The Place Where Everything Begins

Upon hearing the hateful man pressing for the answer, Xildas could only grit his teeth and answered Jeremy with the eyes that said, 'If I survive, I will eradicate your entire family,'

"I don't usually interact with people, so I have only one friend; his name is Dustin Piper, a water mage in the same academy."

Upon hearing so, Jeremy nodded his head slightly and proceeded on.

Just like that, the interrogating session continued...

"Are you close to any lecturer or professor?"

"No..."

"Which special branches of the magic system are you specialized in?"

"I... I enrolled in Alchemy and Array courses..."

'The man's talent is so-so, huh. Or is he too lazy? Well... in his status window, it states clearly that he is diligent. That only means this man has only average aptitude in magic.'

Jeremy thought within his mind after hearing that Xildas only enrolled in two special courses.

Shaking his head slightly, Jeremy continued the interrogation,

"Are you a dual caster?"

"No, I mainly use darkness spells as I don't have free time to enroll and learn another element..."

"Do you have parents?"

"No, they are dead..."

"Where and how?"

"They ventured outside the barrier to explore a ruin, and..."

"Do you have a sibling or cousin?"

"No, not anymore..."

Upon hearing such an obscure answer, Jeremy asked for clarification,

"Not anymore?"

"My father was born in the Heinrich family, but he had no aptitude in magic, so he was disowned. Regarding my mother, she came from another planet several eras ago, just like you."

"The Heinrich Family, one of the four hereditary mage families of Reswia Kingdom?"

"Yes..."

After hearing about the man's father's background, Jeremy raised one eyebrow in wonder and thought to himself,

'His identity is pretty interesting... If I don't remember wrong, the woman named Edelina, who will later become a grand wizard, also has such a family name. However, it seems like she will die later on by... by... Well, by whatever it is.'

Upon thinking momentarily after knowing that the man, Xildas, had some ties with one of the twenty hereditary mage families of the entire human race, Jeremy asked further,

"Are you close with Edelina Heinrich?"

"No..."

Xildas answered while gritting his teeth in hatred and lowering his head down to his chest, not daring the look at Jeremy in the eyes.

It was unsure whether the hatred was directed towards Jeremy, Edelina, or the Heinrich family.

After seeing the man behaving so childish all of a sudden, Jeremy spoke up with an amusing smile,

"Why do I feel like you are lying? And what does that revengeful look even mean?"

"..."

When Xildas had heard that, he only grit his teeth silently without answering back.

'This guy, he hates the woman, Edelina, or they hold a grudge? Hmm... It doesn't seem so; it looks like those revengeful feelings are directed towards the Heinrich family... Hehh...'

Jeremy thought briefly before continuing the inquiry,

"Alright, I don't care anyway... The last two questions; first, tell me about the others."

"The others?" Xildas asked in perplexity after being asked such an obscure question.

Upon hearing so, Jeremy answered with a slight smile that looked capable enough to convince some stray kids out there,

"Yes, the other 'organizers' of this tutorial. Tell me all about them without leaving any information. If your answers satisfied me enough, I would let you go."

"Really?"

Xildas, who had dead-fish eyes for a while now, suddenly spoke up with a newfound hope contained within his voice as his eyes also lit up with a desire to live.

"Yes, I promise."

Jeremy replied with a benevolent smile towards the man.

Finally, after gaining some hope of life again, Xildas started narrating the information without any hesitation,

"Alright then, I believe you. Actually, there is only one more person from the academy just like me in the second stage, and the person is... and he is operating as..."

Xildas told everything about another academy student towards Jeremy without thinking much. Furthermore, the other guy wasn't his friend in the least, and they were just an acquaintance who only knew one another's names, that's all.

To be honest, that's usually how people on Ortus would do if their lives were in danger...

They wouldn't hesitate to snitch other strangers' lives to buy their own lives in the least...

Regarding Xildas' trait, 'Honest', it appeared that he was honest to himself, and he was such a person who regarded his own life over others' lives.

After all, he was honest didn't mean he would have high morals or something...

Upon hearing Xildas' narration, Jeremy nodded his head in realization as the 'guy' was indeed strange in his past life. Now, he finally understood why the 'guy' behaved so unusual back then.

"Alright, so there is only one organizer in the next stage? Is that all?"

Jeremy asked with a cold voice as his hunch told him that there should be something more to the story.

When Xildas had heard such a cold voice and authoritative intent exuding out from the man, he gulped audibly before answering,

"There... There is one more outlander as an organizer, but the guy should be from the Kenku race. I... I don't know much about it... but..."

"But?"

