"Good morning everyone! I'm sorry to call everyone out of their beds so early, but today is a joyous day. As you have been made aware, today will be a day of revelry and games. Silver Spoon is back once more, fresh off of defeating the dungeon whose monsters claimed the lives of some of our own. To celebrate, there will be competitions in a variety of events, with prizes to match. Not only that, but today will mark a significant milestone in Elstree's history. To tell you more about that, here is the man himself, Alan Taylor!"

Roger delivered his portion of the speech with a lot of enthusiasm, and despite only being a couple of hours since dawn, most of the village was there and cheering along. His persona as the folk hero Silver Spoon was really growing, not in numbers, but in gusto.

"Hello again people of Elstree! In the short time I was gone, I am so proud of everything you have accomplished. You crushed the village raid." He paused here for the giant cheer from the crowd. Even the former members of the defeated village were cheering. They weren't going to participate in the games today, but they would be here for the opening ceremonies before heading out to train in Indiana. "You've also made great strides as a village and more personally. The growth you have all shown is tremendous, I hardly recognize the newly classed individuals I trained with a month ago. Looking around town I see new stores, new houses, and look at this square! Will Roger ever make a decision about this thing?" This time he paused for laughter.

It was well known around town that the mayor was in the grips of decision lock. It wasn't totally fair to blame him for the lack of progress, the issue was that the parameters of what he needed to accomplish kept changing. First it was a simple shift in the makeup of the buildings, then it was an expansion to the open area, now it was that but to a whole nother degree.

"Today I have two major announcements. The first is the top prize in today's events. In addition to more material rewards, those who place highly in these events will earn points for their party. At the end of the day, the party with the most points will be offered the chance to take a journey with the Motley Swarm." Alan gestured to Thadrick's group who stood on the stairs below him, resulting in another round of cheers. These people remembered who had helped them bring down the recent Bodarian threat.

"This journey will take them far south where they will be given the opportunity to earn some rare class stones, and add up to two more classes each." There were excited gasps from the crowd. Having been given two classes, their lives had been dramatically changed for the good. Receiving four classes would put them on track to become powerful adventurers, almost the pinnacle of Network society.

"But there are strings attached to this offer. I believe that everyone should have classes if they desire them, and I hope to be able to continue to offer anyone who joins our settlement a choice of two classes. However, these rare stones are just that, rare. I can't wave my hand and make more just appear. You all know why I am here. My world was taken by the Network, broken down molecule by molecule, atom by atom. My people were gone in an instant, stored somewhere to be a prize for the winner of this tutorial. I was chosen, along with a select group of others from my planet to compete for that prize.

"I didn't come here by choice. I was forced into this crazy battle for my people's lives. While I didn't consent to be part of this, I have made the decision to win." There was another cheer here, but more muted. They had a stake in his victory, but only in what he could provide for them if he continued to win.

"I can't do that alone. You might have noticed that I am the only Earthling here. Some have speculated that it's because my party was killed, but that's not the case. I have always been alone here in the tutorial. Through freak circumstances, I was the only recruit in my zone." More gasps, this time of shock and surprise. "If I'm going to continue to push through the tutorial, I'm going to need help. I appreciate how much you all have helped around Elstree, that will make things easier for me going forward. But I know that you didn't do that for me, or not just me. This is your home too, so why wouldn't you want to see it grow. But as I move forward, I will need people who are more invested in my own quest."

Alan paused here to let people mumble to each other. He was dropping a lot on them at once, and this was just the start of his announcements. It was best to give them time to digest what he was saying. Soon enough the murmurs started to die down and he spoke out again.

"I understand that it is a lot to ask. So I'm not asking, I'm offering. I have access to almost six hundred rare class stones. Anyone who is willing to make a commitment to my quest can choose from them, adding to their capabilities. This commitment will entail you traveling through the tiers with me, forming the core of my army. If this isn't something you are interested in, you are still welcome to participate in today's events, and know that I wish you well. However, you will have to find your own rare stones if you wish to become a true adventurer.

