Chapter 3

The sensation of movement was less of a physical shift and more of a sudden realignment of reality. Kyle didn't feel his body travel; he simply blinked, and the suffocating darkness of the void was gone. In its place, a warm, golden glow washed over his skin, and the air turned crisp and heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth. He stood atop a massive, circular stone pillar. High above, a shimmering dome of light arched across the sky, translucent enough to reveal the true scale of the world beyond. Below the platform, an endless sea of green stretched in every direction—the Verdant Expanse. It was a forest of impossible proportions, with trees that dwarfed skyscrapers and shadows that seemed to swallow the light between the branches. A translucent blue window shimmered into existence before his eyes, pulsing with a gentle light. [Title earned: Pioneer of the New World] [Pioneer of the New World - Complete the introduction and enter the tutorial as a forerunner of the New World. +3 all stats. Grants the skill: Omni-Linguist (Unique).] Kyle felt a sudden surge of heat radiating from his core, spreading through his limbs like a shot of adrenaline. It wasn't painful, but it was intense—a physical sharpening of his senses and a tightening of his muscles. The numbness from the void vanished entirely. He focused on the new skill notification. [Omni-Linguist (Unique) - Allows you to communicate with the myriad races throughout the multiverse. A unique skill granted for free to the forerunners of a newly initiated race.] He stared at the word 'Unique.' It felt heavy. Before he could fully process the implication of being a 'forerunner,' a flash of light erupted several yards to his right. "Kyle?" Kyle spun around, his hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of the knife at his belt. A man stood there, blinking rapidly against the light. He wore a suit of interlocking steel rings—chainmail—over a simple tunic. His hair was perfectly styled, despite the circumstances, and his posture was upright and commanding. "Noah?" Kyle's voice was dry, the name coming out as more of a question than a greeting. Noah let out a long, shuddering breath and stepped forward, his boots clanking against the stone. "God, Kyle. It is you. I thought—I didn't know what to think. Are you okay? Have you seen the others? Sophia? Arthur?" Noah's face was pale, but his eyes were bright with a desperate kind of energy. He looked like the department chief Kyle knew, but the chainmail and the heavy sword hanging from his waist made the image look like a high-budget film set. "I just got here," Kyle said, his eyes scanning the platform. "It was just me until a second ago." "Right. Right." Noah nodded, trying to steady his breathing. "The voice. It said—" He was cut off by a rapid succession of flashes. One, two, four, six. Light strobed across the pillar's surface. As the spots cleared from Kyle's vision, he saw familiar faces standing in a loose circle. Sophia was there, clutching a wooden staff with both hands, her knuckles white. She looked small in her robes, her blonde hair messy and her eyes wide with terror. Arthur stood nearby, his massive frame draped in thick leather and iron plates. He carried a heavy shield and a blunt mace, his brow furrowed into a permanent scowl. Ethan and Chloe, cousins who worked in different departments, stood side by side. Ethan was dressed in light leather armor, a short sword at his hip, looking like he was ready to bolt at any moment. Chloe, like Sophia, held a staff, though hers looked slightly more ornate. Adrian Reyes, a medium-class warrior in reinforced leather, gripped the hilt of a broadsword. James from R&D was checking the string on a bow identical to Kyle's. Olivia, the receptionist, was adjusting her large earrings, her face caked in more makeup than usual as if it were war paint, clutching a staff. Finally, Daniel, another office worker, stood looking down at his hands as if he didn't know what they were for. Ten people. Kyle counted them twice. Five had been in the elevator with him; the other four were employees he recognized from the breakroom or meetings. "Is everyone okay?" Noah called out, stepping into the center of the group. His voice had regained that authoritative chime he used during quarterly reviews. "I think so," Sophia whispered, her eyes fixed on Noah. "I thought I was dying. That voice... it gave me things. It told me I was a healer." "I'm a caster," Olivia chirped, though her voice lacked its usual vigor. "And I have this stick. It's supposed to shoot magic? Honestly, I'd prefer my mace." "You have a staff, Olivia," Daniel muttered. "I'm a caster too. Same here." The group began to converge, the initial shock giving way to a frantic need to compare notes. Kyle stayed on the periphery, watching them. "The system said I'm a light warrior," Ethan said, tapping the leather on his chest. "I got a skill called Fleet Foot. It's supposed to make me faster, I guess. What about you, Adrian?" "Medium warrior," Adrian replied. "I got Adaptive Stance. It says it gives a bonus to my stats while I'm holding a weapon. It's an inferior-rated skill, though. Sounds like crap." "I got Fortify," Arthur grunted, his voice like grinding stones. "Heavy warrior. Increases my toughness." "I'm a Marksman," Kyle said when the eyes turned to him. "I have Beginner Archery and something called Eagle Eye." James nodded toward him. "Same. Marksman. I