"Where the hell am I?"
After suddenly disappearing from the dungeon, Dustin appeared in a place he did not recognize.
He was completely alone. Arina and Gareth seemed to have been teleported somewhere else. The place he was teleported to looked much different from the previous tutorial ground he had been exploring.
This new place had a forest, but the forest only existed on one side. The other side looked exactly like a barren desert.
Whoosh.
Hot winds were carrying sand from the desert area towards the forest. The place where the two completely different lands joined together looked totally destroyed. The ground there was split by huge, jagged cracks.
"Damn it," Dustin cursed.
First, he could not do anything to help when Boj and Mark died, and now this happened. The system was just playing a game with them. They could not do anything except follow whatever rules it decided to enforce.
After a few minutes, Dustin finally calmed down. He started exploring the nearby area to see if other people also got teleported here just like him.
DING.
[ While the preparations for the Special Event 'Choose A Cicada' are being made, each participant must read these informations. ]
[ First, why is this special event happening and what is it about? Due to very poor performance across many tutorial grounds, the administrator has decided to arrange special events to filter out the absolute garbage. ]
[ This event is to be held in all 5 tutorial grounds that have just been merged together. The same goes for other badly performing tutorial grounds across the system. ]
[ This special event will greatly help all participants improve their strength while taking much greater risks. In return, they will get great rewards if they are lucky enough to survive. ]
Dustin frowned deeply as he analyzed the information in front of him. He scrolled the screen to read more.
[ This event called 'Choose A Cicada' is special because it will not only test your physical strength, but also your mental strength and mindset. It will teach you many things that will be very important in your future life, assuming you manage to survive this. ]
[ Further information about this event will be given to participants when the event officially starts. ]
[ Now for the other part. As you were just told, five tutorial grounds have been merged together to make a much bigger arena. As of right now, the current tutorial grounds contain a total of 1638 participants, excluding the ones who are already dead. ]
[ The 5 tutorial grounds that have been merged are: The Forest Tutorial Grounds, The Desert Tutorial Grounds, The Ocean Tutorial Grounds, The Grasslands Tutorial Grounds, and The Clouds Tutorial Grounds. ]
Dustin scrolled the screen again, and a large map appeared. It showed the current layout of the newly merged tutorial grounds.
"They did not even bother to give these places creative names," Dustin said as he started memorizing the map.
[ As you can see on the map in front of you, the Forest Tutorial Grounds is in the southwest with a total area of roughly 5,000 square kilometers. The Desert Tutorial Grounds is situated in the southeast side with an area of roughly 9,000 square kilometers. ]
[ The Ocean Tutorial Grounds covers the northeast part with an area of roughly 5,500 square kilometers. The Grasslands Tutorial Grounds covers the northwest part with an area of roughly 4,800 square kilometers. ]
[ The remaining Clouds Tutorial Grounds will be situated high in the sky with a maximum area covering over 16,000 square kilometers. Its place is not fixed and it will be constantly moving. ]
"There is nothing up there right now," Dustin looked up into the sky but could not find a single cloud. He just had to squint his eyes against the bright sun.
"It must be somewhere else at the moment," Dustin noted before scrolling the screen once again.
[ During the event period, the number of dungeons on each tutorial ground will be significantly increased. The rewards for those dungeons will also be increased. ]
[ Each tutorial ground will contain 12 Special Dungeons, making 60 in total. These can only be entered by chosen participants. Whether you are allowed to enter or not will be decided during the event. ]
[ These dungeons will be extremely hard to clear, but the rewards will be incredible. ]
[ Since the combined tutorial ground has become extremely large, there will be 3 transportation channels in each zone. You can use these to teleport to other tutorial grounds using your points. ]
"Of course it is not free," Dustin scrolled down one last time.
[ Important Note: The period during this special event will not be counted toward your normal tutorial time. When this special event ends, the remaining time for your tutorial ground will begin counting down again. ]
[ This event will officially end after 70 percent of the currently alive participants are eliminated. ]
[ Time remaining until special event starts: 22:48:58 ]
[ We wish you good luck. ]
"Bastards," He closed the system window with an angry swipe.
There were still about twenty-three hours remaining until the special event started. After reading all the information, Dustin started walking in a small circle to process everything.
"What does poor performance mean?" Dustin thought. "Does the system want us to fight and kill each other?"
"What are the good performing tutorial grounds doing right now?"
Questions started popping into his mind one by one.
"From all the information, it does not seem like they want us to get involved in meaningless player fighting. Even though the main objective of this event is not clear yet, it seems they want us to complete specific tasks. If so, then what does Choose A Cicada actually mean?"
