...

Lawless released Charlotte's hand as soon as he shook it a little. Then he immediately said to the latter. "I didn't expect to meet a legendary figure like you here. What's more, doing something as trivial as a mercenary job."

Charlotte's attitude became a little less cold when she got to know Lawless' identity. Then she said. "If I'm a legendary figure, then I should call you a myth."

While the two are exchanging some pleasantries, Shin walked towards Morgan and whispered. "What are they talking about?"

Morgan chuckles at Shin's question before replying. "You should read forums more, Young Master Shin. Especially regarding expert players."

Shin knitted his brows before asking. "I'm reading some topics on the forums during my free time. But what it had to do with what they are talking."

Morgan didn't answer Shin's question and just laugh at him. And when Shin is about to open the forums to take a look at it, Lawless and Charlotte are finally done with their pleasantries.

And immediately after that, they went back to the main business. "So are you still going to refuse our offered job. No, it is more right to say a collaboration," said Lawless.

Charlotte turned her head at Shin and said. "Is that guy a part of your team?"

Shin was the one to answer that with an unfriendly tone. "I am not. Why? Do you have a problem with it?"

The face of the others suddenly turned stiff after hearing that. –"What's wrong with you? We just stopped your battle, yet you are already starting one?"–

"Haha... Don't mind him. He is just like that. He didn't mean to offend you." laughed Lawless trying to lighten up the mood while giving out some eye signals at Shin. –"We are trying to fish out some negotiation here so don't ruin the mood."–

Shin shrugged his shoulders while Charlotte coldly said while pointing at him. "I don't feel like working with him."

"But he is the initiator of the quests," said Lawless.

"But he is weak." rebutted Charlotte making Shin choke up some air. And as if rubbing some salt in the wound, she added. "He is just going to get some free ride on our bus."

"They are my friends so it is fine if they help out a little. As for you, we are just hiring you as a mercenary," said Shin with an annoyed tone.

This time, the others are looking at him weirdly as if saying. –"What is wrong with you? Did you hit your head or something? "–

Meanwhile, Morgan felt that there is something wrong with the situation. Just earlier, Shin is with his usual self. But now, he seems to be a different person.

Then he suddenly remembered something. It was about Shin's unusual behavior. Sometimes he was with his carefree attitude, sometimes he was calm, and there was also be a time that he could easily be agitated.

'And from the looks of it–...' Morgana tried to recall what Arthur had said about how to calm Shin down when he was like this.

Morgan raised his right hand and used it to pat Shin's left shoulder with a little bit of force that is enough to shake Shin's body. Then he said with a whispering voice. "Hey! Calm down a little, you are starting to losing it."

Unfortunately, Shin didn't seem to calm down. Morgan knitted his brows and about to do it again when he suddenly saw a flash of a dim light in Shin's eyes. At first, he thought it was just his imagination but he felt a quick shift at Shin's aura.

Then Shin finally snapped it off and came back at his usual self and he seems to be aware of what he had done and stayed silent.

Those changes were quite brief and unnoticeable for others. In fact, if Morgan was not looking at Shin closely and not aware of his unique condition, then he might not be able to notice it either.

And not aware of what had happened, Charlotte look at Lawless and said. "See? We didn't seem to fit in a team, so accidents might happen."

Lawless released a helpless sigh before asking. "Anyway, what kind of condition did this guy offer to you to accept it earlier?"

Then Shin immediately chimed in. "The negotiations are not done yet. That is why she is here to finalize it."

Lawless turned his head at Shin while frowning his brows and about to give the latter an earful. But he immediately choked with the words that he is about to say when he heard Shin's next words.

"I offered her a piece of bloodstone together with sharing of the Quest. She is excluded on the loots though, but it is still up to you if you want her to take a share."

Shin's offer was very tempting even for a player on their level. Getting a Bloodstone from a mercenary job? Even Lawless was going to accept that job if it is offered to him. Even Faker was looking at Shin with a weird expression on his face.

What was a Bloodstone? It was an item that can be used to unlock some Awakening Skills or improve one's Battle Physique.

Every player could get some free skills from their Class Instructors every time you reached the 25-level mark, but when they reached the Level-100 mark, there were no free skills at all.

At this point, a player needed to use a bloodstone to enter a testing site to get some Awakening Skills at level 100 and 150 marks. And these skills were not simple as the name implies, they were OP skills dedicated to that player only.

It was a skill unique skill created by the system base on the player's class, fighting style, and habits. In some sense, it is a system-generated 'Class Fighting Style' Skill.

What's more, these items were hard to come by. In fact, even if Lawless and Faker are already Level-110, they still hadn't unlocked their Awakening Skills. So, it was natural for them to have that kind of reaction.

Charlotte opened and closed her mouth as if she wanted to say something but no words came out.

At the same time, Lawless sent a private message to Shin.

Lawless: D*mn you, lucky b*st*rd! You have that kind of good stuff yet you never share it with your brother here? What kind of friend are you?

After that, Lawless turned his head at Charlotte giving her a meaningful look in his eyes. The latter just released a helpless sigh as she didn't know what to do anymore as she finally remembered why she is here for.

Then another negotiation started after that brief episode. They took quite some time to finalize it, but they able to draft a condition that both sides are satisfied.

Charlotte was not going to take any payment from them anymore as she was going the get her fair share on the loots and get involved in the quest instead.

She didn't complain much about Shin anymore since she discovered that it was a three-way high-ranking quest that was interconnected with each other. And he was the main initiator.

