After finishing up business with Jarvis Botswaner, Oliver turned away from the counter and went elsewhere.
Business had apparently been successful and had gone exactly as planned.
"Now I have just enough to begin my next plan," he whispered to himself as he continued down a series of winding streets.
Soon enough, the once nearly empty streets began to quickly fill with people. The distant noise of chatter, laughter, and footsteps slowly returned to the city like a tide flowing back to shore.
Possibly the show of shame was already over and everyone was returning to their usual business, or perhaps they had simply grown bored of throwing insults at Jarvis Botswaner.
Anyhow it had played out, this had only been Oliver's first phase of revenge against him.
"In due time I'll come back for more than his dignity."
Oliver stepped into a dark alleyway that led to nothing but a dead end.
The alleyway was cluttered with wooden crates filled with empty bottles—ale bottles to be precise. Since the alley was shared with a nearby bar. The stale scent of alcohol and damp wood hung thickly in the air.
'This is perfect,' Oliver thought, hiding himself behind a large pile of crates that rose almost to his chest.
Now that he was partially concealed from sight, he commanded the system.
"Unequip Cloak of Assassins."
His clothing shimmered with dark purple light.
The fabric rippled unnaturally as though alive, reverberating with a cold, eerie energy that crawled across the surface of the cloak like shadowed lightning.
A moment passed.
Then the cloak slowly faded into particles of dim purple light before vanishing entirely, revealing Oliver's face and leaving him stark naked in the unpleasant alleyway.
[Cloak of Assassin has been unequipped]
The Crow seemed strangely amused by this, opening its mouth slightly while swaying its head from side to side.
"How cute," Oliver said, turning his gaze away from the Crow and back toward the system interface floating before him.
"Equip common clothing."
[Common clothing Equipped]
Unlike the special Cloak of Assassins, which took a moment to return to the system inventory, the common clothing took no longer than a second to manifest onto Oliver's body.
Useless things fit quickly. No doubt.
Now Oliver was dressed in nothing more than a pair of ash-colored ragged clothes, a simple thick shirt and a rough pair of trousers.
"This will certainly do," Oliver said, staring at himself from head to toe.
Then he looked at the Crow, which appeared thoroughly confused by its master's behavior.
Why would he strip into the worst clothing possible?
How would that even help in leveling up and evolving his summon later?
"Leveling up is not the issue, Crow. There is something I need to find first before anyone else does," Oliver said as though reading the Crow's thoughts. "A secret relic I need a group to obtain."
Oliver ignored the confused Crow and walked out of the alleyway.
He continued in a slow trek until finally reaching a large structure.
The structure was an open area that took the form of a roofless sanctuary. Tall stone pillars stood in circular formation around white marble flooring that shimmered faintly beneath the afternoon light. Ancient mystical writing had been carved across the marble in spiraling patterns.
It was a memorial to the heroic legends of Alkarya.
This was a Summoning Ground.
A Summoning Ground was ideally where Players appeared when entering the game from Earth, or where Players who died outside the town would respawn if they possessed an Extra Life.
"There are about three Summoning Grounds in all of Alkarya," Oliver muttered quietly.
"The street Summoning Ground, which was where I appeared when I first entered the game."
He stepped further across the marble floor.
"Here at the center is the second… and the last one lies at the far end of town."
'The larger the number of people entering the game at the same place, the more it changes where they appear.'
If it was a solo entrance, Players would usually appear at the street Summoning Ground.
If it was a massive entrance, it would either be the central Summoning Ground or the one located at the edge of town.
"If I had chosen to enter the game the way I did in my previous life, alongside the other students, we would have appeared here."
He continued walking slowly toward the center of the sanctuary.
"I'll have to recreate that for my plan to work."
Oliver mused as he stepped deeper into the empty Summoning Ground.
Just on time.
The ground beneath Oliver Mori's feet suddenly lit up with glowing runic patterns, forcing him to stop in his tracks.
He waited silently.
For a few seconds nothing happened.
Then streaks of color appeared like glitches in the air around him, fractures in reality that flickered and warped like distorted light.
Slowly those distortions began to take shape.
Human shapes.
The first group that appeared consisted of nothing more than eight people wearing basic armor pieces. Their expressions immediately told Oliver everything he needed to know.
They were new Awakeners.
Some held nervous expressions, exposing just how terrified they were at the situation they had found themselves in.
'They don't have much of a future in this game,' Oliver thought, turning his gaze away from the frightened few.
