Devon's head hurt like hell when he awoke. When he tried to move his arm to rub his temple he realized his head wasn't the only thing that hurt. His entire body was still covered in burns from the aftermath of the battle with the apes.

He looked over towards Eve and saw her sitting by a fire she'd made. There was also a terminal nearby as well, which was strange because he was certain that hadn't been there before.

He took a moment to look over his condition before he popped a healing item in his mouth. Even if the things couldn't fully heal everything they'd at least closed up all of the holes the bone architect had poked in his body.

Ah, I still feel so weak. I suppose that's what happens when your body is covered with extensive untreated burns.

As the healing pill did its work he took a look over the slew of system messages left suspended in his vision.

Clear – Class E Dungeon [Mountain Den]

Calculating performance… Done.

Performance Rating: A

Contribution: 60%

Tailoring A-Grade Reward based on Contribution… Done.

Reward added to Inventory.

He looked opened his inventory to see what the system had given him for his best performance rating yet and opened his eyes wide in shock.

[E-Grade Rejuvenation Token]

Use to instantly reverse causality and restore the body to peak physical condition. Only usable while user's race is E-Grade or lower.

Reverse causality?

Forget the healing items, the system had given him something that was a truly absurd item. If he understood the meaning of the description correctly it could instantly heal him from any injury. The healing pills were excellent, but they took several minutes for the effect to run its course, meaning they weren't an instantaneous problem fixer.

But with this he didn't have to worry about that. Missing every limb? No problem. Burning alive? No problem. It could even potentially save him from more outlandish situations, like drowning. It'd only buy him a few more minutes in that scenario, but it'd be a lot more than what the healing pills could provide.

Even as he relished the ideas that swirled in his mind of the ways he could use it he reminded himself that it wasn't something to use flippantly like the healing pills. The system had given him an ace up his sleeve, and if he played it wrong then it didn't matter how good it was if he wasted it.

So just what the hell was that?

Even though he'd been the one to experience it, what he'd gone through in the fight against the shining silver was strange to think back on. There was no hint left of the feeling of seeing the world as it truly was, whatever state the ape had awakened had fallen dormant once again after he fell unconscious.

Of course, he knew intrinsically that the ape's attacks had forced his soul to stir to life and retaliate, but he didn't understand a lot of the other things he'd experienced or done. He'd just known he could, and so he had.

For the first time since that night that felt like it had been so long ago he felt like he understood what the system prompt had meant when it said that spirituality was a base necessity to interact with the wider system. With his awakened eyes he had been able to see.

When he'd entered this new reality the system had told him he was being tethered. Since that day he'd assumed that word had meant that his physical form was being bound to the world beyond his own, or adapting it to better be able to gain power. And while these things were likely still true, he'd missed the primary purpose.

The system had tethered his soul, the core of his being, to itself. And through that connection he could interact with the world around him in ways it saw fit.

Ordinary people only interacted with that structure on a surface level. Killing, questing, gaining levels and wealth. This was the structure the system put in place for everyday beings. But his spirit allowed him to look beyond that limitation, to gaze upon the true nature of the world. He'd tapped into a fraction of that power when he'd located the brewmaster's spirit dungeon.

He felt certain he could do even more than that if he knew how, but he didn't. All he had done was get a glimpse behind the curtain. That, and destroy the soul of an enlightened ape.

If I could learn how to replicate that state I could ascend beyond physical limitations and be virtually unmatched within the confines of this tutorial.

Devon focused his mind, searching for that sensation and trying to bring it forth once again. But as he did so a piercing pain shot through his brain like a bullet, almost causing him to pass out. He had to wait several minutes for the pain to pass before he could think clearly again.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy to use.

With a sigh, he consigned himself to look at the stats he'd gained from four levels. However, when he looked upon his status screen he received the biggest shock yet.

