Eastbound Monk

The Eastbound Monk participated in a tutorial somewhat similar to Jake's where the presented objective was to hunt down monsters to gain experience points. However, as in many tutorials, factions quickly formed. Having chosen to be a healer, the Monk was recruited to one of these camps. Focused on healing the wounded, the Monk primarily stayed in camp.^[1]

The camp quickly grew to include several thousands and the Monk's healing became even more valued. But overtime, he began to notice that the wounds of claws and fangs he healed were eventually replaced by slashes of swords and holes from arrows. It was obvious that the tutorial was devolving into faction wars. The Monk was both angered and frustrated by this pointless fighting, but he felt helpless to stop it and was too timid to speak up. He instead focused on his healing.

Eventually, it was proposed that he be moved from his small hospital to healing on the front lines. When he protested, he was ruthlessly beaten. Ultimately, he gave in and became a field healer. He worked, healing his side, until they ultimately lost and he was captured by the victors. But rather than being killed, he was captured and forced along as they ransacked his camp, slaughtering the innocents in droves for tutorial points. Outwardly, he was apathetic and quiet, but inside, he was silently fuming, his anger building with no outlet.

The victors of the faction wars dragged the Monk to their camp where they tortured him for information he didn't have. Then they dragged him to their version of a hospital to heal their fighters. However, since he's not trusted, they first chained him up with nails penetrating through his arms and legs. Then they shoved him into a contraption where he couldn't move but could still heal anyone they brought to him.

His captors grew to enjoy the cruelty and even use the Monk as a tool to train their professions on, unworried about his health since he could keep himself alive through his healing magic.

One day, the camp was invaded by a powerful party of five. They appeared to have been focused on hunting monsters and generally unaware of what has happened. They began killing their way through the camp until they reach the hospital and the Monk, who is now a mere husk of himself, thin and bloodied. One of the party members, he recognized as someone he'd healed early in the tutorial. He had just a moment to feel a flicker of emotion before the entire room exploded and the party was slaughtered by the greedy, powerful leaders of the camp.

The Monk had finally had enough. The apathy was consumed by a fiery rage. He ripped the nails out of his body and slowly walked towards the warring people. Then everything glitched out and the next thing he remembered was standing there, covered in blood, everyone around him dead.

Post-tutorial, the Monk is still consumed by anger. He was filled with the desire to stop any violence from taking place and creating a world where no one died needlessly. However, his method to achieve that was to kill anyone who was capable of fighting.^[1] If he came upon a settlement with infighting, he would kill everyone save for a few children and younger adults, who were left completely traumatized.

The Monk became a brutal berserker, tearing people apart while constantly healing himself. He had power far beyond what he should have been capable of, but he was unquestionably broken. He rampaged across the land, slaughtering anyone with even a hint of killing intent, his emotions growing more and more simplistic and one-sided. As a result of his mindless actions, he'd unintentionally locked himself onto a doomed Path. He was effective against weaker people in large numbers, but against a single top-tier combatant of his own level, he'd have likely died, surviving only because of how rare these pinnacle talents are in the immediate aftermath of an integration.

In his campaign of slaughter, the Monk killed enough Primas to get a key. That allowed him to attend the Seat of the Exalted Prima. However, this was a place where violence wasn't allowed. The Monk still tried and found himself sealed away until the Myriad Paths event started. He ultimately entered the simulation and selected an option in which, instead of going to the camp, he chose to explore on his own. He fell into a river and ended up in a Challenge Dungeon connected to the Dao Sect. The Monk chose to embrace his new Path and effectively became a whole new person, fixing both his mind and his Path.

The Eastbound Monk places 7th in the C-grade competition for best of the 93rd Universe. Not even the Court of Shadows can definitively confirm any member of the Monk's Nevermore party, resulting in an unconfirmed rumor that he may have solo challenged the mega dungeon.^[2]

As a humble wanderer, he killed every single Prima Guardian in his galaxy. Due to his reputation, every world leader implicitly trusted him and reached out for help. His galaxy came in second in the Prima Guardian Event, only behind the Milky Way and ahead of the galaxy controlled by the Risen.^[3]

The Eastbound Monk participates in the B-grade World of the Exalted Prima competition as a representative of the Dao Sect. From the outset, he quickly garners a representation a dominating and one to be avoided. The forces of Earth first encounter the monk in the anteroom chambers of the Palace of Abundance. The gathered administrators are pitted against one another in a free-for-all brawl with a single survivor permitted to advance to meet the Emperor. Despite facing stiff competition including Sylphie, Carmen, Casper, Lopas, and many more, the Monk emerges victorious.^[4]

• Jake compares the Monk's berserker Path to that of Temlat's curse path, a series of choices that could only end in ruin and could only be compared to a living calamity.^[1]