didn't get Eagle Eye, though. I got something called Discern. Tells me the levels of things, maybe?" "Wait," Chloe said, looking at her staff. "Did anyone else get told about levels? The voice in my head said I get a new skill every five levels. I'm a caster, by the way. I have Arcane Missile." "Every five levels?" Noah asked, checking his own invisible interface. "Yeah, I see that now. I'm a medium warrior, like Adrian. I have Adaptive Stance too. But I also have this..." He gestured to his chainmail. "The voice let me pick my starting equipment. Did you guys get to pick?" "I just asked for a bow," Kyle said. "I didn't know I could ask for anything else." "I asked for a shield," Arthur said. "And something to hit things with." "I should have asked for a better robe," Olivia complained, tugging at the coarse fabric. "This thing is going to chafe within an hour." The conversation turned to the skills they had been granted. Most of them seemed disappointed. Noah and Adrian both had the inferior-rated Adaptive Stance. Ethan's Fleet Foot was common rarity, but it only promised a "slightly quicker" step. The casters—Chloe, Olivia, and Daniel—all had Arcane Missile, which they hadn't tested yet. "I have Mend," Sophia said, her voice trembling slightly. "And a passive thing called Restoration. It says it's an aura that helps people nearby heal faster. I... I don't like blood, Noah." Noah stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Sophia. We're going to stay together. We've got a healer, we've got warriors, and we've got range. We're a team." "Look," Arthur interrupted, his finger pointing out toward the horizon. Kyle looked. Beyond their pillar, other stone platforms were visible, scattered across the vast forest at varying heights. On each one, small clusters of people were visible—tiny specks against the massive scale of the Verdant Expanse. As if triggered by Arthur's observation, a massive, semi-transparent screen flickered into life in the center of their platform. [Guidance Panel] Duration: 63 days & 21:47:11 Initiation Type: Survival Completion Criteria: Survive the duration of the tutorial Initiation rules: Collect Initiate Points (IP) Initiation Information: The Verdant Expanse below is filled with danger and opportunities for the new initiates to experience. Beasts roam the forest, hunting for prey. Kill the beasts to acquire Initiate Points while gaining strength. Perhaps even a chance to hunt the Apex Predators will present itself... Initiation Point Rules: Gain Initiate Points upon killing beasts split amongst the contributors. Upon killing another initiate, half their Initiate Points will be split amongst the contributors. Final Rewards based on Initiate Points and the number of Survivors. Total Survivors Remaining: 1200/1200 Initiate Points Collected: 0 The group fell silent as they read the text. The part about killing other initiates hung in the air like a physical weight. "Twelve hundred survivors," Kyle whispered. "That's... that's not many." "And sixty-three days," James added. "Two months in that forest?" A low, mechanical hum began to vibrate through the stone beneath their feet. The pillar shuddered, and then, with a slow, grinding lurch, it began to descend. "We're going down," Ethan yelled, grabbing the edge of the pillar. "We're going into the woods!" "Stay calm!" Noah shouted over the sound of the descending stone. "Listen to me! We need a plan. We can't just wander around down there." The pillar moved steadily, dropping away from the safety of the dome and toward the dark canopy of the Verdant Expanse. The giant trees began to rise up around them, blocking out the golden light and replacing it with a dim, dappled green. "First priority is water," Noah said, his voice firm and eyes scanning the group. "Then food and shelter. We stay together at all times. If we see beasts, we fight them together. If we see other survivors..." He paused, looking at the panel's rule about killing initiates. "We stay cautious. We don't engage unless we have to. We survive. That's the only goal. We're going to hunt what we need to get stronger, but we don't take unnecessary risks. Does everyone understand?" There was a chorus of hesitant nods. Sophia was looking at Noah with an expression that bordered on worship, her fear seemingly mitigated by his confidence. Kyle watched her, then looked back at Noah. He wondered if Noah actually knew what he was doing, or if he was just falling back on his role as a department chief because it was the only thing he knew how to be. The ground was rushing up to meet them now. They were descending into a wide clearing where the grass grew waist-high and the air was thick with the sound of insects—insects that sounded much larger than any Kyle had heard on Earth. The pillar slowed, then landed with a soft thud that vibrated through Kyle's boots. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the solid stone beneath them began to flicker. "Get off!" Arthur barked. The group scrambled off the edge of the stone and onto the soft, loamy soil of the clearing. A moment later, the pillar phased out of existence, leaving them standing in the middle of a vast, silent forest. The shadows of the trees were long and twisted. Somewhere deep in the woods, something let out a low, guttural roar that made the ground tremble. Kyle gripped his bow, his eyes darting toward the treeline. The tutorial had begun. ════════════════════════════════════════