[Status]

Name: Devon Wells

Race: [E-Grade Human]

Level: 37

Class: [Cursed Warrior]

Profession: [Cursed Schemer - Level 3]

Mana: 230/230

Talents: [Spear Proficiency - Level 6], [Sword Proficiency - Level 6], [Hammer Proficiency - Level 5], [Dagger Proficiency - Level 3], [Axe Proficiency - Level 7], [Quarterstaff Proficiency - Level 6]

Skills: [Sever], [Shatter], [Lightning Thrust], [Lacerate], [Split], [Bone Breaker], [The Mask], [Refine], [Jammer]

Abilities: [Respite], [Small Presence]

Magic: [Light], [Fireball], [Lightning Imbuement II], [Adrenaline], [Boost]

Titles: Initiate, Cursed(3), Vicious, Ambitious, Giantslayer, Lord of Massacre, Novice Dungeoneer, Independant, Discoverer

Strength: 21(232)

Dexterity: 18(228)

Vitality: 17(221)

Endurance: 17(220)

Arcane: 17(224)

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Spirit: 4(52)

Free Points: 180

Talons: 4105

What the hell happened to my stats?

Devon stared in blank confusion at the way the system was displaying his stats. Then as he did some mental calculations he slowly came to realize with horror what the unfamiliar numeric display meant. He clenched his fist, trying to gauge his strength and confirmed his hypothesis.

The numbers within parentheses were what his stats should be. The number in front of that was what they currently were. As it stood, Devon's active stats were no better now than they had been when he'd been a level 10.

The only answer he could imagine as the cause was his spirit. He'd just utilized it in a way he hadn't even known he could, and it had been the first time it had ever taken direct damage. Most likely the ape's spiritual attacks had wounded it, and that wound was being reflected back onto his physical body.

He'd felt the weakness in the midst of the battle, but hadn't paid it much mind. It was normal to experience a reduction in strength when you get blasted when a beam that left burns all over your body and impaled, after all.

His support for this theory was that spirit was the only stat that didn't line up with where his stats should be at his current level. All of his other stats within parentheses were what he expected they'd be. But spirit was 2 points short, and he didn't have any answers as to why.

This is bad.

The spirit was something he'd been hesitant to mess around with because of the extreme lack of information on it. It was something nobody else seemed to possess, and until now its uses had been entirely unknown. The only event he'd correlated it with was when the system had awakened it, and something had reached through the void of space to communicate with him.

If he couldn't find some way to heal it before the protected period expired then everything he was working towards would be worth jack shit. He'd be forced to hide in a cave like some coward, waiting for Trey to bring him good news. That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

So when he saw a small blip change on the status screen he felt relief pour through his being like a dam being opened.

Strength: 22(232)

Dexterity: 19(228)

Vitality: 17(221)

Endurance: 17(220)

Arcane: 17(224)

Spirit: 4(51)

Only two things had changed, and they were so small they were almost imperceptible. The number that represented what should be his maximum spirit had gone down by 1, while his current dexterity had gone up by 1. That was all that had changed, yet it was enough for him to finally figure out what was going on.

I was right. It's like my spirit, or perhaps my soul itself, is wounded. And it's dragging down all of my other attributes.

Of the stats in parentheses, only spirit had gone down. And of the stats in front of parentheses, only dexterity and strength had gone up. It made him redo his calculations, but it was the key to finding the answer.

At level 37 his spirit stat should have been at 54, but that wasn't what it showed in parentheses. It had initially shown 52, and now 51. Taking the ratio of the active 4 to the 52-51 in parentheses gave him the same ratio that all of his other stats had been reduced by.

Basically, he had somewhere between 7-8% of the spirit shown in parentheses, and that was the same percentage that was applied to the rest of his stats. So when spirit had gone down the percentage of current stats to 'should be' stats had been raised, and the increase had been small enough that it had raised both his strength and dexterity along with it, but just barely not enough to raise any of his other stats.

In other words, though his five basic attributes would slowly return to how they were, his spirit had been irrevocably damaged.

Damn. Well, it's not like I can't build it back up again with Potential. I just need to be sure not to run into anything else that attacks it directly. And I shouldn't try to enter that state again until I have a good enough stockpile that I won't accidentally kill myself.

He reasoned that most of the damage that had been done to his spirit had likely come from the ape, but he had a feeling that a small part of it had come from him remaining in that transcendent state. His reasoning for this was that the shining silver had given him two levels when it had died. Those levels would have given him an additional 4 points in spirit, the same number he was at currently. So it shouldn't have been possible for him to acquire those levels because if his spirit had truly been pushed to zero in that final clash his soul would have been extinguished alongside the ape's.

