Book 2: Chapter 43
The hour passed by quicker than Shaun liked, he felt like he was on to something with his most recent design, the only reason he wasn’t annoyed was because of the promise of rewards. When he got to the designated room where the ceremony was supposed to occur he found it packed with people already. When he did enter he found a pedestal that had a floating orb on it, he assumed that the ceremony would have something to do with it, what exactly he wasn’t sure. It took a few more minutes of standing around before Dijaun appeared next to the pedestal.
“Quite all, this will be swift as there is much that needs to be done. After this there will only be a few more days left in the tutorial, after that you will be sent back to your planet. To start, Rejector, please come up to the pedestal.” For days now, he was being referred to by that title, Rejector. It was supposed to be some insult but really he didn’t care about being called a Rejector, in truth he some what liked it. He had rejected them, all of them, and he was happy to carry that name, especially knowing that he was already part of something more, something bigger. When he reached the pedestal he stopped, looking at Dijaun. “What are you waiting for, touch the orb and you will be declared champion by the system. There are people more worthy to go after you.”
Shaun did as asked and touched his hand to the orb, at first nothing happened but like a switch had been hit the orb started to brighten. He didn’t take his hand off the orb and eventually he was presented with his rewards for becoming champion.
*Tutorial Stage 3 Champion – Shaun Clermont*
Rewards being calculated based off of achievements in the tutorial.
Successfully completed tutorial battles undefeated – Reward Increased
Current holder of number 1 spot on E grade dungeon - Reward Increased
Accumulated wealth above 1 platinum coin - Reward Increased
Overall level above level 60 - Reward Increased
Tutorial Experience (TE) above 40 million - Reward Increased
One stat above 2,500 - Reward Increased
Multiple Basic affinity detected - Reward Increased
Multiple Advanced affinity detected - Reward Increased
Reward being adjusted due to achievements.
Stand by…..
Shaun assumed it would only take a few seconds for the reward to finish adjusting, but when 30 seconds passed and then a minute, things started to get awkward in the room.
“What is taking so long! It should have finished by now!” Dijaun hissed at him, the annoyance in his tone was not appreciated.
“I am super special, its needing to recalculate the reward because of how many great achievements I have.” He beamed his smile at Dijaun, speaking loud enough for everyone else to hear. The Jinn just huffed at him and looked away.
Reward calculated, options available to be selected.
What the hell does it mean I get options?
Option 1: TE held as at the end of tutorial is doubled, location where you will be transported back to on your planet can be selected, one Natural treasure, one Epic grade elixir (body), one Epic grade elixir (mind), Unique Title
Option 2: Leave the tutorial now and be sent back to your planet, providing you a head start before any others.
Option 3: For the remainder of the tutorial you may be transported to anywhere or to anyone in the multiverse you choose. Note: Depending on place or chosen, time allowed to stay may be reduced.
The three choices in front of him where all better than he could have dreamed of. Option one gave him power and also choice on where he would be back on Earth. The second gave him an edge against everyone else, getting back to Earth days before anyone else would be a huge advantage, especially if he was inclined to set out and hunt down dungeons before anyone could claim them, it also offered him protection, being on Earth first meant he could explore, find somewhere safe and start putting together fortification for when the people hunting him would eventually come. But the third option gave him something that he hadn’t expected to get until he chose to leave Earth forever, he could go to The Alliance, he could talk to the Fae Queen Elivasia, but doing so meant he gave up more immediate advantages.
Each of the options offered him something different, each a very good reward in their own right, for most people it would be a far easier choice, but for him he had to choose between power, protection or knowledge. Looking each option over again he went with his gut feeling, he would be able to gain power the same way he had been and he already had plenty of TE, that ruled out option 1. Similarly, although going back to Earth now would be nice, it wasn’t exactly necessary, which ruled out the second option. He had his choice and picked the third option, knowledge would help him more now than anything else and getting to see the queen, someone he had only ever glimpsed in memories, was something he couldn’t pass up.
Option 3 selected, please choose the place or person you wish to be sent to.
Send me to the Fae Queen Elivasia. The moment Shaun directed this at the system the orb started glowing lighter until it was almost an unbearable sight. Soon after his whole body seemed to vibrate down to the smallest cell in his body, he refused to let go of the orb though, not wanting to mess up whatever was happening. When he felt like he wouldn’t be able to stand the feeling much longer it stopped and everything went dark.
Shaun didn’t know how long passed, he couldn’t feel or see anything, it was almost like he didn’t have a physical body at all. Some part of him knew that this was part of the process of being moved by the system form one place to another, but I was still an unnerving experience. He knew he was getting close when he felt something shift, it was similar to what he imagined being pulled through a very tight space would feel like, like he was being squeezed through a tiny hole and was about to pop out the other side.
When the feeling passed he found that he could see again and the light shining around him was almost too much for him to handle, that and he quickly fell to the ground barely holding in the urge to vomit. He couldn’t focus on anything around him at that moment, his mind was catching up to his body which felt like it had been ringed out over and over again. The feeling slowly started to disappear and when he was able to take in more of his surroundings he felt something press into his back.
