The Manaless King Of Sigma

Chapter 2: The Tutorial’s Final Countdown

Mateo Álvarez had less than twenty-four hours to prepare for the end of the world.

The problem was that nobody believed the world was ending.

Outside his apartment window, traffic moved through the streets of Valencia, Spain. Delivery drones passed between buildings, advertising screens flashed promotions for the latest neural-interface upgrades, and people hurried to work beneath the pale morning sun.

Everything looked normal.

That was what made it terrifying.

Mateo stood beside the window, staring at the city he remembered losing.

In his previous life, this same street had become a battlefield. The shopping center across the road had collapsed during the first wave of monsters. The apartment block next to his had burned for three days. Hundreds of people had died before the government even understood what was happening.

And the survivors?

They had learned that being human did not automatically make them the good guys.

Mateo turned away from the window.

His phone displayed the time: 8:17 a.m., October 16, 2100.

Tomorrow, at exactly noon, the First Awakening would begin.

He remembered the announcement. He remembered the confusion, the panic, and the countless players who thought the strange system messages were part of Omega's final event.

He remembered people laughing when the first monsters appeared.

He remembered the screams that followed.

But this time, he had an advantage no one else possessed.

He knew what was coming.

Mateo opened the notes application on his phone and began writing.

Priority One: Family.

Priority Two: Food, water, medical supplies.

Priority Three: Safe location.

Priority Four: Prepare for the First Awakening.

He paused before adding another line.

Priority Five: Investigate the anomaly.

His fingers hovered over the screen.

The strange symbol from the previous night remained vivid in his memory. Three fractured silver rings surrounding a dark center. He had seen something similar inside Hollow Crown Dungeon, just before the abnormal mana surge destroyed his channels.

Back then, he had dismissed it as a visual glitch.

That mistake had cost him everything.

Mateo pressed a hand against his chest.

Nothing happened.

No vibration. No silver rings. No blue light.

He exhaled slowly.

"One problem at a time."

He could not afford to spend the day chasing a mystery when his family needed him.

Still, the memory refused to leave him alone.

If the symbol was connected to the event that destroyed his mana channels, then perhaps his regression had changed something inside him. Or perhaps the anomaly had followed him backward through time.

He had no proof.

Until he did, he would treat it as a possible threat.

Mateo finished his list and grabbed his jacket.

The first step was getting Gabriel and Sofía somewhere safe.

The second was making sure they understood that tomorrow would not be a game.

By nine o'clock, Mateo had reached the small apartment where his sister's children lived.

Gabriel opened the door while holding a half-eaten sandwich.

"You're back already?"

Mateo glanced at the sandwich. "Is that breakfast?"

"It's a sandwich."

"That wasn't my question."

Gabriel took another bite. "Then ask a better question."

For a moment, Mateo could only stare at him.

The boy's careless grin struck harder than any memory of the ruined city. In Mateo's first life, Gabriel had eventually stopped smiling. Survival had turned his nephew into someone suspicious, impatient, and quick to reach for a weapon.

Seeing him like this made Mateo painfully aware of how much he had lost.

Gabriel lowered the sandwich.

"Uncle? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Mateo forced a smile. "Just making sure you're still annoying."

"Good. I was worried something had happened to you."

From the kitchen, Sofía called, "Something definitely happened to him. He came here yesterday looking like he'd seen a ghost, and now he's staring at people."

Mateo stepped inside.

Sofía sat at the small dining table with a tablet propped in front of her. At sixteen, she was already fascinated by mathematics, artificial intelligence, and the strange architecture behind Omega. She often noticed details that other people overlooked.

In Mateo's previous life, those habits had helped keep them alive.

They had also made her a target.

He pushed the memory away.

"Both of you, get ready," he said. "We're going shopping."

Gabriel looked down at his sandwich.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"That's not a reason."

"It's the reason you're getting."

Gabriel sighed dramatically. "You've become terrifying."

Sofía set down her tablet. "What are we buying?"

"Food that doesn't spoil quickly. Bottled water. Medical supplies. Batteries. Portable lights. Anything useful if we lose electricity or communications."

The siblings exchanged a look.

Gabriel slowly lowered his sandwich.

"Are we preparing for a disaster?"

Mateo met his eyes.

"Yes."

The humor disappeared from Gabriel's face.

Sofía studied her uncle for several seconds before asking, "What kind of disaster?"

Mateo had rehearsed his answer on the way over. He had planned to tell them about Omega, the monsters, and the First Awakening. He had even considered explaining that he had already lived through the next twenty years.

But he knew how it would sound.

