Chapter 1 Slum

Red Leaf Town, the slums.

Although it was still daytime, the Tipsy Tavern was packed with red-named players teetering on the edge of the lawless. However, among this group, a few green-named players seemed out of place. These were none other than Iron Sword Lion of the Martial Forest Alliance and his men.

"Jue Tian, I want you to kill someone. Name your price." Iron Sword Lion said, looking at the cold-faced man drinking across from him.

The cold-faced man ignored Iron Sword Lion, instead holding a voluptuous beauty in his arms while drinking from a bottle, chatting and laughing with her, a wicked smile on his lips. He gave off a feeling of pure coldness.

Iron Sword Lion's face darkened.

Xi Men Piaoxue, standing beside him, slammed the table and shouted, "Hey, did you hear that? Our boss is talking to you! Don't play dead!"

As soon as Xi Men Piaoxue finished speaking, a flash of a bright dagger sliced across his neck, then pierced his heart. With a downward pull, it tore a deep wound. One stab, one pull, one slice—the technique was flawless. Xi Men Piaoxue didn't even have time to scream before he collapsed to the ground.

"Jue Tian, what are you doing? I came to discuss business. What's the meaning of killing my man?" Iron Sword Lion roared, watching Xi Men Piaoxue being instantly taken care of. However, he didn't dare to attack, knowing that if he did, he would suffer the same fate as Xi Men Piaoxue.

"Because I felt like it. Got a problem with that?" Jue Tian nonchalantly spun the dagger, looked coldly at Iron Sword Lion, and smiled.

"You..." Iron Sword Lion was furious, but he didn't dare to curse.

In reality, Jue Tian was an assassin, and a well-known one at that. In the game, he was an elite player, though very few knew of him. Almost everyone who knew him had been assassinated by him. Iron Sword Lion had been killed by Jue Tian several times in martial arts games, which was how he knew him.

However, Jue Tian had a strange temper. He wouldn't do anything he wasn't interested in, no matter how much money was offered. He would only act if he was interested, and he had never failed.

Threatening or forcing Jue Tian often resulted in a bad end for the paymaster.

Iron Sword Lion had seen a paymaster who insisted that Jue Tian kill a player until they were level zero. Jue Tian didn't want to do it, and the paymaster wasn't good-tempered either, threatening to deal with Jue Tian as well. As a result, Jue Tian killed the paymaster until he was level zero, forcing him to delete his account and start over.

Jue Tian saw that Iron Sword Lion wasn't speaking and smiled, then sat back in his chair, hugging the beauty and drinking, carefree as if nothing had happened.

Xi Men Piaoxue being killed in the tavern didn't attract the attention of other players either, because things like this happened every day. Everyone was used to it.

Iron Sword Lion could only take several deep breaths to calm the anger in his heart.

"Jue Tian, don't be so quick to refuse. If I say this person's name, you'll definitely be interested." Iron Sword Lion said seriously.

Jue Tian still didn't care, as if Iron Sword Lion was just air.

"His name is Ye Feng. He's definitely an elite player. I just want you to kill him until he's level zero or deletes his account and starts over. Name your price." Iron Sword Lion sent Jue Tian a video showing Iron Sword Lion himself being killed by Shi Feng—Eight Shadow Sword, unstoppable, and then a sword as fast as lightning, impossible to block.

After watching, Jue Tian showed some interest and said, "One million credits, paid upfront."

Iron Sword Lion's heart twitched at the price, but he knew that Jue Tian's prices were always based on the target's strength. Usually, it was only a little over a hundred thousand, but he didn't expect Shi Feng to be so valuable, demanding a million.

"Okay, give me your account. I'll transfer it to you. But how long will it take?" Iron Sword Lion was determined to get revenge on Shi Feng, even if it meant emptying his bank account.

"Five days." Jue Tian looked at Shi Feng in the video and smiled excitedly.

Hearing Jue Tian's guarantee, Iron Sword Lion could already imagine Shi Feng going crazy after being killed back to level zero. So, he transferred the money to Jue Tian.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng himself had arrived in Blackwing City.

Blackwing City was one of the most mysterious cities in God's Domain, far more prosperous than Star-Moon City. Standing on the streets, one could see magnificent European medieval architecture everywhere. Even at night, it was a city that never slept, brightly lit everywhere.

Even the NPCs walking on the streets were all over level 100, with many second- and third-tier job NPCs. Legend had it that even the king of a kingdom like Star-Moon Kingdom had to be respectful to the city lord of Blackwing City and didn't dare to offend him.

In Blackwing City, there were many interesting things to see. To explore it thoroughly would take at least a few weeks. Blackwing City was also home to many masters of various lifestyle jobs. They often sold their creations in shops, and one could buy unique items from various countries in Blackwing City, which was something that ordinary big cities didn't offer.

The most famous was the auction house. It held an auction once a week, selling rare items sold by NPCs, even Epic-ranked equipment, which couldn't be bought outside. This was why the leaders of various forces wanted to come here.

Ordinary players who came here just enjoyed the sights, because they couldn't afford the items sold by NPCs. Moreover, there were no monsters, no quests, and no way to level up. It was purely a trading city, a paradise for the wealthy players.

"The auction will start in two hours. I'll go buy some local specialties first." Shi Feng looked at the time and realized it was still early, so he hailed a carriage to Blackwing City's commercial street.

Blackwing City was too big. Walking would take at least two or three hours to reach the commercial street. Usually, people spent money on carriages. However, carriage fares weren't cheap, starting at one silver coin, with the price varying depending on the distance. Ordinary players probably couldn't even afford a carriage...

A dozen minutes later, Shi Feng got off the carriage and arrived at an engineering shop.

The engineering shop wasn't big, just a small two-story building. A worn wooden sign hung above the door, reading "Kruetz Workshop."

It looked inconspicuous, but Shi Feng knew that this workshop was opened by the engineering grandmaster Kruetz Gaia, the only engineering grandmaster in Blackwing City. The other engineering shops were opened by engineering masters or engineers, seemingly prosperous, but selling expensive and poor-quality items. Shi Feng had been tricked by those shops in the past.

Shi Feng pushed the door open and entered.

The shopkeeper was a slightly shy girl with two pigtails, named Lucia Ora.

If one used Observation Eye, they would find that this seemingly weak girl was actually an Elementalist who had advanced to a Tier 2 mage, level 100.

A level 100 Tier 2 mage could easily wipe out Red Leaf Town. Anyone who dared to cause trouble here would be turned into ashes.