The moment he laid eyes on the skill book, Kairon's brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of unmasked unease rising in his chest.

  ...

  [Skill Book: Nature Blade]

  Class Restricted: Nature Mage

  Required Level: 5

  Attribute: Finisher ability. Consumes accumulated Nature Energy Stars to deal massive mixed physical and magical damage to the target. Can be cast with 1 Star, dealing 100% to 200% weapon damage. Each additional Star increases damage by an extra 10% to 50%. Higher skill proficiency raises the maximum damage cap.

  Activation Method: Channel the power of nature to wrap around your staff, then trigger the skill with a close-range melee swing.

  ...

  The second he read the activation method, Kairon nearly threw the book straight across the forest.

  The thing he'd been dreading had finally come to pass. In World of Eldrath, every skill beyond the starting abilities granted on character creation required specific movements or incantations to cast. The upper damage limit of a skill depended entirely on the precision and perfection of those movements.

  When the two planets collided, the vast majority of living creatures had been corrupted and warped. The monsters were not only grotesque and terrifying in appearance, but often oozed with festering sores and venom.

  While this wasn't some absurdly unreasonable requirement, a melee strike was still woefully underwhelming for a Nature Mage, a class built around summoning and long-range nature spells.

  He could already picture himself charging in, staff raised, hacking away at those warped, pus-oozing monsters reeking of rot, and he cursed that old man in the black suit all over again in his head.

  If this wasn't his only high-burst direct damage finisher, he'd have dumped this book in the nearest stagnant, stinking puddle without a second thought.

  He glanced at his own level. Thanks to the massive experience payout from killing the BOSS, he'd already hit level 5, perfectly meeting the skill's level requirement.

  Reluctant as he was, he learned the skill book all the same. Whether he'd actually use it in combat was a problem for him to figure out later.

  Ding! Your friend Honest007 has sent a video chat request. Accept?

  "Accept."

  A light screen popped up before Kairon's eyes, revealing a familiar face on the other end: a slightly stocky middle-aged man, his expression carrying a sharp, shrewd merchant's air.

  "Kairon, did you just say 100 Gold? Not 100 Copper?" The second the video call connected, the man spoke, his voice thick with disbelief.

  Kairon wasn't surprised. After all, 100 Gold was an absolutely unheard-of sum on the first day of launch.

  He hadn't originally planned to sell all the Gold in his inventory, but the top-of-the-line immersive full-dive gaming pod he wanted to buy came with a hefty price tag. For his own safety and his long-term plans going forward, it was a necessary purchase.

  He had no other choice but to sell every last coin he had. Even then, he wasn't sure it would be enough to cover the cost of the pod.

  Only when his own safety was secured could he focus on laying his plans in the game. Money was meant to be spent on things that mattered, after all.

  And as for the game itself, he had no real use for Gold at this stage anyway.

  "If I'd meant 100 Copper, I'd have just said 1 Silver. No need for the extra words," Kairon replied in a calm, even tone.

  The second the words left Kairon's mouth, the man's eyes lit up: "Perfect! Kairon, if it's not too much trouble, could you head into Silvermoon Town? I'd rather confirm this in person."

  Since he was heading back to town to turn in his quests anyway, Kairon agreed. They settled on a meeting spot, then ended the video call.

  When Kairon arrived back in town, the first thing he did was hide his character name display, then stepped straight into the Quest Hall.

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  He turned in all four of his completed quests, pushing his level to 5, 41% of the way to level 6.

  He then abandoned all 16 remaining quests in his quest log. He had no interest in wasting any more time on these run-of-the-mill quests.

  Next, he needed to complete the summoning pact quest for the Moonfeather Owlbeast, and then he could officially put his plan into action: using terrain glitches to trap mobs and level up at breakneck speed.

  The main street in the center of town was already packed and bustling with players setting up stalls and hawking their wares.

  Kairon scanned the stalls, finding nothing but level 1 and 2 common gear and a handful of basic healing potions, all worthless junk for the most part.

  A few stalls were selling Enhancement Stones, though, and he immediately spent three Silver Coins to buy out all nineteen Enhancement Stones from every stall that had them.

  At this early stage of the game, he was probably the only player around who could drop three Silver Coins in one go without batting an eye.

  He hurried off the main street, and when he reached the far end of the road, a familiar voice rang out.

  "All kinds of misc goods, clearance sale! Come take a look, any price takes it!"

  Kairon followed the sound and saw a Warrior player squatting on the ground, lazily scanning the passersby, his eyes lingering a little longer every time a female player walked by.

