5 Don't Need no Damn Tutorial!

The boy continued to ponder what the lady just told him a while ago. It confirmed his earlier suspicion, but it still begged the question…

How did that guy get so strong?

Even with years of training someone can't just take on an army by themselves, especially not with a horde of monsters that were clearly stronger than the common man. Then again, the lady, whose name turned out to be Maria, said something about soul fragments. What are those? Some sort of evolution crystal?

Well whatever the reason is, all he can do now is just go to sleep now. It was late and he was already healing up. He was sure they were going to take him out tomorrow. Now it was time to rest.

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They were gaining on him. No matter how hard he tried to run faster, it felt like he was wading through water. His legs felt heavy, and he was getting tired. But the growling was what kept him from falling to his knees. He would not die today, he had so much to prove to others! He was not crazy! He just needed to be in a different environment. The one he lives in is full of pussies!

Unfortunately as he was running through the halls he tripped and fell again. He braced for the oncoming slaughter. But it never came.

Only time stopped.

He looked around perplexed on what just happened. Until his eyes fell on a hand that was reaching out for him.

"Hey man are you alright? C'mon lets get out of her-" only for the stranger's hand to get slapped away from the boy on the ground. He was glaring daggers at the boy standing over him.

"You," He growled, "I don't need your help. Leave me alone."

"Dude, come on! There's no time!" the standing boy said, " Here take my hand we can get out of this if we work toge-"

"Fuck off! You think I'm gonna trust you again? You're out of your mind," The other boy on the floor barked.

"Are you kidding me? Lets go!" the standing boy grabbed his arm. In a fit of rage he smacked him.

"NO!" The ground boy yelled, "Get away from me!"

"Oh for the love of-" before the standing boy could retort, the one on the ground punched him.

"Ok, you know what! fuck it!" The boy that was previously standing above shouted.

They both began to slug each other in the face. Soon it became a wrestling match each of them fighting to stand above the other. The creatures were closing in on them. Their howls echoed throughout the hallway, yet both didn't seem to care. All that was in their mind was to take the other one out. But one was more aggressive. The one that he embraced. The one that helped him forget. The one that made him happy. Why the hell was he back? Why did he want to take it all away again? It was too painful, don't make him remember, please dear god don't make him remember.

He knew that nothing was going to change. Hoping to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, it was too much for him. He knew he had to change, and in order to do that the boy had to die. But he won't die, he doesn't want him to die. If he did, then that would mean that all he had before would be gone, but he had to let go didn't he? He had to move on, right? But he can't, that boy is in great pain, in a weakened state, and a failure. But the thing they both know is that he's persistent, and he won't stop trying to help him, he knew that there was no way that he was going to die.

Because he won't allow it. No matter how much he wants to kill him, he can't, all he can do is drown it down to the deepest, darkest dungeons he can think of. He won't die but he wouldn't be such a pain there. But now he's out again, and he's making things worse. He's hoping that this time things will be different, but in the end, he's only damaging themselves. It was pointless, he was fuc-

"Stop it! We have to go," the annoyance yelled only to get socked in the face, "You can't be serious, you need me! We don't have time for this! Listen to me! Please! Let me out! Let me help! You need me! This has gone on too long."

"Shut up!" The other boy yelled as he was going to swing, only for his opponent to scream. He turned around and the creatures pounced.

"You idiot this is why you- AUGGGH!"

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The sound of a door slamming open caused the boy in bed to jump awake. Yeesh, his first real sleep in days and now it's over. He quickly sat up and looked around the room. It was almost morning again. His third day here has begun.

But before he could get his head together he heard the booming voice of the person who kicked the door open.

"Haha! You're awake, that's great!" The man beamed. Why the hell was this guy so loud. Already he didn't like him. That was until he saw who it was.

Although the man had none of his armor and instead sported a simple tunic with baggy grey pants. That unmistakable smile on his bearded face was what made the boy realize who he was.

William the Dragonseeker. The man who was said to be able to fight off all those amalgamation that were screwing with the boy in the night. He was incredibly strong, and the key to surviving here.

And maybe even the key to find a way back home.

"Hello! you may have heard of me! I am William Arc! Humble protector of this village!" he boasted.

Protector? that was lame, he thought he was some sort of explorer. Why did he stick around here?

"I know you have a myriad of questions! But don't worry about anything that's confusing you, just ask and I'll answer with the best of my abilities!" he boomed, "But first, let's head outside, you can ask away while we walk!" William said, as he began dragging the boy out of bed.

"Wait! WAIT!" the boy snapped, "Let me get dressed at least!"

"Oh! I'm sorry! Didn't mean to drag you!" William laughed as he let go of the boy, "Say, now that I think about it, my wife didn't catch your name when you guys talked!"

"My name...Wait! That lady is your wife?!" he gaped, that actually explained a lot.

