The Master of the Tutorial is Overpowered in a New World

“So in these stories, the main character goes to another world and they usually have this overpowered ability or item. It gives them this edge that is greater than anything that the world has ever seen! Usually they have to defeat some villain or something threatening the world, like a demon lord, which only their power can deal with. And they get a group of friends to help them do it! Although if the character is a guy, the group is almost always the women who are strangely attracted to him although he’s kind of bland. But regardless it’s usually a cool adventure.”

Tess had heard this, or some variation of it, so many times. Every time, she thought of how it would be when she finally escaped from the Tutorial. Every time she failed to leave, the vision in her head grew more fantastical.

Tess instead focused on gathering all the power she could. If she was going to be locked into a particular build once she did leave, then she was going to give herself the option to adapt by learning everything she could while she still had that opportunity. She had been meticulous, scouring every inch of the Tutorial for every skill possible. Each time a new apprentice came through, if she did not have the skills they desired, she learned them alongside the apprentice. Hundreds of skills had filled her menus, so she had stopped looking at them. It was the same with her statistics, they were too much to bother with evaluating each day.

The cycle repeated over and over. Each apprentice stayed for about three days, though some took longer. She remembered passing the five hundred mark, but had stopped counting even them at some point. The book count was not even reliable, since she had only started that idea after one apprentice had asked if Tess would remember her.

Then the patch fix came, allowing Tess to leave. The repressed story she had written in her mind was about to become a reality. It burst forth, filling her mind with images about what she should do. Each moment was going to be an exciting thrill. That was how it was supposed to go, at least.

The goddess of the world rejected her. She was cast out to die. She had nothing to her name other than what skills she had worked to acquire on her own. She used those to push forward, only to meet obstacle after obstacle.

She had nearly died in a dungeon, failing to initially beat the boss monster because she had forgotten her process in her excitement. She needed to remember to plan, leaving room to adapt as needed.

Then she was beaten down by a skilled swordswoman. That she had won was a stroke of luck. She needed to remember that having a skill was different from using that skill. So she had trained, learning what it meant to use a skill, rather than to simply activate it.

She had faced her greatest challenge with a top tier adventurer. He had gifted her the knowledge that just because one could use their skills, plan, and adapt that they still needed experience. Life, at least as it was now, would not just give her a do over like the Tutorial.

Slowly, the fantastical story in her head had been chipped away by the reality slapping her in the face. Tess understood what had been happening, but still sought elements of that grand adventure. When Olivia had been brought along to this world, Tess had considered letting her just go. The vicious betrayal was painful, but she had barely known Olivia either. If Olivia had wanted to be the hero so badly, then why not let her? What did it matter if Olivia even did not want to follow the script?

The people had changed Tess’s mind about leaving Olivia alone. The simple lives of Jurra and Nat in Kelt. The still undetermined futures of Gwen and Favi. The tough existence of a low tier adventurer like Ezandra. Someone at their peak like Shadow and someone in their twilight like Hepha. All of them were a mere cross section of the people of this world. A world that was threatened by the demon lord. If Olivia wanted to be the hero, then she needed to do the hero’s task. Tess felt that responsibility to enforce it, since she was likely the only one who could.

But that was another failure. Olivia had turned the tables on Tess again. Now she had many of the highest ranked adventurers after her and the entire empire having branded her a criminal. If she did not have the skills to do so, she doubted she would have even made it to the demon front.

Why was she here? What had driven her to this point? Tess had no real connections. No group had formed around her to assist her in this great adventure. Even the vague promise that she would care for Gwen and Favi was contingent on her surviving this fight, however much they might remind her of her long-lost siblings. The uncomfortable truth was that she was still following her selfish desire to have that fantastical story. She was fighting because she was supposed to. Nobody else was going to do it because nobody else could.

Yet it was all for not. Tess was lying on the ground, having been bested in the one battle that she was supposed to triumph in. Her mind was barely able to piece together the deadly outcome that was seconds away.

“You understand pain. You die now.”

Elsewhere over Iriea

“The blessing has attached.”

“Finally.”

Iriea

Tess felt a surge of strength from within as the flash of light from the next lightning bolt came towards her. It was as if instinct took over as her grip tightened on the Witchblade and she thrust both hands skyward. The lightning diverted course to her weapon, streaking down before hitting her mana. The deadly voltage arced as her mana took over the spell, following along to her other hand to be blasted at the demon lord.

The impact of his own spell, both taken over and empowered, sent him flying. It was the first moment that Tess had caused him to falter. She released the spell as she rose from the ground, steadying herself by leaning against the Witchblade. As her enchanted healing kicked in, she felt it working with even greater efficiency.

