Hell Difficulty Tutorial

Virelia during the morning is different from the night. The colorful lights turn off and people return to the streets, filling them with life. Humans are everywhere, going about their lives, merchants open their shops, and couples walk around holding hands.

And there are those annoying lynthari once again.

“Oh my, look at him. His expression!” A group of lynthari surrounds me and one of the women starts gushing.

“Isn't he annoyed? I would swear he was about to roll his eyes,” another one says.

As always, they are weird, yet they do not touch me; they don't force me to do anything. They are just annoying.

“His eyes are pretty,” another one says.

Should I find a way to change their color? Maybe Lily can do it for me.

“I'm sorry, I have something to do, so…” I tell them.

“I would translate that as: Can you fuck off already?” one of them says, making the others laugh, seemingly not minding it at all.

Then I make a mistake. I release some of my mana to show them my level and exert pressure on them. It's not an attack, at most something like baring teeth or hissing. And oh boy, that makes them even more excited.

“Oh my, so cute!” one of the lunatics exclaims. She doesn't care that she is the lowest level out of her group and I could kill her with a single attack.

She's like a fool calling a black bear a dawg and wanting to pet it. I guess that's what the unspoken rule of never hurting lynthari does to you.

Not seeing any other option, I use my skill to push myself high onto the roof and escape. My most dangerous weakness, extroverts, still exist and this time it's an entire race of those weirdos.

Maybe the system is doing it on purpose. Maybe this is the second trial of Beyond masked as the 4th floor. That's how dangerous extroverted beings are. It's unnatural to be so friendly and talkative. There was some mistake in evolution and something went terribly wrong for something like this to happen.

And it's still morning, like, what the heck. Be sleepy and grumpy like normal people after waking up.

Sending my senses into the area, I notice a signature I haven't felt so far and, led by curiosity, I move a bit closer towards its source.

When I get closer, I'm surprised to see a lynthari, but this time, this lynthari is just a small kid. A girl even shorter than me, the first child of that race I've seen. She has red hair and a tail and ears of the same color. Unlike adults, her tail is even fluffier, and she walks on the street alone, without any worry in the world.

Like a wild animal, she senses my gaze and her eyes locate me nearly immediately. Her eyes are piercingly blue.

[Riftwalker - lvl 87]

The lynthari girl smiles at me and takes a step, disappearing from where she stands and reappearing behind me, stepping out of a gouge in the air that is filled with darkness.

“Hello!” she says, showing her sharp canines.

So, how the heck does a level 87 have a teleporting skill? I thought stuff like that was illegal. Is the system playing favorites here?

“Hello,” I answer awkwardly, to her amusement.

“How old are you?” she asks.

Huh, that's a weird question, isn't it? “Twenty-one,” I tell her, seeing no reason to lie.

“Ha! I'm twenty-nine so I'm older! You have to call me boss now!”

For a moment I fight against the confusion that hits me. The what? How does that even work?

Still, she's the first child lynthari I've seen and her teleporting skill is interesting, so I give in and decide to go with the flow, “I apologize for my rudeness! I will call you boss from now on!” I tell her.

The young lynthari seems surprised but then happy, and she excitedly nods her head, her red hair flying around. She seems too happy, as if plenty of people already rejected to call her that and as if she expected me to do so as well.

“Good!” she then pauses, embarrassed, probably not thinking that far, “Huh, what now,” she whispers quietly under her breath.

“Boss, I'm hungry. Will you buy a meal for me? It's a master's job to take care of their underlings.” I can't help but to want to bully this little girl. Someone gotta pay for all the weird lynthari around.

As expected, the young lynthari doesn't seem to have any mana stones on her. I sensed that much while scanning her. She falls silent, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, too ashamed to say it out loud.

I let it go on for a bit longer and then decide that it's enough, “I apologize for the confusion, obviously, I will pay. Things like that aren't something a boss should do.”

“Obviously you should pay. Are you dumb or something, underling?” the lynthari child immediately shakes her head, acting all mature, something she probably learned from observing others, yet can't fully apply.

Even though she might be close to thirty, she's just a child. But that won't stop me from observing her skill. It might help me improve my [Tether].

So, I jump down from the roof and observe as she teleports with me, and then we continue on so I can get my breakfast.

It takes much longer than expected; the young lynthari is extremely picky and sniffs with a sharp nose like an animal, rating the smell from each restaurant. But in the end, we find one.

The prices are sky-high, but I'm rich, thanks to Elydor. May the gods bless his soul and revive him one day.

So I can kill him again.

“You are different from other dumb humans,” the redheaded lynthari says. Her piercing blue eyes observe me once in a while, “you feel weird.”

“I apologize, boss.”

“But you paid for breakfast so it's fine.”

“Thank you, boss.”

“But actually, that's something underlings like you should do, so I don't need to thank you.”

“I apologize, boss.”

“But you are my first underling, so maybe it's fine?”

“Thank you, boss,” I say.

Every time I call her 'boss', her smile becomes bigger and bigger, even though she tries to hide it. Somehow I can't even get too annoyed.

