When Devon awoke, it was to the sound of voices and a crackling fire. He opened his eyes, and the absence of daylight made him realize he'd been unconscious for whatever had remained of the day, and the suns had set into night.

Devon looked up and saw a single moon, much larger than the one he'd known back on earth. Yet another stark reminder that his old life was dead and gone.

He sat up, putting a hand to his head as he felt a sudden bout of nausea.

"Oh hey, you're up," Trey said from beside him.

"How long was I out?" Devon asked, looking around. He was back at the terminal, though the spot had changed somewhat since he'd seen it last.

Much of the errant grass surrounding the crack of light had been cut down, and there were several tents propped up all over the new clearing. Several campfires blazed, with small groups huddling around each of them for warmth and the comfort of light.

The campfire Devon and Trey were next to had one other occupant, one Devon recognized with surprise. It was the redhead that had served them right before they were taken, though she looked a little different. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, but it didn't take away the frazzled look it had acquired from time spent roughing it out in the wild. Her leather armor already looked completely worn out, like it had borne the brunt of several ravagings. There was also a soft but dangerous glint in her eyes.

"A couple hours," Trey said, "The damn system didn't bother warning me the healing pills would do that if you took another before a timer ran out. I dragged you back here and set up camp, and other people started showing up over time. We'd hoped the terminals would be safe spaces like the overseer's camp, but there have already been a few monster attacks." Devon looked out at the edges of the makeshift camp and saw several people standing guard.

"I see. I do believe we met before," Devon said, turning to the redhead, "But I don't think I ever caught your name."

"It's Eve. You know you can just identify someone for that, right? Actually maybe you wouldn't, sorry."

Eve? Isn't that the name from the ladder? Oh, I should probably check that now.

[Level Ladder]

1. Eve - Level 8

2. Ray - Level 7

3. Stein - Level 6

4. Zane - Level 6

5. Nix - Level 6

6. Ingrid - Level 6

7. Kyle - Level 6

8. Ash - Level 6

9. Brad - Level 5

10. Trey - Level 5

[Talon Ladder]

1. Eve - 186

2. Ray - 148

3. Joe - 143

4. Nix - 89

5. Stein - 76

6. Ingrid - 57

7. Zane - 54

8. Devon - 51

9. Ash - 49

10. Damon - 48

Devon's eyes opened wide at seeing the ladder. "How the hell are you already level 8?" He asked in wonder, "And you too, Trey. Everyone is progressing so fast."

Eve shrugged, "I guess this lifestyle just fits some of us better than others. I'd guess the majority still haven't passed level 2 or 3. I've been running around like crazy trying to find Phil, but I haven't had any luck yet."

"The pub owner? I thought you were just a random employee."

"That's what I usually tell people, but honestly we're related. I've just stopped here for now because there's no use searching in the dark like this. I'll just walk up on a group of monsters I can't even see and get pounced on." She sighed in frustration.

Eve stretched her arms and pulled out a piece of meat from her tile before sticking it on one of the starting spears and holding it over the fire to roast before continuing, "It's not like stopping was a complete loss though, I have learned a few interesting things," She stared at Devon as she said it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a pretty damn good piece of info that you can't just spam healing or it'll knock you out flat. If I had done that when I was hunting solo I don't doubt I'd have passed out in a bush and been preyed upon by a passing mawbird. Your other situation is also pretty interesting, though neither I or your friend have any idea what causes it."

"Other situation?"

"Devon," Trey said, "Remember how with every monster we've hunted so far, you were always the one that got attacked?"

"Yeah, I do, now that you mention it." Now that Devon thought about it, it was rather strange that he'd been the one continually on the receiving end of the monster's attacks. Even the mawbird that interrupted his fight with the crocomander should have attacked Trey first. He not only would have been closer to the bird, but his guard was down, making him easy prey. Instead, the creature had gone right for Devon.

"Well, after you took the second healing item things got a little… hectic. I think I must have encountered at least seven different mawbirds, except none of them really seemed to care about me. They were all after you."

"Couldn't that just be because I was unconscious?"

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I don't think aiming for a weakling would normally override something's basic instinct to protect itself," Eve said, "When I stumbled upon you two there was one that kept gunning for your motionless body even as it rushed into your friend's blade."

"Yeah, it was super weird," Trey said, "It was like they didn't care about themselves at all, so long as they got a chance to try and kill you."

"Maybe they're all just stupid?"

"Nah, the ones I fought all at least had basic survival instincts," Eve said, "So what's up with that? Surely you've gotta know something, or have at least an idea as to why."

Devon frowned, confused. Then he remembered the system's words. Do not expect mercy, Disdained One.

"It might be because I pissed off the system, though I didn't expect the monsters to care that much about it."