Instead, he focused on those who wore mocking glares, arrogant smirks, and irritated frowns.
Among them, Oliver recognized a few familiar faces.
Two of which were his best friend and his ex-girlfriend, standing proudly apart from the others as they gathered alongside several other students.
They had already formed their own small party.
Five of them.
Every single member there had wronged him.
Oliver frowned slightly.
He could still remember falling to his knees and pleading for them to take him into their party.
He could still remember them leading him into an alleyway and beating him so badly he wasn't even sure his body would regenerate afterward.
Fortunately…
It had.
Oliver sighed softly.
'Too bad I'm not here for them.'
Soon enough his presence became known to the group of students. None dared approach him.
None except—
Trisha.
She walked forward confidently, accompanied by the rest of her party.
"Well, well, well… you look like trash," Trisha mocked as she approached Oliver.
She wore a polished breastplate over a red long-sleeved shirt that was cropped slightly above her stomach. A short black skirt covered her lower body, and strapped across her back was a pitch-black halberd that gleamed ominously.
Meanwhile Oliver wore nothing more than sack-like beggar clothes.
No wonder she called him trash.
Oliver paid her no attention.
He simply shifted his gaze away from her.
Seeing this, Kyle who had been visibly irritated this entire time stormed forward and grabbed Oliver roughly by his shirt.
"You bastard! What's wrong with you all of a sudden? I can't believe you pushed her earlier and even now you refuse to apologize!" Kyle barked angrily.
Oliver remained silent.
"You are a weak piece of trash!" Kyle shouted. "Even though you entered the game before us you are still trash! Trash on Earth, trash in—"
SPLOOOSH!
It happened in a brief moment.
One none of Trisha's party had expected.
Blood exploded into the air like a crimson mist and for a moment, time froze and then a horrid scream followed.
Kyle staggered backward as his hands flew to his face.
"M—my… my eyes! ARGHH!" Kyle screamed in unbearable agony as he collapsed to one knee.
"I apologize," Oliver finally spoke, his calm voice cutting through the chaos and the horrified silence of the sanctuary.
"I apologize that I forgot to also assault you until now."
Oliver calmly opened his palm toward the sky, his expression remaining completely indifferent as though he simply asked for a coin.
The Dark Crow, seeing his gesture, swooped down from above.
With a grotesque wet sound—
It spat Kyle's bloody eyeball directly into Oliver's waiting palm.
Oliver caught the bloody eyeball, slowly inspecting it briefly like a merchant judging fruit.
It was sickening.
"How can you be this heartless?!" Trisha screamed, her voice trembling violently.
"Don't you see you are a useless summoner? How dare you!"
"Don't take it personally," Oliver replied coldly.
"I see clearly… it's your boyfriend you should be asking that."
Trisha's face twisted with rage. Her fists clenched as she opened her mouth to shout again—
SPLURT!
Before she could utter a single word, something violently struck the back of her throat.
She coughed hard, staggering backward as her face turned pale.
It had happened too fast for anyone to follow.
But she understood immediately.
In a brief second, Oliver had thrown Kyle's gruesome eyeball directly into her mouth.
Forcing her to swallow her words.
And horribly—
The eyeball as well.
She froze, her face slowly contorting in horror as the realization of what she had just swallowed sank in.
Falling to her knees immediately, she forced her fingers deep into her throat, desperately trying to vomit it back out.
But something as large as an eyeball…
That would leave a traumatic memory.
"You bastard!" a bulky player in the party growled as he reached for the mace strapped to his waist.
Another player lifted her staff, magical energy beginning to gather at its tip.
The final one unsheathed his sword with a metallic hiss.
At the looks of it—
A battle was about to begin.
Nonetheless, Oliver had everything under control.
The Dark Crow descended and landed upon his shoulder, its monstrous body looming like a shadow.
Its glowing red eyes stared at them with pure killing intent.
"Do you really think you can take on a level one player and a summon while you are still at your base levels?"
That statement alone caused them to freeze.
Sure, a level one player might barely take on two of them.
But with the Crow summon…
They stood no chance.
They were rash, however they weren't stupid.
Oliver sighed lightly, 'I didn't want to create this much trouble… but these fools tested me. How unfortunate.'
Oliver turned around and began to leave the sanctuary.
'Right now, let this be your motivation. Get stronger, both of you… so that I'll enjoy the pleasure of killing you at your very highest.'
With that—
Oliver exited the sanctuary.