“What happened to you?”

Viper Lady asked when Viers approached her. She and her group were consoling the two women that the scum duo had captured. Macho Hunk was lying on the floor with a spear in his chest, lifeless.

“I won.”

Viers said the words without emotion. His clothes were in tatters and his skin was at medium-rare thanks to the lighting strikes. He extended his hand to the corpse and the Lady jumped back out of caution. She felt the wrongness in the air with her own soul.

“Tanael, what did you do!?”

“Soul recycling. Don't worry, you already got his shards, no? I’m just taking something worthless to you.”

Viers absorbed Macho Hunk’s Level 2 soul for his own use, ‘recycling’ was an apt term.

“Well, that’s that then. I’ve taken my share so the rest are yours. Cheerio then, unless there's something else?” Viers cocked his head slightly.

“...Viper, I bet we can take him now,” one of the women in the Lady’s group whispered.

Even without his super-hearing, Viers could tell what they were thinking. Viers’ smile grew. “Ah, wanna take a swing? Be my guest.”

“Go away, Tanael.” Viper Lady made the call. “I don't want to see you again.”

Even when he looked like a lightning-struck beggar, she felt the man was dangerous. Her instinct screamed so.

“I can't promise you that. Anywho, ladies,” Viers dipped his head and waved before walking slowly to the exit. Perhaps they would change their mind, he never knew.

But his steps were unhindered until he left the settlement and rendezvoused with Kaari.

“Chief, I’ve been waiting for your return. Let me tend to your injuries.”

“Mmm,” Viers nodded. Every assistant NPC was very versatile. They could do a little bit of everything, such as first aid and dressing wounds.

The NPCs -except for Kaari- under Viers’ command were all dead after the assault on the degenerate duo’s settlement. Since he let Viper Lady and her gang take over the settlement, he didn't gain a single NPC for his labors, only loot and shards from the Gentleman.

It will only be harder from now on, attacking strongholds. Guess it's time to meet up with Iz, enacting our plan. I’ve defeated ten people already. If there are easy pickings on the way then great. With luck, I might find Boram. Hope he isn't dead. This Stage might be a bit much for him.

A certain raven-haired girl’s face flickered in his mind.

...That kimono-wearing JK will be fine. We will meet again. I’m sure of it.

***

Viers and Kaari began to traverse the vast and dangerous land.

There were many hazardous areas, natural disasters occurring frequently, and monsters of every variety. In other words, it was a fitting world for base-building survival games.

Stage 3 was huge and the trial takers were separated all over the place. Finding a specific person among them was not easy but Viers wasn't doing this blindly.

“The Last City…”

The medieval megalopolis was quite a sight. Sky-reaching, clustered buildings were made possible because of magic rather than technology. It was built in a crater and protected on all sides by material and magical means.

The setting of Stage 3 was a dystopian world where that city was the last bastion of humanity and other races. But it got eaten by cancer on the inside and the city imploded. Order fell, anarchy ruled. The city became a ‘Mecca of madness and morbidity’. The people were safe from the monstrous beasts of the outside but in danger from the people next to them.

Fed up, Viers and the other players became the leaders of expeditions to create a new home. That was Stage 3’s story setting.

“When your settlement becomes better, people will migrate… True enough,” Viers talked to himself as he watched bands of people coming out in groups from the Last City to various directions.

Viers only needed to follow the fresh NPCs to find the other settlements. It was only a matter of time until all the players realized the same and knew the location of their rivals.

On a separate matter, Viers had tried to get into the city but couldn't, forcefields forced him back. Viers shrugged and walked back.

After gathering enough data samples, he concluded that the Last City was at the center of Stage 3’s map, and the player settlements were placed all around it.

They could not move too far out from the City because the places became more unforgiving there, beyond the limit Level 2 Pathseekers could tolerate. For example, a mist ocean that absorbed Viers’ Victa when he got too close.

Viers and Kaari went from one place to another, filling the empty places in their map one step at a time.

***

The sun’s light was knocking on his closed eyelids and there were multiple loud noises in the distance. Viers roused himself up from sleep.

Rrrhh, what is it? Didn't get much sleep after running from knee-height exploding gremlins last night…

As Viers booted up his brain, he moved to the edge of the ridge to see the source of the commotion.

He found war.

“Aaaaaaahmmm...”

Viers yawned while stretching his hands upward.

Some distance away, two sides were warring. An attack on a settlement. The invader committed an all-out attack, even the non-fighter NPCs were sent to fight.

“Hot towel, Chief.”

“Xie xie, Kaari.”

He pressed the moist hot towel onto his face, washing and freshening it. Viers enjoyed the luxuriousness of airplane travel thanks to Kaari.

The attack itself was foolish, in Viers’ opinion, no different than a suicide attack. The NPCs were dying in droves assailing a fortified position of another settlement but they served their purpose.

Srek srek srek srek. Garg garg garg garg.

Viers brushed his teeth. The inside of his mouth felt wrong otherwise. After rinsing it with water, he gargled loudly.

In the battlefield, Backlasher managed to sneak attack the leader of the defender.

“Rank 3, Daystar...” Viers recognized the guy.

Backlasher tried to kill the guy on the first day in the Path of Paradise resort. “If I remember correctly, Backlasher called him… Aravene?”

