The Master of the Tutorial is Overpowered in a New World

Shadow had always blended into the background of people's lives, even before he became Purple ranked. In fact, it was only once he was Purple that other people really noticed him. By that point, he had grown indifferent to others' attention.

The day that that young woman had arrived, Shadow had been around only because the other two Purples in town were already occupied. He had been about to find a lower ranking quest to practice with when the shock of a Purple promotion test had come from the poor girl at the counter. That was shocking to him too, as he did not know of any Blues close enough to test for Purple. When he heard that the Bladestorm herself was recommending the test, he knew that his previous plan for the day had been supplanted. Only Purples could conduct the test, and he was eager to find out what had wandered into his guild.

She was good. Still had some work to be done to polish up her bladework and her spells were a bit slow. Her versatility seemed to be her weakness, so he tested both aspects separately to see what she had. However she surprised him when she asked him to go harder. He obliged, which in hindsight was the reason he had lost. Even if she had lost, he still would have had her promoted though.

She was smart, yet clueless about a lot of things. He had an inkling that there was something strange about her when she asked if he could look into the Champion of the Goddess. Being curious himself, it was not hard. He had even slipped into the palace undetected to hear the rumors among the staff. What he had heard left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Yet the woman seemed unsurprised when he asked the simple question about their connection.

When she answered, things made a lot of sense. She was not of this world, which explained the cluelessness. Yet she was very aware of the Goddess’s System, which made him suspect that between her and the Champion, she was more experienced. That they had a rift was clear, but he was not about to step into a quarrel between women.

Like every other Purple in the empire, he had received the invitation to the banquet at the palace. Although he originally had not planned on attending, he was concerned about the girl and what would happen when she and the Champion came face to face. Out of that concern, he opted to go and accompany her.

The confrontation went about as he expected at first. The Champion spoke as though she had authority and superiority, but the girl had shut her down quickly. If anything, it was probably the prince's fault for arriving.

Even though warned by the girl, Shadow felt the weight of the Champion's skill hit him. It was powerful and compelling. Sturdy Mind was a skill that he had picked up long ago however, and as such he pulled through the Champion's lies. As he glanced around, he noticed several other Purples who resisted the Champion's skill in their own way, but that there were others who either succumbed or were morally bankrupt enough to favor the Champion's reward offer.

As the fighting broke out, it was only really those who used martial arts and the roguish types like himself who ended up truly armed. Spellcasters were a separate matter, but just as bad. The main focus was the girl, which allowed Shadow to incapacitate several spellcasters and a couple others. Several others who had begun trying to stop those attacking the girl, but were having success only in tying down their fellow party members or holding just another Purple at bay. Since just about everyone here was Purple, no one really wanted to kill another.

He saw the slip in the girl's guard that heralded the punch coming long before it landed. With a disengage, he started towards the girl. The punch hit and she spun, followed by the slash across her back. He knocked another Purple out as he rushed in. The prince had the blade to her throat as Shadow dove forward. He grabbed her and activated his ability, Shadow Meld, merging into the shadow of one of the nearby adventurers. He quickly jumped between the shadows in the room and escaped the hall before emerging again. She would suffocate if he did not.

He saw the wound to her stomach for the first time and knew that he needed more help than he originally thought. The problem was that the best healers in the empire were a little occupied in the previous room. Help was certainly not going to be found here, so getting out of the palace resumed being the immediate priority. He had to hope that the girl would make it until then.

Tess awoke precisely at six in the morning, which Timekeeper ensured was correct. She stared at the ceiling of the unfamiliar room, wondering how she was alive, and furthermore how she had gotten here.

“Awake at last?”

She lifted her head to look at Shadow, sitting in the corner of the room. He was back in his black leathers, and she had no doubt he was thinking about a lot of things. But it was a chance to throw him off.

“Do you always sneak into a woman’s room when she’s asleep? People could start to talk.”

“That would require that I was seen and you were heard.”

Tess was surprised by the comeback, as he had taken it a step further on the implications. Her face went a little red as she hid from him in the blanket.

“I guess you got me out,” she said from beneath the covers.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

“You are most welcome.”

There was an awkward silence.

“How bad is it?” she asked.

Shadow remained silent for a moment. She wished he had some sort of expression to try and get a read on him, but he kept himself a stoic, blank slate.

“Your wounds healed like a miracle.”

Tess popped her head back out.

“Regenerate. Only works out of combat situations after a set time.”

“There is also a great search going on throughout the capital.”

“For me?”

“For you.”

“Figures.”

“You did attack the Champion.”

“I tried to expose her.”

“Well, you did that.”

“But it didn’t matter,” Tess said, “That stupid prince didn’t get it.”

“I do not believe he had a choice.”

Tess sat up, looking intently at Shadow.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Before she put the price on your head, she was weaving her lies. I felt her influence try to force my mind into agreement.”

“But it didn’t work I guess.”

“Correct. I have a skill to prevent such manipulations. A number of others I could see also resisted her influence.”

Tess thought back to the confrontation. She had felt pulses of something coming from Olivia. It lined up, based on what Shadow had just said, that this was Olivia activating a skill. But Tess had never had this ability before, so why now?

