As Blue Maple was late by close to an hour and Crippled Feather was the center of attention for that hour, he was about to go crazy. When he saw the strolling Blue Maple, it was already quite a feat that he didn’t go up to kill Blue Maple.

“Are these people here to see you?” Blue Maple’s greatest attribute was that he was practically immune to anyone cursing him. At the same time, he took out a drink in a bamboo bottle. As he consumed the drink, he looked at the people around him.

“You! You are here to compete with me and to submit the quest. Please be more serious!” Crippled Feather was already shouting.

“I know,” Blue Maple answered. At the same time, he passed his quest plaque to the NPC under the furious glare of Crippled Feather.

“Alright, please wait a minute. I’ll tabulate the numbers.” The NPC took out another quest plaque just as she finished speaking with Blue Maple. Obviously, the second plaque belonged to Crippled Feather. After this, both plaques shone with dim white lights in the NPC’s hand. It was noon time, so the lights weren’t very bright in comparison.

Blue Maple also took the opportunity to look around him. There are really a lot of people here. Seems like they are here to join in the crowd. There are truly a lot of people who are too bored.

“Oh?” Blue Maple was suddenly startled as he was sipping his drink through a straw.

He had discovered that there was a beautiful lady in the crowd jumping up and down while waving her hands at him. After that… Blue Maple continued to sip his drink and pretend that he had not seen her. He also turned his head in another direction.

Crippled Feather was also astonished when he saw how Blue Maple reacted. He turned his head in the direction that Blue Maple was looking earlier. He discovered an angry but pretty girl rushing over from that direction. On closer look, that girl appeared rather familiar...

Just as Crippled Feather was pondering whether he knew this girl, the NPC had already gotten the numbers. The comparison was complete.

“Alright, I already know the results. It’s…” Before the NPC could even finish speaking, she was interrupted.

“Little Gangster, what’s wrong with you? Why did you act like you didn’t see me?” The voice came from Blue Snow, who was quite incensed.

Not only were the NPC and Crippled Feather confused by this sudden outburst, the players around were also equally astonished.

They were just about to learn the result after having waited for an hour, but Blue Snow suddenly barged in and interrupted the proceedings. If not for the fact that she was pretty, everyone around would have cursed at her.

“Do you know her?” Crippled Feather asked Blue Maple. He sounded a little startled. He knew Blue Snow’s true identity. After all, assassins were highly aware of information regarding people with wealthy backgrounds like Blue Snow. He would be even more informed about someone like her.

“No.” Blue Maple acted like he didn’t really know her.

“……” Crippled Feather.

“……” The NPC.

“……” The surrounding players.

“……” Blue Snow. Blue Snow was angry as she exclaimed, “Little Gangster, you are such a big liar! You even secretly snuck away that night!”

“Oh!” the surrounding players exclaimed.

……

“This idiot.” Blue Maple was speechless. How is it that she dares to say something so misleading?

Crippled Feather observed Blue Maple’s weird expression. There was a tinge of respect in his eyes, and his hostility dipped slightly.

“Eh?! No, I don’t mean that. It’s just that…” Blue Snow suddenly turned red. She knew that she had said something wrong. She immediately tried to defend herself, but Blue Maple instantly stuffed a new bottle into her mouth to shut her up.

Things will get even worse if I let this idiot continue speaking. Blue Maple was thinking of this as he stuffed it into her mouth.

Whereas Blue Snow also coordinated with him by lowering her head and sucking on the unknown drink. She seemed to realize that she would only explain herself into a worse situation if she continued trying to prove her innocence. The self-blaming look that she wore right now was rather cute, but Blue Maple didn’t notice it.

Blue Maple quickly switched the topic and said to the NPC, “Announce the results.”

“Oh, about that, the winner of the challenge mode is…” the NPC intentionally tried to build suspense.

The surrounding players eagerly held their breath.

“The player who came back later!” The NPC didn’t mention Blue Maple’s name. Blue Maple heaved a small sigh of relief. Although he knew that an NPC wouldn’t reveal a players’ name, he was still slightly worried. As for the result, Blue Maple wasn’t too concerned about it. After all, this was just fun and games to him.

“What? How is that possible? How could he have possibly won when he took so much longer to return?”

“Impossible. The difference in timing is too huge.”

“Give an explanation. Otherwise, we won’t be convinced.”

“Yes, give an explanation. I placed five gold coins on Crippled Feather to win!”...

All the surrounding players started to become unsettled. Even Blue Snow appeared curious. How did Blue Maple win even though he returned so late?

“Reason?” Crippled Feather was also a little indignant as he asked. Although he knew that Blue Maple strolled back, it wasn’t possible that he took so much longer.

“In fact, this player did the same thing as you from the first to the last goblin. He was just slower returning than you by a bit,” the NPC explained to Crippled Feather.

“Do you mean that he performed statistically better than me in other aspects?” Crippled Feather continued to ask indignantly.

“Yes,” the NPC answered honestly.

“Wait a minute, then why did the Little Gangster return so late?” Blue Maple couldn’t understand as she asked.

“Yes, why did he return so late? Even if he slowly walked, he shouldn’t be an hour slower.” (At least there was a tool that could teleport one back in a Rank 3 Main City. Such a tool wasn’t available in a small town like this.)

