There were two uninvited guests in the forest behind the mountain to the north of Aikhale. The bandits on the mountain were unable to stop these two people.

Crippled Feather was annoyed as he asked, “Hey, can you speed up? Do you think we are coming out for a stroll?”

“Oh? Are we not?” Blue Maple asked in a weird tone. It was very difficult to imagine Blue Maple taking the initiative to crack a joke.

Crippled Feather got mad as he shouted at Blue Maple,“Do you believe I’ll kill you now?!”

“Can you beat me?” Although he appeared very nonchalant as usual, it was very clear from his tone of voice that he was provoking Crippled Feather.

Crippled Feather was stunned for a moment before he retorted, “Do you really think I can’t beat you?”

“Correct!” Blue Maple monotonously replied this time. It was like his answer was a given. He didn’t think Crippled Feather could beat him!

“You! Hmph, I’m definitely going to win this time. Let’s see what you can brag about when the time comes.” Although Crippled Feather was mad, he still maintained his rationality. He knew that he didn’t a stand a chance if he faced Blue Maple right now.

Crippled Feather was currently only an ordinary Thief. The Skills that he possessed were the few commonly known ones. Even if he had been lucky enough to get a skill book, he would at most be able to unleash an additional Skill. On the other hand, he didn’t know what kind of Skills Blue Maple possessed. Just from their encounter at the Mercenary Union, Crippled Feather knew that he wouldn’t be able to decipher Blue Maple’s Instant Chain Strike easily.

Unleashing a barrage of attacks while shifting one’s position could be considered a divine skill for someone like Crippled Feather, who was not very skilled at this point in the game.

“Oh,” Blue Maple answered indifferently. He was looking at the scenery all around him. His reaction left Crippled Feather on the brink of another outburst.

However, Blue Maple was only acting like this because he wanted to add some color to his boring quests. If Crippled Feather knew that Blue Maple had such a thought in mind, perhaps he wouldn’t be so infuriated. Or perhaps, he actually might still be…

------

After some time, both of them came to their quest location after dealing with some wandering monsters. Crippled Feather was basically the one who dealt with those monsters. Blue Maple was only leisurely strolling behind him.

When they saw the first goblin, Crippled Feather turned back and glared at Blue Maple, “The quest can start now. You better get serious from now on.”

“It’s started? Oh, alright.” Blue Maple withdrew from his leisurely state.

Crippled Feather really wanted to hack Blue Maple to death seeing how he was acting right now.

“I’ll go to the left. You go to the right. Don’t stay with me.” Crippled Feather composed himself. After he finished speaking, he proceeded to the left side of the forest. He slowly concealed himself and disappeared from Blue Maple’s line of sight.

After witnessing Crippled Feather’s disappearance, Blue Maple slowly proceeded to the right side of the forest. In front of him was a goblin, an extremely hideous and short green midget. It was the goblin that Crippled Feather had seen earlier, but he didn’t choose this path, so he didn’t encounter this goblin.

When he saw the target in front of him, Blue Maple started to become serious again.

Seems like the loser of the challenge mode will receive some kind of punishment. I wonder what it is. However, it doesn’t matter as long as I win, right?, Blue Maple thought to himself. He picked up his pace as he proceeded towards the goblin, and slowly drew his sword from his back with his left hand. The goblin charged towards Blue Maple after sensing Blue Maple’s presence. It was holding a wooden club in its hand.

---

[Low-ranked Goblin] (Rank 40)

Attack: 351-457

Defense: 245-312

Magic Defense: 203-246

HP：2600

Skills: Violent Strikes, Chain Strikes, Goblin Fury

Introduction: Living beings dwelling in the remote forest are violent and ferocious. When they go berserk, they will attack an enemy without regard for anything else.

---

As for Blue Maple’s attributes…

---

[Blue Maple] (Level 29 Hidden Swordsman)

Attack: 567-712 Luck: 1

Defense: 157-189 Reputation: 530

Magic Defense: 96-134 Glory: 0

Strength: 416 Evil Index: 0

Agility: 76 Survivability: 50

Endurance: 50 Hunger: 96%

Magic: 20

Toughness: 41

HP：653

MP：206

The game had a rule that people couldn’t see the attributes of a monster that was ten ranks or more above them. However, the old man didn’t take this ability from Blue Maple. Blue Maple didn’t know what his upper limit was.

Rank 40. That’s a little weak, Blue Maple thought to himself. Indeed, Blue Maple’s attack power was overwhelming, even before he used his dual-wielding ability. The fight with the goblin was about to begin!

Blue Maple quickly drew close to the goblin. Just as the goblin tried to strike Blue Maple with its club, Blue Maple made a swift dodge and stabbed his sword out.

-315!

The damage done was slightly less than what it was supposed to be due to the rank difference. Otherwise, it would be around 350. One thing that Blue Maple had discovered was that the rank difference issue was less stark than it was before. It probably had something to do with his Hidden Class.

He maintained his forward-charging motion, grazing the goblin with his sword. -35, -31, -29.

After that, he quickly flipped around and performed a sweeping kick. -154.

He was not done yet!

After that, he hacked the goblin, followed by unleashing his Sweeping Sword Slash! -320! -331, -245, -142, -56.

The hacking and Sweeping Sword Slash forced the goblin to stagger back. After that, Blue Maple also retreated slightly, waiting for his next opportunity. His attack was still not fast enough...

Just as the goblin recovered and was about to attack Blue Maple again, he slashed his sword out once again. Blue Maple’s sword first struck the goblin. Just as the goblin’s clubt was about to hit Blue Maple, Blue Maple vanished right in front of the goblin’s eyes. Instant Chain Strike!

