Italy…

  Leo sighed, watching the vast city of Rome in the distance—or whatever remained of it. The Void had long since taken root there, spreading everywhere much like it had in London. But here, Vetilim and Corcera seemed lighter, less dangerous. Not that he believed that for a second—especially with the four Crimson Treants patrolling the area.

  He considered going into the city and dealing with those monsters, but compared to what he fought inside the Void Rift, they were too weak. He would be surprised if he even received a single Ether for killing them. The System ranked them at E+, so they couldn't be higher than level fifty.

  A pity… I always wanted to visit Rome…

  Not that he couldn't do it now. Even with the world taken over by the Void, some of the tourist attractions might still be intact. Leo just didn't fancy dealing with all the monsters that most likely made those places their home. For some reason, Voidlings loved to create nests in important areas.

  Oh well, another day, another time.

  He dropped from his perch and onto the street below, ignoring the creatures all around scrambling to get out of his way. With no hurry, he jogged north, back toward Naz'Tor's shop. He still had some business to take care of before heading out into the wild.

  "Back already?" Naz'Tor asked the moment Leo walked into the shop in his sealed form. "I thought you would at least explore a bit. Rome not to your liking?"

  He shrugged, approaching the counter and patting Nyx, who was napping there. "It's alright, just not what I need right now. Gotta move out soon."

  "And here I thought you would stay for a while, keep me company." The merchant let out an exaggerated sigh. "Younglings these days. Always on the move, never taking a second to enjoy themselves."

  Leo shook his head, chuckling quietly. "Not my fault I have to walk back to London. Might not be far for you, but it will at least take me a couple of days to get there."

  "Or you can stay here for a day or two," the alien suggested. "I'm still waiting for the local group to drop by again, but once they do, I can reset the anchor point back to the UK."

  "I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. I might as well use this opportunity and take a detour to Poland. I've got some unfinished business there."

  "Family?" Naz'Tor asked, and something must have shown on Leo's face as the alien didn't wait for an answer. "I wish you luck then. Just don't get your hopes up too high."

  "I won't," Leo promised, more to himself than to the merchant. "Not this time."

  "Good. Keep this mindset, and you will go far, kid. What's done is done."

  Yeah… Life taught me that well enough.

  Leo decided to switch the subject. "Anyway, I got something to sell you. Interested?"

  Naz'Tor perked up. "Oh? Show me what you got, and I will tell you."

  Leo nodded and reached into his soul, but not toward the area where his stuff was stored. Instead, he grabbed onto one of the three Install-type items and slowly pulled it out. He accepted the System notification confirming the removal and watched as two spectral blades connected by a chain materialized in his hands.

  "There you go," he said, placing the item on the counter.

  "Hmmm." Naz'Tor prodded the Blades of Chained Inferno. "That's a quite well-made weapon, with Blood Fire active no less. Where did you get it from?"

  "Tainted Wasteland… I think?"

  "You think?" the merchant asked, clearly amused.

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  "It's been a while, okay?" He crossed his arms. "And it's not like I use it much."

  Naz'Tor chuckled. "No need to get defensive, kid. As for those little blades… I have seen a few similar weapons before, so let's say I can give you ten thousand for it."

  Leo had no idea if this was a lot or not, but in the end, he didn't care too much. It had been a while since he even thought about the Blades of Chained Inferno, and at this point, they were just gathering dust inside his soul. Ten thousand Ether for a weapon he didn't even use sounded quite nice.

  "Deal," he said.

  "Already? Not even trying to bargain? I will admit, I'm a bit disappointed," Naz'Tor grumbled before his mood did a complete one-eighty. "Oh well! Nothing I can't fix. I can't let you get scammed by all the smart-asses in the Void. Sit down, kid. Time for a lesson!"

  Leo didn't even get a chance to protest before he was being pushed into a chair. What followed was a lecture that seemed to last forever. His head already ached from all the information Naz'Tor was trying to engrave in his mind.

  I should have tried to haggle… He rubbed his brow as the lesson finally came to an end. It had lasted for over three hours, and despite learning quite a lot about trading, he had to wonder if this was some sort of punishment.

  "Did you enjoy yourself?" Nyx asked once they stepped out of the shop and assumed their true forms.

  Leo shot her an annoyed look. "Yes, very."

  She snickered. "You asked for it. All that for ten thousand Ether. Impressive."

  "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. You could have helped."

  "And lose my nap time?" Nyx gasped. "Never. Unlike you, I treasure any chance I get to rest."

  Lazy cat.

  "I heard that," she hissed.

  "You were supposed to."

  Nyx huffed, speeding up to walk ahead of him. Like always, she loved to talk big, only to get mad once Leo returned the fire. It was a classic at this point.

  She wouldn't have survived an hour on the Internet.

  He snorted but remained silent. Instead, he fished out the map given to him by Naz'Tor and tried to identify the best path to take. He was never the best at navigating, and if not for GPS, he would have gotten lost more times than he cared to admit.

  I really should have asked for something better than a map…

  In the end, navigating a path toward Poland wasn't as hard as he had expected. The world might have changed, but thanks to the map and some remaining road signs scattered along the way, it took just over a day to leave Italy and cross into Austria.

  The fact that they got lost a few times while passing through the Alps was no one's business. Though, it wasn't all bad. He got to see some new Voidlings and scare the hell out of a group of survivors hunting in the area. He had never seen someone run so fast before…

  From there, Leo, with Nyx by his side, headed straight for Vienna. After skipping over Rome, he decided to at least scout the capital of Austria when passing through it. Besides, they needed a break anyway.

  That decision had led them exactly to this point—with Leo standing atop the corpse of a massive mutated slug. Pieces of its turtle-like shell lay scattered all around the battlefield while its owner bled onto the ground from a deep cut running from its head all the way down to its tail.

  Venomshell Colossus (LVL: 45) slain | Experience awarded | 50 Ether gained.

  Better this than nothing, I guess, Leo thought, watching the building behind him collapse into itself. The ground trembled, and most likely, all of Vienna heard it, but he couldn't bring himself to care even a bit.

  Out of pure curiosity, they had located the nearest Nightmare Factory and went in without any expectations. And yet, after slicing through dozens of Collectors and Scouters, they were still left disappointed when the nest mother showed itself.

  At least it was a poison type. Just what I need for the first Beta mutation. Saves me some Ether…

  With Nyx's help, Leo sliced Venomshell's body into pieces, searching for poison glands hidden somewhere within. The first one they found exploded all over him after the feline accidentally cut a bit too deep. Thankfully, the other two remained intact.

  Once that was done, he swallowed the entire corpse with his shadows and devoured it. No bonus attributes came his way this time, but that was fine—he didn't expect to get any.

  What about you, System? Got anything for me? He called out, summoning the awaiting notifications.

  Congratulations! Eastside Vienna Graveyard has officially fallen. Distribution of bonus rewards and experience to all contributors in progress. Survivor reward: +1 to all Limit Break attributes.

  Distribution of bonus experience for destroying the Eastside Vienna Graveyard has been completed. 1000 Ether awarded.

  No item. Leo's shoulders slumped. I knew it was too good to be true… At least it gave me something.

  Slightly disappointed, he dismissed the System and, along with Nyx, left the area. As much as he wanted to stick around and see who would come to investigate, he had better things to do. Lily was probably still waiting for his call, and he had a mutation to complete.

  After that? His next destination was clear.

  Warsaw.

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