**ShatteredCrown:** "Hello, 911? I think someone's scamming me here."
ShatteredCrown kept checking Orson's ID, verifying that it really was the same guy who sold him the staff. Otherwise, he would've left the party ages ago.
"Bro, how about I give you some extra gold and you find a few Level 10 players to help us farm monsters?"
Orson replied with a laugh, "Relax, boss. Just sit tight and get ready for a smooth ride."
Orson held his patience a moment longer and added, "Are you sure you don't want to bring along a couple of friends for some AFK chat time?"
ShatteredCrown was exasperated. "Could you just focus on leveling us up? Or I'll help fight, if that's what you need."
He was completely over it—being scammed was one thing, but wasting leveling time? That would be a real disaster. If he fell too far behind, his friends would mock him to no end.
Orson shook his head and declined the offer. He led ShatteredCrown into the *Mist Forest*, where they found the monster farming zones.
**[Spectral Wolf: Level 8]**
**HP:** 700/700
**Attack Power:** 40
**Skill:** Fearsome Combo
A spectral wolf, with a dark and ghostly appearance, emerged. The monsters here were much stronger than those in the starting village, so most players formed parties to farm them. In fact, Orson could see at least three different groups farming around him.
**ShatteredCrown:** "These spots are packed. Let's find a quieter area."
Orson smirked, "No worries—they can't outfarm me."
"Unbelievable. A Level 7 mage bringing a Level 1 noob here? You want to die? Get lost!"
Nearby, a Level 9 archer glanced over disdainfully, pulling off three quick shots to pull in aggro from a distance. His six-man party was well-coordinated, and they lured in a pack of eight Spectral Wolves.
The tank, a knight, roared and used a basic taunt skill to draw the monsters' attention, while the priest healed him. The others focused on dealing maximum damage to the wolves.
Orson observed the team. From their coordination and setup, it was clear they were experienced players who knew what they were doing.
"Uh… Orson, these monsters are a bit much. Maybe we should back off," ShatteredCrown whispered, already feeling nervous.
But Orson just grinned at the archer's team. "Thanks for gathering the monsters for me."
He raised his basic staff, channeling fiery magic, and unleashed three consecutive fireballs in the middle of the wolf pack.
-55
-55
...
The archer chuckled dismissively, watching Orson attempt to steal their kill. "Not bad, kid. You learned an AoE spell pretty quick, but that's still not enough."
In *Infinite Dimensions*, kill-stealing happened all the time. Typically, the player or party that attracted the monster's initial aggro got full experience upon the kill. However, if the other party's damage output far exceeded that of the original group, they could overtake the aggro and secure the kill.
"Is that so?" Orson smiled slightly.
-704!
Instantly, a terrifying string of red numbers appeared over the wolves, and all eight were dead in an instant.
**"You have slain [Spectral Wolf]. EXP +30"**
**"You have slain [Spectral Wolf]."**
**"Your level has increased to Level 3."**
"What the…"
What kind of damage was that? What kind of farming efficiency?
Is that even a player?
ShatteredCrown stared, eyes wide in disbelief. Just moments ago, he'd been skeptical about Orson's abilities. Now, he'd gone from Level 1 to Level 3 in one move.
ShatteredCrown was starting to seriously doubt if they were even playing the same game.
**"Your level has increased to Level 8."**
After grinding through waves of Level 5 Goblin undead, Orson had already gained a ton of experience. Although the boss summons had provided reduced EXP, he should've reached Level 9 if he'd been grinding normal monsters.
He allocated all his stat points into Magic Attack, and upgraded his **Blazing Burn** skill to Level 8, which now dealt 8% of his MP as burn damage. This allowed him to deal a devastating 800+ damage with each burn effect.
The six-man party looked on, dumbfounded, unable to process what they were seeing.
**Reckless Rogue** dropped his jaw. "Holy… What kind of freak show is this?"
Orson then became a merciless farming machine. He didn't care who else was around—he burned down any monster he saw and moved on to the next. Ethics? Courtesy? Those were just other people's limits. His mind was calm, without the slightest hint of guilt.
The archer's party initially tried to compete, but after five minutes without gaining a single EXP point, they gave up. Orson was actually saving them time by pulling all the monsters toward him.
"Boss, why don't you bring in a few more people? Might as well fill up those extra slots. I'll even give you a 12% discount."
Orson pocketed the silver coins and items on the ground, looking at ShatteredCrown with a dead-serious expression.
ShatteredCrown stood there, completely disoriented. Stammering, he replied, "G-give me a minute. I do have a few friends who were sleeping. I'll get them in!"
"Don't go anywhere, Master! You better not leave me here!" ShatteredCrown quickly added Orson as a friend, terrified that his newfound powerhouse would vanish. He reminded Orson repeatedly to stay put.
Orson nodded with a sigh. Time is money, after all.
Orson glanced around the other farming spots, noticing they were mostly occupied by guild parties. He sent a message in the local chat: "I'll be using the three Spectral Wolf farming spots in the northeast for the next hour. Apologies for any inconvenience."
ShatteredCrown froze for a second. "Damn, just clearing the field like that? You're ruthless, man."
Immediately, someone replied in the chat.
**ElderEscalator**: "Oh? Do you think our Holy Cliff Guild doesn't exist?"
**Skyslasher**: "And what guild are you from, so arrogant? Our Dragon's Kiss Guild fears no one. Try taking our spots if you dare."
The Mist Forest had six Spectral Wolf spawn points. Dragon's Kiss controlled three of them, with another one taken by Holy Cliff Guild. All the other players had to fight over the remaining two spots.
This was common during the game's opening period. Big guilds had more players and better gear, leaving casual players with no chance to compete.
Orson's expression darkened. In his previous life, the top guild **Dragon's Kiss** had dominated *Infinite Dimensions* right from launch. Currently, a third of the top 50 players in the rankings were from Dragon's Kiss, a guild backed by a multibillion-dollar corporation. Naturally, they acted as ruthlessly as they pleased.
"Oh, I was going to leave you two spots. But since you asked for it, I'll take all four."
Orson replied with a cold smile. Now that his former killers had shown up, he had no reason to hold back.
Let's see who can be more ruthless.
**Skyslasher**: "You're lucky we can't kill here, or I'd have slaughtered you by now, punk."
**ElderEscalator**: "C'mon, bring it on if you've got the guts! Just standing there trash-talking?"
The guild leaders mocked Orson in the area chat while farming monsters, assuming he was all talk. Orson said nothing, focusing instead on surveying the terrain.
**Reckless Rogue**: "You're a strong mage, man. Why not join us? We can go hunt higher-level monsters."
The archer from earlier, now impressed by Orson, tried to recruit him. He even booted another random mage from his party to make room.
"No, thanks," Orson replied without hesitation.
Reckless Rogue frowned, eyeing Orson like he was an idiot. "I'll admit, you're good, but going solo against those guilds is just suicide."
Orson looked at him coldly. "Just watch."
Reckless Rogue scoffed. "Yeah, right. Good luck not getting ganked out of the game."
Ignoring him, Orson began marking coordinates on his map and estimating the angles he needed for his basic attacks. His plan was simple: everyone wanted to fight for the mobs? Fine. He'd just take the entire field for himself.
With a ridiculous range of 1,022 meters, Orson could cover almost half of the *Mist Forest*. Plus, with his 10,300 MP and a five-second cooldown on his Triple Fireball, he could bombard four monster spawn points continuously.
Even if he couldn't lock onto targets precisely from that range, it didn't matter. As long as he kept casting, he'd eventually hit every freshly spawned Spectral Wolf.