Michael looked around, all his senses sharpened to the limit, his Dragonheart thumping within his chest. He channeled Lightspeed while activating both Edge of Desperation and Resonance at the same time, fully ready to activate Will of Defiance and grant himself the Rebellion buff.

However, nothing happened.

No matter where he looked, he was standing in mid-air in a pure-white space without a single blemish. Michael felt like he was a bit of paint on an endless canvas. That was why it was so noticeable when part of that 'canvas' shimmered, twisting and turning. He looked straight at the distortion and kept all of his abilities active.

Even he could tell that the distortion was a 'gate' of sorts. The possibility that someone would walk out of it existed. But as the seconds ticked by, no one did. He waited for a full minute for someone or something to leave the distortion and start whatever event this was supposed to be, but that moment never came. A single System notification appeared in front of him.

[The Rune of Shadows has hidden your existence. There will be no Angel to greet you.]

Michael smiled widely before bursting into loud laughter. As he continued to laugh, all he could feel was relief. If an Angel had truly arrived, as the System had said, it was highly likely that they would have noticed how much stronger he was compared to the other Tutorial participants, which would only result in trouble. Thankfully, Veilthar's ability had fulfilled its role. More System notifications appeared in front of him.

[You will now be sent back to Earth, which has changed after its integration into the Multiverse.]

[Because of your unique circumstances, you may choose where you want to appear.]

Michael read the messages a few times over to ensure he didn't miss anything.

I'm probably missing out on a whole introduction, but fuck it.

If the Angels were the ones who 'greeted' the newcomers, it was likely that they would explain what had happened and what would happen from now on. Michael naturally didn't get that explanation, but it didn't really matter. He stared at the System messages for a few seconds.

"System, where have my mother and friends gone? Or where will they go?"

Nothing. There wasn't even a single System message in reply.

Michael frowned and took a deep breath.

Well, here goes nothing.

He enforced his Will stat on the world around him. He couldn't explain how he knew how to do it; much like flexing a muscle, the knowledge was borderline instinctive and completely intuitive. There was no way to tell if something had changed around him at all. Still, he could feel a growing sensation within him that he couldn't quite describe. It ran through his mind and body, both similar to and different from fatigue and exhaustion, as if his soul itself was tired.

"System," he repeated before the mysterious sensation overwhelmed him completely. "Where have my mother and friends gone?"

At that moment, the feeling intensified massively, to the point it shifted into something he wholly didn't understand. Michael stumbled in place, caught off guard by the sensation. A System message dragged him out of his stupor.

[Your Will is being gauged. Your request is being considered.]

Michael stared at the message with wide eyes, forcing himself to remain standing.

[Your Will has granted you the privilege to hear the simplest answer.]

[Return to the place before everything began.]

Unable to hold himself up, Michael fell to his knees, heaving. His body felt like he had just run a thousand marathons, and his mind somehow felt the same way. Even deeper, his very spirit was exhausted. Still, he smiled widely.

It fucking worked.

This was it. This was what he, and only he, could do. All he had done was get the System to give him a sliver of information, but it was enough. It was the promise of what he would be able to do, as long as he stayed alive and continued to develop.

He raised his gaze with some difficulty to look at the System message, which was still floating in the air. It was cryptic and told him almost nothing, but he had still managed to glimpse the answer to his question from it.

It's telling me we'll go back to the same city as before the System descended.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Michael supported himself with his staff and sat down. For some time, he focused only on breathing and recovering. Because of his high stats, the physical and mental tiredness started to get better after some time, but the deeper exhaustion showed no sign of improvement.

I guess I won't be able to do something like that for some time. I don't even know how long.

Grumbling under his breath but keeping his smile, Michael stood up. He didn't have a lot of time. There was no way to tell if this pure white space was under the effect of time dilation like the Abyss, and as he had just established, he was in no position to ask the System anything again.

"I want to choose where I want to appear," Michael said after taking a deep breath, savoring the air rushing into his lungs.

A large sphere of light took shape in front of him. After a quick glance at the continents, Michael determined that it was indeed Earth. Then, he furrowed his brow.

…Weird.

Some of the borders weren't as they were supposed to be. Once he noticed them, the differences only got more obvious. Judging by the scale of the model, it also seemed like everything had become larger, from the countries to the continents, but it was hard to tell without some kind of standard. Michael shook his head after carefully analyzing the globe in front of him for a few seconds. He could think about that later. He tapped the image of his home country, then looked for his city's general location. Once he found it, he ignored the messy borders and spoke to the infinite white.

