What he found changed things.

Viers examined the area to confirm his suspicions. He went deeper inside the nearby forest. According to the amount of blood, it must have originated from something bigger than a human. High were the chances it came from a monster. If the bullet-user hunted monsters, he might find the next clue where there were a lot of monsters, inside the forest.

“Lord Viers, what’s wrong? Weren’t we going to the next town as soon as possible?” Farley called.

“Sorry girls, something came up. Go to sleep for the time being.” Viers closed the V-streaming service so the girls couldn’t see what’s happening next.

With the girls out of the picture, Viers started investigating in full power.

Arte — Euryale Sight.

Arte — Enhanced Hearing.

Euryale Sight was a supreme Arte, it made him able to see the unseen and pick up the smallest detail. On the other hand, Enhanced Hearing was a regular Arte. It was common and not special, it just made the user’s hearing better.

But Viers didn’t have regular ears.

About a year ago, because he ate something very special, Viers had the ability to sharpen his senses permanently by sacrificing his Victa. Since then, he allocated a great deal of Victa to raise his hearing bit by bit.

Amongst the five senses, Viers chose to solely focus on the aural faculty and not all at once. Viers thought it was better to have one special tool rather than five mediocre ones. At this point, Viers had no problem hearing a whispered conversation from 20 meters away. Combined with Enhanced Hearing Arte, Viers could hear the heartbeats of another person to serve as a lie detector.

I want to improve my nose next so I can be like Tanjirou but I don’t have the Victa to spare. For the time being, I’ll have to make do with sight and hearing.

Viers scoured through the forest with his superhuman senses. Not long since he started, he found a monster’s trail.

Four legs, hoofed… nose marks? Some kind of pig?

He followed it until the tracks ended in another patch of blood. Viers kneeled near it and touched the blood.

It’s been quite a while since this happened… No human footprints in the area. Have to keep searching.

Deeper into the forest, he found another crime scene. A blood lake beside a fallen tree.

The tree is huge! From the spread of the blood, it seems the monster was sniped from afar with an anti-materiel rifle. The spread of the blood indicates the bullet hit the tree after piercing the monster… This guy has serious firepower. Sinon’s Hecate level or above.

The next clue he found was a rock with many holes on it.

As if shot with an assault rifle. Based on the pieces of evidence, this guy has a cheat that can create various firearms. I haven’t met any monster since I got here. Did he already eradicate them all? This means he’s far stronger than me! Viers felt a cold sweat fell down his neck.

Viers perked his head up. His super-hearing picked up the sound of gunshots.

There!

Viers sped up and ran through the forest, agile like a tiger in a jungle.

And then he found it.

The sight brought a chill through his spine. He suspected it, all evidence he found pointed towards it but he hoped it wasn’t the case until the end.

He hoped he was special, the only otherworlder in this world.

Such a naïve delusion was shattered by the harsh reality. The visage of a youth around 17 years old with silver hair sitting under a tree on a hill.

Just as I thought, an otherworlder! After he laid eyes on the suspect, Viers was convinced.

Age: Perfect for isekai. Can snu-snu from the get-go.

Looks: Unnaturally silver-haired, cool, handsome, lean, bishounen. A sweet eye-candy for his inevitable harem members.

Gear: Futuristic green visor, futuristic clothes like in Mass Effect. No armaments sighted at the moment. He tried to hide the eye-catching clothes with a coat but the coat still looks sci-fi. The lack of monster corpses means he has a storage space.

More importantly, he just sat there as if reading something in front of him with a finger seemingly scrolling and clicking something on empty air. Other uninitiated people might simply pass that trivial gesture but I KNOW he is interacting with his SYSTEM cheat!!!

Viers didn’t dare to get close to an extremely dangerous enemy. He maintained distance as far as possible, using his Euryale Sight to observe the target from afar. Even then, he didn’t feel at ease.

Did he have a radar or minimap? Is it picking up my presence? Can it differentiate those friendly and hostile to him by green and red dot on the map? Such thought plagued Viers’ mind.

Is he from Earth? My Earth or alternate version? Did he come from the future or is he from outer space? How advanced is the weaponry in his arsenal? WWII degree? Modern Warfare degree? Or, God forbid, Destiny degree!? Fuck!

Viers didn’t make any rash move, only observing from afar. When the silver-haired youth moved, Viers followed. He saw the new otherworlder hunting monsters using various weaponry but mainly using an assault rifle to fill the monster with lead until it died. Viers collected a lot of information such as he didn’t sense any sort of mana from the gun-user.

He’s not a Pathseeker? That means he’s a bug-in-the-system type. A super out of place kind of guy. Raygun shooter in a medieval fantasy world. Most likely he couldn’t use any sort of Arte nor have any Affinity to begin with. In other words, he’s an Idler… then again, with firepower like he has, does he even need magic? Viers analyzed his findings.

Viers saw him hunting monsters with quite a zeal. Rank 0 until 2 monsters were powerless against his rifle. The otherworlder killed them then the corpses disappeared into thin air.

