“In the open potential exam, you are given up to nine materials. The quality of your final result and the difficulty of the task increase with each material. Your reward depends solely on your abilities. You have only one try.”

The tutorial gave him a breather. Until a troll bone appeared. He absorbed its essence and got yet another familiar material, the pearl from the last round. After absorbing its essence too, an eagle beak appeared.

Its violent thunder essence burned Alexs mana and he had to use up a lot than he liked. Afterward, his concentration was still high, so he kept ongoing.

Fourth came a mineral. It was as hard as the pearl, but Alex managed to absorb this energy without too much of an issue. Meanwhile, the different essences in his body were started clashing with one another. Alex had to invest a lot of his mana to keep them tame. Now his reserves were barely enough to try the fifth material but he wanted to see it at the very least.

Next came a wing with purple scales. This material had wild and ethereal essence. He didn´t use a lot of mana but after 2 minutes he got a headache from hunting the essence. It was absurd, that the energy could be this hard to catch. His mind was completely immersed.

Alex wanted to give it a little longer, before forming his spellstone. It frustrated him. He poured the mana that kept the essences in his body in check, into the wings. He couldn´t keep that up for long. His forehead became sweaty but he endured, as his hands hurt more and more.

He roared and swept his mana in every direction of the wings in the last attempt. Consequently, he caught essence and could finally absorb it.

After that one thing was certain. He could not refine another material. So instead he summoned all the essences on his palm and fused them one after the other. First, he fused the silver-grey essences and then the wind and thunder essence. Alex noticed how the strength increased during the fusion process. To top it all of, he combined the resulting two with the life energy, resulting in a spellstone. As the design, he choose the wings of the fifth material. That seemed like a good idea at first.

His anticipation intoxicated him as he felt the power of the spellstone condensing. A small statue of two wings attached to each other solidified. They looked a little strange. The shape of the wings lacked finesse and they looked sturdy. To top it all off had a dull and rectangular end.

Nevertheless, Alex couldn't wait to use them. He grabbed the statue, put it on his back, and fused with it. A feeling of extraordinary power emitted from below his shoulder blades.

“Congratulations, you have successfully formed and absorbed the spellstone. That completes the fifth floor.”

All Alex had to do was pour the last pieces of mana into the small mark on his back and two wings ripped his clothes apart. He could have thought a moment about that. The pair of wings flapped for the first time. They moved as naturally as any arm or leg. Their appearance was just like the spellstone.

Their flexibility was incredible. He could roll them and move in any direction. They lacked any kind of bone or joint. Then he tried flying. That should be easy, Alex thought. Yet his assumption was wrong. He could flap as much as he wanted and change the angles of the wings. He stayed on the ground. He bounced around and tried to hover briefly but his attempts remained futile.

Alex was severely disappointed and doubt crept into his mind. He had to find another use for them, maybe as a shield. He rammed them into the ground. The ground below him cracked. At the very least that was a success.

“Damaging the fifth floor will not be tolerated. You will now return to your place of origin.”

Without another word, Alex was brought back to his room. Next to him stood his backpack. He then summoned his wings again and tried them out. He did that for 10 minutes until his mana was empty. It was like a great toy he got from Christmas.

He was excited but waited patiently for his mana to restore. Then nothing kept him in his room. He went straight back to the tutorial. Under his feet was another stone circle and in the distance, he saw a bigger stone circle. This one was even bigger than the sword ant arena on the second floor.

“The sixth floor will consist of a duel. Defeat the champion. Your opponent is in the circle in front of you. You can escape from the fight if you leave the stone circle. You can return to your place of origin by returning to the circle beneath your feet.”

He grinned. That was the same task and design as the second floor. Interesting that they didn´t even create a new unique floor. Only the size of the arena and the difficulty differed. He was already on the sixth floor, what would be waiting for him?

Alex didn't wait at all but went into the ring with his glaive. After entering he held his breath. In front of him stood an enormous monster. It was similar to the sword ant. But this one was so much scarier. It must have been two and a half meters tall. He felt tiny. Like its predecessor, the ant had two pairs of arms. One looked small and underdeveloped. Yet it was the same size as the previous ant had. The other pair was almost as long as Alex himself. They were like spears attached to a giant.

