Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1.2: Tutorial (II)

Foreign images gushed through his sense of sight and the common knowledge of the world engraved itself into his memory bank. The air around him fluctuated ever so slightly and his pair of eyes; like the chaotic splashes of various shades of blue from the ocean, emitted a bright light in the silent room.

A series of knocks resounded from beyond the towering wooden door positioned a fair distance away from the bed. When the silver knob had turned, an aged face appeared from the cracks and soon; a figure with a straight posture and a refined air emitting strode into the room.

A deep and croaky voice was released from his pair of cracked lips.

"Young master, breakfast has been served."

He sent a nod to the old man, his face's wrinkles symbolising all the hardship he had experienced from the past to reach to the point of where he stood in the present.

He had already taken off his shirt by the time the old man had approached his closet, inspecting the various clothing hung on silver hangers. He had reached his worn hands to one particular suit and handed it over to him.

"Young master, wear this for the occasion. The duke's orders."

His clouded thoughts were a contrast to his clear eyes as he nodded firmly to the old man. Jaqelheim was a man of a few words and only spoke when it was necessary, not once had he asked any questions and followed the orders of his father thoroughly. It was hard for him to solve the riddles without being able to seek for help.

Neatly straightening the cloth and fixing his suit into place, his body was now adorned with the colors of pastel blue and the outlines being a shimmering gold.

The strong bristles of the brush swept his scarlet locks aside with precision, commanding each and every strand of their positions. But the lush land of red held a few rebellious threads that stuck out and refused to be fixed into place no matter how many attempts were made; only serving to increase the wild charm the man emitted.

In the gentle grip between two wrinkly fingers, the stem of a pink camellia was placed into his chest pocket as its petals drooped and shivered from the almost nonexistent air present in the room. A pair of oceanic hues gazed at the reflection in the mirror, the old man idling by the side as he awaited for further orders.

Turning onto his heel, the duo exited the room with a silence that did not permeate awkwardness, but instead an atmosphere of peace and comfort between the two. Encountering a few busy servants who took the time to bow their heads in respect, the duo merely nodded in acknowledgment of their presence and continued on approaching their destination—the dining room.

A voice announced, "The young master has arrived." As his arrival brought the attention of all the occupants to the towering open doors.

Seating himself next to the duke whose placement was at the center and at the far end of the table, he observed the foreign faces placed just opposite of him. He had also discovered two of his brothers were missing, the ones who were known to be troublemakers and their attitudes said to be unruly. Seated at the center was a tall man with a straight back, his posture so refined it seemed almost perfect and his presence alone brought enough tension to the spacious room. His shoulder-length blue hair was combed nearly to the side and his pair of cyan hues narrowed at the appearance of Zhong Renjun.

Clasping his hands together, a voice of authority resonated within the room, "Now that everyone's present, let us introduce ourselves."

Zhong Renjun already knew of the identities of the other party after a thorough search in his memory bank. Their iconic golden threads of hair and their elf-like beauty exposed the fact that they belonged to the house of Spades. Similar to the house of Diamonds, their descendants were forever born as females and possessed a combination of golden hair and a pair of eyes akin to rubies. Their presence in the mansion could only explain one thing and that was—the duke of Diamonds had finally decided to ally with the duchess of Spades.

The history between the two families was fierce ever since the event in which one of the sons of the duke of Diamonds from generations ago, had forced himself and raped the heiress of the house of Spades in a drunken stupor. Scarred by the event and having lost her dignity, the heiress had let go of her sliver of life and was found days later in her room, dead. A single letter aging away on her vanity table, listed the resentments she had towards that particular son. The duchess, in a fit of fury after being informed of her favourite daughter's death, had assassinated the culprit of her daughter's rape hours later.

Naturally the house of Diamonds had sent an investigation team and had soon gathered enough evidence pointing towards the house of Spades after a month's time.

Ever since then, the tension between the two houses was eerily cold and not a single soul dared to get involved with their matters.

But now that they were peacefully seated on a dining table without a hint of malice, the entire situation screamed of suspiciousness and Zhong Renjun planned to lay low and investigate about the matters of the kingdom, not forgetting to pry the reason to why the duke and the duchess had agreed on an allegiance.

But one thing's for sure to Zhong Renjun despite not being confirmed, the duke had really high ambitions.

With the soft screeches of the elegant chairs sliding across the floor, the family of females and one particular male that stood out like a sore thumb, bowed in courtesy as they introduced themselves.

The male whose seemingly soft inky hair that drooped down to his emerald eyes spoke up, "Varentin Daetz Von Spades, the duke of Spades, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Following after was a shorter woman whose hair cascaded down to her hips in curls, her bangs pinned to the side with an intricately carved jaded pin, "Avengal Von Spades, duchess of Spades. It's an honour to finally meet you, the duke of Diamonds, the young master, and his brothers."

And finally, bowing in unison, three beautiful young women greeted. The first narrowed her sharp eyes, a glint flashing by as her gaze passed Zhong Renjun. "Valforey Von Spades, the eldest daughter of the duke and duchess of Spades."

"Ameltine Von Spades, the middle child of the duke and duchess of Spades." Her big, glistening eyes possessed a beautiful shade of wine red; like a whirlpool of crimson that sucked in the souls of those who stared too long into such abysmal eyes. Her lips curved and lifted to reveal a set of pearly teeth.

Lastly, "Nevanna Von Spades, the youngest child of the duke and duchess of Spades." Her long lashes masked the pair of droopy eyes, her gem-like pupils held indifference to the group of men presented before her as her face remained stoic.

