Chapter 21: A Good Trade

Kaya arrived at a level 80-90 monster field that was a settlement for insectoids. These insectoids range from bipedal to flying, magical, defensive, and much much more. Due to their advanced combative abilities, it was the best place for players to test out their fighting prowess against different styles. Kaya, simply went here to level up and eat poisonous meat so he could increase his Poison Elemental points.

Kaya didn't want to be bothered since his name had long become famous around the world. He changed his information to Nuclear Fist which was the nickname of his grandfather, he hid his level, and he changed the characteristics into an older him by adding a beard, a mustache, and slight wrinkles on his face, he also revealed all the scars in his body and completely remove the aura around him. With that, even if they stare at him closely, they wouldn't be able to tell him from his previous self.

There were a bunch of players gathering around in groups hoping to recruit a party and some were even selling items. Kaya who was wearing the cloak had all of his information blocked and even if the player had high Insight skills, they couldn't see through his mask.

"Hey, sir! Do you wish to join our party? We're planning to raid a Striker's settlement. We'll split the loot depending on the contributions."

"I refuse, I'm in a hurry."

Kaya didn't bother answering the players as he disappeared in a flash. The players couldn't even reason out before Kaya vanished before their eyes.

"What a bummer."

"Yeah, he looked like an expert so they can't even be bothered with novices like us."

------------

Inside a mansion's hall, ten players sat down at a table. Each of these players was an expert in their own right. They range from level 140 to 157, 157 being the Vice-leader of the Wind Rider group, Charlemagne, a haughty assassin.

"So why did you call us guild Leader?"

An ebony man asked.

"You guys should watch this."

Jeremiah channeled the short 30-second clip on a wide screen that allowed everybody to watch. It was the scene where 30 players were forcefully flung in the sky and crushed to a giant ball of gunk. It was a very horrible sight as the one being recorded was strangled to death rendering his arms useless by breaking their joints. They stare at an expressionless face with deep dark eyes who look at the writhing body as if staring at the dead like it was simply a useless object. When the clip ended, everybody in the room was dead silent, nobody spoke a single word for quite some time as they processed what had just happened.

"Those guys were members of the main squadron and they were easily squashed just like that."

One member commented.

"That's not all, the majority of their items had been destroyed as a result, and the only items that survived were tier 2 items of a higher rank."

"Really!? He had not only killed them but also destroyed their equipment. What kind of power is that?"

One of them couldn't believe it. It was unheard of for equipment to be easily destroyed by a player of a lower tier unless of course it was an item with very low durability but the equipments were armors and weapons were made to withstand heavy impact and contain high durability.

"It must be a powerful skill that he obtained after defeating the mutant berserk boss monster. Other than that, we can't make up a reason for how he managed to do that. Who'd believe that a single level 50 player was able to defeat level 100+ players with a flick of a finger."

"What if we show this clip to the world, wouldn't they be aware of how powerful he is and they might even target him?"

"Are you stupid? Our Guild badge could be seen on the players. What would the majority think of us? A laughingstock? No, we absolutely cannot show this to them."

"Agreed. But what happened to Harold? Why isn't he here yet?"

One of the core members asked.

"He says that he wants to take a break first. The pain had just been too much for him to endure. He says, he doesn't want to see this player ever again."

Jeremiah responded. Everybody simply nodded. They could understand Harold's reasons as not anyone could undergo such a traumatic experience and get over it on a short time.

"So what should we do?"

"Isn't it obvious, we'll have to take revenge on him! He humiliated our Guild when we only showed our goodwill to him. We can't just let this slide like nothing had just happened!"

"Yes, even if he is powerful, we have numbers and we are all refinement realm experts! We can't just let a newbie bully a 3rd rate guild!"

"Agreed, Agreed!"

.

.

.

"Good, everyone, let's hunt him down. He should be in a monster field nearby since he can't get into the city. We must kill him back to level zero so he can learn that he shouldn't mess with us."

-------------

Meanwhile, Kaya was currently hunting down Insectoids in the dense forest when a sudden ripple of the ground halted his steps.

'A wave of monsters? No, the steps are too arranged for a monster wave.'

Widening his sensitivity, Kaya immediately sensed the source of the quake from kilometers away. It was a giant centipede chasing a player. Kaya quickly dashed to check on the area.

"Fuck! Could my luck have been worse? Why the hell did I trigger an encampment of a mother centipede!?"

Ting~

[Mother Centipede(1)] [Elite Chieftan Boss Monster]

Level: 95

HP: 100,000,000/100,000,000]

A level 92, Ranger screamed. Although his speed allowed him to outmaneuver the giant Centipede, it wouldn't take long before his stamina slowed him down and killed him. His visual perception was highly vast and when he stared at a top of a nearby tree, he found a player standing on a branch watching him.

