Geneva bustled in the early evening like never before, the streets chock-full of players and NPCs.

It was a feedback loop of a booming economy – more players, means there's more business for the NPCs, and more NPCs, means there's more opportunities for the players. Carl's influence further added fuel to the rampantly escalating fires, drawing in additional players who chased after drama, and NPC henchmen who craved luxurious treatment. But he was only the nexus of this sudden boon, and the real battlefield was the one on which the various guilds fought for supremacy, most of those cutthroats not giving much thought to the individual who got the whole process rolling and facilitated such favorable circumstances, merely viewing him as a potential stepping stone to fortune.

Naturally, there was a limit to how many people could comfortably fit inside the walls. Any more than that, and the local authorities would impose restrictions to prevent unrest and anarchy – like entry fees for example, killing two birds with one stone. Normally, all generically named places in the tutorial allowed free access, but that was subject to change if the natives saw value in it. This would subsequently prompt the development of peripheries, eventually leading to the expansion of fortifications and their official annexation, which occurred in an expedited manner for the sake of playability, partly through magic, and partly due to simplified mechanisms, which shrouded construction sites with obfuscation arrays – out of sight, out of mind.

The teleportation terminal in the center of the city never stopped glowing, an endless stream of silhouettes appearing and, less often, disappearing. At some point an excellently equipped group of players emerged from the gleaming lights, their exotic get-ups hinting at a very distant background.

“Hey, will you look at that? It's busier than I expected it to be,” a swashbuckler wearing a vividly colored bandana with coiling dragons on his neck and another gold-embroidered black one on his head commented, chuckling.

“You call this backwater place busy, Fenger? Is that really all Europe has to offer?” an elegant, crimson-robed entropic mage snorted, showing off her disdain. “And these plebeians think they can compete with us, haha! Daydreaming must be a pastime in this part of the world.”

“Pay attention, the two of you, I don't want your loose tongues to slip up while we're here,” their group leader, a dual-wielding swordsman in a Chinese brigandine armor messaged. “Let's hurry to the arena. We don't have many Scrolls of Isolation, and we don't want to read them in the open, either. Shiva's Hand is bound to watch the teleportation terminal, and not just them. Too much is at stake, so let's not stop for anyone and keep our mouths shut until we're in a lobby.”

The party of ten then speedily made their way to the Colosseum, permanently invigilated.

…

Merciful Breeze huffed and puffed through gritted teeth despite standing still all this time, multiple arrows sticking out of her. She squeezed her staff tightly, all shaking, constantly healing herself to soothe the pain and ward off the nausea and the blackness assaulting her mind.

“One more!”

“Whoa, cuz … ease up a bit,” Lissome Shot suggested awkwardly. This put her in an uncomfortable spot, because she couldn't help her empathy. Just watching her harrowed bestie was painful … and she was the one torturing her!

“No! I have to per … se … vere …”

“Well, there you go,” the hapless tormentor let out with a sigh.

“Huh? Aaangh … what happened?”

“You passed out and fell over, what else? That's your cue to take a break. You've done an awesome job, better than the guys, so end the fight and rest up. Here, in the meantime you can cast Confuse on me. I wanna see what it's like to get hit by it, and you need to prioritize training it.”

“O– … okay …”

Unwillingly, the brave girl allowed the system to restore her, dejected by her frailty, then targeted her sparring partner and fired an invisible – to the naked eye, of course – arcane beam of resonating mana fluctuations, designed to wreak havoc on the recipient's perception. The effect was instantaneous, bringing the female ranger to her knees, as if she just received a concussion.

“Ugh, wait up … I feel sick … think I'm gonna throw up! Is this real or simulated? Tell me, quick!”

“It's fake, don't worry! Take a few deep breaths and relax. Yes, very good, keep going.”

Observing them was Looming Oak, shocked by the results.

“Wow … isn't this too overpowered?”

“Well, she has 5 willpower, so that was predictable,” Merciful Breeze explained.

“Hey, I want to give it a crack as well.” Ingolf stepped forward with verve, having returned from his freezing bath, which was surprisingly painful, but wonderfully reinvigorating at the same time. “Hit me!”

And he went down just as swiftly …

“Oof … oh boy … heh … this is horrible! No more, thank you!” He chuckled while on all fours. “Ugh, even if it counts as exposure, I prefer arrows.”

“Huh? It can improve willpower?” his daughter stood up and looked on with anticipation. “Let me go again!”

“I don't know, Liss, regular pain is much more straightforward, so the gains will likely be very slow. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were lasting physiological effects from the confusion, interfering with your archery for hours afterwards,” Merciful Breeze warned.

“Gah, you're right … whatever! I won't know until I try!”

“Erm, you're going at it the wrong way, Liss. But if you insist – sure. I'll need a few potions, though. And not too many, because it's a waste to use them without the mental buff. Ai, we better join Mister Bulwark's team now … or maybe I should focus on raising my willpower first … what to do …” The rational girl deliberated on the optimal course of action.

“Come on, hit me! We'll take turns.”

“Okay!”

…

The hour was nearing 8 PM and the sun was starting to set. It was time to get accustomed with the black boars' nest, as Carl planned to take a break soon.

