Noise. So much noise. Why couldn’t everyone just shut up? All day, every day, wherever you went, people just talked and talked and talked. In a smaller setting, it might be bearable for a while, but out in the open like this with hundreds of people milling about? Not so much. People smelled, made noise, and got in the way. They, as a concept, were altogether useless. Soon though, it was Leslie’s turn. In just a few more minutes and the orb would be in reach. Then, perhaps he could get some peace and quiet exploring new worlds, away from everyone and everything.

  A long, long line stretched out behind him after hours of standing under the burning sun. He should have brought sunscreen, or better yet, an umbrella. People were excited, talking over each other and yelling about classes and levels, portals and monsters. Unbelievable times.

  Three days, seven hours, and, Leslie checked his watch, fourteen minutes ago, a giant, grayish, floating orb appeared in the middle of the busiest intersection in the entire city. Chaos ensued, which he had to admit wasn’t such a strange thing. After the nonsensical message on the TV, people had rushed to be the first to enter. Stupid. Waiting a little to judge what happened to those who went inside was clearly the better option. Then again, if they wanted to be test animals for Leslie’s observation, so be it. Watching through a set of police cameras, he bided his time, recording the times of people entering and leaving. While doing this, he did his research and gathered information on the Tutorial Dungeon and the system behind it all.

  “Hey.”

  With archetypes not unlike RPGs, most people selected some sort of damage-dealing type, most of them using technology so advanced it looked like magic. Videos started surfacing. People shared what they could do on social media, putting unbelievable amounts of information about themselves and their abilities out there. Big mistake.

  “Hey!”

  The Department of Integrated Affairs was formed on the first day. This meant that the government, in all likelihood, knew this would happen and had already set things in motion. Integrated registries already existed, and judging by the numbers on there, almost every damn person in the city signed their name and class on there when they left the Tutorial Dungeon. Another big mistake.

  Someone grabbed his shoulder and squeezed.

  Adrenaline flushed through his system, and Leslie spun, shied back, and raised his arms to protect his face.

  “Dude, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle ya.”

  Leslie blinked and adjusted his glasses, narrowing his eyes. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Duncan,” the young man said, holding out his hand, as if Leslie would want to shake it.

  He took it and shook. “Leslie. Do I know you?”

  Duncan looked like he was around twenty years old and, judging by the branding on his baseball cap, went to the college Leslie graduated from a few years back. An athlete, judging by the build and confidence, also the quarter-zip with the large letters LACROSSE printed on it. Always terrible students and terrible people. Athletes were the worst.

  “Oh no, just figured since we’re going in at the same time, we could, you know, help each other out in there.”

  “Big D, stop messing with that little dude,” a carbon copy of Duncan said. They were part of a larger group waiting ahead of him, and they’d been talking endlessly for hours, enacting how they’d be slaying monsters left and right. Was the whole lacrosse team of Cornell going to become Integrated? That’d put a damper on their recent title win. Leslie hated that he knew they’d won, but no matter what he tried, the school wouldn’t stop sending him information pamphlets, asking him to donate to the College.

  “Don’t be a dick, Liam,” Duncan said, keeping his gaze fixed on Leslie to an uncomfortable degree. “What do you say?”

  “W-well,” Leslie stammered. “We likely won’t be entering the same Tutorial Dungeon.”

  “We’re not?” Duncan asked, furrowing his brows. “Why not?”

  Leslie straightened a little. “It’s random. It mixes people from all over.”

  “That’s a shame,” Duncan said, shaking his head in disappointment.

  His friends, and from the looks of it, their girlfriends, began touching the orb and disappearing. Duncan jumped back and raised his arms over his head, screaming out across the long line of people waiting. “I’m going to become a healer! Woo!”

  Duncan ran up to the orb and touched it and disappeared.

  Leslie blinked. A healer? That was a surprise.

