Chapter 37
Chapter 37
6. Tutorial and Status Window -1
[The tutorial will begin shortly. Mentor transmission in progress⋯⋯.]
I descended with the light.
Thud—a transparent membrane touched the tips of my sneakers. I was standing on an invisible film installed in midair. Below my feet, I could see newbies gathered in small clusters, murmuring. It was the tutorial.
Last time, I had been down there. This time, the positions were reversed. It felt strangely novel.
Here, I needed to find a newbie with high growth potential to help with Sergios's promotion method, the 『Battle-Demon Ascension』 rite, and confirm whether the Hidden Piece would regenerate. That was my goal.
The newbies' chatter came through quite clearly.
"Mentor, are those being summoned in the sky the mentors⋯⋯?"
"They're floating in the air! They don't seem to have any levitation devices, so how⋯⋯?!"
"That guy summoned first looks pretty ordinary. I might be able to beat him if we fought."
Well, the one who muttered that last bit was a dud.
As I waited, picking through the newbies one by one, the other mentors began to be transmitted in one after another. A man whose body was half machine, a man crackling with electric current all over his body⋯⋯ They were obviously stronger than the newbies, but they were run-of-the-mill hunters, not worth comparing to me.
Roughly gauging it⋯⋯ they were at the level of possessing one fully developed skill. Mid-to-upper D-rank.
But there were two who stood out.
"So this is the tutorial. There are so many sentient beings in need of guidance—it's quite exciting."
One was a monk with a cleanly shaved head. He wasn't holding prayer beads or a staff, but—perhaps as a substitute—both of his tightly clenched fists were covered in scars, as if he were wearing gloves.
There was a familiar scent coming from him. The scent of 『Martial Arts』. It appeared to be a different school from the martial arts Sergios trained in. His movements were different.
Nod.
When the monk's eyes met mine, he smiled warmly and gave a slight bow. I inclined my head slightly in return. If there was time left over, a conversation with him didn't seem like a bad idea.
And the other one was⋯⋯.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
A gray-haired mage who kept glaring at me.
When I turned my head to look at her, she whipped her head away and pretended to be distracted. Then when I looked elsewhere, she whipped back and glared again. There was something like hostility in her eyes.
I hadn't done anything in the System so far that would develop into a grudge. Except for exactly one case.
The Hunter Alliance.
They were the ones who came to squeeze credits out of the newbies in the last tutorial too, so of course they'd have sent someone to fill a mentor slot this time as well. This time, it seemed to be that mage.
If there's time left over, I'll fold you in half.
[Mentor transmission complete. Up to 7 tutorial participants may be assigned to a single mentor. Please take note.]
Sergios wasn't summoned. I'd wondered if I might run into him, but it seemed he'd given up on finding that 'hero material' in the tutorial. Because he'd found me.
Now I had inherited that role.
Let's see. Among those participating in this tutorial⋯⋯ was there anyone with talent for 『Martial Arts』? A hunter who could grow quickly enough to become strong enough for a one-on-one spar with me?
The bearded dwarf holding a hammer the size of his own body? No, his strength looked considerable, but I didn't sense any instinct in his muscle movements. There was a lot of waste. Fighting is done with the head, not strength, so minus points.
The warrior with bandages wrapped over his eyes and five swords at his waist looked like he was putting on a blind-warrior act. People who move using only hearing and touch don't move like that. I know because I've done it.
They were all half-baked. None of them appealed to me.
Were there no promising hunter candidates in this cohort? Most of them were unqualified—no, no. Get out of my head, Sergios.
Then.
A blonde woman carrying a large coffin about 1.5 times her own height suddenly entered my field of vision. Both her outfit and the coffin had a distinctly futuristic design. Cyberpunk, I suppose you'd call it.
She looked like the type who relied on tools no matter how you looked at her, so I was about to lose interest—when I suddenly had the feeling our eyes had met.
And then, right away.
"V."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?"
She abruptly threw a peace sign at me. Was she trying to leave a memorable first impression?
⋯⋯She's got some nerve.
I'd need to see them move to know which newbie hunter showed promise. The next step was definitely the 『Erect Violet』 hunt.
[Tutorial: Hunt the 『Erect Violet』 placed in the forest]
[Teams that complete the mission may designate a mentor first.]
The mission didn't change. I'd thought at least the monster type might vary by season.
Thud-!
While the newbies were still dazed after receiving the mission, the blonde future-person I'd seen earlier kicked off the ground and shot forward. She was quite fast. From what I could see, it felt less like she'd anticipated the mission and prepared, and more like her reaction speed and judgment were simply quick.
There was almost no delay between standing there blankly, reading the mission, and sprinting out.