If he told them everything, they might believe he was suffering from a mental breakdown. If he told them nothing, they would have no reason to follow his instructions.

He needed a middle ground.

"Tomorrow, Omega will change," he said. "Not just the game. Something will happen that makes it dangerous to assume the world is still operating by the old rules."

Gabriel frowned. "Omega is getting an update?"

"No."

"Then what?"

Mateo took a breath.

"Imagine that everything you've learned inside Omega suddenly becomes real. Your abilities, the monsters, the injuries. Imagine that dying inside it no longer means simply waking up in your bedroom."

Silence settled over the apartment.

Gabriel gave a short, uncertain laugh.

"That's impossible."

"I know what it sounds like."

"No, Uncle. It's not just impossible. It's ridiculous. Omega is a neural simulation. The company can't just turn it into reality."

"Omega wasn't built by the company."

Gabriel opened his mouth, then stopped.

Sofía leaned forward.

"What do you mean?"

Mateo looked at her. "The technology behind Omega is beyond anything humanity has developed. We've all heard the theories. Some people believe it was given to us by an advanced civilization. Others think it's an experiment. Nobody knows for certain."

"That still doesn't explain how a game could become real," Gabriel argued.

"It doesn't. But tomorrow, you'll see enough to understand why I'm asking you to prepare."

Sofía's expression grew serious.

"How do you know something will happen tomorrow?"

Mateo had no good answer.

He could lie. He could tell them he had discovered a secret announcement or received information from an insider. Both explanations might work temporarily, but Sofía would eventually find the holes in them.

So he chose the truth, or at least the part of it he could share.

"Because I've seen what happens when people are unprepared."

The words came out quieter than he intended.

Sofía noticed.

She always noticed.

After a moment, she stood and picked up her tablet.

"All right. I'll make a list of supplies and check what we already have."

Gabriel stared at her.

"You're actually going along with this?"

"I'm not saying I believe every word. I'm saying it costs us very little to prepare, and Uncle Mateo looks genuinely frightened."

She turned toward Mateo.

"But if tomorrow passes and nothing happens, you're explaining why we bought enough supplies to survive a month."

A faint smile touched his face.

"Fair."

Gabriel shook his head.

"Fine. I'll help too. But if this turns out to be some elaborate prank, I'm posting a video of you apologizing to the entire family."

"Deal."

Mateo watched them move around the apartment, arguing about shopping lists and carrying bags.

For the first time since his regression, the tightness in his chest eased.

He had not saved them yet.

But he had given them a chance.

That was enough for now.

The shopping center was crowded by the time they arrived.

Omega had become more than a game over the previous year. It was an obsession. Millions of people spent hours inside its virtual world, competing for rankings, exploring dungeons, and completing quests.

Some earned money through professional tournaments. Others sold rare items or streamed their adventures. For a growing number of players, Omega was the closest thing they had to a second life.

Mateo had once belonged among the best.

He remembered the tournaments he had won, the rare equipment he had collected, and the teams that had competed for the chance to recruit him.

He also remembered how quickly those achievements had become worthless after the First Awakening.

The people who survived were not always the strongest players.

Some had never touched Omega.

Others had been average players with practical skills, strong instincts, or the courage to work with others.

And some of the best players had died because they believed a high ranking made them invincible.

Mateo intended to avoid that mistake.

As they entered a supply store, a giant screen above the main entrance displayed an advertisement.

OMEGA: FINAL TUTORIAL EVENT

GLOBAL COMPLETION TARGET: 100%

REMAINING TIME: 26 HOURS

The crowd barely glanced at it.

A pair of teenagers argued about whether the final event would reward legendary equipment. A middle-aged man complained that the countdown had ruined his sleep schedule. Someone nearby was explaining a strategy for reaching the highest tutorial rank.

Mateo stopped walking.

Twenty-six hours.

The public countdown had been running for weeks. Most players assumed it was a marketing stunt leading into a major update.

But the final tutorial had never been intended to last forever.

In his previous life, Mateo had reached the required completion threshold only minutes before the First Awakening began. At the time, he had thought he was lucky.

Now he wondered whether the system had been measuring something beyond individual player progress.

He approached the nearest display.

A detailed chart showed the global tutorial completion rate.

98.74%.

His memory supplied the next events with painful clarity.

The number would rise throughout the day. Professional teams would rush through the remaining objectives. Players who had ignored the tutorial would receive increasingly generous rewards for completing basic missions.

At 11:59 a.m. tomorrow, the rate would cross the final threshold.

Then the tutorial would end.

And the real system would begin.

"Uncle?"

