Little Pink Starfish

Pei Sen’s emotions were a little complicated — he realized he had been far too careless and hadn’t considered this possibility at all.

To retrieve the item hidden inside the book’s cover, he would definitely have to damage the magic tome.
But magic tomes weren’t like ordinary books.
For example, this particular magic tome was shrouded in a thin layer of magic energy.
Destroying the book might damage the embedded spell models —
After all, in magic tomes, the recorded spell structures weren’t just flat diagrams like normal books.
A magic tome wasn’t just a textbook — it was also a container for magic itself.

In essence, every magic tome was itself a magical item.

“Most likely, when Kesso gave me this book, he was betting that even if I discovered the hidden object, I would hesitate to destroy the tome,” Pei Sen thought.
He wasn’t stupid — he quickly figured it out.
He didn’t believe for a second that Kesso had left him a clue out of goodwill — that wasn’t Kesso’s style at all.

Moreover, Pei Sen was just a “commoner” who had only recently arrived at the manor — there was no reason for Kesso to “trust” him with something important.

Kesso probably only wanted to stash the item safely, and figured it would be safer inside a magic tome, in a commoner’s hands, than anywhere else in the manor.
After all, to someone like Pei Sen, a magic tome was extremely precious.
If he didn’t notice the hidden item, that would be ideal.
Even if he did, he would most likely be reluctant to destroy such a valuable book just to investigate.

Honestly, it was a pretty clever plan.
The hidden object was barely noticeable — you couldn’t see it visually; you had to physically feel for it.

“Did Kesso already sense he might be in danger back then?” Pei Sen narrowed his eyes at the tome.
Whatever the case, there was no need to hesitate.

He immediately pulled out a small knife and cut open the back cover.

The magical energy enveloping the tome was broken.
Visibly, the book grew old and worn in an instant.

“I’m not feeling sentimental,” Pei Sen sneered.
“Anyway, I’ve already memorized almost all the spells.”

Even the intermediate spells meant for mid-level mages — Pei Sen had forcibly memorized the models.
Once he hit Level 40, he could officially imprint the spells into the system and master them.

The tome no longer held much meaning for him —
Its only remaining value was helping Eagle learn magic.

The tome’s back cover was thick — as was common in this world’s heavy books.
The covers were thick and hard, and the whole book was weighty.

Pei Sen hadn’t noticed before, but now he realized:
The front and back covers were even thicker than normal.

“Maybe designed to hide something?”
He dug through the back cover and finally uncovered the object.

It was a dark golden ring.

Pei Sen pulled it out and examined it carefully.

The ring was extremely old.
Originally it might have been bright gold, but now it had dulled with age.
Honestly, it wasn’t very attractive.

It was just a simple band —
More plain than the ring Pei Sen had given Eagle before — no engravings, no decorations.

“Since it was hidden in the book, it must be important…”
Pei Sen turned the ring over and over, but didn’t find anything unusual.

Suddenly, he noticed something faint carved on the inside of the band.

The engraving was badly worn, but if you looked carefully, you could still make out some characters.

Pei Sen deciphered them and wrote them down:
“Berfield?”
Who was that?

He had never heard of this name before.

But one thing was certain —
It definitely wasn’t Kesso’s name.
Which meant the ring wasn’t Kesso’s?

Yet he had hidden it in the book…
Something about this was very fishy.

Later, when Pei Sen opened the forums, he discovered that today’s hottest topic among players was: “It’s raining today!”

Lanor’s climate was usually quite dry, especially in autumn when rainfall was scarce.
Since players had entered the game, this was the first time it had rained — and it wasn’t just a drizzle — it was pouring.

Of course, players had seen rain in real life — but rain in a full-dive game was a first-time experience.

Many players stood in the streets, letting the rain soak them.
After all, it was just a game — no worries about getting cold or losing hair.
Getting soaked in a virtual world actually felt nice.

“The raindrops hitting my skin, the gray, misty sky overhead… it’s so immersive.”
“And you don’t have to worry about dirty rainwater — it’s perfect!”
“Standing silently in the rain — so poetic.”
One player posed dramatically, while others laughed.

Unfortunately, the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier — soon turning into a downpour.

Unlike the modern world, in the Arli Continent, umbrellas were rare — only nobles had them, and even then they weren’t like modern umbrellas.
As the rain intensified, the locals all hid indoors.
No one ventured outside anymore.

Even commoners, who sometimes had to work in the rain, knew getting soaked meant getting sick — and here, sickness often meant death, because they couldn’t afford healing magic or potions.

Thus, the locals wisely stayed indoors.

And then…
The players saw the Bix tribe going absolutely wild in the rain.

It was bizarre.

Players joked that it was practically a street party —
They gathered in the rain, taking screenshots and short videos, laughing and messing around.

