Devon, a college student and local chess prodigy, is pulled into a string of unnatural disappearances the world has called the takings. Deemed a cursed being by the guiding system, he'll have to learn to fight and survive if he hopes to survive its tutorial. However, Devon discovers that the overseers of the tutorial, meant to guide himself and his fellow initiates, actually mean to farm them for experience once their grace period expires. With the system crippling Devon's ability to gain power fast enough to stop the impending slaughter he'll have to rely on a profession the system itself seems to have forgotten exists to grow stronger. He'll do anything to overcome the threat of the overseers and make it beyond the farce the system calls a tutorial, even if it means he has to manipulate everyone around him into creating a maelstrom of conflicting interests, motivations, and ideologies. "...And upon that stage, that thin line that seperates life and death... I shall dance." What to expect: - Weak to strong story. - MC who develops into an anti-hero. - Mix of battle-related progression and scheme-related progression. (About an 80/20 split between action and scheming. This is a progression fantasy, after all.) - No romance. Updates daily. Participant in the 2024 November Writathon.