Apocalypse respawn

The warriors entered through the portals and emerged from them. Upon exiting, Sengrar cast spells through his wand, striking them head-on.

They screamed in fear, seeking shelter, but none survived the attacks. Most of those who came to the tutorial in the less densely populated areas were relatively weak. They had less to gain and thus took what was left.

Corpses lay scattered around. They didn't yet gain energy from killing them. Rargnes signaled to Sengrar to spare a few and spoke to them:

"Surrender or die!" Immediately, they surrendered their weapons. "Bind yourselves!" Rargnes commanded, throwing a rope, and they obeyed. Rargnes tightened the ropes and checked everything before transporting the dozen or so individuals still in good condition among the thirty who had entered. Then, in an instant, they took the portals and teleported away.

The inn was a bit less lively than when he had entered his previous world, but it still retained that cozy atmosphere. They went straight to the goblin, whom Rargnes now noticed was still the same goblin who had first sold him in his previous life.

'How is this possible?' he wondered. A goblin couldn't live that long - not two decades. And he didn't even seem to have age. He looked around and noticed no one he knew or saw. All felt unfamiliar till he saw another goblin. His eyes widened

'The commander!' he thought. The commander's guard told him they didn't thrust goblins, which is why they tortured Redstar. They told him they couldn't be trusted - if he truly had the power to analyze all things, such strange behaviors might explain why they did not care about the noble finding out about their corruption.

Punishments were severe in that world. Theft could result in enslavement or death. Yet they did not feel like they feared it. They had good information; they were seeking gold crazily, sometimes getting demonized. That's how the warrant had gone on Redstar: because corrupted goblins could lie.

'I'll have to keep an eye on that. Anyways, once we pillage through all the areas, we'll need to head to the commandant. He is weak now; no magical bullets or shit. He can't even gain energy, and even if he could, he would barely have any medieval men to obtain energy from.

While Sengrar could block any ordinary ammunitions.'

Sengrar demonstrated his power, and the intimidated goblin handed over their money without stealing from them. It was a lot better than the price they had sold in his last life- the price had not yet decreased by the enormous amount of slaves the wasteland brought.

They visited the magic shop, and Rargnes had a rune forged into his body to effectively practice magic. He also acquired a magic staff.

Then, with a radar in hand, they entered another teleportation portal. Each inn along the road had multiple teleportation portals for the various zones within the tutorial. They entered one, killed some attackers, took others as slaves, and went to the areas Rargnes remembered.

The same things were there. The same opportunities! Everyone now had a class-changing ring—Rargnes didn't have enough money for this evolution. Then, they descended the stairs and took the scepter.

This time, it was up to him to see what the trial held.

'I must do it,' he said to himself before the intimidating statue. 'If I don't take risks, I'll never be able to defeat the noble or Sengrar and won't have any hope of living long.'

Energy slightly increased longevity, allowed him to defend himself in a world where thieves and murders were much more common, and having a lot of money in hand would allow him to buy slaves and land if he failed. Not exhausting his body through painful work would probably increase his longevity - he didn't want to end like the first Rargnes.

He still hadn't searched for him. That would allow him to know if he would lose his memory, but he'd go when he could once all the tutorial-related opportunities were exhausted in all the areas of that inn.

In any case, the findings in other places would be much less significant without RedStar—come to think of it, he hadn't seen him this round, but if even the slave goblin was identical, he should still be alive, right?

He took hold of the scepter, and the world around him changed. He saw the blue sky, dominated by a pervasive red star, so close he feared it might fall on him.

Voices grew louder around him. Turning, he saw villagers from a medieval era watching a spectacle. Someone had returned. He tried to move past, but as he walked, he felt sluggish. He looked at his feet, then his hands, realizing they were gelatinous.

'I'm not in my body?' Yet the sensation was very familiar. Without hesitation, he pulled a flask from his waist and drank the alcohol. One sip, ten, until the flask was empty.

Strangely, he felt it had already been refilled.

The voices rose in volume. He slipped through the crowd, disturbing everyone in his path. A kind of fear gripped him when he saw the surrounded man. He had one arm missing and had just returned from a mission facing demonic creatures.

Their eyes met, and Alain looked away, ashamed. He silently made his way to his cottage;

"Poor man," he heard the villagers say. "He wanted to find the king. He wanted to ask him why the world is so harsh."

"The king who's so good to us?" another woman asked. "But why would he want to find him? He lets us live! He gives us all the energy we need! He created the energy fields for us!"

"I don't know," said another. "According to his wife, he's been having strange visions, as if a demonic creature possessed him." They lowered their voices. "He claimed to have seen a strange man who came to see him, and since then, he's been saying he saw a giant throne, empty. He believes the king abandoned it! He thinks it's not normal for us to head to our destiny, and that's a problem! He told her that: the king is not here; otherwise, the king wouldn't have allowed the demonic creatures to pounce on us."

'What's with this test?' Rargnes wondered. 'What should I do?'