It became the first spontaneous collective celebration since the game launched.

Pei Sen watched, amused:
“At least it’s safer to act crazy in a game than in real life.”

Some players simply stood quietly in the rain, tilting their heads back with eyes closed, letting the rain wash over them.
Whether it was for aesthetic reasons or simply messing around, soon hundreds, even thousands, were standing silently in the streets —
The screenshots were eerie and beautiful at the same time.

One player earnestly commented:
“Everything in this game feels so real.
I just realized… I’ve been playing for two months without showering once. Creepy.”

“So today you’re using the rain to shower?”

“Exactly!”

Pei Sen: “…”

He watched in good humor —
Until a group wearing black cloaks appeared, sneaking across Casey City, hoping that the rain would keep everyone indoors.

But what they saw instead was thousands of Bix tribe members — standing eerily still or laughing like maniacs in the rain.

The newcomers shivered.
It was deeply unsettling.

A white-haired young man among them frowned and said,
“These people…”

The leader lowered his hood, revealing his face.

It was Kesso — missing for days.

He said calmly,
“These are the Bix tribe I once mentioned.”

A middle-aged man next to him sighed,
“Just as crazy as you said.”

Kesso nodded,
“Don’t provoke them.
If you alert them, they’ll attack without hesitation.
Remember, they’re suicidal.”

“What if they try to stop us?”

“They can’t.
Their overall strength isn’t high.
What we really need to watch out for tonight is Sadin.”

The man grimaced,
“If not for your generous pay, I’d have refused.
No sane person wants to face that famous swordsman.
He’s almost at the level of Sword Saint.”

Above high-level mages stood legendary mages.
For swordsmen, after reaching “Grand Swordsman” rank, the next step was “Sword Saint” — an exceedingly rare and powerful class.

In all of Esmia, there were maybe only four Sword Saints at most.

Sadin was very close to that level.

“Relax,” Kesso said.
“You only need to stall Sadin and Ichabod for a little while.
I just need to meet the young master for a moment.”

Kesso, once Golden Rose Manor’s deputy steward, knew Sadin well.
Sadin was powerful, but not bloodthirsty unless truly provoked.

The group tried to sneak through the city —
But the Bix tribe filled the streets, making stealth impossible.

They had no choice but to forge ahead.

Meanwhile, the players had spotted the cloaked figures.

Their first reaction was—
“Special NPC = Special Quest = Special Rewards!”

Thus, the street party stopped instantly.

Thousands of players turned to stare at the newcomers, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Even Kesso — used to fighting Bix tribe mobs — felt his heartbeat speed up under those gazes.

It was a chilling feeling.

Kesso urged his group to hurry, but it was too late.
The players were already converging.

“Quick! Break through!” Kesso gritted his teeth.
He had a very bad feeling.

Already, players were rushing them.
Kesso’s ordinary cloak wasn’t enough to conceal his face up close.

And players—
Players had already memorized his appearance from previous screenshots on the forums!

Thus, almost instantly—
“It’s Kesso!”
A Bix tribe player shouted.

Kesso had no idea that players had forums where information circulated like wildfire.
Back during the city lord’s mission, players had taken countless 360-degree screenshots of him and posted them everywhere.
Especially now, with Pei Sen’s newly issued “Find Kesso” quest, every player had burned Kesso’s face into their memory.

What if they bumped into him?
How could they recognize him otherwise?

Everyone had thought the same —
thus, the moment they saw him, they immediately recognized Kesso.

Because of that one shout, countless players rushed over, shouting excitedly:

“It’s Kesso!”
“That’s him!”
“Mine! Don’t steal!”
“Damn it, are we seriously fighting over this?!”
“Kesso is only one person, he’s mine!”
“Get lost, get lost, he’s mine!”
“…”

Kesso: “…”

Someone, anyone, tell me — what the hell is happening!?

The closest players immediately lunged toward him, trying to grab at least his arm.
Even if they only managed to grab an arm, maybe they could earn some reward!

Kesso’s hair stood on end as he realized:
All the Bix players nearby were staring at him like he was some rare treasure.

They swarmed toward him madly —
shoving, pushing, even killing each other.

Yes, killing.

The mercenaries with Kesso saw the scene too —
this insane mob of Bix players fighting among themselves, sometimes even stabbing each other, all for the sake of getting closer to Kesso.

For a moment, even these battle-hardened, high-priced mercenaries recoiled a few steps in horror.
They couldn’t understand this level of madness.

They were fighting over Kesso — but why!?

The players had truly started killing each other just to be the one to capture Kesso.
It was only when Kesso raised his staff that they finally remembered —
oh right, Kesso was a high-level mage!

One they couldn’t currently defeat!

