The Forgotten Legacy

When there was only 5 minutes left before he was set to move onto the next stage of the tutorial he decided to have a quick look over the objectives, not to make sure that he had finished all of them, but to see how many people were left alive.

*Stage 2 objectives: 8,964 Participants*

Clear 3 Dungeons: Complete

Obtain Profession: Complete

Optional Objective – Form a blank Faction Emblem - Complete

Survive

It was shocking to see, he hadn’t checked in a while but half of everyone that had moved onto stage 2 had already died, and of those still left only 1000 were going to get to move on. He also checked over all of the things that would count towards the top 1000, most notably he had hit the 55k mark in TE and was now level 32 in his race. His titles, affinity and overall class and profession were also quite impressive, especially when he compared them to everyone else he had met, but really he had only come across a very small amount of the people in stage 2. As soon as the countdown hit 0 he saw the message he was expecting.

*Tutorial Stage 2 Complete**

Congratulations on surviving Stage 2 of the tutorial citizens of Earth, the survival rate of this stage was 49.9%. For you to move forward you needed to have completed all set objectives and be in the top 1000 to successfully move to Stage 3 and be rewarded for your performance in Stage 2. For those that managed to survive but did not meet the requirements to move forward, you have shown strength in making it this far but have failed to rise to the top. You will spend the remainder of the tutorial in the Stage 2 area.

The rankings of the top 1000 are as follows:

1. Shaun Clermont

2. Li Al Sal

3. Rodger Jacobs

4. Vivenne Grace

5. Louisa Trang

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263. Trevor Rule

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348. Gabriel Lisburn

351. Eric Chapman

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563. Michael Rife

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859. Alan Sampson

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For those moving to Stage 3 please prepare for immediate departure.

Shaun couldn’t help the cheer that erupted out of him, he was not only in the top 10, but number 1! All of the hard work he had put into completing the dungeons, every single one he knew about at least, as well as doing it all solo had really paid off. Spending time bonding the element and increasing the titles that he could had also been time well spent, in so many different ways.

Looking through the full list of the top 1000, he was happy with the few people he had seen. There had been movement in the top 10 compared to stage 1 but not a huge change, those that seemed to had been at the top then also carried over now with a few exceptions like Shaun. Looking down the list he caught Trevor being quite high up, at 263 he was nearly in the top quarter, he must have put it a lot of work to get so high in this stage, that or he had taken advantage of all of his little soldiers and cheated his way to a higher rank.

Gabe and Eric had also made it, not as high as Trevor but he was still more than happy with what they had accomplished. He planned to see if he could catch them in the next stage, at the very least to check in and give their gear another upgrade. Shaun didn’t care for many people but he found that he was invested in both staying alive at the very least.

Michael and Alan had both made it into the top 1000 as well, although much lower on the ranking. It seemed that Michael was doing decently well for himself, not that he really cared one way or the other, and Alan? He had dropped much further in the rankings, probably being carried through the dungeons by others.

Shortly after he finished going through the list he started to recognise the feeling of being pulled through space, it seemed that his time was up and he was set to go to the next stage, he couldn’t wait for what was to come. So much had happened in the first 2 stages and with the final stage now upon him, he was ready to take it for all it was worth.

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Gabe jumped on Eric, giving him a hug and yelling with excitement, they had both managed to get into the top 1000, allowing them to move forward. Of the rest of their team only one other had made it, barely getting a place in the 900’s.

“We did it! God damn it we made it!” Eric yelled back at Gabe, returning the massive hug. The rest of their team was happy for them, they knew that the only reason they had made it as far as they had was because of the two of them leading the way.

“And Shaun is number 1! Can you believe that? What has he even been doing the past weeks to get so strong?” Gabe said, releasing Eric and taking a step back.

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell want to find out, depending on what happens in the next stage we should try and find him, it would be nice to have him around for a bit.”

Without much warning they felt the draw of being pulled through space, without hesitating Gabe grabbed hold of Eric hand. “Together?” He asked looking Eric in the eye with a smile.