"For those of you who do want to join me and receive your reward, there is a catch. You will have to earn these stones yourselves in an area far from here. It is a dangerous area, and so the Motley Swarm will go with you to help protect you. You will then be challenged to determine if you are eligible for the stones. I have faith that all of you are worthy, but the final decision isn't up to me, it's up to you and your own will."

The murmurs were building again so Alan paused and checked in with Roger. "How do you think it's going so far?"

"Well, it's coming at them fast, but it looks to me like a lot more people are excited than anything else. It'll take a bit for them to really process what this could mean, though."

Turning back to the crowd, he could see people were still talking it over. He didn't wait for that to end this time, with the decision he had placed before them, they could talk for hours and he didn't have that kind of time.

"Know that you don't have to make that choice right now. Today is a day of fun. The only people who need to make a decision today are those in the party who wins. They will be given the first chance to earn their stones. Over the next couple of weeks more and more people will get their opportunity as well. That's when you will have to decide whether you are willing to follow me. Please understand, I will hold no hard feelings towards anyone he doesn't want to make this commitment. It will put your life in jeopardy, and that's not something anyone should be forced into. Other than me I guess." There were a few chuckles at that. It was time to lighten the mood before the next announcement.

"For those who do go with me, I have no doubt you will have many chances to grow and have tremendous adventurers. Remember, though, this is the tutorial, and we will be in direct competition with others who would gladly take our lives. If you follow where I go, there is a real possibility you won't come back, but those who do will have stories and power that you never dreamed of. But all of that is for the future, for now we have feasting and fun.

"Today we will run through a variety of events, some combat oriented, others are more like puzzles, but we also have some fun ones. I encourage you to enter any event that interests you, but keep in mind that some of them overlap."

The noise was building again. This really was going to be a fun day for them, and the break from training and working would be nice. Now it was time for the second bombshell.

"Today isn't just a day for celebration, today is also the beginning of something new. Even if many of you decide to join in my struggle against the other zones, we will be disadvantaged by the lack of other Earthlings to back me up. We need every advantage we can get to make sure we win. The original settlers and your mayor Roger, have already done a tremendous job and raised this village to tier five, knocking on the door to becoming a full town. But as you probably know, opening that door is impossible because we can't get our population high enough. There's just no way to bring in enough people. But then we had the village raid and suddenly we have a hundred new villagers." He paused there as everyone cheered for the new immigrants.

"That wasn't enough, though, not even close. But I stand before you to tell you that I have found a way." That caused a hush to fall over the crowd. "This might be a little controversial, but the Mayor and I have discussed it, and we both agree that this is something we should do. Elstree is going to be buying groups of slaves."

Announcing something like that on the streets of any city in America would have likely led to him being dragged down and beaten. In the Network, slaves weren't an uncommon practice. They weren't an option for most people due to the expense, but most of the major factions had some form of slavery. His announcement got a reaction because apparently Lyonel had shared that Alan wasn't a fan of slavery. That had led to them doing their best to avoid killing any of the enemy during the village raid, and not keeping any of the prisoners.

Alan kept speaking over the sudden chattering. "I want to be clear, though. While we are buying these people the Network labels slaves, we will not be treating them as such. The first thing I do after they arrive will be to offer them their freedom. These people will become your fellow villagers, your neighbors, and your co-workers. In time, they too will be offered class stones. These 'slaves' that we are buying are the unwanted survivors of galactic wars. I expect you to treat them kindly, and prepare yourself for some friction. They may not appreciate their new situation, we will have to show them that we are doing our best to give them a new life."

Akilatjin had held her tongue, so to speak, after hearing about his plan to buy slaves in the inn. After arriving at the village hall, and while waiting for the event to begin, she hadn't been so reticent. Not surprisingly, she hadn't been a big fan of the idea. After Alan explained the alternative for these people, she had slowly come around. After likening it to her own situation, but with the difference being that they had no mother to return to, she had given the plan her approval.

"If everyone will make their way over to the competition area, tables are being set up for the feast now. The mayor and I, along with the Motley Swarm, will be staying here for a bit to welcome our first batch of immigrants. We will be joining you within the hour, however, and bringing them along with us. We are going to only bring in fifty today, but over the next few weeks we hope to add enough to push our population over the fifteen hundred limit."

