Liu Ye rolled his eyes at the blatant unfairness. How come he was being punished for being better than others? The difficulty was always scaling with the number of players but here it didn't even scale. It basically rewarded players for grouping up instead of playing solo.

'No wonder my quest has the S+ difficulty…' Liu Ye thought speechlessly. He had to be a one-man army and defeat the Bandit Leader that normally took 20 players to kill.

If not for Vice-leader Marco he would be doomed.

"Are you coming?" the man in question hurried him from within the passage. Liu Ye didn't have a choice anyway so he passed through the barrier.

[Ding! You have entered the Bandit Leader Dungeon. Kill the Bandit Leader to clear the dungeon! You will receive a reward based on your performance. Good luck!]

[Time: 00:00:01]

'Of course,' Liu Ye commented as he saw the notification, already figuring the time would be a huge factor in performance. "Let's go."

He could already see future rankings where people will try to speedrun the dungeons as fast as possible. Liu Ye would normally be the first to participate but his situation didn't allow that. He couldn't afford to die and fail his quest, so caution was his first priority.

When he disappeared inside the passage, another figure appeared in front of the barrier, touching it with her eyes widened.

"How…?" Black Rose questioned as the Dungeon denied her entry. "There is no way he jumped two levels after killing the Ice Queen."

She was watching him from afar while looking for a way to get back at him only to find something more interesting.

"Humph, just you wait till I write about it on my blog…" Black Rose muttered as she jogged away. If Liu Ye heard her, he would only laugh it off, not caring too much about it.

"Vice-leader? What are you doing here?"

The same interaction from before repeated multiple times as Liu Ye met Masked Bandits on their mountain path. The Dungeon was quite straightforward since there was only one possible route but it quickly got more complicated.

It took them five more kills to finally encounter more than one enemy at the same time.

"Is the Leader inside? I have someone to introduce to him," Vice-leader Marco questioned as they approached a cave entrance with four bandits talking outside. At Liu Ye's sight, they immediately became defensive.

"Vice-leader? Who is he?" One of them questioned suspiciously.

"He is a trader that wishes to sell his Water Stone to us," Vice-leader Marco explained again. "I will need the Leader's help with the deal. Don't worry, I made sure it's legitimate."

They already repeated the same story so many times it got boring but as long as it secured them easy kills, Liu Ye didn't mind. He pulled out his Water Stone, surprising the four bandits.

They kept their composure as they whispered between each other and reported, "Leader is indeed in the mine but it would be best if the Vice-leader waits here. We discovered something underneath and he is currently checking it. He told us not to let anyone inside."

Liu Ye immediately frowned.

"Did you really ask me to wait here? If your leader doesn't come here within five minutes, the deal is off," Liu Ye replied sternly as he kept his Water Stone. "I don't have time to play games."

"Sir, please, be patient!" Vice-leader Marco called out frantically before glaring at the four bandits. "Quickly apologize! This Sir is not just any trader but a highly skilled Waterbender! Do you think I would need Leader's help if it was some random person?"

The bandits couldn't help but glance at Liu Ye suspiciously but he didn't care. A true master didn't need to prove his skills to anybody.

"What are you waiting for? If you don't inform the Leader about our visit, I will go inside and do it myself. We can't waste an opportunity to get a Water Stone!" Vice-leader Marco hurried sternly, finally convincing them.

"Alright, we will go down and report. Wait for a moment." One of the bandits decided and grabbed his buddy, walking inside the dark cave. They didn't know they just started a chain that would wipe out the Masked Bandits from existence.

Arghh!

The two Masked Bandits left behind suddenly groaned in pain as their bodies got pinned to the mountain wall. An Earth Wall blocked their movements and Liu Ye immediately began pummeling their faces. One wouldn't spot a moment of hesitation on his face.

It was either them or his four levels would vanish and that would be painful.

"Help!"

The bandits let out the last effort shout for backup but that was exactly what they wanted.

[Ding! You killed the Masked Bandit. You received 200 Experience and 5 silver.]

[Ding! You killed the Masked Bandit. You received 200 Experience and 5 silver.]

Just as Liu Ye heard two notifications, the other two bandits returned to the surface only to suffer the same fate.

They screamed as Liu Ye rammed his shoulder into their side, knocking them both to the ground.

-23

-23

Liu Ye sat on the man with his weight and punched without an explanation. Vice-leader Marco didn't spare his own target either as his rock crashed repeatedly with the bandit's head.

Their HP fell drastically but they didn't go down without a struggle.

"Fuck off!" The Masked Bandit cursed while blasting a fireball at Liu Ye's face.

-30

[Ding! Fireball applied burn. You will lose 10 HP every second for the next three seconds.]

Liu Ye gritted his teeth as flames covered his vision but he didn't stop punching, ending the man's life despite the pain. Even though he heard the notification, his eyes were burning which blinded him for the next three seconds.

"Everything alright?" Vice-leader Marco asked as he patted Liu Ye on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I am fine…" Liu Ye muttered as he whipped out a health potion. "I can handle this much pain."

It was hard to get used to it but at least it wasn't as painful as in real life. He already knew it would be completely gone after a short moment, so he slowly conditioned his mind to ignore it.

"How about you start bringing other bandits here and we kill them all one by one?" Liu Ye suggested as he checked the time of his run.

[Time: 00:16:43]

He sighed as he felt the desire to speedrun but he resisted his urges. Compared to other players, he couldn't dodge any bandits and had to kill them all to complete his quest. Having 12 hours left, he didn't need to hurry and risk making a mistake.

"Alright. The rest should be inside the mine. Let me get someone," Vice-leader Marco nodded and entered inside the mine.

Liu Ye could only hide near the entrance wall while waiting for their new target. He knew they wouldn't be coming for a moment so he finally pulled out his inventory window to check his new goods.

The Water Stone didn't have any difference compared to the Fire Stone but the Ice Queen's Heart was an interesting one.

[Ice Queen's Heart]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Description: Blood from the monster heart is often used as an ingredient for high-value potions. Find an experienced Potion Maker to guide you.]

Liu Ye didn't see any strengthening potions in the Newbie Village shop but it was good information he could share with Xu Yue. Potion Making would be a good opportunity to earn more money and he can sell her the ingredients he finds.

Hearing no one was coming from the mine, Liu Ye opened Black Rose's bag. Strangely enough, he only found one item with all the potions used and finally understood her frustration.

[Black Viper] [Locked]

[Description: A player-bound sword emanating with the power of Fire Element. The Spirit inside the sword has connected with a player Black Rose. No other player would be able to bring its true potential.]

[Damage: Unknown]

[Effects: Unknown]

[Requirements: Unknown]

It was an Elemental sword! Judging by the fact it even had a Spirit inside of it, the sword was definitely worth a lot. Even though Liu Ye couldn't use it, he could always sell it back to Black Rose after she saved enough.

Liu Ye closed his profile and waited. When five minutes passed, he could tell that something went wrong. Thankfully, the game was kind enough to help him this time.

[Ding! Quest Luring Threat got updated.]

He gave it a quick check and found a side quest attached at the bottom.

[Save Marco]

[Marco got captured and requires your assistance.]

[Difficulty: A]

[Quest Clear Conditions: Save Marco and escort him back to the Newbie Village.]

[Clear Reward: 5 gold, Affinity with Marco +50]