Nix walked the paths of Arkania, something she did whenever she needed to get a feel of the settlement's feelings. It was something she hadn't been able to do nearly as much recently as she would have liked. Her focus was divided among several projects that had strict deadlines, taking up most of her time. Even so, she tried to make time to be among the people as much as she could.

In the beginning, the settlement had only been a means to an end. She and Zane had worked out the overseer's intentions in the first few days when they'd pooled their money together to acquire the datalog with details on the tutorial. From there they'd conspired to usurp the authority of the gangs that had ruled the forest and establish themselves as symbols to create a unified group.

Zane had initially suggested they simply abandon the majority of the humans to their fates, but Nix had rebelled against that idea. Her pride as a human would not allow her to turn face and run when some alien scum thought they could exterminate humanity like gutter rats. And so she needed the manpower of a full camp, who she would willingly send to battle to die and assert their worth in this cruel universe that humanity was a threat to be reckoned with.

But over time her thoughts had changed. With every day that passed she saw the people of Arkania more as people instead of tools. Perhaps it was because she was beginning to see a way out of the situation that didn't require her to recklessly throw them into battle against the overseers. Or maybe it was because of the unbearable guilt she felt seeing people earnestly look to her for support and guidance. She didn't know.

She watched as the massive corpse of a slain beast was dragged in through the main gate, no doubt going to the crafters to be harvested for usable parts and meat. She idly wondered if they couldn't have cut it up outside and stored it in their inventory, but she supposed the hunters were not butchers.

Still, the overall mood in the camp was extremely dour. The only parties that left the walls were massive groups of ten or more, but more commonly people just stayed within the walls. As it was Arkania was verging on being overcrowded. It was lucky there were no additional humans coming to them for shelter or they'd have had to expand the wall to make room.

First there was the rising tensions with Plainstown and now there's the Kal'o Kir problem.

Kal'o Kir was an issue that would likely pass once somebody finally managed to kill the former overseer, but Plainstown was a different issue entirely. In a place where she'd thought the greatest threat was the alien menace, it was turning out that no matter what planet or universe humanity found themselves on they would always be their own worst enemy.

In truth, she had no idea how to handle the people of Plainstown. She wanted to go over there personally to try and defuse the situation, but it seemed likely that they would only see it as a hollow gesture when she was unwilling to hand out punishments to the people of Arkania. If she started trying to enforce order Arkania would likely fall apart.

Arkania was simply structured too differently from Plainstown. Not only were their ideologies completely incompatible, Arkania had much more internal tension due to the fact that it could roughly be seen as a grouping of several smaller groups who all coexisted. They bent the knee to the idea of freedom that Arkania was founded on rather than any single person. Nix simply happened to be the figurehead for that ideal, and so she was the de facto leader.

This was the culture she'd envisioned and cultivated, one that wouldn't be cowed by the threat of the overseers and would fight for the shared dream they all believed in. But now that very same culture stood in the way of her being able to properly handle the situation with Plainstown.

If she took action against any of the individuals she could reasonably prove had incited an incident with Plainstown she risked antagonizing the group they belonged to. And since all of the incidents she had evidence of were linked to individuals in different groups she would risk turning half the settlement against her.

I have to find some way to placate those buffoons in the plains so this issue doesn't escalate, but my hands are tied. I just have to keep problems at bay until the end of the tutorial. Then all these little feuds will dissipate in the wind as everyone scatters to Infinity.

She wanted to reserve all her hidden aces for the overseers, but if the people of Plainstown wouldn't let up she'd be forced to annihilate them. It wasn't a question of whether she had the capability to. Ever since she'd visited that place the power had been available to her. She simply needed to spend a bit more time to ensure its functionality.

A commotion down the street drew her attention, and she opened her eyes wide in surprise at the sight of an overseer covered in blood charging down the path. The residents of Arkania moved to surprise in shock as the reptilian bolted forward.

[Kal'o Kir - Level 47]

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What!?

Nix quickly drew her weapon out of her tile, preparing to engage the ex-overseer. Her weapon of choice was a thin sword similar to a rapier, but her crafter hadn't been able to make something that delicate with the camp's materials that primarily consisted of bone. And so she'd settled with a short curved sword.

Did she come for me? I heard she got Trey over in Plainstown, but that was during an expedition. I didn't think she'd so brazenly burst into Arkania!

Nix forced herself to ignore the amount of blood that covered every inch of Kal'o Kir's body. It was true the ex-overseer was level 47, but Nix hadn't expected it to be able to cut a path all the way from the entrance of Arkania to the crafting area with such ease.