Sofía stood beside him, holding a shopping basket.

"You're staring at the screen again."

Mateo stepped away from it. "Just thinking."

"About the countdown?"

He glanced at her.

"You noticed it too?"

"It's on every screen in the building." She lowered her voice. "But you looked like you knew something when you saw it."

Mateo hesitated.

Sofía was observant, but that didn't mean she needed every burden placed on her shoulders.

"The countdown matters," he admitted. "If something happens tomorrow, the tutorial ending will be connected to it."

"Then we should understand how the tutorial works."

"Not today."

"Why not?"

"Because we have more urgent things to do."

She looked unconvinced but did not argue.

That, Mateo realized, was another difference between them and his memories.

In his previous life, he had made decisions for Gabriel and Sofía because he believed protecting them meant keeping them away from danger. Over time, that habit had become a weakness. He had withheld information, dismissed their suggestions, and mistaken obedience for safety.

He would not repeat that mistake.

"After we finish shopping," he said, "I'll show you everything I remember about Omega's tutorial. You can look for patterns I might have missed."

Sofía's eyes brightened.

"Really?"

"Really. But first, supplies."

She nodded and hurried toward the medical section.

Mateo watched her go, then followed.

By noon, they had filled four bags.

They bought enough food and water for several days, a compact first-aid kit, antiseptic, bandages, portable lights, spare batteries, and a small emergency radio. Mateo also purchased work gloves, a sturdy utility knife, and a pair of reinforced boots for each of them.

Gabriel examined the boots.

"Are we expecting to fight a bear?"

"Hopefully not."

"Then why do I need these?"

"Because comfortable shoes won't protect your feet from broken glass."

Gabriel looked at the boots again.

For once, he did not have a clever response.

Their final stop was an electronics shop. Mateo purchased a basic power bank and two inexpensive communication devices that could work without relying entirely on the public network.

As the clerk packed them, the store's wall display flickered.

The advertisement for Omega disappeared.

For half a second, the screen showed a black background with three silver rings.

One of the rings was fractured.

A thin blue line crossed the dark center.

Mateo froze.

His fingers tightened around the handle of his shopping bag.

The symbol vanished, replaced by the store's usual advertisements.

Nobody else reacted.

The clerk continued packing. A customer complained about the price of a new headset. Gabriel was busy examining a display of gaming accessories.

Mateo stared at the screen.

The pattern had been identical to the one he had seen in his chest the night before.

Identical to the strange symbol inside Hollow Crown Dungeon.

His heartbeat quickened.

He moved closer to the display.

"Did that screen just glitch?" he asked the clerk.

The man barely looked up. "Probably. The Omega event has been putting a strain on public networks. We've had a few interruptions today."

"Did you see what appeared on it?"

"No. Why?"

Mateo forced himself to step back.

"Nothing."

He turned away, but a dull pressure spread behind his sternum.

For an instant, the sounds of the store seemed to grow distant. The chatter of customers, the hum of ventilation, and the music from the ceiling blurred into a single low vibration.

Then he saw something.

Not with his eyes.

It was a pattern, faint and incomplete, like a map drawn on the inside of his skull. Three intersecting circles. A narrow fracture. A pulse of blue light that disappeared whenever he tried to focus on it.

Mateo gripped the edge of the counter.

The sensation lasted only a few seconds.

When it ended, his knees felt weak.

"Uncle?"

Gabriel had moved beside him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I stood up too quickly."

"You were already standing."

Mateo gave him a tired look. "Do you want to carry the bags?"

Gabriel immediately stepped back.

"You're fine."

Despite himself, Mateo almost laughed.

But as they left the store, he knew he could no longer dismiss the anomaly as a harmless visual glitch.

Something was responding to him.

He did not know whether it was the Omega system, the mysterious force behind the First Awakening, or whatever had caused his regression.

He only knew that the symbol had appeared twice since he returned to the past.

And both times, it had been followed by a sensation inside his chest.

He needed to investigate it.

Carefully.

Not at the expense of his family.

Back at the apartment, Mateo helped Gabriel carry the supplies inside.

They arranged the food in the kitchen, stored the medical equipment in a cupboard, and charged the communication devices. Sofía checked their inventory twice, then used her tablet to create a simple list of emergency contacts and nearby shelters.

It was not enough to survive the First Awakening.

But it was a beginning.

At three in the afternoon, Mateo finally sat with Sofía and opened Omega's tutorial archive on his phone.

"Show me what you remember," she said.

He explained the basic structure of the game: character attributes, skill classifications, dungeon tiers, equipment rarity, and the way the system rewarded players for completing objectives.

