"So what exactly was the bow used for?" Devon asked.

He was standing inside Phil's wrecked bar, waiting with Eve while the old man gathered essential items. The old man wasn't happy about being forced to leave, but he knew that there was no fighting against Eve's decision so he might as well have a chance to gather his things before being whisked away.

"Hm? Oh, I chopped up a tree so I could sling it around a thick branch and use it to shoot myself into the air. Worked like a charm, though the landing hurt like hell."

"I…" Devon trailed off, not knowing how to properly respond to that. In the end, he decided it was better to simply not address the matter any further. Eve's thought processes might as well be those of an alien, too strange for him to properly comprehend.

"Oh yeah, you've got some of those marks of karmic hate or whatever since you've got the Cursed title, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Devon said warily.

"Here, take a look at this," She said as she passed him a system display of her Blessed title, "The system liked the fact that I killed Kal'o Kir and gave me as many marks of karmic affection as she had marks of karmic hate."

"Karmic disdain," Devon idly corrected her as he thought over the implications.

Damn, if I'd known that I might have wanted to figure out a plan that involved me killing Kal'o Kir myself. I could have probably gotten my 3 marks of karmic disdain down to 1, assuming they negate each other. Then again, maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea.

If he lost his status as a cursed being there was no telling what would happen to his class and profession. Would the cursed class and profession remain even after he wasn't cursed, and even if all that changed was the removal of the cursed moniker would the class and profession remain the same?

His biggest ace in the hole was the benefits that Cursed Schemer brought him. Potential helped level the playing field between him and the other initiates, but the stats from his plots truly elevated him.

Plus, the benefits and detriments of karmic affection and disdain were still not entirely known. He was very familiar with being cursed and how the system forced him to use input commands for everything and how every wild beast in existence wanted him dead with a passion, but he highly doubted that was all there was to it. And the effects of karmic affection were entirely unknown.

"By the way, nice job finding Phil so fast. I expected you to take a little longer than you did," Eve said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," He said absentmindedly. The ramifications of that little detail threatened to balloon out of proportion.

He'd found Phil wandering the forest while calling out for anybody around. It had been such a surprise that Devon had initially suspected it to be a trap.

But no, according to the old man a small group of people had freed him immediately after Zane had left the place Phil had been hidden. By the way they spoke, Phil assumed they must have been part of a larger, well-coordinated, group. He'd described the one who seemed to be the leader as giving off the vibe of ex-military.

A military man operating in a group? There's no way they were there by coincidence.

The only possibility that made sense was that they worked for Nix. There was nobody else in the tutorial with the influence to assemble a group like that. If they were independent Trey would have heard about them.

The question was what Nix intended to do with them, and if he should do anything about it. She'd played her hand, and he didn't imagine her to be the kind of person to try to take it back.

For now I need to step back and observe. I can't afford to make any moves right now with Zane loose. Even being here right now is a risk.

As an opponent, Zane wasn't a massive threat. But he was one of the very few initiates who'd seen his spear, and if he had even half a brain he'd connect the two instances. No, it was the fact that Zane could, or maybe already had, reveal his existence that was so threatening. But no matter what he did at the moment, there was nothing he could do about it. Zane was in the wind, and Devon highly doubted he'd be foolish enough to show his face before Devon again.

"Oi, Phil! You ready to go or what?" Devon called impatiently.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm as ready as ever," The old man said as he came out from the back room.

As they were walking back towards the terminal Phil said, "Eve… Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

Eve's gaze hardened, "Absolutely." Phil's kidnapping had clearly redoubled her resolve.

"But to simply leave everyone here behind…"

"Phil, so long as you're safe, nothing else matters."

Phil could tell by her expression that any further attempts at persuasion were useless. The group teleported to Plainstown, where Devon saw them off.

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"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here," Nix said, hand to her temple as she sat on the wooden chair in her command tent.

Zane stood in the entrance, a conflicted look on his face, "Nix, I-"

"Just shut up. I don't want to hear a single word out of your mouth. Anyone else, I could have accepted. It would have been so easy, just a quick elimination and the problem is solved. But it just had to be fucking you."

"I just-"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I should have known this would happen after you suggested we should run away from this crap. I just didn't think you'd go far enough to be a sellout. What'd they offer you, huh? What could possibly have been so precious that you'd betray everything and everybody around you?"

"Your life."

Nix opened her mouth to say something else to continue her tirade but was brought up short by Zane's answer. However, her rage quickly flared back up, "For such a stupid reason?"

"Stupid? Sorry, I'm pretty sure I remember us swearing we'd look out for each other no matter what as we stood over mom's fucking hospital bed."

"Don't you mention her. Don't you dare…"

"I made her a fucking promise. One I'm not going to roll over and forget because some losers who couldn't figure their shit out on their own depend on us now."

"So you'll just give up before even trying, right? You're pathetic."

"I'd rather be pathetic and live than be delusional and watch the only person I care about in this hellhole die!"

"Delusional? My squad just took down a level 55 overseer, one of their best. And that's only the start."

