—Kyle—

  I wanted to rest after saving Tyler and Jacob, but there was no time. I finished the tutorial at the last second, so the event ended, and the new instructions began.

  Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial “Regroup at Seattle Public Library.” Make your way to the auditorium to receive your rewards and instructions.

  Time until gathering: 00:09:59

  The auditorium was just to the right of me, so I turned to enter, only to find fifty-something people staring at me. Some were fearful after my entrance, but most simply stared at my shirt in disgust. The little white remaining on my shirt was popping aggressively against the topographical layers of multicolored blood on me. Human, zombie, beasts—spiders. I was a hideous sight to behold.

  “What…” a man muttered, staring at his hands. His palms were missing skin, an indication that he was holding onto the door rope when I yanked the door open. “What the hell are you?” he asked.

  “A murderer,” Jacob said, caressing a swollen cheek. His hand glowed with green light, and his red cheek healed. “And a fuckin’ asshole, too,” he added.

  “Jacob!” Remy snapped. “He just saved our lives—twice!”

  “He chopped Joel in half!” Jacob screamed back. “And then he almost let us die!”

  “Did you just say Joel?” A brunette in her early twenties suddenly ran out of the auditorium. She wore executive business attire: a black pencil skirt, a white blouse, and black flats. I thought of Sandy—showing up to discuss metrics during the apocalypse. Only unlike Sandy, this woman had slogged through Hell and survived. Her blouse, splattered with arterial spurts, had been ripped on her side, exposing her skin beneath. The skirt fabric over her knees was gray and frayed, barely better than her scraped shins. This woman didn’t just survive the zombies—she bashed her way through them. “Did you know his last name?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Jacob said. “Kingsley.”

  The young businesswoman took two staggering steps backward, looking at me in horror. “No…” she whispered. “There’s no way.”

  “Hey now,” I said. “I did not kill that man.”

  “He really didn’t,” Remy confirmed. “Joel was our archer—”

  “His body’s bisected!” Jacob screamed. “I could’ve healed him! And yet this fucker—”

  “Enough!” Tyler screamed. “I swear to God, Jacob, if you say one more goddamn word—”

  “You’ll what? Murder me? Chop me in half?”

  I laughed and wagged my finger at him. “Oh, I get it. You want someone to blame, don’t you? To justify the fact you ran away?”

  Remy jumped between us, hands up. “Hey. He’s suffering from trauma—”

  “You chopped him in half!” Jacob repeated as loudly as humanly possible. “He’s three blocks away! Anyone can see his fucking corpse!”

  I grinned at him viciously. “I should’ve let you die.” I turned and saw the businesswoman staring at me, eyes welling with wrathful emotions. “I didn’t kill him,” I repeated.

  “Did you cut him in half?” she asked. “Don’t lie—I will find out.”

  “You’re asking the wrong question,” Remy said. “Yes, he cut him in half, but Joel was suffering a lethal attack.” She turned to me. “He attacked the spider to save us.”

  “And sliced him in half,” the brunette pressed, tone implying that my action was excessive and unnecessary.

  Remy hesitated. “Them both in half. It’s why we’re alive.”

  “So he was a one-for-the-many?” The businesswoman turned to me. “That right?”

  “That’s blatantly wrong,” I declared. “That man was dead. His throat’s—”

  “He was alive!” Jacob yelled. “And don’t you dare say otherwise!”

  I looked between them and threw up my hands. “This is pointless.” I walked into the auditorium, listening to Jacob scream something incoherent while Remy yelled at him.

  ***

  The Microsoft Auditorium was abnormally hideous—always was. It was similar to an old-timey movie theater—which was cool—but the chairs were vomit green and poorly maintained. There was no projection canvas; people projected their presentations directly onto the fifty-foot wall. According to the occupancy limit sign on the wall, there was seating for three hundred—and two-thirds was already filled with blood-soaked people, half traumatized, half hard and mean. More filed in after me.

  I took a seat in the middle (Chosens were either up front and present, or paranoid and reclusive, so the middle was the only option) and opened my World Screen as I waited for the countdown to end. I navigated to the Scale of Marico to check my options. Achievements, I thought as I opened it, and the achievements leading to my AP and rewards were listed on the screen.

