“So, the events are Battle Royale, Tower Defense, Raid Bosses, Duels, and whatever the last event is,” Dennis declares confidently.

“You and your theories. Just wait a few hours, and the event will start,” Maya stretches, and we continue to walk between the buildings and the camps people have set up.

We’ve already found a house with a nice view to stay in, and Aaron, Sophie, and Izzy have stayed behind to watch over our things. The rest of us have decided to look around and gather some more information.

I secretly hope to meet BenDover and Sami, the guys from the Hell and Easy difficulty Communities. Finding them among so many people could be challenging, but a man can dream, right?

At some point, Tacita joins us as well. She appears out of nowhere, walking with our group, and scaring a few of our members when they notice her.

After I tell Lily who she is, Lily rushes to her and stops an arm's reach away, “I'm Grumpy! I can heal you! Na… Noname said you can't talk, and I'm a healer; I should be able to do it easily.”

At that, Tacita shakes her head.

“I don’t want anything for it; it’s really simple, and it doesn’t even hurt,” Lily then reaches her hand to touch the slim girl and stops, with a dagger held at her neck.

Quickly the mood changes, and the smile disappears from Lily’s face.

“Take that dagger away before I tear your arm off,” our healer says calmly.

For a moment, she and Tacita look at each other before the mute girl smiles brightly and takes the dagger away.

To that, Lily calms down and says, “Sorry for trying to heal you without your consent.”

Tacita lifts her hands in the air, seemingly gesturing that it's okay, and she gives a single short pat on Lily’s shoulder. Her mood improves even more when Lily gives her a piece of candy from my hunt.

Watching this exchange, I'm once more validated in my belief that I'm the most normal person here.

Also, as we walk, I'm validated that Biscuit is the most handsome boy in this round of the tutorial. We see some animals, and some of them even feel somewhat strong. A white cat, a crow following a man from Hard difficulty, a big pitbull. We even see some monsters. A horse with six legs, a bird with a wingspan more than twice my length, And a pack of six weasel-like creatures.

When Biscuit approaches them, seemingly out of curiosity, and then the animals and monsters start screeching out of pure fear. They tremble and don’t even try to run; instead, they step back and cower, growling quietly.

Each time, Biscuit just looks at them and then leaves.

It seems to disturb some of Group 4’s members, but I'm only proud. His greatness is showing even now.

“Did you notice that field?” I ask Sophie.

“Yes, and to be honest, it's trash,” she says. “I can sense that multiple people collaborated on it, and it’s likely that they’re all from Hell difficulty.”

And I agree with her. The field covering the clearing is pretty weird. It’s nothing like Veil and it’s not even comparable to the barrier protecting the Bastion. The field in question is basically some sort of mana detector, meant to detect emissions over a certain level and send a signal and location to the creators.

“It’s probably Gareth,” Tess joins. “He said he was going to speak with Samuel, and that he felt like he had a point. So they, 're probably using it to police this place.”

We give her a questioning look, and she sighs, “Gareth told me before, like I said, he’s very talkative.”

“Well, it's not like it is hard for them to take care of a few people. From what I've seen, I could deal with tens, maybe hundreds of Easy or Normal difficulty people fairly easily, and I could probably handle a good number of people from Hard as well,” Maya says.

The way she underestimates her powers feels weird. I myself am sure that I could wipe out everyone from Hard difficulty even if all 200 some odd people joined forces against me.

Following Tess, we reach a spot where a large group of powerful individuals have gathered. I can feel that much from their mana signatures. I switch to Sneaky Mode and observe like I used to back on the fifth floor.

The central part of this clearing is occupied by a huge white spacious tent with multiple open entrances. The inside seems to be well illuminated though it’s shielded from anything that might overwhelm the eye. It seems cozy, and the tent is big enough to fit a hundred or so people.

“Sset, my friend. I’m glad you made it,” a man says as he emerges from the tent, seeming to be the strongest in the group.

He seems to be around 40 years old, though he’s muscular and fit. There is a friendly smile on his face, and his jaw is probably sharp enough to cut glass.

