Aurora Scroll

The days when Viers stayed at Ebon Wall City continued to increase. The vestiges of winter had completely disappeared and spring came in full bloom.

Viers hadn't veered from his charted course, grinding exp. From the start, his objective in this frontier land was to do just that. Slowly improving his swordsmanship and Artes, steadily rising his cultivation, upgrading his monster forms, and so on.

With any luck, he hoped to encounter a worthwhile monster to subsume in a place called the Monsterland but he didn't. Perhaps they were deeper in but after the hardcore run of Valkut arc, Viers was playing it safe and didn't take risks.

As the result of his diligent training, following the increase of his soul foundation to Grand Soul, he also rose to become a Level 3 high Pathseeker. With the elevation of his standing on the cultivation ladder, his means and insight became greater than before. This was reflected in the birth of some new Artes. Not every Arte was new, he dismantled some old ones to make their upgraded version.

While Arte was important, Viers especially put most of his attention on training his Unreality Field. With the Nutra, the Profound Training of Serpentes Renovamen was going smoothly. As his mastery of the Profound Codex from the Age of the Gods increased, the greater his Unreality Field became. Viers not only strengthened his Field but also trained his utilization of it.

Greater Unreality Field than your opponent meant they became less likely to inflict injury upon you and your attacks would be easier to pierce their defenses.

At Level 3, before it came to trading blows with Arte, the clash between Unreality Fields occurred first. If one was significantly greater than another, the balance would be overwhelmingly tipped to one side.

Unreality Field's mastery led to its evolution, Imaginary Domain, the gateway to Level 4.

Level 2 Pathseekers didn't have this ability, which made them way weaker than Level 3s. Level 2 to Level 3 was a great divider in the Path of Power, fewer people were able to cross to Level 3. Those that could were rewarded fairly.

With Grand Soul and Level 3 high, Viers got two big jumps in battle strength. His diligence paid off.

Not only Viers, but his three little familiars were also getting power-ups on their own.

In a controlled situation, Viers let them roam a bit far away from him. On their journey, the three saved a village from a crisis by stupid people, which then resulted in the three being worshiped as deities. It was quite amusing when Viers heard about it but it was a story for another time.

Roughly two months had passed since he arrived, other than training, he had two side activities. Training day in and day out could be a dull affair, he needed a refresher every now and then.

The first was hanging out with Jessica. After he found out her secret of participating in an underground fighting ring, they became closer.

Her fluster and reaction after he brought her back from drinking was something that Viers would remember fondly for a long time.

The two sometimes went on a monster hunting trip to Monsterland together. The premise was to get cultivation resources and money. Because Jessica had a son who was still little, she did not prefer high-risk jobs, which was why Viers with a fake Level 2 cultivation could accompany her.

With Viers -or Kira as Jessica knew him- as an accomplice keeping her Pathseeker activities a secret, she could move more freely so she was happy about it.

Although Jessica was a body Pathseeker and ‘Kira’ was a water Pathseeker, they traded pointers and elevated each other. Viers gave a couple of Artes that were suitable for her. He had a lot from his looting journeys. In return, Jessica also gave Viers some of her body cultivation tips and tricks. Nothing groundbreaking, after all, Viers had soul searched other body Pathseekers but it was a good thing nonetheless.

Of course, the two had tried the new trending sensation of Ebon Wall City, the Dungeon. As a gamemaster of sorts, Viers made Jessica’s dungeon runs challenging, exciting, and very rewarding. The bias was clear.

If Paina, Farley, and Clarissa were here, they would definitely comment about Viers’ tendency to favor beauties.

As for Viers’ second side activity, it was, unsurprisingly, the Dungeon.

Abby and Viers' combined venture had a successful launch. People were coming like ants to sugar. Viers, as Tey the shopkeeper of Never Die Thrice, was so busy that he was practically glued to the shop like an NPC. Viers had more important stuff to do so he made puppets. Corpses with souls inside them that were capable of simple actions. Viers made them all have the same appearance, the Merchant from RE4.

Abby was still wary of him but she kept giving Viers Nutra for compensation for his work. However, because she realized how important the Nutra was, she really put Viers to work lately.

After he worked there for some time, Viers had a guess of one of the Dungeon’s gimmicks. Viers always wondered why Abby didn't seem too keen on killing the delvers. What was her aim for making people enter her body if not for the kills like in the Fables?

It was their wounds.

Abby somehow was able to harvest or gain energy from the people who got wounded in the Dungeon. It was still a conjecture but Viers thought his observation should be pretty accurate. His eyes could pick up some signs.

He immediately thought it was a good thing but couldn't simply ask Abby for a copy of the technique after their horrendous first encounter; he hadn't even met her face to face again after that so he must rely on himself.

Of stealing the concept.

He didn't know if it was replicable at all but he kept researching by observation. He sensed Abby still had other reasons but he had no way of knowing. The Dungeon business was booming and it was good enough for Viers.

