A distant 60 meter long airship was currently soaring in the blue skies, chasing another, smaller airship.

The larger airship was rather majestic, with a golden lion’s head at the bow of the ship, and no shortage of cannons and crewmates holding crossbows lining its sides.

“Hahaha! Give up already, you’ll run out of mana sooner or later. By then, no one will be able to save you!” A rather sinister looking middle aged man laughed, as he launched a magic infused arrow towards the smaller airship.

At around this time, his crew sent another volley of cannonballs to the direction of the airship as well.

Wooosh!

Boom! Boom!

The smaller airship upon getting impacted, shook wildly, and the illusory barrier surrounding the vehicle noticeably dimmed in brilliance.

On that airship, a female mage - seemingly in her early twenties, stood firmly, maintaining the barrier. Though she seemed to be struggling, she nonetheless glared at the man disdainfully.

“You’re dreaming if you think I'm going down this easily!” she snorted angrily.

Despite barely maintaining the barrier, she still took the opportunity to summon a bolt of lighting and lobbed it towards the bigger ship.

Bzzzzt!

“F*ck, what a crazy b*stard!” The man cursed with a dark expression and hurriedly summoned a blue barrier to obstruct the bolt of lightning.

To divert some of her attention to counterattack in the face of his unrelenting assault? She was truly bold!

Boom!

The two forces collided, and the bolt of thunder revealed itself to actually contain a smokescreen that was rapidly expanding outwards.

Woosh!

In an instant, his airship was enveloped in a thick plume of smoke.

“What a sly b*tch, charge through the smoke!” the man roared furiously, glaring at the general direction of the smaller airship through the smoke.

Suddenly-

Wooooosh!

The smoke abruptly combusted, bursting into a ball of flames!

“AHHH, F*CK!’

…

“Hahaha!”

Simon, witnessing this scene on a distant airship, couldn’t help but to chuckle.

‘What a dull man! How did he manage to survive in this world for so long?’ he shook his head. ‘Well, I suppose he is an accomplished mage, after all. No one would normally dare to cause him trouble.’

‘But this girl on the other hand… she managed to mask a high concentration of gas into a bolt of lightning, that’s really quite impressive!’ Simon had to admit that the girl’s techniques were quite advanced for a mere basic mage.

After all, the level of control needed to convert lightning into gas in an instant was by no means trifling. Typically, only mages with three star cores were able to do such a thing.

Both sides were clearly strong basic mages - with one possessing more firepower, and the other possessing more skill. If it weren’t for the difference in the quality of the airships, it may have been an even fight. But it seemed that the young lady was in dire straits.

…

Meanwhile, on the smaller airship out in the distance...

The expression on the lady’s face was extremely solemn. Despite putting an outward appearance of disdain, she was very clear on the fact that her straits were dire.

She grit her teeth, muttering, “I have no choice, I have to head to the other airship! If I continue fighting with him, then this may very well be the end for me.”

Then, amidst heavy fire, she steered her airship to the direction of the distant passerby.

She was alone on her airship - just like Simon. But nonetheless, she was far from giving up! Though, she really did not have high hopes for surviving...

Right at this moment, an enraged roar resounded from behind her. Turning back, she could see an airship covered with soot and ash emerging from the smoke.

“That’s it! I, Devin of the Radian Lion Organization, swear that you’re never getting away from me!”

-----

A few tense minutes later…

Miraculously, the smaller airship managed to avoid destruction through a variety of tricks, and was now within earshot of Simon’s ship. The fight had also gone into a ceasefire after Simon threw a fireball between the two airships, displaying that he was a mage as well.

After all, the introduction of a third mage and airship certainly complicated things; if the two original enemies were to continue fighting, then they would only needlessly endanger themselves.

Seeing Simon rapidly approaching the fight, Devin laughed confidently, pulling out an insignia with a glamorous golden lion engraved upon it.

“Fellow Mage! Help me capture this girl and I’ll split you thirty percent of the profits. I’ll have you know that I’m backed by the Radiant Lion Organization; you can be assured about the truth of my words.”

The woman sent him a glance as well, saying, “I have powerful connections in the otherworlder’s community. If you save me, I can assure you that the benefits will not be lacking in the slightest compared to his.”

Hearing the man’s proposition, Simon was not too surprised. On the other hand, upon hearing the woman’s proposition, he couldn’t help but raise a brow.

“Oh? You’re an otherworlder? Tell me then, what sort of backing do you have?” he asked lightly.

In the world of Island Ascension Online, players were referred to by NPCs as otherworlders. If she had connections with otherworlders, then she was likely to be a player herself… In that case, things would become much more interesting!

She nodded and solemnly replied,“ Most likely, you haven’t heard of them as you are probably not familiar with the affairs of Otherworlders, but I am a member of an organization that is called the Veracity team. Among otherworlders, the team certainly holds an exalted position; you can rest assured that the benefits that you will receive from saving me will not be lacking in the slightest.”

Upon hearing this, Simon inwardly frowned. If she said that she was a member of some large corporation, he would not be too fazed... But the Veracity team?

They were quite possibly some of the most influential figures in the world; the odds of him meeting a Veracity team member was astronomically low!

But at the same time, he could detect that she was likely telling the truth.

‘Hmm…’

After a bit of thought, he realized that any player that could get an airship and become a mage at this time of the game… could very well be a member of the Veracity team! After all, how many players were out there who were powerful mages?

And so, he quickly made up his mind.

“Alright. Fat guy, we have a deal! I’ll help you capture this girl!” he said, chuckling with a look of greed on his face.

Immediately, the woman frowned. “The Veracity team is no joke. It is for your own benefit to align yourself with us.”

