When Devon woke up he crawled out of his tent and stretched freely. He took a big breath in and almost choked on the odor of several hundred other bodies around him.

Oh yeah, I'm not alone here.

Devon had been living out in the wild so long he'd grown used to the freedom to go through whatever wake up routines he wanted and the fresh air that came with the great outdoors.

Well, everything has its ups and downs.

He looked up at the sky and realized the suns were way higher than he would have liked to start the day at. He and Trey had partied hard last night, so there wasn't much helping it. He tapped his head, shifting himself out of fun mode and back into work mode. He went down the list of things he needed to do and decided to start with what felt like the most pressing concern.

Message known user Eve.

Waiting… Connection established.

[Eve]

What do you want?

[Devon]

I'm back in the area. You find Phil yet?

Eve didn't respond for several seconds, and Devon didn't miss the hint of reluctance that came with the pause.

[Eve]

Kind of. Might need some help.

[Devon]

Where?

[Eve]

Forest. Come meet me in the forest settlement's crafting area.

Connection closed.

Well that's vague.

But Devon wasn't complaining. In truth, this was a good thing since he needed to go check out the forest camp anyway.

Profession. Create Plot.

What is the objective of new plot?

Set objective as get Eve back on task.

It was becoming an annoyance how much the woman kept going off and doing her own thing. He needed to clear out whatever little things she had tying her down and get her back on track. Even if she still continued to ignore him to go off and level on her own, so long as she did something productive it was fine by Devon.

Calculating… Done.

Reading user intent to auto-generate Tasks… Done.

Accept Plot?

[Refocus a Powerful Warrior]

Tasks: [Find Phil]

Accept plot.

Confirmed.

He looked at his still available scheme and paused. He still wasn't sure exactly what his overall objective was. Survive the overseer's nefarious plans, yes obviously. But he felt that there was something missing in just that, and it frustrated him that he couldn't figure out what it was. Plus there was the issue that whatever rewards he got from it would be reduced by the Rebellion quest objective.

He put those thoughts from his mind and started moving. He wanted to talk to Trey before he left, so he went through the settlement looking for his friend.

He eventually found him talking to Susan while looking like he'd been resurrected from the dead. Devon had to hold in his laugh when he saw the massive bags under Trey's eyes.

"Hey, Trey," Devon called out, "You're not looking so good, you okay?"

"Ugh… I never should have suggested we drink that vile stuff… I need a day off…"

"Looks like I'll be taking care of internal matters for today," Susan said with a sigh, "Was there anything you needed, Erik?"

"I was wondering if anyone bought the datalogs in the shop yet."

Susan nodded, "Look over in the crafter's area for someone they call the archivist. They're a volunteer of sorts for the task."

"Volunteer my ass," Trey mumbled, "I have to pay them 100 talons a day or they keep threatening to offload the job to someone else."

"An archivist?"

"Yes, well, on the fourth day Trey made everyone pitch in so that a single copy of each of the datalogs in the shop could be bought. Then after everyone was done reading them it was decided that one person should hold onto them for the community, sort of like a librarian."

"So I go find them and ask to borrow a datalog?"

"Precisely."

"Uh, Erik," Trey called out, "Before you go, I wanted you to look at this" Trey brought out his tile and Devon tapped his own against it, initiating the datalog transference process. Devon's eyes lit up when he saw the intelligence within.

"Who made this?" He asked, surprised.

"That archivist also stumbled upon a kind of record keeping profession. I had them make a blank datalog that I could fill out myself."

"Thanks," Devon said, "I'll look this over right now and pass it back to you."

"Keep it. I've already memorized it."

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Devon started off towards the crafting area while looking over the datalog. It was filled with statistical information on the overseers, their number and levels. According to Trey's findings, there were no less than 67 overseers, with about 10% of them being in the 20s, 40% in the 30s, and 40% in the 40s. There were a total of 7 overseers in the level 50 range, plus Val Kazar as the singular level 63.

It took Devon around 20 minutes to track down the archivist and request the datalogs he wanted to read about, then another 20 minutes to read through them.

The datalogs he picked out were the two that had caught his eye when he first accessed the terminal, [Integration, Phases One Through Three] and [The Nuances of the Tutorial Procedure].

He started with the one on the integration process of new planets, or 'realms' as was the more common term apparently.

Perhaps the most important concept Devon had to wrap his mind around when going through the document was what it called benefactors. Basically, there were a lot of people around the Infinite Realms that had a vested interest in the people of newly integrated worlds. So these benefactors would broker a deal with the system to acquire the rights to personally initiate those that got taken.

Phase one consisted of the system individually nabbing the individuals it felt had the highest aptitude with the system and teleporting them away. These individuals were considered highly sought after, as their latent potential was often extremely high, and so many factions within the Infinite Realms sought to recruit them to nurture them and thus increase their strength in the long run.

Phase two was considerably less kind. It basically treated everyone that was left as bargain bin merchandise, and factions simply had to enter a buy-in for the chance to host a tutorial for a large group of initiates. This was still seen as very useful, because it was well documented that the system commonly missed latent potential in initiates, and it was still a good way to bolster a faction's numbers. According to the document, the tutorial helped expedite the growth of initiates far faster than was normal in the realms beyond.

Phase three occurred once all possible tutorials had concluded, and was essentially the process of mass terraforming the newly initiated world. It was supposed to inject massive amounts of mana into the creatures and environment of that world and bring them up to the base standard of the Infinite Realms. Any individual that chose to return to their world at the end of phase one or two were returned at the start of this terraforming.