Therefore, Viers didn't go all out.

If he wanted to make the Dungeon more successful he believed he could. However, he was busy enough as it is and ultimately, the Dungeon was not his but Abby’s. The one who gained the most profit from the Dungeon’s success would be Abby.

So he didn't unleash the vilest, evil and most repugnant business model into the world: microtransaction!

If I go the gatcha route and make cute waifus and husbandos for the Dungeon…

Viers shuddered at the thought. What a sinful man he would become… His karma would be so black it would turn the sea dark.

So Viers kept the great evil sealed.

For now.

The Dungeon business wasn't free of troubles. Its uniqueness and richness made unsavory parties have designs. If Viers was in their shoes, he would too.

“Welcome, Stranger. What are ya buy-”

The merchant got his head blasted off by a customer and reduced to a pulp. Someone got the bright idea of stealing all the wares of Never Die Thrice. It was done by a Level 3 peak, with the backing of a Level 4 outside. He got rare magic items and powerful limited-time buffs for this.

It was done at the not busy hours but there were still people in the shop. There were always people in the shop. Those who witnessed the act screamed in fear or surprise, afraid they would be implicated.

But before the assailant managed to store the merchant’s corpse or stormed the back of the store, he got splattered.

To the eyewitnesses, the man seemed to be crushed by invisible plates, from above and below. It happened so fast that if you blink you would miss it. There was nothing left of the assailant save for some splattered blood that spurts during the crushing.

While the storegoers were still in shock, an identical merchant came out from the back, dragged the merchant's corpse back then cleaned the store of all traces of the fight. After that, he stood behind the counter as if nothing happened.

“T-Tey?”

“Welcome Stranger. What are ya buyin’?”

“D-did you… What?” A customer asked while looking shocked.

“Got some rare things on sale, Stranger,” the merchant said with his usual voice.

Packed in a glass coffin, was the Level 3 peak that disappeared earlier. There were two things slapped onto the glass, 100% dead writing and a price tag.

“Not only will you need Zenny, but you'll need GUTS to buy that corpse!”

Just like the case for monsters, a Pathseeker’s body was valuable, for alchemy or for crafting material. With the right method, learning the person’s Arte that he used while he was still alive was also possible. With how complete the corpse was, it was a prime cut, so to speak.

Before the day was out, the corpse was off the shelf.

Viers foresaw this development and delegated the task of keeping the peace to Abby. It was not hard, those that got violent in the shop would get a space butt-kicking. It was Abby’s ability that she showed during their fight. The merchant that died was a puppet. If that was Viers or Arsène, they wouldn't get their head pulped but the assailant would still die all the same.

The wealth of the Dungeon drew hyenas of all kinds. They cooked all kinds of schemes.

There was an incident where some organization tried to monopolize the Dungeon. They forcefully seized authority from the city and blocked the entrance, forbidding free entry. Only their own people would enter.

Viers descended on them.

As if the final boss appeared on the first floor.

It was a nightmare for the honest gaming folks.

Not only that, with Abby’s interference, the exit disappeared so it was not possible to retreat and no news was leaked to the outside.

After the first wave people did not return, the bullies outside sent stronger people, but they did not return either. They were quite daring so they sent the third wave with battle strength even greater than the first two waves combined.

Viers had a nice workout that day but the harvest and loot were worth it.

Out of spite, the bullies still blockaded the entrance after their boys’ defeat. Since it was imposed by three Level 4s, people couldn't complain even if they wanted to. They deduced that the dungeon was sentient so they wanted to impose a lockdown to see it react.

Viers thought it might be a valid strategy but Abby dealt with it. It took a week but a new cave entrance appeared some distance away.

Their next action was to seal the entrances using barriers.

Abby opened mini-entrances near their camp and sent plague monsters outside. The result was not pretty.

The bullies outside grumbled but they realized the futility. Even if they continued warring against the Dungeon from the outside it would be only losses and not a single gain, so they backed away.

From then on, whenever the outsiders tried to make policies that displeased the Dungeon, Viers and Abby made their will known, by massacring their batch of delvers to the last man.

After several times, they got the message: treat the Dungeon nicely and it would do the same for you. An understanding was reached with the organization with power outside despite not a single word being exchanged and people freely came to the dungeon. The enticement of the Dungeon was too great.

When they played by the dungeon’s rules, no one affiliated with the organization bullies got the extreme ‘Give Me God of War’ difficulty, having the intended dungeon experience.

Things were going well until one day, Abby called Viers.

“I need your help”

“Okay, what about?”

“In three days, there will be an Incursion.”

“...I think I know what it is from the name but please elaborate, just in case.”

“It’s a system-imposed event. Waves and waves of enemies will swarm the Dungeon. Last time it almost killed me. I want your help.”

“I see,” Viers’ eyes glinted. “It’s Dungeon Defense time.”