When he opened his eyes again, once more he was in a new space entirely. Not his old lecture hall, not the separate space, but a very arid and dry desert. He felt the heat flush over his body, his shoulders felt heavier just standing there.
Olek's heritage was from northern Europe. He was used to cold, piercing temperatures, but heat? He couldn't handle even a bit of sun or heat compared to the rest of the world. This environment was the worst climate to be dumped into.
"I hate this already." He groaned, immediately taking of his hoodie and wrapping around his waist.
This place was just sand. Endless dunes stretched into the horizon, the sky the color of molten copper. An ancient and cracked road rolling over the never-ending dunes was the only thing of note as far as the eye could see, the road was in line with a pillar of light ascending into the heavens.
Around him, were dozens - maybe hundreds of people, most of which like him were groaning over the relentless heat, shielding their eyes from the sun.
The System's monotone voice echoed into his skull.
[ All participants of Tutorial #27 are in attendance. ]
[ Tutorial Sequence: "Desert Caravan" has commenced. ]
[ Duration: 29 Days 23:57:43]
[ Goal: Survive and earn credits. ]
[ Desert Caravan ]: Scenario - Survive the journey across the Great Dune Sea. Each participant has received a satchel containing essentials for survival. These resources are finite and will not last you for long. Acquire credits through multiple methods such as leading, diplomacy, securing resources, and killing desert beasts or participants, whilst gaining strength along the way.
[ Note: All credits from the slain beast or participant will be distributed equally through all involved based on contributions. ]
[ Remaining Participants: 1000/1000 ]
Olek scrutinized the message in front of him, he frowned immediately as he read over the scenario. "This is going to go horribly."
Human nature. That was the real monster here. Theft, betrayal, fights over water and food, men killing each other over what little they have. It seemed designed to play on the nature of us humans.
He noticed the brown leather satchel dumped on the ground next to him. 'Where did this come from? Nevermind.' He dismissed the question and decided to take it as some system shit.
Opening the satchel up he counted his resources, two bottles of water amounting to two liters in total, a few packs of rationed food, a simple knife, a head cloth for sun protection, and one single copper coin he knew not the value of.
'This doesn't last even two days.' He felt his stomach sink at the realization.
This meant a multitude of things. They need to find enough food and water for a thousand people, which was difficult in itself, not to mention killing beasts they've never seen before. Considering the fact he'd never even been in a fight, he was starting to doubt his chances of making it out alive already.
He looked around cynically at the other people around him, some were already grouping together, whilst others were crouched down holding their heads in panic, some crying, whilst others were doing exactly what he was doing, observing the competition.
If he was going to survive here, he needs to get a grasp of what type of people he will be dealing with, and he needed to do it fast. If there's one thing he understands about this situation is that the most dangerous thing isn't the lack of resources, or the beasts, it's human selfishness that is the most likely cause of his death.
The heat might kill him, the beasts could kill him - the humans will kill him.
However, before making any plans, he needed to be sure of one thing.
'Carla...'
His eyes scanned over the crowd, looking for the short, brown haired girl in gym clothes. His eyes landed on a familiar figure a short distance away. And of course, trouble already seemed to find their way to her.
Two men loomed over her, big, broad-shouldered men with great swords on their back, seemingly to him, they were warriors. They weren't attacking her, not yet at least, but from her body language and the way Carla was clutching her satchel so closely... conflict seemed inevitable.
Olek sighed, straightening his posture and walked straight toward them. He's not stupid enough to think he can beat two warriors, and the last thing he wanted to do was be the first person to start a fight in front of all these people.
But... he didn't need to. He recognized these men, they weren't the smartest of folk.
As he neared them, he could start to over hear what was being said.
"Carla..." One of the boys, with ginger hair, wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You should think about our offer a little harder don't you think? We're being awfully generous..." He sniggered.
Carla's face contorted as she moved as far from his body as she could, yet she was still in his grasp.
Her voice was low, "How many times do I have to say this... I don't want your protection!"
The other man, a blonde with spiky hair, looked to his friend in fake disbelief. "You hear this girl, Daryl? She doesn't want our protection - after we so kindly offered it... She's treating us like were the same as before."
"Fellas." Olek called out as he stepped up, using his staff like a walking stick. He offered a slight smile, "Careful with her, she's awfully vicious when she wants to be."
The ginger man let go of Carla and stood in front of her, his buddy stands by him, hand on the hilt of the sword on his back. "And you are?" They glared at him.
"Me?" Olek shrugged. "I'm with her. Which if she's got a bit of a problem... so do I. And If I've got a bit of a problem, so will you two blockheads."
The taller one with blonde hair sneered, "Big talk for someone who needs a stick to walk."
Olek laughs, "Stick?" He leaned in slightly. "As I thought, you two knuckleheads don't even recognize a magician when you see one. Now listen here, you're going to leave me and my friend alone,"
He points his stick toward the crotch of the ginger brute, a purple glow of energy started to sputter and coalesce at the tip before flaring violently, "Or your going to be due for an impromptu castration via arcane disintegration, got that?"
It was a bluff. He had no idea how to fire his mana bolt, he didn't even know how he was doing this, only thanks to the staff's special properties was he able to instinctively understand how to gather raw mana at the end of the staff, internally, he was praying it didn't just spontaneously explode like a grenade with it's latch released.
But in this starting period, nobody had a clue about other people's abilities, least not about the more fantastical classes such as magicians. Everyone was scared of what they didn't know about, and Olek was a massive question mark for them.
Daryl's hand tightened on his hilt, half-drawing it from it's sheath with hesitance. Olek's eyes narrowed, thinking for a second he was wrong.
The ginger haired man eyed him up and down, clearly trying to weigh their options. He muttered something into the ear of the taller one, Daryl, slowly placed his sword back in its sheath, then they both started to drift back into the crowd, keeping an eye on Olek.
Carla's shoulders eased. She didn't say anything, just shot Olek a look and a nod of gratitude.
Olek waited until they were gone, then turned to Carla. "See? Safe and sound. A man's fear of losing his balls will always make them see reason."
Carla rolled her eyes, her grip on her satchel loosening. She looked up at Olek with a bit of hesitance.
Olek's eyebrow raised, "What?"
"I uh... I just didn't expect that from you." She said with a tiny voice.
"Didn't expect me to what, threaten someone who was harassing my friend? Is that what you think of me? A spineless coward?" He crossed his arms in indignance.
Carla looked at him for a moment, then chuckled. "No, no. I didn't mean it like that... I just didn't think you be intimidating to somebody, I mean, your not the most well-built person." She says bluntly.
She wasn't wrong. Olek's never been in conflict with someone, and has never threatened anyone in his life even if it was a bluff, and definitely not in front of Carla.
Olek looks at her with his mouth agape, "Excuse me? This is the thanks I get for saving your ass?"
He sighed, "But... yeah you're right, it was quite out of character. But listen Carla, something I realized the moment after stepping into this place is that we no longer have the privilege to be complacent or reserved."
Carla tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
"Look around you," He gestures to the abundance of people all in a frenzied state.
"People are already restless, and we haven't even moved from the spot. It's obvious to me that no one knows what direction to take. I mean, just look at the scenario, look at our packs, it just doesn't add up!"
His brow furrowed, looking into Carla's brown eyes, "Two days of food, thirty days to walk a desert we know nothing about filled with beasts that could kill us. No leader, no plan. That's not survival Carla, the system is setting us up. And this setup is screaming bloodshed. His voice lowered, "And I don't give a shit about leading this mob. I just want us to make it through this."