The obelisk’s safe zone couldn’t have been more than twenty meters wide, a shimmering translucent dome of blue-white light radiating from the ancient pillar. Mike had never felt anything like it. The air inside was warm, humming faintly, and carried a sensation almost like pressure equalizing in his ears. Comfort, peace, and safety — manufactured and enforced by the System.
And temporary.
The words appeared before him the moment he stepped deeper inside.
[Safe Zone Duration: 08:00:00]
Mike exhaled and slumped down near the obelisk’s base. Lumi jumped into his lap immediately, six tails curling around himself. Sael settled across from them, hugging the crystal focus the obelisk had provided, as though afraid it might vanish if they let go.
Eight hours.
Eight hours until hell resumed.
Mike ran a hand through his hair, still gritty with dust and sweat. “We should eat first,” he muttered.
Sael nodded. “Yes. Your energy will return faster.”
Lumi chirped as if seconding the idea.
The orb pulsed.
Advice: Consume available berries and protein rations. Obelisk provides minimal supplies.
“Oh thank God,” Mike muttered. “I was one bark-chip away from starving.”
A small tray materialized at the base of the obelisk — a System-created ration pack. Inside were bland-looking energy biscuits, a pouch of water, and berries that glowed faintly with restorative mana.
Mike grabbed a biscuit, bit down—
—and instantly regretted it.
“Why does everything taste like cardboard mixed with sadness?” he groaned.
Sael blinked. “Card… board?”
“Never mind.”
Lumi tried to steal a berry. Mike gave him one. The fox devoured it happily, sparks flickering across his tails.
Mike chewed another biscuit and washed it down with water, letting the exhaustion in his muscles slowly fade. Sael ate too, daintily — as if every movement was calculated, as if food wasn’t something they were used to.
“You okay?” Mike asked gently.
Sael hesitated. Their hands tightened around the ration biscuit.
“Back home,” they whispered, “we believed the System was a myth. A faraway danger. A story elders told to remind us that even stars can be devoured.” Their voice trembled. “But to stand here… to see what it demands… I do not think any of us understood.”
Mike didn’t know the right words.
But he knew honesty.
“I didn’t understand either.”
Sael lifted their eyes, dark and reflective. “Your world… was it peaceful?”
Mike blinked. “No. We had wars. Violence. Lots of it. But nothing like this. Nothing where a system literally told us to kill each other.” He clenched his fist, anger simmering. “This isn’t a tutorial. It’s a culling.”
Sael shivered and pulled their knees close.
Lumi crawled into Sael’s lap, nuzzling their hand. Sael’s breath hitched, but they stroked the fox gently, comforted by the warmth and tiny crackles of static.
Mike exhaled softly.
This little fox was doing more emotional work than both of them combined.
After they ate and drank, Mike stretched out to assess their new gear properly.
The leather chestguard was light, flexible, reinforced with metallic threads that shimmered faintly under the safe zone’s glow. His fingers brushed the material, and small glimmers of energy responded. The bracers hummed faintly when worn, ready to disperse stray currents of lightning. The boots felt springy, built for fast movement.
The conductive short blade was the real star.
The moment Mike held it, a faint thread of lightning rippled across the metal — instinctively drawn from his core. It wasn’t a weapon. It was an extension of his class.
Sael stared at it with awe. “Your power… accepts it.”
Mike shrugged. “Looks like it.”
Sael examined their own gear — mostly cloth, layered with subtle runic stitching. Light, flexible armor made for illusionists or spellcasters. The crystal focus pulsed faintly with white-blue light, responding to Sael’s touch.
“Show me what you can do,” Mike said.
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Sael hesitated. “I… will try.”
They raised the crystal focus. A shimmer of pale light gathered at the tip, forming the outline of a creature — a small bird, simple but clearer than anything from before. It flickered briefly, then dissolved.
“That’s already better,” Mike said. “Sharper. More defined.”
Sael’s cheeks warmed in quiet pride.
Mike felt it too — the difference equipment made. Like his class had been half asleep before and now had something to latch onto. Lines of power ran cleaner. Electricity flickered willingly instead of erratically.
For the first time since arriving here… he felt like he could do this.
Like he wasn’t helpless.
Five hours passed.
Mike slept lightly, leaning against the obelisk with Lumi curled on his chest. Sael meditated quietly, trying to stabilize their illusions. The orb watched silently.
Five hours of peace.
In a place designed for violence.
When Mike woke, the safe zone timer read:
[02:59:42]
He rubbed his eyes, stretched, tested a quick spark of lightning through his blade. The blade hummed and glowed faintly, responding like a loyal dog.
Sael looked rested, but still tense. Lumi was bright-eyed and eager. Sparks occasionally popped from his tails — harmless, but powerful.
“Something’s changing with him,” Mike murmured.
Correct, the orb said.
Companion evolution is influenced by your affinities. Lightning growth is accelerating. Chaos effects may appear later.
Mike winced. “Chaos fox sounds dangerous.”
Yes.
“Wasn’t agreeing!”
Sael giggled quietly.
For a moment, Mike allowed himself to breathe.
And then—
The safe zone flickered.
The obelisk lights dimmed.