The two young women resolutely departed for the expedition hall, leaving the men to their own devices. Lissome Shot, who got sporadically dazed, was satisfied to have advanced her willpower whatsoever, relieved it budged at all, albeit a minuscule amount, mere 0.2, which was nothing in the grand scheme of things, yet it didn't deter her. There was some lasting disorientation, but it wasn't so bad when she stood still and gently drew her bow, only when she moved. Merciful Breeze, on the other hand, made real progress, which she modestly kept to herself – she leaped to 8.6 willpower, 4% of the way to Pain Freak, even overtaking Ingolf. Confuse had also gained a level, and that was on her poor natural mana regeneration, so she eagerly looked forward to training it with potions, of which they were generously given a ton.

“Hello ladies,” Radiant Bulwark welcomed and introduced everyone after they met up in the forest. “Brother Lionheart says you'll be of great help to us, and I can't wait to see what he has in mind. He mentioned some spell. May I know what it is before we set out?”

“Oh, I don't know if I can help much. It's Confuse, but I'm only a beginner with it,” the elven healer disclosed humbly.

This revelation, however, had the man reeling back.

“Confuse? Seriously?!”

“Mhm. Why? Is it bad?”

“No! Not at all! It's just … not what I assumed. Heh, brother Lionheart isn't afraid to invest big, that's for sure.”

The girl blushed.

“True. Almost 90 gold to learn one skill, and several times as much to master it … I'll do my best to repay it!”

“What?! You spent less than 90 gold?!” Azure Firmament blurted out.

“Y-yes?”

“Wait … do you mean … before the reset, or … ?” Silky Smooth investigated.

“No, altogether. It was super easy the second time, took me only 21 gold.”

The two mages and their superior stared at Merciful Breeze as if she was a monster.

“What's up with you, guys? I'm not in the loop, care to enlighten me?” Reckless Javelin requested.

“Last I checked only one cleric learned this exclusive spell in all of Skyborne Lions, costing us … costing them 250 gold,” Radiant Bulwark divulged solemnly. “It's just that hard, and with this price tag there's no experimentation allowed. From what we found out … ugh … from what they found out, the general average doesn't go below 200 gold.”

“I think I know why,” the girl confessed meekly, but she was evidently cheerful. “Although fictional, magic system in Immortal Frontier is based on real science. It's a synthetic expansion of the laws of physics, where everything can be predicted and calculated. And since I study neuroengineering, this particular spell plays to my strengths, and I had no trouble comprehending its inner workings, which simply aim at forceful modulation of neural oscillations, that is brain waves. I can see why it would appear complicated to the laymen.”

“Well,” Radiant Bulwark spoke after a weighty moment of silence, “with this it should indeed be a simple matter to sweep up this dungeon. We'll give you a great mana potion for the boss fight, and this'll be it.”

“Um, good quality will do,” Merciful Breeze corrected.

“Oh, don't you want to use wands, then?”

“No, brother Carl said–”

“What staff are you using?” Azure Firmament interjected.

“… 50% focusing.”

“Mine has 100% channeling, it's not bound, we can switch when you need it,” the lightning mage offered. “This should give your Confuse a lot more potency.”

“There you go, now we're set,” Radiant Bulwark concluded merrily.

“Hey, I'm here as well!” Lissome Shot demanded attention. “Do you have the fragmentation arrows for me?”

“Ah, yes, my apologies. We'll only need the special arrows later, for now we are supposed to let you work on your proficiencies. But will you be able to move that bow about while on a tree, without having a spare hand to hold on to a branch?”

“Ha! Watch me!”

…

After a 4.5 hour stretch, Carl's avatar was once more spent physically and mentally. His right forearm got mended twice already, as it was prone to breaking when stiffened by the contracted gravidon bracer, but on the plus side this didn't impede it in battle at all, with the same bracer keeping it together. He also twisted his ankle on a speedy return, and it still hurt after getting fixed. The Black Fang had another tiny chip, the bite sleeve got swapped for the repaired one, the leather armor held nicely, and the missing scroll holders joined the queue, as the slots got auctioned off at 55-56 gold now. Everything was peachy.

Radiant Bulwark added him and Toothy to his party, Carl recited a Scroll of Danger, left the dungeon and run for the temple, spies all around watching him like hawks.

And then he saw them.

They seemed to be just a regular bunch of expert players on their way to the expedition hall … but why was the timing so coincidental? Why were they so obstinately disinterested, chatting and laughing amongst each other, when so many bystanders turned to look at him, making a huge ruckus about his passing presence? Why were they all Asian? And … what was this weird aura emanating from them?

The signs were palpably obvious.

He noticed them with plenty of forewarning, giving him an option to retreat … but this was Carl, not anyone else. There was ten pros in front of him, and even one of them would pose a challenge, but he didn't care. He knew they would come eventually … and he would rip them to pieces or die trying!

He stopped and faced them from a distance of some 30 meters, as they finally acknowledged his existence with fake surprise. All the players and spies around them started realizing something was off …

… their astonishment culminating when Carl casually grabbed a potion from his belt and uncorked it.

All pretense got shed in an instant. The explosive onslaught was a testament to career PKers.