Teo steps in between Todd and his peers. “Okay, okay! Quit it. Let’s just see what things look like if I’m in instead. Ladies, if you’ll come with me.”

  He motions and herds the whole group backwards towards the plate. There is another team checking themselves there, but Teo pushes them gently and implacably out of the way.

  Todd finds himself sidelined. Teo simply boxes him out.

  Unsure of what to do, Todd just hovers. But Randall isn’t speaking to him, and neither is Sue Ann. Their group falls into deep discussion about the mission and especially what they need to buy for it to improve their odds. Todd waits for a chance to apologize.

  But it doesn’t come. He’s running out of time.

  He backs away slowly. Turning, he jogs off to find Joe and Candra.

  He’s stopped by Livia again. She wears a frazzled expression and hails him down.

  “You said you’d find me a team,” Livia reminds him.

  Todd looks around her. The words sink in and she has his full attention. “You don’t have a team yet?”

  “I have a team, it’s just that you told me you’d find me a strong team,” Livia says exasperatedly.

  “I’m sure your team is fine,” Todd assures her.

  “You promised.”

  Todd grabs a handful of his hair and pulls for a second. “Okay! Just let me handle something for a second and I’ll get you sorted out.”

  He motions for her to follow and he spots Ranger Drew. He heads over, Livia in tow.

  “Andrew?” he asks.

  The bearded man growls. “Yes?”

  “Andrew, are you taking hard mode with Joe and Candra?”

  “No,” Ranger Drew replies monosyllabically.

  Todd makes certain. “Then who are you going with?”

  Ranger drew draws up laces on a set of metal plated armguards. He jams a thumb behind him. “Vic,” he says.

  Todd looks back and sees the man with the silver mace, jawing with four other men.

  Todd huffs. “Well have you seen them at least?”

  Andrew gives Todd a glare of such intensity that he backs away like he’s been struck by physical force.

  “You don’t want to try hard mode, do you?” Todd asks Livia in jest.

  She doesn’t find the idea funny. She says so.

  Todd squeezes around a group of Vietnamese cultivators and then he finally finds Joe and Candra. They stand with Officer Bernice. He shouts at them.

  “There you are! Hey! I mean, hey,” Todd tries not to sound too eager.

  Joe looks a little surprised. “What’s going on, Drips? Anything we can help with?”

  “Yes,” Livia interrupts. “I need a new team.”

  “I can’t just change your team,” Joe pushes back, “Nina was very careful about setting up groups. We’re going to have to ask her before making any changes.”

  “That’s not what I came to talk about,” Todd jumps in. “Or, not the only thing. I was thinking about whether or not I should go with you guys.”

  Candra adjusts her bag over her shoulder. Her hair is cut short into a bob now. “You mean for the mission?” she asks.

  Joe gives Todd a look. “Yea. What do you mean come with us? What about Randall?”

  Todd squirms, but he pushes ahead. “I set Randall and Sue Ann up with Teo. They’re going to take easy mode, so they’ll be fine.”

  Candra derides, “with Teo? You mean the biker guy? Todd, we don’t even know him.”

  “He survived extreme mode!” Todd defends. “He’s strong and he’s an adult.”

  Joe chuckles. “Todd, we’re adults.”

  Todd waves it away. “You know what I mean.”

  “Listen, you won’t hear me say we can’t use the help,” Joe rubs his chin. “What does Toast say about this?”

  “He was a little upset,” Todd admits. “But I told him we’d get his rate up. I gave him my good healing pill.”

  Candra’s eyes change. They regard Todd in a different light now. “I don’t know. It’s a little fucked up for you to leave your friend like that.”

  Joe looks at Todd for a long moment. Then he says, “well, somebody’s got to bring in the coins if we’re going to feed everyone.”

  Todd sighs. “Someone’s got to get the coins,” he repeats dully.

  “Fine,” Candra exhales. “And Officer O’Shea will be coming with us too. You know Officer Bernice, Todd.”

  Todd reaches out to shake the police officer’s hand. Bernice carries a massive feather over her shoulder, like a two handed sword. She extends her free hand and takes Todd’s. “Looking forward to hunting with you,” she says.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Yea, me too,” Todd mumbles.

  “After what happened to you kids last time, I figured someone needed to come keep you safe,” Officer O’Shea explains.

  “Well, we’re pretty tough,” Joe says. He claps Todd on the back with a hard slap.

  “Ow,” Todd lets out. He rolls his shoulder.

  “What about me?” Livia asks.

  “Come on. Let us register our team first and then Drips will get you set up,” Joe offers her.

  Candra moves next to Todd. “Do you need to buy anything?” she asks.

  “I spent all my money on that pill,” Todd explains.

  Candra pats at her hair, frustrated that it’s gone. “Joe and I could spot you a few hundred for new armor or something,” she suggests.

  Todd thanks her as they make their way to the difficulty plates. They select hard together and Todd notes his survival rate is in the low eighties.

  Joe and Candra open up a dialog in their system menus and initiate a transfer of a thousand nexus coins total to Todd. The prompts appear in front of him and he accepts.

  Seeking out Soup Nina is a challenge on its own. Todd searches up and down for her before finding her speaking to a mixed group of Hispanic teens and middle aged men.

  “Nina?” Todd addresses her. “I’ve got Livia Jorgensen here. She’s looking to switch teams.”

