Doorway

This young guildmaster of the Shining Fawns put on a blank expression. Without any further words, Alex Lehner left the line-up.

The explorers here were all right. His guild was the smallest here. His group was the weakest. He couldn't risk starting a guild war with the Shining Arrows.

Wearing flustered looks, the Shining Fawns explorers followed their guildmaster off.

The crowd just watched this scene with careless or cold gazes.

After all, in the world of... Yep. That's the idea.

Especially in realms. The strong could just bully around the weak.

What could the weak do? Refuse? Then the stronger explorers could just follow these guys out of the settlement. Who would help them then?

Stay here? Eat expensive meals every day?

A moment later, the brat in a golden jacket got his meal. Ben Cox didn't bother hiding his emotions. This kid probably needed anger management classes.

As the brat walked past Jake, his face was still flushed red.

Jake gave the poor fella an encouraging nod.

[ +12 Anger Points ]

[ +8 Anger Points ]

An explorer left the brat's group. Ignoring everyone else in line, this dude just cut in line, standing beside Jake.

This dude in a black cloak just stood there, showing no intent of talking.

Since this dude didn't bother Jake, Jake just ignored this guy's presence.

10 minutes later...

[ Taunt Quest Has Ended! ]

[ You have collected: 1353 Anger Points ]

[ Calculating Rewards... ]

[ You have gained: 145 Click Points! ]

"Tsk." Jake faintly smiled. 'Very nice.'

'Last time, I got... 70 click points? Somewhere around there.' Jake couldn't be certain.

This time, the rewards doubled!

With this single quest, Jake could level up a skill!

Mocking the brat a few times was worth 145 monster cores? Jake still found this to be a little illogical... But hey. It's magical.

This fruitful result was probably thanks to the crowd buff. The explorers here were clearly less restrained than the tourists back then.

Jake was starting to like explorers a little now.

After receiving his meal, Jake rented a large brown tent.

The guy in a black cloak rented a tent beside Jake.

The night at the midpoint settlement had been peaceful as usual. As night fell, the gathering of explorers gradually thinned out.

It's another long day tomorrow. A good night of sleep was critical in this dangerous trade.

Jake woke up naturally at 6 AM. It's already starting to get bright outside. But still, as a late-sleeper, waking up early felt uncomfortable.

So Jake went back to sleep.

After a brief lunch, Jake carelessly left the settlement by himself.

At this hour, the settlement was mostly empty already. There were a few explorers staying behind. Some even recognized Jake. But clearly, they didn't want to get involved into this mess.

Carelessly walking down the barren hill, Jake took a look up the hill.

It didn't take a detector to see that he was being followed by a group of 5.

Jake crossed the tree line. That group following him quickly sped up. Looks like they couldn't wait anymore.

A faint smile appeared on Jake's mostly expressionless face.

'How troublesome...' Jake rotated his wrists.

'Looks like I'll have to find a new taunt quest NPC.' Jake cracked his knuckles.

'Still... It's not like I'm planning to stay in this guild after today anyways.'

Jake's smile widened a little. A scene had just popped up in his mind.

"The new guy beat us up!"

"Wait, the detector?"

"Yes, the detector beat us up! All 5 of us!"

"How?!"

"With his bare fists!"

"Get the fook out."

'After all, I'm just a harmless detector right?' Jake chuckled at himself.

...

By the time Jake reached the exit pillar at the realm center, it was well into the night. As a newbie, Jake didn't know this realm very well.

So Jake just headed straight towards the exit pillar.

Stopped by lakes. Stopped by rivers and streams. Hindered by field bosses. Climbing up cliffs. Climbing down cliffs. It wasn't smooth at all. But hey, it worked out.

Climbing up one last hill, Jake had finally made it to the exit.

Since he was the only one around, there was no hurry to do anything.

Looking up the pillar of green light, Jake raised his brows. There didn't seem to be an end to this thing. It was as if this thing extended to the infinite cosmos.

Standing on the hill, Jake looked down at the forest. The moonlight shined down from the clear sky, drenching the night forest with a cold tint.

'The next time I enter this realm, it will be by myself.'

'Until then...' Jake stepped into the pillar of green light.

The green disk was much larger this time. Could fit 40 people. Exactly 40 people max actually.

Standing on the green disk, there was an additional option now.

There was an arched doorway ahead of Jake. The doorway only fitted one person at a time. So no large summoned minions could fit through that opening.

Inside. Pitch black. No information given.

Yet, some brave and curious individuals dared to step inside.

This was the boss room entrance. The boss raid party was limited to 40 people. Sure, 41 people could step onto this green disk. But all 41 of them would be teleported out the realm.

Since this black doorway existed, this meant that the boss had not been defeated this month.

Which kind of made sense.

After all, the boss here was no joke. It's dangerous even to iron-tier guilds. Even an iron-tier guildmaster could be injured during a raid of this level.

In general, it's a high-risk high-reward game.

For the unranked explorers, a boss fight was not something they could consider.

Staring into the pitch black doorway, Jake shook his head.

It's the 22nd already. Yet nobody beat this boss. So most likely, nobody would beat this thing on July 1st either.

Jake was not interested in taking unnecessary risks. There was no hurry. He still had at least 8 days to prepare.

A minute later...

Jake gradually felt the disk ascending.

Yep. Ascension during entrance. Ascension during exit. Made no sense physically. But what could Jake say.

'How magical...'

A moment later, after white flash, Jake found himself standing inside an empty court.

There was a row of red counter clocks on the walls.

[1:00]

Looking up, the misty rain slowly fell to the ground. The air felt a little cold. After all, the temperature here usually fell below 10 degrees Celsius during the night.

At this time, there were no explorers around.

In the background, Jake could hear the faint sounds of typing keyboards.