He avoided mentioning details that had not yet appeared in this timeline. Instead, he asked her to compare the game's public mechanics with its latest updates.

Sofía quickly found something strange.

"The tutorial's reward structure changed three months ago," she said.

Mateo leaned closer to her tablet.

"What changed?"

"Before the update, players received most of their experience from combat and exploration. Now, the system gives additional rewards for teamwork, rescue missions, and resource management."

"That sounds like an ordinary balancing change."

"Maybe. But look at the timing."

She opened an archived update log.

The change had happened shortly before the global countdown began.

Then she displayed a list of newly introduced missions.

Protect an injured teammate.

Complete a dungeon without abandoning a party member.

Secure emergency supplies for a settlement.

Resolve a conflict without killing the opposing faction.

Mateo stared at the screen.

In his first life, he had paid little attention to these missions. They offered fewer immediate rewards than high-level combat challenges, and competitive players often dismissed them as beginner content.

But after the First Awakening, those same abilities had become essential.

Knowing how to fight could keep someone alive for a few minutes.

Knowing how to cooperate could keep an entire settlement alive for months.

"These missions aren't random," Sofía said. "They're testing behavior."

Mateo looked at her.

"What kind of behavior?"

"How players react when they have to choose between personal rewards and other people's safety. How they manage limited supplies. Whether they can work with people they dislike."

She tapped the screen.

"And this one is particularly strange."

A mission description appeared.

HIDDEN OBJECTIVE: Preserve the integrity of the party.

Reward: Undisclosed.

Mateo felt a chill move down his spine.

He remembered a similar mission from his first life. He had encountered it during a low-level dungeon and assumed it was an optional challenge. His team had completed it accidentally, and the system had rewarded them with a small amount of experience.

He had never investigated it.

Now he wondered whether he had overlooked something important.

"The tutorial is preparing people for more than combat," he murmured.

Sofía nodded.

"It looks that way. If your prediction is right, maybe the system expects people to survive in a world where these skills matter."

Mateo sat back.

For years, he had believed the First Awakening was simply an invasion by a hostile system. Monsters appeared, humanity fought back, and the strongest survivors adapted.

But if Omega had been preparing humanity all along, then the First Awakening was not merely an invasion.

It was a transition.

The thought raised another question.

Who had designed the transition?

And why?

Before he could answer, the tablet screen went black.

Sofía frowned and tapped it.

"That's strange. The battery is at eighty percent."

Mateo's phone vibrated at the same moment.

Gabriel looked up from the sofa.

"Did the network just go down?"

Every device in the room had disconnected.

The television flickered. The lights dimmed, then returned to normal.

A soft chime rang from Mateo's phone.

The Omega application opened by itself.

A message appeared against a black background.

GLOBAL TUTORIAL STATUS: 99.12%

FINAL PHASE: ACTIVE

Mateo stood so quickly that his chair scraped across the floor.

"No," he whispered.

This was too early.

In his first life, the global completion rate had remained below ninety-nine percent until late that night. The final phase had not activated until the following morning.

He stepped closer to the phone.

A second message appeared.

NOTICE: Unregistered system irregularity detected.

Source: Undetermined.

Analysis: Incomplete.

Then a third line emerged.

Priority: Observe. Do not interfere.

The message remained on the screen for three seconds before disappearing.

Mateo felt the familiar pressure in his chest.

This time, it was stronger.

A sharp pain spread beneath his ribs, and he caught the edge of the table to keep himself upright. The silver-ring pattern flashed through his mind, followed by a sensation like something turning inside a locked mechanism.

He heard a faint sound.

Not a voice.

Not exactly.

It was the impression of a distant bell ringing beneath deep water.

Then everything stopped.

"Mateo!"

Sofía rushed to his side.

Gabriel was already on his feet.

"What happened? Are you hurt?"

Mateo straightened slowly.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Sofía said.

He could not tell them the truth because he did not understand it himself.

He looked at the phone again.

The application had returned to its normal interface.

The global completion rate was still visible.

99.12%.

Mateo's mouth went dry.

The tutorial had begun responding to the anomaly.

And the anomaly was responding to him.

He had spent the morning preparing for a disaster he remembered.

Now he was facing something he had never encountered before.

Something that had not existed in his first timeline—or at least something he had never noticed.

"Listen to me," he said, forcing his voice to remain steady. "We need to stay together tonight. No unnecessary trips. Keep your communication devices charged, and don't enter Omega until I tell you it's safe."

Gabriel frowned. "What if the system announces an event?"

"Ignore it."

"But what if there are rewards?"

