiths and enchanters who had reached at least C rank, and even then it was difficult unless they had invested in growing their mana pool. As a result, the blades were treasured items to those that owned them, rarely available for sale. His best bet was apparently to climb the ranks and prove himself to a strong clan. Tyler had no idea what a clan was, but the smith simply smirked and ushered him out the door when he asked. That was how Tyler found himself sitting against the town wall, randomly using his analyse ability as people walked past. The results had been a little shocking, with the highest level he had so far seen being level 6. Tyler was only level 10 himself, but he knew the amount of XP needed in those 4 levels alone was huge. It took a lot of mental effort to not allow himself to get cocky. It was, he told himself, quite possible the higher levelled people were still out hunting, or relaxing somewhere else. It was as he analysed these people that he originally noticed the growing crowd. He slipped in with the final few stragglers, just in time for the increasingly familiar screen to pop up in front of everyone there.

[Tutorial complete.]

[Your performance will now be evaluated]

As that screen minimised, an older man stepped out onto a balcony above them. Dressed in what appeared to be the male version of the guild receptionist uniform, he walked with an air of authority that defied his small height. While Tyler couldn’t analyse from this distance, and suspected it would fail anyway based on levels alone, he was fairly certain the man was a dwarf. That opened up serious possibilities, and he battled the sudden elf based fantasies that popped into his mind.

“Good evening participants, and congratulations on surviving the tutorial”

His voice was deep and Tyler assumed he must be using some form of magic to ensure it carried so far.

“For those of you that have not seen me before, I am Khemel Steelblade, the guild master of this facility. This means it falls to me to give you your final briefing before returning you to your planet to begin your new lives in earnest.”

He looked around the crowd, centuries of training allowing him to easily pick out the ones that be most likely to gain some level of success. Khemel hadn’t given up reaching the pinnacle, but had taken the guildmaster job on reaching C rank at the behest of his clan. Didn’t mean he liked it though.

“Now, you were all informed that while you were here with us in the tutorial, your planet was been activated, and forcibly ascended to E rank. This is true and has been completed, however, there was one part that was not shared. The tutorial planet is subjected to powerful temporal magics. I won’t waste time with long winded stories, all that matters is that for every day you have spent here, nearly 1000 years have passed on your planet.”

He waited while that settled through the crowd, before finally calling out for silence

“This does not change the job in front of you. The planet is the same, only much older in order to process the levels of mana it now produces. Now with that amount of time, obviously any structures or infrastructure that may have been there before, will be long gone. In addition, the various magical beasts have had centuries to build nests, establish hunting grounds or just breed like an incubus celebrating his ascending. Now when I signal, you will receive your rating for how you performed during the tutorial.”

He stopped speaking, and nodded to the woman standing behind him. All of a sudden Tyler’s focus was pulled as the screen appeared once more.

[Evaluation complete]

[Tutorial performance ranked as: D]

[5000xp awarded]

[Title: Tutorial:D awarded]

[Tutorial:D - D rank performance during Project MICHAEL tutorial. +1 to all stats]

Tyler found himself cursing a little. He had killed over 1000 monsters, including a wyvern. Risen to level 10. Still he only got a D rank. He hoped the scale was different than earth schools, as otherwise he had failed. Looking around at the other faces, he clearly wasn’t the only one. Nobody looked happy. Still +1 to all stats was a decent enough reward. Wanting to see what that actually meant, he pulled up his stat screen

Character Sheet - Tyler Allen Gender Male Race Unique* Level 10 Class Warrior Karma 0.00 Ranking F Titles Tutorial: Rank D ¦ Health 4000 Health Regeneration 150/s Stamina 4000 Stamina Regeneration 150/s Mana ++++ Mana Regeneration 750/s Constitution 7 Vitality 6 Strength 7 Endurance 6 Intelligence 7 Wisdom 6 Spells & Abilities Sword mastery F-1 ¦ Water Arrow F-1 ¦ Fire Arrow F-1 ¦ Analyse F-1 ¦ Aura Control F-1 ¦ Purify Water F-1 ¦ Cleanse F-1 ¦ Detoxify F-1 ¦ Mana Sheld F-1 ¦

He had barely finished reading through when the guildmaster began speaking once again

“You have 5 minutes before the transfer back to earth happens so quiet down and let me finish.”

He waited until everyone was silent before starting up once more.

“As I said, your planet is now returned to the wilderness, it is the home of beasts first and foremost. When you are transferred back, the various guild sites that have been home to your people for the last week will also be transferred. It will be up to you to locate the nearest guild. In addition to the guilds, the towns will be lightly populated by various peoples like myself, who have volunteered to serve positions while your planet establishes itself into the wider universe. These will be guildmasters, crafters, or if your planet shows promise, clan houses. Clans are a key part of the wider universe, grouping together individuals to pool resources and rise the ranks together. Typically anyone over E rank will be in a clan. Let me make this clear now, the clans are law. If a clan establishes itself on your planet and takes leadership of your town, you will expected to follow that clans rules as if you were a member. If the clan exiles you, then you will have to move. It is therefore in your best interest to not piss anyone off, lest you regret the consequences later down the line.”

Once again the crowd broke into conversation, questioning what he had just said while not really knowing anything about it.

“One final warning before you return. You may think you have power now. You do not. You are children about to dive into a world many times greater than you can imagine. My advice, find a guild office, hunt monsters, craft, whatever. You must level up. One year from today, the portals will open. This will allow others to travel to your planet, or if you are strong enough, you to travel elsewhere in the universe. You do not want to be under level 25 when this happens. Best of luck.”

He turned and walked back inside, but as soon as the crowd started shouting questions, the screen appeared once more.

[Tutorial complete]

[Planetary transfer: Initialising]

[5…]

[4…]

[3…]

[2…]

[1…]

[Transferring to planet: Earth]