The auction for the [Potion of Knitting] had concluded, and Sebastian's inventory was now heavier by 250 Gold Coins. In a starter village where a single silver coin could buy a decent meal, he was walking around with the GDP of a small kingdom.
But wealth meant nothing if it sat stagnant. It had to be converted into power.
Sebastian stood at the northern exit of Novice Village #109. His destination was the Moon Tower, a vertical dungeon located at the edge of the Wailing Woods. In his previous life, this tower was a meat grinder for newbies, filled with undead specters and cursed armor. But it was also the only place in the region that dropped the materials he needed for his next phase of evolution.
He adjusted the collar of his Drifter rags. He hadn't bought armor yet. Why bother with low-level leather that would tear like paper against a boss? His defense was his offense.
He stepped out of the safe zone. The air grew colder, smelling of pine needles and rotting leaves.
He moved with the supernatural silence granted by his passive skills. The [Void Ocean] passive hummed within him, keeping his mana topped off at a staggering 5,050 points. He was a walking mana battery.
After thirty minutes of travel, the trees thinned, revealing a clearing dominated by a broken stone spire jutting into the grey sky—the Moon Tower.
However, the entrance was not empty.
A blockade had been set up.
Wooden barricades spiked with iron blocked the stone bridge leading to the tower's entrance. Behind the barricades stood twenty players, all wearing matching crimson tabards with a white skull emblazoned on the chest.
The Crimson Skull Guild.
"Halt!"
A player stepped forward. He was a Level 8 Warrior, towering over the others in a set of [Bronze Scale Mail]—expensive gear for this stage of the game. A name floated above his head in arrogant red text: Viper.
Viper held a jagged, curved dagger that glowed with a faint, sickly moonlight.
"This hunting ground is under the jurisdiction of the Crimson Skull," Viper announced, his voice amplified by a shout skill. "Entry fee is 50 silver. If you don't have it, turn around and go kill rabbits."
Behind Viper, his guildmates snickered. They were bullying solo players, monopolizing the best farming spot to power-level their elites. It was a standard tactic in MMOs, but in the apocalypse, this behavior usually led to warlordism.
Sebastian didn't stop walking. He didn't even slow down.
Viper's eyes narrowed. "Are you deaf, rags? I said halt!"
Sebastian stopped five meters from the barricade. He looked at Viper, then at the glowing dagger in Viper's hand.
[Item: Moon Reaper]
[Grade: Rare (Blue)]
[Effect: Inflicts Bleed. +15 Agility.]
"Nice knife," Sebastian said, his voice flat. "I'll take it."
Viper blinked, then barked a laugh. "You'll take it? Did you hear that, boys? The beggar wants my weapon!"
The Crimson Skull members roared with laughter.
"Drifter trash," Viper sneered, stepping over the barricade. "I was going to let you leave with a beating, but now? I'm going to send you back to spawn until you uninstall the game."
Viper vanished.
[Skill: Dash]
It was a basic Warrior gap-closer. To a normal player, Viper would have appeared as a blur. But to Sebastian, whose soul had processed the movements of gods, Viper was moving in slow motion.
Viper reappeared directly in front of Sebastian, the Moon Reaper slashing toward Sebastian's throat.
"Die!"
Sebastian didn't dodge. He didn't cast a spell.
He simply raised his right hand, his fingers curling into a precise shape.
[Skill: Void Walk]
VWOOM.
The world inverted into greyscale. Viper's blade passed harmlessly through Sebastian's neck, cutting nothing but smoke. Viper stumbled, his momentum carrying him forward through Sebastian's intangible form.
"What the—?" Viper spun around, eyes wide with confusion. "Where's the hitmarker?!"
Sebastian, now standing behind Viper, deactivated the skill. The colors of the world rushed back.
He held his rusty starter knife in a reverse grip.
"Here."
He tapped the rusty blade against the back of Viper's expensive scale mail.
[Passive Triggered: god-Slayer's Edge]
[Effect: Ignore 100% Defense.]
The rusty iron didn't clash with the bronze armor. It sank into it like a hot needle through butter. The metal plate offered zero resistance. The blade pierced the armor, the leather padding beneath, and buried itself into Viper's spine.
[Critical Hit!]
[-9,999 (True Damage)]
Viper didn't even scream. His HP bar, which sat at a respectable 600, evaporated instantly. His body went rigid, then shattered into a shower of blue data polygons.
Clatter.
A glowing blue object fell to the ground where Viper had stood. The system's loot rules in the wild were brutal: Player Killers (PKers) dropped their equipped weapon upon death.
Silence descended on the clearing. The laughter of the Crimson Skull members died in their throats. They stared at the empty space where their vice-leader had been a second ago.
One-shot.
A Drifter, using a starter knife, had one-shot a fully armored Level 8 Warrior.
Sebastian bent down and picked up the curved dagger.
[System: You have acquired 'Moon Reaper'.]
He spun the dagger in his hand, feeling the balance. It was significantly better than the rusty knife.
"Anyone else want to donate gear?" Sebastian asked, looking at the nineteen remaining players.
Panic broke out.
"He's a hacker!"
"Did you see that damage? 9k?!"
"Run! Just run!"
The formation broke. The guild members scrambled over their own barricades, fleeing into the woods, terrifyingly aware that their armor meant nothing against this anomaly.
Sebastian watched them go, indifferent. He walked up to the barricade, kicked a hole through the wood with his reinforced strength, and stepped onto the bridge.
He had a dungeon to grind.