Knock~! Knock~!

"Come in!"

Aizen’s firm-sounding voice pierced the tough-looking door, and Fang Raon, with a heavy sigh, opened the door.

He then saw his father, Fang Aizen, sitting in front of a knee-high table with a board of chess set up.

He was thinking of his next move as he was playing the white pieces.

The black pieces were being played by Sebastian, who had already gone to sleep.

They had a long tradition of playing at least one game of chess every month, and that game could last from days to weeks.

There was no time limit to move pieces, so one of them could think about their move for an entire day if they wanted to.

"Sit."

Aizen pointed at the empty seat across from him, and Fang Raon sat down in front of the knee-high table.

"What do you think Sebastian is planning to do?"

Aizen asked.

"What? What do you mean?"

Fang Raon asked with a frown.

"In this game, what do you think he is planning to do? Is he trying to trap my king, or is he going for that bishop over there?"

Aizen asked.

"...Well, I wouldn’t know. I am not that good in chess. I only know the names of the pieces and how they move on the board."

Fang Raon said.

"You don’t need to know how to play chess in order to know what your opponent is thinking. The answer is right here."

Aizen moved his hand over the board and touched every single piece left on the board.

’This game of chess feels like a very high-level battle between two Read masters. My father hates losing, so if his opponent doesn’t know Read, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it to his advantage.

’But since he is struggling to beat Sebastian, he must be extremely skilled in Read. Maybe even better than my father.’

Fang Raon thought.

"With Read, you can peek into the mind of a person to know their thoughts, emotions, and intentions. It is a powerful ability but also a dangerous one.

"If you try to peek into a mind of an evil person, you may be overwhelmed by the darkness you find there."

Aizen warned him gently, and then he finally moved his white piece on the board and completely shut off Sebastian’s black bishop attack.

"Sebastian loves his bishops."

He chuckled.

Then, he looked at his son.

"What am I currently thinking about?"

He asked.

Fang Raon raised an eyebrow and looked at his father.

From the expression itself, he could tell that his father was in a calm state of mind, and he most likely had a good day today.

He knew his father, and if he had a bad day, he would immediately know, as it was quite obvious.

"About the game?"

Fang Raon guessed and looked at the chess board.

"No, be less predictable. Analyze me deeper."

Aizen said.

He left his mind open, and all Fang Raon had to do was walk straight through into his mind, which would be easy if he already knew Read.

But since he didn’t, it was harder.

"...You’re thinking about tomorrow. You’re taking a flight to Conorrea, but since you hate flying, you’re dreading that moment."

Fang Raon guessed again.

"No."

Aizen shook his head.

"I am sorry, Father, but it is impossible for me to know what is going on in that mind of yours, as I don’t know Read yet."

Fang Raon said in defeat.

There were a hundred things that his father could be thinking about right now.

"Just try."

Aizen said.

"..."

Fang Raon frowned in concentration, and he peered into the eyes of his father, trying to pry into his mind.

"You’re... thinking of nothing."

He said.

"...Correct."

Aizen chuckled.

’It was just a pure guess. I am still not anywhere close to learning Read, but I shouldn’t expect to learn it in a day.’

Fang Raon thought.

"It’ll take you a while to use Read on people, so I will teach you to completely think of nothing as a shield against users of Read.

"It will be a temporary bandage until you’ve learned Read to high enough level to shield your mind from outside visitors."

Aizen said.

Fang Raon nodded.

And for the next two hours, they stayed in the study, and it was actually the longest time that Fang Raon had been with his father.

It actually felt like they were in a proper father-and-son relationship.

While training, Aizen didn’t act impatient. He was very patient and understanding that it would take time for Raon to learn this.

And slowly... Fang Raon started to understand the secrets behind Read, even if it was just a tiny bit.

He didn’t completely manage to think of nothing, but he was already better at it than two hours ago, so there was progress.

...

Tower of the Black, 1st Floor, Kingly Bathhouse.

Swoosh~!

From the empty air, Fang Raon emerged, draped with the magician’s robe, and he softly landed in a soft bed.

"BROTHER!"

Anna was standing at the foot of the bed, her hands holding her waist, and she was huffing and puffing in anger.

"...Yes?"

Fang Raon raised an eyebrow.

"You are ten minutes late!"

Anna screamed.

Since they could pretty much only spend time later in the day with their new characters, she was quite sad that her brother wasn’t even on time.