"Yes, yes! I know! she's way out of my league! But believe it! Not only does she have beauty but the heart of a warrior. What more can a husband wan-"

"Ok! Enough of your gushing, you're gonna make me sick…" the boy quivered. This was too much, he really wished now that he was back in the forest, at least then he wouldn't have to think about love, because thinking about love made him think about…

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He kneeled on the floor, blood seeping out of his stomach as he looked up at his assailant. His eyes were sunken, and his face was pale. It was a cold winter evening with a heavy shower raining on them, but he didn't feel a thing.

"Why?" he gasped, as he clutched his stomach trying to slow down the bleeding.

The assailant simply looked at him. Her eyes were cold as the air that surrounded them. The stab was painful, but what hurt more were the emotionless eyes. She didn't care. She never cared. He was an idio-

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"Hello! Young man! You never told me your name!" William piped. The boy snapped out of his thoughts.

"Um..it's Morey," the boy said distractedly.

"Hey," William said, more softly this time, "You were zoning out, is something bothering-"

"I'm fine!" the newly named Morey snapped. He wasn't in the mood, "Maria said you were going to show me the...ropes? Whatever that meant."

William held his gaze on the young boy, but then laughed, "Of course, let's go! Don't forget if you have any questions just ask!"

"Well first off, where the hell are we?" The boy asked as he put some clothes that were set by his bed. It was similar to William's attire.

"In the kingdom of Amazoculto of course!" the man boomed enthusiastically. The boy looked at him unamused. "Ok! You're talking about the world right? Heh...well the world is called Yumesueno. No, I have no idea how we got here. Yes, there are more of us out there. Is there anything you're confused about?"

"Whoa! Slow down! that's a lot of info you're dropping on me right now. Just give me some time to process this, jeeze…"

"Very well," William said, "Well if you got any more questions, let me know."

As they got out of the building and walked across the village, Morey finally got a good look at the village. It was pretty simple, with wooden walls and stone ceilings. The building he got out of was a tall stone tower that was significantly taller than most buildings. The main form of defense according to Maria were the walls, which were made out of a shiny black stone that towered over them. There was a bell in the center along with crops, both being guarded by floating creatures that seem to wear blue armor around their wispy white bodies. Stranger than that was the shields that were floating around them, orbiting around their bodies like moons to a planet. They sensed Morey and dashed towards him, shields raising up and spinning faster like saws, which caused him to panic. That was, however, until William grabbed his shoulders.

"Don't worry boy! They're only the guardians of the village! They mean no harm as long as you don't either! And between you and me, they are not spirits you want to mess with!" he quipped.

Just like how the older man said, the spirits quickly dashed up to Morey, hovered around him for a bit, and then simply floated away, letting Morey breath out a sigh of relief.

"You'll sigh with relief when they come to the rescue too!" William boomed, "They are quite powerful spirits! And we need all the powerful allies we can get when living here!"

For once Morey agreed with the man, considering how the last two days went. Unfortunately, it seems like allies are going to be a scarce resource, hell, he considered himself lucky when a creature was just neutral, forget finding one that would go out of its way to help out.

It was quiet in the village now that Morey thought about it. He looked around to find that most of the people around were distant towards him and William looking from afar. Most looks were curious, some were fearful, and others looked at them with distaste. "Are they scared of us?" He asked.

"Ah, well…" William began, his face becoming more somber, "Us seekers...don't have the best reputation, seekers are different from the natives here, in case it wasn't obvious, not everyone who comes here is exactly stable," his expression darkened, "Some let the concept of 'immortality' get to their heads or simply go insane due to the deaths they experience," he explained, his upbeat voice becoming hollow, "The native people here….they don't enjoy the same abilities we do. They have one life and that's it. Sometimes seekers forget that."

'Yeesh, sorry I asked,' Morey thought to himself. They remained silent throughout the walk through the village, now with a thick air of tension neither of them wanted to address. It wasn't until they reached the gates of the black walls that Morey finally spoke up again.

"Wait what are we doing? I thought I wasn't going to get thrown out!" Morey tensed. It was all a ruse, and like the idiot he was, he fell for-

"No! Of course not!" William quipped with his old cheerful attitude, the tension from before evaporated, "Didn't Maria tell you? I was going to show you the ropes! And what better way to learn that with hands-on experience!" he boomed as he pushed the boy out of the gates, as soon as William was outside the gates shut close.

"Wait...WAIT! Then where's your armor and weapons!" Morey paled.

"Ah, those things? We make them!" William responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Excuse me, what?" Morey yelled. This was not what he expected. He knew the guy was a bit of an idiot, but this was on a whole other level!

"That's going to be your first lesson!" William's smile became larger as he continued, "lesson one is crafting! I'll whip you into shape soon! You're going to need it if we are to make it to the coliseum!"

"Coliseum?" Morey asked tiredly, "What the hell is that place?"

