SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Are you two fighting or being friends?

John stopped a few steps away, expression calm and completely unfazed. He glanced down at the simple-looking fishing pole in his hand, then back up at Damon, who was now wheezing with laughter and wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

"I’m serious!" Damon gasped between chuckles. "She walked into the witch hall like a damn archvillain and you... you... walked out with a fishing rod?"

Lola was giggling too, though she clearly didn’t know why. "Are we going fishing now? Are we going to catch some special fishies?" she asked eagerly, eyeing the pole with interest.

John only gave a small smile to the two of them. Damon did not know why, but suddenly his brother looked very tired and sad.

It was a shock because all his life, he had only seen a different side of his brother, the perfect son, the top student, the ambitious young man, the best husband, the definition of success. However, now, he looked like a shell of his old self. Barely saying anything, barely smiling.

His eyes weren’t sharp and focused like they used to be. They looked distant, shadowed, like someone who had walked a long road and forgotten what the destination even was.

"...Hey," Damon said softly, voice dropping. "You okay?"

John didn’t answer right away. He just looked up at the twilight sky, then down at Lola, who was still bouncing around. "I wanted something quiet," he said finally. "Something that didn’t require me to lead... or win... or prove anything."

Damon nodded slowly. He got it now. All those years of expectations, of always being the one who had to have it together, they’d chipped away at John in ways no one had noticed.

And Earth Online, this brutal, brilliant second world, had just handed him something he hadn’t had in years. The permission to just be.

"You picked the right class, then," Damon said, more gently now. "There’s peace in the water. Stillness. You don’t have to rush anything."

John finally gave him a faint smile. Not a flashy one. Not the charming, picture-perfect kind their parents used to praise or Georgina used to boast about. Just a real one. "Thanks," he said.

Damon let out a sigh and gently patted his brother. He knew this was a serious moment, and his brother was openly sharing with him some deep moments in his life, but he still couldn’t help it.

"Dude, you got burnt out and now want out of the rat race, huh? Could you be more cliche?" He chuckled and clapped his brother’s back. "Ba ha ha ha! I just hope this is not some early-onset mid-life crisis. Your wife will have your skin."

John shook his head, but there was a breath of laughter behind the sigh he let out. "Probably," he admitted. "But if this is a mid-life crisis, I picked the best version of it. No overpriced motorcycles. No weird haircut. Just a fishing pole and a quiet lake."

Damon laughed harder. "You say that now. Just wait until you’re standing knee-deep in a swamp trying to catch a ’Voidscale Salmon’ while your wife is after your ass for more gold coins."