Devon opened up the profession dialog as he walked along the canyon, heading toward the mountain peaks he could see in the distance through the crack in the sky. He'd initially thought it to be a singular peak, but the closer he got the more he came to realize it didn't have a single peak, but multiple jutting pillars that seemed to pierce the sky.

This trek is only going to get more difficult. The slope seems to rise by a huge degree from here on out. I can see the canyon walls growing taller around me as I progress.

He looked at the dialog, unsure of whether he should even bother feeling excited. So many features of the system were duds for him, so it was hard to get his hopes up for this new one.

[Cursed Schemer] Level 1

1 Plot available for planning.

1 Scheme available for planning.

The system differentiated between what was a plot and a scheme, but Devon didn't have any idea what either of them were supposed to do.

Maybe it's something like a system for creating your own quests, but I'm not sure what the point is.

He felt like there had to be some value to using the system's functionality rather than just using your own brain, but the system didn't bother telling him what that benefit would be. On a whim he thought, Create plot.

[Plot Initialization]

What is the Objective of new plot?

Devon stopped in his tracks, amazed something he'd tried had actually worked. He felt a giant grin form on his face before realizing he had no idea what he wanted the plot to be about. On another whim he thought, Reach the mountain summit. Nothing happened.

Well, that's not entirely unexpected.

He thought about how his previous command had been structured somewhat like a line of computer code and tried something else, Set objective as reach the mountain summit.

Error. Command rejected. Objective must include a minimum of 1 other entity.

Devon frowned at that. The only time he'd seen the system throw an actual error at him was when he was being tethered. Though, that wasn't what really bothered him. The system had actually specified what he was doing wrong.

Why respond now, and not the hundreds of other times I've made an incorrect input?

Of course, the system didn't respond.

A thought popped into his head for an idea of something to try to input as the plot objective. His pace quickened and soon he was running down the canyon, filled with the excitement of discovery.

Soon enough he found what he was looking for. An errant monster was roaming the ravine ahead of him, simply prowling. Devon would have taken the thing for an octopus, had it not been using its slimy appendages to latch onto the walls around it and pull itself forward.

[Wallpus - Level 11]

Fuck off. Don't you dare name it that.

Devon knew no matter how much he protested the system wouldn't bother to change its autogenerated name, despite how horrible it was.

Set objective as kill wallpus.

Error. Command rejected. Entity does not possess the power necessary to elevate task-level command [Kill] to Plot Objective status.

Huh, so if I want to make the objective of a plot to kill something, that creature needs to be above a certain level for the system to acknowledge it as a valid target.

The system wouldn't allow it as the target of a plot, but what would happen if he set it as the target of a scheme? It took him almost a minute to figure out the command to scrap the plot, as it wouldn't let him make a scheme until he got the first dialog out of the way.

Cancel Plot Initialization.

Unnamed Plot Canceled.

Create scheme.

[Scheme Initialization]

What is the Objective of new scheme?

Set objective as kill wallpus.

Error. Command rejected. Entity does not possess the necessary political influence, religious influence, or power to elevate task-level command [Kill] to Scheme Objective status.

Woah-kay. I was not ready for that.

He desperately wanted to sit there and spend more time fiddling around with the system now that it seemed to be in a talkative mood, but the wallpus had noticed him and was approaching as rapidly as its tentacles could manage.

He took his sword out of the inventory, eager to get the encounter over as fast as possible. He wasn't sure where on the creature the vitals would be located, and those tentacles looked awfully susceptible to cutting attacks.

When the thing got close enough he swung at one of the appendages, aiming to sever it. However, he heard the clash of metal as his swing was blocked. He leaped back in surprise as the wallpus tried to stick him with a thick footlong needle that glistened with a metallic sheen. The weapon had silently extended out of one of the tentacles when Devon hadn't been paying attention.

Devon quickly reassessed the danger level of his opponent. If he assumed each of the tentacles had a concealed poker then its threat level certainly wasn't low. Devon wasn't ready to have to use another healing pill quite yet, so he imagined a way to win without getting poked full of holes.