"Ah, let's not ruin the surprise!" William beamed, as he continued to walk towards the forest, "It'll take at least a week to get there. So we might need to suit up and stock up! Let the training begin!"

"Ok! You know what! You're right! Let's do this!" Morey shouted along with William, his fists in the air. "Ok! Where do we start?"

William looked around until he found a pile of gravel on the side of a hill. "Ok! Go dig out that gravel!"

"Um...what?" Morey asked.

"Yes! The gravel is essential to everything!" William exclaimed without hesitation, "Now go! Dig! DIG!" he bellowed as he shoved Morey towards the pile of gravel.

"What the hell?! This is stupid! What's next, you're going to tell me to punch the trees?" Morey ranted as his face planted on the pile of gravel. He got up and begrudgingly began digging through the gravel.

"No! Goodness no! That would be ridiculous!" William laughed, "We need a resource that is located there so we can get started!"

"Yeah? And what is it, magic pearls?" Morey snarked as he dug through the pile until he cut himself with something that was in the gravel, he yelped and pulled out his hands, "Agh! What the hell?" he cursed as he hesitantly put his hands back in the pile of gravel. There he felt something smooth with sharp edges, he carefully wrapped his hands around the object then pulled it out of the gravel. He looked at it questionably, "What is this?" he asked.

"It's flint of course!" William revealed dramatically.

Morey looked at him unamused. "Ok, and what does it do?" he asked.

"It's the key to your first recipe!" William exclaimed, "Oh! I remember when I first crafted my first knife!"

"How the hell am I supposed to make a knife with just flint!?" Morey barked.

"Well actually first you need to break the flint into shards, then of course we need another ingredient!" William explained.

"You're just talking about ingredients but what about tools? Don't we need tools to get anything done?" Morey asked.

William looked at Morey like he grew a second head, then began to laugh. "Oh my! I forgot how new you are to this world! First fetch a wooden stick, preferably from the branches, it's much easier to grab. Then come back."

Morey had no idea what the man was on about, but decided not to question it. He went to a nearby tree and ripped one of the branches off it.

As soon as he did that a weird tree monster sprouted from the ripped part of the branch and started wrapping its vines around Morey.

"Agh! Fuck! Are you kidding me?!" He screamed as more vines started to wrap around him, draining any strength he had. "Hells no!" he growled as he swung the stick he had on his hand towards the creature. It momentarily stunned the creature, which gave Morey the chance to run. But as soon as he did, the creature gave chase.

It was happening again, he was going to die for sure now. At least, that was what he thought until a flash of gold blasted through the air and directly to the tree monster, slicing it in half.

The creature let out an ear piercing shriek before it fell to the floor, and began to twitch uncontrollably on the floor. Once it stopped moving it dissolved and all that was left in the floor were tiny glowing green orbs that seemed jingle, a large green crystal, and a bottle of green liquid. That wasn't what Morey was paying attention to however.

What he was looking at was at the man who had his golden blade pointed towards where the monster was at. His eyes were narrowed, and his cheery smile was gone. That was the image of a warrior. A warrior Morey decided to stop questioning.

"Uhh…" Morey said dumbly, "I got the stick."

"Haha! I knew you would! Sorry, I forgot to warn you about the spirits that reside in the plants, I completely slipped my mind!" William boomed as he picked up the items that were left behind. The tiny orbs, however, absorbed into his body, while the rest was picked up normally. William then moved his hands to his back and the items disappeared.

"Whoa! How did you do that?" Morey asked.

"It's a trick I'll soon teach you! But first! Let's make that knife!" William shouted.

Morey then pulled out the stick and the shard of flint he had on him, he looked at the items on him. How did he do this? He got the stick and the shard, "Ok, now what?"

William pulled out his own flint shard and stick, "And now, we do this!" he said as his right hand began to glow, while the items were on his left. As his hand began to glow, he slowly wrapped his hands around the item, which in turn caused the items to glow. After a moment of rubbing the items together, his hands revealed a pristine sharp flint knife.

"Holy shit! What the fuck?!" Morey gawked, "How'd you do that?"

"Ha! Don't worry, it's much more simple that you think!" William boasted, "First try to focus your hands. Let the warmth flow onto your hands! After that it's only a matter of connecting the two items in the correct pattern!"

Morey stared at his hands. Was it really that simple? He focused on the sensation on the palm of his hands. A warmth began to flow on his palms and he noticed his hand begin to glow as well. "What the hell? It's really that simple?" he gasped.

"Yes!" William explained excitedly, "A lot of seekers tend to overthink it and it makes it harder to achieve it! Don't overthink! Put the items the way that makes most sense."

That would be the flint shard over the stick right? He organized them on his palm and copied what William did. Soon the glow transferred onto the items as well, and after a bit of rubbing a knife was formed, although not as pristine as William's it still had a sharp edge.

