Chapter 4 - Hospitality Protocol

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What a downer ending! The main character dies in the tutorial. The End.

That's how life is sometimes, though. People who have great promise are taken away from us before their time. The uncaring world moves on a little dimmer as all that is left of them is the memories that they made with those close to them.

Whaddya mean that I had less than one day to make memories with our chosen rag-tag bunch of misfits? And whaddya mean that dying in the tutorial to a level-up obelisk is a completely lame way to go?

Well, fortunately for me, the one who made the tutorial happened to agree...

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I gasped as I suddenly found myself on my feet in a cave. Where am I? Wait. Tutorial cave. Obelisk explosion. My memory was slowly coming back to me. Then I. Died? But wait. Why am I still here? Then I finally saw the system notification that explained everything.

System : Tutorial Respawn initiated. Upon death inside this tutorial, adventurers will respawn at the obelisk with their level reset to 1. Note that there are no respawn mechanics outside of this tutorial, so get used to adventuring cautiously.

"Wouldn't that have been nice to know!" I shouted. My shout attracted the attention of the party who had all been gathered around my body. Or at least where my body used to be.

Jake bolted over. "Titus! You're okay! I thought that I got you killed!" He shouted as he almost tackled me over with a hug.

I know I died, but this is a bit awkward. We still just met today, dude. I slowly extricated myself from his grip. Dang, he is strong. I coughed to clear my throat, and then I addressed the party. "Well, I definitely cannot recommend dying as it hurts like hail, but it seems that as long as we are in the tutorial that we have respawns back at the obelisk. The only cost seems to be it reverts you to level 1. Oh, right lemme check something." Status.

Status

Name: Titus
Level: 1
Class: Demon Lord (Displaying Half-Demon)
Race: Demon Lord (Displaying Half-Demon)
HP: 100/100
MP: 0/50
SP: 150/150
Age: 24

"Yep, it also restored all my HP and SP, so I guess I am good to adventure some more!"

Garrett stopped my enthusiastic statement with a hand on my shoulder. "I know that physically you are ready to go again, but you literally just died. I think you should take a breather and think things out for a bit." He turned to the rest of the party. "Since death isn't a big deal, for now, there's basically no rush to go find Megan. I know that Titus' death didn't exactly feel real, especially with no blood or other visible signs of wounds, but if anyone else wants to stay back and take a breather, that may be a good idea."

Tim was the first to respond. "Wait. Titus died? But Sam said that he was just taking a nap after the explosion and then that he may have to leave the party for a bit!"

Sam facepalmed at that and then tried to do damage control as Tim looked on the verge of tears. "What Garrett meant by dying is that he, uhh-"

Meanwhile, Tim had burst into tears at the word dying. Andrew cut Sam off. "It's okay, Sam. Thanks for trying. Unfortunately, Tim has dealt with death before, so trying to sugar coat it won't help much." Andrew enveloped Tim in a hug, patted him on the back, and started whispering to him. "It's okay, Tim. I'm here for you." He then turned to the rest of the party. "Go ahead and find Megan without us. We'll need a bit here." Andrew put up a stoic front, but his voice was close to cracking.

"Okay. Emilia, Sam, Lindsey, and Garrett, you're with me. Grab some upgrades at the obelisk really quick, and then we leave for our lost [Rogue] in 5." Jake paused for a second when he saw that I was just awkwardly standing there, not sure what to do. "Hey, Titus, why don't you give those two some space and let people know about the respawn mechanics? I'm sure other parties don't want to be freaked out the same way that we were."

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