That was something interesting Devon noticed, every individual that survived phases one and two was able to choose to return home, no strings attached. Evidently it was a forced system prompt that was given no matter the circumstances, and it offered a guarantee of return.

Going over the document gave Devon an immense sense of relief. While the tutorial process could be abused, like the situation he was in, phase one initiates were generally given a lot of sanctions by the system. Although it didn't seem like that was even necessary, because the amount factions had to spend to receive the chance to tutor phase one initiates was supposed to be near astronomic. So they were heavily incentivized to appeal to the ones they summoned, or at the end of their tutoring stint the initiate would just run on home.

Sis was a phase one initiate…

In the month since her disappearance he had suffered immensely, agonizing over what could have happened to her. But now there was all but a guarantee she was fine.

He smiled, a thought running through the back of his mind.

Something tells me whoever summoned her might regret doing so by now.

His sister was something beyond a runaway train, she was a person who reveled in causing trouble and creating problems. Though she almost always saw herself as the good guy in the end, even if she objectively wasn't.

While the first datalog brought him immense relief, the second was considerably less hopeful.

The tutorial process was much like phase one in that it offered factions the potential for new recruits, but it was layered in other incentives too.

The biggest incentive was the chance to claim new territory. Tutorials are always hosted in what are called abandoned worlds, realms where there is either no sentient life or little enough of it that it's almost unnoticeable. At the start of the tutorials, the benefactors that chose to become overseers of that tutorial are unable to interact with the world in almost any way.

This allows the initiates to either grow entirely on their own or with the assistance of the overseers, but the defining point of the tutorial period is that only the initiates can lay claim to the wonders of these new worlds during the course of the tutorial. Many of these worlds are ones that once held thriving civilizations that collapsed over time due to various reasons, and have left treasures behind. Usually, a tutorial will be hosted in an area of that world the system deems most fitting to give the initiates a fair amount of challenge with the wildlife.

After the tutorial phase is over there is the ten day gap between the end of the protected status and the end of the tutorial. It then becomes up to the overseers whether they wish to accept the initiates into their faction or coerce them to return home.

Cases where the initiates are slaughtered are rare, but they can happen. The system allows this to happen because it views the survivors of such a conflict to be a benefit to the state of the realms. It also views this conflict as balanced so long as the overseers do not act unexpectedly and violate the initiate's protected status.

Yeah, I guess we'll all be veterans after this is over, one way or another. Of course I'd get thrown in one of the fringe cases. Just my luck.

Still, it meant that if they did manage to overthrow the overseers then the ownership of this world would belong to whoever remained. Not that he'd have any idea what to do with a world of floating sky islands.

He took this newfound knowledge and added it to the info he'd gotten on the overseers from Trey and started forming some tactical calculations. Most likely, the overseer's primary goal was actually the right to claim this world, and they simply saw the exp they could get from slaughtering a few hundred stupid humans as a bonus. After all, it seemed a waste of a month to sit around here when they could go hunting in their own world.

Unless their own world is barren, or they don't have the means to access proper hunting grounds.

Devon decided to stop trying to work out the reasons for the overseer's actions. There was simply too much he didn't know about them and their culture to make an educated guess.

But what he could predict was how they would go about killing the humans within the tutorial. Most of Plainstown's crafters were below level 7, and the level 20 overseers would likely go through the crafters like a scythe through wheat, but other than that they seemed to have been brought along simply because it would be wasteful for higher leveled beings to mass eradicate low levels. The level 30s and 40s were the primary fighting force, and they would be responsible for dealing with the hunters. And finally, there were the elites, the ones who had been brought along to make sure everything went according to plan.

It was extremely lucky that the overseer he'd encountered in the mountain had only been one of the level 20s, otherwise he doubted he'd still be alive.

He returned the datalogs to the archivist and headed over to see if the crafter he'd commissioned was making good progress. To his shock, the item he'd ordered was already done.

"How… I only just put the order in last night."

"Buddy, believe me when I say you're one of about 400 hunters that needs a constant flow of equipment. I ain't got time to be taking it slow, and I sure as hell don't have time for a break. So go ahead, take it. And when you inevitably ruin it bring it back so I can get more exp out of fixing it."

The outfit Devon had wanted was something of a unique piece. It was meant to be a marriage of light and medium armor, with plates of repurposed metal woven under hard leather padding for layered defenses. But these armored bits only covered his torso and a bit of his midsection. Devon didn't care so much about his limbs or stomach when he could pop a healing item and fix them nearly instantly. His vitals were a different story. If he got stabbed through the lung or heart then he would probably die before the healing item could fix him.

The entire outfit was light gray, with the pants being akin to old world cargo pants with a good deal of pockets for storing various nicknacks. There wasn't too much of a point in the storage when he had his inventory, but he liked how loose they were.

Finally, he had a two-part cloak to top it all off. One part attached itself to a section around the collar, so it could be freely removed or discarded once Devon got into a fight. The other part attached itself around his waist, almost like a skirt. He'd divided it into two so he wouldn't have to deal with a single mass. Devon hoped the hood on it would help protect his identity as well as give him a measure of protection from the rain.

And he was glad he'd ordered it in advance, because he saw storm clouds brewing on the horizon.

I should probably go find Eve before it starts coming down.