It made her feel like he didn’t care about this at all!

"Sorry, I was with father."

Fang Raon scratched the back of his head, and he was genuinely sorry, as he knew that this was important to his sister.

"With father? What the fuck does he want?"

Anna asked with a frown.

"He was teaching me Read."

Fang Raon said.

"...He was... teaching you?"

Anna said with a gobsmacked expression.

She thought that she misheard him but then saw her brother nod, confirming that he was being serious.

"I’ll just stay ten minutes longer online, alright? Since I was late."

Fang Raon said and stood up from the bed.

"...Hmph, okay."

Anna crossed her arms, but inside, she was happy, as she was acting intentionally mega-angry so that her brother would feel guilty.

It worked!

She was actually angry, but she still exaggerated the amount of anger that she was feeling.

"I’ve gathered all the necessities. I also have gotten the Tower Key. We can go to the tower whenever you want."

Anna said.

"Alright, let’s go. I don’t think there is any need to stay in here anymore. If we’re fast enough, we can also clear the second floor today."

Fang Raon said.

"I had the same exact thought~ Let’s get going then!"

Anna said with a smile.

...

Near the tower, on the Long Road, there was a wagon toppled over, missing a couple of the wheels, and it was blocking the entire road.

In the bushes, several players were hiding and looking at the blocked Long Road with tired expressions.

"...Maybe no one is coming? It is quite late, and I am honestly tired of sitting in these bushes all day."

Jonas said, plucking the branches out of his hair in frustration.

"Jonas might be right. I visited the city today, and there have been talks in the Adventurer’s Guild about us. They know that we are ambushing players here!"

Elias said.

"The next party might be a party of ten just because of us. If they discover us, we are all so dead..."

Sofia said with a frightened expression.

The leader of their small bandit group, Arvid, just rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t care less about their worries.

"Do you understand how hard it is to gather a party of ten on the first floor? Every player just wants to get through newbie floors with small parties because they can get more rewards as a result.

"A party of ten means fewer rewards. Even if there were more safety in the numbers, it would only mean the players would grow stronger more slowly.

"There is no way we will come across party of ten, hah!"

Arvid said with laughter.

It did bring some of their worries to the rest, as Arvid’s words made a lot of sense.

And at that moment.

"Hey, players!"

At that moment, Jonas saw silhouettes coming from the Long Road with his sharp eyes of a Ranger.

All of them looked over, and once the silhouettes became clearer, they only saw that two players were coming over.

"Hah, only two. What did I tell you guys? Everyone is greedy for rewards, so they abandon safety in favor of greater rewards!"

Arvid said with a grin.

He was using the greed of players to his advantage, as he knew how the mind of the players worked.

As he was exactly in the same position as all these newer players.

"A blocked road?"

At that moment, Anna reached the toppled-over wagon, and they could easily just walk around it, but it meant going into the ditch.

The ditch was right next to the bushes, where Arvid’s little bandit group was waiting, and they were waiting for one of them to come to the ditch so they could attack.

"Can you guys come out from hiding? I know you are there!"

Anna suddenly shouted and looked over to the bushes with a chilling smile, and Arvid’s bandit group felt a chill run down their backs.

"...She sees us?"

Sofia’s voice trembled.

"Brother."

Anna smiled, and she sat down on the wagon while her brother, Raon, stepped forward with his eyes burning.

"HEAT GAZE!"

Flames shot out from his eyes, and he blasted the four players out of the bushes, and they suffered severe burns.

"Aaarghhh"

Their clothes caught on fire, and they quickly rolled on the mud to put out the flames.

"What the fuck was that?!"

Arvid screamed, and he pulled out his sword from the scabbard and pointed at the two figures approaching them through the smoke.

Clap~! Clap~!

"You guys must be the bandits I’ve heard so much about. I don’t mind getting some extra gear, hehe~!"

Anna giggled, and she pulled out her heavy-looking sword, and her aura crashed into the bandits.

Arvid and his friends trembled in their boots, and they barely had any willpower to even lift their weapons.

"RUN!"

Sofia screamed, and they all turned around to flee, but then, they felt immense heat coming from behind them.

"Heat Gaze."

Fang Raon’s eyes burned, and the heat beam pierced through the escaping figures, scorching holes through their bodies.

They collapsed to the ground, and after a few moans of shock, they lay still and slowly began to disintegrate.