But she wasn't first.
Tadatatatat-!
There was one hunter who started about 10 seconds ahead of even her. He had been moving toward the edge of the clearing before the System even issued the mission, and the moment the message appeared, he launched his body before even reading it.
"Hoo, I knew it would be like this. It's an easy exam."
A handsome young man with black hair, a slender build, and a face that screamed idol. Looking closer, he was wearing something like a school uniform. A high schooler?
This guy, who looked like he'd been plucked out of some novel as the protagonist, took first place in this tutorial's game of wits. He was even about 3 seconds faster than Sohye's and my records.
But the mission measured hunt completion time. Just because you start fast doesn't mean you'll arrive fast. Who would end up with the priority designation right?
I watched the two of them carefully. Especially that black-haired man. Partly because he showed the most hunter potential, but also because I felt a strange sensation while looking at him.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
It didn't seem to be a positive sensation.
[You may display up to 5 screens of participants of your choice.]
I'd wondered if I should run along on foot and watch from above, but the System was providing a spectator function. Well, without something like this, the run-of-the-mill mentors would have had nothing to do but stand around blankly.
Two screens would be enough. There was no need to watch the other hunters.
Tadatatatat- swoosh!
The black-haired man and the blonde woman ran in completely opposite directions, but at nearly identical speeds, plunging into the forest. Interestingly, their movements were so different it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them polar opposites.
"Adjusting body operation rate up to 120%."
Crunch-!
The cyberpunk blonde ran in a straight line, regardless of whether twigs or underbrush struck her body. If anything caught on her limbs, she simply smashed through it. Her movements were almost like a barbarian warrior's.
The black-haired high schooler, on the other hand, was light.
"Easy, easy."
As if he wouldn't let even a single leaf graze his body, he broke through the forest while lightly evading every obstacle. Sometimes he even showed off the acrobatics of stepping on a branch and leaping up to another branch.
The cyberpunk was the first to discover the 『Erect Violet』.
Clank.
With a metallic sound, glittering wires sprayed out from the cyberpunk's fingertips like a spiderweb. Perhaps guessing that the mentors were watching, she looked up at the sky and explained her weapon.
"Diamond-coated wire."
It was an industrial material. But wasn't that the kind of thing that achieved cutting power through high-speed tension applied by machines, not human hands?
"Some of you may be wondering. Of course, my body has a standard-spec motor built in according to the Servant Manufacturing Method. This product, 'Elijah - β,' is a bio-android, after all."
⋯⋯She wasn't human?
That wasn't the important thing, for now. Diamond wire could slice through even steel. It was like that on Earth too, so if the wire was made in a world presumed to be more technologically advanced than Earth, it might be even stronger.
In other words, even at a minimum estimate, it was more than enough to dice up something like the 『Erect Violet』.
Even setting aside the uniqueness of her weapon, she had good instincts. Keeping the spectators in mind, the movement of her fingers manipulating the wires—she was definitely not the type to fight mindlessly.
But then, why had she smashed through everything so mindlessly when running through the forest⋯⋯?
Slither——
The thread-like wires formed layer upon layer of circular loops, surrounding the Erect Violet. If she tightened them like this, it would become cube steak in an instant. She was going to take first place in this tutorial.
Just as I was thinking that, something astonishing happened on the other screen.
The black-haired high schooler had started first but was slower to locate the target. He only encountered it belatedly, at the moment the android discovered the Erect Violet and sprayed her wires. I judged that he would be late. He hadn't even drawn the sword hanging at his waist.
But then.
"『Quick Steps』."
The black-haired high schooler's speed increased by about 1.5 times, leaving a long afterimage. So that was his skill, I thought.
"『Impact Condensation』, 『Cutting Power Enhancement』."
From that moment, the mentor spectator stands erupted into commotion.
"L-look at that, fellow mentors! That young boy just used three 『Skills』!"
"What?! That's absurd. He's not even a dragonkin!"
"『Second Acceleration』, 『Fledgling Fall』, 『Slash Repetition』."
"Six of them?!"
It wasn't Unification. It wasn't fusing skills to explosively increase their power—it was just a simple chain of using the skills he possessed in succession⋯⋯ or so you'd think.
A hunter who had just entered the System possessed a whopping six 『Skills』. At the appearance of this super-rookie, the mage presumed to be affiliated with the Hunter Alliance practically lost her mind.
She raised her staff toward the mentors and shouted.
"No one! No one bid on this kid! This child is coming with our Hunter Alliance!"
"Choosing a mentor is the right of the newcomers, so what do you mean by bidding? And the same applies to you. I understand your desire, but please exercise restraint."