“Water, Chief?”

“Merci.”

Viers slurped the hot water Kaari boiled as if he was having tea. Veirs kept watching the battle as if it was morning news. Unfortunately, he had no tea on his person or it would have been perfect. And he hadn't found any coffee in this world.

Backlasher fought Daystar. One used darkness, one used light. The way they fought was quite flashy, a crowd-pleaser. They were both skilled but Daystar had the upper hand since the beginning of the battle.

Backlasher unleashed his attack with the intention to kill but Daystar clearly didn't.

“Breakfast is ready, Chief.”

“Spasibo.”

Nyom nyom nom.

Meat skewer, Viers’ breakfast menu for the last few days. The same menu but made using different monster ingredients every time. In Viers’ Thousand Treasures Casket there were many varieties of monster meat from the accumulation of the Book World’s prior stages.

Viers munched on the chewy meat while watching the two duking it out. Viers didn't need to be a genius to realize they had a history. He was too far to hear the conversation but the heated way they fought, the rich expressions on their faces, Viers seemed to stumble upon something months or even years in the making.

Viers lamented that he didn't have any popcorn.

“A-a-aaa. Aiueo, aiueo… Ladieeeeees aaaaand gentlemeeennn! Thank you for tuning in to the Viers Stream today. As always, this is your host, Viers Isuel, reporting live in the Book World’s trial of fire, where the worthy... shall rise.”

Viers talked like a boxing match’s Emcee.

“Keep it down… People are trying to sleep here,” Paina replied sullenly.

“Mrrrmm… Who’re the gentlemen? We’re all ladies here. How rude...” Clarissa’s voice came out in a dawdle as she rolled on her bed to the other way, trying to drift back to sleep.

“...Good morning to you, Lord Viers. It makes me glad you’re in a fine mood so early in the morning,” Farley, God-bless her soul, was the only one trying to keep up with Viers’ antics.

Viers acted as if he didn’t hear them.

“For those of you just joining in, there’s a battle among the top 10 happening right in front of your eyes. In the blue corneeeer, master of darkness, edgy and brooding anti-hero type, Back-lasheeeeerrrr! In the red corneeer, the dazzle-dazzle, handsome hero with a thousand-watt smile, Daaay-starrrrrr! Give them a round of applause.”

“It is a classic dark versus light, dear viewers. The battle is in its middle stage. Oooh, Backlasher just went whoosh and Daystar counter with pew pew pew. Things are heating up! They speak to each other, trading insults perhaps? Backlasher’s face turned ugly from the twist of emotion. He’s going all out now.”

“Uwwwohhh! Backlasher sacrificed the men under his command, draining something from them until they were reduced to husks. That clinches it. He’s a villain. Dark tendrils of energy went toward the dark Pathseeker. What’s this? He isn't done! He also burns his life force for good measure. Ohhh, now that’s commitment.”

“To answer the cheering of the fans, the opposition, our ‘hero’ also accessed his limit break. Look at that blazing light aura, doesn't it remind you of something? At any rate, they won't last long. The two’s fight has reached the crescendo, trading blows at a degree of power unseen before!”

The battle was a showy contest of light and darkness vying for supremacy. Viers’ Euryale sight caught a few NPCs and players also watching the fight.

“An upset! The hero’s powerup was spent first! That normally didn't happen. Would this be the case where the villain defeated the hero? Backlasher got an opening, a golden opportunity for a fatal blow!”

“Victory is in his hands… Wait… W-w-what is he doing? Is he… gloating?”

“Why in the BEJEEZUS–!?”

“You’re yapping your mouth instead of delivering the killing blow? Oh man, oh man! Dude, fer real!? Villains that do that always lose, you numbskull. I can't watch this shit anymore. Aaaaaaand look, now the hero got saved by deus ex machina. You see it yourself, dear viewers, a silver wolf saved the hero from defeat… and now the tides are turning… Ooops, darkness guy got hit by a combination attack from the hero and the silver wolf. Hooray! The good guy wins again because the bad guy is incompetent. That’s it folks, another one for the history book. Now is the hero’s turn to end the villain’s menace once and for al– Oh for God’s sake! Can you believe what you are seeing, my spectators?”

“The hero. Let. The villain. Go.”

“Can't believe this could get any worse. Turns out the hero has the mentality of a Sunday morning’s cartoon show. Bleeeh. Backlasher looks injured but managed to get away uncontested. He looks livid but a loss is a loss… Daystar can chase and kill him but he is busy trading saliva with the silver wolf that turns into a hot beastfolk girl. Figures…”

“...Well, what a match, what a match indeed. Feel free to apply for a refund, ladies and gentlemen, I know I would if I were you. Thanks for watching. If you are entertained from THAT, you need better quality entertainment. I’m Viers Isuel, have a nice day… Now I need a piss. I feel like I have a kidney stone after watching that or something.”

The screen faded to black in front of Farley’s eyes. Perhaps Viers was really answering the call of nature. Farley patiently waited, trying to make sense of what she’d just seen.

The screen went back on shortly.

“Apologies, dear spectators. I forgot to tell you something. How about an interview with the loser? Perhaps mocking him would make the irritation in your chest go away? Stay tuned for our next program.”