  You have adapted at an abnormal rate. Due to the abnormal adaptation, you have been rewarded 1000 Adaptation Points and diamond skill options for your Scale of Marico evolution reward.

  Achievements:

  1. You contributed massively to the death of an evolved entity at Level 10

  2. You contributed minorly to the death of a second evolved entity at Level 10

  3. You have developed a Lysan Core

  It doesn’t mention the spider, I thought. Must only count actions before my evolution.

  I dismissed the list, prepared to see what type of hard decision I’d need to make this time. Surely, it would be easier than flying, right? Wrong.

  Son of a bitch, I thought. This is worse than flying!

  Left Scale: Your Desire

  Skill: Kintsugi

  Grade: Diamond

  Description: Healing technique that automatically mends wounds with mana. If the user suffers a wound that cannot be mended, Kintsugi will replace the limb or missing section with mana and retain it until the user obtains the nutrients needed for it to heal. Kintsugi replacements sync to the nervous system, making them indistinguishable from normal limbs.

  Note: Kintsugi is a passive skill that automatically activates. The user may deactivate it at any time.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Note: Kintsugi automatically breaks down tributes of bone and tissue.

  Usage Requirement: Variable

  ———

  Right Scale: Your Need

  Skill: Passive Truth Detection

  Grade: Diamond

  Description: Determine whether someone’s telling the truth as they perceive it. Automatically activates upon the user’s distrust, unless manually deactivated. It can also be used at will.

  Warning: Targets feel the skill upon activation, revealing its purpose and user.

  Usage Requirement: 10 INT and 10 PER per usage.

  It’s crazy that it’d recommend lie detection over something that literally heals your body, I thought, glancing at the Chosens around me. That means humans are about to get dangerous, or one of the future tutorials will require trust. It’s uncomfortable. I pondered it further. I suppose it is useful anyway. That said…

  (“Targets feel the skill upon activation…”)

  (Stamps page.)

  (Superpower status: rejected.)

  If I knew someone could invade my mind, I’d be on guard around them. If I were a bad actor, I’d also eliminate that person first. It sounded like a brutal life, with very little gain; after all, it wouldn’t tell me the truth. It would only tell me whether people were lying. And even if I used a binary question, it would only yield the truth as people interpreted it, not whether something was actually true. If someone thought they saw someone do something, their accusation would show true, even if the person in question was innocent.

  The skill was useful—there was no doubt about that. That said, it was also dangerous—in more ways than one.

  God, this sucks, I thought. I want them both! I brooded for a moment, but then my eyes suddenly widened. Wait. Don't my options match my class? If so… can't I wish for them?

  I probably could! I reviewed them and confirmed that both were, indeed, paradoxes. Kintsugi allowed you to use missing limbs, and truth detection determined if people spoke “the truth,” but the truth didn’t have to be true—just what people thought was true. Since that was the case, I should be able to wish for both!

  I opened the Wishes tab.

  Welcome to Wishes

  This feature lets you wish for skills that match your class’s intended purpose. It costs 100 AP to make a wish. If your wish is compatible with your class, you will keep the AP and receive the skill's price. You can then buy the skill at any time. If the wish isn’t compatible, you will lose the full 100 AP.

  Class: Paradox

  Description: Skills that manipulate concepts where two outcomes seem to contradict but don't.

  Current AP: 1,500

  I wish for Passive Truth Detection, I silently commanded.

  Wish granted.

  Passive Truth Detection is now available for purchase.

  Would you like to buy Passive Truth Detection for 20,000 AP?

  Twenty thousand? I cried within. How much does Kintsugi cost? I wished for it and then lamented harder. 25,000? What would I have to do to get that much?

  I obtained twelve hundred AP from killing the Prowler and the spider, both of which nearly killed me. Most came from the Prowler. The spider only gave me 200 despite having a significantly higher level than the Prowler, indicating that the amount of AP I would receive for killing things would get progressively lower over time. Sure, there would be AP for other adaptations, but I imagined those actions would lose their potency as well. Then, I had to consider my needs. Surely, I’d need skills to solve problems here or there. Therefore, saving for one of these skills could take months or even years.

  Realistically speaking, I’d probably never get the option I turned down.

  This is a serious decision, I thought. I should probably hold off on it.