He hacked the goblin on its back once again. After that, he unleashed his Cold Light Slash on the back of the goblin’s neck! He followed his attack with another hack, before delivering the final blow, a kick!

-316, -389, -334, -156!

It was over!

The damage done was nice. The goblin didn’t even touch Blue Maple, and even humiliatingly left behind a bunch of coins.

Is this even a Rank S quest?

[Exterminating Goblins] (Rank S): In the forest deep in the mountains to the north of town lives a group of goblins. They are evil and ferocious. Because of them, the hunters in town are afraid to enter the forest to hunt for food. Hopefully the town sends someone to exterminate these goblins.

Complete this quest requirement: Kill five hundred goblins. You better hope you do not meet their leader. It is an extremely ferocious being!

There was also a quest to kill the leader of the goblins, it was Quest S02. As for why Blue Maple chose to take up Quest S01 and fight the Armor-rending Bear King instead, it was because… he still had to kill bunches of goblins. If he couldn’t kill ordinary goblins, he felt that it was a waste to take up Quest S02. He might as well choose to fight the Bear King.

If he really met the leader of the goblins, he would choose to flee. There was no need to clash with the leader at all. As long as he completed his quest, everything was fine. While the leader of the goblins would probably offer him a lot of XP and money, Blue Maple was not very concerned about it. Perhaps he was more concerned about money. After all, he wanted to buy his own place to live in.

However, this Quest S09 was a little too simple for Blue Maple. Perhaps the only difficulty lay in the fact that he had to complete more of the quest than Crippled Feather in order to win.

However… did he kill the goblin too quickly? He didn’t even manage to see the Skills it had...

“Forget, I shall go slower on the next one.” After all, not all the goblins could be so easily killed. Blue Maple’s MP wasn’t high. He could in fact replenish his MP from a Potion, but he thought it was unnecessary. After all, he wasn’t trying to be the best in the game. He just wanted to find his own home as quickly as possible and become as idle as he wanted to.

“However, it seems more interesting to challenge someone else.” Blue Maple turned around and peered in the direction that Crippled Feather had disappeared in. After that, he also ventured further and further into the forest.

------

Two hours later, it was right on the dot of noon. Many people were gathered in Aikhale’s Mercenary Union. Although it was crowded, there was still a clear path for people to walk in and out. There were a lot of people outside the union. Everyone was scattered, gathered in groups and engaging in lively conversations.

The news of what had happened in Aikhale had spread two hours ago on the net. It was the video of a duel between a top ten player in Aikhale and a mysterious player.

The players from towns near Aikhale and from Aikhale itself all quickly rushed over to the Mercenary Union.

It was actually a duel involving a top ten player. Everyone was in awe. To put things into perspective, there were roughly three hundred million players in the game. Even if a portion of them were just here to pass time, there were still many other competitive players. To be one of the top ten players meant that an individual was truly powerful.

Although many players weren’t just here to pass time, they were not very focused on the game, either. That was why they immediately rushed to join in the commotion whenever something happened. As a result, there were many people here. They were others who were still rushing over. It seemed like there were a large number of players who were not very focused on leveling up.

“He’s coming!” someone shouted, and turned everyone’s attention in one direction.

Everyone was wondering about would be the first one to return. Those who didn’t see who was coming were all very excited. They were even more excited than the two who were involved in the quest.

“It’s Crippled Feather! Crippled Feather returns first!” a voice sounded from the crowd.

The bunch of people burst out in a heavy uproar instantly!

“I called it. It’s definitely Crippled Feather. He’s one of the top ten characters on the leaderboard. The other fellow only possesses an advantage in terms of his Hidden Class.”

“Hmph, who said that the person who finishes first is the winner? In the challenge mode, time is not the only deciding factor. Maybe the other guy is only taking a slower time to return.”

“Hmph, continue to hold on to your hope. I’m definitely winning this bet.”

“Hmph, we don’t know until the end. Watch out!”...

------

Crippled Feather furrowed his brow as he entered the Mercenary Union. There was no way he wasn’t vexed. In fact, he wasn’t a big fan of crowds. Assassins were generally like that.

One minute after Crippled Feather arrived...

Five minutes...

Ten minutes...

Twenty minutes...

Half an hour...

“What the hell. Has that fellow given up because he has not completed the quest? He’s still not back.”

“Seems like that’s the case. He’s probably lost even if he returns.”

“Haha, it seems like I’m the winner. Come, give me five gold coins!”

“Fuck, he’s still not back. Nothing’s confirmed. Wishful thinking!”

“It’s already half an hour. How can he still win? Fuck, come on, don’t renege on your promise!”...

-----

In fact, Blue Maple was strolling along slowly. How quick could he be? Blue Maple also didn’t know there were a bunch of people waiting for him. However, he wasn’t going to rush even if there was.

After almost an hour...

“He’s back. That fellow is back!”

Almost everyone had the same thought, Fucking hell, he’s finally back! Some people were already tired of waiting...

Everyone automatically cleared to give him a clear path into the Union. Blue Maple didn’t rush as he entered the hall. He was expressionless, as if the people around him didn’t exist at all. In his opinion, he had no reason to care about them unless they were going to harm him. Naturally he ignored them.

Crippled Feather was waiting at the entrance of the Union for him. So was the NPC.

“How was your stroll?” Crippled Feather was scornful as he asked Blue Maple. Naturally, he knew that Blue Maple was so slow because he was taking his time.

“Oh, the scenery was rather good.”

“Good my foot!!!”