He even gave that to me in writing. The quartermaster in charge of potion storage got a lot more polite with me after he saw that.

Since my mana pool was so low, I only needed one potion to restore myself to full. They really did have a huge supply of them, so I figured about ten was about right.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that Zeller hadn’t specified what kind of potions, I also helped myself to ten Stamina potions. I spent the rest of the evening practicing magic and my Imagination ability until I needed to sleep.

The next morning, the city was much more bustling than I’d seen before. A great many people had chosen to evacuate even before I’d woken up, forming a major crowd near the west gate.

Commander Zeller was personally supervising the mob, and had some soldiers help me through the crowd once he spotted me. “Lheticus, there you are. Get going, quickly. We should get the operation started early, there are more evacuees than I thought.”

“Understood.” I hurried into the west woods toward where the special task force was preparing the fire line. A number of Taken, it seemed, had joined with them as fire crews. Good, that meant that we could recover if something slipped past me.

I got some envious looks from some of them. Unlike them I’d impressed the local forces enough for them to make me a brevet corporal. Maybe it had even somehow gotten out that this was really my plan. I’d better watch my back.

As luck would have it, the inner side of the fire line was against the wind, so we got started right away. I had a lot to do. The fire crews could keep things contained to a degree, but in the end it was down to me to keep the blaze from spreading outside the fire line.

With quite a bit of ground to cover, it took rather more effort with than I’d thought, but thanks to the stamina potions I’d gotten I was able to keep up. After several minutes, the pack was trapped and rapidly running out of room. I was even finding it a little easier to use my trait ability as I went along.

As predicted, some of them tried to brave the flames to escape, but those who the fire didn’t kill immediately were easy pickings even for the weak challengers on the fire crews. As the fire died out in the center, I checked my mission.

The kill count requirement had been fulfilled and then some just as I’d hoped. In fact, it was at nearly 5,000. Now all I had to do was get the hell out of dodge.

But that wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped.

Before the flames died down completely, an earsplitting howl sounded.

“Looks like it’s my turn lads,” said Zeller who had by now met up with us. He met the weakened Wolf General as it leaped through the remnants of the flames.

And then the second howl rent the air.

A second Wolf General crashed out of woods that we’d spared from the blaze at the rough velocity of way too freakin' fast.

Headed straight for me. Why was it headed straight for me?!

Did that first howl somehow convey that I was the one most responsible for this, who had sent the fire to the first General?! How was that even possible?!

“All men focus on the second General! I’ve got the first!” Relief flooded me as Zeller barked that order, but not for long. The archers and mages could hamper it, and in fact they scored several dozen hits on it, and the charged Mana Bolt I put right in its face while desperately backpedaling toward where the sword and spear soldiers were forming up defensively hurt it even more, but it just kept coming.

And several hundred normal wolves were coming along with the second General. Whether they occupied the normal soldiers’ attention, or went for me as well, I couldn’t possibly handle the General and them both.

Actually, I wasn’t even going to have that long. The Wolf General reached me, and leaped for my throat—

And out of sheer desperation I imagined it suddenly dropping straight down, short of me. Somehow, this didn’t completely exhaust my Stamina. I more than half expected it to. In fact, I hadn’t even thought that would work. Even though it had, what good did it really do?

But then, a screen appeared.

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

Description: First of your race to level up your Inherent Trait in the Tutorial.

AP +25

25 stat points! The Tower had thrown me a lifeline!

Frantically, I scrambled to add 3 points each to Stamina and Speed. Fortunately, my insane ploy against the Wolf General had had an effect—dropping like a stone in mid-leap like that had bewildered it enough to buy me the precious seconds it took to add the points.

Now, I was fast enough to effectively evade the thing. I used 3 more points to increase my Magic Power and used one more to increase and refresh my Mana Pool, spending a total of 10 out of the 25 AP I’d gained.

Meanwhile, more and more of the normal wolves constantly joined the battle. They treated me like I was the General’s personal prey, only keeping the normal soldiers from aiding me. And a minute ago, that would have been enough to doom me.

But now I was ready to turn the hunter into the hunted. The new increase in my capabilities clearly alarmed the General, as I used my new speed to smoothly evade its lunges and leaps, and my expanded stamina to set portions of its fur on fire with my Imagination power.

It put out the flames as easily as I conjured them each time, but they served to distract the General majorly as I readied a charged Mana Bolt.

An incredibly loud bang resounded through the battlefield, and when it cleared, the Wolf General’s entire body was charred black.

Immediately the normal wolves all around us stopped fighting and took up an unearthly collective howl. “Well done lad!” said Zeller. He had finished off the first General, the one that had been weakened by fire, without injury, but had come just too late to help me. “I didn’t think you had it in you to take one of those monsters!”

“Not gonna lie, I didn’t either.”

“I’m afraid it ain’t over. The rest are really going to be out for our blood now. But we can use this. If we both split up and lead ‘em away, there’ll be almost no monsters left on the western side.”

“So the evacuation will succeed,” I said, “I understand. How about I take the north road away from the city and you take the east?”

“As good a plan as any, lad. Best of luck to you.”

“And you.” If my newly enhanced speed was enough to evade the General, leading on a great number of the normal wolves wasn’t even a problem. I made my way toward the north road quickly, but not so quickly the wolves gave up chasing me.

Now all there was between me and victory was a 10K run with hundreds of wolves chasing me. Back on Earth, the very idea of my life depending on such a run would have caused me to do my best impression of the “guess I’ll die" meme, but with my new speed and stamina boosts, I was barely trying.