  Remy plopped in the chair beside me, folding her arms. Her red hair was worn down, draping over her shoulders—something that almost looked like a statement given the number of ponytails around. After a moment of silence, she said, “You reek.”

  I expected an apology or sadness or… something else, so when she took a playful jab at me, I laughed, more out of surprise than anything. That didn’t mean it was funny, and if it weren’t her, I’d have probably been pissed. That said, Remy had been cool from the start and was defending me even after I left, so I decided to jab back. “That’s rich coming from you, guts girl,” I said.

  “Having guts is a good thing. And I got armfuls. Want some?”

  “Nah, I’m good,” I said, and then we fell silent again.

  “I’m Remy,” she said.

  “Kyle,” I replied.

  The air stilled between us again. Remy tried to find words, but just ended up grimacing. “You know, I wanna play it off, ‘cause probing doesn't help. But… I’m sorry. That was super messed up of us.”

  I shook my head. “You did nothing wrong.”

  “Yeah, but…” She smiled dimly, clearly grateful but unsure what to say. “So we cool?” she finally asked.

  “That depends. You gonna keep hanging out with that Jacob guy?”

  “Hell no!” she declared, and I could tell by her tone that she meant it. “Putting aside his dickatry, that guy’s the cold monkey paw of healers. Gets your arm cut off, then acts like Jesus for stopping the bleeding.”

  I laughed. “Okay. Then, yeah. We’re cool. In fact, I’m kinda”—

  (the young businesswoman entered the room, shooting me a damning glare)

  —“sick of helping people already,” I said, abruptly changing my tone.

  Remy sucked air through her teeth. “I get where you’re coming from… but… Try to forgive her. Not Jacob, just her. Specifically.”

  “Why? Was that her boyfriend or something?”

  “No, it was her brother.”

  That revelation struck my brain as if I walked into a hanging pipe. If her brother were here, that meant:

  She really is here! It was a huge stretch of logic to confidently declare Emily was in the tutorial just because the businesswoman’s brother was here, but I had one of those grave intuitions that it was true.

  “Are you okay?” Remy asked.

  “Uh… yeah,” I replied distantly, mind spinning. “I just—”

  A chime sounded in the auditorium, and a gigantic red screen popped up on the presentation wall. It read:

  Congratulations on passing the first tutorial!

  You have all earned one information request and a weapon of your choice.

  I didn’t feel like a winner, but I’d take the rewards. The notification changed. It read:

  A chosen representative will now explain your current situation.

  A middle-aged man wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt and thigh-length shorts, likely a professional who was abducted while gardening, walked onto the stage. I expected him to yell, due to the lack of a microphone, but when he spoke, his voice entered my mind through telepathy. It made his voice sound smooth, as if he were standing right in front of me.

  Hello. My name is Henry Keen, and I’ve been chosen by the tutorial to explain the nature of our situation.

  The world we’re in is neither a simulation nor the world we’re from. You’re currently inside an alternate dimension that’s been stripped of all humans except those chosen by the tutorial, but the actual city, the mutated beasts, and the “zombies,” humans suffering from mana sickness, are all very real. This is what our world will look like a few months after this tutorial ends, and the apocalypse begins. It's an inescapable reality. In fact, the alpha world line could be worse.

  I felt icy tingles drip down my arms and neck, as if I were standing beneath a line of melting icicles.

  The tutorial you’re inside is designed to prepare you for what’s to come—to create leaders that can help humanity adapt to the realities of the New World. You’ve been chosen as a candidate because the World Screen has granted you abnormally powerful “skills” that can have a serious impact on humanity as a whole. That’s why you’re here—that is your purpose. With any luck, the power you obtain will give you an immense advantage over others when the apocalypse begins.

  A ray of ambition pierced through my anxiety-stricken soul.

  That said, it will not be easy. Your body is real—death is permanent. If you get eliminated, you’ll be flung into the void, which will kill you on contact. This tutorial is as cruel and unyielding as the apocalypse will be, so take it seriously. Treat every tutorial with deference and pursue power, either by killing living entities or using your support skills to obtain karma. Use your AP to buy new skills and master them. The more you do here, the greater your advantage will become.

  That is all. The tutorial wishes you good fortune in the challenges to come.