Slowly, Raizen returned back to his normal appearance. The fox’s tail and the fox’s ears slowly retracted back to his body.

The pressure lessened. The sky turned dark again. The moonlight shone over the rubble of the collapsed building.

’Hopefully there weren’t any people inside that building, or they would be dead a thousand times over, but that strength... I underestimated his strength, even though I already held his strength in high regard.’

Fang Raon thought with a serious look on his face.

If the legacies really gave this kind of power, he had to find one for himself. It was a must. He had no other choice.

"...Well?"

Raizen turned to look at his brother and saw him look more serious than usual, but there wasn’t a hint of giving up.

A small smile crept to his face.

"Indeed impressive strength. That was your Legacy Transformation?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Yes. You know what that is?"

Raizen asked, as he didn’t think that his brother was aware of the Legacy Transformations.

"Yes. I had a party that I cleared the lower levels with, and Ragnar, one of my former party members, had the legacy of the Ivar the Slaughterer.

"He was constantly using his Legacy Transformation."

Fang Raon said.

"You can choose whether you want to use it or not. I know some people that are always using the transformation because it’ll make them look different.

"And using Legacy Transformation, you’re always at your strongest state, but I only use it when I need to. It’s not like I want to walk around as a fox man."

Raizen said.

"Makes sense."

Fang Raon nodded.

"We should get going. This took longer than I would’ve wanted. The ride is over at the northern exit, and it is some distance away."

Raizen said.

Raon nodded and followed after his brother, but while walking away, he looked back at the destroyed building.

Corpses of some players were in the rubble, and there were already passerby who were robbing them of their items.

’This strength is only 4th in the tower. Just how strong is Leon truly? He is so strong that Raizen has basically given up on trying to defeat him.

’I can’t even fathom...’

...

Large wheels of the wagon rolled down the desert, bouncing over the uneven terrain and leaving deep tracks in the sand.

The desert city was nothing but a speck in the distance by now.

Inside the wagon, Raizen and Raon constantly swayed, as the ride was so bumpy that they couldn’t sit still.

They were sitting alongside some crates of blankets, clothes, and other fabric-related supplies—specialties of the 7th floor.

"When we’re arriving over at the smuggling route, I need y’all to stay completely hidden behind those crates. Ya hear me?

"There is a possibility of some guards checking out my wares, and all I am asking is that if you get caught, do not fight the guards.

"I don’t want to get charged with association with murder as well!"

The smuggler said.

"Got it."

Fang Raon said.

"How much do you know about the legacies?"

Raizen asked.

"Not much."

Fang Raon said.

"There are all these legacy skills scattered all around the tower, but if a legacy is discovered by somebody else, you’ll lose that legacy skill.

"You have that Aurel’s Blade Dance skill, but if somebody finds Aurel’s legacy, you’ll lose the skill."

Raizen said.

"...Yeah, I am aware of that."

Fang Raon said with a troubled look.

He was just now starting to learn the Selevian Waltz, so it would be a tragedy if he spent all this time learning it and then lost the skill.

"And like I said previously, once you upgrade the skill to level 3, you get a ping to the location of the legacy. It is harder to upgrade legacy skills than ordinary skills.

"Because they’re stronger than most ordinary skills."

Raizen said.

Fang Raon just nodded, but then he started feeling like something wanted to break out of his mouth, and he opened it wide.

"Yawn!"

It was a loud yawn.

It was really late, and even he couldn’t control the need for sleep. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"You can sleep for a while. I’ll wake you up once we’ve reached the 29th floor."

Raizen said.

"...No need."

Fang Raon shook his head, and then he rubbed his eyes and tried to shake off the sleepiness.

It was going to be a long next day, as without sleep, he still had to concentrate on the training.

In that moment, Raon looked back at his brother, who was sitting with arms crossed, unbothered by the bumpy ride.