The next thing I notice is the beautiful silver armor he is wearing. The armor looks heavy, made of thick plates of metal, and yet the man moves naturally.

“Hello Gareth, these are Noname, Grumpy, Knight, StrongestOne, and NotAaron.”

The man’s eyes turn to me as he examines me for a moment, and then he smiles. “I’m happy to meet you as well, Noname and Grumpy. It’s always nice to see my fellow Beyond explorers. I also welcome you, Knight, StrongestOne, and NotAaron. Jakub and Maximillian seemed to speak with you quite often, and I’m sure they would be glad to meet you when they return.”

I once again have to remind myself that Jakub and Maximillian are Lootenant and Brainiac from the community. Gareth surely loves to continue to doxx everyone he meets. What a guy.

When he stops in front of me, I observe him and the hand he offers. He is doing it all so naturally, with a big smile on his face. I already feel his extrovert passive leeching off my reserves of social energy.

“I would like us all to be friends, Noname,” he says, pushing his hand even closer.

In the end, I shake hands with him just to make it stop, and he turns his attention to other members of group 4. He quickly greets everyone, gives out compliments, and asks about their experiences. And he does it all as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

What a monster.

When he moves to Biscuit, I expect our future animal overlord to growl at the man. Biscuit is really good when it comes to judging characters, and Gareth seems like a clear-cut B-movie villain pretending to be a paladin of justice. All so he can reveal himself as the villain in the final act.

But to my surprise, Biscuit barks softly and lets the man pet him a bit.

I… I don’t understand. As I start to use black mana to power [Focus] and think things over, Gareth turns to us all, “In the past few hours, the system has unlocked a number of buildings near the center of the common area.”If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Anything interesting?” Tess, sits opposite Gareth in a similarly comfortable position, as the rest of us plop down beside them.

At this point, it's our extrovert against theirs, and I focus on listening.

“There are living quarters with plenty of rooms. They seem to be more luxurious than the ones on the edge, but they require payment in shards per night. The more expensive ones can run as high as several hundred shards per night. Some houses come with facilities for enchanting, smithing, and other basic needs. You can also rent more specialized facilities independently, without the house.”

Good, as it should be. A few hundred shards per night? I was worried the system lost its way. Being reminded that the system is a scamming asshole is always nice. Later, I will fly over to check the buildings and prices. It might be worth it to shell out a few shards as long as the view is nice.

Gareth continues, “There are also facilities that can be unlocked. These facilities provide access to basic metals and materials at a better price than the system shop. People from Hell or Hard difficulty have already made deals and combined shards to unlock facilities and purchase materials.”

“You can put your shards together?” Min-Jae asks, surprised.

“Oh, sorry for the confusion! It’s more like one person will pay for one day, another one for another day, and a third one might buy materials while they try to balance the expenditure.”

“That’s all good. So the system is giving us a chance to craft and smith items for the tournament, maybe even an opportunity to fix and create items to bring with us after the tournament?”

“Yes,” Gareth agrees. Even sitting there in his silver armor, he looks somewhat majestic. “There is also a tournament variation of the system shop that only allows items created, with materials from local shops to be auctioned off and sold to tournament participants.”

“How big a cut does the system take for the item sold?” I ask.

“How did you know the system takes a cut?” Gareth turns to me, surprised. “Did you already know about this?”

Knew it! System, you greedy little shit. Is it because the Ruler of Greed has something to do with you, or are you just set like that?

“I guessed from my experience with the system,” I respond.

“That makes sense, but nice catch. As you said, the system takes a 10% cut, which isn’t that bad considering the reduced cost of materials.”

I detect two presences moving closer, and two men enter the tent. One of them is slim and short with messy brown hair and seems to be somewhere around the twins' age. The other appears to be somewhere around my age, maybe a bit younger, and he enters with a smile on his face.

The smiling red-haired man turns to us. “Group 4, the biggest Hell difficulty maniacs!” he declares.

“Maximillian, please, be nice to our guests,” Gareth says softly.

“Don't worry, Gary, they’ve heard worse from me! I’m Brainiac, and this must be the best doggo of the… what is it now? The best doggo of the tournament floor? That’s what you guys have been calling him, right?” he moves and squats in front of Biscuit, offering him a hand for Biscuit to sniff.

