Tutorial Rewrite 24

The very second I reappear in the lobby, I fly to my feet.

My eye twitches.

WHITE. There is WHITE all around me. WHITE pillars, WHITE floor, WHITE sky


It makes my stomach flip. But, thankfully, now, I know just how to deal with it.

I’m so happy Bleeding Protection doesn’t completely stop me from bleeding or I wouldn’t be able to make the lobby livable. I don’t think I could stay in here for a whole 24 hours if it wasn’t RED.

Since I’ve already done it once, painting the whole room RED doesn’t take as much time as it did last time, and once I’m done, I can do nothing but wipe the sweat off my forehead and gloat at the sight. Now, as for the next floor


<Time Until Floor 3 Opening:

23:11:32>

Looks good. And how’s the time as a whole?

<Top—Status—Community>

<10:49:30

Day 70>

<The fourth attempt will begin in

20:13:10:30

Floor 3 will open in

23:11:32>

Hm, so if I compare this to that, the whole
 door thing only took three seconds? That whole thing was just
 three seconds?

I-, I’m just
 Not going to think about it. It isn’t important, what happened and all. It isn’t. What’s important is that I cleared the floor, and that dumb goddess of want gave me a skill, and


—And I failed to fully clear the floor! How? Why?! I even tried to use my eyeballs as bait and no more vultures would come! Not even if I exposed my bowels, so how did I not fully clear the level? I even ate all the flowers! Each and every single lady without a single exception! So how did I not 100% clear the floor?! This is an outrage, and I demand a refund!

Fuming, I stomp my feet on the floor, but apparently the paint hadn’t fully dried yet, because I soon slip and fall, exposing the WHITE. Sh- shoot, heck, that’s not
 Bad. Bad. Not good. With increasing desperation, I slit both my wrists and spread the paint as far as I can, covering up the mistake. Bad. The bad is gone.

It’s gone now


S-, so, uh, I think, my best bet right now would probably be to check out that nifty new skill I got, huh? Right? Yeah.

<[Great Values Sniffer(Lv.MAX)]

The Goddess of Want, who watches

over those that exhibit desire for what

they should not possess, has granted some

of Her powers to Her potential apostle.>

<Using their nose as guide,

the user can smell what they want

and thus drive them in the direction

of their desires. The more

they want it, the stronger the smell.>

<[AUTHORITY SKILL]>

So, it’s, like
 Either this is my most useful skill yet, or it’s completely worthless. It depends on how I use it.

Well, I might as well give it a try, I suppose.


Uh, do I just
 Smell? Do I need to turn it on somehow? It weirdly doesn’t feel like an active skill, so maybe I just


Sniff. Sniff sniff.

Sni—ff.

Okay. One major problem: right now, all I can smell is blood. Like, that’s literally all I can smell. Well, there is also this gentle flowery smell, but that’s probably just because I’ve eaten so many flowers that the smell is basically stuck in my system forever now.

Or, well, I mean, then again, it is sort of coming from my inventory. I don’t know how or why I can tell that, but that’s just what it feels like. There’s a flowery smell coming from it, is all I’m saying.

That’s suspicious. I don’t like this.

But it’s not like opening my inventory could hurt any, so


“Inventory.”

My inventory pops up. We’ve got the usual stuff. Two swords, a shield, a spear, and axe, a rainbow-coloured flower, two pieces of beef jerky, a bottle of water


Hang on. Flower?

My mind flashes back to a certain suspicious shadow. Don’t tell me
?

I remove the flower from my inventory.

She’s pretty. Her petals are long and shimmer in the light, almost pearlescent. It isn’t so much multi-coloured as it more so seems to shimmer and shine in the light, as though it were made of crystals. I wonder what kind of horrible status effect it could inflict on me? Organ failure? Uncontrollable bleeding from every orifice? Necrosis? There’s only one way to find out!

With reckless abandon, I pop Lady number 1 777 into my mouth. Silky texture. A slight hint of vanilla, with a touch of stained glass. Crisp stem, soft but fluffy petals, with a gently chewy inner core that tastes sweet of residual nectar, like honey, only so much sweeter. And once the lady is chewed to absolute homogeneity, I swallow.

<Crystal Lily consumed.

All wounds will be healed.

Through the blessing of the

Goddess of Want, you have received:>

<[Touch of Reversed Tolerance (Lv.1)]

Any [Tolerance] skill can be used in

the reverse to cause the effect that it

protects from, to the strength of the skill.

The tolerance level that may be reversed

depends on the skill level. The touch may only be

used once per tolerance level.

Current power: Level 1.>

It does what now—

<<<<<<<FFFF4or clearing the the [STAGE.002] completely,

you will receive an additional reward.002>

That, uh, doesn’t look very


<You have [out of My gracious generosity]

received [Clawed Panther Hide]>


For some reason, I feel nauseous. But, uh, listen, Mrs Want, if my guess is right, even though I am of course very grateful for this, uh, gift, what I don’t exactly get is
 Why? Specifically, if you’re going to all this trouble to, and don’t take offence to this, twist the tutorial to make me clear a stage while I’m in a lobby, why in the world would you then give me a panther hide of all things? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love panthers as much as anybody, but why not some item that’s actually, you know
 Useful? Like, for example, a sword. I’d love a sword. Right now, I only have dull, ornamental swords. They’re barely even sharp at the tip, so why, for all that is good in the world, would you give me this of all things?

And when I already have a leopard hide, too?

<The God of Cowardice

peeks out from behind a couch.>

<The God of Cowardice

gives a thumbs up in support.>

I wasn’t talking to you! I’m talking to—

Actually, shelf that thought, I can tell she’s already gone. Darn it.

Ignoring the whole ordeal with the hide, let’s check out that skill, shall we?

I mean, I don’t know about you, but to me, that skill sounded pretty, hmm, what’s the word? Overpowered? I mean, if I am to get this right
 As long as I have a tolerance skill, I’ll be able to inflict the effect that the tolerance protects against, against someone? And sure, it’s only at level 1, but that ought to increase with time, right? And it’s also limited by only being able to use it once per tolerance level, but do you know how many tolerances I have? Neither do I! I don’t think this works with resistances or protections, but once it does


Oh, boy.

I feel pumped already. I mean, it’s a real skill! Not just martial arts or battle focus or another damn tolerance skill, this one actually does something! Isn’t that wonderful!?

I have no idea how much Falling Tolerance Lv.1 will inflict in terms of damage, but it should be more than zero. My Poison Tolerance has reached Protection, but does that mean I can’t use it for this? Or can I only use the tolerances I have that are exactly at level 1? I don’t know. But I have a feeling that in approximately 23 hours, I just may find out.

Until then, I think I should check a certain forum.

<Status—Community—Top>

<Discussion Boards>

<SuperMoleman[F13]: Moleman’s Guide to

The 13th Floor[18]>

<OrthodoxPox[F3]: Information From

The Guild Of Representatives.[198]>

<UnderSunder[F8]: why are we here[1]>

<ThroughTheLookingGlass[F9]: Seeking

Allies to beat floor 10 Easy Diff (mage wanted)[0]>

<SharkAttack[F4]: I’m heard rumours

that floors can B completely cleard. How??[7]>

Same old, same old.

Moleman
!