‘’Sorry, Renna. I’ve made you wait. Why didn’t you come in? It’s better than waiting on the street,’’ Ethan said to his little companion, who was playing with a kitten on the sidewalk.

‘’What’s the point if I can’t use skills? And it’s not like they won’t be here in a few years. You can find similar skills in every free-forest city,’’ she replied and lowered her voice before continuing, ‘’The good ones are in the hands of rich folks anyway. I heard that they even hunt you down if you somehow got one of their signature skills.’’

‘’Yeah, I heard that as well. But shouldn’t the free cities be more, free? If the council abuses its power so openly, how are the citizens okay with it? After all, any random guy with a good talent could become tier-9. Wouldn’t they go wild before their ascension?’’ he asked with the same low voice.

‘’You don’t know about powerful families. They have anti-mage teams, powerful artifacts, lots of money to hire any mercenary or adventurers, and influence that goes beyond free-cities,’’ she replied before changing the subject, clearly uncomfortable. ‘’Anyway, don’t you need a blacksmith too? I know the guy you’re lookin’ for!’’

Ethan was a little surprised by how wise the little devil was. She certainly didn’t look like a young miss or something like that. Perhaps, it was common sense here not to mess with the ruling houses, and they made sure that everyone knew it.

The blacksmith she was talking about left Ethan speechless. He was probably the coolest guy he had ever seen. The middle-aged dwarf was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with stylish pants, and his jacket was tied to his waist. His work glasses hung on top of his head, he got a well-trimmed beard, and a tattoo stretched from his chest to his neck.

He stopped his work after seeing them coming, fetched a big cigar from the table, and lit it up. ‘’Ain’t that the little Renna? What did you get for me this time?’’ he asked with a smile, biting the cigar.

‘’Hi, Zach! This is Ethan. He needs a blacksmith,’’ she stated, waving toward Zach.

‘’Let me guess,’’ Zach said, looking toward Ethan, ‘’Daggers?’’

Ethan winced a little, ‘’Like I’m the only stereotype here,’’ he murmured. He took his barely one-piece dagger and handed it to Zach, ‘’I’m gonna need two with the same design. I don't know what materials you have, but I need them sharp, durable, and much heavier than this. What do you suggest?’’

Zach played with the knife and hummed thoughtfully, ‘’What is this, a decoration?’’ he asked but continued before an answer, ‘’There is no problem with using it as a template. As for the material, I have tier-6 wyvern claws, but it would cost you,’’ he said and somehow looked down to Ethan with that height, ‘’Four mana stones for both.’’

Even though that sounded good, there was no way for Ethan to exchange all his wealth for two daggers. ‘’Nah, too much. I need something that would work against anything below tier 5. Anything better have to wait for now,’’ he said, shaking his head. ‘’Also, do you buy monster parts?’’

‘’Sure, but only tier-3 and higher.’’

Ethan had already gotten rid of anything lower to open some space. He showed everything he had to Zach, along with the bow of Nuvian.

‘’I’ll give you seven gold for all this and three gold for the bow,’’ Zach offered, lifting his head up, ‘’As for your daggers, I’ll use adamantium, 15 gold total.’’

That would’ve left Ethan with about 30 gold, enough to buy one or two skills. ‘’Deal,’’ he nodded. ‘’How much time do you need?’’

‘’Give me three days. I have a few small orders to finish.’’

‘’Alright, ah, and where could I get some of those?’’ he requested while looking at the cigar.

Zach smirked, ‘’Oh? I see you’re a man of culture as well.’’

With business finished, Ethan and Renna went for dinner. The sky was darkening, and it looked like it might rain, but the streets were lively as ever.

‘’So, have you ever heard of a word called bargain?’’ Renna asked while leading them to a restaurant.

‘’Oh yeah, isn’t that one of the most meaningless and time-wasting actions?’’ he asked back.

‘’You could’ve made a solid gold coin profit there,’’ she snapped. ‘’How is that meaningless?’’

‘’And why do you think that one more gold coin would make my life better? There are countless possibilities that could lead me to a terrible fate for being a little richer. Or life could bring me much better opportunities that were only possible with me being a little poorer. The opposite is also true. Then there are sudden situations that would make being rich or poor utterly unrelated and insignificant, like love or death,’’ he explained in an easy-going manner, his eyes wandering to everything on the street.

‘’The point is, little devil, life is not black and white. Trying to calculate everything and thinking that certain measures would bring your life to the way you want it is just foolish,’’ he said, looking at the frowning Renna, ‘’You should give your own judgment for the things you can control, like is giving an extra coin to a cool dwarf worth it? And accept the things you can not control, like haggling at every scrap in your entire life, that might or might not make you richer, but even if it would, is it even worth bothering with it?’’