  When he saw the ID [Jorren] floating over his head, Kairon's eyes burned with sudden, sharp emotion.

  This was one of his closest, most trusted brothers from his past life in the game.

  The first time he'd been killed all the way back to the novice village in his past life, this group of brothers had stuck with him, grinding it out in the remote wilderness for three full months.

  Later, because of him, this group had been relentlessly hunted by the Dusk Throne Guild. Many of his brothers had been forced to switch to life skill players, just so they could stay in the safety of the city and never have to venture out.

  In the end, only Jorren had stayed by his side through it all. Even when he'd lost his legs in the real world and been forced to flee the city, Jorren had done everything in his power to help him. Without him, crippled and alone as he'd been back then, he never would have made it out alive.

  Kairon ached to step forward and reveal who he was, but the words died in his throat before he could speak them.

  He was about to hunt down Zareth and settle his blood debt, which meant he'd be going head-to-head with the Dusk Throne Guild. Anyone who stood at his side would inevitably get caught in the crossfire.

  He thought it over again and again, and in the end, he stayed where he was.

  What will be, will be. Every meeting and parting has its own fate. All he could hope was that in this life, they would never have to suffer for his sake again.

  Kairon walked down the side streets and stepped into a low, squat tavern. The interior was cluttered and dimly lit, and behind the bar at the entrance sat a small, gaunt old man, flipping through a yellowed, tattered book.

  Rows of tables and chairs filled the main hall, and further back was a hallway lined with private booths on either side.

  This was an absolute safe zone set by the System, rentable for a set amount of Gold. Once inside, the conversations within the booth could not be monitored by anyone, under any circumstances.

  Hardly any players came here on a regular basis. No one wanted to waste Gold for no reason, unless they had important business to discuss.

  When he reached the booth he'd agreed to meet Honest007 at, before he could even knock, the stocky man stepped out.

  When the man saw him, his face split into a wide, eager grin: "Kairon! Hey, great to meet you, come on in and have a seat."

  Once they were inside the booth, Kairon didn't waste a single word. He sent a trade request straight away, entering 100 in the Gold field.

  After a few seconds, he closed the trade window: "So? You good for this?"

  Honest007 was silent for a few seconds: "...Kairon, any chance we can do Gold first, payment after? Or meet up in person in the real world to trade?"

  Kairon shook his head: "Payment first, Gold second. If you're worried, we can do multiple small trades instead."

  He would never agree to an in-person trade with anyone, for two reasons. First, he didn't want to waste time. Second, for his own safety. The lessons of his past life were still burned into his memory.

  When Honest007 saw he wouldn't budge on his terms, he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. Send me your payment account."

  Kairon sent over his account details, a thrill of excitement he could barely hide rising in his chest. Once this trade was complete, he'd have 600,000 Credit in his account. For him right now, that was an absolute fortune.

  Ding! Real-world payment received to player's account: 600,000 Credit.

  When he heard the notification, Kairon looked at the man with a flicker of surprise: "You're not worried I'll just take the money and run right now?"

  Honest007 smiled and replied, "I know you're not some ordinary player. To solo a BOSS and pull together this much Gold this fast after launch? We're definitely gonna have a lot more business down the line. So consider this a trust investment on my part."

  He paused for a beat, then went on: "That said, I'll be honest with you. The recording system in this booth has been on this whole time. If you do take the money and run, I'll leak the footage server-wide. Though, of course, if you don't care about your reputation, it's not much of a threat."

  Kairon had known full well what the paid booths were capable of. He smiled, then sent a trade request straight away, transferring the 100 Gold to the man.

  "Since you called this a trust investment, I'll leave you with a piece of advice." He looked the man dead in the eye and spoke in a calm, even tone. "Don't hoard the Gold you've got. Dump it as fast as you can. Believe it or not, that's up to you."

  With that, he opened the booth door and walked straight out.

  Honest007 was left alone in the booth, frozen for a split second in surprise.

  He'd actually been planning to hoard the Gold, wait for the price to rise, then sell it off. But after hearing Kairon's advice, for some reason he couldn't name, a sharp sense of unease settled in his chest.

  He thought it over for a moment, then immediately pulled out his comms device and dialed number after number.

  Kairon didn't spare a second thought for what Honest007 would decide to do. He was in an excellent mood, humming a tune to himself as he walked out of the tavern. He glanced at the time. It was six in the morning, and in two hours, World of Eldrath would be going down for its daily scheduled maintenance.