Simon laughed wildly. “Veracity team? Who the f*ck are they? For all I know, you’re just pulling something out of your *ss. On the other hand… the Radiant Lion Organization is truly worth befriending.”

The middle aged man laughed joyfully as well. “Good! Help me capture the lass and we can celebrate our good fortune on my ship!”

“Very well.” He nodded and casually waved a hand.

Woosh!

Suddenly, several vines shot from his palms and towards the woman.

She desperately tried defending with bursts of flame, but only managed to slow down a few vines. Within moments, she was completely bound by vines and magically suppressed.

Afterwards, he disconnected the vines from his palms, though the plants still remained as stable as ever in binding her.

“Haha! Fellow mage, you truly are formidable. Come, come to my ship! Let’s celebrate!.” the fat man grinned, joyfully moving his own airship towards the smaller airship to collect his ‘goods’.

Simon abruptly hopped off his airship and onto Devin’s, startling the man’s crew.

“No problem, that was a minor matter! I’ll trouble you for the celebration, then.” he said in a laid back manner.

“You’re too humble. Say, how do you like being addressed? I go by Resplendent Lion’s Roar myself.” Devin said, as he gleefully picked up the angry looking woman and placed her onto the deck of his ship.

“You can call me Pro Farmer 69.” Simon said calmly, with a mysterious glint in his eyes.

The woman who was still struggling against the vines widened her eyes momentarily, before continuing to struggle, without a hint of her previous surprise.

Devin did not notice the change at all and joyfully ordered a crewmate to get some drinks.

“Haha! A bold name indeed. Well, Mr. Pro Farmer 69, come and sit here with me!” Devin quickly made his way to a newly pulled out table on the deck of the ship.

“Sure, sure!”

Simon readily sat himself next to Devin. Soon, the drinks came, and the two merrily began the celebration.

...

For a while, the two conversed as the crewmates stood respectively to the sides.

In this time, Simon had gained plenty of intel and a deeper understanding of this world from Devin - who was in a considerably powerful position himself, and therefore, knew more of the secrets in this world.

“To a lasting friendship!”

“To a lasting friendship!”

The two merrily raised their arms to clink their drinks.

But midway through the motion, Simon suddenly dropped his drink, and ferociously punched out!

BOOM!

In an instant, Devin’s skull exploded into a visceral mess!

At the same moment, before the rest of the crewmates could react, he waved the sleeve on his other arm.

Swish!

Several pebbles that were hidden within his sleeves suddenly flew out at a shocking speed, and soon, pierced the heads of several men at once!

Thump.

The bodies of everyone on the ship - save for two people, collectively fell onto the deck of the ship in a single, resounding thump.

Inspecting the results of his handiwork, Simon nodded.

‘Oh wait, there’s also this girl here…’

He then turned to the woman still bound by vines and waved his hand.

Poof!

All at once, the vines dissipated.

Simon laughed, before saying in an apologetic tone, “Sorry about that, I hope you understand.”

“Hmph!” Without a moment of hesitation, she crossed her arms and turned away.

She most certainly understood but… it was seriously too embarrassing!

Her, a genius of the Veracity team, was captured by a pervert NPC in a video game... Even worse, she was colluded on by this despicable man, who even dared to use vines to bind her!

In truth, Simon was oblivious of the ‘stigma’ regarding the usage of vines in binding people, but he was not to be blamed. After all, he was from another world, how could he have known? It was simply a rather unfortunate coincidence...

“To think that the number one player acts this shamelessly! Well I suppose I still have to thank you for saving me though” She glared at him. “By the way, you can forget getting anything more than what you’re due from me!”

If anyone else were to see the haughty genius of the Veracity Team, Twila, act this bashfully, they would surely find themselves to be speechless. After all, she was typically lofty and cold in the face of the public; her acting like this was practically unheard of.

“Alright! I’ll trouble you then.” Simon smiled lightly. “Truthfully, I was looking to join the Veracity Research School. As you can see, my comprehension skills are quite formidable from my magic prowess, though my actual scientific abilities are somewhat lacking in comparison. Thus, I would like to get direct acceptance to the school.”

Hearing this, she was somewhat surprised. The widely acclaimed number one player, a supremely competent mage… only wanted to join the research school?

“Fine. That’s not a problem at all. As long as you don’t flunk out, you can remain in the school for as long as you like. Just mention that you are joining the Divinity program and you’ll be let in.” She immediately agreed.

Although she was somewhat caught off guard, she didn’t mind fulfilling this favor in the slightest. Naturally, as an official member of the research team, and the number one genius at that, a matter such as directly inviting a talented figure into the school was truly no problem at all.

“Great, thanks!” Simon nodded. “Right then, now that that’s settled, how do you want to split the spoils?”

She slowly shook her head while making her way to her own airship. “Keep it... If it weren’t for you, I would have deleted my account here anyways.”

“Alright then I won’t stand on ceremony!” Simon said with a nod.

In truth, he only mentioned splitting the spoils out of courtesy. If she were to really accept a portion of the spoils then he really would be speechless of her shamelessness…

However, what Simon did not know was that he had just saved the number one genius of the Veracity Team, and quite possibly the number one genius on the planet. How could she possibly be so unscrupulous?

However, even if he heard of her name, Twila, Simon would not have known who she was anyways. After all, regarding famous people and modern culture, he was as knowledgeable as a child.

Before setting off, the woman glanced back at him with a complicated gaze. “By the way, my name is Twila. Add me, Twila # 999.”

And indeed, Simon had no idea of who she was as he nodded, and they promptly bid each other farewell. Without looking back a second time, she then departed on her airship, soon becoming yet another speck in the endless sky.