"You've kicked the hornet's nest, do you honestly think they'll just sit around and let themselves be killed off? Your weapon might have worked if it wasn't for that barrier around their encampment, but as it stands there's nothing you can do that they can't counter."

"We'll just have to see about that," Nix said. She wondered how long her traitor brother had been working with the reptilian overseers, how much info he'd given them.

Maybe if I'd told him what that weapon could do before it came to this… No, by the time I learned what it could do he was probably already on their side. And I can't just give that information up in hopes he'll change his mind. No, he's a coward through and through. He'd be just as likely to betray me again, and that would truly ruin everything.

"Zane," She said, fighting to bring a measure of composure back to her voice, "Leave. Leave and never return. I don't ever want to see your face again."

"Nix, wait-"

Nix snapped her finger, and 10 of her elite squad stepped out of the folds of the tent where they'd been hiding. She continued holding her hand high, a threat that she'd snap her finger again. They were siblings, they'd known each other long enough that he would know she wasn't bluffing.

A look of sadness, or maybe regret, flashed across his face before he steeled his gaze. "Fine. But you should know something. There's a man here in the tutorial you should be careful of. His real name is Devon, but I've seen him somehow change his face and the name the system displays to Gregor and Jason. He also uses a golden spear, but I'm sure he won't be stupid enough to use it. I thought you should know, as he might be the missing puzzle piece you've been looking for."

And with that, Zane walked out of the tent.

"Family business, huh? Didn't realize he was your brother," Ivan, the man who led Nix's elite squad, said.

"Not anymore. If you see him again, either inside or outside Arkania, kill him."

"Very good." Ivan was a man of strict logic. Nix knew if she showed any more hesitation over Zane he'd lose respect for her. He looked at her and asked, "What do you make of his last statement? We observed him engaging a man named Jason in combat, and as he said the man used a golden spear."

"We shouldn't take anything he says at face value. Even so, the existence of such a person would explain the incidents that occur between us and Plainstown. That's what he meant by missing piece, it would be easy for such a person to orchestrate everything that's happened. And it makes sense why the only alibi we've got for all the involved suspects is that they were sleeping."

"The real problem is the other name he said. We can't take action unless we want to further escalate the conflict, potentially on faulty info."

"Gregor… The man who's one of the close aids to Trey." Nix understood well the potential ramifications of that little tidbit.

"We have to question whether everything that's happened was Trey's doing or the work of this mystery man. I could see Trey making a play for power, but I can't imagine any reason why someone alone would try to set up a conflict between the camps."

"Who knows? This place brings out the worst in people, we saw that well enough with Ray. We can deal with that later though. If the overseers move as we anticipate then we should be able to settle the matter tomorrow."

"You've actually managed to get that thing working, then?" Ivan couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face. It only served to piss Nix off even more than she was already.

Everybody keeps underestimating me. I'll show them all who's the top dog in this shitty tutorial.

"Mobility is still an issue, but it shouldn't matter so long as they're all in one place."

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"Well, the dog comes limping back," Val Kazar said as Zane walked into the arena the overseers had fashioned for themselves.

For the life of him, Zane couldn't understand why they had wasted so much time on the construction. If they were planning to move to this planet, as Val Kazar said they were, then real infrastructure such as lodging would have been better.

"Did you expect me to run away?"

"Yes."

"You don't have much faith in me."

"Should I? Not only are you a coward who betrayed his own people, you're also a failure who couldn't subjugate a human that isn't even on the ladder. I'm questioning why I even bothered letting you retain access to this area."

"I have information-"

"I'm sure you do. In fact, I'm sure you did even before Olan Tir, the level 55 you were working with, got slaughtered by Nix's warhounds! And don't even try to say you didn't know about that little detail."

It was true, he'd held back as much information as he could when he'd made his deal with the overseers. He was the worst kind of spy, someone who didn't have the will to fully commit to their treachery and instead relied on half measures.

But Zane didn't care if he was the scummiest person in the entirety of the tutorial, someone who placed bets on both sides of a conflict, not caring who won as long as the person he cared about survived.

"Devon," Was the only word Zane said. He knew Devon was the one the overseers wanted above all else. He only hoped the information he had on the man would be enough to salvage his relationship with the reptilian aliens.

"Wasn't there. I have a witness, the one who was there working with Eve was a human named Jason, not Devon."

"He has a skill that allows him to change his face and name."

"And what evidence do you have of this?"

"He has a spear that someone else I know uses."

"Is that all?"

"A level 37 beat me. Does that sound like an ordinary person to you?"

Zane had proved himself worthy of the position of the overseer's spy by dueling an overseer three levels above his own. They highly valued combat strength, so he'd proved his own.

"Knowing the one we seek can change their name and face at will isn't a good identifier. Tell me everything and I might consider letting you remain. But you'll have to work far harder from here on if you want me to uphold our agreement."

"Of course. Devon is level 37. The other persona I saw him using was Gregor, who is a close associate of Trey's. He wields a bone shortsword and a golden spear. Oh, and…"