  The people behind pushed him forward, and Leslie took a few staggering steps, stumbling and almost falling. Before he knew it, his shoulder touched the orb and everything went black.

  He’d read descriptions of the dark, blank space, of course, but experiencing it for himself was different. Most write-ups mentioned a floating sensation, like what it might feel like to be weightless in outer space. That wasn’t it. Not at all. It was just nothing. No sensory input at all. A marked improvement over the roar of the crowd he’d suffered for the last couple of hours.

  While his eyes saw nothing external, the internal was another story. The interface appeared, and what a comfort it was, like coming home. This was it. What he was meant for.

  First, class selection. Like he’d come to understand, the list of available choices was near endless. A non-trivial percentage of Integrated registered in the Department of Integrated Affairs’s database had selected martial classes. Why anyone would do that was a mystery. Warriors with big swords, archers, rogues, and many other moronic choices. Well, rogue with stealth was perhaps an understandable pick, since becoming invisible was like a superpower. But the others? Pure idiocy. Hitting things with other things provides no advantage in modern society, for one, and with literal superpowers to pick from, it made no sense. None at all.

  Leslie would of course pick a mage-type class. Having actual magical abilities would trump almost all other options, but that wasn’t enough for him. As he filtered the list, another thing he’d learned was possible through his research online, Leslie was on the lookout for clues regarding a specific ability. With superpowers like abilities available, how would one not be searching for a class with flight? The problem was, the descriptions were vague at best and downright obtuse at worst.

  Turning and twisting the brief information available for each class, he must’ve spent hours in that void, but what was a few hours when his pick would stay with him for the rest of his life, and change it for the better.

  A few classes were known to have the ability to fly, like the man from North Korea who used flight to escape his home country. That man was now jailed in France while they investigated whether he was a spy or not. They’d extracted information about his class almost right away, and it had leaked onto the Internet within hours. Windstrider. Unfortunately, that wasn't available to pick for some reason. Weird.

  Still, there were other options that might provide one with the power to fly along with fire-based abilities. Just what Leslie was looking for. Having scoured the list and read descriptions of at least thirty classes over and over again, he was somewhat hopeful he'd narrowed them down to a couple of good options.

  Aetherflame: Those who draw fire from the higher currents, where heat and light mingle with the unseen.

  Cindralith: A rare order said to temper embers into lasting forms.

  Solarian: Bearers of radiant fire, their craft said to mirror the path of the sun itself.

  Cinderwing: Known for the smoldering trails they leave, as though ash itself sought to follow them.

  Each of these would work... Probably. No matter how many times he read the descriptions, there was just no telling which would be better. Stupid system. How was one supposed to make informed decisions based on vague hints and hunches? More time passed, still without a revelation of what to choose, so, in the end, Leslie could do nothing more than shrug and pick one. He wasn't proud of it, but in the end he picked the one that sounded the most inspired, or, dare he say it? Cool.

  Solarian.

  Having chosen the class didn't make him feel any different, and the void remained. Right, the boon thing. He'd read online posts from droves of Integrated writing about the boons, and several compiled lists already existed online. It was strange to Leslie that they would be offered a bonus for no reason. In life and with everyone, reasons always existed for the way things were. There were rules for understanding. A lot of that was murky here, but the transmission that preceded the orbs arriving shed some light on why Earth had been chosen. They were to grow strong and help in some sort of war. So, if the system offered bonuses to everyone, why then could they not make everyone strong from the start? It was a conundrum, to be sure.

  The list of boons was as long, if not longer, than the first one with classes, and almost as complex. Leslie saw boons that gave bonuses to professions, that made you stronger, gave new skills or items, and so much more. He'd given this choice a lot of thought and filtered so that only the ones that affected mana remained. As a caster, it stood to reason that the mana requirements would be a real restraint. If he ran out, that would be trouble. Even running low was bad news, he'd read, with headaches and even loss of consciousness if it got low enough. To that end, Leslie knew he needed some way of either growing a large mana pool, improving his mana regeneration or...

  There it was.

  Boon of Withered Souls: Every husk leaks its last essence of mana, waiting for the hand bold enough to claim it.

  It was not one he'd seen listed anywhere online, but this was just what he needed. From the description he gleaned that corpses would give him mana. Since it didn't specify that it would only be corpses he created himself, it might even mean monsters killed by anyone and everyone. Leslie picked it right away, impressed with his own boldness.

  As soon as the choices were locked in, his senses returned and he found himself in what he could only assume was a Tutorial Dungeon. It wasn't much of a dungeon, though. It was a city. Not a modern one, more like he thought some large medieval town would look, with narrow cobbled streets and run-down buildings on either side. In the far distance, a large castle-like structure rose above everything else. The boss would be in there, of course, and Leslie was in no rush to get there. This would be the only time when death was not permanent, and the plan was to stay here for as long as possible to grind levels.

  Shouts rose from the next street over, and weapons clanked. People running, crying out in fear or anger, calling out names of allies. The sounds of battle. Leslie ignored them all. Looking down, he saw what he expected. While he was in the middle of the street, no one would be able to touch him in this one spot. The stones were a different color, a dark gray. The safe zone. Once he stepped out, that was when the Tutorial Dungeon really started. Before that happened, it was time to get a good look at his stats and skills.

  Attributes

  Strength (Raw physical power): 3

  Agility (Speed and finesse): 2

  Endurance (Stamina and physical recovery): 2

  Vitality (Health and physical resilience): 4

  Intelligence (Mind potency): 8

  Wisdom (Mana efficiency and mana regeneration): 7

  Willpower (Channeling stability and speed): 7

  Focus (Control and precision of mind): 5

  The stats were about what he'd expected, with high mental attributes and low physical ones. Only 2 in Endurance stung a little. Once upon a time, Leslie had been quite proficient at table tennis, a sport requiring both agility and endurance. Still, it was the mental attributes that mattered. As a caster, he would focus on those. Nothing would get within striking range, in any case.

  Skills

  Sunflare [Active - Channeled - Mana Cost: Low]: A beam of radiant fire, melts and burns as long as it is held.

  Solar Mantle [Passive]: A mantle of the sun scorches any who dare approach.

  Stoke Focus [Active - Mana Cost: Moderate]: Apply to self and see warmth turn to heat.

  Interesting skills. Nothing that would set the world on fire, but at level 1, that wasn't something he expected. A damage skill, a defensive skill, and a buff. No skill allowed him to fly, but that would come later, he hoped. All in all, this was nothing to scoff at. For now, Leslie was satisfied with his choice of class.

  Quest: Complete the Tutorial Dungeon

  Reward: 1000 Credits

  There was the quest, too. The same one everyone got. And some items.

  Wand.

  Starter robes.

  Minor Health Potion (3).

  Minor Mana Potion (3).

  Leslie donned the wand and robes right away but felt stupid in the garment, so he took it off again, since it gave no bonuses. Waving the wand around sent small blips of light flying. They didn't drain mana, so perhaps the weapon would prove useful.

  Casting spells was just as simple and strange as he'd expected. Like he'd been able to all his life. First, he tested Sunflare. A thin, coiling and writhing lance of yellow flames burst out from Leslie's chest and struck the building right next to him before disappearing. It was a brittle structure, and the aged, dry wood caught fire, sending flames rising toward the thatch roof, where it started spreading at a worrying rate.

  That brief casting ate a good chunk of Leslie's mana. After activating Stoke Focus, he made another attempt, still not moving from his safe spot. This time, the beam created from casting Solar Flare was thicker, and the heat coming off it was on a whole other level. Unfortunately, using the two together dropped his mana down to less than half. Just as he'd thought, mana would be a serious limiter.

  Leslie stepped off the secure zone, straightened, and headed toward the sounds of fighting, walking away from the building now engulfed in flames. It was time to put his Boon to work. Soon enough, Leslie would find some corpses to harvest mana from.

