Chapter 407 - 9688 (Patreon)

No Pain No Gain Arte was the longest training commitment Viers had made so far. Roughly three years of constant, painful training. If he stopped halfway, his efforts so far would have gone down the drain.

Such a massive waste of time, effort, and resources was something Viers couldn't abide. He pondered his decision long and hard before committing because failure was not an option.

As depicted in the Arte's name, the gain was similarly large. Viers' way of cultivation was the pursuit of efficiency and gain. He was a meta (most effective tactics available) chaser.

Yet no matter how meta he got, it was not enough. He wanted to go above the meta, to the realm of cheating!

Viers had plenty of ways of circumventing the pain such as separating his soul from the body, or transferring the pain to an object as a substitute using his soul power. There was also his clone.

But the pain was the core of the Arte. He had to experience it to reap the benefits. There was also the matter of major injuries his body suffered. If he messed up his Unreality Field to stay alive or heal wrongly, the result would be catastrophically bad.

Viers wasn't good enough yet, had not gotten skilled with the Arte yet to multitask with other things so he endured it for now. But three years was a long time and he was confident things would be different in the future.

Viers days of agonizing pain continued. Every day he was courting death. Each session of No Pain No Gain Arte began with severely injuring oneself, so at the beginning, Viers' bodily state was precariously close to dying. He gritted his teeth and began recovering, consuming a massive amount of vitality that he got from eating monster meat.

Even though he was in extensive training, Viers was not completely cut off from the outside world.

The Arcanum Club meeting time had arrived.

Viers scheduled that it would occur twice a month, at midnight during the time when each moon was full. Using the card, he would then summon their consciousness to the Velvet Sea. Although the participant looked like they had complete bodies, it was actually just their consciousness.

The Big Boss was not present this time, Viers presided over the meeting as himself.

The first meeting after the club's founding was a big success, mainly because of Izabella, the Hermit. She utilized the opportunity to reach out to the other members and aggressively trade Pathseeker resources. Logistics was a big deal in this world. The distance involved, the danger on the road from monsters and other Pathseekers, the difficulty of procuring something, and many more.

The local goods that the members gathered during their travels were traded with something more important for themselves, improving their individual growth and the organization as a whole. Viers also shared the resources from Viridis to get something he needed.

Paina and Clarissa, who went to Zetel, already took down bad guys from there and traded their things here.

With the codenames, even though they all looked like Organization XIII members to each other except in Viers' eyes, the transactions went off without a hitch.

Klein Moretti showed Viers the way. Viers toasted to him.

But this wasn't enough. A good beginning to be sure, but they needed to up those numbers and increase trade rate. More goods, more varieties, more everything.

We need a specialized merchant, someone with wide connections…

Viers put that on his to-do list. He decided he would give Paina the mission to recruit the merchant because the Magisterium, the equivalent of Apple and Microsoft megacorp of this world, their HQ was in Zetel.

After the goods trading, came the news trading next.

"So, uhh… Master… Prince Croix… was almost dead," Boram said softly while playing with his fingers nervously.

Boram told his story. Apparently, roughly a week after Croix, Alfred and he set forth, Croix made a detour to help some poor souls in predicament, to which Viers was not surprised. Turns out it was a trap by the Bone Ravens.

It was Gram, the Level 4 assassin that targeted Croix before, before their arrival at Stormberg. Viers remembered the time when he traded gunshots with Gram's fellow assassin, Bennec. He came back with a vengeance. Croix's high quality protection ring was pierced. He didn't have the time to rely on his dragon.

This was the scary thing about being targeted by the Bone Ravens, why that devil cult was most feared among the seven. Once a kill contract was made, it was as if the target was as good as dead.

It wasn't just about the money for them. The assassin was truly going through hell and high water to assassinate the target. Some wouldn't even mind trading his own life in the process. It was that kind of organization.

The organization itself had a reputation to maintain as the sharpest assassin's knife in the continent. According to what Viers knew from his soul search and other things, the kill contract can be separated into two kinds: client-to-assassin and client-to-cult.

The first kind was the most common kind. The client negotiated with the assassin who would decide the price and details. They could refuse if the price or target was not agreeable. The true members of the Bone Ravens were highly skilled individuals in the killing field, from sneak attack to poison, anything goes. Ordinary people couldn't stand up to them so most of them could do nothing but accept death.

If an assassin failed too many kill contracts, the cult itself would terminate them so they need to always strive for success. Sometimes, a single failure could result in firing by death. Compared to that, Viers Corporation was a saint.

As for the second type of contract, if finalized, the full might of the devil cult would be mobilized to kill the target.

The entire devil cult. Even against an ordinary cat, their Level 5s would come out, kill the target, and confirm the target's termination.

Not even the top brass of the Estellian Church could claim they were safe from such a death mark. Throughout thousands of years since its inception, the second type of contract has never failed.

Of course, the price of the second type of contract was so astronomical that few were able to pay. Viers suspected the cult would also only accept the second type of contact if they were 100% confident about their ability to kill the target.

The contract on Croix's head was definitely the first type. He eluded the assassin's grasp for some time, but eventually their blade reached his neck.

Boram told Viers that Croix was heavily injured and the Level 4 assasin's was dead. Alfred blamed himself and was in the dumps.

Even so, Croix's predicament wasn't over yet. Any assassin could take on the contract. As incentives, the cult itself would give massive additional benefits on top of the client's price to finish the contract of their failed members. For the juicy contracts, even the top assassins might make a move. The Bone Ravens weren't some toothless organization, they were a truly dangerous existence.

