It turns out the traps did live up to their name. Who’d have guessed?

  Dereng’s body hadn’t even gotten cold and the walls and ceiling were already opening and revealing round turrets in the shape of half-meter tall spheres with barrels sticking out of them. The bullets, as far as I could tell, were simple high-caliber rounds. Maybe 45. Or 50. Hard to tell.

  What I could tell is that, in all honesty, they didn’t hit nearly as hard as the hail outside. Which really made me wonder what kind of Buddha forsaken abyss these people had decided to study for that to be the case.

  Still, I wasn’t about to start complaining. Not after the levels finally started rolling in.

  Forming the usual layers of armor had yielded a new combination as soon as I’d started going under fire. The fur I grew started becoming harder and thicker. Like strings of bone that shone in exotic emerald-green patterns. But of course, the bullets kept going past that and into my new shell. Which they promptly broke through to get at my new shiny metal skin.

  Then they either bounced off with deafening metallic clangs or became embedded into the layer of protection. The metal bullets slowly melting and congealing into a soft malleable pudding, before being absorbed into the armor.

  It was an oddly fascinating sensation. Not because of the pain, but rather, the lack of it. The turrets seemed to have been designed to target the center-mass, yet none of the shots so much as winded me. Though I suppose they would have to be mighty weapons indeed to bother someone who’d activated three Tier 10 abilities.

  I turned a corner soon after. Not having bothered to destroy the turrets I’d already come across before.

  More and more turrets emerged from the walls and ceiling of this new hallway as soon as I reared my head. The metal spheres peeking out at different levels of elevation so that several of them could fire upon the same target without impeding each other.

  The ensuing violence fell like hail upon me. Ripping past the [Chitin] and the [Serrated Fur II] once more.

  Every time a section of armor was broken off or punctured, my healing would kick in to replace it and every time that happened, another shell found its way into the exact same spot.

  I took a few more steps forward and found that I was now under fire from the rear as well as the front. The new turrets eating away at my exposed back and coming with such force that I felt as if two massive hands were pushing against me from both sides at once.

  The abilities started having a compounding effect after that. I was able to feel the beating hearts of the powers more clearly and I sent Psy into both. Letting them intermingle and allowing many of the new pieces of metal to flow into the sharpened, spiny fur.

  No sooner had I done so, that the bullets began to be sliced apart before reaching my actual skin. Shards of shrapnel howling and bouncing off to pierce the surface of the walls or ricocheting back into a few of the turrets in some cases.

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  “Okay.” I muttered under my breath. “That’s more like it. I can actually see this being really useful in a fistfight.”

  Granted, the abilities I already had pretty much ensured I was more or less unkillable in the Tutorial, but this was a nice boost regardless.

  I kept moving. Purposely letting the machines attack as I walked leisurely from one hallway to the next.

  The more of them that fired, the more my senses became confused. My sight was more or less unaffected, but my hearing was a bit thrown off. Especially when it came to [Echolocation]. All the little shards flying all over the place were coming together with the loud firing sounds and throwing off the ability. Like a jammer used on a cheap cellphone. I kept trying to send pulses, but they were all scrambled before coming back to me.

  It wasn’t a problem per se, but it did mean that I’d lost track of Ertie, Yoko, Guva and Restu.

  ‘Oh well. It’s probably fine. Not like they’re going anywhere.’

  I kept walking at a leisurely pace. Focusing more Psy on [Echolocation] and trying to mix the sonic pulses with [Low-Frequency Hearing] and [High Frequency Hearing]. It was slow, tedious work and minutes passed while I meandered about in frustration. Shells still exploding against my layers of armor while failing to bother me.

  Then, around ten minutes later, I stopped. Feeling a new sensation amidst all the chaos surrounding me. It was kind of a… tingle?

  I looked down.

  Sure enough, there was a puddle below me. One that was suspiciously unfrozen, despite the biting gales still running down the halls. There was also a small, nearly imperceptible hole dug into one of the walls. One that had a bunch of tiny exposed wires running out of it.

  ‘Huh?’

  I bent down to peer closer and noticed the faint scorch marks. Indicative of one of the blowtorches the others had tried to use in order to escape via the garage.

  ‘Huh?’ I thought again. More impressed this time.

  “We’ll I’ll be… If that isn’t one of the most creative traps I’ve seen in a long time.”

  It was certainly eye-opening. Better yet, it was another novel way of levelling.

  I reached down to touch the wires. Pinching a couple of them with two fingers, before pulling them towards me.

  Well…

  That was unexpected.

  I looked down at the little wires with morbid fascination. Wondering just how much juice must have been running through them to give me several levels in [Electricity Tolerance].

  ‘Though perhaps that’s not the right question to ask.’ I mused. ‘Maybe I should be more concerned about the fact that these little cables are leaking radiation. And enough radiation to give me two levels at once on top of that.’

  The few last gasping vestiges of the normal person that was Solomon Carter started blaring alarm bells at that. But I pushed those thoughts down all the same.

  This wasn’t a problem. Far from it in fact.

  There was no doubt in my mind that I would eventually run into Projectors who could make Randall seem like a kid in diapers. When, not if, but when that happened, abilities like these ones would come in handy.