With that, most people started to disperse. Not everyone was present in the square to begin with. Some were getting one last dungeon run in before the competitions started, others were sleeping in after a late night, and still more had been tasked with setting up the feast. A few of those present lingered to talk with others, whether it was over the incoming immigrants, or the looming decision over whether to join their strength to Alan's.

Finally the last of the lingerers left and it was time to bring in the first group. Alan and Roger hadn't been able to preselect who they wanted, since they were going to make the purchase until now, but they had identified a large number of batches that had been in the store for a long time. There was a nice filter that let them sort by original offering date. They had figured that if they had been on the market that long, chances were they weren't going to be bought up overnight.

Now they put their heads together and made a final decision. They selected a batch that had an average age of thirty and a decent health rating. Neither of them knew how to narrow it down anymore from there, so Alan simply picked it and transferred the gold. It was an interesting system. His money wasn't digital, so in order to pay he had to physically be holding the money. The Network couldn't take it out of his spatial storage. He had asked Roger how that worked with purchases costing thousands of gold pieces, but there were larger denominations of coins, and you could also simply place your hand on top of a large pile and that would still count.

Rather than getting a countdown of how long it would take to teleport them in, people started appearing instantly. Alan had been expecting that. The Motley Swarm had needed a countdown because they had been living elsewhere in the Network and had needed time to be brought over from where they were. These people hadn't existed anywhere until Alan had bought them. Like most of the population of Earth, their information was simply stored somewhere, and the Network created them here when Alan completed the transaction.

All fifty didn't appear at the same moment, but it took less than ten seconds for the final one to show up. The group first looked around in alarm at their new surroundings, but then their eyes found each other. It was clear that most of them knew each other and many rushed together to embrace a loved one.

Taken as a whole, the group was mostly full of beast people. That wasn't to be confused with beastkin. The people from Corellia, like Lyonel and his party, were beast people. They were a humanoid animal form. Beastkin actually looked more human than beast people, but they had the ability to charge partially or completely into their animal form. Werewolves from Earth lore could have been considered beastkin, but their condition was caused by a disease instead of being an innate part of their race.

If Alan had to guess, he would say that most of the people in front of him appeared to be red panda people. They were a little on the shorter side, with thick fur, and their faces had the distinctive red raccoon face that he was familiar with. There were also a few golemoids mixed in, but Alan didn't see any humans. It was harder for him to judge the age of health of non-humans, but it appeared that there were several children and a larger contingent of what he took to be almost elderly people. The older red pandas had a lot more white on their face than red.

Soon enough, the people realized they weren't alone, and they turned fearfully towards Alan and Roger on the stairs of the village hall. The Motley swarm had broken into two groups and were flanking them in case they tried to scatter. They weren't prisoners, but it would be good if Alan could speak to them all at once.

He tried to imagine what they were going through. From their perspective they had probably been standing one moment in their town or village, and the next they were here in an alien setting. Not only that, but they most likely knew that they had been attacked by someone, or that there was a war going on, so they had no idea if the people that now surrounded them were hostile or not. The fact that they greatly outnumbered Alan and his allies slowly started to dawn on them. Finally, one of the elderly beast people stepped forward and spoke for the group. Alan was again thankful that the Network took care of translating.

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"Who are you, and why are we here?" She asked in a quavering voice.

"My name is Alan, and this is Roger, the mayor of the village of Elstree. I am sorry for everything you have gone through, and I wish I could tell you that you were going home and that your ordeal was over. Unfortunately, that is never going to happen. Your world was concurred and its people were put up for sale by the Husnah faction. We bought you, but we have no desire to keep you as slaves."

The elderly panda person spoke more forcefully this time. "We are supposed to believe that you purchased us only to let us leave?"

Alan grimaced a little. "Well, no. Unfortunately that is not an option. You see, we are currently in a tutorial, and everyone is stuck in this zone until the next tier opens up."

It seemed that they knew about tutorials, because there was a lot of talking going on after his short explanation. He allowed them to discuss it for a moment before continuing.

