“I’m here. Got a problem with that?” Orson looked up with a fearless expression.
His calm tone made Skyslasher and his group frown. With thirty or forty people here, did this kid seriously not understand the situation?
“So, you’re the one stealing our kills and slowing down our leveling progress? How do you plan to compensate us?” Skyslasher sneered.
Orson smirked and responded with a single word: “Leave.”
ShatteredCrown and his friends were stunned, exchanging glances. “Wait… Master really just told off Dragon’s Kiss Guild without a second thought?”
“Oh, I like this guy’s attitude.” **UltimateSweetheart** smiled with a hint of admiration in her eyes as she watched Orson.
**ElderEscalator:** “Oh, you’re a tough one, huh? Fine, everyone get ready to go red and clear the field!”
ShatteredCrown groaned at this, mumbling, “Sometimes it’s better to live to fight another day. Master, let’s fall back for now. I can rally a few hundred people, and then we can come back to deal with them.”
Orson cast ShatteredCrown a sideways glance. “Are you scared?”
ShatteredCrown: “Scared of them? Please! It’s just that I’m still low-level, so fighting is a bit inconvenient. And, well… I may be carrying a bit too much ammo. Dying now could be… bad.”
The *Mist Forest* was outside the safety zone of the newbie village, so attacking other players would incur a **Notoriety Value** and turn one’s name red.
Once a player’s Notoriety Value reached a certain limit, NPCs would refuse to provide services, forcing the player to buy expensive items from the black market. They’d also be hunted by imperial guards.
But being a red-name player also had a perk—if they killed other players, they’d have an increased chance to drop the victim’s items, including a percentage of their gold. One death could cost a player 5-10% of their carried gold.
Many skilled but ruthless players chose the red-name route to hunt wealthy solo players for a quick fortune. However, the risk for red-names was also high, as they would lose three times as much when killed in return.
Orson paused and asked in a private message, “How much gold did you deposit?”
ShatteredCrown hesitated before replying sheepishly, “I just dropped twenty thousand gold…”
“Twenty… million yuan?!”
Orson broke into a cold sweat as ShatteredCrown nodded. This guy really was rich and clueless!
With twenty thousand gold, a single death could result in a loss of up to two thousand gold, or a whopping two million yuan! Orson almost wanted to bow down—no wonder this “Peacock King” was destined to die at the hands of a succubus. Right now, he was practically a mobile goldmine. Kill him once, and players across the server would pay their respects and thank him for the blessing!
Skyslasher grinned maliciously. “If you compensate us with, say, 200 gold, we’ll call it even.”
**ElderEscalator:** “Or you could try running back to the safe zone and wait us out. We can be here all day.”
Orson scoffed. “Eat dirt.”
Skyslasher sneered, “Wow, got a real mouth on you, kid.”
Did they seriously think he’d cough up 200 gold? That’s 200,000 yuan! Did they think he owned a bank?
“Either pay up, or prepare to get killed out of this game. Our L&H Guild doesn’t let things go.”
**ElderEscalator** sneered, stepping into the area just outside the safe zone, where her name turned red.
“You all leave the party,” Orson said, turning to ShatteredCrown and his friends.
“How can I let you fight alone? I’ll be your tank, and you handle the damage…” **UltimateSweetheart**, a knight, readied her wooden shield and moved to stand in front of Orson.
But before anyone could react, Orson promptly kicked each of them from the party.
ShatteredCrown was stunned. “Whoa, man! What about loyalty? How am I supposed to show my face after this?”
His companions stared at Orson, bewildered. Orson shrugged. “This is a job for the hired muscle. The clients don’t need to get involved.”
Meanwhile, the players from Dragon’s Kiss Guild and L&H Guild went red and circled around to cut off Orson’s escape. If he managed to retreat to the safe zone, they’d be left empty-handed.
**Skyslasher:** “Leave the mage to Dragon’s Kiss Guild. You guys take care of the girls!”
**ElderEscalator:** “Fine by me.”
“The girls?” ShatteredCrown’s sense of masculinity was under attack, and he shouted, “I’m a man, dammit! Do you even have eyes?”
**ElderEscalator:** “Oh, so you’re the one who outbid my wife for that hero-tier staff last night?”
ShatteredCrown retorted, “Back off, you tomboy!”
ElderEscalator eyed ShatteredCrown’s weapon greedily, stepping closer. At Level 5 and without armor, ShatteredCrown was easy prey for her as a Level 9 sword fighter in green-tier gear.
“Great, I’m about to get robbed,” ShatteredCrown lamented. Losing some gold was one thing, but the disgrace of a New York elite being humiliated like this was worse.
Orson pointed his staff at ElderEscalator and fired a weak basic attack.
-12
ElderEscalator blinked, then burst into laughter. “That’s it? That’s your big move?”
-795!
A blood-red damage number exploded over her head, and she staggered, her body engulfed in flames as **Blazing Burn** rapidly drained her health.
“This can’t be happening!!” ElderEscalator panicked. Even with her green-tier equipment providing decent magic resistance and HP, she only survived one burn tick before a second hit turned her to ash.
ShatteredCrown cheered, “My brother is unstoppable!”
UltimateSweetheart gasped. “What a monster—he just one-shotted a sword fighter with basic attacks.”
“Over a thousand HP, wiped out in one hit?”
The L&H Guild members were dumbstruck, staring at Orson in fear of his insane damage output.
“Next,” Orson said calmly, picking up a blue-tier greatsword that had dropped from ElderEscalator and passing it to ShatteredCrown for safekeeping.
Skyslasher’s eyes widened, though rather than fear, he looked excited. Just as he’d guessed—this mage must be packing some incredible equipment!
**Skyslasher:** “All of you, charge! Kill him—he’s got epic gear!”
To one-shot a Level 9 sword fighter as a Level 8 mage? That gear must be extraordinary.
Everyone’s eyes burned with greed. In *Infinite Dimensions*, big spenders were everywhere, and if they could snag Orson’s gear and put it on the auction house…
Mansions, women, luxury cars—anything they wanted would be theirs.
The entire group surged toward Orson.
Orson laughed. If grinding monsters was too slow, why not just farm these red-names bringing him their gear?
Surging with fire magic, his six-pointed star totem shone brightly in the mist.
**Boom! Boom! Boom!**
Triple fireballs exploded, wiping out an entire party, leaving behind a heap of loot.
Skyslasher broke into a cold sweat. This terrifying long-range firepower was something else; calling Orson a human boss wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
But as core players of Dragon’s Kiss Guild, they knew mages had weaknesses, and Orson’s HP was only 230. If they could get close, any one of them could cut him down with two hits.
Orson chuckled, seeing through their strategy. They wanted to get close, exploiting his low HP to overpower him.
But with the mist as cover, it would be hard for their ranged attacks to target him accurately.
“Come on then, let’s see what you’ve got,” he taunted, slipping into the fog.
“Well, I guess we don’t really have a role to play now,” said LittleBaby with a pout, watching Orson disappear.
**BigBaby**, a cool-headed woman, sighed. “We should move. If he gets surrounded, his damage won’t save him from melee.”
ShatteredCrown furrowed his brow, torn. Then, an unassuming girl in their group, **DivineChef**, spoke up, “The conglomerate behind Dragon’s Kiss Guild has ties with The King Family. It’s best not to get involved in this mess, young master.”
“Shut up! They want to mess with my brother? I don’t care who they are—I’m not backing down!” ShatteredCrown gritted his teeth, clutching his starter staff and charging into the mist after Orson.
UltimateSweetheart rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”
With ShatteredCrown stubbornly rushing in to support Orson, they had no choice but to follow him into the fog.