  As he walked, he couldn't keep the grin from spreading across his face. This was it. He'd found what he was meant to do with his life. No longer would his life be one of quiet desperation. The future was his to seize, his to decide. From now on, no one would make fun of his name.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  In the first fight, Leslie encountered goblin-like creatures, only they were red rather than green. They were crowding a street, facing off against a group of Integrated who struggled with the limited space.

  Gallower. Level 2.

  Most of the Integrated were melee types, and they kept jostling each other, vying for a spot at the front so they could slash and cut with their primitive weapons. Again and again, they kept taking hits from the uncoordinated but more skilled Gallowers, and they would surely have succumbed to the wounds if not for a woman standing at the back, healing them.

  Observing the battle, Leslie saw that most of them were at less than full health. Judging by the healer woman’s sweat-covered face and drenched T-shirt, she was probably getting low on mana. Several fighters glanced his way, and one of them gave a shout of appreciation.

  “Finally, someone with ranged attacks! Can you help with these little assholes?”

  Pursing his lips, Leslie gave a slow shake of his head. “Can’t attack in arcs with the skills available to me.”

  “What?” the same man shouted back. He had long blond hair in a braid, and a full beard. Wearing a tank top and cargo shorts, he looked ridiculous.

  “My attacks only go in a straight line.”

  “Oh!” the Viking wannabe shouted, glancing up at the building to his left. “Can you climb up there?”

  Talking with, or maybe shouting at, Leslie made the guy look away from the monsters, and one of them slashed at his shoulder.

  “Dammit Johan! Don’t lose focus!” the healer woman shouted, casting a spell that gave her hands a blue glow. Johan’s health bar filled back up, and the wound closed of its own accord.

  Useful that. Perhaps in hindsight Leslie should have searched for a class capable of self-healing. He’d never have picked a full-on healer, not in a million years, but there might have been a nice middle ground. Leslie wouldn’t be anyone’s heal bitch.

  As the battle wore on, it became clear that the humans wouldn’t win. While the Gallowers dropped in health too, the Integrated were losing out, and the healer couldn’t keep up.

  Should he run? No, Leslie got a better idea. It was time to shed his old ideas of societal morality. Waiting, biding his time, Leslie stood there, patiently waiting for the right time. Once the odds were starting to turn to his favor, he walked to stand closer to the healer, positioned himself a little to her right, and drew in a deep breath.

  She gave him a look he’d seen many times before, one of suspicion, distrust and scorn. The difference between all other days and today, though, was that this time, she was correct in not trusting him. A moment later, she concentrated and cast another heal, letting out a small whimper, as if exhausted.

  Leslie struck, unleashing Sunflare right into the healer’s back. She gave a shout, mixing pain and fear in a way that he was shocked to find himself enjoying. The beam of flames burned through her clothes and burrowed into her back. It made her health drop at a good rate, but not quite as fast as he’d hoped, considering how much mana the spell pulled from Leslie’s inner stores.

  She attempted to heal herself, but either she didn’t have the mana for it, or her concentration broke, because she couldn’t finish the spell. A second later, she fell to the ground, dead.

  “What the fuck, dude?” Johan shouted, turning away from the fight to scream at Leslie.

  Mana glowed as it rose from the woman’s corpse and entered Leslie’s chest. It didn’t feel like anything, but seeing his mana bar rise from around 50% to 75% was, in one word, satisfying.

  “What?” Leslie asked, realizing Johan had spoken again.

  The Viking-reject strode toward him, his face twisted in rage. “You killed her!”

  “It’s just the Tutorial Dungeon,” Leslie said, releasing another Sunflare.

  Johan’s look of surprise mirrored the healer’s but was even more delicious as his beard caught fire and the screaming began. Injured as he was, it was a quick death, and after harvesting mana from the corpse, Leslie was back up to 80%. That boon had been a genius pick, if he could say so himself.