“Do not move human or I will end you. You will answer my questions quickly and honestly or you die now. Understood?” He couldn’t see who spoke but he felt whatever was poking him in the back press through his armour like it wasn’t even there, and a blade sunk into his back. Rather than speak he gave a small nod, not wanting to risk getting skewered through the back.
“How did you get onto Alesgracia and how did you make it into the palace?” The person, who sounded male, asked him.
“System reward. It gave me the option to go anywhere I wanted until my tutorial ended.” He was barely able to get the words out, he felt fear like he never had before. I asked to be taken to the Fae Queen, where the hell did I end up? He tried to lift his head to get a look around but the blade still sticking into his back twisted slightly, a warning not to move.
“And where exactly did you choose to go?”
Shaun didn’t know how he should answer the question, he couldn’t see the person that was speaking to him and if he wasn’t Fae, if he ended up somewhere else, revealing who he had asked to go to would have consequences which would be worse than death. “I will answer your question, but please, I just want to see someone, anyone, to see what type of being I am talking to.”
No one answered his request although he felt movement around him, he was tempted to use his echo skill to get a better idea of what was around him but he didn’t want to risk using a skill and getting killed because of it. The blade never left his back but he did hear someone moving around to stand in front of him.
“If you look up you will see who it is that you are speaking, but do so at your own risk.”
Shaun did as he was asked, he slowly raised his head and saw someone standing in front of him. They were tall, pointed ears, sharp canines and had angular features, it was a fae. They were dressed in armour with a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, the fae male was looking down at him like he was scum, but even that wasn’t enough to hold in the relief he felt at seeing he had made it to the fae.
“Now speak human.” The Fae behind him, or who he assumed to be fae, dug in a little deeper with the spear.
“My name is Shaun Clermont, I asked to go to the Fae Queen Elivasia when I got the reward from the system. Tell her I am here and she will know who I am. Or get Des, I mean Desrilla, she knows who I am too.”
*1 hour remaining before return to planet*
What the hell! He was supposed to have days, how did it say he only had an hour left! “Please be quick, I only have an hour before the system is going to take me back!” Neither of them spoke but obviously they communicated in some way as the fae in front of him left quickly.
“Why did you ask to be taken to Her Majesty? And how do you know of Desrilla? You agreed to answer my questions, remember that human.”
“I have met Desrilla, briefly, in my tutorial. And I asked to come to your queen because she knows more about me than I do at this point, I just wanted some answers.” He made sure not to lie, but he didn’t give them all the information he had either. If they didn’t know who or what he was it was best not to tell anyone.
“That wasn’t a lie, but it was far from the truth. I should kill you now for such an insult.” Shaun felt the spear dig even deeper into his back, this time he was unable to help but groan in pain.
“You will do no such thing Jakobia! Remove that spear from his back now!” Shaun had never been so relieved to hear a person voice in his life. Before he even knew what to do he felt someone kneel down beside him. “Someone get a healer for him now.” He looked at Des who placed her hand on his shoulder. “I am sorry this has happened, everyone is on edge at the moment and seeing a human appear in the palace….It doesn’t matter, there is no excuse.”
“Its fine, trust me I get it. If you knew half of the things that have happened since I saw you. Lets just say that I get why they reacted why they did.” Shaun took Des in, really took her in. She was wearing a style of dress that he had never seen before but that didn’t make her look any less powerful, if anything it made her look more so. The dress was intertwined with metal loops, almost making it look like some weird style of armour. “Don’t worry about the healer though, I got it.” Without waiting for a reply he pulsed his nature affinity through his body, slowly healing the wound in his back. It took a lot more mana than usual but eventually the wound closed up and he was as good as new.
When he went to stand Des motioned for him to stop, she moved around him looking at his back, seeing that he had not even a mark from the spear she helped him up. “Jakobia will pay to have the armour fixed, if you can take it off he will ensure it is repaired and back with you before the hour is up.” She nodded at him to remove his top which he did quickly and gave it to her. “Not a word of his presence here, understood? We don’t know what the powers are up to but they are all on the move, we cant let them know we had any visitors. Also an apology Jakobia, would be fitting in this situation.”
They both bowed to her when she gave the order and when they rose, Jakobia looked directly at him. “I apologise for hurting you, if I had known you were an invited guest I never would have acted with such malice. I ask your forgiveness human.”
“Its fine, seriously. With the war happening and the major factions being who they are, I don’t blame you at all.” He even meant every word, if the roles were reversed he would have acted the same way. “Also please don’t call me human. Shaun is fine, or if you want call me The Rejector.” He chuckled at the joke, even though they wouldn’t get it he still thought it funny.
“What did you say?” Everyone, Des included had stiffened at his joke.
“Sorry it was a bad joke. That’s what the factions are calling me, Rejector.”
They all shared a look before Des, doing that weird communicating without speaking thing, before the two fae that were there with him and Des gave a small nod and left almost quicker than he could follow. When they were alone she turned to him and gave him an odd look. “You said you only had an hour here before being sent back, by now Her Majesty should be ready to see you, when you broke the wards on the palace you caused quite the problem, but it doesn’t matter. Are you ready to meet Queen Elivasia?”