"Oh shit, I did it!" Morey exclaimed.

"Haha! Yes I see! We can move on to the next step!" William shouted excitedly.

"Next step? Bring it on!" Morey barked.

The next steps were a somewhat tedious chore of collecting string off of the grass blades, where thankfully no weird creature came out again. Afterwards he was to make a flint hatchet using the same principles but using the string as a way to strengthen the bond between the stick and the flint shards. Afterwards, they were to make a table, which was also much simpler than Morey thought, using their hands as if they were welding machines that connected the wooden planks that they chopped together to make a table. William added the finishing touches by adding a large grid pattern all around the table.

"Uhm, what's the table for?" Morey asked.

"Why that's for more advanced crafting!" William explained loudly, "Think of the grid as a way to channel the magic in our hands to make more complicated contraptions! Like weapons and armor!"

"Wow, that makes a lot more sense," Morey sighed, "Alright let's make some powerful gear then!"

"Slow down there young man!" William laughed, "You're not strong enough to swing anything heavier than iron right now!"

"What?" Morey growled, "Are you kidding me!"

"Calm down boy! There are ways to get stronger! You just need to collect soul fragments!"

"Soul fragments? I heard Maria mention that," Morey said thoughtfully, although still annoyed, "Was it those tiny orbs that you got from killing that tree thing?"

"You're sharp, boy! Maria wasn't wrong about you!" William quipped, "But yes that is one of the best ways to gain soul fragments if you're to be a fighter! Now then craft your first weapon!"

"Out of what though?" Morey asked.

"Why stone of course, it's the toughest material we can work with!" William piped.

"But we don't have any... oh," Morey sighed as William held a pickaxe and gestured to him at the crafting bench.

The next couple of hours were spent on a cave, one that William insisted to be lit up. "No need for unwanted intruders!" He joked. He became quiet when Morey's deadpan face let him know that he was quite familiar with the dark creatures."

Thankfully the mining went uneventfully, and Morey got enough material to work on his weapon back at the table.

William recommended sticking with a basic weapon such as a generic sword or axe, but that only intrigued Morey on the more elaborate weapons. William then pulled out an old journal full of crafting recipes that were mainly in weapons. The one Morey chose was a saber.

"Hmm... a saber! Quite the advanced weapon, are you sure?" William asked.

"Yeah," Morey said as he began preparing the recipe. Afterwards when his hands began to glow, he slowly fused the material together, one by one the material would glow a bright white light that slowly melted together. Morey then began shaping the blade to become curved and connected to the pole that he made as well. He rushed a bit, but he was excited! His own weapon! His own form of defense! Finally the world will not beat him down anymore!

Until he saw his crude blade.

The sides were chipped, and the backside was uneven. Morey ran his hands across the saber and noticed it felt rough. He put a finger on the sharp edge, only for him to notice how dull it is to the knife he made earlier.

Noticing Morey's down look, William uneasily said, "Well, don't be discouraged! The blade will function as it's supposed to! But it takes practice to perfect a blade! So don't worry!"

Morey didn't say anything until he noticed the sunsetting in the sky. All he let out was an, "Uh oh…"

"Oh the sun sets! Now onto our next lesson!" William boomed excitedly, "Combat!"

The night consisted of a lot of running, hiding in holes, sneak attacks, a couple of one on ones against certain monsters, and a lot of William saving Morey's ass.

Thankfully the night was very informative. Morey learned that the green bastards were slow and clumsy, making them the easiest monsters to kill. Skeletons were a different story, since they constantly shot volleys of arrows at the duo making them a difficult matchup unless there was a way to block the arrows. The tall bastards were not to be made eye contact with at all cost. William told him that those guys were out of his reach for now. Running into a couple of weird spirits, at first they looked intimidating, but in the end, they all fell to the duo. Well, it was mostly due to William.

It wasn't due to Morey's lack of trying, but his saber can only get him so far. William's golden blade was capable of slicing through enemies like butter.

And that was their new routine the next couple of days. Just fighting their way through. Monster after monster they all fell to William and Morey, some giving off edible meats to eat, such as the dinosaurs that Morey was afraid of before. They were surprisingly tasty though.

Finally after a little over a week, the coliseum was in full view. Both looked over the building. Morey was a mess. His sword was on the verge of breaking, he was covered in injuries, and he looked exhausted. Meanwhile, William was looking fresh, beside a couple of tears on his leather clothing.

"Haha! You're a fast learner Morey!" He boomed.

"Yeah, thanks…" Morey said tiredly.

"But now! The real training can begin!" William beamed.

Morey stared at William.

"Excuse me what?" He squeaked.

"Get used to this place! Because it'll be our new home!" William exclaimed, as he pushed Morey towards the coliseum.

"Excuse me what?!" Morey yelled as he was taken into the coliseum.