"I choose to go to my hometown, near Safe Zone M36. Please send me there," Michael continued. "And thanks for the help."

The System didn't reply. A heartbeat later, the infinite white canvas came undone, replaced by colors and shapes he recognized. Once the process was over, Michael slowly spun in place, carefully looking at the skyscrapers around him and at the asphalted streets. Traffic lights covered in vines, shattered glass, giant empty buildings, overturned cars. The sights around him made him feel like he was in another world, which was certainly true. Still, they were unmistakable. He was back.

"Manhattan, huh?" Michael mumbled to himself.

As expected, he had ended up in New York City. Nevertheless, it was obvious that things weren't the way they were before the Tutorial, even if he ignored all the destruction that reminded him of apocalypse movies and stories. He looked to the high-rise to his right. Vines thicker than an adult man's torso crawled over the walls, all the way to the very roof. Behind the building was the largest tree Michael had ever seen. To his left, the streets had shattered and parted, with parts of their structure rising above ground and others sinking. He took a deep breath.

Mana.

The air was thick with it, to an even greater degree than the underground expanse in the Tutorial Zone. To him, who had become so much stronger after awakening his Majesty and training with Veilthar, it was even more painfully obvious. Michael felt like he was underwater, at the bottom of an oceanic trench. Shaking his head, he jumped on top of the nearest traffic light, then to the roof of what seemed to have been a restaurant.

First, let's get to high ground.

He needed to survey more of the surroundings. Since this was a Safe Zone, he didn't think there would be any monsters, but there was no downside to getting a better notion of where he was. Most importantly, he wanted to know if his knowledge about the neighborhood's geography would be useful at all. He jumped into a building through a broken window, walked inside until he found the stairs, and quickly climbed them all the way to the top, effortlessly crossing the gap between the broken parts of the stairway.

At the roof of the building, Michael walked to the edge and gazed down at the world around and below.

"…Damn."

The city that sprawled out below and around him was much grander than he remembered. It was as if the sights he'd become used to seeing in the Tutorial had been magnified and had crashed into the city by the work of a god. The city's iconic concrete jungle had been forced to give way to a fantasy-like environment. Most importantly, the sight assured him that his geographical knowledge would be worth very little.

The streets were torn open by enormous trees and vines, which crawled over the side of the buildings around them. Overturned cars that had been twisted into different shapes and broken glass littered what remained of the sidewalks. A few of the cars had clearly exploded some time ago and had been charred black. The wind howled as it moved between the tilted high-rise buildings and through their shattered windows, helping to paint an eerie atmosphere. Many of the small shops and restaurants by the sides of the streets had collapsed into themselves and crumbled, while others remained as mere husks of what they once were. The vines sealed off some of the streets and punched through buildings to connect others to create a winding labyrinth of sorts.

Michael's eyesight captured the entrances to the subway. They were darker than he remembered, and within, he could see shapes moving about.

Monsters.

Of course, it wasn't at all surprising. He scanned the ruined streets, finding more of the creatures, from large, tiger-like beasts to creatures he had become used to seeing in the Tutorial. However, each monster appeared to be greater than the ones he'd already faced, apart from the Forgotten. Michael looked at one of the beasts. Several meters in length and over four meters tall, the creature was a veritable behemoth that would be able to overwhelm his group of friends with nothing but brute force in a matter of seconds. He furrowed his brow and continued to scan the scenery. Howls and roars rang out in the destroyed streets.

Some of the buildings had fallen over to create a stretch of destruction populated only by debris and the crushed corpses of monsters. Michael raised his gaze. Some distance away, the Empire State Building still stood tall, somehow, though most of the windows were broken. Michael grinned to himself and finally turned to look at the towering trees. The giant plants were the size of buildings themselves, and there were three of them all around him. Smaller, similar-looking trees were also spread out throughout all of Manhattan. He analyzed the one closest to the Empire State with narrowed eyes.

That concentration of mana is quite something.

The giant tree had orange leaves and a brown-purple trunk. Some of the leaves drifted in the wind, each as big as a car, as the entire tree veritably pulsated with mana, which he could feel even at this distance.

I need to go there, but first…

Michael looked away and spun in place, looking for something. There was no way that the entire city had been left in this state, given the level of the monsters he'd seen below and the average strength of a Tutorial participant. As he was in the middle of turning around once more, Michael froze in place and smiled.

There, he saw it. A Safe Zone.

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