This time, Viers changed things up and meditated in the money pile. He was relishing in the sensation of being buried neck-deep in valuables, something that he always dreamt of in the previous world. It pleased him so much that Viers was having a zen moment.

But he admitted that it was a bit embarrassing so he cut off the feed of Viers Channel from Farley and the others.

After his Advancement to Level 3, his Intio was empty and once again needed to be filled with mana before he could try to become a Level 4. The amount was significantly greater than the previous Level 3. Even in this mana-rich Biome, it would take years before it was filled up.

Viers was not in a hurry so he let his body naturally absorb the raw mana from his surroundings, half of it for his cultivation process and another half for his Intio to process and turn into Victa, a personified magic fuel for Pathseekers. As a Level 3, his Intio produced Level 3 Victa, which was a much more potent and powerful energy for his Artes.

The amount of Victa produced wouldn't change no matter how much mana was available in the area because it was the product of one’s Intio. However, there were methods to improve Victa production. Viers was wearing such a thing, the moon pendant hanging on his chest increased Victa production by 30%.

Meanwhile, his consciousness was in his inner world, where his tenants resided.

The place got another increase in population recently.

“How is she?” Viers asked the short-haired brunette with a petite body. Farley’s appearance was unchanged since her soul residence inside Viers. While Viers had grown, Farley’s form was the same as that wintry night last winter.

“She’s coping,” Farley said beside Viers. They were watching Gwen, Farley’s ten-year-old sister, playing with Paina. “Her family except me are now dead, she has no home, and she died at the hands of her own father… It took some time to get used to.”

Farley explained their circumstances to the little girl, told her the whole truth, and as expected, she didn't take it well when she heard it. The crying had ceased after a while and with Farley, Paina, and Clarissa’s support, she was getting better. The sisters were raised as devil cultists, so their outlook on the world was a bit skewed. It was not their fault but the one who raised them. Viers remembered Gwen said that the Church was the bad guys when they first met. But unlike the older sister who had seen more of the world, Gwen was too young to have the chance.

“With understanding people surrounding her, she will be alright. I’m giving you more awake time so you can be with her,” Viers said understandingly. Keeping Farley and the others awake cost Victa. Even with the recent Level up and a 30% increase of production, Viers wasn't going to spendthrift his precious battle fuel. Farley understood this.

Paina, Farley, Clarissa trio worked to better the Viers Corp when they were awake but Gwen was too young and unable to contribute.

“Thank you, Lord Viers. I’ll redouble my efforts in supporting you. With your water 5 affinity, my abilities increased too. I won't let you down.”

“Mmm,” Viers nodded. He wouldn't fork up his Victa for nothing without gain. “We still haven't made progress in making bodies for you all. Hope Oscar can give us something.”

Gwen realized Viers was here and waved with a white flower in her hand. Her smile was pure and innocent.

Viers waved back.

That said, confining the child in White Flowers Meadow isn't good for her mental growth… What’s a good solution for this?

Viers slightly perked his head up. “Dia’s calling me. I gotta go.”

“May fortune be with you, Lord Viers,” Farley bowed like a maid.

Viers opened his eyes and Arsène emerged from a portal Dia created. Arsène raised his eyebrows when seeing Viers’ current state.

“Trouble?” Viers asked after not seeing his other-self for ten days.

“Nothing we can't handle. You seem to be having fun. You’re not slacking off while I’m working are you?”

“You know that’s not possible,” Viers came out from the money pile, hundreds of gold coins fell down as he raised himself up from being submerged. If he and the gold pile were a thousand times bigger, it would be as if he was reenacting the Smaug scene.

The two shook hands and Arsène was absorbed into Viers after turning into particles of light. Viers closed his eyes for five minutes, digesting the new memories that he gained.

Hoo… Interesting experience Arsène had. Since Boram now knows, I definitely have to instruct him about how to protect his mind. He already has basic defense from the Book World but it is not enough, perhaps even a memory lock to be more secure.

Viers touched the moon pendant on his person.

No irreplaceable items on Arsène, even if Tanael’s hunters take drastic measures and all is lost. Though, I would strive to keep Boram. Arsène passed the hypnosis test but I must not get complacent. No going to Regidana in person yet. No problem though, I have tons of things to do here. Arsène should finish the lawsuit next, then I’ll finally be free from the obligations of society.

The journey on the Path of Power was full of problems and setbacks. In this period of time, Viers encountered some problems in his way of doing things.

One, too much info from soul search.

His soul search took time but it wasn't too heavy of a problem because as his skill rose, the ‘searching’ became faster. His problem was too many memories inside his brain, too much data. Simply put, Viers’ hard drive was cluttered.

Viers had started feeling the problem at this point. It wasn't even a hundred people yet. How many people would he soul search in a year? In a decade? While there was virtually no limit to the amount of information a brain could remember, Viers gained those memories using a soul method. It created problems. Viers was concerned about himself being contaminated by the information of others because he gained their emotions and whatnot during the soul search.

Viers could simply soul search less or forget less important things but after experiencing the benefits of soul searching every soul he killed, he didn't want to do so.

Fable to the rescue!

Viers snapped his fingers. “A.I. Chip!”

The Deus Ex Machina! The real protagonist of Warlock of the Magus World!

Viers wanted it too.