  By then, the other Integrated had caught on. They were attempting to separate from the monsters to attack Leslie instead, but that didn’t work. Several took blows to their shoulders and backs, and one died before he’d even taken a step.

  The already chaotic scene was plunged into even further disarray, but Leslie knew what he needed to do. One step forward was enough to drain mana from the fallen Integrated's corpse. Casting Stoke focus ate into his mana pool, but it was worth it. Unleashing Solar Flare with the added boost made for some quick deaths as he directed his ray of fiery death into the line of Integrated.

  Leslie's eyes widened as one by one, they fell. Careful not to thin the herd too much, he killed some Gallowers as well, keeping the two groups somewhat equal as he picked them off one by one, restoring the mana lost by draining some from each fallen, human and monster alike. To his incredible delight, Integrated provided him with almost as much experience as the monsters.

  The system rewarded him for killing his fellow humans. It wanted Integrated to die. Well, this was the Tutorial Dungeon. Better learn now that you can't trust people. In that way, Leslie was teaching them all a valuable lesson.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 2!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 3!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 4!

  Soon, he stood all by himself on that street, while the building he had set fire to a little earlier smoldered and the fire spread, growing by jumping from building to building. Too easy, almost. Not that he'd complain when easy levels were within reach.

  Distributing the attribute points was easy enough. As a caster, he needed mana, mana regeneration, and more spell power. To that end, he added 5 points each to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Willpower. Perhaps Willpower wasn't as important as the other two, but since his one offensive spell was a channeled, it made sense to invest some points. After adding the attribute points, Leslie took a look at his current status, then nodded to himself, satisfied.

  Attributes

  Strength (Raw physical power): 3

  Agility (Speed and finesse): 2

  Endurance (Stamina and physical recovery): 2

  Vitality (Health and physical resilience): 4

  Intelligence (Mind potency): 13

  Wisdom (Mana efficiency and mana regeneration): 12

  Willpower (Channeling stability and speed): 12

  Focus (Control and precision of mind): 5

  The next screen wiped some of that satisfaction away, however. He'd read that most Integrated weren't offered new skills until level 5, but in the heat of battle, Leslie forgot. Well, at least he could increase the ranks of the ones he'd already acquired. Reaching level 5 wouldn't take much longer, either.

  Rank up skills available:

  Sunflare [Active - Channeled - Mana Cost: Low]: A beam of radiant fire, melts and burns as long as it is held.

  Solar Mantle [Passive]: A mantle of the sun scorches any who dare approach.

  Stoke Focus [Active - Mana Cost: Moderate]: Apply to self and see warmth burn.

  First, he used a skill point to rank up Sunflare.

  Sunflare [Active - Channeled - Mana Cost: Low]: A beam of radiant fire, melts and burns as long as it is held.

  Turned into.

  Sunflare [Active - Channeled - Mana Cost: Low - Rank 2]: An expanding ray of brilliant fire, scorches and engulfs as long as it is held.

  Phew, no increase in mana cost. That was good. Other than that, the new description made the spell sound more dangerous, but it was hard to tell. This system lacked the hard data and numbers Leslie would have liked, but he could make do. He was about to continue by ranking up Solar Mantle, then stopped himself. There was no need to rush into things. Upon reaching level 5, he would be able to pick from a new set of skills. Saving 2 points now meant he'd be able to pick three new skills right away as soon as he leveled up.

  New sounds of fighting tickled at his ears, and he turned to walk up the street at a leisurely pace. How lucky for him, test subjects for his new and improved Sunflare skill.

  "H-hello?"

  Turning, he glanced into an alley where a woman about his own age hid behind a crate. A tangle of red locks peeked over the edge, along with a pair of wide eyes.

  Dorothy. Lifeweaver. Level 2.

  Lifeweaver? The class name rang a bell, but he couldn't quite place it.