From the town to the forest required about one hour of walking. Even if one walked slower, he wouldn’t take an hour longer, unless Crippled Feather ran back. However, Crippled Feather was killing monsters along the way. He couldn’t have been running back.

“I went to the weapon shop to fix my sword before going to buy the drink you are holding now,” Blue Maple said to Blue Snow.

“Drink? Where did you buy it?” Blue Snow looked at the drink in her head and curiously asked after taking another sip.

“From a restaurant to the west of the town.” Blue Maple answered.

“So you mean that you went to the north of town to get your weapon fixed, which is the opposite direction from the south where the Mercenary Union is located, before going to a bustling street in the west to get a drink? Did you also have lunch?” Crippled Feather asked Blue Maple. The killing intent in his voice was getting stronger and stronger.

“I ate before I accepted the quest. Did you not?” Blue Maple seemed to realize Crippled Feather’s killing intent, and even posed a question back.

“Fuck off. Are you telling me that you strolled back, passed the Mercenary Union, but didn’t submit your quest, and even decided to go to the weapon shop in the opposite direction to fix your weapon? If that wasn’t enough, you even went to get a drink? If you didn’t eat beforehand, would you have gone to get something to eat first too?! Yes?!” Crippled Feather roared.

These were the reasons why Crippled Feather and the bunch of players had waited for close to an hour? As this matter affected everyone, the Mercenary Union was bursting at its seams and couldn’t operate properly. The union even sent the NPC outside to wait with Crippled Feather and the rest, while the other NPCs in the union replaced her to continue receiving and sending out quests. All of them had been standing in the sun for close to an hour.

Crippled Feather was already controlling himself well by not laying a hand on Blue Maple yet. However, it was going to happen soon.

Blue Maple thought for a moment before answering, “I guess?”

“Fucking hell!” Crippled Feather lost his mind. However, it was really inappropriate for a Thief to lay a hand on someone else in broad daylight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have cared at all.

“Bloody hell, that’s the reason why we were waiting here for one hour. Fuck!”

“He didn’t even give a shit about the quest.”…

The surrounding players couldn’t blame Blue Maple, either. After all, Blue Maple didn’t tell them to wait. They all came over willingly. However, Crippled Feather didn’t appear too good right now.

Blue Snow was a little unimpressed as she said to Blue Maple,“Little Gangster, you are really naughty.”

“When I came, I saw that there were lots of people around and thought that I’d just come at a later time. I didn’t expect them to be waiting for me,” Blue Maple explained.

“……” The surrounding players were like, “So... it’s our fault?”

“Ugh…” Blue Snow stuttered.

“……” Crippled Feather was speechless.

“As for why he’s the winner, take a look for yourself and you’ll know.” The NPC came to Blue Maple’s aid.

Challenge mode statistical comparison:

Time taken to complete quest:

Crippled Feather: 117 minutes 46 seconds.

Unknown player: 119 minutes 27 seconds

Final usage:

Crippled Feather: Ordinary large health potion – 54, ordinary medium health potion – 16, ordinary medium mana potion – 27.

Unknown player: Health potion usage – 0, mana potion usage - 0

Final damage sustained:

Crippled Feather: -31,528 HP, Damage – 21%

Unknown player: -0 HP, Damage – 0% …

Crippled Feather sustained about 300 damage every time he was attacked by a goblin. This meant that Crippled Feather was actually attacked less than a hundred times. On average, Crippled Feather was only attacked once every five goblins. It was rather impressive.

Why is it……all zeroes…

Freak! The surrounding players all thought.

Little Gangster is really impressive. However, he was already impressive in the Newbie Village. Uh, I’m not that astonished anymore, Blue Snow thought to herself as she sipped her drink.

“This is impossible! Let’s not even harp on the fact that you weren’t attacked even once. How is that you can finish the quest so quickly without using your Skills or mana potion?!” Crippled Feather asked indignantly.

“Berserk Goblin is a passive skill that goblins possess which allow them to increase their speed when their HP reaches a certain low. Even I cannot avoid them. As a swordsman, how much stronger can you be compared to me? How can it be that you weren’t attacked even once?!” Thieves and Archers were innately faster than any other Classes.

“And did you manage to successfully attack me when we received the quest?” Blue Maple asked in return.

His question left Crippled Feather a little stunned. Blue Maple’s agility and terrifying reflexes were both attributes that Crippled Feather had been exposed to before.

“How is that you can beat me in terms of progress even though you didn’t ordinarily use Skills?” Crippled Feather was still unconvinced as he asked.

“The upper limit of my attack is 700+. There are fewer restrictions on someone with a Hidden Class,” Blue Maple answered.

To be honest, Blue Maple’s answer and his previous explanation were already a little beyond usual. Given his character, he usually didn’t bother to say anything.

“700+…how……” Crippled Feather was astonished.

Crippled Feather’s attack power could only reach 500 at most. In fact, Blue Maple could have completed the quest at a quicker pace given his attacking strength and the natural advantages of his Class. However, he didn’t actively seek any goblins to kill. He proceeded in a fixed direction at a slow pace. Naturally, he faced goblins along the way and killed them.

Blue Snow twisted her lips and was a little angry as she said, “Don’t pit your attack power against the Little Gangster. He’s a freak when it comes to that.” After she saw Blue Maple’s attributes, she was also keen on switching to a Hidden Class.

Crippled Feather opened his mouth, but eventually said nothing.