Tale of Discovery

Chapter 326: Tutorial ; A Skeleton?

A few minutes pass by as I walk around outside the room the siblings are in as I play around with my senses.

Frankly, it's a little odd doing what I've been doing until now. It's as if I've grown pairs of eyes all around me within a certain vicinity that can only look at me and everything 'in between'. Unfortunately, I can't 'see' colors just yet.

Would it even be possible to see colors if I continued to practice my senses? For some reason, it feels rather plausible, but I don't know how.

Scientifically speaking, the color that is perceived by the naked eye is different qualities of light getting reflected when shone upon objects.

So, logically speaking, if I were to differentiate between the qualities of light particles as they shine on an object within my perception, I should be able to see colors.

As simple and basic as that may sound, pulling it off is no easy matter. Though, I do have something that might be able to help me in this regard - Light Manipulation.

I am aware that I haven't been looking into any ability specifically, but I suppose it's about time I did so. After all, this is going to be of extreme importance.

As such, I continue to play around with my senses while utilizing a bit of Light Manipulation in hopes of achieving a satisfactory result.

---

"Be careful, don't fall," Nao's voice reaches my ears while I am playing around with a small orb of light I had created a short while ago.

Dispersing the orb of light, I shift my senses over to the entrance of the room, only to find Nao supporting her brother out of the room.

From what I can tell, the fellow has recovered properly but is unable to walk due to other circumstances related to his 'sickness'. Perhaps, something as simple as he hasn't walked for so long that he has forgotten how to do so.

Shaking my head slowly, I approach the duo and say in a casual tone, "Nao, you can let go of him."

"Huh?

"Just trust me and do it," I say without any change in expression.

Doing as I tell her to, Nao lets go of her brother and walks away from him a few steps, only to be slightly startled by the guy not falling down, but instead standing upright without any issue.

Well, that's what it seems like from a passerby's perspective, but in reality, I am holding him up telekinetically without any effort.

"Yo-u," the guy utters in a croaked voice, "Vi-tor?"

It seems like the fellow is having problems uttering certain letters and syllables. Though, it should only be temporary. Sooner or later, he will be able to both walk and talk normally without any hiccups.

"That's me," I say with a small smile on my lips.

"Let's get the paperwork done and get you out of here, shall we?"

To this, the fellow simply nods his head once as he stares at me dazedly.

"Right, what was your brother's name?" I ask as I turn to face Nao while scratching the back of my head.

Hearing my question, she stares at my face for a few seconds before responding, "Kazuki Tomori."

"That's right, Kazuki," I say as I chuckle lightly.

And so, I turn and begin to make my way over to the receptionist's desk while controlling the guy's body like a puppet.

Nao quickly catches up to me and says in a hurried tone, "What are you planning to do? They won't just let him leave like this."

"I know that," I reply, "But you seem to have forgotten that I am no ordinary person."

"That's why I am asking what are you planning to do," she says in an irritated tone.

"You'll see," I say vaguely as the smile on my lips grows while reminiscing the small conversation I had with Irene a minute ago.

--

"Hey, Irene, is there an easy way for me to perceive colors?"

{What Father is currently doing is correct.}

"Oh, you mean the practicing?"

{Affirmative.}

"Great. Though, even if I see colors, I won't be able to use Indoctrination or Hypnosis, unfortunately" I mutter.

{That is incorrect.}

"Huh?"

{Father should be able to use the sub-ability, Indoctrination, without any problems.}

"But my eyes can't see now; how would it work?"

{There is a misconception on Father's part - Indoctrination doesn't require eye contact.}

--

According to Irene, Indoctrination will work just fine, albeit it would be a little harder to perform since I would have to depend on my perception to mark a 'target'.

Shortly, we reach the desk, and the receptionist immediately notices the guy behind me as her eyes widen by quite a margin.

"Hello," I say merrily, "I would like this guy to leave now. You know, since he is healed and all as you can see."

"Excuse me for a moment," the receptionist says anxiously as she reaches her hand out to a telephone set on the desk and brings it to her ear.

Before she can dial any number, I make use of my enhanced speed to grab the telephone and bring it away from her.

From the receptionist's perspective, the telephone just disappeared and reappeared in my hands, which shocks her immensely.