He was inspired to make a supercomputer possessing a godly amount of data, combined with an artificial intelligence that could make anything and everything easier. Viers wondered how far the warlock would get without the A.I. Chip assisting him from the shadows.

But how? This was the conundrum.

So Viers took a step back.

Rather than a supercomputer, a database will do for now. It’ll store the data from the soul search and I can extract what I need, when I need it. In the future, a program, then a true A.I., will help me manage that vast amount of data. Mwuahahaha!

Viers got a plan for the future. Now he needed to gather the building blocks to construct this grand project.

I should start by obtaining something that is able to store memories. There should be some in this world of power fantasy, mind Pathseekers are a thing after all. What should be the name of this A.I.? Why is my head full of Miku right now? …Naaah, this is not a songstress’ role. How about… APOLLO, like in Zero Dawn? It is an A.I. that archived humanity’s knowledge so the name is apt. Buuuuuut a lunatic named Ted Faro might purge it. Bad luck name. Change!

And so Viers thought of other deities of knowledge.

…Ahura Mazda, the creator deity in Zoroastrianism whose name means Lord of Wisdom. I formally declare that Viers Corporation's Project Ahura Mazda is a go!

Two, counting the time inside the Book World, Viers hadn't been able to improve his soul cultivation even after two months.

How to go from Grand Soul to Hallow Soul? No matter how many human souls I eat, I don't feel any improvement. Did I do something wrong? Need higher Level human souls?

Farley’s father, the one Viers took this Arte from, was no help at all. Viers wasn't able to find a solution to this problem for the time being.

Well, I might be too fast in reaching this state thanks to Zerri’s children having human souls. I’m way ahead of schedule and I’m only Level 3. The solution might become clear as I progress naturally through my main quest.

Three, night guard during his moment of weakness.

Like Level 3, to become a Level 4 one must reach the next mastery in their Profound Codex. The only way to achieve that was by doing Profound Practice. For Viers, it meant to die as a Pathseeker during the night, multiplying the danger to life by multiple times. Viers couldn't even access his storage item during his death state because it needed Victa to be activated. His gun ability was also unavailable.

If Viers didn't want to see people of his age become Level 4s while he was years or decades away, the Profound Practice must occur almost every night. The weakness of this Profound Codex was the inability to speed up the Profound Practice. Time was fixed after all. The exception to this case would be if he managed to land again in a time-dilation space like the Book World in the future but Viers wouldn't count on something so uncertain.

To reduce his risk of dying for real, he needed methods to defend himself even when he was powerless.

Arsène is out, unfortunately. Boram is a solution but he alone is not enough. Dia is the same as Boram. I can lay down barriers and such beforehand but they’re insufficient. Clarissa and the others can guard me but I’m still not satisfied… I need more powerful assets. Not only powerful but also trustworthy. They must have unquestionable allegiance!

Viers hoped to get something to elevate this problem from the loot but no luck.

Not enough loot? Truly regrettable I didn't get anything from Anne. She must have so much good stuff. I know I can't always win them all but still… The only thing I got from her is only her last remnant of fir-

Fables to the rescue, again!

…It could work… No, I’ll make it work!

Yet another brilliant idea emerged from the Fable-inspired brain of Viers.

Four, Viers had human corpses, lots of corpses.

What should I do with them?

Viers was the type that would squeeze the value of dust if he could. He felt it was a waste to simply dispose of these bodies. Since Viers had a habit to store the corpses of his kills in storage items, Viers had many cadavers in his inventories.

Not only to not leave any clue to his enemies, but Viers also found storing someone’s body in an inventory item was an excellent way of checking if someone was truly dead or not. Since he didn't have a System cheat, he wouldn't get a signal or log if an enemy was dead or not. A skilled enemy might fake their death but storage items could only store nonliving things.

He even started teaching Boram this method.

From the necromancer that he butchered in Stage 3, Viers obtained methods to preserve corpses so they wouldn't decay at a normal rate. If put in storage items, the corpses would be in good condition even longer.

Viers had three storage items. One was the Thousand Treasures Casket for his standard use. One was for monsters and human corpses. One was for human heads.

Yes, Viers normally separated the head from the body. Either he cut them off in the fight or after the fight.

It was to prevent resurrections and the like. He’d lost count where the hero made a comeback from the dead and turned the tables.

Hell, every shonen hero is subject to this at some point. Luffy with Kaidou, Naruto with Orochimaru, Ichigo with Aizen, and so on. Being the genre savvy villain I am, my enemies will not have the luxury of a complete corpse. This is simply self-defense. Either you die, or I die. The choice is clear.

Whatever the case, Viers was having trouble with his enemies’ corpses. He could eat monster meat and increase his lifespan but eating human meat was beyond his sanity. Even so, he wanted to turn human corpses into cultivation resources but he didn't have the means. Some of the corpses were about to turn bad so he couldn't wait any longer.

He racked his brains out and he remembered the Circle of Life.

Plants got eaten by small animals which got eaten by bigger animals which would eventually die and become food for plants.

Viers turned to Dia who was basking in the light and absorbing soil nutrients from her feet that she turned into roots.

Isn't Dia’s cultivation method all about absorbing nutrients?

Viers emptied his storage item, one mound of human corpses and one mound of monster corpses.

“Dia, can you eat those?” Viers pointed to the dead monsters.

“Hmn? Sure.”

“What about those?” Viers pointed to the other mound.

Dia looked to one mound and the other.

“...What’s the difference?”