I

Eva woke the next morning feeling lighter than she had for weeks. She was truly at peace with herself, even if she had done some not so great things. She’d made those promises to herself, and she meant it. She now understood why Alexandra had given her—and others—the opportunity to grow before this catastrophe of a Tutorial. Not all the aliens were bad, sure, but the important thing was to fight on the side of humanity while at the same time not forgetting oneself in the process. She clenched her fists and released them. It was time to face the day and the dungeon.

Her teammates were at the firepit, eating breakfast with a small group of other people she hadn’t yet met. Eva waved to them when she had her breakfast in hand—or on leaf as it was in actuality. Marie waved back, but the others were too deep in conversation to notice her. She sat nearby and ate her fruit, catching bits and pieces of the conversation.

From what she could tell, they were angry about the deferential treatment the forseli were getting from their town leaders. They planned to have a discussion with them sometime soon, though she never picked out exactly when. Mostly, they were mad that the woman who had killed the forseli had been executed. They seemed to think murdering the forseli merchant was the right thing to do.

Eva shook her head. She would not take part in anything like that. Instead, she would keep an eye on them just in case anything happened that was off. The last thing she needed was chaos from the humans when there was at least one other hostile alien force out there besides the remnants of the landwalkers. Truthfully, they were probably working together already if the incident from the evening before was anything to go by.

II

She stood up and stretched as soon as she was done eating, having disposed of the leaf plate in the firepit. Soon it would be time to go to the dungeon for the daily grind. The experience was pretty terrible, especially since she had to share and couldn only do a single run in a day. That was something she hoped to change once she was in control of the rest of the dungeons. She’d make sure that her fellow humans would be able to make the most of the Tutorial if they wanted to. The forseli would have the opportunity too, if they were amenable, for a price. Humans came first, after all.

Eva confirmed with her teammates that she would need to run the Master✷ level alone, but that they would all have to sign up to give her that shot in order to follow the rules set by the towns where only teams were allowed so as to more fully utilize the dungeons for everyone. Once they were set for their slot the following day, the team went through the dungeon much like they had for Journeyman★. The monsters inside were more difficult, but still a cake walk for Eva. The gingerbread men fell to her Fireball★ in one hit, and the boss wasn’t too much of a challenge. She still hadn’t seen what it could do, having killed it rather quickly with her much more powerful spell. The experience from the dungeon was enough for a handful of stat points, but no really solid gains.

“Hey,” Jakov said after exiting the dungeon. “We finished pretty fast. We were going to go back to town to hang out with some friends before the monster wave comes. You’re free to join us if you want.”

“Oh, thanks for the offer. I’ll catch you guys later!” Eva replied.

She knew full well that there was something fishy going on. They had always insisted that when the dungeon runs were over, they remained in the well defended area so that they could guarantee they wouldn’t be caught out when the monsters came. They’d completed a run this early before—the Basic▲ one—and yet they’d chosen to stay rather than risk it or expend the effort of running the whole way back.

Eva would wait until they were gone for at least twenty minutes before she ran back parallel to their course. She knew where they were headed, and she just needed to make sure she got there without being seen by them. If it was non-violent, she’d breathe a sigh of relief and slip out to go talk to the forseli and see if she could reach a deal; but if it did end up with violence, she knew she would have to step in. Her conscience wouldn’t let her mess it up again, not after all the promises she’d made to herself.

She watched the System time count down while she sat on the same stump she’d rested on the previous day. Soon enough, it was time to go. Eva stood up and walked in the direction of the town. As soon as she entered the woods, she started to Sneak▲ and follow a course parallel to the main path that she knew her teammates would take.

Normally, a leisurely walk between the town and dungeon would take about two hours. With her rushing back to arrive in time, the distance could be covered in about half an hour as a dead sprint. The issue was making sure she didn’t overtake them while also remaining quiet enough to not be discovered in case she accidentally did. Sneaking required her to limit her pace to that of a jog, putting the time at about an hour to her destination. With the twenty minute head start she’d given them, she guessed she would arrive not long after they did. There would be about half an hour left over before the monster wave happened.

Just as she had suspected, Eva caught a glimpse of her teammates as they neared the gate. She had a decision to make. Her spells and fighting style was very flashy. She’d need to be in the town just in case, so she would have to fight differently than usual until she’d at least confirmed what was going on one way or another. Being outside the walls would draw attention to her that she could not afford, and most of the people in town had yet to see her actually fight—though her teammates had. They were the ones she wanted to fool.

III

Fifteen minutes after the rest of her party had entered the town, she packed away her conspicuous gear and exited the forest near the main path as if she was just arriving. With just her armor—common amongst humans—and her backpack, she entered the town with a nod towards the guards. They returned her nod with a look before shutting the gate behind her.

Inside the town, everyone was finishing preparations for the upcoming monster wave. Eva spotted her targets amongst a group of other people—the same ones they had been hanging out with in the morning. She busied herself picking up fist-sized rocks and shoving them in her backpack. Once she had mostly filled her backpack, she held a couple in her hands as ready ammunition. Her plan was to use the rocks as targets for Infuse Weapon★ and then use Throwing to take out some monsters while keeping watch of what was going on in the town.