"I hope Arina and Gareth are alright," Dustin whispered.
He thought about the situation for several minutes but could not figure anything else out. He just sat down near a thick tree to take a rest. He was still very tired from fighting those two giant goats.
After resting for some time, the sun started moving downward. Dustin stood up and decided to look for something to eat. He had water, but he did not have any food left in his supplies carrier.
He walked deeper into the forest section because it was much more likely to find a small animal in the woods than in a dry desert.
After about half an hour, he came back to his spot with a dead rabbit and a pile of dry sticks. During the hunt, he quickly realized that his new Super Sense skill was much more effective than the basic perception bubble. His hearing and vision were incredibly sharp.
He lit a bonfire, cooked the rabbit, and ate it quickly. He was still wondering why he had not seen anyone else around here yet.
Rumble. Rumble.
Suddenly, his Super Sense picked up the sounds of many heavy things running directly toward him.
They were beasts of all different sizes, and they numbered more than hundreds.
Dustin quickly put out the bonfire with dirt. He climbed up a tall tree, which was much easier to do now compared to when he had first arrived in the tutorial. He got to a safe, high branch so he could see what was coming in his direction. Even though his Super Sense had increased his hearing and smell significantly, he still could not visually see things that were hidden behind thick obstacles.
From the top of the tree, he saw a massive wave of different beasts running mindlessly through the woods. It looked like a terrifying beast tide.
"This must be due to the massive tremors when the tutorial phases were merging together," Dustin concluded quickly.
After looking more closely, he also saw three human figures. They were fighting these rushing beasts while trying to run away from them.
"Should I help them or just sit here and let them run by?" Dustin thought. "What if they spot me hiding up here?"
He quickly analyzed the situation and decided to jump down from the tree. The high drop did not hurt his sturdy legs at all.
He ran toward the chaos to help them fight off the beasts. Why did he do that? Dustin might be a bit lazy, but he was certainly not stupid. He clearly knew that the most important factor for survival right now was personal strength. How does a person get strong? Obviously, by fighting monsters and gaining experience. Or atleast it was here the best choice to improve ones strength.
The second reason was information. If Dustin just walked up to them normally and started asking questions, they would be vigilant and probably refuse to answer him. But if he helped them escape a life-or-death situation, it would be a completely different story.
The third reason was the beasts themselves. The monster were mostly between Level 20 to Level 30. Dustin could easily fight them off and increase his own levels quickly.
Dustin opened one of his remaining poison bottles and quickly applied the deadly liquid to his daggers. He sprinted toward the running people to help them.
He ran extremely fast and moved right past one of the men. The man did not even notice Dustin approaching because he was already too busy fighting for his life.
Slash.
Dustin swung his dagger and completely cut off the neck of a Level 21 deer that was about to ram the man.
"Thanks, man," the man said while catching his breath. "May I know your name?"
"Yeah, call me Dustin," Dustin replied. He instantly ducked and started fighting a giant bat that was the size of a horse.
"Call me Zac," the man said. He stepped forward and started helping Dustin fight off the surrounding monsters.
The number of beasts just kept increasing instead of reducing. Most of the frantic beasts just ran right past them without doing anything, but a few aggressive ones directly attacked them.
The beasts were of many types. There were giant monkeys, horned rabbits, dogs, and massive snakes. They came in all different colors and sizes. Some of them even had weird features that made them stand out from the rest of the pack.
The brutal fight lasted for several hours. Dustin had to use many of his stored healing potions just to gain his stamina back and continue fighting the endless wave.
They did not kill all the beasts. In fact, the number of beasts they managed to kill was not even five percent of the total tide. Most of them had simply rushed past the group like they did not even exist.
Dustin and Zac eventually sat down on the ground, completely exhausted. The other two men slowly approached them.
Both of the newcomers first thanked Dustin for coming to their rescue. Then they introduced themselves as Brock and Gary.
All four of them sat together and talked for a while. They shared basic information like which tutorial grounds they were from and how they had ended up here. They discussed their combat classes and their levels. Finally, they talked about the new special event while making a fresh bonfire and cooking some monster meat over the flames.
Dustin also told them a little bit about himself, but he remained very vigilant. He just told them basic things like his class and his level. Those details would have been pretty obvious when he was fighting anyway, so there was no point in hiding them. Those three men clearly did not tell each other everything either. Trust was a rare thing in this world.
From the conversation earlier, Dustin found out that Zac was from the Grasslands Tutorial Ground and held the Fighter class. This was very obvious since Dustin had just watched him fight beasts using only his bare fists, breaking thick monster bones with just punches. Zac was Level 28.
