As the players walked out of the cottage, they started cursing loudly.
They had a basic tunic shirt, thin pants, and hole-riddled shoes that were clearly not suitable enough to survive in the cold, winter wonderland.
Ron picked up one of the backpacks from the wagon and opened it for everyone to see.
Inside, there were winter clothes, food bags, water bottles, and some other essential items for survival. However, there was also a weapon—in this particular backpack, there was a small knife.
"Everyone gets their own backpack." Ron said. "Each backpack has a different weapon, and there are three backpacks without any weapon at all!"
"Excuse me, sir Ron." Seth raised his hand and asked, "Why? Isn't this basically a lottery?"
"You, Coinfeeders, need to realize one thing." Ron tossed the backpack back into the wagon.
Some players eyed the backpack, as they already knew what weapon it held, and since it was a knife, they wanted to get it themselves, as there might be way worse weapons in other backpacks.
"Luck is important." Ron said. "I ain't lying, saying that only talent matters. No, luck is important to survive in this world. One death gets you zeroed, as we call it here, and puts you straight back to the bottom of the hierarchy."
"Have you ever gotten zeroed?" A player asked curiously.
Ron shook his head. "No."
The players nodded and fixed their gazes on the backpacks.
"Make a single line." Ron said and took one of the backpacks from the wagon. "I'll hand it to you individually."
The players scrambled in the snow and quickly made a somewhat messy single-file line.
"Here." Ron pushed the backpack towards the first player in line.
The player hugged the backpack and looked around the front of the cottage, wondering where he should go next.
"Move!" Ron shouted straight into his ear.
"Y-y-yes, sir!" The player quickly replied and started running towards the forest in the distance that was under the shade of an enormous mountain, with its top seemingly slicing the clouds in half.
Ron then continued to hand the backpacks to the players.
Some checked their weapons immediately on the line—some left with giddy expressions, but few looked disheartened.
After a while, it was Seth's turn. He accepted the backpack and looked behind the line. His brother suggested that he try to find a group as early as possible.
However, because he spent the whole countdown reading the helping manual, he was too late, and most groups had already been formed.
However, there was one person standing at the back of the line—who was alone just like him.
He dragged his feet through the snow and soon arrived at the back of the line.
"H-hey."
"Hello." Adam replied without much volume or emotion in his tone.
"U-uhm..." Seth scratched his head while looking around and asked. "D-do you want to group up with me? We should help each other."
Adam looked at him silently before focusing his gaze on the line in front of him.
"Sorry, I am planning to do this alone."
"M-my brother said that being part of a group is important." Seth said, still adamant about convincing Adam to join him. "If either one of us has a terrible weapon, at least another one might have something useful."
"Listen here." Adam said, his voice firm and unyielding. "You can't rely on anyone in here. Your only ally is yourself."
"My brother had already been in here." Seth looked frustrated. "He said that without a group, one cannot survive."
"That is a weak person's mindset." Adam said without sugarcoating his words. "He didn't survive through the tutorial, did he?"
Seth clenched his fists, some anger building up inside of him.
"Fine." Seth clicked his tongue and slung the backpack over his shoulder in preparation to leave. "You haven't been in the tutorial either. You wouldn't know."
"..." Adam stayed silent, his eyes fixed straight ahead of him.
After not seeing any reaction from him, Seth shook his head and walked away into the snow.
Adam patiently waited, even though his feet were freezing from not having proper winter boots on. He then saw Donald, leaving with a group of six players—he seemed to have gathered players that looked somewhat powerful.
A short while later, it was Adam's turn.
As he was the last person in the line, Ron gave him the last backpack available.
Adam didn't open it yet and instead looked towards the sky with clouds gathered. It looked like a storm was gathering.
'It will be the same as before.' He thought, and walked back towards the cottage.
While others left for the nearby forest, as they all expected the boss to be near the mountain, Adam instead entered the warm cottage, shook off the snow from his shoes, and then sat down on the cozy couch.
Ron walked into the cottage as well and saw another person there beside him.
He crossed his arms and asked. "What are you doing here? You'll be left behind, as you were already the last person to get the backpack."
"A storm is coming." Adam said and opened the backpack. "Staying inside the cottage isn't forbidden, is it?"
Ron looked at him silently before grinning slightly. "It ain't forbidden."
He closed the door and took a seat on one of the chairs that was near a fireplace.
Adam took out the food bags and the winter clothes, and then saw his weapon at the bottom of the backpack.
Ron, while warming his hands near the fireplace, looked towards Adam and wondered what kind of weapon he received.
Adam suddenly showed a small smile and took out a shield—it was a round-shaped shield with edges made of wood and the center covered by shimmering, silver-colored metal.
"A shield, huh." Ron turned back to the fireplace. "Unfortunate. You can defend yourself better than anyone else in the tutorial, but you cannot kill Chaosbeings with that."
Adam ignored him and whispered under his breath, "Information."
***
[Weapon: Round Shield]
[Rank: Basic]
[Durability: 100%]
[Description: A solid shield that was made of silver metal. It is a versatile and light shield, allowing the user to move quickly and easily]
***
'A pretty nice starter weapon,' Adam thought.
'The weapon is only basic rank, just as I expected. I don't think I will find any higher-ranked weapons during the tutorial.'
'Hmm, I wonder how my interface looks currently.'
"Interface..."
***
[Name: Adam Palestar]
[Level: 0]
[XP: 0/0]
[HP: 50/50]
[Rank: Coinfeeder]
[Weapon: Round Shield]
[Shinecoin: 0]
[——SKILLS——]
[None]
[Inventory]
[Log Off]
***
'Yeah, as expected.' Adam stood up from the couch and started putting on his winter clothes.
As he looked at the interface that hovered in front of him, he felt a little funny about how his interface looked right now compared to his previous one.
'It looks empty.' He thought. 'Well, everyone in here cannot level up, so the most important thing for me is to kill Chaosbeings, sell their Chaos Parts to get better weapons and skills. That is the only way.
'However, with a shield, it might be a little bit different.
'But, in my previous life, I used a sword and shield to fight, so at least I am not with a weapon I have no idea how to use.
'I quite pity those who got the bow and arrows, even though it's quite powerful in the tutorial, but if it landed in the hands of someone who didn't know how to use it, then they might be in trouble.'
Outside the cottage, the snowstorm started to intensify, making it difficult for anyone to venture out. The wind started blowing hard, making the snow fall sideways and even making the windows rattle slightly.
It was clear that the storm was getting worse by the minute.
As he heard the storm raging outside, Adam wryly smiled.
'Last time around, I was outside when the storm hit, and it is still one of the worst experiences I have suffered through. The freezing cold is only one of the troubles—during the snowstorm, the Snow Chaosbeing starts to emerge.'