"Shut up! For this child's future, growing with the Hunter Alliance's generous support is the right path! If you try anything funny, you'll die—!!"
What generous support from people who go around shaking down newbies?
Slice——!
Leaving all that commotion behind, cutting sounds rang out in succession from the two spectator windows. The match was decided.
[1st place: Da]
[2nd place: Elijah - JG634LEY]
After that, the other hunters' records began to come up one after another.
[3rd place: Jonathan, Omulus, Toben]
[4th place ⋯⋯]
[Teams that complete the mission may designate a mentor first.]
But the mentors paid no attention, arguing among themselves. They focused only on first place.
And so the tutorial evaluation came to an end.
[Hunters other than the top 35 may now return.]
[Hunters who fail to be assigned a mentor within the time limit will return to their original world.]
"So the people who didn't pass are just supposed to figure it out themselves—?!"
After the eliminated participants returned.
[Temporary access to higher-tier information through a mentor is now possible in this area.]
[The 1st place team (1 person) is requested to designate a mentor within the time limit.]
Now the mentor selection began.
⋯⋯Fortunately, no hunter appeared who intended to mess with the Erect Violet. The opportunity to confirm the 『Hidden Piece』 still remained. I'd wondered if I'd have to seriously interfere if someone did show up.
The black-haired high schooler who had taken first place looked up at the mentors and stroked his chin.
"Hmm⋯⋯."
"Here! Pick me! Have you heard of the [Hunter Alliance]?! We provide abundant support for beginners, our know-how is systematic, and for a special hunter like you especially, we can push you even harder!!"
It was absolute chaos.
Thinking about it calmly, it would be good for me to say a few words to him too. This was a guy who'd shown up with a whopping six skills from the start. If I appealed to him and built a connection, he'd be a perfect partner to help with the Battle-Demon Ascension - Victory Trial.
But somehow, I wasn't drawn to him. If anything, I⋯⋯.
"I've decided."
The guy who'd been deliberating walked up to me and held out his hand. He introduced himself with a refreshing smile.
"My name is 『Da』. Among the mentors, you seem like the most difficult one, so if it's alright, I'd like to receive your guidance. I'd also like for us to get along."
"Why, why are you going to that shaggy-haired, thuggish serial assaulter!!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
What a weird guy.
His name was weird, his vibe was weird, and he kept getting on my nerves. Maybe it was because his features resembled the bastard who'd blown up the idol group I'd been active in with a drunk-driving accident.
Rationally, it was the wrong thing to do—but yeah, let's refuse. Let's refuse clearly.
What I was imagining was the strangest, rudest bastard I'd ever met. Sergios, I'll borrow your power⋯⋯!
I steadied my emotions and said with a smile.
"I don't want to know your name. This much isn't enough to qualify for a hero's teachings. I don't want to waste time on some nobody, so how about you go over there?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?"
"I'm saying I won't take you. Of course, there's no right of refusal in the System, but if you come down here, I'll do my absolute best to teach you nothing. Go on. Go play with the citizens."
"⋯⋯If that's how it is."
The black-haired high schooler smiled with one corner of his mouth raised, as if his pride had been wounded, then walked over toward the [Hunter Alliance] mage.
I wasn't sure if this choice was right. It was half impulsive. But somehow, I felt refreshed, like I'd pulled out an aching tooth.
But I had to deal with the consequences.
In this tutorial, two people had exceeded my internal standards. But I'd already shot one of them down, so I needed to secure the other one if at all possible.
[The 2nd place team (1 person) is requested to designate a mentor within the time limit.]
Perhaps having seen me shoot down the high schooler and thinking I was a weirdo, the android Elijah showed signs of trying to avoid my direction and pick another mentor.
That couldn't be allowed. I blocked Elijah's path and desperately tried to persuade her.
Thud!
"Uh, well. There was a bit of trouble earlier, that's all. Of course, as a mentor, I intend to help hunters adapt smoothly to the System. And among us, we seem to live in the technologically closest eras, so communication would be easy—"
"Sure."
"Huh?"
Ding!
[The 2nd place team (1 person) has designated you as their mentor.]
"I'll go with you!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?"
Wink.
Elijah chose me as her mentor with a friendly wink. I'd gone so far as to act like Sergios to shoot down the first pick, so honestly, I'd thought this one was a lost cause.
I didn't know why, but⋯⋯ good was good. The mentor designation wrapped up smoothly after that.
I stood before Elijah and the five other newbies and considered what to teach them first. The things I'd experienced in the System, the things I wished I'd known in advance⋯⋯ if I had to pick one.
"Don't use the System."
"Huh?"
As expected, it was System opposition.