He totally pinched her nose and seconds before he actually did it felt like the right thing to do. When his sister was still alive he constantly annoyed her with such things, even when she was older only stopping once she was chained to the hospital bed. It worked wonders when she was in a bad mood or hated his guts for some unknown reasons, like all siblings do sometimes.

Well the elf wasn't his sister, she didn't even look like her but something compelled him to do it. He couldn't rewind time so he just rolled it. There was after all nothing he could do that would salvage the situation. So what would a responsible person do? Embrace it of course, embarrassing or not. Letting go of her nose he straightened his back and looked down at her, her eyes were still the size of dinner plates, Ethan snapped his finger in front of her face and she finally moved again.

What followed was a wave of insults, it was the most colorful display of foul language he ever heard and if he was honest, it was damn impressive for such a small woman to know that amount of profanity. Especially since he didn't know a lot of the words but they still worked somehow. He had the upper hand in this situation and she still managed to cram so many slurs into one sentence without taking a breath. The moment she stopped talking he quickly got the words out that he wanted to say.

"Listen, this can all be avoided, I just want some information on this jungle and these scary mountains in the middle and you want to go home and do whatever it is you're doing here. I leave you alone after that and we pretend this whole situation never happened, alright?"

"We would never admit defeat against you, pale demon." she spat out and struggled against her frozen restraints. "You invaders destroyed enough of the forest already, you're just like the man with the black flame."

Ethan grabbed her shoulder and stared into her eyes. "Hold up, man with the black flame? Wrapped in cloth and not really looking like a proper humanoid? Looks like some ugly fuck."

"So you know him! Admit it already! You're one of his allies here to destroy our way of life! But we survived so much more than some would-be villains! " Her hate filled gaze was piercing straight through him, he feared laster could shoot from her eyes if she kept that up.

Ethan sighed and rubbed his forehead, he couldn't deal with this stuff, he had enough of talking in circles all the time only to end up at the start of the conversation. He should have avoided these elves all together.

"Listen, I just wanna know if you killed him." he sat down, a block of ice forming under him mid-motion. "He tried to kill me multiple times already and I don't even do anything to him. Secondly I just want to explore the jungle, when you decide to attack me instead of talking like normal people it's not my fault."

The elf huffed and remained silent for a while, she was stubborn but at least she talked now and stopped with the profanities. Waiting for her to cool down a little might help. Ethan stood up and walked over the thick branch, away from the tree trunk. He stopped in front of a hole, the leaves that were there before got frozen and decayed, leaving a perfectly round hole for him to look through.

What he saw was still breathtaking, the endless green under him, like an ocean of swaying leaves. In the distance the black monoliths, while not the tallest mountains, were still an impressive sight to behold, towering over the jungle. He was curious what he would find there and his feeling told him it was the end of the tutorial. It had this feeling of finality around it.

The tutorial was underway for a long time already, the days vanished quickly and he knew the ending was approaching fast. Reflecting on his time during the tutorial he was unimpressed. The system felt lackluster, like it was missing something crucial, it could be the gods meddling with it or something else but it felt incomplete. He wondered if that was intentional or not.

It certainly felt fabricated, but he wasn't sure that's what the system really wanted. There was something going on and Ethan was just a small cog in a massive machine. Becoming a new race and getting special powers, even now he still felt like a puppet on its strings but he promised himself to walk his own path from now on and that's what he would do.

He also promised that, the next time he met Ouroboros he would strangle the serpent until he got some proper answers out of him, that was the least thing he could do for Ethan. Turning away from the view he returned to the elf. He was done playing games so he would offer her one last chance.

"Alright, we make this simple. Two options. Number one, you answer my questions and I let you go. Number two, I leave and you hope that someone finds you before you die from dehydration and lack of food. It seems easy to me what to pick but be my guest and choose your own fate."

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He crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited, his feet tapping the branch under him while he could see her mind work. She seemed to be torn between freedom and betrayal and in the end, freedom won. With a sigh she hung her head.

"To answer your question from before, we didn't kill him, he just didn't die and we let him be when it became clear he didn't care about us or our villages." She looked up to him with defiance but at least she answered him properly now.

Ethan nodded. "Alright, what is your name, which places should I avoid in the jungle and do you know anything about those mountains?" He counted each question with his fingers and she answered.

"I'm Faylin, there are many dangerous places in the jungle but most of those are located around the mountains. To answer your third question, the mountains are the birthplace of the great mother. On top of the highest mountains lives the guardian. A giant beast of feather and frost that protects the jungle."

He listened intently. "Alright, avoid the mountains and especially the highest peak. Sounds easy enough, I won't ask about your religion, it seems like the cornerstone of your civilization and I really don't wanna piss someone off that is called the great mother. Also I can't bother learning about some tree hugging religion. So I let you go like promised." With a wave the ice vanished and she dropped to her hands and knees.

"If you like, maybe tell your people not to shoot at me the second they spot me. There are better things in life than having to heal from piercing wounds all the time. See you around…or rather not." With a casual wave he turned around, Nora wrapped around his staff and he just jumped from the tree.

Faylin ran after him and saw him float on a cloud of snow directly towards the mountain. The wizard seemed to have a death wish as he was drifting away into his doom. Did she care? No she would return to her people and tell them about the man, he was after all, the pale demon. Jumping from one branch to the next she made her way down the tree, climbing where it was necessary. The moment she touched the ground a sigh escaped from her lips.

"So long pale demon, I hope we never meet again."

Ethan looked towards the mountains, the thought that some ice beast lived on top of them was intriguing but he knew how bad the idea was to go there. So he continued on his path for another ten minutes before doing a sharp left turn and approached the ground at a rapid speed.

Once he broke through the treetops he reduced his speed and landed in a small clearing that was barely big enough for two cars. The cloud vanished and he continued to walk over the spongy jungle floor.

I think she won't follow us. Those elves are too wild for my taste. We should avoid it from now on. While the mountains sound interesting, for now we need levels and more experience. I still want to find out what else I can do with my upgraded staff.

Nora listened and slithered to the ground. I want to explore on my own for a while, I suggest we circle around the mountain. I'm curious what's on the other side. After all, it should be the end of the tutorial, right? You go left and I go right. We can use that time to scout everything out, as long as you promise me not to die.

He sighed and nodded. No dying or near death experiences, I promise. Also no blowing up the jungle, I won't try to catch some pesky elf again just to end up with more work than it was worth. So we meet back on the other side of the mountains. Be careful Nora.

You too Ethan, this is the last stretch before we finish the tutorial, you can feel it too, right? The system is changing the world, everything feels less real. She moved her tail through the air, gently like it's moved by a breeze. The mana is thinner, not by much but it's noticeable.

I know what you mean, I felt something similar when standing on the tree. It starts to break down, slowly but it seems we're all returning back home sooner rather than later. He bent down and gently touched her head before turning around, Nora doing the same.

They both looked over their shoulders as they picked separate ways, there were no words needed as each one embarked on their journey, the last time they trained before conquering the mountaintops.

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