The misty mountains fell quiet with everyone dead. A wyvern screeched somewhere in the distance. The humid air felt a little chilly. Monsters didn’t seem to attack us, and the area felt safe.

  I’d never held this much money in my inventory at once.

  I let out a stupefied laugh. “Did we just beat a full guild? Mythforged?”

  A gust of wind grabbed Veyra’s hair. She shrugged at me, amused. “They weren’t very good for a top guild. Most players up here are much tougher. SpellDao had some good gear, but he was caught off guard, and their formation fell apart easily after.”

  That’s just because your quick-casting is absolutely insane, I thought. Out loud, I said, “You must be a top player. Someone’s alternate low-level account?”

  “Nope, this is my main,” Veyra said. “Rude of you to call me low-level, though.”

  That last part came with a teasing smile. I remained cautious. She must have been lying. Only a top player could perform as well as she did against a full guild. She hadn’t even overpowered them with good gear and more stats—if anything, she was underleveled as well. She fought them by reading the battlefield and breaking their formation.

  Also… this wouldn’t be the first time a pretty girl betrayed me for gear in a similar situation. I had to be wary that she didn’t kill me as well.

  I had an insane amount of loot in my inventory. If I died now, I’d lose it all. I needed to get into a safe zone right about now and back to the city to auction all the items I didn’t need.

  “Um,” the NPC rider of the carriage said. He sat petrified in fear, having somehow survived the fight. The horses had escaped and run off at some point of the battle, leaving him alone. “I don’t taste good… There’s no need to kill me…”

  “You sit still and don’t move, sir,” Veyra said. “We’ll see what to do with your quest soon.” She drank a health potion and began collecting the loot from the remaining corpses.

  While she did that, I checked my inventory, and I equipped all the expensive gear pieces that I could. With the items equipped, if I died, I’d only lose one equipped gear piece as opposed to everything in my inventory.

  I couldn’t equip SpellDao’s robe, Dark Enlightenment, but everything else fit. Proxy4raxgg dropped his headpiece, Enna’s Holy Circlet (Epic, Unique, Headpiece). The item’s main stat was spell power, and its abilities gave buffs to paladin skills. It would sell for at least a thousand or two.

  The circlet was useless, but I wore it temporarily just to not lose it. Equipping it meant my hood no longer gave double stats, but I could still keep the hood up cosmetically.

  Fadeout, the ranger, dropped a Great Elf’s Bow (Epic). Not a unique, but a sought-after solid bow regardless, five hundred dollars minimum. I equipped it instead of my mithril dagger. The swordsman I killed dropped Bonering (Rare, Unique), which was only a rare, but it was a unique with some interesting stats, so it would probably sell for three hundred dollars or so.

  The best drop was obviously Cursed Lichfang. That one was worth ten thousand minimum. And not only that, it was also perfect for my class, coming straight from the rank 3 assassin.

  My character looked out of place now with all the miscellaneous equipment, bow in one hand and a random paladin circlet wrapped around my forehead, but at least I would only lose one gear piece out of all if I died. A pussy move, perhaps, but anyone who was as broke as I was right now would have done the same.

  Veyra was also examining her drops. Her inventory was blurred to other players as she scrolled it, but I could see that she was looking at her character sheet. “What did their mage drop?” she asked.

  “His robe,” I said.

  “Shame. His staff looked good,” she said. “Show me the robe, if you don’t mind.”

  I gave her a look. “That wasn’t a question, was it?”

  “I portaled him straight to you for an easy kill,” Veyra said, not in an argumentative tone; she spoke as if she was merely stating a fact. “I’m a mage. I can actually equip it.”

  I thought about my options. The robe was worth at least a few thousand dollars, which I needed, but Veyra was right. Keeping it would definitely be a dick move. I wouldn’t have half as much gear right now if not for Veyra’s help. Not to mention, I had a legendary dagger in my inventory, which outweighed every other drop combined.

  I gave her the robe. She studied its stats. Her mouth formed a disappointed line. “Eh, it’s not very good.”

  “It gives six thousand spell power,” I said. “With a few multipliers, that’s enough to one-shot pretty much anyone.”

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  “Sure, except it gives zero reduction to cast-times, and it offers no mobility,” Veyra said. “It’s a great robe for mages that want to sit on their asses all day. Everyone else will know it’s useless. SpellDao also died because his casting was too slow.”

  She placed it into her inventory anyway, keeping it.

