Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Ark sent a quick message to Olivia and Thalia, telling them to get back without him.

They seemed surprised at first, but when he told them it was related to the association, they understood.

It was not rare or uncommon for the association to invite players for a meeting whenever a death was involved in the quest.

He was going to meet Tristan for a different reason, of course, but no one needed to know that.

Ark arrived at the foot of the tower five minutes late. This was because halfway along the line, he paused and wondered...

’Why am I even running?’

He didn’t work for the association, and the deal he had with Tristan didn’t state that he had to meet up with him afterwards.

And so he continued the rest of the journey walking, enjoying the nice, cool breeze and watching the bustle of natives and players, working together to prepare for the pre-harvest festival.

Now that he was at the location, Ark was faced with another issue. The hero’s statue was so tall that it was as though it were a tower!

"How am I even supposed to get up there?"

While Ark was still thinking about it, a small platform suddenly descended.

"Hmm?"

He stepped atop it and it began to elevate, taking him to the very top of the statue. Tristan was sitting at the edge, his legs dangling over what must have been a thousand-foot drop.

Ark walked to the center of the statue and planted his pelvic bone there.

"Hmm? Come sit over here, it feels like trampling the world underneath your feet," Tristan said while kicking his legs in the air and laughing in a questionable manner.

There was definitely something wrong with him.

"I’m okay here. I’m not particularly fond of heights."

"I see." Tristan turned around, and now it was his back facing the drop. If he was not a player, just the right gust of wind would have been enough to send him tumbling down.

"So, how did my little mission go?"

Ark summoned a bloody bag from his inventory and tossed it to him. Tristan caught it, the smile never leaving his face as he opened the bag.

"Hmm..." Something dark flashed in his eyes. "How many?"

"Twenty five..."

The silence stretched on for longer.

"And the cause?"

"Handled."

This time, the air grew tense. "Handled?" An oppressive aura suddenly slipped out of Tristan, causing the air to still.

"What do you mean by Handled?"

Ark stared at him coldly, completely unaffected by his intimidation. He had considered how to deal with Tristan throughout their journey back to Issen.

Lying was useless. There was no story he could concoct that would leave him satisfied.

And if he was not satisfied, he would go digging... it would only be a matter of time before he figured out what actually happened.

What if he found out on a day Ark was not in Eden and came after Thalia? Actually, even if he was in Eden, what could he possibly do to stop the Phantom Assassin?

So Ark had decided to come clean. As well as present an offer. Since Thalia was not in her right senses, there were provisions in the law that would help her case.

Still, everything depended on Tristan.

Eden may claim to have laws and legal proceedings, but in the end it was all rubbish. Right or wrong was at the mercy of those with strength, and Tristan was one of those people.

But before he could even speak, Tristan said:

"It was that woman, wasn’t it? Thalia, right?"

The area around them darkened. Ark’s eyes grew more fiery as he stared at the vice commander.

"Isn’t it strange that instead of grieving her dead teammates, she seemed to have adapted rather well to her new party?" His words were laced with poison.

It was calm, but the animosity in his tone was as clear as the star-filled sky.

"Why would anyone mourn murderers?" Ark bit back.

"They were not all murderers, now were they?" Tristan shook his head. "Good upstanding citizens, players without so much as a dent in their record."

"Of course..." He shrugged. "Most of the people she killed were scum, and I very much appreciate her for that. But I cannot overlook the others now, can I?"

The way Tristan spoke... the way each word seemed like solid fact instead of speculation.

Ark felt something dark settle inside of him. "You knew."

A second passed in silence.

Tristan stared at Ark, his eyes devoid of any form of human emotion as he answered,

"Yes."

"Then why did you send me on that damn mission?!"

If he knew that Thalia was the cause of the disappearances, then why did they not take action against her?

Why wait until they had built a connection, only to come out and say this now...

Come to think of it, there had been signs from the very beginning.

How come he was given the mission at the exact same time Thalia’s party was preparing to head out?

Ark should have known.

There was no way the association, as large as they are? could not have figured out something it took him days to discover.

"We needed solid proof. Besides, disposing of a player can be quite... messy."

Ark’s vision darkened with rage. "So you put us on the same mission. Y-you wanted me to kill her in the caves..."

The realisation felt like a slap to the face.

Tristan had basically risked his life and Olivia’s, just to clean up someone he considered an issue.

"You’re a really smart kid, did you know that?"

"You bastard—" Ark got to his feet.

"Let’s not be rash now. We no longer need you to kill her." Tristan raised the bag of dog tags and jiggled it. "Now we have all the justification we need."

"She was at one hundred percent synchronisation rate! She was basically insane!"

There was a clause in the player’s guidebook that pardoned players for crimes committed while they were not in the right state of mind.

Even if she would be jailed, killing her was outright illegal. Especially without a proper trial!

"Thalia wasn’t like this at the start. She wasn’t always a murderer..." Ark said, trying to appeal to any bit of human feeling he had.

But there was apparently none.

Tristan sighed. "Don’t misunderstand, we know all about Thalia’s story..."

’What?’

Tristan shook his head as he watched Ark with pity. This was what it meant to be the vice commander of the player’s association.

The ability to decide solely and objectively, to make decisions that you felt were best for the world without so much as batting an eye...

To be the vice commander meant to be heartless, ruthless and overwhelmingly competent.

It didn’t matter what methods he used to get things done. All that mattered were results.

"Then why?" Ark asked.

If they knew all about her, about everything she had experienced since arriving in Eden, how could they possibly think death was the only fitting end for her?

"She is a hazard." He said plainly. "I don’t know what you did to reduce her synchronisation rate, but what would happen if she one day changes? Innocent people will die."

"You... so you will break the rules just because of what might be?"

"Rules?" Tristan seemed surprised that he would even mention such nonsense. "Eden is a lawless land, kid," he said, repeating the sentence Ark had sang to himself a thousand times.

The only difference was that this time, he was experiencing it face to face.

"All we need is enough proof to claim self-defence." Tristan said factually. "And with these tags, we can prove that she was a violent person to begin with."

This way, it would not be an illegal execution. It would simply be a coincidence.

That was why he had called him to the statue, that was why he had made their meeting time so abrupt.

The association was likely already at their door. Perhaps Thalia was already dead...

Ark felt a prickly sensation climb up his bones, and his mind burned with uncontained rage.

"You used me."

Tristan stood up and tossed a bag of cash to his feet. It was the coins he promised for the mission, the price for the life of his friend.

"It was nice doing business with you..."

"ARGH!!!" Ark flung a dagger at him, but the dagger bounced off his skin as though it had met a stone wall, and then he fizzled into thin air.

"...Player Ark."

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