Alex got goosebumps. This had nothing to do with a fair fight, even with all his skills and items. Not even the ring of granite skin would protect him. He didn´t want to get hit, not even once.

Then the monster moved. It was like a flash of lightning. Alex blocked the attack at the last moment. The impact flung him away. His reinforced blade left no injury on the giant arm.

He had good intuitions or rather got lucky because the attack was barely visible. Without hesitation, Alex summoned his wings.

The next attack was already coming. This time he blocked with his wings, while holding his glaive below, just in case. Though his caution was redundant. His wings blocked the attack. He stabbed at the insect's joint but a small arm stopped his attack. Both were testing each other and what Alex learned was something he didn´t like. The monster was strong and fast.

He and the monster exchanged two more attacks. Then the ant charged. Playtime was over. Alex retreated but struggled to not fall over his feet while walking backward. Then he fell to the ground. Still, in the air, the ant seized the opportunity and launched an attack. Alex blocked the attack with his wings and then wrapped his wings around the arm. Alex propped himself up with his glaives shaft and dodged the other big arm. Some of his clothes were cut. He got involuntary save of his arms hair.

Then a moment of relative calm came, as the short arms could not reach Alex. Nonetheless, he had to react fast. His mind was working at maximum capacity. He jumped back, dodging one more attack. Thereafter he ran away. He was not yet ready for this beast and his position was terrible. His fear fueled his movements.

He collapsed outside the ring. His breathing was chaotic. He felt like a beaten dog and for the first time he had no confidence in his abilities. Maybe he should have made designed the spellstone differently. He had so many options but everything seemed meaningless.

Devastated, he left the tutorial. To be honest, he was glad to be alive after that. Exhausted, he threw himself on the bed. Then somebody knocked on the door. Alex turned around. “Come in.”

His father greeted him with a light smile. “I just shouldn't worry about you.”

Alex could only agree to a limited extent. “Hopefully you're right.” If only his dad knew about the giant ant.

“Do you want to have dinner with us?” his father asked.

Alex relaxed and smiled. “Sure.”

-

A little later, the three of them were sitting at the table. It had already become evening.

“How was your day, Alex?” his mother asked.

Alex looked up from his spaghetti. “Peaceful. I will rest a little from the tutorial and not go for the time being.”

“That's good to hear, isn't it?” said his mother. Her smile was genuine.

“Well, I still haven't gotten any more items,” Alex said.

“It still sounds good to me. You're safe and you're not going back to the tutorial,” his mother said.

“But it's just the tutorial. It's already in the name that some harder will come afterward. It's like in computer games,” Alex said.

“People don't die in games,” his mother replied. She got suddenly stern.

Alex changed the subject. “In the next few days, I'll go to the training schools.”

“Do you want to start at my training school?” his father asked.

“Well I can try it but I was thinking more of people with martial arts experience and not some guys who cleared the second floor,” Alex said.

“You say so but we've helped a few people survive,” his father said.

Alex twisted his mouth into a thin line. “Dad I'm on the sixth floor. We are talking about different dimensions.”

His mother spat out her food. Meanwhile, his father's chin dropped. They both stammered. “Sixth?”

“Yes, sixth. Just the fourth floor is very time-consuming,” Alex said.

“Oh, God,” his mother said.

“You don´t have to worry. You can leave most of them and they aren´t that dangerous. I will write you a detailed note.“ said Alex. His words were clear understatements but he could not frighten his mother after going against her will all the time.

-

Alex went to the gym the next morning. In one corner of the room lay the weight training equipment. The other corner was occupied by two men, who stood before a group of people. Each person held a stick, some long like spears, others short sticks like a sword. Currently, the two men were talking about their experiences. Alex waited at the end of the audience but got bored after a while.

When they finished their remarks, Alex breathed a sigh of relief. Sparring followed. Everyone put on thick clothes and helmets. A young woman walked up to him, helmet in hand. “Would you train with me?” Everybody else seemed to have found a partner. Alex wanted to fight a trainer but he might as well help her. He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, a little.”

