Leo gazed towards the open field while slightly moving his eyes from left to right. It was like he was staring at something yet nothing was there. He continued staring into empty space for several minutes. Seeing that they wouldn’t reveal themselves, Leo shouted, “Are you just gonna stand there all day?”

Despite being seen through, the person in question didn’t reveal themselves. Leo let out a sigh and turned his back towards the area he had previously gazed at. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his surroundings. Seconds turned into minutes as he continued to stand completely still.

A loud gust of wind past by and Leo finally opened his eyes. He quickly turned around and positioned his spear in a blocking stance. The sound of metal hitting metal resounded throughout the otherwise quiet field. The person attacking him slowly materialized as their stealth was canceled by their attack.

System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [Rosetta]. You can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

Leo looked at his attacker and discovered a woman of average height with an athletic build. She had short black hair and mostly black leather armor. She held two blood-red daggers which Leo presumed to be of Gold Quality or higher. Her attack had been directed at the left side of his abdomen. Leo could easily tell that she was a skilled player.

Normally Thiefs begin their attack with a stun to the head but that’s very easy to predict. An experienced Thief will use that same attack but on a random part of the body. The stun duration is reduced by doing this, but the chance of hitting the target increases drastically.

Leothrust his spear towards her head but quickly changed direction mid-thrust. The spear arched towards her legs and a pair of daggers met the spear before it could connect.

-12

Leo smiled as the spear and the daggers collided. She had not blocked perfectly which allowed him to deal some damage. Just the fact that she could even react in time to block him was admirable. Leo continued sending out attack after attack. He purposefully made them slow in order to avoid ending the fight too soon.

The woman continued blocking his stabs but she never tried to counter-attack. Leo couldn’t help feeling disappointed by her lack of aggression. He even gave her multiple chances at easy counters yet she continued to be on the defensive. If she played a Knight, the defensive stance would be a good thing, but as a Thief, she’s practically giving up any advantage the class has.

Leo inspected the woman to see if she was the Rosetta he knew about. Sure enough, she was indeed Rosetta from Shadow.

Name: Rosetta

Guild: Shadow

Level: 18

Class: Thief

He continued thrusting his spear towards Rosetta without stopping. His attacks dealt very little damage but the sheer amount of attacks slowly accumulated.

-11

-14

-13

Leo began feeling bored with the fight. He originally thought Rosetta would be a challenge based on her stealth ability. He had noticed her during the time when he killed that Bloodhound Thief. Her ability to blend with the surroundings was far above the current player's capabilities. When he learned she was Rosetta, he regained hope that this might actually be an interesting fight. He should have known that it’s still too early for him to find someone capable of challenging him.

Leo gazed at Rosetta and said, “Do you want to continue? You can ask Sky to jump in. I don’t mind a 2v1.”

Rosetta’s eyes widened in surprise, she looked at Leo and said, “How do you know about Sky?”

Leo let out a laugh at the question. He was relieved to hear that Shadow seemed to still be the same old Guild it has always been. The situation made more sense to him now. Shadow was a guild focusing on covert operations such as information gathering and assassinations in-game. He had no idea if they just happened to find him here while scouting out the fight between Tempest and Bloodhound.

“Who knows? I’ll tell you if you can beat me.”

Rosetta’s eyes turned serious and she began to finally counter attack. Her daggers moved independently from each other making it difficult for any normal opponent to avoid getting hit. Leo moved his body and positioned his spear to meet the daggers. He could easily have transformed his spear attachment to a shield but it didn’t seem like he would need to.

The daggers kept on coming from different angles and directions. Leo could see that Rosetta was quickly running out of stamina. Her attacks began to slow down and become sloppy. Leo couldn’t bother watching anymore and quickly ended the fight.

Leo’s spear moved several times faster than before and with a difficult to read motion. Rosetta was quickly overwhelmed and couldn’t respond properly to this sudden increase in attack speed. The spear hit perfectly several times and Rosetta’s health fell to a critical level.

-67

-72

-66

Leo stopped his spear right before it could hit Rosetta’s head. He then opened his mouth and said, “Do you wish to try again?”

Rosetta looked at him with dejected eyes. This was the first time she had felt so humiliated and powerless. She gazed at Leo and said, “Why haven’t you killed me? I’m a red player now, don’t you want to get my gear?”

“I don’t really care about your gear but I do want you to tell me why you’re attacking me.”

Rosetta stared at Leo before answering, “I was told to measure your skill level.”

“Why?”

Rosetta looked away, her cheeks turning slightly red in embarrassment. This action left Leo completely clueless. Is this one of those situations where a girl bullies the boy she likes?

“Sky told me to figure out if you’re worthy of joining our Guild.”

She kept on dropping bomb after bomb. Leo was officially lost. Although it’s possible that the guild changed slightly in this world, he still believed it to be roughly the same. Shadow had always been a girls-only guild. He could accept them wanting to hire him for training purposes, but actually join?

“Since when does Shadow allow men in the guild?”

“This is an exception.”

Leo thought about the situation logically. He doubted they wanted him to just train them, as a simple paycheck would be enough for him to agree. There were a few possibilities but he decided to go with the most likely scenario.

“What guild is giving you trouble?”

Rosetta once more went into shock. Leo seemed to have information that should have been secret. It was like he had infiltrated their network and spied on their activities. Leo gazed at Rosetta’s bewildered expression. He would probably be very confused as well if someone knew things they shouldn’t about him. Leo had absolutely no clue about Shadow except for a few articles from his past and their achievements in the game. He could say something completely wrong any moment and destroy the illusion.

Leo gazed at Rosetta and said, “Sky, can you ask Michelle to stop trying to find my location? It would be unfortunate if Z-3314 was made public, wouldn’t it?”

There was a long silence before a system announcement resounded in his ears.

System announcement: Incoming chat request from [Sky].

Leo quickly answered the call.

“How?”

“Who knows?”

Leo was bullshiting his way through the conversation. He only knew about Michelle due to a malware she created called Z-3314. Given the timeline, it should still be in its early stages. Leo had not taken the time to research the differences between his old world and this new one. This was something he needed to prioritize sooner rather than later. There was once more silence before Sky finally managed to talk again.

“Fine, we won’t try to find you. We still want your help dealing with Windblade.”

Leo let out a sigh at the mention of Windblade. Although their name sounded like it was made up by a child, their might both in the real and virtual world cannot be underestimated. He had unknowingly found himself in quite the predicament. His apartment was no longer a safe place to live. Leo cursed his bad fortune while thinking about ways to move without alerting Windblade. He wanted to at least put up some security before they could find out. Unlike Shadow, Windblade also performs assassinations in the real world. He had already been assassinated once and wouldn’t recommend it.

“What did you do to piss off Windblade and why do you feel the need to drag me into this mess?”

“I refused to marry their Guild Leader.”

Leo let out a sigh in disbelief. Political marriages aren’t exactly something unheard of, but why did he need to be dragged into this mess? He shook his head and said jokingly, “Then what? You have to make Shadow the go-to source for information and in-game assassinations? Maybe you have a one-year time limit to do it and Windblade is trying to hinder you?”

There was once more silence and Leo began thinking he might actually have been right. What did he do to deserve being involved with people that could literally get him killed?

“Something like that.”

“I’m not joining your guild, but I can still help. You’ve already involved me in this mess and I doubt I can just walk out of it.”

Leo was no fool. He knew perfectly well that even if he declined Sky’s offer, she would find other ways to persuade him. He would prefer to not be attacked randomly while out leveling. At least this way he’ll gain access to a powerful information network. Leo doubted Windblade would actually try to kill him but he was not going to wait and find out. He planned to move locations soon anyway, this incident just happened to speed up the process.

“We will be in contact when you’re needed.”

“That’s fine but my services don’t come for free, you know?”

“Of course, I’ll make sure that you’re compensated for the work.”

Leo ended his call with Sky and headed back to the city. His schedule had suddenly been pushed forward and he could no longer afford to complete his quest before going back. Leo contacted Alex and Snow in order to set up the auction for the class change token. The process went fairly smoothly and Leo arrived in a private room inside a bar in Ferima City.

“Ah, Leo you’re finally here!”

Some might wonder why Leo felt the need to move away from his apartment. The game obviously has a security system ages ahead of current technology, yet he was afraid of being tracked down? To those people, Leo presents Alex, the fastest way to track him down in the real world.

“And you felt the need to call me by my name, because?”

“Huh? We’re all friends here, are we not? Did I miss something?”

Leo shook his head with a smile on his face. He had the goal of standing at the top of the leaderboards and his identity would have been exposed one way or another. It’s not like anyone in the room didn’t know about him.

Leo had not thought much about why he was killed. He found it to be unnecessary right now as there was nothing to follow. He knew it had something to do with his relationship with Elecur and the Saint Trials, but that’s about it. If he had still been in his original world, he would have tried to find clues immediately. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The sudden encounter with Shadow could be called a blessing. Leo had struggled with how he was going to get on friendly terms with an information-based guild. Assuming he can actually help Sky, then his need for information would mostly be taken care of. Realistically speaking, the worst thing that can happen from all of this is Windblade tracking him down and intimidating him until he cuts ties with Shadow. Although Leo knew this, he still chose to play it safe. His current apartment has next to no security and its location is rather isolated from view. Leo wanted to be at a more public place, preferably one where the security system is not limited to the neighbor’s dog.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Leo shook hands with Alex’s father. He was a man in his late 40s with a strong build. He wore formal clothing which wasn’t unusual for administrative personnel. His in-game name was simply JackReed, which was very common for this type of player. Jack would normally play on the second version of the game and only visit the main version for occasions such as this. Leo couldn’t personally understand why someone would play like that, but he knew that the majority of players are more like tourists. For them, the game is basically just a realistic recreational experience.

The auction was held between Legacy, with Snow and Lily being the representatives, and Moonlight with Alex and Jack. Leo found it slightly odd that the Guild Leader of Moonlight wasn’t present, but assumed it was for his sake.

Leo greeted the rest and began by showing the class token. Similar to any other token, the information displayed was basically non-existent. The only thing anyone could say about the token was that it was tank-related and of Epic Quality. A high-quality rating usually means it’s powerful but difficult to master. Even the greatest of classes would be wasted on someone without talent.

“The auction will be in real-world currency only. The starting bid is $500,000 with a minimum increase of $50,000 per bid. Sound good?”

Jack and Snow both nodded approvingly. Leo estimated the token to be worth between 3 and 4 million dollars but it’s difficult to say for sure. He had heard about class tokens being found early in the game but never about how much they sold for. He was actually quite interested in seeing how two billionaires would spend their money.

Snow was the first to bid on the item, “1 million dollars.”

“1.5 million.

“2 million.

“2.5.”

“4.”

Leo sat completely silent as the bid continued to soar to twice and beyond his initial expectations. To normal people, this amount of money for a single item would be ludicrous. To these two, however, this was basically like a normal player raising the bid by a few dollars each time. It’s all about the perspective.

The fierce bidding slowly died down and Snow won with a final bid of $13,650,000. Leo felt the price was rather excessive. The main tank is the most important player in a party and she would probably make the money back in just a few months. Being able to clear dungeons faster or take on higher level field bosses would allow for more drops, which again equates to a higher net profit. This is all assuming the token is actually compatible with whoever gets it.

“I admit defeat this time, Ms. Morgan. We simply do not have a main-tank worth that amount of money.”

Snow showed a delicate smile and said, “Talented main-tanks are certainly difficult to come by. I am lucky to have Lily by my side.”

Leo nodded slightly at Snow’s response. Lily’s mechanics and ability to learn the combat system was truly remarkable. Her personality leaves something to be desired but Leo had no objections towards giving Lily the token. Not that he had any say in it anyway.

The auction concluded and Leo walked with Snow and Lily towards Legacy's guild residence. He wanted to logout and begin moving immediately. The guild residence had special rooms which gave bonus experience when players logout in them. The bonus is only slightly more than logging out in a city, but anything helps.