Come to think of it, usually my asthma, mild though it was usually, would have had my lungs screaming in protest during most of the things I’d done since I got to the Tower. Had the Tower cured it?

What if it had done the same thing for Mewi's dyspraxia? Oh, and another thing, I just realized…

Where were my glasses?!

My mind reeled so much from the implications that I almost let some of the front-runner wolves catch up to me.

After an interminable amount of running, a pop-up appeared.

[Would you like to turn in your mission?]

I nodded and thought, yes, and vanished from the world of the Tutorial.

***************************************

Of course, the actions of one “wandering mage" could not totally alter the course of Bront City’s fate. It transpired that Commander Zeller had, in leading on the wolves who sought to avenge the General he had killed, sacrificed himself for the people of the city he had been charged to protect.

Even if he had not died, he could not have withstood the all-out attack the remaining horde launched on the city on the 7th day of the siege. The city itself was reduced to rubble.

However, thanks to the wanderer's actions, including (as far as anyone knew) also sacrificing himself, tens of thousands of its people survived. As refugees, they spread tales of the unnatural horde and of meteors striking the city each night.

The tales spread far and wide, much further than the true mastermind of the siege had anticipated. As a direct result, that mastermind’s greater ambitions would never be realized. He was captured after a costly and bloody conflict and was executed.

Much later, a memorial was erected at the former site of Bront City. A statue of Zeller was its centerpiece.

As for Lheticus the Wanderer, his name never became more than a footnote in the conflict’s history.

**************************************

I found myself in a small, drab gray room. Unlike the white room before the Tutorial, there was barely enough space for it to act as one person's bedroom.

“Don’t tell me this is a cell…”

Even before I finished saying that, another pop-up appeared.

[Welcome to the ]

[Randomizing possible class selections…randomization complete.]

[Select your official Tower class.]

(White) (Warrior)

(Bronze)

(Bronze)

(Bronze)

(Bronze) (Monk)

After discarding the two alternate typed classes out of hand, I touched the first remaining option. It expanded to read:

[Magister of Shadow]

Pure Magical Class

Bronze Grade

Description: An enhanced variant of the standard Dark Element caster class. Dark Element casters are suitable for scouting through the use of concealment spells, and they make for excellent supporters through a wide variety of debuffing spells. On their own, they tend to debilitate their enemies while slowly sapping their life away.

Strengths

Excels in debuffing foes, concealing self and others, and evasive-defensive spells

Bonus to Intuition and mental power, supporting early use of complex spells

Occasionally receive spells with potent and unusual effects

Weaknesses

Poor damage output makes fighting alone difficult

Lack of Mana Pool bonuses, requires careful management and timing of casting spells

Dark mages are often perceived negatively by Floor denizens

This one didn’t seem to suit me very well. It sounded like it’d be a serious pain to bring the full potential out of. I moved on to the next one...

[Mage of Land and Sky]

Pure Magical Class

Bronze Grade

Description: A relatively weak example of a dual-casting class. However, even a weak dual-caster is capable of much more than any mage restricted to a single element.

This particular class combines Air and Earth elements, making it equally adept in ground and aerial battles. However, because of the relatively low Grade for a dual-element class, it sacrifices casting efficiency.

Strengths

Can cast spells from both the Earth and Air elements, granting substantial versatility

Bonuses to Mana Pool, Magic Power, and casting versatility

Excellent potential both offensively and defensively

Weaknesses

Mana Sub-network substantially reduces cast time efficiency

Combination of opposing elements requires excellent ability to mentally “shift gears” to effectively utilize both in combat

Somewhat poor at ending battles quickly, especially in early stages of growth

Hmm. Well, this was definitely better than the previous option, but the efficiency drawback worried me. Even the basic bitch spell Mana Bolt had started with the combat-untenable 6 seconds of casting time. If I ended up with starting spells that I couldn’t cast quickly, it would easily be the death of me.

Crossing my fingers, I expanded the final option...

[Psionic Pyromancer]

Pure Magical Class

Bronze Grade

Description: An unusual, rare breed of Fire Element caster, the Psionic Pyromancer combines standard casting techniques with the ability to enhance their spell effects with the caster’s emotions. Like most Fire casters, a Pyromancer excels at dealing damage in combat. This is particularly true for Psionic Pyromancers who tap into strong emotions to increase the potency of the fire their mana produces still further.

In addition, this class promotes an enhanced understanding of the mind, and even mental power. It enhances spells that are geared to affecting the minds of others and protecting the caster from such effects. A Psionic Pyromancer who possesses a high degree of self-discipline over their heart and mind is at home on any battlefield.

Strengths

Large bonus to Magic Power and a bonus to mental power makes class excel at damage dealing in any stage of growth

Affinity for mind-affecting spells grants additional versatility

Manipulation of caster’s emotions, particularly anger, grants even more beneficial effects

Weaknesses

Requires a high degree of self-control to avoid going berserk on the battlefield, or off it

Fire element encompasses few spells for defense or evasion

Casters who suppress or otherwise have difficulty generating strong emotions will stunt this class's full potential

Now, this was so much more like it, it was freaky. “Prone to emotional outbursts and had to learn a high degree of self-control" fit me to a T. Sure, it seemed like a bit of a glass cannon...but there were ways to be effective as a glass cannon build in games, so surely that would be true here. I accepted this class without hesitation.

[You have chosen the class .]

This was going to be so cool. I felt my body begin to change…