[50 Zombies have been killed. Phase two of round one will begin now.]
[The level of difficulty of the tutorial will be raised.]
[Killing a zombie would spawn twice more zombies at the same location.]
[Current number of survivors: 69]
[Time remaining: 13:00 minutes.]
"So many of them died, huh... these Tartarus folks don't joke around, do they?" Izna mumbled.
Logan did not voice his opinion, but he seemed a bit worried. The tutorial was indeed more difficult than it had ever been before, still for 31 people to die in merely the first round... it was something he had not expected.
Zombies couldn't have killed so many of them. At least not in this round. Someone is hunting down people rather than zombies. That's the only explanation I can think of.
Considering most of the participants were serial killers, it would not surprise him, even if they began killing each other. After all, killing should be in their nature. Besides, there was a secret that Logan had not told Izna or Snake. A shortcut to gaining exp, stats and gold: PK.
PK or player-killing is a concept famous in MMORPGs where a solo player or a group of players attack each other to steal their items, money, or with Devil's Assassin and possibly Tartarus Online... Exp, gold and stat points.
Killing Zombies was a tiring task, and farming gold and stat points through them was even more exhausting. Thus, some players resorted to other means.
They would often refuse to kill the zombies and instead start hunting down the players on top of the rankings. Hoping to take advantage of their exhaustion, to kill them and take their points away.
However, killing players too early would expose their true intention and under normal circumstances, the remaining players would band together to kill the Player Killer.
That's why most of them remained hidden in the shadows, waiting to strike at when no one could do anything to them. Ideally, around the end of the final round of the tutorial.
However, that was something the players would think about, not criminals. Logan was pretty sure someone killed another player for no reason, and when they realized what they could gain by doing so, they began doing so indiscriminately.
Logan thought since no criminal would have the information about PK-ing, he wouldn't have to worry about it. But he was wrong and since he was probably on top of the rankings, as soon as the player killer got to know about him, they would do their best to kill him.
The only problem was... dying here wouldn't get him respawned on some other server to play from the beginning. If he died here, he was gone for good.
'But before that, can I even trust them anymore?' He looked at Izna and Snake, who were busy whispering to each other as usual.
Logan had formed a party with them so that they could share exp, gold and stat points with each other. But doing so had also allowed them to view information like his level and class.
Since someone with a high level was bound to have high stats, it was safe to assume they also had a rough idea about his stats.
There's no point in getting paranoid, though.
Logan shook his head and focused on the task ahead of him.
Even if they know my level, they couldn't predict my stats accurately. Thanks to my title.
The effect of the title, [Tutorial Explorer], doubled the amount of stats and gold Logan gained, but the exp he received from killing zombies remained the same. That's why, even though he was at level 4, he had double the stat points when compared to a usual level 4 player.
Also, Logan was confident in his ability to use the kukris and his understanding of the game mechanics. Even if Izna and Snake, who were at level 2, attacked him simultaneously, he could take care of them with ease.
For now, I should focus on getting the second title.
Logan thought to himself before whipping the kukris out.
I need to kill 35 more zombies and then I can worry about finding the one doing PK.
However, it seemed Logan's luck had finally run out. Devil's Assassin and Tartarus Online might have been similar, but they weren't the exact copy of each other. After all, they had to make Tartarus Online a deadlier game and the best way to do so was to include... bounties.
[Please wait patiently for the rankings of the first phase to be announced.]
"What the hell?" Logan blurted out as soon as he read the notification. "They shouldn't release the ranking before the end of the first round!"
[Please note: Rankings are based on the total value of stat points possessed.]
"That's the worst way to go about it!"
Logan was panicking big time. He was about to lose the only advantage he had while maintaining his anonymity. Even if the rankings were based on level, he would still have the advantage over everyone, as no one would have been aware of his stats, but that wasn't the case anymore.
"Shit, shit, SHIT!"
All the while, Izna and Snake were observing him lose his crap for seemingly no reason at all. At least it felt like that to them.
__
The Rankings are as followed
1. Logan Colt
2. Vick Helenski
3. Torrie Helenski
4. Izna Petrova
5. Shinoda M.
...
69. Marcus Finelli
__
"Oh, they didn't reveal the stat points we had..." Logan seemed to calm down a bit. "That's a relief-"
[You have received a quest.]
"Quest during the tutorial? That's weird. Did you guys get any quest as well?" Logan asked his makeshift squad.
"We did... and I don't like the sound of it." Izna replied before showing him the request both she and Snake received.
__
[Bounty Quest]: Protection
[Task]: Protect your squamate
[Bonus Condition]: Stats will be boosted by 5%
[Failure]: Death.
__
"..." Logan did not say a word and checked his what was his quest. "Just my fucking luck. We're about to get some company."
__
[Bounty Quest]: You have grabbed the number one position on the server, painting a huge target on your back.
[Task]: Survive for the remaining duration of the round.
[Bonus Condition]: Your stats have been temporarily reduced by 10%
[Failure]: Death.
__