And with perfect harmony, their voices overlapped. "It's an honour to finally meet you."

When their introductions ended, the duke had gestured for them to sit and it was time for the sons to do the same.

As the four brothers stood, the eldest spoke and performed a courtesy. "Jaqelheim Von Diamonds, Eldest son of the duke of Diamonds and the heir to the house. A pleasure to meet you." As usual, Zhong Renjun followed Jaqelheim's way of speech, firm and straightforward. It was rare for the man to spew out words of flattery, he considered it a waste of time and disliked words being said without truly meaning it.

Next, a man a few inches shorter with his long cyan hair tied into a low ponytail, placed a hand on his chest as he bowed deeply to show his 'gentlemanly' ways. "Laven Von Diamonds, the second eldest son of the duke of Diamonds. It's an honour to have such fine ladies and the duke himself present in our humble abode."

A smile graced the lips of the eldest daughter as she witnessed his performance.

"Halenfor Von Diamonds, the youngest son of the duke of Diamonds."

"Rolenfid Von Diamonds, also the youngest son of the duke of Diamonds."

"A pleasure to finally meet you." The twins courtesied as a devilish smirk tugged onto their lips. Halenfor possessed a mole to the right of his lips while Rolenfid held a mole to the left of his lips.

Both the eldest and the middle child of the house of Spades held interest in the young men while the youngest had her eyes clouded with thoughts, silently staring at a space and remaining uninterested—which Zhong Renjun caught his three brothers gazing at the young woman with curiosity.

'. . . Interesting . . .'

This thought surfaced into his mind as he was reminded of the time when a theatre group was invited to the palace on his birthday. They had performed a dramatic scenario in which three men had fallen for the same woman whose rivals were trying to sabotage her due to jealousy.

At least he would have a source of entertainment as he conquered the world.

A familiar sound resounded in his ears and the voice of the System that had seemingly disappeared ever since the tutorial started, spoke up and a see-through rectangular box appeared in front of him with text engraved into it. It had almost caused him to act out of character but luckily, he had only focused on the food in front of him the moment the duke had allowed for everyone to eat the breakfast served.

[Tasks have been assigned to Host:

World Conquering: 0%

Tasks:

1.Investigate the matters of the kingdom: 5% + 10 points

2.Find out the truth behind the allegiance: 5% + 10 points

3.Earn the respect of all the servants: 5% + 5 points

4.Increase your own power and authority: 15% + 25 points

5.Increase your reputation with the commoner population: 15% + 25 points

6.Find Love(+): 90 points

7.Experience all types of emotions(+): 180 points]

He mentally asked the system, 'So the percentage awarded by each task increases my chances of conquering the world, and looking at the tasks it's really easy. But what is the purpose of the points? And what are those strange signs next to some of the tasks? Why do they only reward points?'

[Replying, the rewards and difficulty of each task depends on the level of the world. This is only the tutorial that doesn't even qualify to become a level one world.]

[Answering, points can be used to unlock the other functions of the system. They are even more useful once the «Market» option has been unlocked, and you can buy items to help aid you in your conquering but the restrictions of the world will limit the types and amount of items you can buy.

The signs next to the tasks allow you to view additional information about the task. As for the tasks that only reward points, that is because they are optional tasks. Optional tasks do not reward conquering percentages.]

'Zh—I see. . . What do you call this thing? It seems that the others aren't able to see it.' Still trying to get accustomed to speaking in first person, he curiously inspected the mysterious box hovering in front of him.

[Answering, it is called a hologram. Replying, naturally the Game Masters have made sure that no one other than the host can see the hologram.]

Deciding not to speak up, he tried to mentally access the information as he did not want to be seen tapping on air and fortunately—it worked.

[Task: Find Love—

It is one of the wishes of the original soul. An optional task to complete.

Difficulty: ★

Rewards: 90 points

Penalty: None

Status: Inactive

Accept/Decline

Task: Experience all types of emotions—

It is one of the wishes of the original soul. An optional task to complete.

Difficulty: ★★

Rewards: 180 points

Penalty: None

Status: Inactive

Accept/Decline]

Zhong Renjun still did not have a grasp about the difficulty, was it similar to the difficulty of the worlds or were they completely different? He decided to seek help from the system, it was tempting due to the high amount of points but the difficulty was making him indecisive albeit looking easy as it gave him an uncomfortable feeling.

' . . . Is a one star task similar to a level one world?'

[Answering, Host is correct.]

'Since the tutorial doesn't even qualify as a level one, what is the difference in difficulty between a level one world and the tutorial?'

[Answering, a level one world is ten times harder than the tutorial. A level two world is ten times harder than a level one, and so on. There are currently ten levels in total.]

'That means a level ten world is ten billion times harder than the tutorial.' He sucked in a mouthful of oxygen, mentally.

[Sensing host's worry, do not fret, you don't have to go through to every world of each level. The worlds are randomly assigned so it is all based on luck on which level you would be assigned to.]

That was still rather worrying.

[Also, the penalties will only be activated once the tutorial is completed. You can accept the tasks without having to worry about the consequences, you only have to find a way to complete two tasks that are akin to a level one and two world that is precisely ten to a hundred times more difficult than the tutorial itself.]

. . . Inside Zhong Renjun's head, he was cursing at the system since if the tutorial already had such difficult tasks assigned and the penalties are only activated once he had completed it, won't it only get worst once he finished the tutorial?