“Always.”

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“How did he do it? How did that good for nothing little brat manage to get the top spot! I want him dead! I don’t care what it takes, I want everyone who can to hunt him down and kill him in the next stage. Do you understand me!” Trevor was raging, walking around to all of those that had pledged themselves to him.

“But Sir, most of us didn’t make it into the top 1000, we won’t get a chance to see him if we are stuck here.”

“Excuses! What are you even good for if you can’t even make it onto a leaderboard! Why do I always have to do everything myself!” And he would, he decided. He didn’t care how strong Shaun was, he would hunt him down and end him himself. From the moment he had met Shaun he had hated him. The little shy act was not fooling anyone, he would show everyone that he was more powerful than Shaun, everyone would see that he is the strongest person here. He would make sure of that.

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Elsewhere in the Multiverse

“You may enter.”

Swimming through the entry to the palace, Vilerelle was nervous, she had never had an audience with the true queen of the Merfolk. She had been picked to send through a copy of herself into a dungeon for one of the newly integrated planets, it wasn’t something that many were chosen to do as one had to sacrifice a portion of themselves to be able to successfully make a replica of oneself at her level. But when she was chosen she did not hesitate to accept. She had only just gotten that part of herself back, and what came with it was an odd sensation, she had a feint memory of killing herself for a human, she couldn’t remember why or who it was, only that she had given orders to the replica to do so if they had encountered someone who should be actively pursued to join the Merfolk clan.

“Why have you requested an audience with Her Majesty, Vilerelle Swarfile?”

This came from one of the queens guard, the one standing next to the great queen who was staring down on her from atop her throne.

“I thank you for the permission given to me to enter the presence of Her Majesty. I was chosen to seed a dungeon of the new universe and have just received that part of myself back. There is something that I have learnt that I feel may be of interest to Her Majesty and the Merfolk.” She continued telling the queen all she knew from what little memory and feeling she had received from her copy.

Once she had finished telling all she knew silence filled the throne room, each of the Mer present looking to be in deep thought, the news she had brought was troubling yes, but could also be a boon to the entire clan.

“And you are sure that this person was human?” The queen asked directly.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And you have no idea why you would enact the order to sacrifice yourself? No indication of what power this human holds? Only that your replica was only to enact the sacrifice only if the being you encountered was someone we would wish to join us?”

“Your Majesty, although I am certain they are human, they must have had great power or a tie to water for my replica to do such a thing.”

“Hmmm, there is much to consider. Who is representing the Collective for this tutorial?” The queen asked to the room.

“The Wolven, Your Majesty.” Her adviser replied.

“Send word to them, I want them on look out for this human. I want a report on them, whoever they may be. Only then will we decide how to proceed. Vilerelle, you have done well.”

With that Vilerelle was escorted from the room, hoping she hadn’t just made a mistake.

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Somewhere else in the Multiverse.

“This integration, does it not seem different to the last?” A being spoke to the gathered eleven.

“Yes, but I am unable to pinpoint why. From the reports gathered by the overseer’s the death toll has been smaller on some of the planets, larger on others. However, the average growth is almost 10% higher than usual, higher even on the planet that was called Earth.” Another being observed.

“Is it agreed then?” Another of the eleven gathered beings asked.

Everyone present agreed with the one that had just spoken.

“This era shall bring about change, we must consolidate power.”

“What of the others, has there been any word?”

“They have been offered a position to send a representative, as is their right. We have had no responses though, which is only fitting from their kind. We must keep watch, we can not allow them to reap the regards of this integration. Ensure everyone who is scouting out the new universe is on alert and that they must report in immediately if any of their kind are seen or felt.”

With everyone’s agreement in place, the eleven beings that had gathered simply dissolved into the air, as if the meeting had not occurred in the first place.

Unknown to them, it was all for naught. This integration was different from the previous, the new era that had begun had a different feel that was felt by all of those with enough power. The pieces had already been moved into place, only time would reveal how the game would end.