Then I sense an exchange between them, and Brainiac, real name Maximillian, stands up, shouting, “He really talks!”

“Hello,” the boy with brown messy hair says, as he moves in with a friendly smile.

“Which one of you is Noname? I wanna see the legendary mana maniac.” Brainiac looks around, then following the looks of others, he stops at me.

He takes a few steps, “So, all the things I said before, I was joking, you know that, right? No hard feelings.” When he offers me his hand, I can't sense any ill intent or dishonesty in his actions.

Taking another big blow to my social energy, I stand up and shake his hand. “It’s fine.”

“So, how much mana do you have?” he asks curiously. “Six, seven hundred?”

I check.

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1015 + 1015

So I nod, “Something like that.”

“Max, it’s rude to ask about that,” with a sigh, Lootenant moves closer and pulls his red-haired friend away, “I apologize for Max. He's a good guy but he can be annoying sometimes.”

“That’s okay.” Tess says, standing up with a smile on her lips, “I’m Sset, it's nice to meet you in the flesh, Brainiac and Lootenant, or would you prefer Maximillian and Jakub?”

It’s amusing to see the two young men react to the pretty, tall, and blonde Tess. Lootenant seems to even blush, and Brainiac is taken aback, his eyes moving up and down Tess's figure.

With interest, I wait to see how long Tess will let him continue before she zaps him, but unfortunately, it doesn't get to that point.

Tess introduces Lily, Min-Jae, Dennis, and Maya.

Unsurprisingly, the young men are happy to meet the other boys given the way they spoke in the Community, and they get sucked into a conversation like old friends.

“Tsk, I wanted to see Tess zap him,” Maya says, moving her chair next to mine.

“Me too,” I murmur in agreement.

“Want to bail and check out the houses they mentioned? Tess can take care of the rest,” she offers.

“You just want to find a nice house and have me pay for it.”

“Yes I do,” Maya agrees shamelessly. “You are rich, and it might make you more attractive in my eyes. Don't you want to look reliable and capable in the eyes of a pretty young woman?”

Well, Maya used to be a professional trainer, and after her time in the tutorial, her body has become even more athletic and she’s not wrong, she could easily be called pretty, between her dark skin, wavy black hair, and dark brown eyes, but.

“The ax is now 55 thousand shards.”

“Fuck, why! You said 49 thousand before.”

“I need to make more money to seem more capable, apparently.” I stand up. “Take Dennis, and we’ll head over. He can connect to Aaron and tell the others to move in.”

Before I can change my mind, she quickly exchanges a few words with Tess and pulls Dennis away from the group, and we head outside and deeper into the center of the common area.

The deeper we go, the nicer the houses are. The common area isn't exactly flat; there are a few small hills with houses at the top. Some houses even seem to have been built into those smaller hills. The common area is massive.

Walking through streets made of cobblestone and passing by beautiful houses, we reach the center of the plaza, at which point I take the opportunity to look around.

Finding a house that I like, I head there; it's on the smaller side with a workshop nearby. The house sits at the top of a hill that is shielded on one side by a forest, leaving the front of the house as the only part facing the rest of the place. And by being at the top of the highest hill in the area, it offers a nice view of the town.

As we approach, a barrier stops us, and a message pops up.

Would you like to rent Forest Edge Retreat and the accompanying facilities?

shards/day

Well, it looks like Gareth wasn’t joking.

“Yes, I want to pay for the entire length of the tournament.”

Would you like to pay 3000 shards to rent the Forest Edge Retreat and the accompanying facilities?

Yes/No

I confirm, and the shards disappear. After that, the barrier disappears, and Dennis sends a message to the others to move in.

“How much?” Maya asks curiously.

“Three thousand for the full duration of the tournament.”

“Damn,” she gasps.

Unlike her, I don't mind. Opening the tournament system shop and checking items and their prices, I already know I will get my shards back with plenty of extra.

About ten hours remain until the start of the 1st event, so that's plenty of time to cook up something nice.