Sadly, their problems weren’t going to stop with just what happened last night. They were going to have a lot more problems. A lot more.
Hazel soon woke up on the blanket in the Shipyard Restaurant. With what she went through last night, she couldn’t resist the fatigue slowly overwhelming her. However, her efforts from yesterday were not fruitless. Not only did she learn a new spell, but according to one of her message panels, she also leveled up twice! Hazel was now level 23.
And obviously, her free points were immediately invested into her Intelligence and Wisdom stat. And now her stats were like this.
Status Window
Name: Hazel Thatcher
Race: Human
Level: 23
Class: Witch
Free Points: 0
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 16
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 82 (+33)
Wisdom: 69 (+18)
Willpower: 22 (+10)
She was now less than twenty points from having her Intelligence at one hundred points, and nearly third points left for her Wisdom to reach the same threshold. Technically, one of them was technically past one hundred, but that was due to the combined attribute effects of her magic dress and ring. However, she wanted her stats to reach that threshold on their own and without the assistance of her equipment. And she planned to do and get stronger in the process.
Sitting up from her spot, Hazel stretched a little to loosen her muscles. Next to her, Astrid was calmly leaning back against the wall while sitting. The dark elf soon noticed that her partner was awake and faced her.
“You were sleeping pretty soundly,” She commented. “Also, you seem to snore a lot.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Hazel groaned while stretching. “What happened while I was asleep?”
“Nothing much. Your mother was working the night shift, healing and organizing everything. Zoe Callahan came by to talk, but since you were asleep, she took a rain check. She did mention something about village renovations. Other than that, it was a somewhat quiet and calm night.”
Hazel stared at the dark elf curiously. “Did you get any sleep?”
From what she could tell, it didn’t look like Astrid got a lick of sleep last night. There were no eyebags present, but for some reason, Hazel could just tell that her companion didn’t sleep at all. Perhaps it was the aura she was emitting?
“I’ve been trained to stay up for many nights without sleep. A day without sleep is nothing to me.”
“Whatever you say. Anyway, what do you plan to do about Dolk? Are you going to try and search for him?”
“Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know where to start. Even if it was just the Port Town from my world, I don’t know much about the area to search for him. And I have no idea what he’s planning while in this place.”
Neither Hazel nor Astrid knew much about Dolk’s objective or why he was in Portland. He was likely sent here because he was with a party member that used to be in Portland before. So, if his situation was like Astrid’s, then he might be trying to find a way back to his tribe while also building his own force.
According to Astrid, Dolk and her brother Kollr were working together and attempted to kill her. They failed because the System suddenly appeared and transported her and Dolk to their respective tutorial dungeons.
However, now he was here in the same area as Astrid. And if he was here, then Astrid’s brother might have been also within Portland. And from what Hazel learned about her brother, she had no desire to meet that guy.
“Maybe there are clues in the city,” Hazel suggested. “Since we plan to go back into Portland, we should be able to find something related to Dolk.”
“It’s possible, but I doubt we’ll have a chance to do something like that,” Astrid said grimly.
“Why do you say that?” Hazel asked while leaning her head to the side.
“Have you already forgotten what today is?”
“Today...?” She arched a brow before both rose in surprise. “Ah...right. Today is the end of the thirty-day Tutorial Dungeon. Which means...”
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“Yes,” Astrid nodded. “This means all players that managed to survive the last thirty days have completed their Tutorial Dungeon, and will be returning soon. Thus beginning the next phase of the bloody system.”
With what happened last night, Hazel honestly forgot about the Tutorial Dungeon ending soon. Though considering what she went through, she wasn’t too hard on herself for forgetting. Though, now that she remembered, Hazel couldn’t help but feel nervous about what was going to happen soon.
“Should we meet up with Zora and the others to prepare for what’s about to happen-?”
Before Hazel could suggest their next move, she was interrupted by a new message panel. The Message panel.
[Tutorial Dungeons have now been officially completed! All remaining players that survived will now be transported back to their newly Integrated world.]
[Congratulations on completing your Tutorial Dungeons, newly Integrated Residents! By surviving your respective dungeons, you all have shown your determination to survive and grow stronger, which is an extremely important trait if you wish to continue surviving in your new reality.]