"I'm sorry, but we're kind of in a rush here," I say while adopting a troubled expression, "I hope that you don't force me to do anything unnecessary."

Still shocked, the woman is unable to respond to my words as she simply stares at the telephone in my hand speechlessly.

Releasing a sigh of exasperation, I casually reach my arm out and telekinetically bring hers forth.

Once I am holding her hand, she breaks out of her stupor as a fearful look appears on her face.

"Relax," I say nonchalantly, "I just want to show you something."

Following this, I focus my senses on her as I utilize Indoctrination.

'Don't think and just do everything I tell you to.'

Having given the woman an order, I begin to give her more orders verbally, which she easily complies with as per the initial order I gave.

---

"It will take some time before the next bus arrives here," Nao states as we reach the location we got off the bus.

"Is that so?" I say casually as I create a gateway using Norse Magic that leads back to the apartment.

"We don't need to take the bus."

As soon as we pass through the gateway, I 'guide' Kazuki's body over to the sofa there and make him lie down on it.

"Hey," Nao suddenly says, "Why didn't you do this earlier?"

"Do what?" I ask back.

"The teleportation thing," she replies with squinted eyes.

"Ah, that. Well, I just wanted to spend some time with you."

Hearing this, she lets out a sigh before shaking her head and asking, "Are you going to enter that 'game' now?"

"Yeah. It would be better for me to settle this sooner than later, don't you think?"

"Ah, you two are back," another voice reaches my ears from the room we slept in last night,

"Good morning," I say as I turn my head to face Shinoa.

"Good morning," she responds in a curious tone, "Where did you go?"

"To retrieve her brother from the hospital," I respond while pointing at Nao.

"Oh! You did mention something about her brother before, but I didn't care about it much. What had happened to him for him to be in the hospital?"

"Nothing much," I say with a shrug, "He was just captured by scientists and basically turned into a lab rat until he broke."

"What?"

"It's a long story that's better told at night," I state, "For now, I am planning to enter the 'game', so don't disturb me."

Having said this, I walk past them toward the room that has the Time-Key inside it.

There, I expectedly find Jeanne sitting on the floor with her eyes closed.

"Jeanne," I call out to her, causing her to immediately open her eyes.

"I will be starting now. My body will become defenseless, so I will be counting on you to keep it and everyone here safe."

"As you will, My Lord," she responds in a serene voice.

Nodding my head, I approach the wall opposite the one that Jeanne has her back to and sit down.

After making sure that my position is comfortable and won't result in my falling sideways once my consciousness leaves the body, I mentally instruct Irene to start the 'game'.

{Affirmative. Total entries: 3}

Wait, what?

Before I can ruminate over her words, I feel a cold sensation overwhelm my body as I slowly lose my senses.

The next moment, I find myself in an empty space. What's shocking is that I can see now, as I can tell that the space is white, similar to the Mete.

{First usage of the game detected. Initiating Tutorial.}

AI's voice resounds all over the place before my surroundings abruptly change into a much better spectacle.

Now, instead of standing in an endless white space, I am in what appears to be a huge circular arena.

Looking around, I notice that there is a venue above for spectators to watch, but they're currently empty.

However, I suddenly sense something else appear in the place.

Looking over, I find a rather horrific, yet grand-looking skeleton dressed in a black gown embroidered with fine gold lines.

In its skeletal hand, the skeleton is holding a long golden staff. The appearance of the staff is quite something, with what seem to be seven serpents intertwined around the whole thing. In the mouths of the serpents, there are different colored lustrous gems.

Breaking my gaze away from the staff, I look over at the skeleton's face. What's odd is that I feel like there is confusion emitting from it.

Soon, something startling happens - the skeleton talks.

"What the hell is this?" resounds the voice of a man that appears to be in his twenties, "Is this some kind of special event to commemorate the end of the game? Just as I grabbed the staff too..."

Huh? What is this skeleton blabbering about, and why does it sound so 'human'?

Judging from its appearance, I thought it would have some odd personality that would differentiate him from the average human, but there is nothing like that at all.

Aside from that, when it talks, its jaw remains stationary, as if the words are being transmitted by some other means, though that's to be expected since the guy shouldn't have vocal cords or any flesh for that matter.

