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Lirzod and Hundred were still inside the rented room, with not even flies but tinier beings, ants busy eating leftover bread, for extra-company.

Outside the test hall, Mikey was smoking next to Yohann and said, “Jehez… he helped me quite a bit. If not for him, I would still be rotting in a room like thrown-away bread. He didn’t want to die of old age, but I didn’t expect him to die so soon. At least, he lived like a lion for as long as he did and had no regrets, but...” He exhaled smoke and paused for a bit. “Do you think he made his way up into heaven?” Yohann didn’t reveal much emotion on his face. “Seeing how you are still unsure, how can I say anything about ‘your’ friend and convince you for sure?” His reply startled Mikey. “Nevertheless, why wonder if he had lived without regrets? Your friend is where he should be, though he didn’t get to ripen. Many folks dislike growing old just like your friend did, and I don’t blame them, but I believe there’s no better way to die than of old age. The more naturally you leave the body, the better—just like an unburdened breath. Now, I’ve got many more streets to cover, and I’m not a...

(This chapter has pure narration that briefly describes the setting of this fictional world. You can completely skip this chapter and not miss anything. You can always come back and read this prologue whenever you can digest a telling of a thousand words! Having said that, the choice is yours.) Every mortal in the world was bound to the laws of nature, but none except a certain few—the ones at the top of the Martial Chain, knew the bounds better. Such was the belief rooted in a good deal of lands across the whole world, and nearly all, if not every sensible soul under heaven at least once dreamed of reaching that level, which, in their eyes, could be attained at best through the pursuit of truth with integrity. Dreaming was one thing, but turning a dream into one’s destiny was another thing entirely. Countless members formed groups, divisions, legions, clades, clans, tribes, sects, kingdoms, empires and everything they could to survive and help themselves get close to the summit of the...

Exvo, at the moment, was sailing through the Byinshi river. Fish in thousands got caught in nets maneuvered by tough-looking seals raised on the ship. These seals smartly trapped fish in the nets before slipping through the air-barriers serving as temporary inlets on the ninth deck, successfully bringing all the fish into the underwater portion of the ship. Only a couple of seals jumped out of the waters and landed on the tenth deck, along with their catch that was well over a thousand fishes of different kinds. Gerett picked up a few smaller fish and hand-fed those two seals before sending them off back to work on the ship. While eating a baguette with a boneless, roasted fish hidden inside, Gerett watched over as other gloved workers packed the fish in containers. “It looks like we’ve got plenty of salmons this time. It’s only the month of Mitvallen, yet they have already begun migrating for whatever reason. Lucky us. Keep a few gravid ones aside,” Gerett ordered. “We can have some ...

As Gorka was leaving, “Excuse me, sir...” a voice rang out from within the crowd, as it had only seconds ago. Everybody got even more surprised this time because the voice came from someone who was partly responsible for most of the recent turmoil cultivating on the twelfth deck. The voice belonged to a boy wearing mismatched armor. Gorka stopped and looked at him. “You want to teach me rules as well?” “One of your shoelaces isn’t intact,” Lirzod pointed his finger down at Gorka’s shoes. Gorka glanced at his feet. A lace had indeed come out loose. “Oh...” He lifted the knee and tied it up swiftly. “You have my thanks.” Saying that Gorka turned and began to walk away. He remembered the time when he was young, and some woman whose face he still couldn’t remember was tying his laces. All Gorka could see was her hands and also could hear her voice. He had a guess as to who she was, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because of that unsureness, he always wore laced shoes even though they d...

Like the inflexible celerity of a lying tongue, the quality of the milk didn’t change as had been agreed and as Lirzod had looked ahead to. The ease with which droplets of milk spilled out of the bowl while the felines quenched their thirst further solidified Lirzod’s understanding. This affair seemed akin to how a good many of his clansmen kept burdening the animals by making them overwork time and again, despite being advised otherwise on numerous occasions. He was aware that some habits, especially addictions, were hard to get rid of, but it had always been harder for him to digest the thought that there were people who would smile and promise to do one thing but then never keep their promise, and they would repeat the same thing ad nauseam, either publicly or secretly. Would these people ever stress a little in an attempt to change themselves and keep their promises? Would they ever feel guilty for not living up to their word and for having to constantly lie? Would they ever have r...