Unlike adults, kids are something I can't bring myself to treat too harshly. Little Isabella is living proof of that after I ended up with her on the third floor. There's some sort of naivety, shine, and goodness that I find in most children. Or maybe I'm just treating them nicely because I also wish I was treated well while being a child. I don't know. I'm a weirdo.

Still, it won't stop me from teasing them a little bit! “Boss, if you allow me, I would like to recommend you something,” I say carefully.

“Sure, underling! Go ahead. I allow you to do so!” the little redhead lynthari folds her arms on her chest and leans backward on the chair.

Oi, it will rain into your nose if you lift it higher, you silly kid.

“I'm not saying the boss isn't majestic, but I think you could even improve on that if you allow me to help,” I pause and look at her with a question.

Barely able to hide her curiosity, she nods, her big eyes glued to me.

So silly.

I continue, this time in a whisper, “I heard about a boss from ancient times. A most powerful redhead lynthari woman…”

“Oh, like me!” she interrupts me, showing her hair.

“No boss, your hair is even more stunning!” I say, and that makes her open her mouth slightly as she listens to me, mesmerized, “She ruled over the entire city. The biggest boss of all.” I create a dramatic pause, “I heard she had one word she liked to say after every sentence, making all the people jealous and amazed by her.”

“Underling, tell me! Tell me what that word was immediately!” she stops leaning against the chair and stands up.

I pause for a dramatic effect. “Nya,” I then say in a somber tone, “Boss, that word was 'nya' and she said it after every sentence. Impressing her underlings and her enemies as well.” I finish up.

Surely she won't eat that up.

“I like it, underling, I really do! Good job, nya!” she says, and the way she pronounces this word with her youthful voice makes it sound extremely cute and silly at the same time.

Oh boy, am I having too much fun now? Is it because of my good mood from last night and experimenting with mana stones?

“Exactly boss! You are a talent.” I tell her.

“Of course I am, nya!” she says and pauses, “I like it, I really do, nya!” she continues.

I reach out and take a sip of water.

“I can't wait to do it in front of my grandma, nya!”

Oh yes, do it. I just wish I could be there to see it! Huhu! I'm so evil. I take another sip of my drink while the young lynthari continues to excitedly repeat the word.

“Maybe I can have granny order everyone to never use that word so only I will, nya!”

Huh? Order everyone?

“It would be easy with dumb humans, nya. Oh, not you, underling, you aren't dumb, nya! But other lynthari might not want to listen and try to steal the word from me, nya, nya!”

Oh no.

“Well, it doesn't matter. Grandma will beat them up if they don't! She did it before, so all lynthari listen to her now, nya!”

Hehe. Maybe I should leave quickly.

Thankfully she turns to me, “I'll be going now, underling, nya! I will find you soon!”

As she teleports away, I don't even observe her skill. I watch the place where she disappeared from.

This can't be good.

This is when I decided I'd had enough of the city and decided to go back to our house. I check if there is any tracker on me, I use [Resonance] a few times, strengthen my Mantle, and quickly buy some stuff from the shops.

I already have plenty of etched mana stones for examining, but I buy multiple kinds of mana-conductive paint, some metals that seem to be able to be etched with mana circuits, a few more items that use mana stones to function, and other stuff the old man recommended.

In the end, I spend a lot, but back at the house, there is much more. All the stuff Elydor left us so gracefully. I wish he never died.

So I could kill him again, maybe while having Lily heal him constantly.

Plus, there are some valuables from the Champion's house that we plan to put into the auction to get as much as possible.

The plan is to finish the coordinates deal with Sophie and hopefully be able to buy another epic passive. If I don't have enough, I can sell some items until I get there. After that, I will start working on my plan to kill The Living Tree.

I already know how I will do it and how to get to that point; it will just take some time.

There's no speck of doubt I will be able to do it. In the same way I hate Elydor - I hope we both will get reborn and meet once again one day.

Well, the same way as that guy, I hate the Living Tree. I haven't forgotten about the time we spent down in the tunnels, and even though I was deep in [Focus], I remember the faces of other members of my group and some of the feelings I had.

I will kill that tree. I don't care about Valorplate or the Colony, not even the mystery of the 4th Calamity or stuff in the orbit.

The tree will go down.

Getting closer to our house on top of the hill, I sense weaker threads of Sophie's web reaching even beyond the house and its garden. They are barely noticeable, yet functional. Her web has improved by leaps and bounds. It is stronger and more delicate at the same time, and there are even some fake-outs, hidden detections, and even some weak attacks that will activate under some conditions.

So I spend one hour standing outside the house, observing the web, obviously.

(Damn it, please come in already. I can feel your probing and Lily keeps asking why you won't come in and staring at you from the window on the second floor.) Sophie says in my mind after I allow her to create a link. When I look at the mentioned window, I really see Lily's face, hiding behind the drapes and staring at me.

(Tell her I said hello and that I can see her,) I tell Sophie, and soon she does just that because Lily jumps backward, probably falling down and pulling the drape down with her as I see it tearing and disappearing.

(Anyway, the guild master of Storm Brigade came here yesterday, and she should be coming here today. She came personally, saying that she would like to talk with you,) I get the info as I move towards the door.

Interesting, so Obelia is looking for me. She probably hasn't heard anything yet from Myrra, so what does she want from me?

Well, I'll see soon enough.