Leo looked at the battlefield from the backlines. Tempest had perfectly coordinated with his previous stun into AOE magic attack and taken down several Bloodhound players. The enemy’s formation was nowhere to be seen and Leo could see their players panic.

The day had turned into night at some point during all of this but the light globes from several Mages would fool anyone into thinking otherwise. Leo surveyed the battlefield and locked onto Teluris. He was giving out orders left and right but he had long since gone mad with rage.

Leo quickly began making his way through the battlefield toward Teluris. Although he’s far from capable right now, if given enough time, he will calm down. A battle is dependent on information. Taking out the leaders is a fast way to ensure the rest of the players panic and begin making mistakes. With the game’s realism, players often forget for a second that they are in a game. Instincts take over and even though they have no reason to flee, they still choose to do so.

Teluris was heavily guarded by three Knights and two Lancers. It made sense to guard the tactician but he was also a Priest, making his worth in the battle more than anyone else. Leo thrust his spear towards the players blocking his way. His spear always found the enemy’s weak point. He hit those without proper leg armor in the knees, those with low-quality headgear in the head and so on.

Leo’s actions were common sense both in his past life and this life. The difference was that players had yet to realize how important attacking specific body parts really is. Players take whatever armor they can get and do not even think twice about whether it’s good in PVP situations. It’s like he’s playing a shooting game with a bunch of bots. He can still die if one of the bots gets lucky but more often than not, he’ll crush them with ease.

Bloodhound players fell one by one as Leo elegantly stabbed them to death. The Mages and Rangers tried to hit him but Leo would always position himself in a way where the projectiles hit their team instead. The guided mode for projectiles have many flaws, target priority being one of them. It’s only ever useful against monsters due to their generally big size but even then manual targeting is basically the only effective way to play.

Leo’s body spun around while still keeping forward momentum. His spear met every attack from the dumbfounded melee players. They could not understand how someone could use a blocking skill this many times in a row. Leo could only look at them with pity. Although he followed the game’s rules to a T, it still felt unfair for him to fight against new players. Unfortunately, the game does not care about players feelings. It does have certain mechanisms to prevent high-level players from killing low-level players, but even this only works in beginner zones. This is the major reason why most players prefer to join a powerful guild.

In Leo’s opinion, the strongest players are all individual players. It takes much more skill to survive in the open world as a solo player compared to sheltered guild players. A guild can be targeted and brought down, an individual player can hide and attack with guerilla warfare.

Leo quickly surveyed the battlefield and saw Tempest members quickly taking the momentum in the fight. Bloodhound began with three times the number of players, but they were now down to about twice the number of Tempest. Leo let out a smirk at the scene. He had always believed in quality over quantity and this fight clearly showed which guild had the highest quality.

The mammoth’s health slowly declined as it reached closer and closer to zero. They had to kill the Bloodhound members and the mammoth before the Bloodhound players could resurrect. Leo had no doubts that Tempest could kill them a hundred times over, but he did not want to risk them getting a lucky hit on the mammoth and gain the 40% experience for the last hit.

Leo returned his focus towards Teluris and dashed towards the heavily protected Priest. The three Knights made a wall in front of the two Lancers with Teluris in the far back. Leo doubted they would just let him circle around. He could only prepare himself for a head-on fight. The towering shields stood there like an immovable wall. The Knights had taken up a fully defensive stance, which against monsters would be the right move.

Leo let out a soft laugh as he sprinted towards the shields. He quickly closed the distance and moved his spear in a charging position. Leo could see the Knights laughing at his idiotic attempt at charging at them with a spear. He paid them no mind and inserted the spear’s tip in the ground in front of the shields. His entire body followed the spear and Leo used it to leap above the shields like a pole vault jumper.

His body arched as he easily surmounted the shields wall-like defense. The players stood there like headless-chickens as he easily landed on the ground. Normally this move would be suicidal when two Lancers stood ready behind the Knights. Leo had calculated the risk and concluded that the Lancers would not be able to react in time to his stunt. It turned out just like he planned and Leo easily disposed of the Lancers before heading straight for Teluris.

The Priest panicked as Leo quickly closed the distance. He didn’t have any combat related spells and had no way of countering Leo. The spear flew through the air and quickly hit Teluris’ face with full force.

-534!

Leo’s momentum and precision would have ensured the kill, making a critical hit overkill. Teluris fell to the ground with a stupified expression on his face. How many players were around him right now? 5 close by and what, 100 others? How was it possible for him to die to a single person with all those obstacles in the way?

The news about Teluris’ death quickly made its way to the Bloodhound players. Leo fended off the two Lancers and three Knights while still keeping an eye over the battlefield. Tempest easily overpowered the Bloodhound guild. Without someone giving directions, the players didn’t know what to do and began fighting mindlessly. Their formation quickly fell apart and Tempest easily pushed their way through.

Riadel had not stopped giving commands throughout the whole encounter. He stood at the backline and had a full view over the entire battlefield, ensuring that any gaps in the enemy’s formation could be exploited. Riadel also fought several Thiefs trying to take out their Priests and Mages.