"There is no way to leave, but that doesn't mean you are slaves. As of this moment, you have your freedom. However, I know that doesn't really mean much. If you leave the village you will find that there are monsters in the lands around you, so for all intents and purposes, you are stuck here. We hope that you will be happy to join us willingly in our village, but if you wish to take your chances in the wild you can. I can guarantee that there isn't another settlement you can reach."

The elder started asking questions for the group again. "So what does 'joining you' mean? Are we to do all the work of setting up this place? From looking around I can tell that this village isn't very large."

"You're right, this is only a tier five village, and yes, we will be asking you to work. But no more than we ask any other villager to work. We also won't tell you what type of work you should do. If any of you are skilled workers, then we would be thrilled if you took up your profession here. We are lacking in several areas. We won't require that of you, and we won't even require you to do any work, but we are not running a charity. If you want a place to live and food to eat, you will need to earn your keep."

"If you didn't want slaves," Her voice broke over that term. "Then why did you bring us here?"

"Honestly? We need more people. We are ready to upgrade our village to a town, but we simply don't have the population to do it. We say that there were people in the Network who had been there for a very long time, and we thought it would both help you, and us, if we purchased you."

"What do you mean by a long time, how long has it been?"

Roger answered this one. "It's difficult to say exactly since different planets sometimes mark time differently, but you have been listed in the Network store for over a hundred years."

That caused some shocked gasps from the adults and some curious looks from the children. They weren't old enough to grasp what that meant.

"Has it truly been so long? Everyone we knew is likely gone by now." That was spoken by one of the younger panda people who had a child clinging to their leg.

Alan thought that there were likely more people that they knew still around, but they were also slaves. He wasn't going to voice that yet. These people were no doubt in at least a mild form of shock from the transition, and he didn't want to add any stress to their lives at the moment.

They had a few more questions, and Roger and Alan did the best they could to answer them. Most of the people's concerns were about whether they were truly going to be considered free, and what was expected of them. Once they had finally started to get their feet under them, and they had been given a chance to answer the most urgent questions, Alan led them out of town and over to the competition area. They had chosen a site outside of the town walls since many of the games would require a good amount of space.

The residents of Elstree did Alan proud, and they greeted the newcomers warmly. Some people might have been a little too pushy with their attempts to welcome them, but that was probably better than the alternative. The new residents slowly started to react to all of the warmth, and eventually made their way over to the food tables. Vegetables and stews with a small amount of meat still dominated, but there was a lot of it, and it was well spiced.

While the newcomers started to settle in, they still stuck together. They were coming to realize they really weren't going to be treated as slaves, but they were still surrounded by strangers, and the presence of the neighbors and loved ones was comforting. Alan gave them some time to eat and do what little socializing they were up for, but then it was time to start the games and send the hundred newly classed individuals to train at the dungeon.

The first set of events included a long distance race, an air magic contest, a combat event for swords and another for maces. There might be overlap between the events, but hopefully it could be managed. Akilatjin mostly stuck by Alan's side as they watched, but she also made frequent trips to the feast that was still laid out. For such a relatively small creature, she did pack on the food.

The running event was a simple race around the town. The river meant that they couldn't simply do laps, so there was a turning point on either side of the village by the water, and the contestants had to run six times. They couldn't run one heat of the event as too many people had signed up, so they did three preliminary heats before taking the top runners in each and holding one final race. Roger's assistants, Aya and Daisuki, each won their heats. The final preliminary was won by a hunter named Johan. That was a surprise since he didn't have a dexterity class, but Roger had told him that the man was good. If he continued to do well in the events, Alan hoped he would think about joining his elite forces.

So as not to unfairly punish those who had to run in the last prelim, they planned the final for later in the day. The magic competition had far fewer entrants since it required the competitors to know the gust spell. There were two parts to this trial. The first was a test of their skill in controlling the spell. A line of flags that were arranged in almost a straight line was set up. The challenge was to get as many flags waving at one time. Alan had figured there would be two strategies.

The first was to simply cast multiple gusts close together and set them up in different sections of the line to get as many waving before the first one wore out. The second was to sculpt their gust so that it tracked along the line of flags, allowing fewer instances to be cast while still hitting all the targets. The winner ended up combining the two, managing to get all the flags blowing with two carefulling constructed castings of the spell.