  "Hello, Dorothy," Leslie said, approaching the scared woman. "Are you all by yourself?"

  Dorothy nodded. "I am. This place is way more intense than Tim said."

  "Tim? A boyfriend, perhaps?"

  "What?" She frowned, her fright turning to annoyance. "No."

  That look stoked something within Leslie. People had leveled it at him many times throughout his life. Either that one, or the even worse alternative, pity. Setting his jaw, he reached forward with a hand. Dorothy misread the gesture and shied back from what she assumed was his touch.

  He was about to touch her, alright, but not skin-to-skin contact.

  Dorothy's screams were like a balm on his soul, but she didn't last long. The new and improved Sunflare was a lot stronger than its rank one counterpart, and it melted through a human in seconds.

  Next, Leslie found a trio of Gallowers who rushed down the street toward what now sounded like quite the battle taking place a couple of streets over. Catching them unaware, he incinerated one before they knew what hit them. When he moved the beam of fire toward the other two, however, the little creatures ducked under it and rushed forward, holding their little swords out in front of them. It took him a moment to adjust, but he lowered the beam in time to melt through a second Gallower and even touch the third, destroying a chunk of its red arm.

  It cried out but, to Leslie's surprise, didn't die. The Gallower lunged forward, and a flash of cold pain lanced up from Leslie's leg, where the heinous maggot of a monster had buried its dirt-specked blade.

  Leslie cried out and fell back onto the hard paved street, another jolt of pain shocking through his body when his elbow met stone.

  "Go away!" Leslie shouted, but the Gallower grinned and advanced on him, reaching for the sword that'd clattered to the ground. Unable to gather his focus enough to cast the Sunflare again, Leslie clambered backwards on elbows and heels, trying to get away.

  Again, the Gallower lunged for him, but it stopped dead before reaching, an arrow jutting from the center of its chest. It fell. Dead. Casting about, Leslie saw a group of Integrated approaching. Three men in leather armor. One of them carried a bow, one an axe, and the third what looked like a snow globe without the snow.

  Integrated Adam. Archer. Level 3.

  Integrated Hamish. Warrior. Level 3.

  Integrated Cal. Spiritmender. Level 3.

  "You alright, dude?" Adam asked. "I'm Adam."

  "I know," Leslie said, trying, and failing, to put weight on the injured leg. "Leslie. You saved me."

  "Hell yeah, we did. Did you see that? I was like," he mimicked pulling the bowstring back and releasing it, "and that little red dude was all like," he dropped his tongue out of his mouth and crossed his arms over his chest, "ugh."

  Adam looked to his friends. "Right?"

  "Right," Cal agreed, looking down at Leslie on the ground. "Need healing?"

  "You're a healer?" Leslie asked.

  "Kind of, I don't know."

  "Don't be an asshole, Cal!" Adam shouted. "Heal the little dude."

  With his health topped up, the injuries began feeling better. Little by little, they closed up, and he soon found the leg good as new.

  "That's not bad," Leslie said, putting some weight on the leg. "It doesn't even hurt."

  Cal the healer was first to go, and the other two just stood there, gaping at him. Only when Sunflare, boosted by Stoke Focus, burned through him did his expression change. By then, it was too late. The warrior's face twisted in rage as he charged. The swing would have taken Leslie's head off if he hadn't ducked. Instead, it grazed Leslie's arm, opening up a long gash. Burned by Solar Mantle, the Warrior stumbled back, dropping his weapon. Killing him after that was just too easy.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 5!

  Now that was progress.

  New skills available:

  Solarian's Embrace [Active - Mana Cost: Moderate]: Bathe yourself in flames to heal thy wounds.

  Holding the injured arm over his head, feeling the mana from his fresh kills seep into him, Leslie picked the new skill. Self-healing was a powerful tool. Since he was unable to keep a healer at hand at all times, and he didn't want to depend on potions, this skill was just what he needed. Activating it, flames burst to life along the injury.

