The performers of the Vienna Opera Company were climbing the helical stone stairs around the pillar.

  At this point, Britney finally understood why Roland asked if they were scared of heights earlier.

  It was fine at the start, but after thirty meters, the view down below was rather breathtaking.

  More importantly, though the stairs were broad, there were no handrails on the side, which made the climb even more intimidating.

  “Why didn’t Roland leave us any defensive measures?” A female player slowly walked up against the inner wall, not daring to look out at all. Her legs were shaking too. “I’m about to pee my pants.”


  “He created such a massive building in only two minutes. I don’t think he can be so considerate on the details,” a male player explained. “What he has done is already impressive enough. Though I don’t know the battle-type players very well, it would’ve been difficult to create this without cheating.”


  Leading the team, Britney said, “I know a thing or two about the battle-type players. He should be the strongest Mage player now.”


  “Tsk, tsk. If only you could seduce him into our company to work for us, chief.” The girl who almost peed herself slowly walked up while holding the wall and said, “If he can build a stage anywhere and is so good at fighting, he can protect us from all future troubles.”


  Britney sighed helplessly.

  The male player chuckled. “Nice thought, Daphne. Roland is with the queen, who is as pretty as Chief Britney without adding Charm to herself. Also, did you not notice that another cute girl was with him too? If I were Roland, I would be a fool to ditch them for our chief.”


  Britney was rather upset.

  The female player named Daphne retorted, “How can you compare the NPCs in a game to a real person?”


  “Why can’t I?”


  “Those NPCs are all fake. They’re gone when you take off your immersive helmet,” replied Daphne matter-of-factly. “But our chief is real. She still exists in this world without the immersive helmet. If Roland were smart, he would choose our chief.”


  “But our chief is not as pretty without the immersive helmet as she is now, right?” the male player pointed out.

  At this point, Britney suddenly looked back at the male player angrily.

  Knowing that he had misspoken, the male player shut up in embarrassment.

  Daphne said angrily, “You men care about nothing but a pretty face. Can you be more sophisticated? You’re too shallow!”


  “Would you like to marry a man who weighs 120 kilograms, who doesn’t have any money, who is greasy and filthy, but who is gentle and willing to give everything to you, Daphne? If you do, I will acknowledge that you are a sophisticated woman, and I will apologize to you.”


  The male player had almost given up, but since Daphne had criticized all the people of his gender, he couldn’t help but fight back.

  Daphne’s lips were cramping in fury. “Shea, you’re really annoying. You are not a gentleman at all. I won’t speak to you again.”


  Though she was an art student, Daphne was only eighteen in reality, so she tended to be a little bit unreasonable.

  Such bickering was actually routine in the group. The others listened and laughed while they walked to the top of the pillar in a long line.

  A hundred meters would’ve been covered in two minutes on the ground, but since it was a dangerous climb, it took him almost ten minutes to reach the summit.

  Then, almost everybody exclaimed in surprise.

  The top of the pillar was a flat, smooth circle about fifty meters in diameter, enough to accommodate an orchestra of two hundred people.

  “Take out the tools with which you make a living and sit down at the center.” Britney clapped her hands and said, “We’ll begin when Roland is up.”


  Hardly had Britney finished when a person swooshed out from one side of the pillar and slowly landed before the performers.

  It was Roland.

  “Flying is really great,” Britney said enviously. “You can do anything you want.”


  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Roland smiled and, looking at the performers who had sat down, asked, “May we begin?”


  A lot of stuff could be kept in the system Backpack. An additional chair was definitely not a problem.

  Britney took out her own chair and instrument too. She sat down in the middle of the performers.

  Then, the conductor walked to the front of the performers with a baton, ready to direct the music.

  “We’re ready.” Britney smiled at Roland.

  Roland stepped back and snapped his fingers with his left hand that was still intact, and a white halo of magic appeared before everyone.

  Britney cleared her throat and began to speak.

  Half a minute later, a slightly distorted female voice echoed throughout Encart City.

  “Since the mayor has closed the city, this is the only way we can perform for you. Because of the distance between us, three shows had to be canceled. Special thanks to Roland who has provided a special stage for us.”


  Everybody in Encart City heard the voice.

  They all pushed their windows open, left their houses, or walked to their rooftops and looked at the enormous pillar.

  “The first program will be an orchestral version of ‘Sound of Silence.’ Please enjoy, my friends.”


  Then, pleasant music came from the sky.

  The music in this world was almost exclusively introduced by Bards.

  Most Bards played solo, and they mostly performed recitations that feathered stories of Heroes.

  Most recitations were performed with a similar melody, with barely any variations.

  The audience had grown tired of them after hearing too much.

  But the music in modern society was different. It had several genres and was much more technically mature.

  The orchestral version of “Sound of Silence” immediately amazed and enchanted most of the audience.

  The nobles found it pleasant too, but they didn’t really feel great.

  After “Sound of Silence,” it was the modified versions of “Scarborough Fair,””Croatian Rhapsody,” and other famous songs.

  Then, four delightful pop songs were played.

  Because they weren’t sure what the residents of this city liked, the performers had prepared a few songs from every genre. Some were slow, some blue, some cheerful, and some were even heavy metal.

  Everybody in the city dropped their work and looked at the enormous pillar in silence.

  Even Andonara, who had a deep understanding of music, greatly enjoyed herself. She even closed her hands and rubbed her thumbs, with an expression that suggested she was holding herself back, when she particularly liked a song.

  The performance lasted more than two hours. When it was over, everybody was still staring at the pillar, as if they didn’t want it to end so soon.

  After several minutes of silence, Andonara said to Roland, “The elves are no longer the people that are best at music and art; you are.”