The most reasonable explanation was that being in that state drained the spirit. After the clash with the ape he'd likely been left with 1 or 2 spirit remaining, then that had been raised to 5 or 6 after the levels before helping Eve had burned away the remaining 1 or 2, leaving him with 4.

If I hadn't passed out when I did I wouldn't have even known it was happening, and might have accidentally died without having any idea as to why.

Finally finished with his musing, Devon turned to Eve, "So what's with the terminal?"

"Hm? Oh, those show up when you clear a dungeon. Didn't you know?"

"The only other two dungeons I've fully cleared were spirit dungeons."

"Ah."

Devon waited for her to say something else, but she didn't. She just stared into her fire as if in deep contemplation.

"Something the matter?"

"I've just been thinking."

"About Kal'o Kir?" He knew the executioner had been on her mind ever since their unexpected meeting.

She nodded, "And everything else as well. The strife between the two camps, what'll happen in a few days when the protected period is up, all of it. Say, these ruins spread throughout the entire mountain, don't they?"

Devon eyed her cautiously. He didn't like where this was going but he knew there was no point in lying about it. The answer was obvious for anyone to see, "Yeah, it's as I said before, the surface of the mountain covers up an entire layered city. I have no idea how deep it goes, but if you go to the other side of the mountain you can see it all exposed to the world."

"I see. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to just hide out somewhere deep inside until everything is over then, huh?"

"...But you couldn't bring everyone. Even 20 or more people and the risk of being tracked becomes insanely high."

"Yeah. But it probably wouldn't matter for just one or two, right?"

His gaze hardened, "You're planning to run away? To abandon both of the camps and just leave? I thought you were more principled than that."

"So did I. But I don't have any idea what's going on. Unlike you, I'm not good at understanding the relationships between two factions, I don't know strategy, and I don't have a knack for leadership like Trey or Nix. I can't think of a way to do everything on my own, no matter how much I level up. So instead of letting everything I can't control slip through my fingers, wouldn't it be better if I focus on protecting what I actually care about?"

"You think Phil would be okay with the two of you leaving everything to sort itself out?"

"It doesn't matter what he thinks. All that matters is that we live to see the end of this tutorial. Or did you actually have something in mind? Come to think of it, I haven't heard what you and Trey plan to do. Not only do you have the overseers to contend with, now you've got this mess back at the camps to sort out."

"Trey can worry about the camps. For the overseers I'm planning to put together a squad of some of the higher leveled people in Plainstown to coordinate assassinations on lone overseers. It should help drastically reduce the number of them we have to deal with by the end of the protected period. It's been taking a while because I'm trying to select people who are trustworthy enough that they won't blab to everyone else about the overseer's true goal."

He smiled, "I haven't bothered asking you because you don't work well in a team, so I don't think you'd be a good fit."

Of course, everything that was coming out of his mouth was a lie. He'd anticipated the question of what he and Trey were planning on doing and had decided to run with the assassination squad story. A squad with such a purpose would never come to be, because he knew that the overseers would adapt to the tactic and most likely prepare ambushes to eliminate it.

Eve was silent for a few moments before she said, "I should have figured you'd just lie. I don't know why I even bothered asking."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a terrible liar, what else?"

This was why Eve was such a troublesome person for Devon to deal with. Not only was she bullheaded and simple, she was remarkably perceptive. Looking back on it, she'd likely realized Devon's true nature even before he had. She'd treated him with disdain from the instant he came back, after his experiences from the first week had changed him in ways he hadn't understood.

Still, it was true he was a bad liar. Before all this Devon was a somewhat model student and a chess player. Not exactly the lifestyle of someone who needed to practice lying a whole lot.

"So you'll run," He said.

"Yeah, I'll run."

"I see. Good luck with that then."

Eve didn't stick around much longer before touching the terminal and disappearing, leaving Devon to his thoughts.

Should I have tried to bring her in on the real plan? With her current state of mind it might not have evoked the visceral reaction I've been afraid of. No, letting her in on that would have probably only made things worse. What could I have done? What should I do?