Renna stayed silent after listening to Ethan’s ramblings. In the restaurant, they sat at a table with a street view. Ethan ordered grilled fish, and Renna went for the vegetable soup. As they ate in silence, Ethan got a little worried for his new friend, but he let her to her musings.

When she saw a young elf boy that looked about 15 with a fancy robe, she panicked, hid her face with her hair, and pushed the herb basket under the table.

Ethan waited until the boy and his friends passed over. ‘’One of the options you are considering, I suppose?’’

‘’Agis Jorona,’’ she murmured, staring at the table. ‘’My mother works for Jorona’s. And Agis told the mother that after he awakened, which is a year from now, he wanted me as his personal maid. I can still refuse and become an alchemist apprentice but…’’

‘’But you are afraid they would hurt your mother?’’ he probed.

Rena shook her head, ‘’No, my mother's mistress wouldn't allow that. But if Agis felt offended, he could still make mother’s life hell.’’

‘’Then you make sure that the boy gives up on you on his own accord,’’ he suggested, looking at her confused eyes. ‘’Don’t you know about herbs? I’m sure there are some pretty nasty-smelling ones; apply a little on your body before seeing the boy. Do some make-up to show your skin a little yellowish, like a sickly yellow. Hell, paint one of your teeth black and give the boy your worst smile,’’ he explained with a wicked smile. ‘’But you can’t overdo it. You have a year to make sure that the boy wants to stay away from you, so do it slowly.’’

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‘’I can do that?!’’ she exclaimed loudly with wide eyes. ‘’But… but you said to accept the things you can not control?’’

Ethan sneered, ‘’And who says you can’t control a snobbish boy?’’ He leaned a bit and flicked her forehead with a finger, ‘’Use your head. Go and ask your mother’s friends from work, ‘what are the things their young master hates most?’ Ask it saying you want to avoid those things but then use them against him. If you can’t manage that in a year, I'm revoking your title as Little devil.’’

‘’I can!’’ she yelled, jumping to her feet. ‘’Thank you, Ethan!’’ she said and gave a kiss on his cheek before turning to run excitedly.

Ethan looked at her back with an amused smile and speculated if she would remember her basket. Let’s hope the boy won’t be stubborn, he thought, eyes turning cold.

‘Two biochip users entered a mile range.’

Oh? Perfect timing.

He stored Renna's basket and paid the bill, which was only three copper coins, before leaving the restaurant to meet with his fellow earthlings. The rain started to drizzle, but Ethan didn’t use his hood. He kept walking at a calm pace, feeling the raindrops that were running down his face.

Thanks to his mini-map, it wasn’t hard to find them. Two males in the clothes of the natives were coming toward him. One of them was tall, had a square face, and looked a little anxious. The other one was short, had sharp eyes, and looked serious. He got even more serious after seeing Ethan.

‘’Of course, It’s the throne of Cut-Throat who survived from Ivory Woodland,’’ the short one murmured.

Ethan heard that as they were in his domain. He hated the popularity he had back on Earth because everybody suddenly felt it was their right to be prejudiced toward him. Not to mention, there were famous VR players and there were infamous ones. It wasn’t like he was a rockstar.

The throne of Cut-Throat was one of the three thrones. Another one was Wu Qian, the throne of Heaven’s Dao. It was a nickname for those who stayed on the first rank in the leading games for more than a year. Of course, there were many renowned games, but the first place always changed, except for the three of them.

‘’It’s Ethan,’’ he introduced himself with a smile.

‘’Rafael,’’ the short one nodded.

‘’P-Pete,’’ the tall one said.

Rafael looked around impatiently. ‘’Let’s find a place to sit. We have much to talk about.’’

‘’Oh, I know a place,’’ Ethan said and gestured for them to follow.

They didn’t walk for long and entered the building just when the rain started to pour down even harder.

Pete looked even more nervous. He leaned to whisper to Ethan, ‘’Umm, Ethan, are you sure about this?’’ he asked, looking toward the ladies who were smiling and waving at them.

‘’Relax, we are here to listen to music,’’ he replied.

‘’Right, we are all here to listen to music,’’ the young man walking next to them confirmed with a knowing smile.

A voluptuous beauty walked toward them with the elegance of a cat, ‘’Welcome to the Pink Pearl, young warriors,’’ she greeted with a coy smile.

‘’Thanks, young… courtesan?’’ Ethan proposed.

