On the outskirts of the city, outside of the protection of the walls where monsters roamed, two boys were conversing.

One was wearing weather battered clothes. The originally white fabric had become stained with dust and mud. He wore a face covering, dark blue cloth that hid his hair and mouth. Only his brown eyes could be seen clearly.

The other was younger and shorter than the first boy. He had walnut-colored hair cut short. He looked like a child that had not yet hit puberty. He looked nervous and twitchy, unaccustomed to the wilds where monsters exist.

“Do you have a preferred weapon?” Viers asked.

“...I’m most familiar with pickaxes and hammers. I have worked in a quarry before,” Boram answered.

I know.

“Okay, I'll get you a hammer later. Not an industrial hammer, a weapon hammer. War hammer. Aaand that’s our target. Fight and kill it.”

Viers pointed at a monster approaching them.

“Y-Yes Master!” Boram looked like a man being sent to his death.

“Calm down. It's only a Rank 1 and quite weak. You’re more than able to defeat it. Go!”

“Uuu… Uaaaahhhh!”

Boram dashed with a loud voice to conquer his fears.

“Roooowrl!”

Boram and the Stonehead Dog clashed. Boram’s fist was covered with yellow Victa as it struck the rock-headed monster. Viers observed his slave's first solo fight. Since the monster had the size of an average dog, it should be easier for Boram.

Bigger-sized monster tends to have more HP, much harder to kill.

It took him ten minutes to finish.

Viers and Boram were doing the adventurer’s guild quest. This was the second quest that he took from the guild. The first was gathering medicinal herbs outside of the city, which they already did earlier.

He favored defense too much. Not enough initiative and lacked battle experience, Viers concluded.

“I’m sorry...” Boram walked back to Viers like a child after a failure.

“Don't be sorry. Be better.”

“...Yes, Master.”

“Viers, that's a bit cold,” Paina commented.

“That’s the truth,” Viers replied in his head.

Viers and Boram searched for the next Stonehead Dog. They met a few wandering alone, which Viers sent Boram to dispatch them.

Boram used Stone Skin Arte so he suffered almost no damage. His battle style so far was bashing his fists wildly. Pummeling the dogs until they were dead.

Then they found a pack of Stonehead Dogs led by a Stonehead alpha. The alpha monster was clearly stronger, still a Rank 1 but a bit bigger and there were bones growing out of its head. Making it look like a helmet for head butting.

“Watch me,” Viers spoke to Boram.

Viers unsheathed his sword and dashed towards the pack. Viers exterminated the lesser dogs with ease, slashing and stabbing their vulnerable spots to deal a lethal blow until only he and the alpha monster remained.

Viers was fast, the alpha dog’s attacks were dodged easily. The water effect of his Artes was showy too. Streams of water danced in the air, beautiful and deadly. Viers fought with it for two minutes before he bound the alpha dog with water snares and disemboweled the monster.

“First time seeing a Pathseeker battle?” Viers spoke to Boram who was dumbstruck seeing Viers’ fight. The little boy nodded.

“You’ll be able to do this too. I’ll be troubled if you can't. Now I’ll show you how to skin and dismantle our prey. Fangs, claws, pelt, they can be sold later.”

Boram looked at the blood and guts of the alpha dog and became as pale as a sheet.

He didn't dare to protest. Cute kid.

Boram threw up when his hand was red with gore and Viers showed the alpha dog’s heart to him.

“Viers, you’re so bad!”

“Hey, I’m teaching him about monster anatomy, eheheh.”

Paina berated him while he bullied the kid a bit. As an unexpected bonus, he found a monster core inside the alpha dog.

For this particular session, unlike other people, Viers did not dismantle the monster for parts but for meat. The Rank 1 monster parts were too ordinary and the time needed to process them was a hassle. Viers made a fire pit nearby and ate the fire-grilled meat with Boram.

“There’s something called a food chain in this world. The grass gets eaten by grasshoppers, which then get eaten by frogs. Snakes eat frogs and eagles eat snakes,” Viers suddenly said.

Viers paused, Boram was listening to him intently.

“I want to be like the eagles. Without anything hunting it for food. Top of the food chain. We call them apex predators.”

“Apex predators…” Boram heard that term for the first time.

“For humans, there is something similar. The non-Pathseekers are oppressed by Pathseekers, the weaker Pathseekers get stepped on by stronger Pathseekers. Those stronger Pathseekers will then be crushed underfoot by even stronger beings. Men, monsters, demons… Do you understand what I'm trying to say?”