The battle ended as quickly as it began. Leo saw bodies quickly fading away one by one, indicating that they had given up on resurrecting here and settled on the graveyard instead. This might have been the only good move they made throughout the fight. Leo had not learned much from the battle, but knowing that Teluris’ commanding abilities degrade when he’s angry made the battle worth it. Unless Teluris manages to control his temper, or Bloodhound gains a new tactician, Leo won’t need to worry about them in the future.

The Tempest players easily finished off the mammoth and the battle officially ended. Leo could not help feeling disappointed with how easy it had been. His only comfort was the massive amount of EXP and the first pick on the loot. He still had one opponent left to defeat, if they were still here, that is.

System: Undead Mammoth (Lord) defeated! Awarding 92 350 EXP!

The experience was more than the Ancient Golem he had defeated earlier. This was even after it had been split with the 50 other players from Tempest.

Leo walked up to Riadel and said, “Finished organizing the drop?”

Riadel nodded with a pleased smile on his face.

“As promised, you can choose any one item and we’ll take the rest.”

Leo scanned through the list of items. The mammoth dropped a total of 27 items, where 25 of them were useless to him. The 25 items were mostly Gold Quality equipment which he needed far more than one of to make it worth anything. The two items left were, however, of great interest.

[Pet Box (Gold Quality)]

Description: Use to summon a random pet to your side.

Pets are extremely popular but most of them are completely useless in combat. A pet box has a small chance of giving a combat pet but even then it’s strength could be anywhere from amazing to useless. Most pets end up in the hands of Protected Players. Protected Players is the term used for anyone playing on the second version of the game where there’s no combat. Pets are particularly popular with children, especially if the pets have an exotic appearance.

Its price depends on what pet it spawns. Even a simple dog could easily go for tens of thousands of dollars right now. Something like a unicorn would sell for millions in a heartbeat. The only downside is that selling it for in-game gold is difficult right now. Leo would have to settle on real-world money. He already had plenty of gold and selling the pet box for money wouldn’t be a bad idea.

[Luminar Knight Token (Epic Quality)]

Description: Use to change into the Luminar Knight class.

Restrictions: Knight, Raptor, Gladiator

Leo looked at the class change token with mixed feelings. Both of the items were useless to him personally, but they would fetch a really high price when sold. The token would be the safe choice and guarantee him a significant amount of in-game currency along with real-world money. There’s just no one with enough gold right now to pay the full price with in-game currency.

Leo went into deep thought, weighing the potential profit versus the risk. The pet box would give him the larges profit as long as the pet is cool or cute. The token would never be able to sell for higher than a rare pet, but it’s guaranteed to sell for a high price. The question becomes, is it worth risking it and take the pet box or should he take the safe route and guarantee a large amount of money?

Riadel watched as Leo struggled with the decision. He knew that they only managed to win the fight due to Leo. If he could, he would give Leo both of them without batting an eye. They still made a large profit from the fight with all the gear dropped by Bloodhound. Unfortunately, he has an obligation to his guild to ensure they progress in the game. Either of the items would help them accomplish this and he can’t give them both up.

Leo looked at Riadel and said, “You don’t have to look so conflicted. We had a deal and I’m honoring it.”

Riadel nodded with a surprised expression on his face. Were his thoughts really that obvious?

“You do know you’re talking out loud right?”

“I-I am?”

Leo let out a laugh and shook his head. The others did not react at all, indicating that this is not the first time Riadel has done this.

Leo finally decided to play it safe and take the class change token. He could easily set up an auction between Moonlight and Legacy for the token. An Epic class is worth far too much to sell on the open market. Leo could only imagine how bad it would be if a future enemy got the token due to his greed.

“I’ll take the class change token. But could you open the pet box now? I would like to see if my decision was right.”

Riadel nodded with a smile, “Of course! I’m curious myself.”

The token entered Leo’s inventory and Riadel opened the pet box. A bright light shone as the box jumped up and down. The light slowly faded and a pet stood where the box had previously been.

[Snow Wolf (Non-combat)]

Description: A wolf with pure white fur.

Leo let out a sigh when the wolf appeared. It’s not the rarest of pets, but its appearance makes it popular with both children and adults. Leo estimated that the pet could be sold for at least twice the amount of his token. At least it wasn’t a combat pet.

“Looks like you won out this time.”

“It could have been either way. I’m just glad the pet ended up being worth something.”

Leo gained 30 pieces of Iron Quality equipment for his help with the PVP battle. He had no idea how much gear dropped or the quality, but he trusted that Riadel wouldn’t try to cheat him. They added each other as friends and Tempest began walking back to the city. Leo still wanted to complete his sub-quest before heading back.

The area became quiet after everyone left. The wind blew through the open field and hit Leo softly, sending his hair into a dance. Leo looked at seemingly nothing and said, “You’re still here? Good! I could really use a proper fight.”