The whole time the races and the first round of the magic competition were running, combatants were facing off against each other with both swords and maces. There were many people who had chosen both a strength and constitution build, or dexterity and constitution one, but few people tried to utilize both blades and blunt weapons like Alan. His spewn was truly a mighty advantage.

This and the other strictly combat events were a challenge. Training weapons weren't a luxury they had access to. There were some common forms, sure, but not enough for the variety of weapons that were employed. If it was Alan fighting against the villagers it wouldn't have been an issue. He was enough better than they were that he could make sure no serious injuries occurred. When pitting more equally matched opponents together, it made for more of an issue. They had been forced to make some rules about what kind of hits were allowed.

The entrants were cautioned to try and prevent any major injuries, but were further restricted from targeting the head or upper chest. A blade through the intestines was a gruesome way to die, but with their healers they could fix up such a wound with only a little mana. A smashed brain or ruptured heart would be much more difficult to deal with.

Akilatjin, for her part, found these events much more interesting than the other two. She seemed to have a bloodthirsty streak to her. The many combat circles they had set out were soon turned to mud by the blood spilled. People really were trying to limit the impact of their strikes, but a sharp edge still cuts even if most of the force is pulled before it hits. The healers earned their pay that day, and Alan stepped in after the first round to help harden the circles again.

He found that with his energy handling skill, combined with vita and aura reading, he was able to separate out the blood and firm up the slightly damp soil that was left behind. It did result in the creation of a steadily growing pool of blood in the center of the group of fighting rings. That was going to be interesting to deal with later.

The final race was run as a break after the semi-finals of both combat events. The final lap saw only three people in contention, the winners of the prelim heats, but it was clear that the brother and sister were in another league compared to Johan. It would have required a major incident for them to lose to the hunter. The final two hundred meters was a sprint between the siblings and Daisuki was just barely able to beat out his sister. She handled the loss well, and Alan was pretty sure that the next time the result might be different. It had seemed to him like she had more energy left at the end, and if she had started sprinting sooner she could have taken him.

The sword finals saw two matches. The first was between the losers of the semi-finals. They were both from Principal parties, and both used traditional long swords. In the end the winner was decided by one of them acknowledging the other as the more skilled opponent. Such a surrender might have seemed strange, but when one realized how much better the other was, the only way to win would be a massive gamble that could lead to someone getting hurt. Alan appreciated the gesture.

The anticlimactic end of the first fight was more than made up for by the champion's match. Alan recognized Jenny, the pretty young leader of the first group to dive Indiana, but the other was actually one of the last villagers to get a class. He used a broadsword while Jenny had adopted the rapier that she had first been gifted by the dungeon.

In a duel, the rapier was probably the superior weapon. It was faster to wield and slightly longer than the broadsword. Jenny also had another advantage in that she could cut and slice all day long until her opponent had bled themselves unconscious. The broadsword could kill someone with an incautious blow, or even cut off a limb. It meant that she could fight to almost her fullest while he would have to hold back. The only offsetting consideration was that a rapier was meant more for thrusts, and she would have to avoid the upper chest or neck, which were normally the targets she aimed for.

The match went on for almost five minutes, which was an eternity in a sword duel. Jenny was fast, but so was her opponent, and he was strong to boot. He made his broadsword dance around like it weighed nothing. The fact that he was taller also helped negate the rapier's longer reach.

The first minute was bloodless, each taking the measure of their opponent. Knowing that he was at a disadvantage if the fight dragged on, he rushed her and tried to end it with one blow. It seemingly worked as he managed to beat aside her smaller blade, and he managed to bring his broadsword down towards her shoulder. If the edge had connected it would have cleaved her torso in two, but he had turned the blade so that the flat would simply leave a bruise. It ended up not mattering, as she was able to dip her body out of the way, rolling to the side. She came up dusty, but unharmed, and her opponent had overcommitted to his strike and was left off balance, unable to follow up with another attack.

Due to her acrobatics, Jenny was also unable to take advantage and they were left much as they had started. The only difference being that Jenny was now more aware of her opponents power, and ready to deal with an overwhelming attack, while her foe had a better respect for her agility.