"Sir! If you stop this centipede, I'll give you a tier 1 Unique weapon of your choosing."

'Oh, a tier 1 weapon?'

Kaya gleamed. It was just what he needed right now so he immediately send a message to the ranger.

"A Contract? Of course! I'll send it to you right away!"

The ranger immediately wrote the stated conditions of the contract. The contract wrote that Kaya must defeat the Mother Centipede and will be rewarded with a tier 1 Unique rank weapon. Upon signing it, Kaya immediately went to action.

'I don't care if he dies from that mother centipede, as long as it redirects its attention to me, I'll escape this hellhole.'

The ranger watched as Kaya leaped up from the tree and went straight to the centipede. He watched and thought Kaya was some Daredevil jumping right through a tiger's mouth.

Boom!

Kaya threw a giant punch right at the hard shell of the Mother Centipede causing it to wriggle in pain as it coiled down to the ground.

His single punch added with the effect of Critical Strike managed to chip off half of its health as an entire shell on its head broke open. The ranger who watch the mother centipede's health fall by half in an instant was stunned as he quickly halted his steps to watch the paralyzed Mother Centipede.

The reason why he was able to deal with so much damage was that he target the circular red area on the Mother Centipede which showed the effect of his class skill Weak Point that made his damage triple its effectivity and as soon as the area was hit, its exoskeleton was cracked open revealing it's brain and guts.

Overload!

Crunch!

Scoop Out!

Kaya pulled out his Heating Spoon and started thrashing the brain of the Mother Centipede from the inside and she could only writhe in pain as her health fell in chunks rapidly. Upon reaching 20% in health, her exoskeleton turned red and spikes covered her entire shell and went on a rampage in the forest but it couldn't be bothered as Kaya himself was inside its head scooping and brandishing his spoon with no remorse.

The ranger who watched from afar could only watch with widened eyes as he saw the berserked mother centipede's health fall at a visible rate and before its berserk could end, its health had already fallen by zero.

Ting~

[You have slain The Mother Centipede!]

[Level Difference: 43; experience gain +215%]

[Level Up!]

Ting~

[Congratulations on reaching 500 points in Strength! You have been rewarded]

[Runestone has been obtained]

'Another useless runestone.'

Kaya clicked his tongue upon seeing the window panel flash in his view. His leveling speed had slumped by a margin seeing his experience only reach 64% of level 53. It was because after switching to a hidden class, his experience needed at every level had been increased by five folds to the already high demand in experience. Usually, the hidden class only increased the experience needed by double or triple of that yet he needed a quintuple of experience points. Kaya couldn't be bothered with the demand considering that his leveling speed was already ridiculously fast and added with the huge improvements of his attributes, even if the player status show that his Strength was in 500 points, in reality, it was more than 2000 points of Strength and added with the other buffs of both his passive and innate skills, his basic attacks were equal to a damage-dealing skill that was amplified with a critical strike.

He didn't need to show off some dazzling techniques, a single punch alone could delete a player's health.

"Let's check that guy out first."

Kaya immediately flew upward and landed on the currently dazing ranger. He immediately went right back to his senses when he saw Kaya jump right in front of him. Startled by his overbearing power, he fell right on his ass.

"H-here! Please choose the weapon you want."

Scared, the ranger immediately open his window panel to show the lists of weapons and when Kaya saw it, he was amazed. If the system hated Kaya to the gut, then this ranger was loved and pampered. It was unfair seeing tens of unique rank weapons on display. If players could see this, they'd immediately be struck with greed and would kill the ranger until all of his equipment was dropped to his death.

"Aren't you afraid that I might kill you to get all of this equipments?"

"Y-you see, even if you did kill me, my items are hidden in an ender storage that only I can open that's why none of my items will drop upon death."

"Oh, I see, no wonder you are so confident."

Ender storage we're a very rare type of storage item. It would bind a player once they equipped it so it wouldn't drop even if they died. Ender storage allowed a player to store 10 slots of item block in the storage but in this ranger's case, his ender storage must've been of high quality considering that he had a lot of equipment inside it.

"Can I ask, how did you get so many unique weapons?"

Kaya asked in curiosity. He was envious of this ranger and wondered what kind of trick he did to get so many rare weapons while he could barely get one. The ranger hesitated for a bit but since he did save his life and still felt terrified, he obliged and spoke.

"It m-must've been due to my luck. You see, when I go scavenging, I always obtain weapons but never any other types of equipment that's why I'm currently on a quest to find a very rare armor set since as you see from my equipment, it's shit."

