Shen didn't materialize anywhere. Instead, he found himself in absolute darkness, with only a system message in front of him.

  The system then proceeded to explain what each item meant.

  Shen could see the value of sleeping less, but he would bow to his father's wisdom instead. He would find a way to take naps now and then to deal with stress and refresh the mind.

  Shen liked that change in himself. Indeed, worrying about ways to see in the dark was annoying at best. He had noticed the lack of illumination before, especially back in the fight against the werewolves, but he hadn't realized he was the changed one.

  It felt awkward not to have noticed his body had changed. Cultivators should be well aware of their physique. Then again, when he started to cultivate his qi in a way that let him know his body well, he had already been changed by the Alliance. He had just cleared his meridians before joining the tutorial.

  The following window was the one he had gotten explaining time perception dilation, so he just glossed over it.

  Then came the explanation about the thing that had really bothered him.

  Shen was astonished. That was absurd. The Alliance wanted Guardians to become mere breeding animals spreading their genes around.

  He wouldn't risk it. He decided right then and there that until he found a wife or a concubine, he wouldn't partake in the pleasures of the flesh.

  Nothing new there.

  That was interesting to learn about. Cultivators usually preferred to fight either alone or with their clans or sects, but there were times when the Eternal Emperor demanded they fight under his rule. Everyone was doubtlessly more effective that way.

  Still, powerful people were resistant to obedience. Shen couldn't even imagine how hard it should be to make some B-ranks or even A-ranks obey the chain of command.

  Being A-rank meant one was mighty, but it didn't mean they automatically became tactical geniuses. Strategy should be kept to those who knew what they were doing, and that might mean beings with weaker power in command.

  How did the A-ranks, the strongest beings in the Alliance as far as Shen knew, feel about that?

  That sounded simple and humane enough. Shen had no issues with any of it.

  The talk about magic diseases didn't surprise him. The first message the system had given them only spoke about eradicating human disease. Dealing with magic ones required more than just changing human physiology.

  Of everything he had learned, that sounded the best. Training under adequate guidance could help push anyone to greater heights.

  The only thing that remained to be seen was how useful those training grounds were.

  The idea of rifts was interesting, but Shen had to admit he didn't like the line about "nefarious races" being forced into rifts. Who determined what was nefarious in the Alliance, and who decided whether to send them to rifts or not?

  There was only one explanation message remaining.

  Shen lacked any frame of reference to know if that was a fair wage or not, so he mostly ignored it.

  After the explanations, the system finally started the seventh stage proper.

  Shen was surprised. Four people per age group? Only eighty people would complete the Pioneer Tutorial? That felt like way too few.

  Anyway, he hoped for a free-for-all slaughtering stage with infinite energy and willpower recovery, but he guessed that wouldn't happen if people were divided into stats.

  "Qi," he tried at once.

  Unfortunately, nothing happened. Qi wasn't a stat, but it hadn't hurt to try.

  So he went with the second-best choice, "Agility."

  Two of his Skills, his footwork and spear art, used agility. Only the spear art used strength, and he had nothing going for his resistance. The choice was obvious.

  He was teleported back to the first stage's scenario. His equipment and weapon were gone, and he found himself wearing just a G cultivator robe and G leather boots.

  This time, his floating island resembled a thin board. It was only a few feet wide both to his front and back, and endless to the sides.

  People of all ages filled the place in a line. After seeing only sixteen-year-olds for so long, Shen found it strange to see an old lady—white hair and everything—wearing leather armor to his right and a middle-aged man wearing a dark robe to the left.

  The system had previously said they would only meet people from other countries when they reached the tenth stage. Therefore, those around should all be from the USA.

  In front of him, many floating islands of all sizes formed a path without end. They were close enough to each other that a jump would let one reach them but were still far enough that a misstep would cause one to fall.

  He could guess what was coming if the theme was speed.

  There was no mention of a countdown, and indeed, Shen saw many people jump ahead as soon as they finished reading.

  He didn't follow.

  Getting to the next stage would net him 10,000 AP. He had 108,924 AP. With the reward, it would be enough for him to buy a stat upgrade and have some spare to buy the rank-up if he mastered a Concept.

  But even if that hadn't been the case, the rest of the tutorial would be based on agility. It only made sense to purchase as much agility as possible.

  "Buy agility upgrade," he said, and from what he heard, he wasn't the only one. The old lady beside him was one of those who improved herself.

  The decision wasn't easy to make, as it gave others a head start, but the system gave them infinite stamina. That suggested that this wouldn't be a short run at all. Spending a little extra time here for a better overall run felt worth it.

  | Purchased: Agility Up (E) | -16,000 AP

  | Remaining AP: 92,924 AP

  He felt his muscles contracting and expanding. It was painful and made him sporadically lose control of his body. He fell to the ground, barely managing to not fall over the edge. Some weren't as lucky as him, though they were teleported back to the island within a few seconds.

  While his body improved, he checked the stat store, but the E+ agility upgrade wasn't available.

  Almost a full minute later, the upgrade finally ended. He stood up and confirmed that his body was fully functional.

  He was about to jump when the old lady kicked him.

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