Chapter 30: Who Exactly Are You?!

“So, I shall present the quest rewards now,” the NPC said.

Ding! Announcement: Congratulations on completing the Exterminating Goblins quest. As the XP gained from the quest rewards will raise you above Level 30, but you have not satisfied the requirements to reach Level 30, the extra XP will temporarily be stored and released to you only when you have satisfied the requirements. At the same time, you’ll be rewarded with 10 gold coins and a random silver-tier item.

Ding! Announcement: You’ve satisfied the requirements for your second class advancement. Please proceed to the guidance office to apply for a switch.

Ding! Announcement: You’ve been awarded ten gold coins.

Ding! Announcement: You’ve been awarded the random silver accessory, Serrated Dagger.

A dagger? It’s of no use. Blue Maple furrowed his brow.

Blue Snow acted like a curious little kid as she asked, “Little Gangster, what did you get?”

Blue Maple glanced at Blue Snow as he replied, “Dagger, gold coins, but nothing for you.”

“Oh, that’s a pity, isn’t it? No, wait, what do you mean nothing for me? Do I look like someone who wants something from you?” Blue Snow seemed to have just reacted by now.

“Uh, nope.” Blue Maple looked at her once again. It was not difficult to guess from Blue Maple’s eyes that he wanted to say, You don’t look like someone who wants something from me, but you definitely are.

Originally, Blue Maple rejected all the accessories that the barbaric bulls dropped after he killed them on the way to this town. Blue Snow picked up all of them. This also made Blue Snow aware that Blue Maple wasn’t interested in anything that he didn’t need.

“Next, we have the punishment for the losing party,” the NPC said to Crippled Feather.

“What’s the punishment?” Blue Maple sighed.

“Don’t you know?” The NPC was a little astonished as she asked, covering her mouth at the same time. Even the surrounding players, Blue Snow and Crippled Feather all gave weird looks as they stared at Blue Maple.

“Nope.”

“Apart from not receiving any rewards, the loser will also lose half the XP he gained during the quest.” the NPC explained.

“Oh.”

“This guy is really strange…” One player commented after a brief moment. In fact, he was just voicing out what everyone thought.

The way he hijacked Crippled Feather’s quest, the way he came back late to submit his quest, and the fact that he didn’t know the punishment for the loser, but still took up the quest was completely astonishing…

Strange really was a word that could be used to describe Blue Maple.

“Oh yes, do you want this dagger?” Blue Maple suddenly asked Crippled Feather. At the same time, he presented the dagger to Crippled Feather.

[Serrated Dagger] (Rank 29 Silver)

Attack: 256-305

Strength: +25

Agility: +33

Special effect – Cut: There’s a 15% probability of causing the opponent to bleed from cuts, which causes small but lasting damage.

Increases user’s armor penetration by 7%.

Crippled Feather furrowed his brow as he saw the dagger, “What’s your intention?”

“Please don’t. Little Gangster, give it to me. I can sell it for money on your behalf,” Blue Snow suddenly interrupted.

“Do you believe that I’m unaware of the value of this dagger before giving me some gold coins after selling it?” Blue Maple asked Blue Snow.

“Hey, don’t smear my name, Little Gangster? How am I that sort of person? At most, at most I’ll take a commission!” Blue Snow tried to debate after her intentions were exposed.

“I don’t need you to compensate me. No!” Crippled Feather regarded Blue Maple’s dagger as a compensation, compensation for his loss of XP.

“See, Little Gangster. He doesn’t want it. Give it to me. I promise I’ll only take a bit of commission.” Blue Snow was a little desperate as she looked at Blue Maple.

Blue Maple chose to ignore Blue Snow, who was trying to use puppy eyes to convince him.

“You’re going to use it to buy food. I might as well use it for other purposes.”

Blue Snow suddenly turned red and panicked as she argued, “Who, who says that I’ll use it to buy food?”

“I consigned the accessory shop to sell those shoes and wrist guard on my behalf. You shouldn’t have any money to buy food any more, am I right?” Blue Maple exposed her. When he was fixing some of his accessories, he discovered that the accessory and weapon shop could act as intermediaries to sell off weapons and accessories that a player wanted to put up for sale.

“Eh? You were the one who was consigning the sales of the shoes and wrist guard?” Blue Snow was astonished as she asked.

“Big loss…Little Gangster, surely you don’t lack money, right? Can you give me a fifty percent discount, no, sixty percent discount? Return me the extra money, please?” Blue Snow begged Blue Maple pitifully.

Blue Maple was a little speechless as he thought to himself, I really can’t get why this person can completely forget the unhappy things that happened only a week ago.

“Forget it. Oh yes, you really don’t want the dagger?” Blue Maple mercilessly rejected Blue Sow. After that, he asked Crippled Feather once again.

“No means no.” Crippled Feather gritted his teeth as he replied. In fact, he could already tell that Blue Maple wasn’t offering the dagger as compensation, but because he didn’t have any use for it. If Blue Snow could really sell the dagger, he wouldn’t be using it as a means of compensation.

“Clearly, you want it.” Blue Snow exposed him without any hesitation. It seemed like she was rather unhappy. “Little Gangster, please give me a discount and return the extra money to me.” Blue Snow wasn’t backing off yet.

“Even if I want it, I don’t want it from him.” Crippled Feather continued to decline the offer, but he was already starting to waver. After all, there weren’t many like Blue Maple who were not obsessed with external objects.

“Troublesome. Take it.” After he finished speaking, Blue Maple directly passed the dagger to Crippled Feather. Then, he ignored Crippled Feather. Crippled Feather was in a daze as he received the dagger. He had no time to react. There wasn’t really anyone who would force an accessory on someone else just like that. Either Blue Maple was a rich kid or he was an idiot. However, it seemed like he was neither.