Hearing the ranger's words, Kaya couldn't help but relate to the guy. They had the same situation except that Kaya could only obtain armor and accessories. He then thought of a great idea.

"How about we trade?"

"T-trade, with what?"

"Trade me all of the unique weapons that you have and I'll trade you with my armors and accessories of the same value."

"R-really!? You have a lot in you?"

The ranger was both amazed and skeptical. Kaya could understand why the ranger showed his actions were kinda being sus so he revealed the items in his storage ring and when he found the top-quality equipments, his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Now, do you believe me?"

"Y-yes!"

Kaya and the ranger started a bartering system and began trading their items. It took them both a few hours to finish picking on which items to trade since there were a lot of varieties the ranger could choose on. Kaya on the other hand didn't even waste a time choosing thoughtfully since he had no use of the weapons and immediately let the weapons be absorbed by the Fighting Monarch's Orb.

They managed to trade 34 pieces of equipment in all. Kaya was able to let the orb absorb 6 swords, 4 spears, 5 bows, 3 shields, 3 axes, 6 daggers, 4 short swords, and 3 staffs. Both were satisfied with their gains and Kaya couldn't help but ask.

"If you had so many weapons, why didn't you just sell them in the market? You could've bought an armor set with high quality?"

"I could do that too but I like to use my efforts to get what I want, and I don't like spending money that much."

"Why? Are you financially unstable or are you piled in debt?"

"It's the exact opposite. I'm too rich."

The ranger couldn't help but let out a sigh. Kaya on the other hand felt cringed at the ranger. To think someone would be suffering from success, it's not like you're DJ Khaled.

"Uhmm, sir, would you like to add as friends? I would love to be accompanied by someone as strong as you. Don't worry I'm not affiliated with any guild and I like doing things alone, I'm currently stationed at the Adventurer's Association in Bulgewater City."

Ting~

[Do you wish to accept Roman's friend request?]

"Hmm...sure."

[You are now friends with Roman]

Kaya accepted his friend requests. It would be nice if he could barter more with the ranger and it seems like he was a cool guy to hang out with and it would be the first time he'd get a friend in the game.

After accepting the friend request, Roman was able to see Kaya's information. It stated his name Nuclear Fist and his level as '???', he was confused as to how he was able to configure his level information and could only guess that the three question marks meant that his level was at least in the hundredths. He could understand the name Nuclear Fist since his punch had the firepower of a nuclear.

"So what are you gonna do now Mr. Nuclear Fist?"

"Just call me Fist, I'm gonna eat that giant centipede."

"Oh okay,...huh!?"

He couldn't understand what Kaya had just said and thought that he might have heard it wrong but Kaya jumped right at the Mother Centipede's curled-up body which he peeled off its hard exoskeleton like it was paper. Using a spoon in his hand, he started chowing down on the gooey meat of the Centipede and began vomiting.

"You can't eat that meat! It's too toxic!"

Roman tried to warn Kaya but he simply nodded and continue eating. To his surprise, Kaya had devoured a bus-size chunk of meat from the giant centipede in a matter of minutes and he wasn't even vomiting anymore. He wondered if it really was edible and tried to taste a drop of its juice to his tongue but eventually, he puked since it tasted like diarrhea mixed with gasoline.

'How is he able to eat this shit?'

Roman could only stare in bewilderment as he swallowed the entire centipede whole leaving only its organs and he even stored its exoskeleton and mandibles and also kept its berserked monster core. After he was done eating, Kaya gained 8 Poison Elemental Points and 23 status points: 16 Intelligence, 5 Strength, and 2 Agility. It was a lot smaller than he expected considering that he had just eaten a blue whale-size centipede.

'Does the monster meat only vary by its type rather than its size?'

Kaya thought of it. When he had surfed the internet, he could only find scarce information about monster meat, it usually only showed meats that were delicacies when cooked and how to prepare them or edible meats a player could eat if they had no more health potions left.

Roman who had watched the whole process wanted to ask Kaya what kind of benefit he would get from eating monster meat since he had never seen anyone do it. He only found a few in his whole gaming life which usually only consists of players who were curious about the taste but had never seen an entire player devour a whole corpse.

"Uhm. First..why-"

"Hey, you guys!"

Roman's words were suddenly cut off when a player suddenly called them out. They averted their gaze on their backs and found 20 players riding mounts. Each of these players exudes a very powerful presence that Roman himself felt fear tingling in his spine. When he saw the badge on their armor, he was surprised.

'What is the Wind Rider Guild doing here?'