The Administrator's death was breathtaking.

The bullet - if a warped piece of mysterious raw power could be called such - rippled the fabric of reality, turning the woman's delicate neck into a spiraling mess of distorted flesh. She was launched back with brutal force. Her arms spread out as her body fell onto the floor. Her blood wasn't crimson but a wonderful sparkling essence that shimmered in the air.

The Administrator's severed head was blasted off when her neck was shot. That little microexpression of agony was mixed into the shock and fear. Her hair managed to maintain a sense of elegance as her head bounced off the ground.

Deku tossed his golden gun into his inventory as a large notification screen popped up above him like a celebratory banner.

[Bet] completed! (The Administrator) has been defeated! (Deku) wins!

Your rewards for the [Bet] have been added to your inventory:

-Random Inventory Upgrade Token (x3)

-Warlock's Contract Thesis

-Random Artifact Cube (x2)

-Skill Book: [Magic Circuit Foundation] (x2)

-Random Rare Skill Book (x2)

-Random Legendary Skill Book

-Advance Stat Growth Bracelet

-Job Slot

-Job Advancement Ticket

It had been a long time since Deku felt satisfied. After all, he didn't call off the [Bet] with The Administrator when he extorted her for the same items she wagered for the gamble. The items she placed aside for the [Bet] couldn't be extracted and exchanged; she instead had to recreate those items herself, leaving the originals intact and to be later claimed by the winner of the [Bet]. Deku effectively doubled what he would have gotten for the [Bet], in addition to other valuable goods The Administrator yielded to him during their negotiations.

[Bet] was Deku's most powerful and complicated skill. It warped reality and granted ways to interact with the world in response to the challenges and limitations imposed by the participants for a game where they could gamble anything they had. Everyone involved must give their consent to the challenges and penalties before the skill is activated. Like most of his gambler skills, [Bet] didn't provide a reduction of penalties that came with it as it leveled up. Any available benefits were equally matched with lethal risks. He wasn't safe from his skills.

Deku had figured out the only way to increase his chances of succeeding when using his gambling skills was to either increase his Luck stat - as it adds a 1% chance of a positive result, for all gambler skills, per 10 stat points allocated - to an absurdly high number or exploit any loophole and advantage he had to its extreme. But in the Tutorial where he was the only one with a Job that gave him inconsistent skills, he had to resort to rigging the odds in his favor.

The Administrator was no exception.

When agreeing to the [Bet], feeding her ego made it easy to distract her. She didn't think it would be a bad idea to let Deku go first in their game of Russian Roulette by loading in the bullet himself. The Administrator sat in her chair, condescending and mocking, as Deku inspected the golden gun. The custom-made revolver had a large fixed cylinder that rotated clockwise every time the trigger was pulled.

And the ammunition can be magically loaded into any chamber with a mere thought.

Although he couldn't reposition the bullet once it was loaded in, he just had to ensure it worked in his favor. The Administrator didn't notice Deku putting the bullet into a specific chamber, making it guaranteed that the sixth time the trigger was pulled it would be guaranteed to fire. He just had to ensure that he first fired off the empty chamber.

He started off the game. The gun clicked empty.

The Administrator went second. The gun clicked empty again.

Deku went third. Empty again.

Her turn. Empty. She was getting nervous.

His turn. Empty. He slid the gun across the table. She was scared. "Your turn."

The rest is history.

"I thought you would be too arrogant to notice," He walked over to The Administrator's corpse before picking up her head. Even her lifeless eyes were beautiful. "If you didn't pay attention, I figured you would have blown your brains out while giving a smug speech. Since you did notice, I was able to pressure you into making a rigged deal with me. Either way, no matter what happens, you would die." He shoved her head and corpse into his inventory as the changes the [Bet] skill caused were finally undone.

The world slowly crumbled around him. The space, the ivory table, and the comfortable chairs that came with it began to melt and fade away into a bleak stone room.

Restoring the smell of rot and gore of the 99 other participants of the Tutorial.


You are the sole survivor of the Tutorial!

Preparing rewards…!

Deku found himself back in the large stone room where all the participants started. The Administrator gave a brief introduction upon their arrival and an explanation of how they were chosen to climb the Tower of Fables. They were given an interface resembling a video game, assigned a Job that gave a set of skills and benefits related to it, and any remaining participants would be given two special skills that would make their journey up the Tower a lot easier.

Each participant was allowed to use what they gained from their Trial Period: a time of ten months where a person's noticeable actions manifested into consumables, equipment, and skills before they were transported to the Tower.

Deku only did one noticeable thing in those ten months and had gotten a powerful sword and [Telekinesis] skill in exchange. He wholeheartedly believes the cost wasn't worth it. That regret didn't make other participants merciful.

