Gray ran as fast as he could, boots slamming into the grass and lungs burning with each breath. The panic wasn't something he was proud of, but the realization had hit him hard: this tutorial was not winnable.
In the original game, it had been simple. You were given a disposable team of NPCs, peasants with weak weapons and even weaker morale. They were meant to fall. The monsters were scripted to win, so the player could then unlock their first hero and get pulled into the real loop of summons, builds, and rerolls.
But this wasn't the game anymore.
"I'm part of this," Gray muttered. "I'm in it."
Victoria hovered near his shoulder, her tiny wings buzzing. She looked more winded than he did.
"Does everyone go through this?" asked Garry, one of the villagers running beside him.
Victoria nodded. "Yes. Every human is undergoing the same tutorial sequence. Though you've all been placed on different servers, the general structure is the same. The enemies, the quests, the pacing... details vary."
Garry groaned. "So there's no one coming to help us?"
"No one," Gray said bluntly. "And we're not meant to win."
He remembered now. After the first loss, the game pushed you into a nearby town. That was the actual start. The monsters would then attack the village, but they weren't supposed to be beaten, just survived.
As they crested a hill, the land below came into view. There it was, a small village tucked into the landscape. Thin trails of smoke curled from stone chimneys, and in the center stood a narrow church with a pointed steeple.
"There," Gray pointed. "That's it."
"Do you think we're safe?" Garry asked.
"I think we're safer than we were."
He slowed as they reached the edge of the village. The others who had made it peeled off in different directions, limping, coughing, still clutching the weapons they'd pulled from the field. Gray loosened his grip and finally let his own weapon fall to the grass.
It's not even possible to sell it; what a waste of metal.
His footsteps echoed as he stepped into the quiet village. A few people looked at him, older men, children, women hanging laundry, but quickly turned away. No one asked where he came from. No one seemed surprised.
Only then did he realize: he was still wearing his corporate work clothes. Button-up shirt, gray slacks, ID badge on a lanyard.
"Right," he muttered. "That explains the looks."
Maybe that was why the tutorial NPCs had reacted so strangely. They didn't recognize what he was. To them, he must have looked like some alien invader.
He found his way to the church easily. The door creaked open, and sunlight spilled across wooden pews and dusty floorboards. No one was inside.
At the far end of the room stood a raised platform. On it, a stone altar.
Victoria floated forward, her glow dimmed in the shadows.
"This is it," she said.
As Gray approached, a familiar chime rang out.
Tutorial Quest 2/5: Character Summoning
A glowing button appeared in the air in front of him. Below it: "Would you like a tutorial?"
Gray pressed "Skip" without hesitation.
The window flickered.
10 Summons Acquired
He grinned. A low chuckle slipped out, then grew into full laughter. Victoria took a step back, her face tightening.
"You're doing the thing again," she said. "People usually cry during this part, having survived the first part of the tutorial."
"This is better than crying," Gray said. "Much better."
Then he paused. "Okay, how do I do it? I don't see a UI like the phone had."
"You could have read the tutorial," Victoria muttered, but she snapped her fingers regardless.
A clean blue interface snapped open before him. Stats, character sheets, system tabs. The familiar style of the mobile game, now floating right in front of his eyes.
Name: Gray Ellison
LVL: 1
Class: Invocator
HP: 10 / MP: 10
Primary Attribute: Luck
He flicked through the tabs, stopping at one labeled "Invocations." Instead of the usual rotating banners and splash art of limited-time characters, there were only two options.
Summon: x1 Pull
Summon: x10 Pull
No pictures. No previews. Just a cold and simple chance.
Gray raised an eyebrow. "This isn't how it worked before."
Victoria hovered closer. "The system has been unified. Characters from all previous banners are now part of the same pool. You can receive anyone, common, rare, or legendary, without banner limits."
"So I can pull a broken support from two years ago or some trash-tier dps from last month in the same roll?"
"Exactly."
Gray stared at the glowing panel.
"Let's see what I get," he whispered, and tapped the 10 Pull button.
The screen turned white.