“What happened?” she dared to ask aloud.

For the first time in forever, she pulled open her own menus.

[Name: Theresa]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 7344]

[Progress: 239/74052]

[Title: Blessed by the Goddess]

[Statistics] [Skills] [Abilities] [Gear] [Inventory] [Information]

The answer was up front for once. She glanced upwards.

“Took you long enough.”

The roar of rage brought her attention back to the moment, and she set aside the menus. The demon lord seemed to be flying towards her as she observed him, but he felt… slower? Tess swapped the Witchblade back down to sword form and met his attack head on.

Once more the pair clashed in a furious exchange of melee combat. Indeed what she had thought though was the case. The demon lord was slower now, and also weaker. No matter how fast he moved, Tess found herself able to follow along with his movements. She could counter his feints and attacks even as they appeared to come in at the last moment. Not only that, but with the weakness he now exhibited, she bested him every time he tried to lock her blade down.

“It’s not that you’re weaker than before. I’ve gotten stronger,” Tess said, realizing the true effect the blessing had.

The demon lord continued to rage, losing whatever was left of his rational thought as Tess continued to counter him at every turn. Tess no longer felt the nervousness that she had been as she faced him before, instead feeling pity that he was destined to lose. His hostility and goals made it so he could not be reasoned with however. It was time.

Tess lashed out with a kick of her own, knocking him back. She followed up with another cast of her restraining spell. The chains of light lashed around and dragged him to his knees as they tightened. He tried to flex and strain against the chains, but this time they held. She stood before him, staring at him in pity.

“Any last words?” she asked.

“Make pain stop.”

Tess hesitated. She had not expected him to give up so easily, especially now that he was on the cusp of death. It would probably be easy to make it swift, the only way she saw to grant his request. She nodded at him, causing him to seem relieved and close his eyes.

Tess popped the Witchblade into naginata form, then swung with power and speed. His neck split like a hot knife through butter, the force causing his head to spin as it drifted slightly. She continued the swing into a spin and followed up by plunging the blade through his chest and twisting to eviscerate the heart. It was all to ensure that his phenomenal healing could not undo the damage that she held the final stance.

Rain began to fall as the small storm that they had formed above let loose. In no time, Tess was soaked as she continued to ensure the demon lord was defeated. The rain at first seemed to do nothing to his body. It was a moment before she noticed that, ever so slowly, he began to disintegrate beneath the rain. Upon noticing this, she withdrew her blade and canceled the binding chains.

Tess stood watch over the body until it had been completely washed away. It was another small way she felt that honored the unspoken promise to make his pain stop. Once complete, she collected her hat from where it had previously fallen and surveyed the surrounding area.

It was currently a mess to say the least. Remnants of the battle’s magic could be seen in charred or slagged surfaces and unusual spires of rock. Rubble from the wall and towers covered a vast area, which included the decimated remains of two wall settlements. Bodies of soldiers and civilians, victims from the monsters and breach, were scattered throughout alongside monster corpses, mostly victims of the unrestrained fury of the battle between Tess and the demon lord. Any monsters who were still alive had fled long ago by this point, though whether that was into imperial territory or back beyond the wall was unclear.

Tess sighed. As much as she wanted to deal with the problems that Olivia was still likely causing, there was a lot more she could do here still.

Elsewhere over Iriea

“She did it,” Oena said.

“Yea. She was going to be successful anyway,” the lesser deity said.

He started packing up his temporary station. He had seen everything he wanted to at this point. The hero, now properly acknowledged by the goddess here, would continue to rectify the weird things going on that the System generated. None were as dramatic as the demon lord event though.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Oena stopped him.

He paused.

“I thought I was leaving. She’s your hero now. She’ll clean things up and fight other stuff. No demon lord event again.”

“No. I’m going to bring her here and we are both going to speak with her.”

“One, you can’t bring her here again unless she is at the right spot. Two, I have no reason to speak with her.”

“You got her out, I’m sure she has a lot of questions for you.”

“She should talk to MSI then. I don’t work for them anymore, remember?”

Oena was impressed that a nameless lesser deity was daring to talk back, but given that he had helped a lot she let that offense slide. Regardless, he was staying, whether he wanted to or not.

Elsewhere

A man perhaps in his mid-fifties sat at his computer, staring at the information being presented on the monitor. He had spent years already searching for this exact thing, and now he had found it.

In a small celebration, he pulled open a drawer on his elaborate desk and brought forth an expensive bottle of whiskey and a glass. Breaking the seal, he poured a generous portion before sipping at it.

“I’m coming for you,” the man chuckled.