Alan began to try to draw out his knife, his body simply unable to move at the speed he saw, he thought. The speed at which he wanted it to move. The impossible speed at which the Predecessor did move. A few more long, drawn out seconds that felt like minutes to Alan, and the Predecessor had finished crossing the bridge. It leapt down onto the cliffs, then landed on the rocks before Alan. It stared at Alan as he tried to move in slow motion to defend himself.

“Enough,” it said. Alan’s focus snapped, his perception reverting to its normal pace, the Predecessor’s face masked by some sort of blur. Eve’s presence in his mind diminished, returning back to normal, whatever weird state they had been in gone.

The Predecessor stared at Alan for another second, then it sighed, a visible energy leaking out of it.

“I had come here hopeful of new allies, yet your race are still but babes, playing around in the mud. Further from Aleph than any. You are a simple child at best, unaware of so much in this universe, this Game,” it bemoaned, emphasizing the word Game in such a way as if it despised nothing more.

“Were I to share but a fraction of the answers you wish, I doubt you’d comprehend them, and doubtlessly you’d end up dead within a week. Not death within the Game, this fake pain, but real, true, ending.” The Predecessor gestured wildly, taking its knife and cutting its own, scarred arm, lowering its HP by 0.2%. This created the first visible decrease Alan had seen its HP bar. Its blood was a dark blue liquid that congealed the moment it touched the air.

The predecessor took a deep breath, then let out another deep sigh. Its HP regenerated to 94% as the congealed blood travelled back into its body.

“Yet, I see potential," it said. "You haven’t even completed the Tutorial, thus I suppose I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. I would grant you a taste of true power, but it seems as though it would be incompatible with you.” It stared up at the sky, pondering, then seemed to come to some decision.

“Find me, challenge me once more, when you have evolved, grown stronger. Challenge me alone or with allies, I care not. Though I warn you, the next time you search me out, should you fail to represent a challenge, I will not be so lenient as to grant a quick death. And please, though you have begun upon the technological path, do not become the enemy; I have watched far too many comrades suffer such a fate. May the search continue.”

Then, before Alan could react, before even Eve could begin any sort of warning, the Predecessor swung his black blade, and Alan was met with oblivion.

Chapter 9

When Alan opened his eyes, he found himself back in his Home, where the Tutorial had began. The white space retained the few pieces of furniture and the Administrator he had first talked to. Surprisingly, Alan found he still had his armor and knife, and felt perfectly healthy, although no HP bar was displayed in this space. A number of messages popped up, and he reviewed the ones he’d ignored previously as well.