“Master wants to be the strongest Pathseeker.”

“Close enough. Here, this one is ready,” Viers gave meat on a stick to Boram. He ate it happily. Viers waited a bit before continuing the conversation.

“Your battle experience is lacking. There’s more to a battle than simply punching your opponent. You’re too defensive and you’re slow.”

Boram looked downward in shame.

“No need to think less of yourself. We’ll work on those. I’m not expecting you to be a perfect warrior from the start. You’ll get better.”

“Y-yes Master!” Boram strongly replied.

“My element is water, so I’m having a tough time against opponents with high defense and armor. That’s where you come in. Your earth will crush them with power and weight, armored or not.”

“Earth Pathsekeers’ good point is their sturdiness which you are clearly aware of and heavily favored during the fight. The downside being that earth Pathsekeers are also prone to being slow. I’m not saying you should forgo defense completely but we must work on your speed.”

Viers told Boram a bit more about his analysis as they continued to eat their lunch.

“Can you read and write?”

“No.”

“Well, there’s a lot you have to learn then,” Viers smiled.

They finished eating then returned while riding Brownie. Viers obtained the mare in a side-quest involving a goat, a shovel, and an ungrateful neighbor. It was a ridiculous side-quest but he was glad he finally got a ride. The mare helped him greatly in traveling.

While riding Brownie, Boram sat in front of Viers. They looked like brothers.

Marakkus city was huge, more than twice as large than any town he had visited thus far. Getting in and out of the city took some leg work.

Viers felt like he was returning to the city of barbarians. People fighting and dying on the road. People washing their clothes near a water well meant for drinking. Trash and human waste could be smelled in the air.

Not all of the city’s entrances were like that though, there were specific gates for the city bigwigs and important people to come in where it was definitely cleaner and not filled with distasteful sights right off the bat.

From the lower class area that was at the peripheral of the city, Viers went through the wall separating the middle class and the lower class area. The surroundings gradually got better as he went deeper and deeper into the city. This was still a city, a civilization. The public security in the middle class area was a bit better here than in the outskirts. The Bird Nest inn was in the middle class part of the city.

It was still bad though. Viers saw a head on a pike in front of the house across the street. It seemed the head was caught sleeping with another’s wife. The wife’s head in question was also on a pike next to it.

And everybody treated it as normal.

How come the city is not drowning in disease and filth and violence at this point?

Viers was curious so he asked the local resident nearby. He said the cleaners from the city office would sweep the trash and dead every morning. As for sickness, you pay the healers. If you can't, work harder to be able to pay. The city gets a cut from the healers so more money for them.

As for keeping order, city guards kept the high class districts where the bigwigs live safe and orderly. The middle class districts get a similar treatment although it was to a far lesser extent. The low class districts and slums didn't make the cut in the guards’ priority.

It is incredible what people could treat as normal after it went on long enough. There are so many holes in that system in my opinion. Idiots.

Viers opened the door to the Adventurer's Guild and walked in as if it was his own home. Many pairs of eyes darted towards him, following him as he made his way to the bored-looking receptionist girl. Viers left two pouches on the counter.

Boram was teetering behind, most adventurers were a rough-looking bunch. Never before had he walked into a den of monster killers. He made himself as small as possible as he stuck to Viers like his own shadow.

“Stonedogs' eyes and the herbs. Proof of completion of these quests. And a monster core, I’ll sell it to the guild.”

“Oh, you ain’t dead… Good. I’ll check these and prepare your reward.”

Viers found the bet setter, Ago, and approached him. The boorish man didn't look too pleased.

“It won't be long now,” Viers smiled behind his veil.

“...You got lucky, kid. Happens to all of us. But getting to Obsidian won't be as easy as you expect. Many of us took months.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Viers looked straight into Ago’s eyes.

Before the tension could explode, a person walked into the guild. That person took the attention of everyone there, including Viers.

“Oh my, did I miss something? Hm?”

She was a redhead woman wearing a pointy hat like a witch, a wooden staff was in her hand. She had a dynamite body and wore revealing clothes. While other men were swooned by her body and pretty face, Viers’ heart skipped a jump because of another reason.

She was the Level 2 pasta-eating adventurer that he met in Mokash town, the one who winked at him.

The woman was looking right at Viers with recognition in her eyes.