Tutorial Rewrite 48 (Patreon)

The floor shifts out from under me and all of a sudden he isn’t in my arms anymore, I’m in the lobby, and everything is WHITE, but for some reason, it doesn’t feel as bad as it did the last time. All things considered, I feel weirdly energetic. Rejuvenated, you might say. Invigorated. Like I could run a short marathon. On that note, my feet are back! Hooray!

That floor went pretty well, all things considered. I mean, sure, it had its ups and downs, but my level went up and I even made a friend! My very first friend.

Mhh. Hm. I really hope that the floor being cleared didn’t make his mind get wiped, or just destroy him completely. That would be bad. Not a good way to lose my first friend, all things considered.

That said, I didn’t get my complete-clear reward, so it should pop up anytime no-,

<To repay your debt,

the additional reward has been

traded for 5 000 points.>

…Hm? H-, hey, hang on, what’s that supposed to mean? Debt? What the heck are you talking about?!

I’m not in debt to anyone, that loan was in bad faith, so—

Hang on. H-, hang on just a minute. I think, maybe, that I might remember, uh, a certain message about a few gods reacting in a maybe-not-so-positive way. Um. D-, don’t tell me that you wanted revenge on me or something?... What even is a point? From what I’ve understood, a point is just a made-up little thing with no real-world equivalent. It isn’t paper or metal, so it has no intrinsic value.

So how can I be indebted when the currency itself doesn’t work? I demand to speak to my lawyer!

Ah, then again, if he couldn’t get me off the hook for those bogus second-degree attempted murder charges, he might not be too useful in this situation… Besides, what use do the gods even have for points? This is horsecrap!

But, as is the usual, no god has the balls to answer me. Standard. They all hate me 18-to-2 anyway.

18 to 2…

Hey, which of you three reacted negatively to my amazing all-clear 100% no-feet any% run of the third floor?!

<The God of Cruelty

chuckles.>

<The Goddess of Want

smiles.>

<The God of Cowardice

pretends not to hear anything.>

You old coward geezer…! This is all your fault, damn it!

Ahhh, my points!... My yummy, yummy points…

Trying not to cry, I open up my inventory. The only way to decide how to act in the future is to know how much debt I’m actually i—

It’s empty. M-, my inventory, it’s empty! Well, not completely, I still have all of my pelts for some reason, but everything else is gone! My goblin ears, my goblin hides, my goblingut ropes, my weapons, everything…!

<To repay your debt,

your inventory has been sold

for 2 327 points.>

<Current debt:

3 673 points.>

M-, my inventory…

At least my pelts were spared, but, why?...

<The Goddess of Want

explains that all debts

if they are to be repaid,

must be repaid in style.>

…I think this might be the first time I’ve even felt the slightest urge to thank Want. I’m not going to, but just the fact that I can feel the urge makes me want to vomit. If her sense of fashion is what I’m wearing, then I hope I never have to see her with my own mortal eyes. Oh, assuming this isn’t the kind of setting where seeing a god makes your eyes melt and you go insane. But if that was the situation then just hearing their voices would also do the same, so I think I should be okay.

But, seriously. My inventory is empty. I have nothing. I can’t buy anything, either.

The WHITE is starting to get on my nerves.

<Top—Status—Community>

<20:05:22

Day 89>

<The fourth attempt will begin in

1:03:55:38>

<The Day of Grand Conference

will begin in 3:55:38.>

Right. Plenty of time.

Before I do anything else, I paint the lobby the appropriate colour. Ah, there we go—a pleasant RED.

<The Day of Grand Conference

will begin in 1:32:10.>

Lookin’ good. In that case, I think I should check—

<You have received a message.>

…Hm? From who?

Curious, I open it.

<SuperMoleman[F24]: Hey, sorry,

I only just now saw your message.

Floor 23 took longer to beat than expected.

But, to answer your question:

yes, limbs do grow back in the lobby.

Even limbs you lost before the tutorial

grow back, however, these limbs, although

technically functional, often don’t move as one

would want. If you lost the limb long before

you were invited, even when you get it back,

you often can’t make it move at all. So it’s

easier to just tie it behind your back and

to not think about it too much.

What did you lose? Ears and fingers

can usually be healed with a strong potion,

but anything larger will need a special potion.>

Oh, him. I already got my answer, but I can’t really buy potions anymore, so… Yeah. I mean, frankly, even if I had enough points to buy those overpriced energy drinks, I still wouldn’t do it. You can’t increase skill levels from a closed wound.

I start typing.

<PrissyKittyPrincess[F4]: goblins

took ma feet bt they grew back

in lobby so its kk bt can u grow

thm back wit like a skill or

watver>

And, after a few minutes…

<SuperMoleman[F24]:

I haven’t encountered or heard

of any skills that can grow back

entire limbs, but I think there are

some spells capable of doing something

similar. Goblins cut off your feet?

Did you get captured by them?>

<PrissyKittyPrincess[F4]: ya bt

its not important k bye>

And I’m just about to close down the community again when yet another message drops in.

<SuperMoleman[F24]: Always

glad to be of help, see you

at the conference!>

And even though there’s no real reason for me to give any response, I still do.

<PrissyKittyPrincess[F4]: k

im still gona beat ur *** tho>

<SuperMoleman[F24]: Haha,

yeah, I bet you will. Good luck!>

Grumbling, I put down the window. I hate his type. You just can’t win. Even if they get insulted and even if they lose, they still find some way to be all happy and smiling about it. Ugh. Makes me nauseous.

That said, I’ve still got about an hour left until the conference opens, so I might as well do something useful with the time. I hate the idea, but I think the best thing to do here is to go jogging.

And that’s exactly what I do. For about half an hour I use Sprint, never taking a break even as my bones break and begin to crumble, because even though it hurts, after only a few seconds, it all heals anyways. Within only half an hour of this, the Sprint skill finally evolves.

<You have learned:

Sprint Lv.10>

<You have learned:

Hurry Lv.1>

Alright. From what I can understand, Hurry is the same as sprint, except it works for every action you do. Walk, reach for things, hit things, anything except other skills and—I think—natural regeneration. It also doesn’t work on my brain, which is probably good, because Battle Focus and Field Focus have already sped it up to what I think is the max. If it does things with any more focus than this, I’ll probably have a seizure and die for real.

Still, just because hurry is an active skill doesn’t mean I can’t use it constantly. It just means that instead of just my legs breaking all the time, my arms and ribs and anything else does too. Useful!

And right as I’ve gotten used to my body moving in a choppy, almost animatronic-like fashion, it happens.

<The Day of Grand Conference

will begin in 0:00:00.>

<The Day of Grand Conference

has begun. You will be automatically

summoned in 00:10.>