"I am just curious. You’ve never treated me like this before. What’s up with the change of heart? You’re even offering to get me a legacy."

Fang Raon asked curiously.

He wasn’t a fool and knew there was something going on with Raizen—something that he was hiding from him.

"...I’ve been a shitty brother, huh? The moment I treat you normally, I suddenly look very suspicious, huh? Haha."

Raizen shook his head, and then he looked straight into Raon’s serious blue eyes.

"A bribe, of sorts."

"Bribe?"

Fang Raon tilted his head.

"I know you’re conflicted about what Father is asking of you. On the other hand, you don’t want to become the head of the family, but on the other hand, you’re willing to give it a try.

"I am desperate. I’ve been fearing that eventually, our Father asks me to be the head of the family. It’s not something I want. I’ve dreaded that day.

"But now, he instead asked of you, and I couldn’t be happier. I am not built for that kind of pressure.

"I want you to... to give it a proper shot."

Raizen said with a serious look on his handsome face.

"Well, there is still Raikou and Anna. What if Father would choose one of them instead and not you?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Anna has shown great leadership skills, and she is as ruthless as our Father. That’s one thing she has inherited from him.

"However, she is too crazy, and she is a woman. It’s not exactly common for a woman to lead a traditional family like ours.

"I am sure our Father wouldn’t care that she is a woman, but her unstable mental condition is too unpredictable. It is too much of a risk.

"And Raikou, well... He is just stupid, and our Father hates stupid people. He’d run our family to the ground within a year.

"I have my own problems... I am not going to lie... But I would still be the second choice, and I don’t have the luxury of saying "no" to our Father."

Raizen said.

"...Neither do I. Our Father does not allow me to say no."

Fang Raon said.

"Let’s be real. You aren’t dependent on this family. If you really want to, you can always leave to some faraway place where Father will never find you.

"I can’t... I don’t want to live as some poor homeless guy under a bridge. I want to live a carefree life, just gaming every day and enjoying my life.

"Call me pathetic and useless, or whatever, but it is what makes me happy."

Raizen said.

"...Sigh."

Fang Raon let out a long sigh and leaned against his arm, thinking about what his brother just said.

’He is very selfish.’

He thought.

While Raizen had some problems with his split personality disorder, he would still be a great head of the family.

The problem was that he didn’t want to be one. He wasn’t a man who wanted to take on that responsibility.

’I know Aizen has been trying to make Raizen into an heir for the longest time now. He is the firstborn son, after all.

’But ever since Black Online came, Raizen started to steer into a different path because in here—in this tower—our Father wasn’t there to correct him.

’Raizen spent day and night inside this game, and slowly, but surely, he became addicted to it and wanted less and less of his old life.’

Fang Raon thought.

In that moment, he had a thought that crept in the back of his mind, and he frowned deeply.

Then, he looked at his brother.

"About your split personality disorder... It’s fake, isn’t it?"

"...What?"

Raizen looked at him in surprise.

"Now that I thought about it, you didn’t have this split personality disorder before Black Online. It just happened to come suddenly.

"The doctors had no idea what could’ve caused it, but as soon as you had this split personality disorder, our Father started to care less about you.

"Instead, he started thinking about alternative heads of the family, such as Raikou and Anna. It was your plan all along, wasn’t it?

"To make yourself look useless in the eyes of Father so he wouldn’t even consider you as the head of the family.

"It was all because you fell in love with Black Online, and you knew that you couldn’t play anymore if you became the heir."

Fang Raon said.

"..."

Raizen looked at him silently, and then he showed a sad smile and lowered his head.

"Are you sure you don’t have Read? What a scary intellect you have... You’re right, brother, I fabricated it."

Fang Raon’s eyes shook in surprise.

Meanwhile, the smuggler just listened with a curious expression on his face, and he couldn’t understand some things, but he still thought it all sounded quite interesting.

’Split personality disorder? Read? Black Online? The hell are those!’