The group camped not too far from the slain boar and its three suffocated piglets, spending the night recuperating from the encounter. Pell’s arm looked bad – he had lost a lot of blood too – and Simon had bruises all over. Randel was tired too, or so he claimed, and they needed time to process the dead animals anyway. So while Tamara understood why the group decided to take a rest, she didn’t like the decision. The air must have been heavy with the smell of blood, which could attract all sorts of predators.

The only one who seemed to share Tamara’s concerns was Teva’ryn, standing watch during the night with her. The two of them took turns using Randel’s knife on the dead boars, slicing off the meat and cutting the hide into strips. It was a grueling work, but Tamara didn’t mind. She was too restless to sleep. Dawn came much too soon – the days were shorter on this planet – and the group continued their tired journey.

There were three things in their miserable situation for which they could consider themselves lucky. The first was Simon’s Ability, with which they could light a fire any time. The second was Randel’s dagger; not only could he shape it into any form they required, he could remove dirt and bacteria from it easily. Their circumstances were far from hygienic, but Tamara shuddered to think how they would have fared if they had to cut the meat with rusty swords and spearheads.

The third advantage was Devi’lynn’s clones, able to carry the tusks, meat, and hide of the dead boars without much effort. Devi’lynn constantly had to pay attention to the clones though, so some of the baggage might need to be discarded if they proved to be too cumbersome to carry—but for now, the group hoped to find a village or settlement to sell the goods. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume that the enormous, magic-shooting tusks might be worth something. The difficulty lay in finding civilization, however; it annoyed Tamara more than she cared to admit how unconcerned everyone seemed to be by this vital detail. The group was too full of idiots to actually worry that there might be no civilization on this planet at all.

“Hey, Imaya,” Randel said, “could you tell me more about these Weapon Skills? I got one yesterday when I threw my dagger.”

Imaya perked up at the sudden question, ever-eager in the face of an opportunity for discussing game mechanics.

“Oh, that’s right! You were sleeping on the first day when we talked about this! You really don’t know anything about Skills?”

“I don’t, aside from what’s written in thee description. It says that Dagger Throw consumes some of my stamina, so I’ve been wary of testing it. I don’t want to tire myself out in the middle of our journey.”

“It’s not that kind of stamina, you dummy!” Imaya said, chuckling. “What do you think that green bar at the bottom of your screen is?”

“Hmm. This green on the left is my stamina, and the blue on the right is my mana?”

“That’s right. Mana is for Abilities, and stamina is for Weapon Skills. Both of them are resources that recharge over time.”

“I see. So Abilities usually consume mana?”

“Yes, but—argh, why is this even a question?! How could a noob like you kill that mini-boss like this?!”

“I too wonder about that every day.”

“It happened only yesterday.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been wondering about it since then.”

There was a pause in the conversation behind Tamara, during which she imagined how good it would feel to tie those two up and gag them.

“Okay, so a Weapon Skill is basically a perfectly executed set of movements,” Imaya continued. “Much like your Ability, you just have to think about the Weapon Skill to use it. Your collar will then take control of your body and do the job for you. Each Skill has a level, which can probably be increased by practicing the Skills against real opponents. With the help of Weapon Skills, any Player can become a martial artist!”

“Sounds convenient.”

“Yes, it’s awesome! I already have a Weapon Skill called Headshot, and Tamara received one too while fighting the gnomes! Right, Tamara?”

“I did,” Tamara replied surly. She had used her Spear Thrust only once, and never again; it reminded her too much of her encounter with the Inspector. She hated that feeling of losing control over her own body.

“I bet Teva’ryn has dozens of Weapon Skills by now,” Imaya said with a wistful sigh.

“Yeah, well, this is nice and all,” Randel said, “but there must be dozens of different throwing techniques out there. Which one will I use with this Dagger Throw?”

“Whichever technique you imagine,” Imaya replied. “It’s really easy to use, just try it out! You’ll understand it better that way.”

Tamara whirled around immediately.

“Would you refrain from throwing sharp objects—”

But Randel was already standing with his feet apart, aiming at a tree off the side. He held his dagger horizontally, bent his elbow, then let the weapon go with a tiny flick of his wrist. The dagger flopped to the ground with a dull thud.

“Disappointing,” he mumbled.

“It didn’t work?” Imaya asked, tilting her head curiously. “Perhaps you didn’t imagine it strongly enough. What did you think of?”

“Throwing the dagger like a boomerang, then catching it when it came back to me.”

“Huh? But how would that be possible?”

“Dunno,” Randel said with a shrug. “But you said it worked with whatever technique I imagined. I feel cheated now.”

While Imaya broke into a tirade about how to use Weapon Skills properly, Tamara studied Randel with a frown on her face. She always had a hard time telling how much of what he said was serious. On the surface it looked like he was just messing around, but if she looked at his actions closely, wasn’t he constantly testing the limits of what they were given? Like this morning, when he tried to convince Pell to use his Protective Shell on the carcass of the butchered boar. This kind of behavior didn’t fit Tamara’s theory about Randel collaborating with the Inspector, however. Why would he try to undermine their system? Unless … that was what the Players were actually here for, weren’t they?

Randel’s dagger was made of the same black metal as the collar around Tamara’s neck, and both items were controlled by mere thoughts. Originally Tamara had surmised that only this mind-reading technology was being tested, but now that she thought about it, the so-called Abilities must have been at their trial run too. The three-eyed aliens had to be interested in the various ways these differing superpowers interacted within their world. This also explained why Randel was doing all sorts of weird things with his dagger; he was testing the edge cases.

As to what to do with this revelation, Tamara had yet to decide. Due to the mind-reading collars she had a distinct disadvantage keeping this knowledge up her sleeve, but she’d try to figure out a plan anyway.

The next few days passed by in a relatively uneventful manner. No predators, no magical beasts, no giants. Even the weather kept its mild and warm nature, which made their trek all the easier. The others were complaining about having to eat unseasoned meat all the time, but Tamara just felt thankful that they had something to eat at all.

The monotonicity of following the river day by day was broken on a sunny morning.

“Guys, we found something!”

The shout came from Pell, who had been walking on the front with Simon. He had his left arm bandaged in his shirt, holding his short sword in his left hand with the shield attached to his forearm. He looked impressive, all in all—especially with how he showed no sign of pain in spite of his injuries.

“Another footprint?” Imaya asked, hurrying closer.

“No, this is something much better,” Pell said, pointing ahead. Across the river in front of them, there was a wide, moss-covered wooden bridge—and on both sides of the bridge a small dirt road meandered between the trees.

Tamara stared in shock at the scene in front of her. Would it be really that easy? Were they about to find other people?

“Hoofprints and wheel tracks,” Pell observed as the excited group reached the road. “Someone has been through here recently.”

“We might not be able to catch up to them,” Simon said, “but let’s follow their trail anyway.”

As they resumed walking with renewed energy, Tamara found herself to be both relieved and anxious. She hadn’t expected to find other people so soon, and certainly not like this. Could this be some kind of trick by the Inspector? Why were there other people on this planet—people, who had built a random bridge in the middle of the forest? The Inspector had subtly hinted at other Players coming to this planet before them, but … just a handful of humans wouldn’t build a bridge so far out in the wilderness. And the bridge looked old. Just how long had been the three-eyed aliens kidnapping people? The obvious explanation was that the humans transported here began to populate the planet. Tamara didn’t know how many humans had been abducted so far, but she found it difficult to believe that all of those disappearances went unnoticed over the years.

“What the—everyone, take cover!” Simon hissed, jolting Tamara alert. She didn’t need to be told a second time to get off the road and hide behind the trees, though it didn’t really matter because Devi’lynn’s bumbling clones stuck out like a sore thumb. Tamara had half a mind to tell her to dismiss her clones, but she didn’t want to risk raising her voice now.

“What is it?” Imaya whispered, peering at the road nervously.

“There’s a camp ahead,” Simon whispered back. “Come, I think we can sneak closer.”

Pell decided to stay with the Sylven, so it was Tamara, Imaya, and Randel who followed Simon closer to the supposed campsite. The ground by the road had a slight elevation that the four of them climbed, hiding in the shadows of the trees around them. From atop the high ground they had a relatively good look on the clearing below them. Multiple wooden carts and wagons formed a line along the perimeter, with strange bull-like creatures tied up next to them. The beasts of burden were not the strangest thing about the camp, though—it was the figures bustling around the carts.

It was certain even at first glance that they weren’t human, though they did have humanoid bodies. Two arms, two legs, one head—like normal, albeit quite lanky humans. Their legs ended in circular hooves however, their long arms seemed to be able to bend in both directions at the elbow, and they had two faces on the opposite sides of their hairless head. The aliens wore simple clothes over their gray skin, uniform in design. No matter how long Tamara looked, she couldn’t decide what gender these creatures were; their torso had a slight curve on both sides that could have been either muscle or breasts, and their faces were plain and featureless. The most off-putting thing about them was how they moved; they didn’t have to turn around, since they had eyes on both sides and could move their limbs in either directions.

“They are perfectly symmetrical,” Randel whispered in awe. “Even their clothes are made that way.”

Taking a second look at the aliens, Tamara saw that Randel was right. Not only did the physique of the aliens look as if they were mirrored, but even the way they had set their camp up was symmetrical, with a large campfire at the center.

“Alright, that’s enough staring at them,” Simon murmured. “Let’s head back before they spot us.”

“We don’t go down to meet them?” Randel asked.

“Of course we don’t,” Simon whispered. “We head back to the river to avoid these guys.”

“What? Why would we do that?” Randel whispered. “We have stuff to sell, and these guys might be interested to buy it.”

“We don’t know if its a hostile species or not,” Simon said. “They are freakish aliens who could be bandits just as easily as merchants. They—argh, enough said. We’ll talk once we have retreated safely.”

He took one last glance at the camp below, then started descending the way they had come from. Tamara followed Simon quietly, deep in thought. Retreating was certainly the safest option, as judging by the size of the camp there must have been more than twenty of those symmetrical beings down there. Supernatural Abilities or not, Tamara and the others would be in trouble if those aliens turned on them.

“No.”

Tamara looked back over her shoulder and saw that Randel still hadn’t moved from atop his perch.

“What?” Simon whispered irritably.

“You can head back, but I’m going down to meet them,” Randel said. He tossed his black weapon down the slope, which came to a stop at Imaya’s feet. “Take my dagger, but don’t touch the handle. Don’t cover it up with anything either, or I’ll come back from the grave to haunt you.”

“Ooh, I see,” Imaya whispered, picking up the weapon gingerly. “You can use it as an emergency exit!”

Simon frowned in displeasure, but in the end he didn’t argue. Randel took this as a sign that he was free to go, so he turned around to climb down on the other side of the slope. Seeing this, Tamara clenched her hands into fists until they hurt. This was the worst possible outcome they could have achieved; Randel was now separated from the group, free to plot behind their back. Tamara couldn’t even speak up, because arguing here would just alert the aliens down in their camp.

“Come on, let’s go,” Simon said, grabbing her arm.

“I’m going too,” Tamara blurted, slapping Simon’s hand away. She then tossed her spear to the ground – if it came to a fight, that piece of stick wouldn’t help her anyway – and walked back up.

“What?” Simon asked, bewildered.

Tamara broke into a run to catch up to Randel. She could still hear him nearby, cursing under his breath as he slipped while climbing down the other side.

“Tamara!” Simon hissed at her as she reached the top. “Tamara, what are you doing?!”

Before she had the chance to change her mind, Tamara jumped off the ledge. She summoned her Gravity Orb just as she began to fall, switching it to no-gravity mode without delay. She clutched her Orb tightly and glided down at a sedate pace, overtaking Randel at the bottom of the elevation. By now the symmetrical aliens had already spotted them, but Tamara spared a quick, triumphant look backward—and noted with satisfaction the genuine look of surprise on Randel’s face.

“That was quite the entrance,” Randel said when he caught up. “Are you sure about this, though?”

“Absolutely,” Tamara replied, showing none of the uncertainty she felt at that moment. The two of them stopped at the edge of the camp, waiting patiently for the aliens to approach them first. With each moment, Tamara became increasingly more certain that the strange beings weren’t outright hostile. None of them wore any weapons, medieval or otherwise, and the way they watched them was neither defensive nor aggressive—they looked simply curious. Not only that, but Randel acted nonchalantly too. If Tamara’s suspicions were correct and Randel knew more than he let on, it was quite likely that he knew these aliens wouldn’t hurt them.