He truly has dimensional storage space, how enviable… Does he want to sweep all the monsters in the area? Viers thought.

At the climax, Viers witnessed the otherworlder fight against the alpha monster of the jungle. It was a Rank 3 Karachi, a lizard the size of a tank, very agile and poisonous. It moved from tree to tree, using it as a cover to maneuver against the silver-haired youth.

Viers was thankful for his reconnaissance. He witnessed as the other isekai-ed man tanked the Karachi’s poison breath using a beehive barrier, and his extraordinary agility to dodge the monster’s physical assault thanks to his power suit. The futuristic guy then used some kind of grenade launcher to force it out of its element. He blasted the trees and the lizard at the same time. After a while, he killed the Karachi.

When the otherworlder returned to Osemore town, Viers needed his observation.

I’m a Level 2, can I eat a full clip of direct hits from his assault rifle? No. Can I defeat a Rank 3 monster? No again. This means he’s stronger than me, period. Viers’ face turned grave.

Viers closed his eyes. He was on a very crucial crossroad, a misstep now might be a lifetime of regret. He must make a choice about his next course of action.

40.05%... I hope it's enough to give me an edge.

When his eyes were opened, he had the resolute eyes of someone ready to die.

***

Wheew. With this, I have cleaned all the monsters in the area. This region should be much safer for the time being.

“Sigmaaa~”

Sigma saw Kate waving her hand from across the street.

“Kate, hi. What are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting for you, shall we?”

“Shall we what?” Sigma was puzzled.

“Dinner, you haven’t eaten, right? I’ll bring you to my favorite restaurant. As someone from far away, I hope you’ll find the local taste to your liking,” the young girl gave a thousand-watt smile.

“Uh, yeah… Um, thanks. I’ll be in your care then,” The no-girlfriend-as-long-as-he lived awkwardly accepted Kate’s invitation.

“It’s us who should be thanking you, silly.” Kate giggled. “You saved the town from two Beast Tides. Come on!” Kate led him by taking his hand.

So soft! Are all girls' hands this soft!?

Like a red-faced baby chicken, Sigma followed the cute girl to an open-air restaurant. They got a table near the street. He had to admit, the place gave him a good impression. The décor was very fitting for a restaurant.

Sigma let Kate order the food. While waiting, the two of them pleasantly talked. The dishes came and it was spicy. Horrendously so. If this was in the webtoons he loved to read, then he would be spewing fire right now.

Now he was in a dilemma, he couldn’t say it was bad because Kate said this was her favorite place and the dish was her recommendation. If he said it was bad, she would lose face. So Sigma had no choice but to eat the super spicy food while furiously sweating bullets. His eyes were tearing up, he didn’t know if it was because of the spicy food or something else.

Thankfully for Sigma, Kate was not a person with zero observation skills. She looked all around her and saw her brother with two of his friends from the guards with him. She gave them a dagger-like stare.

Again brother? Oh sheesh…

“Here, have some of mine. Aaahhnn~” Kate offered him a spoon from her plate gently.

Sigma became red-faced and unsure for a while until he saw Kate’s expression. She was also embarrassed and red-faced but her bright hopeful eyes and a touch of meekness on her face showed the girl’s courage. To show her he was a man, Sigma gulped Kate’s offering.

Ah, she’s a good girl. Sigma thought. It was then he decided to come clean.

“Kate, I want to tell you something. Actually… I come from another world.” After finishing the food on their plate, Sigma told her about himself.

It took him a while but Sigma told her all that he wanted to say. That he was from another world called Earth, that he didn’t know how he became his avatar from a VR game. Sigma explained that he wishes to find a way back to where his family and friends are.

“–and that’s the gist of it.”

Kate calmly listened while Sigma told his story, never interrupting even once.

“…So you’re from another world… How mystical,” Kate looked to the sky with dreamy eyes.

“That’s it?” Sigma asked, puzzled.

“Whatever do you mean?” It was Kate’s turn to be puzzled.

“No questions?”

“There are a lot of what I don’t understand but Sigma is Sigma, right? Then all is fine,” Kate replied honestly.

Sigma was stunned. He didn’t think Kate would be so accepting.

“Oh, there’s one thing that confuses me. Why are you telling me this?”

“Eh? I, uhh… You’ve been good to me so I don’t want to lie to you,” Sigma bashfully looked away from Kate’s pure gaze.

While he looked downward, a hand touched his cheek and guided his face back. Sigma saw the pretty face of Kate just inches away.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

Then he felt a warm kiss on his lips, the first-ever kiss of his life.

God, thank you for bringing me to this world, Sigma thought. Drowning in the sweet sensation of absolute bliss.

[Warning: Extreme danger detec–]

The next moment, he felt a prick.

Then he felt a strong gust of wind.

Followed with a voice:

“Welcome to the family, son.”

Before oblivion took him to unknown reaches.