I felt as though I had simply blinked my eyes, and suddenly, I found myself in a completely different place. There was no warning, no sensation of being transported through time and space; I just... moved.
When I looked around, I realized I was in a... room? No, that didn't do justice to what I was seeing. It was much larger than any room I had ever imagined. In fact, calling it a room was an understatement. I could see the ceiling, but I could barely make out what seemed to be a distant wall on one of the sides. On the ceiling, there was a massive circular light, something resembling a sun.
Looking from the ceiling to the wall, everything around me seemed to have a circular design, as if it were an enormous dome. I was standing on what appeared to be a huge pillar, one of many that spread in all directions.
Where I would normally expect to see the ground, I found a vast forest stretching out in every direction. However, not a single tree even came close to the top of the pillar. And it wasn't because the trees were small; some of them seemed to be over a hundred meters tall. It was the pillar that was monstrously tall.
As I began to wonder if the system had forgotten about me or what exactly was happening, the familiar window and trustworthy voice appeared once again.
Welcome to the tutorial.
I felt a warmth spread throughout my body upon hearing the sound of another notification.
Title Earned: [Forerunner of the New World].
A title? One that I assume everyone gets too, I thought quickly, while looking at the window attentively.
[Forerunner of the New World] – Complete the introduction and enter the tutorial as a forerunner of the New World. +3 to all stats. Grants the ability: [Endless Languages of the Myriad Races (Unique)].
Three to all my stats out of nowhere? This couldn't be bad, and it was probably the source of that warm glow I felt earlier. Although I still didn't know exactly how much this would help, it was a good start. But what really caught my attention was the ability. Endless Languages of the Myriad Races… What did that mean? When I looked closer, I was surprised to see what it did. A power that would allow me to understand and speak all the languages of all races? That was… well, pretty useful.
The ability [Endless Languages of the Myriad Races (Unique)] appeared in the window, describing its function: Allows you to communicate with the myriad races throughout the multiverse. A unique ability granted freely to the forerunners of a newly initiated race.
I stood still for a moment, trying to understand what this meant. The ability somehow allowed me to communicate with other races, but how exactly? Would it only be through speech or also through writing? What else could it imply? I tried to focus on the abilities, but no concrete answer came. My attempt to use Identify to understand it better was also unsuccessful, nothing happened.
While I was still immersed in my thoughts, a sound behind me startled me. I quickly turned around, my hand already on the hilt of my knife, but I stopped when I realized there was no threat in sight. Instead, another person was there, seemingly as lost as I was, having been transported to the same platform.
"Lucas?" I asked, more as a statement than a question, looking at the man in front of me. I recognized him, but he wasn't the Lucas I knew. He wasn't wearing his usual suit anymore. Instead, he was dressed in chainmail, metal gauntlets, and leather pants with sturdy-looking boots. The whole look seemed like it had come straight out of a medieval film.
Lucas seemed as perplexed as I was, taking a second or two to regain his composure before realizing I was there. When he saw me, his face lit up.
"Alexander!? Oh, man, it's good to see you! Have you seen any of the others?" he asked, his energy high and his voice full of hope.
"No, I'm just as surprised to see you here. After we got into the elevator, you also..." I started to respond, but before I could finish the sentence, a flash of light cut through the air. I barely had time to react, and soon another flash appeared, followed by another, until, before I could understand what was happening, there were a total of 10 people on the platform.
I recognized them immediately. Five of them were with me in the elevator, and four were other employees from my company. To my relief, Beatrice was among the newcomers, looking well, though completely different. She was now wearing a white robe, with a small wand attached to her hip.
I barely had time to process everything happening before she asked, "What's happening–?"
"Hey, why–?"
"Have you seen Noah!?"
"He's here, isn't he?" Others started asking at the same time, all in a whirlwind of confusion and uncertainty. They were as lost as I was, and it seemed no one had any idea what was going on. I could only stand there, watching the chaos unfold and trying to understand how everything had changed so quickly.
After the initial panic passed, everyone started to calm down and assess the situation. After all, we were all professionals. It wasn't Lucas who calmed them down, not at all — there were plenty of attempts from him to get everyone to breathe deeply and focus, but in the end, it was us who began to focus on what truly mattered.
We did a quick round of questions and answers, trying to understand what had happened. It seemed that everyone had been transported to their respective "interrogation rooms" and had gone through practically the same ordeal I had. However, I quickly realized that I had missed some important details. While I was still trying to process what was going on, the others started uncovering additional information.
For example, we found out that new abilities could be acquired every 5 levels within our classes. This opened up new possibilities for all of us. But the most interesting, or perhaps the most concerning, part was when we started counting our classes. We ended up with a pretty balanced group: 1 light warrior, 2 medium warriors, 1 variant heavy warrior, 2 archers, 3 spellcasters, and 1 healer. It seemed like the system had done this on purpose… or maybe it was just luck. Either way, I suspected this wasn't a coincidence.
The armor and outfits of everyone were... very different now. No longer the pristine dress shirts or "presentable" clothes they used to wear at work. The light warrior was wearing simple leather armor, functional but basic. The medium warriors, like Lucas, were wearing chainmail sets, more robust. The heavy warrior, on the other hand, was wearing an iron armor that seemed poorly made, with joints badly fitted. It definitely didn't look comfortable.
When I looked at Wyatt, the other archer, I noticed he was wearing the same cloak as me. He wielded a wooden bow, just like mine. Wyatt was one of the few people I always got along with at work. Our interactions were constant because of what we did day-to-day, and we naturally ended up understanding each other well.
We were both introverts and, by chance, shared some of the same hobbies. I wasn't sure if I could call him a friend, but we were definitely close acquaintances. Additionally, we had a strange connection for being terrible at anything romantic, something that always led to good conversations about our failures in that department. Maybe, in a way, we were soulmates in that regard.
Abigail, on the other hand, was in panic. I could see the tension in her eyes. Her husband, Noah, wasn't among the newcomers, which only intensified her distress. She had chosen to be a spellcaster herself, perhaps because it seemed like the class that required the least physical effort. But thinking back, I remember her once mentioning a book she and her children loved, about a boy wizard with scars. She always spoke about the book with a nostalgic expression, as if it had been one of the few things that calmed her down.
During the conversation, I also learned that, apparently, I could have requested a different weapon during the Introduction. This caught me by surprise, because I had no idea about it. If I had known, maybe I would have asked for a modern compound bow, something I was familiar with, but given the whole medieval theme going on, I doubted that would have been an option. Still, it was interesting to think about the possibility.
When I looked at the last two classes, I saw they were other spellcasters. They were dressed in brown robes that resembled mine, but made from a lighter material, something more like silk. They all wielded wooden staffs, which I assumed were wands, probably to focus their magical abilities. They seemed comfortable, perhaps even more than I was, considering the strange heat emanating from the light on the ceiling.
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