  Soup Nina looks up. She brushes off her gi and stands. “Livia? We put you with Veronica and the kids.”

  Livia nods. “And I don’t want to go with them. They’re going to get me killed.”

  Nina puts her fists on her hips. “Livia, you’re level nine. We need to put you with a group you can protect rather than the other way around.”

  Livia crosses her arms across her chest. “I don’t care. It isn’t fair.”

  “We have to do what’s best for everyone and sometimes that means compromises,” Nina patiently says.

  The two of them argue from there. Todd realizes he’s made his promise unwisely. Livia isn’t helpless. She kept Ly Brecker alive alone for two days in normal mode. She’s just unwilling to do it again.

  Eventually, Livia turns to Todd for support. He demurs.

  “I hadn’t realized you were level nine,” he says.

  “You promised me,” Livia smolders.

  “I’m not going to override the others though! If they think you should go with what’s her name, Veronica, then that’s probably for the best,” Todd defers.

  Livia glowers. “I’ll find someone myself!” She storms away.

  Todd watches her go.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he tells Soup Nina. “Should we do something, or…?”

  Nina shakes her head. “All of the so called ‘stronger’ teams are taking harder difficulties. The easy teams are fairly balanced, but if she finds a team which will take her I will need to find someone to take her place.”

  “Sorry. Is there something I can do to help?”

  “I’ll handle it,” Nina sighs, “I think I know someone we can move around. There’s just a language barrier.”

  Todd looks her in the eyes. “I don’t envy what you’re doing.”

  Nina waves him off. “It’s fine. I’m used to running around with the world on fire.”

  Todd excuses himself and sprints off to grab his bag, then towards his room. Once he teleports inside, he slaps his palm on the shop interface and starts racing through the contents.

  As soon as he finds it in the lists, he purchases a new gambeson. He throws the old one in the hamper beneath the bed and puts the new one on. Using the thirty five hundred advance coins from hard mode, he reserves a set of [auspicious kingdom soldier’s bracers]. Looking to replace his boots, he finds a new entry in the store which looks good enough so he picks them. At least he hopes the [Tautavan Empire treads] are shoes. He’s not a hundred percent sure. Next he searches for a replacement for his wooden shin-guards. The straps are heavily damaged and the coverage has proven insufficient for the back of his calves.

  Nothing in the descriptions of the goods tells him whether the armor will be any better. He tries to wrack his brain to remember terms from the middle ages in case it will lead him to a better piece. What were cuisses? What was a rerebrace? He isn’t sure. Most of them are far out of his price range anyways.

  The light in his room flashes three times and Todd panics. He hasn’t finished yet. He switches over to the alchemy tab and picks up another set of energy pills. Cursing his lack of time, Todd fills his canteen, and packs his bag. He leaves his room, depleting yet another charge on the teleportation array.

  He runs back to find the others. Joe is wearing a new pair of boots and carries a new shield on his arm. Candra has on a few pieces of insect shell armor. Officer Bernice is still wearing her wooden plates.

  “Are you going like that?” Joe frowns.

  “I ran out of time,” Todd explains.

  As the hour approaches, pixie Ciforre drifts towards Todd’s group. She looks them each over and addresses him particularly. “You should know not to become over-reliant on energy replenishment pills. There are side effects to utilizing them too frequently. It will harm your cosmic energy replenishment and your cultivation base. Restrict yourself to one pill a day, if you can.”

  “Okay,” Todd manages.

  “You still have time to change your mode,” she says. Ciforre turns away and is gone just as quickly as she arrived. She has others to see to.

  “Alright,” Bernice says once she’s gone, “we should probably start thinking of a plan.”

  The group discusses rough tactics while the pixies gather up overhead. It’s reluctantly agreed that Bernice will be up front. Joe and Candra will support her. Todd will be disabling enemies from behind where possible. They’ll rush to complete the quest as soon as possible, and then hunt for coins as long as it is safe.

  Aefore draws up to make her announcement and conversations end everywhere. There is an anticipatory hush.

  “Humans of earth. It is not enough to be strong. You must also be fated. A treasure hunt will test your luck as much as it tests your mettle. Cultivation requires vast resources to reach the apex, and yet they are limited in the multiverse. You cannot be timid-hearted. Now strive! Seize the wealth of the tutorial for yourselves and take the next step in your road towards immortality!”

  The orange gold pixie lifts her hands into the air. When they rise above her head, she reaches her crescendo. With her final exhortation, Todd hears the system churning in his head.

  [Assigning teleport for tutorial participant Todd Kalogeropoulos. Affiliating participant with team. Filtering destinations from list. Destination selected, teleport approved. Teleporting.]

  Todd is winked away to an expanse of endless darkness. He can only hear his heart in his chest and his blood in his ears.

  The transport passes and light returns.

  Todd finds himself with Joe and Candra to his sides and Bernice across from him. Subterranean walls enclose them in a long bidirectional tunnel which is lit by dim, glowing mushrooms. Todd looks at the ceiling. The dense clay and shale pebbles do not have the reassuring solidity of stone.

  The air tightens in Todd’s chest.

  “Where are we?” Officer Bernice asks, looking around with confusion.

  That’s when a prompt appears in front of Todd’s vision.

  1. (Hard) Seek the buried treasure of Yín Dòng.

  2. (Hard) Survive.

  This shouldn’t be so bad. This should be easier, right?