He cautiously advanced forward and swung again, and again his swing was blocked by one of the creature's pokers. He did this a few more times, testing out the responses of the wallpus.

Eventually he got a feel for how the creature moved and began an onslaught of slashes. At first he aimed for the tentacles as before, but he quickly changed the focus of his attacks to the tentacles that wielded the pokers that were blocking his attacks.

They engaged in a sort of fencing match for several minutes, neither leaving an opening wide enough for the other to exploit. They stayed that way until Devon made a feint, drawing out the creature's defense so he could land a sneaky strike against the tentacle. However, the rubbery tentacle completely rebuffed his sword, to his shock.

Devon barely managed to dodge the three pokers thrust his way by jumping back.

The thing is slash resistant? No, wait…

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He looked down at his sword and immediately realized the true problem. The edge that had been sharp and precise had been worn down by Devon's incessant bashing against the wallpus' pokers.

Dammit, I suppose it's not called a starting sword for nothing. What I was doing was the same as bashing bronze against steel. Of course it's going to lose its edge.

Devon shoved the useless sword back into his inventory and pulled out his spear. He'd wanted to become more familiar with the blade, and he had, but he hadn't expected it to cost him the sword's functionality.

The wallpus blocked a few of his initial stabs, but Devon wasn't playing around anymore. He went for feints almost immediately and landed several hits on the creature's central body. It tried to retaliate with its pokers, but Devon maintained a definitive reach advantage and didn't have much trouble avoiding the stingers.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the thing finally fell to the ground, dead.

Kill - [Wallpus - Level 11] - 99 Talons

[Level up. Sword Proficiency Level 2 obtained.]

[Level up. Sword Proficiency Level 3 obtained.]

Skill [Sever] learned.

Despite Devon's frustration with the sword situation, the gains from the fight hadn't been bad at all. Sword proficiency leveling up had been one of the goals he'd wanted to work toward, but he wasn't expecting it to level so far in a single fight.

He'd used the weapon to kill multiple things so far and had only achieved level 1, so getting it to level 3 in a fight where he didn't even manage to injure the enemy with it implied that personal mastery over the weapon trumped any sort of 'proficiency exp' one might get while using the weapon type. It was definitely something to take note of, and a reminder that he needed to work harder on improving his spear technique.

He looked up at the sky through the crack in the ground above him and noted the fading light. He still felt like he could go a bit further, but it was far more practical to return to the camp he'd established and spend the night resting. It would be the first rest he'd take of his own volition, and he had to admit it sounded nice.

The forced sleep of the healing items left him feeling not at his best, similar to a light hangover. Not enough to put him out of commission, but certainly enough that he felt it would begin to wear on him soon.

He also couldn't contain his excitement about probing the loophole he seemed to have found in his profession. He couldn't think of it in any other way after the dead silence and lack of elaboration the system had given him on just about anything.

It didn't take him long to get back to the cave, and it only took a few minutes before he had a new fire going and a basic sleeping setup. He roasted more meat off another one of the leafstag's legs while going through input after input.

He wanted to see just how hard he could push the system for info while also learning about what the system considered applicable inputs.

Create Scheme.

[Scheme Initialization]

What is the Objective of new scheme?

Set objective as kill God.

Error. Command rejected. Target God-level entity not specified.

That's… actually quite frightening. I did not expect that to work. Okay… Set objective as kill overseer leader.

Confirmed. Compiling Scheme… Done.

Accept Scheme?

[Kill Overseer Val Kazar]

Tasks available for creation.

*NOTICE* Scheme objective coincides with system issued quest [Rebellion]. Scheme rewards will be reduced or negated to avoid Karmic Wrath.

That's a lot. Okay, so I can create tasks under schemes. Can I do that with plots too? It's good to note that making a scheme have the same objective as a quest will have a reward reduction. That means the scheme itself gives rewards, though it doesn't specify what kind.

Create task. Create new task. Gah. Modify scheme. Modify scheme kill overseer Val Kazar.

Please input scheme modification.

Create task.

What is the objective of new task?

Set objective as have a birthday party.

Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. Scheme task must contribute to completion of scheme objective.

Set objective as Reach level 100.

Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. Task difficulty cannot supersede that of scheme objective difficulty.

So the system regards reaching level 100 as being harder than killing Val Kazar, huh? Yeah, I remember now. That was the one that met me at their camp. I think his level was in the early 60s, so it makes sense that reaching level 100 would be more difficult, since by the time I made it there it's probably not any trouble to kill a level 60.

Alright, next. Create task.

What is the objective of new task?

Set objective as supplant Trey as the de-facto leader of the human initiates.

Calculating… Done.

Confirmed. Task priority set at high.

Alright, I think that's enough of that. I think I have a good enough understanding of how tasks work. Cancel scheme initialization. Reject scheme. Oh for the love of… Exit modification mode. Finish scheme. Finalize scheme kill overseer Val Kazar.

Confirmed. Compiling Scheme… Done.

Accept Scheme?

[Kill Overseer Val Kazar]

Tasks: [Leading the Masses]

*NOTICE* Scheme objective coincides with system issued quest [Rebellion]. Scheme rewards will be reduced or negated to avoid Karmic Wrath.

Deny. Reject. Reject Scheme.

Confirmed. Scheme rejected.

Create plot.

What is the objective of new plot?

Set objective as kill Val Kazar.

Error. Command rejected. Scope of objective exceeds scope of Plot-level command.

Set objective as finish tutorial at number 1 on the ladder.

Calculating… Done.

Error. Command suspended. By default, command registers as Task-level and is not a valid input. However, command may be elevated if mandatory Task [Kill Them All] is implemented.

Confirm command?

A chill ran down Devon's spine. Even without the system expanding on the purpose of the task Kill Them All, he understood the implications.

Reaching the number 1 spot on the ladder was much more akin to a personal goal than a plot. Even though the ladder system incorporated all the humans within the tutorial it didn't count them as valid entities in the scope of the plot because he could still emerge as number 1 even if he never interacted with anybody else for the length of the tutorial. But there was another way to emerge as the number 1 spot on the tutorial, one so horrific he hadn't even considered it.

If he killed every last other human on this planet then he would by default finish the tutorial in the number 1 spot.

He was starting to see the pattern in how the system worked.

He could set a personal goal as a task-level objective, but only if the completion of that goal helped progress the plot or scheme as a whole. Reaching number 1 on the ladder was a goal that could be achieved alone, in the same vein that reaching the top of the mountain would have been a personal goal. The difference was that reaching the number 1 spot on the ladder most likely came with very real benefits, which could help him complete a plot or scheme objective. That was how it differentiated the validity of the objectives.

For a plot or a scheme to have any validity they had to by nature be harmful or manipulative to someone or something. The very core ideal of the profession was to hinder or harm others to put yourself in a better position. It was disgusting.

But it was also fascinating.

Cancel command.

Confirmed.

Set objective as make Eve fall in love with me.

Calculating… Done.

Confirmed. Compiling Plot… Done.

Accept Plot?

[Ensnare the Heart of a Powerful Warrior]

Tasks available for creation.

Reject plot.

Confirmed. Plot rejected.

Create scheme.

What is the objective of new scheme?

Set objective as become a god.

Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. Projected trajectory too broad for Scheme-level objective. No Grand Schemes available.

Set objective as… destroy the system.

Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. Projected trajectory too broad for Scheme-level objective. No [Null Value] Schemes available.

Override protocol 0 initiated. Error overridden.

Continuing calculations. Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. User does not meet base-level spirituality, and cannot interact with the wider System.

Override Protocol 00 initiated. Forcibly awakening user spirituality.

All of a sudden it felt like a nail was being driven into Devon's brain, and he screamed in pain. The pain quickly subsided and the messages resumed.

Error resolved. Continuing calculations. Calculating… Done.

Error. Command rejected. User's Karmic Influence is not high enough to successfully create a fate-altering Event.

Override Protocol 000 initiated. Administering 100 artificial Marks of Karmic Disdain.

Error resolved. Continuing calculations. Calculating… Done.

Confirmed. Compiling Scheme... Done.

Accept Scheme?

[Destroy the System]

Tasks available for creation.

THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT THIS.