It doesn't take long for the skeleton to notice me as it turns its head and 'stares' at me with two eerie red glowing orbs in its eye sockets.

"You," it says as it raises its hand, "Hm? Not a player but then what? An NPC?"

Alright, it's starting to talk more nonsense. NPC isn't that a term used to refer to game characters that aren't controlled by players? Does it think I am one? If that's the case, is it a 'player' of some game? That thing Irene mentioned earlier about three entries - could it be one of them?

If so, that would explain quite a few things, but then if it's not

I attempt to open my mouth in hopes of conversing with the skeleton, only to realize that I can't do so.

Huh? What's going on?

Confused, I attempt to use Clairvoyance, but that doesn't work either.

Oh, right, Irene did say my Code Effects would not work in here

As such, I resort to using my eyes to examine my body.

Looking down, I see a toned naked body. However, the area in between my thighs is empty - there are no genitals to signify my gender.

Is this also a part of the game? How annoying

Perplexed, I lift my right arm and bring my hand to my face. As I touch around, I notice that I have neither a mouth nor a nose. Though, I do have eyes.

This is getting weird What's with my current body? Am I going to remain like this for the whole game?

"Hey, do you understand me?" the voice from before resounds once again.

Looking up at the skeleton, I proceed to nod twice.

"Oh? So you are a player? But then why isn't your data displayed?"

At this moment, the voice of a certain young girl reverberates loudly, "The tutorial has begun. Granted skill-set: Enhanced Saint. Granted equipment: Sword of the Saint."

"Main objective: Defeat the opponent using the granted skill-set and equipment."

"Secondary objective: Finish the first objective under three minutes."

"Main objective reward: Profile."

{Greetings, Father. I will be Father's guide during the tutorial.}

Irene? Alright, tell me what's going on, and what's with the things that AI just announced?

{For the tutorial, Father is granted a skill-set and equipment. This time, the skill-set belongs to the class Enhanced Saint. To access it, Father simply needs to think about the skills belonging to the class.}

Having gotten a rough idea of what I need to do, I think of the skill-set or whatever, and the next thing I know, various information suddenly pops up in my head.

In a matter of seconds, I feel like I have memorized a small book down to every word as the words continue to swirl in my mind.

{To receive the granted equipment, Father must raise an arm and will for it.}

Doing that too, a bright light shines before a majestic-looking sword appears in my hand.

"Hey, hey, is this a joke? Do the GM want us to do one last duel? What even is the Enhanced Immortal Warrior? I have never heard of such a class."

Listening to the skeleton blabber about, I squint my eyes as I get into a combat stance.

"Oi, don't tell me you're planning to take this seriously," the skeleton says in an exasperated manner.

Too bad, I can't respond to it due to not having a mouth.

{Step}

Irene's voice appears in my head as I use a skill to quickly close in the distance between me and the skeleton.

Alarmed, the skeleton raises its hand and utters, "Lesser Dexterity."

Within the time-frame it took for it to do that, I am less than a meter away from it and directly slash my sword

{Blessed Blade}

Following this, the sword glows in a bright yellow as it directly strikes the skeleton's torso.

Unexpectedly, it doesn't manage to cut through its body but only gives it a great impact, resulting in it getting hurled toward the wall behind it and letting go of the staff - only for the thing to float.

A loud noise resounds within the arena as the section of the wall that got impacted cracks.

Falling to the ground, the skeleton keeps its face from eating dirt by reaching its arm out to keep itself steady.

"What the Why wasn't there any skill-use delay? Neither was there a countdown What's going on?"

Hearing the words it's muttering, I shake my head and close the distance between us once again.

{Step}

"Wait, wait, wait," it reacts to my actions, but I don't give it any chance to talk as I raise my sword and swing it at his head.

{True Salvation - Greater Shot}

Like a knife cutting through butter, my strike effortlessly decapitates its skull from the rest of its body.

Soon after the skeleton's body drops to the ground,

"Main objective complete; granting profile: Overlord."

"Secondary objective complete; granting reward: Soul of Suzuki Satoru."

"First stage of the tutorial is complete. Transferring"

Before I can react to the series of announcements, my vision goes completely dark as I once again lose all my senses.