Nix hastily fell into her stance, even knowing it was futile. Her attention had been too divided to keep up with the elites lately, and there was no chance she'd be able to fend off a level 47. But to her surprise, Kal'o Kir dashed right past her.

Nix turned slowly, completely lost. She couldn't comprehend how the ex-overseer had gotten into the camp and understood even less what its objective was. But as she saw the structure behind her the gears in her mind clicked together.

Kal'o Kir burst through the wall of Phil's bar, bowling over a man who'd been enjoying one of the barkeep's fine meals.

Damn it, of course! Her target is Eve! But why? Why now?

Nix burst into action, leaping through the hole in the wall after Kal'o Kir. Almost any other member of the camp was more or less expendable, but not Phil. He was a pillar of the community almost equal in status to Nix, and his connection to Eve made him a valuable asset.

It only took Kal'o Kir a second to identify the old man, but that was enough time for Nix to be upon her. She tried to stab her short blade into the back of Kal'o Kir's skull before the ex-overseer had a chance to react, but it was like Kal'o Kir had eyes in the back of their head. A scaled fist crashed into the side of Nix before her short blade got close enough the pierce the skin.

Nix slammed into one of the tables, spilling food and drink everywhere. The blow had hurt, but it hadn't truly been meant to damage her.

When she looked back she saw a figure slip into the blind spot Nix had created. The man brought a long curved ivory blade with a strange handle up in an attempt to pierce Kal'o Kir's side.

But the ex-overseer was ready for even that, and whirled to kick the blade aside. A second ivory blade came out from within the stranger's clothes and left a gash along Kal'o Kir's side, but he'd overextended himself to do it. Kal'o Kir's scaled fist came down from above and delivered a hammer blow to the man's head, slamming him to the floor.

Nix tried to get up and rejoin the fight, but Kal'o Kir was a flurry of action. Even as Nix and everyone else (finally comprehending what was happening) leaped toward the ex-overseer, Kal'o Kir dashed towards the helpless Phil and grabbed him by the neck before dashing straight through the wall behind him.

Nix pursued through the second hole in the wall, but wasn't able to catch up to the level 47's superior speed. Kal'o Kir burst into the central area of the camp, and before anyone there could register what was happening, touched the terminal at the center of Arkania and blinked out of existence.

Damn it! Fuck!

Nix took deep breaths to calm herself. She couldn't change what had happened, so it was important she keep a level head and assess damage and decide on her next course of action.

First, establish what happened.

It took half an hour of questioning, but she eventually came to the conclusion that Kal'o Kir had entered the camp from within the corpse of the giant beast she had seen hauled through the gates earlier. That explained how she'd gotten past the guards at the front without alerting the entire settlement.

Nix mentally filed away every individual associated with the event for later. The question of how and why Kal'o Kir had gotten within the beast and brought into the camp was a dire one, and every person involved would be heavily scrutinized. Nix hadn't anticipated that one of the humans could be working for the overseers, but it was looking extremely likely right now.

Working with the overseers? Wait, no. More likely they were only working with Kal'o Kir, right? But if that's the case why have none of them come forward about it?

The only possible way she could imagine a human working with that monster was if they were threatened, so it didn't make sense why they wouldn't come clean after the fact. Nobody in the tutorial would blame somebody for being desperate to avoid being subjected to Kal'o Kir's knife.

Nix tried to find the man that had joined her in counter-attacking Kal'o Kir, but he was nowhere to be found. It was incredibly disappointing that so many residents of Arkania were so slow on the uptake when Kal'o Kir had been running right by them. She'd expected better of her people.

So she was disappointed when she couldn't find the man that had been bowled over when Kal'o Kir had gone through the wall yet still had better reaction time than everyone else that had been in the room.

What a shame, he would have been perfect for that. Actually, this might be the perfect time to use that.

More than anything she needed to get Phil back and prevent the overseers from capitalizing on the opportunity Kal'o Kir had created to drag Eve out into the open. Nix wasn't too worried about Eve fighting the ex-overseer in a one on one fight, Eve's level had exploded recently, leaving even Zane in the dust. Such raw talent could not be underestimated. Most likely, Kal'o Kir felt the need to deal with her immediately before she could be allowed to surpass the ex-overseer's level.

The problem was that it was likely the rest of the overseers saw Eve in much the same way Kal'o Kir did, a meteoric talent that threatened to surpass each and every one of them if left unchecked. Which meant they'd likely attempt to take advantage of the situation and ensure Eve's death.

Yes, this is the perfect time to begin my gambit.