Once again, she took some time to collect her thoughts, tilting her head this way and that before finally speaking.

"Thank you for sharing that with me. It helps to put my own situation in perspective, one that I have needed over the past couple of years. And while you telling me that was to make up for the discussions we have missed, in those same discussions you have missed my responses. So, I will ask you to listen so that I may respond in kind."

I nodded at her, and then she continued.

"My planet and my culture do not seem to be quite like yours. We are one race, but there are many, many tribes among my people. Some tribes are peaceful, some tribes seek war, while others do as the wind takes them. Though regardless of whether a tribe is peaceful or centered around war, all tribes hope for the same thing, to be one. Not one with all the other tribes, but to be the one tribe to rule all the others.

"As a result, many of the tribes of my people are what we call Heshka. They are servant tribes. They bow the knee to another and are therefore slaves for a lifetime. The only way for a Heshka to be free of that binding is for another tribe to come and defeat the tribe the Heshka are beholden to. Only then will the Heshka have an opportunity to fight for their livelihood.

"I spent my entire life before the arrival of the Tutorial as someone classified as Heshka. I was born into the Heshka, and I would have likely died as part of the Heshka. But then the Tutorial came, a time and place where the rules of my world did not apply.

"Your Tutorial was a bit different than ours. I did not have to fight goblins of any kind, but I did hear of others on my planet who did. Instead, there were these creatures that the locals of the Tutorial referred to as kobolds. They were interesting but resourceful creatures who fought in packs of ten or more. They knew when to retreat, when to press the issue, and they were very mischievous, but not in a friendly way.

"The battles were easy at the beginning, but eventually they grew, not only in size but in strength and power. A lot of my people, at least the ones I was with, died to these creatures. At the time I had no idea about the troubles my people faced in other parts of the Tutorial. All of us went through different things. I fought against these creatures; they fought against others. But one thing stayed the same, no matter where we were in the Tutorial, we faced death.

"The tribes that stayed as peaceful as possible, not cultivating their own crop of warriors and usually becoming Heshka, faced the most problems. The tribes that made it their business to fight and conquer others were able to fare better in the Tutorial, but that was only the beginning.

"Until we learned of cultivation, until we learned how to get stronger, everything was the same. That changed everything. When the foes we faced grew stronger than our mundane abilities, even the best of our warriors could not compete. Only those who could cultivate appropriately could stem the tide and defend our people.

"But my people had another disadvantage, it appeared. We were not suitable for traditional cultivation. Qi, as I was told it was called, did not like us. It did not dwell well within our bodies, something the locals made me aware of. We were one of those races that had to cultivate and gain strength in a different manner.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Then something appeared in our Tutorial. It appeared in our shops, it appeared through traveling merchants, and it was only after the Tutorial that I learned it appeared for everyone. Something called Bone Branding.

"It was a technique to quite literally brand our skeletons with Qi. These brands would hold Qi within our bodies and allow us to cultivate. It was a bit different, and to reach higher realms we had to add more brands. Not everyone survived the process, and not everyone could bear to go through with it.

"To spare you the details, by the time we made it out of the Tutorial, there were less than fifty thousand members of my people remaining. A number that would only classify as a small tribe before the Tutorial began. A number that would have been fit to become Heshka to a larger tribe. That is all that remained of my people.

"It was not easy since then. As I was the strongest among them, it was quite easy for me to become the Planetary Lord, something one of the sponsors who followed us from the Tutorial made us aware of. After spending quite a bit of time gathering the members of my people, they have consolidated to form one large tribe, all around me… someone originally Heshka.

"There still are not enough of us to even think about forming branching tribes or breaking off from the main one. Of course, this is mainly because the planet is no longer the one we left. There are many dangers here that we are too weak to handle.

"And instead of being a position of strength and responsibility that the Planetary Lord position should have been, I feel it is nothing but a shackle. To go from being a Heshka all my life to suddenly being the beacon of hope for the few that remain of my race, and it is not a shackle that I want any longer."

I took her words in and it made me realize just how different any two people, let alone any two planet's Tutorial experience could. It was hard to even truly wrap my mind around the fact she said less than 50,000 people remained of her kind.

That was less than the population of Fort Lauderdale before the Tutorial. One City in one state in one country was bigger than her entire race.

There wasn't much I could even say to that, so I said the only thing surfaced in my mind.

"Then leave. The world is far bigger than your planet and what it has to offer. So leave. There will be many different things to experience, and many new paths that will open to you in life."

Maybe those words were a little for me just as much as they were for her, but I meant them. If her current position and life was a shackle, then leave. It's what I would've done at least.

Regardless, she seemed to seriously consider it as she stared at me. Once again her head tilted ever so slightly to the left and right as the words I said danced around her mind.

"And go where? Leaving is one thing, but just as well it could be good. It could also be a path to nothing."

"Well you're not wrong per se. It could very well lead to nothing and be a complete waste of time. But that's a choice you need to make for yourself. Continue to live doing what you know where the past still reflects your future or take a chance to go out see the world. Live a life where your next steps aren't set in stone.

"You could be met with something catastrophic, or something that sets you on a path of vengeance, or find love, or experience something so profound it changes your life for the better. I have no idea, but that's what it means to explore the unknown."

That was oddly poetic from me, but as always, I just say what comes to mind."

"…What about you?"

"Well I suppose I'll be doing something similar. I will be departing from this planet and universe at some point in the future."

She looked at me intently. Her orange eyes seemingly growing in intensity for a few moments before responding.

"May I come with you at that time?"

Huh. Well I wasn't expecting that.

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