Roger was a fierce-looking bandit originally from Agate City. He fled the city and join the Red Flame bandit camp because he can't pay his debt from gambling.

One day when his group robs a passing caravan in the mountain, he found an unassuming wooden box hidden under the caravan compartment.

Filled with doubt, he opened the box and was shocked to find a beautiful rapier laying inside it. From the luster of the blade, he knew that this blade isn't made from any common metal.

Greed filled his heart, along with his four close friends, plans to hide it and sell it at later date and escape banditry life.

They found a natural cave that is inhabited by Demon Spider and decide to hide it here for safekeeping. But when they came today, they were startled to find three unknown men holding their treasure.

...

[????]

Level: 15

HP: ????/????

Red Flame Bandit

Information is unavailable. Try to engage

Heavy breathing filled the cramped cave, 8 men facing a standoff and assessing each other. Felix, in the middle of 3 man party whispered to his companion.

"Help me get out of here alive, I will double your compensation after I safely escape"

"Triple it. Take it or leave it." One of his companions haggles with him.

"Dammit Alex, you sure know how to take advantage of the situation. Fine! I'll triple it! Help me get out of here alive!" Felix exasperated. His two companions grinned and dashed to make a chance for Felix to escape.

The bandit was ready to engage and not panicked, but they fall into a disadvantaged situation not long after. They never saw the player type of combat style that disregards one life.

[????]

Level: 15 (Tier-0 Mortal)

HP:195/195

Red Flame Bandit

"Bastard! Are they doesn't fear death?!" Roger hollered. He tried to stop Felix but a blade nearly stabbed him. He was annoyed and slashed his blade at that person.

The two players fight like a rabid dog, they didn't dodge or blocked and just keep sticking like gum. Honestly, Roger and his companion was a little afraid fighting those mad man, so Felix had found and escaped.

Roger and his companion quickly kill the two players and rushed out of the cave. They did not realize that their corpse vanished after they left.

...

"Chase him quick! We can't lose the treasure!" Roger and his companion run after Felix. Their speed was faster than Felix, so they nearly caught him.

Felix panicked and tried to run faster, and then a prompt window appeared.

Ding!

Your playtime is up. Please quickly quit the combat.

He was elated. As long as he quits the combat, he will be teleported to Beginner Village tomorrow! He frantically rushes to the raging river and jumped.

The bandit stopped, they knew this river's stream is too fast. Roger's companion looks at him but he shook his head.

"We can't follow him underwater, but I know where this river leads to! We just need to wait on the other side and catch him! Let's return to the camp and get our horses!" Roger urges them and they left quickly.

Felix held the wooden box tightly, afraid it will be carried away by the stream. After a minute, his consciousness fades away and his body vanished.

...

"Interesting! The first Uncommon Green weapon has appeared! And that weapon had an intriguing origin too." Joe rubbed his chin.

"Master, can we use the bandit as the next main quest?" Carmilla carefully asked.

"Of course! That bandit camp would be perfect for the player stepping stone! But I think we need to be patient and make the player stronger first. I guess the strength of the leader of the bandit camp at least Tier-1 Super." Joe answered.

Joe contemplates a bit and said "But, we can issue a hidden quest to that Blazing Sun player. He can choose to retain the weapon or return the weapon to the rightful owner."

"That's a great idea! So, what are the rewards then, master?" Carmilla praised

"Just write 'Unknown'. It's up to the rightful owner what to reward him, that is if he agrees to return it." Joe waved his hand.

Joe then discussed the change he needs to make with Carmilla based on today's first-time player experience. He made a few mental notes and start working on the changes.

...

Sung Woon wakes up from his deep sleep. He takes off the VR headset and rubbed his eyes. He opened his eyes and scanned his surrounding.

"Sigh, that Eternal Online game truly phenomenal. I didn't feel like just log off from a game. That graphics and gameplay..."

Sung Woon gets off of the chair and reaches for his phone. He looks at the time and saw 6:12 AM on the lock screen.

"So, it's exactly 9 hours. I enter the game at 9:12 PM. I don't know if this limited game time would be a good thing or a bad thing."

"I have reached level 5. I don't know if another player can beat that though. But I'm pretty sure no one can beat me on the current phase of the game."

He shook his head and washed up. He needs to call his guild leader this afternoon.

...

"Are you sure? You didn't pull on a prank right now, right?" Boris Yakovich, Trifecta guild leader asked Sung Woon.

"100% true. You can ask another guild master if you didn't believe me." Sung Woon answered him on his phone.

Boris stays silent for a few seconds before saying "Alright, thanks for your hard work. I'll transfer your compensation after I conduct a meeting with another guild master." The call then cut before Sung Woon answered.

He just shrugged and order a takeout food online. He doesn't mind if he didn't get paid because he already got a better compensation, a headstart inside Eternal Online!

...

"So, what are guys think?" Mercy guild master, Robert Landes asked all of the guild masters that attend the zoom meeting.

Maria Silva, Vanguard guild master said "We need to verify the report further. Do we have to ditch our painstaking progress on Overlord?"

Luca Gallego, Colleseum guild master rebukes her "So you think that our guild members are lying then? Did you know that the longer we wait, the smaller our advantage over the top-ranked player, when they move to Eternal Online, is?!"

Hong Dali, Zhulong guild master adds "I think that we should try the game once. Seeing is believing, right?"

Many of the guild masters present start to argue. The opinion split into two, those who believe that they need to move to Eternal Online as soon as possible, and those who that reluctant to ditch their effort and start from scratch.

After a few minutes of arguing, Robert slammed the table and said. "Now, I think what Hong Dali said is true. We should try it once and then we can decide to move or not."

"I know many of you are reluctant to start from scratch. But as leader of the mid-ranked guild coalition whose mission is to break the balance with the high-ranked guild, I need to remind you that this could be our chance to become high ranked guild inside Eternal Online." Robert scan all of the guild master present.

"It's your choice to follow my lead or not, I for one, believe what my guild member said and will move to Eternal Online immediately!" He spoke in a deep tone.

Hong Dali then coughed and said "No need to worry too much though. We still need an invitation to enter Eternal World. And from what I see, only a handful of our guild members received the invitation, mainly the top combatant. I think we can delegate our guild operation to another guild member inside Overlord temporarily."

"Then after when we sure that Eternal Online is the future, we can ditch Overlord completely once for all!" Hong Dali smiled and look at all the guild members present.

All of them nodded and agreed with this suggestion. They then conclude the meeting and inform another of their guild member that has the invitation to enter the game tonight.

...

A swordsman holding a huge sword facing a large monster alone. He shared his sword and the monster toppled down. A mage sitting in the corner with a troubled face.

They are Ares and Zeiss, two top-ranked players from the Mythical Guild. Ares collect the loot dropped from the large monster and approach Zeiss.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Ares sat down and nudged Zeiss with his elbow.

"Do you feel something isn't right today? Many mid-ranked players along with their mid-ranked guild master are not online today." Zeiss answered.

"What's so strange about it? Maybe they had a meeting to find a plan to break the balance between the guild." Ares was not interested.

"... Maybe they found a better game than Overlord and migrated there?" Said Zeiss spontaneously.

Ares was stunned then laughed hard.

"Hahaha! Are you kidding me? If there is a better game than Overlord, surely the developer will contact us, right? And I think currently, only Crimson Corporation with their Overlord Online could monopolize the VR market."

"You're right... Maybe I'm too sensitive..." Zeiss nodded and calmed his mind. They didn't know though, the things that are they talking about slowly approaches...