Brock and Gary were both from the Ocean Tutorial Ground. Brock was a powerful Swordsman at Level 32. Gary was an Archer at Level 23.
However, after that massive fight, Dustin had killed over ten beasts entirely on his own while also fighting many others side by side with Zac. His level had naturally increased to Level 27, and he had also earned 1500 points as rewards.
Dustin quietly opened his status window.
[ Physical Strength: 75 ]
[ Vitality: 63 ]
[ Agility: 81 ]
[ Stamina: 65 ]
[ Endurance: 58 ]
[ Wisdom: 15 ]
[ Intelligence: 30 ]
[ Bonus stat points: 18 ]
"I got six more bonus stats," Dustin appreciated his numbers. His stats were looking really good now.
He then opened his skills section.
[ Passive Skills ]
[ Super Sense (Level 1) ] [ Upgrade to Level 2 Cost: 3000 points ]
[ Active Skills ]
[ Silent Steps (Level 1) ] [ Upgrade to Level 2 Cost: 2800 points ]
[ Shadow Heal (Level 1) ] [ Upgrade to Level 2 Cost: 4800 points ]
The main skills section had actually become available to Dustin when he reached Level 15, but he was very poor in regards to points back then. He could not afford to upgrade the levels of any of his skills. The situation right now was no different either. The prices were just too high.
He had just opened this section right now to look at his newly obtained skill called Shadow Heal. He had acquired it during the beast tide fight when he finally reached Level 25 as a reward for hitting Milestone 3.
He chose this specific skill because he was really lacking in the healing aspect. Manually drinking potions during a fast-paced fight was not a very good idea. This new skill allowed the user to heal their body automatically whenever it was activated. Even though the stamina consumption was high, he decided to take it anyway.
But it turned out that the skill was not very good right now. The automatic healing only had half the effect of a basic healing potion, and the stamina drain was massive. He could not keep using this skill for long during an intense fight.
However, this skill was not total garbage either. If he leveled it up a few times and also increased his overall Stamina stat, this ability could be extremely helpful during life and death situations. But getting it to a useful level would require an insane amount of points.
Dustin had also officially unlocked the Veteran Shop Section after reaching Level 25. He was now able to buy completely new skills using his points, but again, he was simply too poor to afford anything good.
Dustin disabled the system windows and continued with the conversation with the others while eating the roasted meat.
After some time, they all prepared to sleep since it was already very late. Of course, all of them remained on guard against each other, including Dustin.
The next day at noon.
All four of them were sitting together in a small circle. They were staring intently at their respective floating screens.
[ Time remaining until special event starts: 00:05:49 ]
"Five more minutes," Gary said to break the tense silence.
No one replied to him. All of them just kept staring at the timer with extreme impatience.
Time passed very quickly.
DING.
[ The Special Event has started. ]
[ Choose one of the cicadas from below to participate in the event. The cicadas are generated at random and all look exactly the same, so it entirely depends on your luck to see what you will get. ]
[ To choose, click the option below. ]
Dustin quickly clicked the option that said 'Choose A Cicada'.
DING.
A very big screen opened up right in front of his face. It contained moving images of thousands of cicadas. All of them looked exactly the same. They were stout insects with wide-set eyes and large, transparent wings covered in delicate veins. But the terrifying thing was that the number of cicadas on the screen was rapidly reducing as other players across the world were picking them.
Dustin tapped on one quickly. As soon as his finger touched it, a red flash appeared. Someone else had taken it first. He tried again, but the exact same thing happened. It just kept happening over and over.
"What the f*ck?" Dustin yelled in frustration.
He just started pressing the screen randomly, tapping at the bugs and hoping to grab one before they all disappeared.
After doing this bizarre activity for five minutes, he finally secured one.
A glowing cicada flew directly out of the digital screen and landed softly on his open hand. It looked like a completely normal bug with a thick green body and large, glassy wings.
DING.
[ Congratulations, you have chosen your Cicada. ]
[ You are now an official participant in this special event. ]
[ To successfully pass this event without dying and receive the reward at the end, you must take care of this specific cicada until the very end of the event. The event will end when 70 percent of the total participants die. ]
[ To know the specific steps to take care of your cicada, please click the 'Tasks' button below. ]
Before clicking on the tasks button, Dustin looked up at the other three men.
The expressions on all of their faces looked totally pale and horrified.
"What are your tasks?" Zac asked Dustin. His voice was shaking slightly, and he looked incredibly pale.
"Let me check," Dustin replied. His own expression changed to worry after seeing their terrified faces. He slowly reached out and clicked the button marked 'Tasks'.
DING.