A year later, a decade later, a hundred years later. During an ordinary lunch, during your wedding, during your son's birthday. They had no problems involving others around you too if it meant your death. If you had a kill contract placed by the Bone Ravens, you would always feel death's noose around your neck. This was the common consensus by those in the know.

Viers reckoned this was one of the factors why Countess Grace sent Croix to Sinclair Academy. She could pay the Ravens a bigger sum to pull the contract but what if another placed a new contract at Croix? Her nephew was a high-profile prince with no shortage of political rivals. Even the countess' pocket wasn't deep enough to annul myriad contracts.

Only one way out from this predicament, for Croix to be strong enough to deter the assassins. It wasn't a perfect solution but not every problem could be solved perfectly.

Viers' solution was something more elegant: anonymity.

Croix wasn't the only one targeted by the Bone Ravens, Viers was too. More specifically, his other evil persona, Tanael.

Since the Book World, Tanael had a target on his back. Since then, he has done many more evil deeds. Not to mention he stole and used the Bone Ravens' signature Arte, Fade in Shadow.

But all those assassins that targeted him couldn't find him. Yes, his biggest reward from Aletro, Mystic Star Shroud Arte helped hide his location and identity, but Viers' way of hiding Tanael played a part too.

Can't kill someone that can't be found.

Meanwhile, he would grow, grow, and grow. Once his power surpassed most of the assassins, he would be much safer.

The Bone Ravens definitely had a risk/reward ratio. No way they were going to keep throwing assassins against a target that was too pricey to kill, especially if their assassins came back in body bags. No foolish organization would stand for millenniums.

Viers assured Boram that he wasn't blaming him for Croix's plight.

Boram's story further stoked the fires of ambition in Viers' breast. Not that it needed stoking. It was already a hell's inferno. Viers returned to his double date with pain and injury. The others were also reminded how dangerous the world was and strived to get stronger.

***

The march of time was inexorable.

Farley and Jessica's group arrived at the Sinclair Academy.

Croix and Boram's group arrived at the Sinclair Academy about three weeks later.

Izabella's status improved after providing a Latias Prince to the Blood Church. Her new status brought new challenges. She asked Viers to be her consultant.

At the Sinclair Academy's enrollment, Croix still had some leftover wounds from his near-death experience but managed to pass. It was a formality, but he gained a passing score. Boram also passed with a higher score. His humble background attracted attention from students and teachers alike.

Gwen, Luca, and Tim, entered the little kids' schools smoothly.

Farley also entered Sinclair, but her score was only mediocre. She could provide better scores during the test like Boram, but she refrained to avoid attention. It backfired. She reported to Viers a teacher found her out and set her in his sight as a result.

Jessica got a job as a reporter at the city's newssheet agency.

Paina, Clarissa, and the three elementals created an oasis roughly four months after their first arrival at the Zetel's border area.

Viers ate fifty men's worth of food in one day to replenish his vitality that was consumed to fuel his healing factor. He aggressively stocked up on foodstuff.

Croix was called the Poor Man's Prince because of his closeness with the non-nobles in the academy, both in complementary and derogatory capacities.

The first year ended with Croix preventing a coup by a teacher backed by a devil cult with his school friends, Boram, and Alfred. Farley and Jessica helped in the background. Headmaster Castellos actually had the matter well at hand.

Paina finally reached Tal Bagad, Zetel Sultanate's capital. She then became embroiled in a complicated conflict between the oppressed Beastfolk and the tyrannical human supremacist Zetelians.

Luca, Gwen and Tim's class was involved in a terrorist incident. Mama bear and sister tiger took care of it within a day. The terrorists regretted they were ever born.

Massive magical sandstorms engulfed Zetel, no news from Paina for over a year.

Boram went back to the island of the giants where he trained in the past because he received news from Viers that Fio, the mysterious girl that Boram had a crush on and vice-versa, was in trouble. He arrived just in time to prevent a devil cult from extracting the Demon King's tongue that was sealed on the island.

Izabella's branch of Blood Church in the Coalition was raided by the cultists from the Cult of Teorph. To prevent annihilation, she called upon the power of the arcana, the first one to do so in the Arcanum Club. She turned the tide and captured the assailants, obtaining a lot of merit from the Blood Church.

Grace Weiss visited Viers at the Shore. She made a deal with Tanael.

Croix and company solved the mysterious disappearing case at Sinclair and finished the second academic year.

Paina returned to Viridis from Zetel, leaving legends that she was a goddess because wherever she went, there was plenty of falling rain and sprouting vegetation. She was offered a position by the Church but refrained from accepting it for now.

Farley, to repay her gratitude, helped defend a city from a monster tide while Pastor Hugh stopped the alpha Rank 5 monster. Austen the dog beastfolk became even more smitten with Farley.

Clarissa used alchemy to create her own living body.

Luca was tempted by a cultist who saw her potential, but she refused. The cultist tried to take her by force but Clarissa arrived in time and transformed the cultist to ash.

Jessica rooted out a human trafficking organization and freed hundreds of children. Most of the Arcanum Club was involved. It was known as the Masere Port Incident. Croix got the most coverage and fame because he was on top of a dragon raining fire from above, courtesy of Jessica the reporter on site.

Near the end of the third academic year, Sinclair Academy's representatives won the inter-school competition hosted at the Crimson Capital of Latias. Croix, Boram, and Farley participated.

***

The year was 9688.

Three years had passed since Viers' seclusion. He would be 21 this year. It was also the year of the Latias Grand Prix, where Croix would be appraised by the nobles of Latias of his worthiness as one of the heirs to the throne.

The Latias Kingdom would welcome a fiercely tumultuous year.

And in the dark, a villain stirred.