“Twenty gold coins. I’m lending you.” After Blue Maple finished speaking, he gave Blue Snow a bag of gold coins. He had received the gold coins earlier in a small bag, but he added in ten gold coins before giving it to Blue Snow.

Blue Snow was excited as she said, “Wah, Little Gangster, you are really nice! I’ll remember to return them to you!”

Return? Blue Maple didn’t even consider that possibility. This was because it made no difference to him.

“Hey, what do you mean?” Crippled Feather pointed his dagger at Blue Maple as he asked.

“Don’t lose it.” Blue Maple didn’t even answer his question.

“You, hmph. Once it’s with me, there’s no way it’ll leave my hands.” Crippled Feather accepted the dagger. After all, he was an assassin. His face was less important than profits. However, there were some instances where face was more important!

“Hey, let me tell you. I still want to challenge you to a duel. Use this dagger.” Crippled Feather’s tone of voice changed again, and he issued a challenge to Blue Maple. Evidently, he was still upset about losing earlier. Although they were already outside the Mercenary Union, they weren’t too far from it. It was still within the vicinity of the union and they could still fight.

“Why are you acting like that? Little Gangster just gave you the dagger, but you already want to use the dagger against him.” Blue Snow stood up for Blue Maple. He had just lent her twenty sparkling gold coins. She had to at least stand up for him a little, although she would have still done the same, given the circumstances.

Given Blue Maple’s character, he wasn’t bothered at all. He still agreed.

“Okay. I won’t use any skills. The person who manages to hit the other person first wins.” Blue Maple said.

Crippled Feather furrowed his brow and said, “Looking down on me?”

“Okay.”

“You! Alright, I’ll give you twenty gold coins if I lose. Take it as I’m paying for her snacks.” Crippled Feather was a little dissatisfied when he replied.

Blue Snow cringed her face as she retorted, “Hey, what do you mean? Paying for me? You make it sound like I’m not returning it?”

“Okay.” Crippled Feather and Blue Maple actually replied with ‘okay’ in unison.

“You guys!…” Blue Snow stuttered. “Both of you are jerks. I won’t return it, then.” Blue Snow mumbled to herself.

Crippled Feather and Blue Maple didn’t notice Blue Snow mumbling to herself. Both of them had already taken position and were ready to fight in a small area that had been cleared out by the people around.

PK Mode: When one person’s HP reaches less than 20%.

Ding! Announcement: Do you accept the PK mode?

“Accept.”

The condition was useless since they agreed that the first one to be attacked lost.

Stealth!

Blue Maple stood where he was and waited for Crippled Feather. A Thief’s Stealth wasn’t completely undetectable unless he possessed Skills that were similar to it, such as non-detection or concealment. Every player had some kind of senses when it came to such a Skill. He would be able to sense a player in stealth mode and could even sense the exact position of the opposing player once he was close enough.

In the early stages of the game, a player would usually be able to sense a Thief’s Stealth within a three-meter radius, depending on the exact level of the thief. Within a radius of one meter, the player would be able to determine the thief’s exact position. However, this radius would be halved during a fight. However, it was all dependent on Level and Class. An Archer would do much better, for example.

As long as Blue Maple was willing, he could exploit the advantage of his weapon length to unleash an attack first, because he was so quick and could sense Crippled Feather! Within a one-meter radius, a dagger couldn’t be faster than a sword.

Blue Maple shut his eyes and slowly drew his sword. He was clearly sensing where Crippled Feather was.

Everyone around held their breath. Some of them quietly activated their video function. Even Blue Snow was watching quietly. At the same time, she was silently cheering Blue Maple in her heart, Little Gangster, you must not lose. It’s twenty gold coins! Her cheer was a little…

Silence…

Silence…

It was still silent…

It was so silent that it was terrifying. Crippled Feather had vanished for some time, but he had not laid a hand on Blue Maple yet.

And then...

He was here! Blue Maple clutched the hilt of his sword with his left hand. He had sensed that Crippled Feather was close to him.

At the right to the back! It seemed like he was just charging over. He didn’t want to give Blue Maple time to react. He was even coming from the opposite direction of Blue Maple’s dominant hand, which was the left.

However, it was impossible that Blue Maple wouldn’t have time to react, or at least that was the case now.

Just as Crippled Feather was within one meter from Blue Maple, Blue Maple suddenly leaned forward slightly. After that, he instantly turned around and stabbed his sword to his right and to the back.

To the bystanders, it seemed like Blue Maple had swiftly turned around and stabbed to the right and back.

To Crippled Feather…

“How is it possible?!”

With a clang, Blue Maple’s sword was blocked by Crippled Feather’s dagger. However, Blue Maple’s left hand shook a little, before Crippled Feather’s dagger was flung away.

Blue Maple pointed his sword at Crippled Feather’s throat!

Everyone felt that Blue Maple seemed to have predicted Crippled Feather’s attack. After that, he gained the upper hand, but his attack was blocked by Crippled Feather’s excellent reflexes. However, Crippled Feather’s dagger had been knocked away.

In fact, Crippled Feather knew that Blue Maple was coming straight for his dagger. It seemed like Blue Maple knew where he was and where his dagger was!

“Who... who exactly are you?!” Crippled Feather was astonished.

At this moment, Blue Maple’s body started to release blue sparks. It slowly turned into burning blue flames on him.

Everyone was stunned by this!

Blue Maple appeared a little colder as he said, “You don’t have to know. I hope that you’ll be stronger next time.”

At the same time, the flames spread throughout his body and completely engulfed him. After that, Blue Maple completely turned into a ball of human-shaped blue fire.

The flames disappeared as the wind blew…