Ronan leapt down the stairs two or three at a time, not caring for the people he was knocking out of the way as he did so. They all lit up with righteous indignation as their position in the queue was disrupted, but quickly found their way back to it and fell silent.

Their behaviour was creepy as fuck, but Ronan did his best to ignore it and focus on getting closer to the source of the explosions. Now that he was inside the station, he could see multiple fires blazing. The queues of people were more than hundreds long. There has to be at least three thousand people in here, but why was it completely empty outside? None of this makes sense! He spat curses at the system in his head while running.

The platforms for the national rail were empty, devoid of people. A few were burning, but they quickly lost his interest as Ronan realised there was nothing on them whatsoever, not even an enemy or a clue as to what he needed to do to complete this first stage of the nightmare difficulty tutorial.

He turned to the entrances to the underground stations. There were two, facing one another on opposite sides of the station. Both burned fiercely, a demonic inferno within that threatened to consume everything, and yet didn't seem to creep out further than the summits of the escalators.

If there was an approximation of what one might see before descending into hell, Ronan suspected this was it. The only issue was that the winding queues of people seemed to go into both stations, and both contained unholy blazes within their depths.

Frankly he didn't want to send himself into one of the infernos, but he knew that this was likely the goal of this part of the tutorial. Wandering an empty city didn't seem like nightmare material. This, on the other hand, was pure nightmare fuel.

He picked one of the stations at random and started to run into it. As he reached the ticket gates, the first person in the queue suddenly woke up and screamed at him. "Don't skip the line, you bastard! The Great Purifier abhors those who—" Another explosion rocked the world, cutting off the screaming queuer. Ronan was sent flying backwards, knocked onto his arse and back out of the station's entrance.

He rose to his feet once more, and promptly inhaled a mouthful of acrid smoke. Once he'd spat what he could of the foul substance from his lungs, he stared into the depths of the station, which had just blown up on him.

That was when he saw crowds of people rushing up the unmoving escalator. Only due to his superhuman stats was he able to stay on his feet as a horde of people rushed past, smashing into his shoulders while screaming.

Pure terror was written on their faces, and many of them had burns across their faces and bodies. As though waking from a dream, the people in the queues started to rouse, their eyes focusing. They started to look around in confusion, muttering about their circumstances, until one by one, they noticed the raging infernos and their proximity to them.

That began a fresh cacophony of screaming and yelling, which culminated in the thousands of people inside the station rushing for the nearest exit, or any path of escape that might take them away from the searing flames.

Ronan couldn't blame them. He was just glad they were seeing sense. However, he wondered why it was the explosions that had caused the trance to break. It didn't make much sense to him.

The fires that blazed underneath the ground were clearly a part of the tutorial. This Great Purifier sounded like the sort of prick that would burn people alive. So that meant the explosions were caused by something, or someone, else, working against it.

Almost all of the people had rushed past him by now, and all he had for company was their distant screams and the billowing smoke. That was when he spotted her.

One last straggler running out of the station. Except this woman had a distinct confidence in her gait as she leapt up the escalator. She vaulted the ticket barriers and started running towards the exit when she noticed Ronan staring at her.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

And as she exited the smoky station entrance, Ronan saw her face for the first time. Except it wasn't the first time.

"Jessie?" He spluttered, looking up at his sister. She was covered in burns and the look in her eye was a thousand times fiercer than he remembered—which was saying something, because she had been a cruel bastard at the best of times—but it was unmistakably Jessica, his sister.

"Ronan? What the hell are you doing here? We need to go, now! The damned fiery prick is going to go mental after I just blew up its conduits." She grabbed his arm and started to run for the station's exit.

For a moment he didn't resist, just letting her pull him along as they ran together up the stairs. Halfway up, he stopped, and she was yanked backwards by his overwhelming strength. "You—How are you that strong, Ronan? Stop being an idiot, we need to get out of here before—" He ripped his arm from her grip, silencing her.

He stared at the tag floating above her head, wanting more than anything to believe what it told him. But he knew better.

[Jessica Steele - Human Torchbearer Lv.28]

He realised now as he stood in the middle of the staircase that his amulet was still glowing bright red. It probably had been for a while, but he was so caught up in… Well, everything… to even notice.

"You're not my sister." His voice was flat but firm.

"What are you talking about, Ronan? Who else could I possibly be? If you want to have a stupid argument we can do it once we get out of the station that is about to collapse in on itself!" She turned and started to walk up the stairs again, but Ronan didn't move.

"You are not my sister." She turned with an exasperated expression on her face, ready to argue, but Ronan was already moving. He lunged forward and drove his conjured short-spear into the monster's heart.

Flesh writhed and peeled back as his weapon pierced the monster that had been wearing his sister's face. It screeched, an unholy sound that threatened to burst his eardrums, but he held firm, weapon lodged in place. A web of ice spread from the wound, consuming whatever this monster was.

Ronan was surprised it hadn't died immediately, but clearly it was a hell of a lot tougher than some measly goblin. And it was possible that it didn't have a heart in the same place as a human did.

"How did you know? Howww? My disguise was perfectt!" It wailed at him, scratching and clawing with long, leathery arms that ended in three-pronged taloned hands. But Ronan was unyielding, and the ice enchantment was taking hold.

The monster's movements slowed. It took a lethargic swipe at him, and Ronan saw his moment to end it. In the blink of an eye he yanked the conjured short-spear out of the creature's chest and before it could twitch a muscle he thrust it into its head, activating arcane piercing strike.

A fist-sized hole burst open in the monster's face and it finally fell still. He let out a sigh of relief and shuddered. Fucking face-stealing, shapeshifting piece of shit. I hate the fucking system and I hate whatever that prick was. He was starting to wonder if the nightmare tutorial would be a source of pain for him, until he was able to find his actual sister and know he could secure her safety.

Even so, he would push through. Mental anguish was just another form of suffering that he could hone his edge against.

You have killed [Lesser Gorzerk Lv.5]!

+52 Copper Credits

+Lesser Gorzerk Hide (Uncommon)

+3 [Spear IV] Mastery

+1 [Stamina VI] Mastery

+2 [Mana VI] Mastery

+9 [Perception II] Mastery

You have leveled up to Lv.1!

You have leveled up to Lv.2!

You have leveled up to Lv.3!

+45 Vitality

+45 Endurance

+6 Wisdom

+6 Intelligence

+9 Acuity

+60 Charisma

+165 Luck

+993 Free Stat Points

The aftermath of whatever the fuck had just happened was blown away by the sheer ecstasy that Ronan felt as he read through the kill notification. The number of credits was pathetic, and he would need to get used to being poor again, as were the number of levels.

The stats, however, were absurd. From just three levels he had gained over a thousand stat points. It was preposterous and unthinkable, and yet his heritage allowed him to achieve such a thing. He was breaking the system, slowly but surely. And he loved it.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.