"Gabriel."

The sharpness in Mateo's voice silenced him.

Mateo took a breath and softened his tone.

"I know you want to become stronger. I understand that. But tomorrow, there may be things you cannot prepare for by leveling up. If something happens, I need you to follow instructions until we understand what's going on."

Gabriel looked away, jaw tight.

For a moment, Mateo saw the young man his nephew would become: proud, desperate to prove himself, and willing to take risks because he hated feeling helpless.

He could not prevent Gabriel from growing into his own person.

Nor should he.

But he could at least make sure the boy survived long enough to learn from his mistakes.

"Promise me," Mateo said.

Gabriel hesitated before nodding.

"I promise I'll be careful."

It was not quite the promise Mateo wanted.

But it was honest.

Sofía folded her arms.

"And what are you going to do?"

Mateo looked toward the window.

The afternoon traffic continued below. People moved through the streets, unaware that the system governing their lives had begun to change.

"I'm going to find out why the tutorial is behaving differently."

"You just told us not to do anything unnecessary."

"This is necessary."

Sofía gave him a look that reminded him uncomfortably of his sister.

"Then I'm helping."

"You're staying here."

"That wasn't a request, was it?"

Mateo rubbed his forehead.

He had spent twenty years in his previous life trying to protect his family by controlling every decision they made.

He had promised himself he would change.

Yet here he was, doing it again.

"All right," he said at last. "You can help me investigate the public records and update logs. But if anything looks dangerous, we stop."

Sofía nodded.

"Agreed."

Gabriel raised a hand.

"And me?"

"You'll help secure the apartment."

"That's it?"

"For now."

Gabriel looked disappointed, but he began checking the locks without arguing.

Mateo watched both of them for a moment.

This time, he would not confuse protecting his family with keeping them powerless.

They would prepare together.

They would make mistakes together.

And when the world changed, they would face it together.

At 11:43 p.m., Mateo stood alone on the apartment balcony.

The city was quieter now. Most people were preparing for the next day's work or settling in for another night inside Omega. A few distant advertisements still promoted the final tutorial event.

He could see the glow of the shopping center screens from where he stood.

Tomorrow, those streets would become dangerous.

Tomorrow, people would awaken to abilities they had only experienced through artificial simulations.

Tomorrow, the first monsters would appear.

Mateo closed his eyes and tried to remember everything he could about the first hours of the Awakening.

The locations of the initial monster outbreaks.

The shelters that failed.

The people who would become leaders.

The people who would become tyrants.

The mistakes he had made.

He would not be able to save everyone. He understood that now.

But he could make better choices.

He could protect Gabriel and Sofía without denying them the chance to grow. He could find allies before pride and fear divided humanity. He could investigate the mysteries of Omega before they destroyed him.

And perhaps, if he was careful enough, he could prevent the disaster at Hollow Crown Dungeon.

His hand moved to his chest.

The strange pressure returned, faint but unmistakable.

For a heartbeat, three silver rings formed behind his closed eyes.

One ring was fractured.

Blue light pulsed through the gap.

Then a thought appeared in his mind, clear enough to make him open his eyes.

Connection incomplete.

Mateo stood motionless.

He had not heard those words.

He had understood them.

A second sensation followed: the impression of something ancient shifting in the darkness, as though a mechanism that had remained dormant for centuries had finally detected movement.

Then the feeling vanished.

Mateo gripped the balcony railing.

"What are you?" he whispered.

The city offered no answer.

His phone vibrated inside his pocket.

He pulled it out.

A new system announcement filled the screen.

GLOBAL TUTORIAL STATUS: 99.87%

FINAL COUNTDOWN: 12 HOURS, 17 MINUTES

Below it, another message appeared.

The tutorial is nearing completion.

All players are advised to prepare for the final transition.

Mateo stared at the countdown.

He remembered the old timeline. He remembered the exact moment the tutorial ended and the sky above Valencia split open with blue light.

He remembered the first scream.

The first monster.

The first death.

This time, he would be ready.

Or as ready as anyone could be.

Mateo locked his phone and looked toward the distant horizon.

"Tomorrow," he said quietly, "everything changes."

Behind him, the apartment remained peaceful. Gabriel was asleep on the sofa, one arm hanging over the edge. Sofía had fallen asleep at the table beside her tablet, her notes still open.

Mateo went inside and placed a blanket over her shoulders.

Then he checked the door locks one last time.

He had twelve hours.

Twelve hours to prepare for a future that was already beginning to change.

And somewhere beneath the surface of Omega, something had noticed him.

Something that had not been part of the future he remembered.