“Thank you, please be careful,” the woman said.

Alex raised an eyebrow.

The woman held her longsword in front of her. Alex grabbed a short stick from the side and faced her.

“You still need to wear protective gear,” the woman reminded him.

Alex moved into starting position. “We won't need that.”

The woman became nervous. She hesitated.

“Let's get started,” Alex said. He leaped forward and struck the woman's practice longsword. He tried to hold back but the woman's sword was knocked down and out of her hands. He had overestimated her. He could only shake his head because of his misjudgment. In the end, he leaped forward and pressed his stick against her chest. “You lost.”

She started to believe his words. Then they both went back into starting position. Alex waited until the woman made the first move. She struck relatively uncoordinated. Alex parried the attack and stopped. “Show your effort. Be determined.”

Afterward came a hesitant thrust. Alex also blocked this attack with one movement. “With conviction please.” His voice had emphasis and lo and behold when the woman went for a thrust again, she put the strength of her whole body into the attack. Her scream accompanied the attack.

Alex was pleased and curious to see how much power she had. He thrust his arm in front of his chest, with his spellstone barely extended to block the attack. There was a tremendous boom. The woman was startled. People around her looked back at them. Then the woman dropped her weapon. “Are you all right? I didn't mean to.”

Why Alex did this little mischievous act, he didn´t quite know but it was fun. He had already deactivated the blade and smiled. “You might survive with this. Not bad.”

The shock was evident on her face. One instructor ran to them, another to his father's office.

“It's all good,” Alex said. But when the instructor didn't stop running, he threw his stick at his feet. “I said. It´s all good.”

The man stopped and looked at him.

“I'm just here to spar with you guys anyway,” Alex said. Then he walked over to a new stick. As soon as he held it in the direction of one of the instructors, Alex noticed how the man became serious. The instructor raised his pole. Again Alex waited for his opponent to attack. He parried and returned to his starting position. Afterward, he dodged the next attack and took a step forward, pressing his stick against the chest of the instructor. The duel was as effortless as against the woman. The other instructor was no challenge either.

Alex then went to his father's office. “It wasn't what I was looking for.”

His father nodded. “But what do you say about my trainers?”

Alex was about to leave but turned back to his father. “That's why you wanted me to come by, to evaluate your employees?”

“No, not just that but I wanted to hear your opinion,” his father said.

Alex put his hands in his pants pockets and looked at the ceiling. “It is enough for the first floor.”

“You're right about that, but the second. How did you defeat that one? The monster is too armored and has too many arms,” his father said.

“All you have to do is use your reach and strengthen your blade. The rest will take care of itself if you are lucky,” Alex said.

“If I focus on the weapon, then the ant would cut me into small pieces before I even get to attack,” said his father.

Alex became thoughtful. That sounded like a stark difference from his experience. Then his father added. “I already practice strengthening the weapon every day but it only goes two or three times a day and in the tutorial a little more often but if I sit in front of the arena too long, the tutorial just kicks me out for the day. With your ring, fighting was much easier.”

“Does that mean you want to borrow my ring?” asked Alex.

His father grinned at him. “Yes.”

Alex unceremoniously slipped the ring off his finger and tossed it to his father. “And why do you want to go back to the tutorial?” His father fell silent. After a while, he looked Alex in the eye. “I never want to see people die in front of me again. That's why I didn't go immediately but the next floors are just me and occasional monsters. I'll stop before the fourth if I get that far. I want to be prepared for your mom. Just in case. See you in a minute.”

Then he disappeared into the tutorial. Alex felt caught off guard. He couldn't even wish him good luck. After twenty minutes, his father came back. His clothes were tattered but the skin underneath had healed. His father threw back the ring of fireball and raised his hand with two bronze rings in return. "Took a little while, but I now have a ring of granite skin."

Alex smiled, happy for his father’s gains and safe return. Thereupon he left his father's studio. Hopefully, the other studios had interesting trainers.