There are 14 days remaining

3202/10000 are still alive

New Quest: Defeat a monster wave. 0/935 killed

Eva noticed that humanity had lost a considerable amount of people over the last day—a bit more than five hundred! She wasn’t sure what caused the fall, but she was worried that it had something to do with the strange aliens she’d fought twice in recent days. She knew that when she’d left, the village numbered a little under a thousand, and from the information she’d gained of the three towns, they were around two thousand in total. So unless one of them had a serious fight with the aliens, it meant that somewhere else there were other human settlements, one of which was now gone. The sooner she could get the humans on the same page, the sooner they could clear the Tutorial of hostile aliens.

While she considered the implications, several monsters came out from the forest. Unlike previous days, the monster-du-jour was some kind of bird. This made the walls—and her usual method of killing—all but useless. She was glad to have decided on the rocks as her only other option would have been using Fireball★, and that was too attention grabbing. She Infused★ the first rock with earth so it would still look like a rock and Threw▲ it at one of the birds as soon as it was within range. She missed her intended target, but hit another instead, an experience notification confirming that she had, indeed, killed it with one hit.

Eva looked around while she tossed the rock in her left hand to her right and Infused★ it. There had been no obvious changes to the people she was watching. However, she did notice that they were rather spread out amongst the defenders, rather than being in a group together. Her gut told her she should keep a careful watch as she Threw▲ the second rock for a second kill.

She placed her backpack in front of her and pulled two rocks out. When she stood up and Infused her next projectile, she noticed something beginning to happen. A handful of the people she was monitoring started shifting their positions, followed by the rest of the group. They positioned themselves next to the leaders or the visiting forseli. Eva had a bad feeling about what was likely to happen next. Still, she couldn’t act before they did. If they got cold feet or some didn’t participate, she wouldn’t go after them. Anyone who did would be dead. Maybe she would be able to save a few people in the process if she was quick enough. She readied herself by dumping a few rocks from her backpack onto the wall in front of her.

The hammer fell while she was distracted. Screaming and chaos erupted amongst the defenders when the first couple of leaders were decapitated by her former teammates and their traitorous crew. As quickly as she could, Eva Threw▲ rock after rock at the attacking humans, killing most in one shot, while knocking the ones that survived off of the wall and away from the people they were attacking.

Though she managed to save a handful, at least three quarters of their targets lay dead or dying. However, despite the carnage, she was able to prevent a full on coup from occurring as she rushed to take out the rest of the attackers while the defenders on the way had to deal with both chaos and the attacking monsters.

Eva pulled the sword and shield from her backpack when she approached a small group of the attackers. They had bunched up and hidden after she’d begun Throwing rocks at the ones she could see. The group included Marie and three others—she’d taken out the rest of her former party before they could react.

“Alien-loving bitch!” Marie spat and tried to attack her.

Eva blocked and shot a Fireball★ into their midst, killing one and injuring the rest. She even took a little damage from her own spell, though her Fire Resistance★ softened the edge a little bit. She Charged★, knocking Marie down. Though she would rather not have to kill someone she’d spent time with, it had to be done.

She Pierced★ the woman in the chest. Marie gasped and clutched the wound. She made for a potion, but Eva denied her by separating her arm from her body. The system decided that she was dead but a moment later. That left only two traitors for her to execute. Justice was swiftly carried out.

She didn’t have time to think through any of what had transpired. Instead, Eva needed to kill monsters and ensure that no one else died. Freed from the constraints of not fighting her usual way, she launched Fireballs★ into the flying monsters. The explosions grounded several of them and killed a handful of the lesser versions in the process for each Fireball★ she launched.

As soon as she ran out of mana, she went back to throwing Infused★ rocks while interspersing the occasional Fireball★ as mana became available again. Eventually, the arrows and magic of the defenders took care of the remaining monsters.

Eva sighed and slumped against the base of the wall. She felt drained, partly from the fight from the fight but mostly because of the betrayal. They had seemed like nice people, but they hated the aliens enough to kill their own just because some of them dared to be friendly in return when the aliens turned out to not be walking murder machines. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Tears tumbled down her cheeks.

“Hello?” someone said nearby, repeating when she didn’t respond.

Eva opened her eyes and rubbed the water away enough to see. In front of her were two of the town leaders and one of the forseli merchants. She looked up at them.

“Are you ok?” one of the leaders, a man with pale skin and dark hair asked. “We wanted to thank you.”

She didn’t know how to respond, her internal world a little bit of a mess after the day’s events.

“Yeah,” said the other leader, a man with tanned skin and black hair. “You saved the three of us from assassination. Thanks.”

The forseli nodded in agreement.

“I’m glad you made it,” Eva finally said.

When the first man moved to say something else, the second man put a hand on his shoulder. The first man nodded and they left Eva to collect herself. They were considerate, at least.

IV

Eva sat there for hours, just staring at nothing in particular. It was only when the sun began to set that she got up and went to the firepit for some food and light. Her mind buzzed not with thoughts but with a thrumming energy that made it feel like her head had fallen asleep while she remained awake.

When she had finished her dinner, she went to her lean-to and went to sleep. As far as she was concerned, she was done with the day. Her plan of talking to the forseli went down the drain with the assassination attempt on the town’s leaders. A new day would be a welcomed fresh start. Eva closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly.