Chapter 292: Benefit of Doubt

Those were the questions running through Uhtred’s mind, and it was the exact reason why her earlier words had left him somewhat uncomfortable.

Uhtred tried to put the thought out of his mind. He was now aware that Zara was someone similar to him — far more than anyone else on Earth, at least.

Even if she turned out to be the person he dreaded — someone placed close to him to harm him for whatever reason — he was now aware and would ready himself for such a reality... though he thoroughly hoped that reality would never come to pass.

Still, it was best to keep her close where he could watch her every move without spooking her.

Damn, Uhtred sighed internally, lamenting the thoughts running through his head. He was already acting as though Zara were a double agent he was preparing for.

At least, for now, give her the benefit of the doubt, he concluded. She deserves that much, at least.

Zara had said it herself that there were things she would like to reveal to him, but couldn’t. And Uhtred had ascertained that that was because she lacked the ability to "steal" her words from the void.

I’ll keep a close eye on her until that time, Uhtred looked up at her again, observing her delicate features. Her bright blue eyes, platinum-white hair, and very light brown skin... How had he not previously concluded she couldn’t be a pure human? She was far too exotic-looking to be normal.

No. I’d always suspected, Uhtred frowned. I just didn’t want to take the leap and believe that suspicion.

He let out a sudden sigh, causing Zara to raise her head.

"Anything wrong?" she asked, those bright blue eyes focused on him, clear and innocent.

"Nothing," Uhtred smiled. "Just the usual stray thoughts."

"What report is that?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh. It’s about that girl you sent to the Alpha Squad. Sofia? Mateo’s daughter," Zara said. "Dennis asked the squad leader to send in regular reports on how she fares within the team."

"Oh? That’s thoughtful," Uhtred said, reaching out a hand for the report. He had actually told Dennis to do this, but he hadn’t expected the man to be so stringent with the order. Regular reports? That was another layer of work on the Alpha Squad Leader now.

Uhtred chuckled softly as he read quickly through the report. From what he gathered, nothing significant had happened yet. It was just a brief summary of Sofia’s arrival and introduction to the team.

Still, it was good to see that the Alpha Squad team leader was taking his job seriously.

"Oh, by the way," Uhtred said. "How about that other matter I told you about?"

"What, exactly?"

"You know... White Raven," Uhtred said, his voice laced with meaning.

"Oh," Zara shifted in her seat, leaning forward and lowering her voice. "Well, she’s willing to meet up and discuss how we’ll move on Floor 3. But she wants it to be closer to the end of the two-week break."

"That was the plan, though," Uhtred said, chuckling. "But I get it. She wants to maximize her break before having to think about Tower matters."

"I don’t blame the woman," Zara said with a smile, leaning back in her chair. "She gives off the air of someone who simply cannot be bothered with all of this ’path of ascension’ grind. She’s someone who just wants to enjoy life’s quiet pleasures. But at the same time, she recognizes that strength is needed to be able to do that, so..."

"Nothing wrong with that, though," Uhtred said. "She’s like me... in a way."

Zara snorted. "No, she’s definitely not ’like you’ in any way."

"Huh?" Uhtred raised a brow, mock-affronted.

"She actually wants to be left alone so she can enjoy life’s quiet pleasures. You, on the other hand, want to be left alone so you can grind, grind, and keep grinding to no end!"

"Geh!" Uhtred choked on his words, about to deny it, but knowing Zara was right. "Well, there’s still some similarity somewhere in there!"

The two continued to banter, Uhtred’s earlier thoughts of suspicion about Zara fading to the back of his mind. He felt slightly relieved. This was the Zara he knew. Whatever story lay behind what he had seen on her status — her Eternal bloodline, and why some of her attributes were unusually high, particularly her Willpower and Luck — he would get to know it in time.

For now, he would continue to treat her the same, but at the same time, he would also be watching her...

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.

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Half a week later...

There were now only three days left before it was time to return to the Tower. Over the past few days, Uhtred had slowly begun to shift into the mindset required to thrive in the Tower — the patience to handle the constant messages in his chat, constantly being watched and commented on, and always preparing for mandatory scenario choices to appear at any given moment.

And it wasn’t just him, either. Both Zara and Diya were doing the same.

Speaking of Diya, Uhtred had covertly tried to hint for her to pull out of the Tower without violating the System-imposed Oath of Secrecy or revealing anything that might point to him having any secret knowledge.

He had come up with plausible reasons — such as the Capitol needing a powerhouse to remain present, especially with Prime Sapiens and Ancient Variants going rampant. He had even thrown in the fact that she seemed able to deal with them efficiently with that brain cancer magic of hers.

The best response he had gotten from her was that she’d think about it.

That had been two days ago, and she still hadn’t given him a definitive reply. He really couldn’t blame her, though. From her perspective, Uhtred was asking her to give up on the potential gains of a stage where only the best of the best from across every world with sentient life in their universe got to compete.

That was a hard pill to swallow. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn’t want to give up either. Not even if he were promised compensation — which was precisely what Uhtred had done. He had offered to give Diya something equivalent to whatever she would lose out on by quitting the Tower climb.

That was the only reason she had even entertained the thought.

Still, he had yet to receive an answer.

But today, it seemed she had finally made her decision.

Uhtred was in a practice session with Zara, perfecting his basic Space Magic. He had learned a lot over the past few days, focusing mainly on Space Magic since Diya had been busy trying to heal their Prime Sapien prisoner back to normalcy.

It had been a more arduous process than she had estimated. Even in his brain, there were clear differences from a modern human’s — differences that were enough to hinder her healing, slowing the process to a crawl until she figured them out.

But finally, it seemed she had succeeded. A beep sounded from Uhtred’s waist — coming from a Capitol of the Elite-made device similar to a phone. He raised a hand, calling a time-out just as Zara was about to land a blow on him during their sparring session.

He pulled out the device and activated it, a small hologram popping up with a message:

"Need your attention at the facility. Prime Sapien’s awake."

"Oh, and also... I’ve thought about what you said..."