  "Gah!"

  The flames. They hurt him!

  While the skin remained untouched, the hurt was still there. Unbearable pain wracked his arm, forcing him to his knees. Tears ran down his face, but there was no way of stopping it. Fire licked the wound, and he couldn't help but watch as the bleeding stopped and the edges pulled themselves back together. Soon, there was no trace of the injury ever having been there.

  Panting, Leslie sat there in the middle of the street, trying to gather himself. That pain was something else, but you couldn't deny the results. The mana requirements weren't much either. Good thing that. Pain and above-average mana drain would be a terrible combination for a skill. Motes of light rose from the three bodies, and he gave a little wave as he stood.

  They weren't bad people, but good or bad didn't matter. Not anymore. Integrated were walking, talking bags of experience. He didn't have much time left before it all ended. Before that, he'd rise as far as possible. Leslie would tower over all other Integrated to the point he'd be remembered forever.

  With that in mind, he got up and continued deeper into the town. In the distance, the boss would be waiting for him, but while that was his destination, Leslie had no intention of finishing the Tutorial Dungeon. Not yet, not when there was more experience to be had, more levels to gain, and more ways to grow his power.

  A trio of Gallowers sauntered into the street. They died before they knew what hit them. Farther along, a larger battle between Integrated and Gallowers played out around a well in the middle of a square. Just like with the first battle, two lines fought against one another with Integrated on one side and monsters on the other. This time, the Gallowers had more support.

  Gallower Sparker. Level 4.

  Gallower Flinger. Level 4.

  Gallower Snottosser. Level 5.

  Snottosser? Ew. Mages, archers and healers behind the humans were doing their best to keep up, but the line sagged. More monsters flowed in from side streets. People shouted, and some died. Things were dire indeed. Anger rose in Leslie's chest with each human killed. Those monsters were taking experience away from him.

  In battle, positioning played a key part. Knowing this, Leslie flanked the battle. He had to kill a couple of Gallowers to find just the right angle. Lining up all the monsters, he launched another beam of light and fire, channeling it as it ate into the first Gallower's flesh, then through it and into the next. One by one, they fell.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 6!

  Throwing every attribute point from this level up and the last one into Intelligence for more powerful spells, he reached twenty-three as he cut the beam. By that point, he'd killed about a third of the monsters in the front line. Enough to even out the odds and soften the Integrated up a little without too many of them dying before he could claim them.

  When the moment arrived, he seized it. Monsters and Integrated were falling like flies, and the influx of mana drifting into him from the effect of his boon had nowhere to go. What a waste.

  Monsters died.

  Integrated fell.

  One by one, Leslie killed them all. Pandemonium broke out. People cried out in pain and hurled insults his way. A few even pleaded. Pointless whining, all of it.

  A few ran, but it didn't matter. Leslie would find them.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 7!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 8!

  Wisdom and Intelligence, he needed more of them.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 9!

  Willpower, just a little, to make sure Sunflare's channeling stayed in tip-top shape.

  Once they were all done and the flames from Solarian's Embrace had burned away the injuries, Leslie stood there, surveying his work. It was beautiful.

  Continuing toward the obvious boss battle in the distance, the keep, Leslie checked his skills. Several levels now without gaining anything new. That didn't matter though, he thought, as he walked. It just meant that whatever he got at level 10 would be even more powerful.

  It didn't take long to make it to the main entrance of the keep, past a lowered drawbridge and over the moat. A battle had played out here, judging by the blood spotting the ground, but he saw no corpses. The entrance hall of the keep was long and narrow, without a single source of light. Something waited beyond, in the main hall, sitting atop what looked like a throne. Something dangerous.

  Defender of Innocence. Level 11.

  It was a knight decked out in full plate armor with even the visor down. The boss just sat there, waiting, with a simple blade resting in the monster’s lap.

  Leslie nodded to himself, then turned around and walked back out, heading over the moat again and into the town. That thing would be a challenge now, but that didn't matter, since he had no intention of battling the Tutorial Dungeon's boss. Not just yet.

  Instead, he waited. Any Integrated who wanted to come through and finish the dungeon needed to pass through this spot if they wanted to reach the boss. To do that, however, they would need to go through him.

  Hours later, he'd killed several large gatherings of Integrated and a good number of stragglers. At one point, they mounted a concentrated attack on him, many Integrated working together. Unfortunately for them, he'd reached level 10 already, and even gone beyond.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 10!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 11!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 12!

  Congratulations! You have reached level 13!

  The levels brought interesting new options, but more than anything, they allowed him to rank up his skills. Sunflare at Rank 2 was something to behold, and Solar Mantle scorched anyone who dared come close and even burned up arrows and bullets from the idiotic Integrated who'd chosen a class that uses guns.

  It took a few more hours of waiting for the Integrated to dry up. When no new people had arrived in twenty minutes, Leslie nodded to himself and looked up into the sky. The shining sun invited him to soar through the air, and he laughed as he accepted. Taking off from the ground, Leslie laughed and laughed.

  Life really was a tremendous experience.

  From above, he saw more monsters, more Integrated. When the Tutorial Dungeon was well and truly empty, then, and only then, did he destroy the boss.

  Quest Completed: You have completed the Tutorial Dungeon.

  Reward: 1000 Credits.

  A portal opened up, and Leslie stepped through. Being back on Earth, the roar of the crowd reached him once again. It was night, but so many people still lined up to touch the orb.

  "This way, please," a man said.

  Leslie turned and saw what he figured was a DIA agent, gesturing for him to follow into their headquarters.

  "No thanks," Leslie said, turning to walk off. After the elation of the Tutorial Dungeon, everything here looked gray and dull.

  "I'm afraid I must insist, Integrated."

  Now that he'd found something he was good at, something people would respect him for, the fact that it would end in only a few years gnawed at him. There had to be some way around it, someone to fix him.

  "Come on now. It won't take long."

  The agent put his hand on Leslie's shoulder. That was when the screaming began.

  A few seconds later, Leslie pursed his lips. "No experience from non-Integrated. Interesting."

  Now that he was back, his phone reception picked back up, and the app for the school where he worked started sending notifications. Some students were texting back and forth in the chatroom about non-school related things. He shook his head. They should know better, and even posting links to social media?

  Check this out! Crazy stuff, right! Lulu, you should bring your mom to these guys! Maybe they can fix her?

  Curiosity got the best of him, and so Leslie tapped the link, which led to a video. A white tent with a vain young woman talking about herself, then asking questions to a long line of people. What was this? He was about to put his phone away when the incessant chatting stopped for a moment and the camera panned past a partition to show a young man and woman on the ground. Something blue hung in the air between them and a third person standing right next to them.

  "There," the man said. "All good."

  "Couldn't follow a thing," the young woman said.

  The third person started crying. "You cured me?"

  "Sure," the man said.

  Leslie watched a little longer, a smile widening across his face. People were screaming now, and he blinked, looking for what was going on. Sirens blared in the distance. It sounded as if they were coming closer. Looking down at his feet, he understood.

  "Right," he mumbled. "Normal humans don't turn into motes of light."

  They were running and screaming to get away from him. Leslie didn't care. Instead, he looked up into the sky. The sun wasn't up, but he didn't need its invitation to fly. Now, the sky was his.

  Integrated healers couldn't heal ordinary injuries and illnesses. That was fact. Or it had been fact until just this moment. Once a fact has been disproven, a new fact is born.

  To Leslie, that new fact was: There was someone out there capable of healing him. That meant he could have all the time in the world to grow stronger and show everyone what happens when you treat a person like dirt for so long.

  First though, he needed to find those healers. Soaring through the air, he grinned. That wouldn't be a problem.