She burst out laughing, ‘’It’s Xena. How may I help you, gentlemen, tonight?’’

‘’Just booze and music for now. Do you have a table in the lobby?’’

‘’Of course, please follow me.’’

The so-called lobby was huge, and it was swarming with people. Some of them were eating on the tables and some of them were making out on the couches. Xena led them to a table near the stage where two girls were playing rather strange instruments. The music was different from the earlier before but just as beautiful.

Are they using something similar to mana sense? Another mana skill? And I think they are using artifacts. It might be an effect of them, Ethan thought as he sat on his chair, glancing at instruments.

‘’Something strong but not too expensive, along with snacks. Surprise me,’’ Ethan said to Xena with a wink.

Watching the girl who left with giggles, he took out the cigar case he had bought from Zach and passed it to Pete and Rafael. Unfortunately, they didn’t want one. He shrugged and lit one up. ‘’So, what were you guys doing in the slums?’’

‘’Getting information,’’ Rafael said.

‘’And earning money,’’ Pete added. ‘’I am working in a b-butchery while Rafael joined a small-time gang. Our mission was to bring the others to Niamaris. Although we weren’t sure you could come all the way here, there was also someone else, Martha, who had already left. Oh, right, y-you don’t know–’’

‘’Another free-forest city, Niamaris. I’m guessing you made your base there and reached for others via teleportation gates?’’ Ethan interrupted him.

‘’R-right, the gates cost ten gold per person, though. We had no choice but to earn some money while traveling,’’ Pete said.

Ethan nodded, ‘’Are there any of my friends in your group? Vince, Wu, or Adrian?’’

‘’No,’’ Pete replied, shaking his head. ‘’But Rachel is with us.’’

‘’Rachel? Oh, the chemist girl,’’ Ethan remembered. ‘’How is she doing?’’

‘’She is okay. I think she found herself directly in the city and even got a job in an alchemy store not long after. You can see her when you come with us.’’

Ethan hummed thoughtfully. Where the hell are the others? Azora is so big, I can’t possibly travel everywhere. Are they even in Azora? he sighed as he realized his chances of finding his friends were quite low. No point in thinking, they are capable enough to survive. Unless their luck is shit, I’m sure we’ll see each other again.

The drinks had arrived with some exotic food. Ethan hoped Xena wasn’t pulling his legs. If the bill is too much, I’ll just [Blink] away.

Drinking the whisky-like beverage, he wiped the gloomy thoughts, ‘’Right, any idea about what happened to Ani?’’ he asked.

‘’Not really. Though, there are some theories,’’ Pete said hesitantly. ‘’S-some say t-that this is just another simulation from Ani. That we are still in the ship, and this is a test.’’

‘’Is there no one without a biochip in your group?’’ Ethan asked with a frown.

‘’No, there are two, but they could also be part of the simulation.’’

Ethan rolled his eyes, ‘’Come on. What is this? Matrix? And since when is Ani doing things without the consent of others?’’

‘’I don’t believe them,’’ Pete said hastily. ‘’But we’ve never considered what we’d do without Ani, and it would make sense to get us ready beforehand,’’ he said in a low voice before looking away shyly.

‘’There is only one way that kind of thought would lead, insanity,’’ Ethan said in a serious voice. ‘’Plus, Ani would never put us in a position where we doubt its every move.’’

Of course, this was only Ethan’s thought, but it came from his experience with Ani. Whatever he asked, it always answered with honesty, and it always made sense. And perhaps, it was easier to believe in the incomprehensible existence than try to guess its motives.

‘’They are just scared and looking for excuses,’’ Rafael, who was quiet so far, piped in, still not touching his drink. ‘’This world turned out much different than we expected. Even with Ani, we wouldn’t have much to offer as diplomatic allies. Now, all we can do is to get strong and have a place here. We can think about Earth after that. Will you join us, Ethan?’’

‘’Nope, I’m not joining anybody. I’m gonna look for my friends as I slowly travel the Azora. If your group needs help with something, I don’t mind helping, though. What you said about getting strong is correct, that should be our priority, and that's what I’m going to do,’’ he replied in a rather laid-back manner. ‘’Right, who is your leader?’’

‘’It… It’s Leo,’’ Pete responded.

‘’…You gotta be kidding me. You guys actually picked that asshole as your leader?’’ he asked, flabbergasted.

Leo Kovacic, the throne of God’s Fist-the most famous pugilist game- Where Ethan was annoyed by the attention, and Wu Qian didn’t care at all, Leo, basked in it. He used and abused it however he liked. Without a question, he was an absolute dipshit.