"How'd you manage to do that?" Eve asked.

"I'd rather not say," Devon replied with a straight face. His gun could potentially be a massive hidden ace, but if its existence was public knowledge then it would lose a lot of its strategic value. Eve seemed a decent sort, but Devon wasn't prepared to trust her just yet.

Eve just shrugged, "Well, I guess it's useful info that you can even manage to piss the system off. I'd assumed it was just an eternally neutral kind of thing. Though honestly, it doesn't seem all that bad of a thing to be constantly targeted by the beasts."

"How the hell do you figure that?" Devon asked incredulously.

"Because it makes them easier to hunt that way," Eve said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ah, that's right. I need to stop applying common sense to the situation we're in now. She's absolutely right, if I used my status as a Disdained One to lure monsters to me I could potentially farm exp far faster than anyone else would be capable of. But at the same time… it'd be so incredibly dangerous.

Not only would the strategy mean continually throwing himself into dangerous situations, but Devon had a significant disadvantage compared to everyone else. If he couldn't figure out how to allocate his free points then he'd be continually going into fights weaker than his level should indicate. It didn't seem to matter too much going against the low level enemies they'd fought so far, but as they progressed Devon would fall further and further behind unless he did something.

"Anyway, back to our earlier conversation," Eve said, looking at Trey.

"Ah, right. Devon, we were just talking about the so-called integration of Earth, and the takings."

Devon immediately perked up, "I'm listening."

"So can we all agree that the lot of us have probably been 'taken?'" Eve asked, fetching her meat from the fire.

"Yeah," Devon and Trey replied simultaneously.

"So does that mean everyone else that got taken also ended up in a tutorial like this one?"

"I mean, probably," Trey said.

"It's interesting how big our group is," Devon muttered, "And it's equally interesting that we're apparently block number 247 of Earth initiates. I'm pretty sure there have been thousands of takings, so the numbers definitely don't line up."

"I'd bet 15 or so takings make up a tutorial," Eve said, "There were a bunch of different ethnicities mixed in with the starting group, so it'd make sense if a bunch of us were taken randomly from throughout the world. But if the tutorial process is considered a second stage initiation, what's the first stage?"

Devon thought back to all the research he'd done on the subject over the month after his sister had been taken, "I think we can probably regard the very first takings as the first stage of initiation."

"The first takings?"

"Yeah. The takings started becoming infamous when they happened to large groups of people, but really the first takings were on a much smaller scale. It was so small actually, that nobody even realized something was off until the larger scale takings attracted the attention of the media."

"What do you mean?"

"For about a week before the takings took the world by storm, missing persons reports increased by over 300 percent. Many of these reports included accounts that were thought to be crazy. Friends and family disappearing before people's eyes. Office workers sitting down at their desks, but security footage showed no evidence of them ever leaving. Stuff like that."

"Wow, you know a surprising amount on the subject."

"My sister was included among the list of missing persons that week."

Eve's impressed expression immediately turned somber, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it. We're all in that boat now too, remember?"

Eve nodded, relieved she hadn't overstepped her bounds.

Huh. She's a lot nicer than her warrior exterior would suggest.

"So we think the first stage initiates were put in their own tutorials? That doesn't bode very well," Trey said with a look of worry.

"Maybe, maybe not. I think we can assume by the individualistic nature of those takings that their purpose was far more selective than that of the second stage. Honestly, the second stage feels a lot like buying a bargain bin and fishing around in it for hidden treasures."

"Well that's a wonderful way to describe us," Eve said, muttering 'bargain bin' under her breath.

"Hey, I'm in here with you. But think about it. The second stage takings all happened in places with large concentrations of people. I think the goal of the first stage was seeking some specific kind of person, and the second stage is abducting as many contestants as possible to see if the tutorial can find hidden gems. Like panning for gold."

"You and your metaphors," Eve muttered.

"Get used to it," Trey said sympathetically, "He's a top grade academic, there's no saving him."

"Anyway, the real questions are these; what happened to the first stage initiates, and what is the third stage initiation like?"

"Oh yeah," Trey said, "That datalog in the terminal did mention a third stage, didn't it? You think we should save up for that?"

The question caught Devon off guard. On one hand, he desperately wanted to know what kind of situation his sister had been put in. He had no doubt she could survive out in the wilderness like this for a month, but if she wasn't in a tutorial then that changed things. He honestly didn't care much about the third stage. He hadn't left that much of true importance behind with no parents and no other relevant family or friends.

But even with the burning desire to know the truth of what had happened to his sister, he couldn't do it, "The datalogs are just too expensive for us right now. We need to put our energy toward survival. There isn't anything we could do with that information while we're stuck here anyway."