First blood went to Jenny as he moved forward and probed at his defenses. It was more a scratch than a cut, but it bled. Emboldened by her success, she pushed the attack which proved to be a mistake. Her opponent lured her in and then managed to force their blades into a bind. Jenny was shocked to find herself winning in the physical struggle, but it turned out to be a trap. As her sword pushed his away, opening him to a thrust, he brought his elbow up and smashed her in the face. Blood flowed down from her shattered nose.

They traded several more attacks, both gaining slight advantages, only to suffer a reversal, but over time the small cuts that Jenny left behind, even when she lost out in the overall exchange, proved to be the means of her victory. Suffering from blood loss, the broadsword wielding fighter started to slow, and then he simply accrued more cuts. He pushed with everything he had until his body simply gave out on him.

Alan himself rushed in to tend his wounds, while others looked after Jenny. The final fights in the mace contest were much less dramatic. A few good hits were enough to convince a fighter to surrender, or risk shattering some of their bones. First place went to an elephant person, while Jenny's team scored serious points from a third place finish by their tank.

The second round of the air magic event was the end of the first group of challenges. This was a test of pure strength. They had heavy canvas flags set up, and the task was simple. Raise as much of the flag as possible, for as long as possible to win. The winner of this round was different from the first course, and so they had to compare their relative placements. The winner from the first round, a Principal air wizard, had placed sixth in the second round, while the winner from round two had placed eighth originally.

As the day wore on, there were plenty of challenges. For combat, there was staff, dagger, polearms, general blunt weapons, and general bladed ones. The final set of events included any melee type. The winner of that was a warrior who used both shield and an arming sword. They also had several more magical competitions, setting targets on fire from various ranges, dealing the most damage to a straw dummy using anything other than fire, that went to a mage who had managed to modify their stone spear to summon two shafts of rock. It was a notable accomplishment and Alan made sure to take note of him.

Then there were the puzzles. Some were like a scavenger hunt, others involved logic, and others were tests of knowledge. The first of those events was entered by many, but as the day wore on, people started to realise that certain members of the village were simply on another level.

There were also archery contests, broken down by weapon type, and also inclusive of all ranged fighters. Those who used thrown weapons were unable to compete in the longer events, but by the end of the day everyone had gotten a chance to participate in several events. The swimming one was popular as all of the competitors were sweating by then and it was an excuse to dive into the river.

Most of the prizes were potions, spell scrolls, a variety of weapons that Alan would never use, and then gold for the remainder. The winning party ended up being Jenny's. In addition to her and the tank doing well in a variety of the combat events, Monos, their female golemoid, took first in the small unarmed combat event. She was really coming along with her fighting style. Abs, as a healer, hadn't participated, but Kerei had managed to win two of the magical competitions, including being the best pyromancer.

In the final award ceremony they were brought up on stage with Alan, Roger, the Motley Swarm, and Akilatjin who was dozing at the back of the temporary platform they had set up. Alan had been told of their group's name, Primus. In addition to being a favorite band of Alan's, it was also fitting as they were the first group into the dungeon.

"Primus, congratulations on your performance today. In order to claim your prize I must ask, are you prepared to bind yourself to me and my quest, to claim victory over this entire tutorial, to make yourselves part of my vanguard, the sharp tip of my spear of war?"

The words were pretentious, but the event called for some ceremony. Each of the members answer at the same time.

"We do!"

As the final event of the day's activities, they departed immediately for the first zone. The group would clear as many of the dungeons as possible, not just the two each of them wanted. It meant future groups wouldn't have to prove themselves in the same way to earn their stones, but it would also greatly expedite the process. Everyone else dispersed, even the fifty newly freed slaves. During the day they had been assigned to several of the vacant houses that the village had built in preparation of future growth.

Together, Roger and Alan had decided to both group them together and also split them up. They would need each other in the coming days as they adjusted to their new reality, but it also wouldn't do for them to form a separate community within the village, like Chinatown or something. With the number of immigrants that would be joining them soon, they needed integration, not segregation. To try and spur this on, they had split the group into three small communities in different sections of the village. Time would tell if they had made the proper choice.

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