[With the Initial Integration Process being completed, The Next Phase of the Integration will now commence!]
[While the first phase was to allow newly integrated residents to grow accustomed to the new changes initiated by the Integration, the next phase will be preparing you all for what lies beyond your world.]
[As you may already know, your merged world isn’t the only one in the multiverse. There are actually numerous worlds that are part of the Greater Multiverse. And all of them have been part of the System much longer than your world. That means, before you are fully introduced into the Multiverse and the other worlds, you must first prepare yourselves for the encounter.]
[As of now, all residents of the newly merged world will have approximately Two Years to meet the requirements of your Planet becoming an Official World among the Multiverse. Failure to meet said Requirements will result in losing your System Protection, leaving you vulnerable as you hopelessly fend yourself off from other greedy and violent worlds that are just waiting to take a visit to your world and make it their property.]
[The Requirements to make your World officially part of the Multiverse that stands among the other Powerful worlds are as follows:
-
Your World must have an Official Guild that manages it and its residents! (There can be more than one Guild, but there must be a single guild that acts as the Representative for your world) [Global Representative Guild Established (0/1)]
-
Your World must accumulate at least 1,000,000 World Points from completing Quests and Dungeons created by the System. [World Points Acquired (0/1,000,000)]
-
Your World must compete in the World Trials, where Players Represented by the Official Guild must complete certain trials and tasks against other newly integrated worlds. (This requirement can only be completed when the first and second requirements have been met!)
[The Second Phase will now commence! Good Luck and Strife to become one of the most renowned and best World that stands among or above the rest!]
Hazel and Astrid stared at the screens, completely shocked by what they just read. Around them, the other players were in just as much shock as they blanket stared at their respective panels with widened eyes along with horror being written all over their faces.
While still gawking at the panels displaying the next phase, Hazel vigorously gulped hard upon realizing the type of difficulty they were faced with now. Not only was their world being threatened to complete these so-called requirements within two years, but if they didn’t, they were destined to become simply fodder for other worlds that wished to enslave them.
Hazel wished that the system was simply joking, but after everything she’d been through, she knew that this wasn’t a prank. This was real. And if her world didn’t meet the requirements to become an Official World among the Multiverse...they were essentially screwed beyond imagination.
Hazel glanced over at Astrid, who looked just as surprised as her, if not more because of the implications of what they needed to do.
“Be honest with me, Astrid,” Hazel whimpered. “Just how screwed are we, right now?”
Astrid hesitated to answer, knowing that the next words that came out of her mouth might demoralize Hazel. However, just when she was about to say something, the pair heard an explosion coming from outside. The sudden blast shook the entire Jetport building, causing everyone inside to panic.
Hazel and Astrid on the other hand, switched gears and went to investigate what was happening. They rushed out of the Shipyard Restaurant and tried to find Zoe or someone else who knew what was going on.
The pair made their way to one of the terminals and spotted Hazel’s mom who was currently escorting players from a terminal section. A couple of them looked injured while the rest were just fearfully running away and screaming.
Hazel and Astrid rushed over to Evelyn, both worried and curious about what was going on.
“What’s happening?!” Hazel asked, placing a hand on her mom’s shoulder.
“E-enemy players...!” She gasped, clearly terrified of what happened. “They just suddenly appeared and...”
Behind the group, screaming and roaring could be heard from behind them. Within the building of the Jetport. When they turned around to see what it was, they saw more players run away while seeing humanoid monsters chasing after them.
That was when Hazel and the others realized that they were being attacked. But by what?
[Dungeons are now available!]
[System Quests are now Online!]
[System Quest has been triggered!]
“Stop the Invaders!”
Difficulty: Easy
Objective: Stop the invaders that were just teleported from their Tutorial Dungeon and attacking the residents of your base!
Reward: 100 World Points and Common Loot Box
Hazel spared a glance at the new quest they had just received, already understanding the situation now. All the while, she had a sour expression on her face.
“This is just typical...” She let out a groan, knowing what her next move was.
It was time to complete her first quest.