Especially when they were teleported into a large forest with monsters to hunt, treasure to loot, and secrets to be discovered. 72 hours to fight and kill, to steal and betray, to compromise and unite before returning. There would be custom rewards depending on what you have accomplished.

With everyone against him, he had to use what he earned during his Trial Period. Deku only had his [Telekinesis] skill - he refused to use the sword - and his gambler skills to keep him alive. He had to get creative while fighting for his life. While he was merciful during the first 30 hours, the relentless assault of those he spared proved that he couldn't afford to be kind. His enemies wouldn't do the same for him, and from their bloodlust, it was clear they would do something worse. It took a lot of energy to ensure his opponent didn't die.

It took a minuscule amount to plot their deaths.

There was a part of him that was sad that things turned out this way. Not a single person here gave him the benefit of the doubt, or a chance to explain his circumstances. That little nugget of self-hatred screamed at him that he deserved every bad thing that happened to him. Deku gave that little voice the mental equivalent of a 'Screw you - I have too much respect for myself.'

"It's time I started taking care of myself," Deku used his [Telekinesis] to lift the corpses of his victims into his inventory one at a time. If there was one thing The Administrator was right about, the Tower is ruthless and the Tutorial was no exception.

By the time he was done, the large notification screen above changed once more. This time in a more colorful hue.

Preparation for Tutorial rewards is now complete!

Congratulations Player - you have survived the Tutorial! You will be rewarded with two skills that will help you on your journey!

You have been rewarded with:

-Skill: [Gamer's Mind]

-Skill: [Gamer's Body]

The two skills The Administrator talked about. He would check what they would do later. The large notification screen above changed once more, shrinking down - white text on a black background in an easy-to-read size. It was personalized just for him.

You are the sole survivor of the Tutorial - where everyone else was out to kill you while being significantly stronger than you. You have overcome overwhelming odds despite your shortcomings; where most would stop at merely surviving, you have pushed beyond the limits to thrive!

You have gained the following:

-Beginner's Ring

-Beginner's Bracelet

-Beginner's Circlet

-Rainbow Four-Leaf Clover (x10)

-Gambler Skill: [Death's Border]

-Gambler Skill: [Probability Analysis]

-Title: "The Risk Taker"

Deku felt a smile forming under his face mask. These past ten months were nothing but a reminder of misery and pain that would cause him to cry himself to sleep. For so long he was the subject of life's cruelty and resided to accept his perceived role as the world's punching bag. Taking on abuse and resentment for reasons outside of his control, desperately finding small periods of relief to numb himself to the pain.

But now he has proved he can overcome any challenge with enough determination and effort. He learned that having a powerful ability doesn't automatically grant success. He finally realized that compared to the difficulties faced in the Tutorial, his real-life problems no longer feel impossible to overcome.

"Things are looking up for me." Deku wasn't only feeling pride in his heart - he was feeling hopeful.

Which crumbled into dust when another series of red pop-up screens manifested so violently it shook the entire room.

WARNING! No Administrator detected! Difficulty correction for quests and Floors is now impossible!

WARNING! No Administrator detected! The Tower of Fables' stability is decreasing! Creatures from the Abyss can potentially invade and infect a Floor!

WARNING! No Administrator detected! Powerful beings are no longer restricted in their power! They are now expanding their domain! They're all focusing on you due to being the only survivor of the Tutorial!

-The Collector desires to add you to their trophy collection!

-The Champion sees you as a worthy thrall in their slave coliseum!

-The Chaos Dragon is violently coveting your rare items!

-The Crimson Lords seek to capture you as if you were exotic livestock!

-The Destroyer sent out his Sinful Seven to forcibly recruit you!

-The Empire of Bones is beginning its migration!

-The Mechanized Blasphemy is cannibalizing itself!

-The Garden of Limbs is engaged in a civil war!

-The Sleeper's nap is disturbed by the chaos in the Tower of Fables - causing any random Upper and Lower Floors to be subsumed!

Deku read everything presented and only said one thing that could summarize the chaos of emotions in his heart.

"Fuck."


A/N: Nothing too much in this chapter, just revealing some things that happened in the Tutorial and how Deku won against The Administrator - mostly to establish that he won't be playing fair. I just don't like stories where the MC is stupidly honorable against their immoral enemies because of 'reasons' and can easily win or accomplish their goal if they just did the obvious.

Also, I'm not too fond of any video game-themed story/fic where the MC figures out a secret or abuses an exploit that gets them a major power-up that allows them to effortlessly overcome any obstacle with no consequences for their actions. I mean, without consequences, there wouldn't be any conflict, and it would be pretty boring to read several dozen chapters where nothing noticeable happens.