A chime sounded through the dome like a bell struck underwater.
[Safe Zone Duration Remaining: 00:10:00]
Mike stood immediately, gripping his blade.
Sael scrambled to their feet. Lumi hopped onto Mike’s shoulder, tails crackling in anticipation.
They approached the dome’s boundary. Through the shimmering surface, the forest looked darker, more hostile.
And as the timer ticked down, shapes began to appear.
Figures.
Candidates.
Some injured.
Some armed.
Some angry.
Some desperate.
They formed loose clusters, watching the obelisk’s barrier with predatory patience.
Mike’s stomach tightened.
“Looks like we’re not the only ones who needed a safe break,” he murmured.
Sael swallowed. “Some… might wish to challenge us again.”
“Yeah.” Mike’s grip tightened on his blade. “I guessed.”
Lumi growled, static shimmering along his fur.
Then the scene shifted.
Perspective changed.
The forest dissolved into swirling motes of light.
And far away — beyond mortal perception, beyond the tutorial — a chamber appeared.
A circular hall of floating platforms and vast open voids filled with drifting constellations. Each star was a universe. Each light a life.
In the center stood a single figure.
Tall. Lean. Clad in a cloak that shifted colors like iridescent oil. Long silver hair framed a sharp, amused face. Eyes that glowed with lightning-blue embers watched the floating screen in front of him.
A screen showing Mike, Sael, and Lumi standing at the edge of the safe zone.
The man leaned on his staff — a crooked thing of black metal and fractal patterns, humming with restrained electricity and something deeper… older.
“Well, now,” he murmured. “You really are interesting.”
The System window before him flickered.
[Tutorial Administrator Controls: Active]
[Observation: Candidate Storm — High Variance]
He chuckled.
“Variance. That’s one way to put it.”
He tapped the air. The scene zoomed in on Mike’s stance, on the faint chaotic lightning flickering along his blade.
“Chaos affinity,” the man murmured, eyes glowing. “How very… unprecedented.”
He smirked.
“Or rather — how very me.”
Lightning sparked behind his eyes.
He had not taken this assignment seriously. Not at first. Administering a basic tutorial was below him — far below. A task for mid-tier gods or high-ranking System auxiliaries. Not for someone like him.
He’d taken it out of boredom.
A passing whim.
A flicker of curiosity.
And now…
He leaned back, grinning like a child discovering a new toy.
“…Now this is entertaining.”
One of the lesser gods materialized behind him, bowing. “Administrator, should we intervene? A cluster of candidates appears to be gathering outside the safe—”
“No,” the man said softly.
The god froze.
The administrator waved a lazy hand.
“No intervention. Let events unfold naturally. If they die, they die. If they fight, they grow. And if they surprise me…”
Lightning rippled along his fingertips.
“…all the better.”
His gaze sharpened as he watched Mike tighten his grip.
“Come now, little anomaly,” he whispered.
“Show me more.”
The scene dissolved.
Back in the forest, the safe zone timer reached:
[00:00:05]
Mike stood just behind the barrier, breath steady, heart pounding.
Sael raised their focus.
Lumi crouched low, tails high.
The orb brightened in readiness.
Outside, candidates circled like wolves.
[00:00:02]
Sparks danced across Mike’s bracers.
[00:00:01]
He whispered to Lumi, “Stick close, little guy.”
Lumi’s tails sparked in answer.
[SAFE ZONE DEACTIVATED]
The dome collapsed inward with a silent implosion of light.
Then the forest roared.
Candidates charged.
Spells flew.
Steel clashed.
A storm of violence erupted instantly.
Sael gasped and threw up an illusion reflexively — a mirrored double of Mike sprinting the opposite direction, confusing two attackers.
Mike swung his conductive blade, lightning crackling along its edge as he deflected a warrior’s strike.
Lumi leapt from his shoulder with a sharp yip, releasing a burst of weak lightning — his first true ability — that zapped a rogue stepping in for a backstab.
Sael’s eyes widened as they realized the fox was awakening.
Mike grinned despite the chaos. “Good boy!”
More attackers rushed them.
Mike pivoted, blade singing with energy.
“Sael! Left!”
Sael threw an illusion of a falling tree — crude but enough to break a spellcaster’s concentration.
Lumi jumped back onto Mike’s shoulder, tails flickering with growing sparks.
Mike pushed forward, movements faster now, his gear giving him confidence.
They fought as a unit.
They fought as a team.
But the forest wasn’t done.
Stormsense spiked.
Hard.
Violent.
Overwhelming.
Mike stumbled. “Something’s wrong—”
The orb buzzed sharply.
Warning. High-tier mana distortion detected.
The ground trembled.
Branches shook.
Even the other candidates froze.
A deep, resonant growl echoed through the trees — not animal, not humanoid. Something massive. Something ancient. Something part of the tutorial’s real purpose.
A System window appeared before every candidate:
[You are entering: TRIAL ZONE — The Shattered Grove]
[Minor Boss Detected]
Mike’s stomach dropped.
Sael’s breath hitched.
Lumi’s tails raised like spears of lightning.
From the forest’s depths, something moved.
Something big.
And very, very awake.
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