  “Yeah. Better to have them than to not have them.” I sighed. “Though all I’m learning is that I should have started killing them sooner.”

  I pulled on the wires some more. Growing [Claws] with metal blades for fingers and digging out more holes to pull from.

  I felt a shock then. A much bigger one. Running through me like rivers of crackling lightning. Strong enough that they almost made me twitch involuntarily.

  Almost.

  I saw more and more screens popping up. My head suddenly ringing with the new notifications.

  I decided that they were bothersome and so I pushed them all aside for now. My mind going back to the wires, before I started pulling on them again.

  I kept that up for a good five or six minutes. Not stopping until the lights above me started flickering. Then, with a last gasp of power, the turrets sped up their attack, before slowly coming offline altogether.

  After that, the lights went out and I was left in the darkness. Alone with my thoughts and the now unencumbered echoes of the others.

  The first one I tracked down was Guva.

  She had had the rather poor idea of hiding herself under her bed in the staff lodgings.

  I pulled on one of her legs and immediately heard an:

  “Eeep!”

  Then I stared down at her. Not bothering to hide my disappointment.

  “Really?” I asked.

  She stopped sobbing. Only for a moment. Then she scowled up at me.

  “What!? Don’t judge me! I was short on time!”

  I shrugged and kicked her skull in.

  I waited for something else to happen, but no other defences activated.

  After that, I found Yoko and Restu in the cafeteria. Locked tightly in each other’s embrace. Making out like there was no tomorrow.

  “Really?” I asked again.

  They both stopped and stared back at me. Defiance in their eyes.

  “What? We’re gonna die anyway now that you disabled the security systems. You’re telling me we can’t enjoy what’s left?”

  “Who the (Gnome) are you to judge us?”

  Restu seemed surprised by the bleep of censorship.

  I didn’t bother to explain it. Instead, I kicked a table towards them and heard the swift crack of their spines as the blow smashed them against the nearby wall.

  “Right then, one to go.” I muttered.

  Ertie was more or less where I guessed he would be. Hunched over the keyboards on the command center. Fingers still tinkering with some wiring underneath the console.

  “It isn’t going to work.” I told him bluntly.

  “Yeah, of course you’d say that, monster.” Ertie snapped back. “I don’t suppose your next move will be to tell me how nice it is to be eaten?”

  “No.” I said bluntly. “I’m not going to say that. Mostly because I’m not gonna be eating you.”

  He snorted derisively.

  “Great. So the species we woke up is one of those predators who kill for sport. (Gnome)ing fantastic.”

  He paused his work, and only then did I notice that his fingers were partly burned. No doubt from using the torch in a hurry.

  “So that was your trap.” I muttered. “Have to say, I was impressed. Coming up with that on short notice really says something about how talented you are. Not to mention that you actually pulled it off without killing yourself in the process.”

  He snorted again.

  “Giving complements now are we? What would you even know about what I did?”

  “I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering.” I answered.

  Though in truth my degree had never actually been delivered.

  Oh well.

  I’d passed the exams, so I basically got it.

  He gave me a look full of shock.

  “You… you actually… know what engineering is?”

  “Well that’s a loaded question Ertie. I wouldn’t say I was anywhere near as good as the guys who built your toys here. Or your power-armor for that matter. But I at least know enough to design drones for school projects.”

  I gazed around the room.

  “And I know enough to know that this place had more backup power sources than you let on. Yes, there was the geo-thermal generator and the auxiliary power and the isolated security grid, but one of you guys built at least one nuclear power plant here. Albeit a small one.”

  His jaw practically hit the floor. Though he soon recovered.

  “I see. So you aren’t just freakish strong, but freakish smart too. Good Gozo. We really are (Gnome)d.”

  He sighed heavily.

  “I guess that’s how you spotted the trap.”

  “No. I took the trap head on.”

  He blinked at me.

  “It helped me train.” I clarified. “That’s why the power went out all over. I stuck my fingers inside a whole bunch of wires until all the power sources were short-circuited. That’s how I know that self-destruct sequence isn’t going to work. The generator it’s controlling has no juice left.”

  He blinked at me again.

  “Holy (Gnome).”

  “Yeah. Honestly. I get that.”

  “You are a monster.” He repeated.

  I shrugged in their own way, so that he understood the gesture.

  “I’ve been called worse by better men than you.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  I didn’t answer that time, but merely walked towards him.

  Ertie panicked and leapt back, until his back was against the solid console.

  “Wait! Wait! Just tell me one thing!”

  I stopped. The sighed.

  “Look, if you’re asking me if your hobbies are normal… then no. My species tends to lynch those who prey on underage….”

  “Not that you freak!” Ertie snapped. Then calmed himself.

  “The powers.” He said at last. “How right was I about the powers?”

  “Spot on, actually.” I admitted. “Though you didn’t even come close to guessing how strong I really am. Or what was actually going on.”

  He stopped again.

  “What do you mean, what was actually….?”

  “This is a simulation.” I spoke. My words hitting him like a whip. “I’m the only thing that’s real and this is a simulation meant to upgrade powers.”

  He didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “(Gnome) me.”

  “Yeah. I’ve been there.”

  Then, Ertie deflated. Like a ballon with several holes in it.

  I walked closer and put him out of his misery. Ending the scenario once and for all.