“Shadow? Can you use a skill now?”

“Yes? Why?”

“I need to test something.”

Tess watched as Shadow merged into the shadows around him and disappeared from sight entirely. A few moments later, he came out of the shadows again. Yet she felt no pulse as he did so.

“Do I have it wrong?”

“What do you not understand?”

“I felt something when Olivia was talking. I thought it might be a skill, but when you just did your thing, it didn’t pulse the same way.”

“Perhaps it was only meant to be felt by you if it came from her. You have a strange connection through the goddess.”

“I don’t think that the goddess is on my side, Shadow. She hasn’t done anything for me except kick me out.”

“Who is to say that she cannot change her opinion?”

Tess was skeptical, and it showed.

“When did you become a preacher?”

Shadow only shrugged with a smile.

“I make no such claims. I have my beliefs and the clerics have theirs.”

Tess flopped back onto the bed.

“What are your beliefs on getting out of this death sentence?”

Shadow remained silent in thought as Tess contemplated her own question. If Olivia kept using whatever skill she had to manipulate the prince and a significant portion of the Purple rankers, there was little chance of talking through this anymore and the likely outcome was going to be a violent one.

“You will need to break through the Champion’s skill. Only then could you try and speak to the others,” Shadow said.

“That’s what I thought too. Now she also has a bunch of powerful hounds on the hunt for me, and the reigning authority backing her even more.”

Tess thought back to the Tutorial. How would she have approached the situation there? It was almost like any foe there. First, she would need to Identify and Analyze. Then figure out the weaknesses and target those. Except Analyze did not work to uncover the builds that her apprentices had, instead she had to rely on them telling her. Olivia would not be telling Tess anything soon, so there was a limit to what she could do. Tess chastised herself for not following her own rules.

“I was naive to think she could be reasonable. I won’t say I’m blameless in how she turned out, because I’ve been rough with her. Maybe I just hoped that there was a decent part of her in there somewhere. So I tried to get along with her. And look where that’s gotten me,” Tess said.

“There could be. But if she does not wish it to be found, it may never be.”

To further complicate the matter, there was still the looming threat of the demon lord. The expedition was likely about to be a complete waste as the conflict between the Purples would surely drive distrust among the nobles and armies that were gathering to be a part of it. If there was no unified front, then there was no expedition. A plan came together.

“Shadow? I need you to do something. Something you’re not going to like, I take it.”

“Go on,” he replied with hesitation.

“I need you to get in close to Olivia. I need you to observe everything she does. I need to determine what skills she has by what she does and says. Information is key. Information about all those Purples on her side too would be helpful.”

“What about you?”

“I can’t do it because of the ‘Wanted’ status I now have. Plus, I’ll be taking care of the other problem. That pesky demon lord.”

“Ah.”

“That being said, I need to complete my gear,” she said, whipping the oversized hat out of her bag onto her head, “So where can I find those tough Purple monsters?”

Olivia was pleased. Actually, pleased was an understatement. She was overjoyed. Once again she had beaten that stupid bitch Tess and was going to have her completely gone soon. Not only had she beaten Tess, but she also had disproved something that Tess had said was a hard line for heroes.

She had spouted that, upon leaving the Tutorial, your build can not change. It was true in that, unlike the denizens of this world, Olivia had not acquired any new skills since being here. However, as she had used Deception so much, it was at such a high skill level that it had evolved. Deceitful Implant, it was now called, overwrote the memories of those she wished with whatever she wished for them to believe. It sadly did not erase the underlying memories, and it could even be resisted as some of the Purples had done, but it did not matter to Olivia.

For Olivia, there was a lot of work to get done. Work that she actually intended to both carry out and see through. Once that was done, she would never have to worry again. Tomorrow though, she would start tomorrow.

Elsewhere over Iriea

“Are you crying?” the lesser deity asked exasperatedly.

He got up from his seat and walked over to Oena. He was a little frustrated that she offered little help, but that was the way that some named deities were. Some could spin wondrously intricate constructs on their worlds, creating different peoples, cultures, and natural phenomena beyond the comprehension of their creations. Others could not or just wanted to focus on creating certain things. That was why MSI had created the System, to fill in loose ends that named deities did not deal with at their world’s creation.

Oena looked up at the nameless lesser deity standing before her.

“She’s dead.”

He looked at her confused.

“Who?”

“The hero.”

He glanced over his shoulder.

“No she isn’t.”

“What?”

Oena shoved him aside. The hero’s profile was still up on his screen and was glowing green. When users died, their profiles went gray. She pulled up her viewscreen again to watch what had happened, rewinding the playback to where she had previously cut it off. Then she rewound it again. Then again, and again.

The lesser deity walked back to his improvised station. Having a crying deity in the room was distracting, so he just dealt with it directly. He still had only forty-one percent… nope, forty as it seemed a couple strands had reattached during his brief interruption… of the goddess’s blessing detached from the liar’s profile.

He examined the strands that had reattached, since those were going to have to come out again. There was something odd about them, and he zoomed in on the code. It was not the strands themselves that had changed, but where they had been attached.

“The skill changed?” he murmured aloud, “Yes… and no. This code is different from System code, where did it come from?”