At the same time, Lawless' group promised that they were going to help her at one of the high-ranking quests of her own to return the favor. It was also the quest that she had trouble with. It was also their real payment for her 'mercenary job'.

After finalizing everything and signing the contract, the group started to prepare themselves so that they could finally proceed towards their destination.

They started summoning their mounts/pets before riding them one by one. And once Lawless saw Whitie, he immediately used an ocular skill to observed it. And when he saw the details of the badass white tiger, he started cursing Shin with his good luck once again.

And to much Shin's surprise, the suspected traitor didn't run away despite the group not paying him any attention earlier. Well, it was just either he was completely innocent, or he had some kind of hidden agenda.

Naturally, Shin let this paladin ride with him on Whitie's back. Actually, he could also summon Blackie for an extra mount. But since he was using two identities now, he just assigned the black tiger as his real identity's mount.

...

The group spent two hours traveling with their mounts just to arrive at the place where the paladins got ambushed. And along the way, they didn't encounter any kind of monster which made the group became suspicious of the situation.

Their surroundings were too quiet. There was even no blowing wind in the vicinity, even a simple breeze was not present as the branches of the trees remain steady and unmoved. The vegetation was going to sway a little when the group brushed past them.

Given that, they started to slow down. They even dismount from the back of their pets to further slow down their pace but didn't unsummon them to prevent some accidents.

"This is odd, why we didn't encounter any kind of monster until now?" said Lawless before opening his virtual map to check on their location. Then he became shocked at what he saw. "What!? How did that happen?"

The group simultaneously looked at Lawless with a confused expression. Then he looked at them and said. "I think we are not on the map of Atlas World anymore. It is as if we entered an instance dungeon."

The others also opened their respective virtual maps and discovered that it is just a blank map.

–"Since when did we enter here?"– muttered the others.

Then Shin asked Hanzo. "Hey, Old Man. Did you discover something? You should have felt something, right? Then why didn't you warn us earlier?"

Hanzo clicked his tongue and replied. "Tsk! Take it easy, kid. One question at a time. First, you are still in the main world, because if you entered another plane, I should have felt it. But I felt nothing. That is why I didn't warn you in advance."

Grimrace suddenly chimed in. "We are in an enclosed space if I'm not wrong. It is like a space cage that is put in a single place to entrapped others. And it can bypass an Elemental Spirit's senses. That is why the Old Spirit didn't notice it."

"I've experienced something similar before when I'm being chased by a Messenger of Corrupted Cult. That guy is strong, maybe as strong as that Elementalist. If I didn't get lucky, then that guy might have captured me already."

Then Hanzo said. "If what you have said is true, then our enemies are already aware that we are coming."

Shin nodded his head silently before sending a message on the party chat channel to share his findings. Then he turned his head at the paladin that they have brought. "Did you also experienced something similar when you and the others are coming here?"

The paladin was currently shivering because of fear while replying at Shin stutteringly. "Y-Yes, Sir Envoy. T-This is pretty much t-the same t-to what w-we have experienced. I-If we move a little more f-further then w-we might encounter s-some people of the C-Corrupted Cult together with some Corrupted Beast."

The group suddenly turned silent to think. Then they exchange some ideas in the party channel chat, it was to avoid being heard by their suspected traitor paladin.

"Then let me scout ahead first to see if there is an ambush waiting for us," said Faker after their discussion.

And before he entered stealth, Charlotte suddenly added. "We should be careful this time. If my guess is correct, then we might encounter some players that converted to the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches."

"If that is the case, then it is going to become easier. I prefer fighting some players than an overpowered NPC." sneered by Lawless while having an evil grin on his mouth.

Charlotte shook her head before saying. "If it is just some random guys, then it is just a piece of cake. But I am talking about 'Immortal' and 'Haowin'."

The grin on Lawless face suddenly turned stiff before asking. "Those lunatics?"

Charlotte nodded her head and said. "Yeah, 'Immortal' became a Messenger of a Corrupted Cult while 'Haowin' is an Apostle of Demonic Church."

"I've exchanged some blows with them before and they've became even more stronger on this game. It is like the nature of this game gave them more freedom."

Meanwhile, Shin was looking at them with a confused expression of his face. He didn't know who were they talking about so he stealthy opened an online forum to search for the names that he had heard.

What he had discovered was enough to choke him with a mouthful of air. He just entered the two names and what he saw is–....

–"Immortal: a lunatic Godlike Player that always stands on the dark side of all games. He is always playing a Necromancer Class so the people gave him a title of 'Lich God'."

"Even a powerful Guild is not willing to clash with him because of his powerful and massive army of undead. Some lunatic players even created a Guild that is composed only of members with Necromancer Class just because him. And they become one of the Powerhouse Guilds named 'Undying Guild' with just few battles. "

–"Haowin: A notorious Godlike player that is infamous for being a villain in all of games. He is going to slaughter anyone he wants, even powerful guilds will trembled in fear just hearing his name."

"People called him the 'God of Carnage' because of his feats. He is always be siding on the dark side of the game to become an enemy of everyone."

Shin was staring blankly at the informations on the virtual screen in front of him. 'No wonder brother Lawless become shocked when he heard their names. These guys should be notoriously strong since they are Godlike Players.'

And out of curiosity, Shin also searched for information regarding Charlotte. Then, his head suddenly short-circuited at what he saw.

After a few moments, he tried looking for some information regarding the name 'Tora'. And this time, his head turned completely blank.

...