“I can hear it. Your pulse is getting louder and louder like that of a chicken put under the knife.” “Shut up. Say something like that again, and I might kick you through the floor to the eleventh deck.” “Oh, my. What’s going to become of your foot then?”

It had been an hour since Beren woke up, and everything seemed new to him. After Hundred explained what had happened, Beren just stayed silently on the bed, with his face like a wet weekend. Even though Mulyk brought water and fruits for him, Beren didn’t have them. He just seemed to be lost in his own thoughts while being down in the mouth. Mulyk and Hundred wanted to give him some time to think, so they told him to not take things hard and then left him alone. Currently, Beren was awake. Mulyk wasn’t there, but Hundred was sleeping in the chair next to the bed. However, a haze of fear dispirited Beren because the dog had just woken up. Since the door was shut, it had no way out. So it kept looking for an exit, which made Beren even tenser. Eventually, the dog stopped in front of Beren’s bed. Both their eyes met. Meanwhile, Hundred, in his dream, was arguing with a girl. “No, Khoa. I’m not in the wrong.” “Then why did you apologize if you’re not guilty for not wishing me for my birthd...

  "Eek!" Something whizzed past the event manager’s ear, just scraping the skin enough to trickle out some blood. He felt an out-of-body sensation as his hands flew to his face in haste. In the end, he ended up slapping himself on both cheeks, shrieking akin to a scaredy-cat. In the adjacent event, the archer had shot at the strawberry, but his arrow missed; however, another arrow came out of nowhere, slipped through the gaps between the horns of the deer and pierced through the berry perfectly, and flew out without touching the horns again, then finished things by striking some bystander’s butt who was watching another event. Everyone was puzzled, including Lirzod. “Where did the arrow go?” It flew so fast that nobody had seen it. Only the experienced event manager’s eyes briefly caught the sight of the arrow, even though he couldn’t stop it from cutting a teeny bit of his ear. The event manager turned back at once and looked here and there for the arrow, but then the cries ...

At one of the staircases connecting the twelfth and the thirteenth decks, there were two guards and a group of three Dustbin Diggers, the latter of which was forcibly taking an item or two from every person looking to use the stairs. A small cage filled with downcast cats they had caught was nearby. Unlike other parties, they had used a three-legged rat as bait. Pocketing some coins by handing the cats over to the referee was on their minds. “I’m getting tired of waiting. What if that bastard never shows up and spends his time hiding somewhere on this deck?” “How long can he hide?” “He’s been quiet as a mouse, but he’s gonna come out eventually, and when he does, he’ll suffer. The sooner he comes out and admits his guilt, the better it is for him.”

  In the K Block on the tenth deck, Gerett entered the hollow hall allotted for tending the children they had saved from Znjoa Schweess and his associates. Usually, the hollow hall was mostly filled with triple bunk beds, but now only a few regular beds remained, and the rest of the hall was filled with dolls and toys. The floor was also carpeted with grass to give the park vibe. When Gerett entered, many children ran over to hug him, though none of them could tightly hug him because of his fatness. “Uncle, did you bring sweets for us?” their eyes were on the bags in his hands. “No, these are my snacks,” replied Gerett, taking slow but larger steps while keeping his chin up. “If you want a bite, you’ll have to wait till pigs fly.”

  The weather around Exvo seemed pleasant, and Stussy was appreciating the time under the sun. Gerret came to her in a hurry and said, “Chief! A report from the first deck says that a monster is coming up. From what they’ve noticed, it’s a nanari, so they said they weren’t gonna attack it.” Nanaris, also known as Ninetooths, were sea monsters that looked like a humongous snake with two fins running along the spine, all the way to the rear and beyond. They had no eyes or nose but only a mouth with nine sickle-like teeth inside. The myth about them was that they ate only dead, rotting, or toxic beings and rarely attacked a living being, so they came to be known as Oceanmaids. While most part of that myth might be considered real, nanaris not attacking living beings was generally believed to be false because, in the past century itself, there were countless cases of nanaris attacking ships, especially those of pirates, so much so that the marines gave these beasts the nickname ‘Pirate...