"I've heard from my friend, Dustin, who is supervising the other zone currently, that some betting was going on between sir Yuriy and another tutorial's cupid. So, they agreed to combine the two tutorials altogether in the second stage..."

"Oh... So, that's how it is."

In contrast to his easy-going expression, within Jeremy's mind, he cursed at his own luck harshly,

'Damn it! So, not only one cupid is observing the tutorial from the outside, but there are two of them now!'

*Sigh...*

After sighing at his own bad luck, Jeremy thought further,

'The encounter with this man, Xildas, is indeed a saving grace for me... If not for his presence here, I will have to lie very low in the next stage...'

Concurrently, Jeremy finally understood why there were two races, human and kenku, battling bloodily against one another in the second stage of the tutorial.

Furthermore, he also realized that at least two cupids now had a close eye on the second stage as they were betting between themselves... betting by using the lives of other races as collateral.

Why did the betting between two cupids affect Jeremy's behavior in the second stage?

In common sense, if there was a bet between the gamblers, most gamblers ought to monitor the outcome closely with their own two eyes, not to let the others cheat them in broad daylight.

After all, no sane gambler wanted to lose their money...

Due to that, it simply meant Jeremy's every action in the second stage would be monitored very tightly.

After shaking his head slightly to discard the thoughts, Jeremy asked the last thing, which was considered one of the most crucial things for the final step of his plan,

"Hmm... Then the last thing. How will you leave this place after the six hours has passed?"

After hearing that it was the last question, Xildas' eyes promptly lit up as he answered enthusiastically,

"It's this necklace...'

Then he put one hand inside his collar and brought out a necklace with an additional attachment suspended on...

Surprisingly, the said attachment happened to be a small red crystal looking similar to the one floating in the big chamber beside this hidden room.

Upon bringing the necklace out, Xildas continued the explanation while waving the necklace for Jeremy to see,

"Here... Sir Yuriy uses the System to create this thing specifically for this tutorial zone and gives one to me and another to the guy in the second stage."

"Regarding the way to use it, I only have to wear it and touch the red Crystal in the other chamber. Then I will be able to teleport outside."

'Well... He truly tells me the way to use it, huh? Isn't he afraid that I will kill him and snatch the thing away to leave this place?'

Jeremy thought in bafflement at the man's 'honest' behavior.

It was such a trait that Jeremy didn't want to have in his every lifetime...

After hearing the man's honest explanation, Jeremy came out from his bafflement shortly. Then his eyes suddenly lit up as he had finally found a 'loophole' within the tutorial created by the cupid.

Moreover, the said loophole also seemed to be very beneficial for Jeremy as he almost couldn't contain his excitement...

'The priority first...'

Jeremy thought to calm himself down and asked the man further,

"Outside? So, it means you use this method to leave the tutorial. Then what about the other Crystal in the second stage? Will it bring you outside like this one if you touch it while wearing this necklace?"

Upon hearing Jeremy's long question, Xildas' eyes widened a bit.

"How... How do you know there is another Crystal in the second stage?"

Xildas asked in confusion as he didn't remember telling the man about the other Crystal.

'This guy seems to have Alzheimer's after the explosion earlier...'

Jeremy thought briefly after hearing the man's question, and then he said in clarification,

"You've just told me earlier that the other guy also received the same necklace similar to you..."

After hearing Jeremy's words, Xildas' mouth went 'Oh!', and then he replied in realization, continuing the topic about the other Crystal in the second stage,

"Well, I've indeed told you that. In fact, the other student will also leave the tutorial the same way as me by using the Crystal in the second stage, but that will be after his duties are all completed. As for what his tutorial missions or duties are, I don't know the specific information..."

Speaking till here, Xildas paused for a bit to take a short breath, as his lungs felt somewhat hurt, before continuing,

"Also... I don't know if wearing this necklace will make me able to activate the Crystal in the second stage or not... However, if I have to guess, it won't work because the Crystal's colors are not the same..."

"Hm... It's okay. That's all I want to know."

Jeremy spoke up in understanding after hearing the man's reply.

Simultaneously, Xildas' eyes suddenly lit up after hearing that the hateful man had already got everything he wanted.

Thus, he said and asked with a hopeful voice,

"That... That means you are going to let me off... Right?"

Upon hearing and seeing the man's eyes burning with the flame of survival, Jeremy chuckled a bit before saying,

"Before that, can you take a look at my face first?"

At the same time, Jeremy also activated the skill he had never used before after buying it from the Crystal's shop,

'[Disguise]'

At long last, Jeremy activated the [Disguise] skill for the first time...