It only took Ronan a few seconds to skim through the messages, but far longer for the truth to settle in. He had finally done it.

No, we did it, he corrected himself while looking around at his teammates. They had started as allies of circumstance, but now he would truly call them blood brothers and sisters. Even Keith.

The death of Terry, that gentle giant, was still a fresh wound in all their hearts. Especially for the son he'd left behind, the young Jackson. The boy had toughened his expression after Ronan's attempt to cheer him up, but his eyes still held a deep sadness.

There was no immediate cure for such a thing. Only time could heal the void left behind. Ronan knew that well. He was still mourning his grandmother and it had been over a decade since she passed.

"Well, since no one else wants to say it, I will," Ronan said as an awkward silence fell over the group. They were all glad that the tutorial was over, but felt guilty enjoying the moment.

"I don't know what will happen when we leave here. Maybe we'll be sent back to wherever we were dragged from, or maybe not. Based on the system messages, we probably won't be heading back to the same Earth we left. However, I am glad I met all of you and fought by your side. Each of you are my friends for life.

"Whatever happens after this, stay alive and fight like hell. Never stop saying 'fuck goblins' and most importantly, never forget Terry!" Ronan said, spitting on the floor as he belittled goblins and punching the air as he finished.

"Fuck goblins!" Dana cried, punching the air with him.

"For Dad," Jackson said with less enthusiasm than the others.

"To the first hot shower once we return!" shouted Keith, earning him cold glares from the others.

They agreed with the sentiment but it wasn't the right time… After a slap on the head from Ronan and a jab in the ribs from Dana, he apologised.

40…

The blinking timer in the corner of his vision was a constant reminder of how little time he had left with his friends. For them, it had only been a few tutorial stages spent together. For Ronan it was so much more.

He almost wished he could go back and redo the tutorial one more time. Perhaps he would be able to kill Magriz'al without Terry dying. However, he would need to die in order for that to happen.

Ronan wasn't sure if he would return to life if he killed himself. So far he'd only died at the hands of the monsters and he had no desire to push the limits of the mysterious phenomenon and get burnt.

In this case, being burnt was permanent death and losing any chance of returning to Earth. After the blood, sweat, and tears he'd poured into improving his masteries, skills, and fighting knowledge, that would be a complete waste.

Ronan felt as though the rewards for completing the tutorial were lackluster. After everything they'd been through, to only receive a few bronze credits, common treasury tokens and whatever a rift key was almost a slap in the face. The stat points were a nice addition, he had to admit.

Then again, he'd been receiving rewards the whole way through. And his status was a lot beefier than when he'd first found himself in this strange place.

"Do you think there will be monsters back home?" Jackson suddenly asked. "On Earth, I mean."

His question made the others realise they'd not considered that issue until now. Given that this was only a tutorial, hence meant to prepare them for something bigger, it made sense there would be monsters on Earth.

And they would most likely be even stronger than the goblins that had populated the tutorial. Ronan shuddered thinking about it. At the same time, a part of him grew excited at the possibility of challenging himself.

Would he still be able to return to life if he died outside the tutorial? How strong would he be able to grow if he continued to amass knowledge and skills across endless lives?

Hella strong, but right now I don't care about that, Ronan thought to himself. With these last thirty seconds he would simply grieve for Terry and spend some time with the friends left.

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It was possible they would end up in the same place, but knowing the system it was equally possible it would split them up. Not knowing was worse than having a definite answer, even if it was the latter outcome.

Ronan had to decide if he would organise his items and stats before the transport. Rushing those decisions in thirty seconds wasn't optimal. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that the moment he returned his life would be in danger.

Dying because he hadn't assigned all his free stat points seemed stupid.

He opened his status with a thought, admiring the improvements for a second. He had 22 free stat points to spend and this time his choices would be more permanent.

During his many attempts and failures at defeating the hobgoblin champion and clearing the tutorial, Ronan had experimented with different classes and stat builds. However, whatever he chose now would remain with him when he went back to Earth.

It was possible that the next time he died—although he hoped this life would be a little longer than the last few—he would return to the beginning of the tutorial again. It was equally possible it would be his final rest.

These choices had to be decisive. His current class, Knight, was a melee class focused on stunning and beating his enemies into submission. However, he also wanted to make sure he had access to at least a bit of mana.

[Status]

Name: Ronan Steele

Race: Human (G)

Heritage: ERROR: Unreadable (Analysis attempted: Results unreadable. DNA matches: 0. Recognised characters: '6')

Level: 33 (26)

Class: Knight [Uncommon] (Fighter (Common))

Fortune: 13 Bronze Credits, 249 Copper Credits (7,148c)

[Stats (1.097)]

Health: 390/390 Stamina: 510/510 Mana: 100/100

Vitality: 39

Endurance: 48 (+3)

Wisdom: 9 (+1)

Regeneration: 3

Resistance: 28 (+1)

Strength: 67 (+5)

Agility: 24 (+2)

Intelligence: 8

Dexterity: 8

Acuity: 7

Tenacity: 34

Luck: 4

Charisma: 26 (+1)

Available Points: 22

[Traits]

Personal: Inevitable (Epic)

[Skills]

Unified Language Adaptation (Universal)

Relentless Training (Common)

Magic Strike (Common)

Vital Surge (Common)

Mighty Strength (Common)

Critical Experience (Common)

Double Strike (Common)

Magic Money (Common)

Excessive Endurance (Common)

Breaking Charge (Uncommon) (Class)

Lionheart (Uncommon) (Class)

[Mastery]

Pugilist I 2/100

Mana I 0/100

Sword I 0/100

Shield I 0/100

Staff I 1/100

Spear I 22/100

Stamina I 9/100

Pain 13/100

[Cultivation]

Mind: None

Body: None

Energy: None

Soul: None

While the knight class gave him incredible stat increases per level in all of its relevant stats, it wasn't perfect. It had caused quite the imbalance in the spread of his stats, although that hadn't impacted his combat ability.

The opposite, in fact. Specialising in strength and resistance was optimal for the class skills, lionheart and breaking charge. It allowed him to use them to their fullest potential.

However, Ronan knew that when he returned to Earth the challenges he faced would vary a lot more than simply killing the same goblins over and over again. He needed to make sure he wasn't so specialised that encountering one bad matchup would kill him.

And of course, there was the simple fact that using magic was damn fun. If he locked himself out of that ability forever it would be tragic.

He'd basically just passed the most recent thresholds for excessive endurance and mighty strength, so trying to hit the next free point in them wouldn't be worth the cost right now. His class would see to that on its own as he leveled up.

In the end Ronan decided to just raise his weaker stats up, most of them to the 10 point mark and a few others—notably wisdom—beyond that. The final distribution was 5 points to wisdom, 7 to regeneration, 2 to intelligence, 2 to dexterity, and lastly 6 to luck.

He let out a deep sigh, tension disappearing from his shoulders as he dismissed his status. Ronan had died six times to get to this point. To finally emerge victorious from this shitty tutorial. He was going home.

Home might not be the same Earth he remembered, but it was a damn sight better than wherever this was. He looked around at the faces of the people who'd helped him get through this, vowing to protect them in future if it was possible.

Then again, I doubt Dana needs much protection from me. That whip of hers packs a nasty bite, he chuckled to himself. My class is knight, not white knight, he added, cringing at his awful pun.

12…

A glance at the timer in the corner of his vision told him there wasn't much time left here. Whatever happened next, he would face it with the same tenacity and determination as he'd faced the tutorial.

By grinding it down until he was strong enough to surpass it.

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