“Brothers, stop fighting! Capture him first!”
“Yeah, if we keep fighting, he’ll slip away!”
“He’s got a few companions too — should we kill them first?”
“Let’s try! They look tough though.”
“They’re yellow-named — attacking makes you red-named, but it’s allowed. They’re stronger than the last world boss though…”
“This quest definitely has hidden parts. And it’s going to be hard!”
“Doesn’t matter — just block them! Don’t let them escape!”
“Group up! GROUP UP!”

The players’ speech was chaotic —
even Kesso’s group couldn’t make out their words clearly.

Yet, the previously bloodthirsty Bix tribe suddenly stopped fighting each other —
and worked together, silently and efficiently surrounding Kesso’s team in tight circles.

“You brought this on yourselves,” Kesso muttered coldly.

Originally, he hadn’t intended to offend Eagle and Sadin too badly.
He had only wanted to sneak in, find the young master, and leave.
He did need to capture Eagle briefly — but he hadn’t planned to harm him.

After all, hurting Eagle would bring enormous trouble.

Kesso truly hadn’t meant to kill any Bix players either.
But now —
these lunatics had forced his hand.

Just now, a Bix player had grabbed his arm so fiercely it almost tore from its socket.

“Too much…”
Kesso’s lips trembled with anger in the pouring rain.
“I’m a high-ranking mage.”

A mage of his status should have been respected everywhere he went.
Not treated like this!

(At this point, even Royce and Jona — the high-ranking mages from earlier — would probably sympathize with him.)

The mercenaries at his side pulled out their weapons, looking resigned.

“Kesso, we’ll need half again the promised pay.”

“Fine!” Kesso snapped.

“Tch, such a pain. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have accepted this job…”
The white-haired young man already regretted it a little.

Meanwhile, players rapidly posted about Kesso’s appearance on the forums.
Many players — even those offline or in other areas — immediately rushed toward Casey City.

At first, Kesso’s group had thought they could break through the Bix tribe easily.
After all, their overall combat strength wasn’t high.

But gradually…
they realized something horrifying:

The longer the fight went on, the more players gathered.

Yes, even though they had killed many, and the streets were littered with bones —
the Bix tribe kept coming, fearless, unstoppable.

Kesso tried several times to cast teleportation magic and escape —
but each time, the players’ attacks interrupted his spellcasting.

Back during the siege on Casey City’s lord’s mansion,
Kesso had thought the Bix tribe were annoying.
Now he realized — facing them directly was pure hell.

They might be weak individually —
but thousands, tens of thousands, packed together without fear of death?
That was terrifying.

At the same time, Pei Sen had seen the players’ posts.

He was puzzled:
“Kesso appeared in Casey City… with a few experts?
What exactly is he planning?”

Then he glanced at the broken magic tome and the strange old ring.

Maybe Kesso had come back to retrieve it?

But…
If it was just for that, would he make such a big move?

Thinking it over, Pei Sen grabbed the ring and rushed next door to find Eagle.

Eagle was already asleep.
He had very regular habits — early to bed, early to rise.

When Pei Sen quietly pushed the door open, Eagle had already woken.

Because of childhood trauma, Eagle slept lightly.
Even the slightest noise could wake him.

He blinked his eyes in the darkness, immediately recognizing Pei Sen’s familiar footsteps.
His heart began pounding wildly —
then, to his own confusion, he smiled.

Quickly, he erased the smile from his face —
closed his eyes again, pretending to still be asleep.

In the corner, Pecks the cat slept soundly, oblivious to everything.
As a cat, Pecks slept even more deeply than people.

Pei Sen didn’t know how light Eagle’s sleep was.
Normally, after Eagle fell asleep, Pei Sen would simply return to his own room.

Now, in this emergency, he quietly approached Eagle’s bedside, debating whether to wake him.

After all, Kesso’s appearance was a big deal —
and it was Eagle himself who had ordered Pei Sen to find him.

Now that Kesso had reappeared —
(well, technically he had stumbled into their hands himself)

— and the situation was rapidly escalating.

Pei Sen thought it was better to inform Eagle at once.

If nothing else, they might need to discuss whether to alert Sadin.

After all, it was late at night, pouring rain, and even though Casey City was in chaos,
it would still take time for Sadin to hear about it.

But if Eagle preferred that the manor stay uninvolved…

Pei Sen decided he couldn’t make the call alone.
He had to ask Eagle’s opinion.

He bent down slightly and gently shook Eagle.

“Young Master, wake up.”

At first, Eagle hesitated — should he keep pretending to sleep?
But Pei Sen’s touch was gentle, and his voice urgent yet respectful.

He wasn’t trying to take advantage.
He truly had something important to say.

For some reason, a profound sense of disappointment welled up inside Eagle.

But he didn’t even know — what exactly he was disappointed about.