  “I need to destroy some dragon egg here,” Veyra said. “Do you have the same quest?”

  “Actually, I need to protect that egg,” I said. “But I wasn’t planning on completing the quest anyway. Quests tend to draw traffic for easy assassinations. You're free to destroy it.”

  But if I kill her, I thought, not only do I get the robe back, I can also complete the S-ranked quest, and I’d get one of her gear pieces.

  Tempting indeed… Once again, I wasn’t surprised at all that Wonderwind was known for its dramatic betrayals.

  “I see,” Veyra said. “Mind sharing the quest details?”

  I raised my eyebrow, but I didn’t see why not. I opened up the quest log, and I showed the details and rewards to Veyra. I checked the details as well to see if anything had changed. To my surprise, it had.

  Quest: Protect the Ray Dragon’s hatching egg (S-Tier Event Quest) (Recommended Level: 240+)

  Quest Details: The Ray Dragon’s egg awaits in the holy spring near the Highray Rogue Encampment. The egg is about to hatch.

  Completion Conditions: Protect the Ray Drake egg until it hatches.

  Quest Reward: Maximum affinity with Olaf and the Highray Rogue Encampment. +5000 Gold, +10 million experience. High probability of a follow-up quest.

  Quest Failure: Olaf will kill you on sight. Follow-up quests will be destroyed.

  Veyra lifted her head, surprised. “You have an S-ranked quest? And you were about to let it go?”

  “I don’t really do this questing thing,” I said. “Killing people tends to be much easier.”

  “The quest is almost completed,” Veyra said. “And the rewards are much higher than what my A-ranked quest for destroying it would give.” She grinned up at me. “Want to complete it together?”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  I took a moment to register her offer. Veyra’s proposal was still favorable to her. Completing the quest together would split the rewards for no reason. It would be much more profitable for me to kill her and complete the quest alone.

  But how nice would it be to complete an S ranked quest with a literal god of quick-casting?

  “Sure,” I said. “You did half the work killing Mythforged. Half the rewards are only fair.”

  Veyra grinned, looking satisfied, and I shared the quest to her. She took a confident step further up the path, toward the village. “This way, right?”

  “I can lead the way, you know,” I said.

  She just smiled and continued walking.

  I walked next to her. This silly girl. What was the point of leading the way if she didn’t even know where we were going?

  Maybe she was making fun of me, or she just didn’t take me seriously. I didn’t really care either way. I was positively rich right now. The quest completion would also give enough experience to bring me close to the level requirement needed to equip Cursed Lichfang. Level-ups and gear were always a step above social connections in my priorities list.

  But admittedly… I was considering sending her a friend request.

  “You can call me A, by the way,” I said to break the silence.

  “So your real name isn’t Assassin?” Veyra smirked.

  “No, my family of assassins unfortunately didn’t let me inherit the class title itself as my name,” I said.

  “Really?” she asked. “A family of assassins? Like hitmen?”

  “Nah,” I said. “I grew up eating playdough and crayons.”

  Veyra chuckled a little, until a stone wyvern screeched above. Her staff flicked up toward the mist, and the tip of her staff followed the wyvern with near laser precision. Her aim was incredible, just as precise as her casting.

  I got to watch the magic happen up close as she quick-cast another projectile. [Arcane Javelin] shot from her staff, hitting the Stone Wyvern (Level 274) in its neck. A perfect hit.

  The wyvern let out a surprised screech. Its scales weren’t pierced—Veyra was too low level—but the attack startled it enough for it to fly off. Monsters in Wonderwind often worked like real animals. They didn’t mindlessly charge players. If they felt threatened, they escaped.

  “Nice shot,” I said, though that compliment didn’t do any justice to the display of pure precision I’d just witnessed.

  Veyra didn’t react at all. She lowered her staff calmly and asked, “So you’re American?”

  “Yeah, from New York,” I said. “And you?”

  “Definitely not from America,” Veyra said. “I’d lose my mind over there. Everything is so expensive. And the cars and roads… Where do you even go for walks?”

  “Walks?” I asked. “Those are?”

  She smiled. I added, “I just use a treadmill. That’s much more pleasant than going to the city.”

  That was a lie. I definitely did not use a treadmill. I probably should have, and I should have eaten better and all, but honestly, fuck all that healthy shit and real life. If I’d been looking for jobs like my dad had asked, I wouldn’t have had a legendary dagger in my hands, now, would I?

  “A treadmill," Veyra said, shaking her head. “And do you also drive a tank with raised wheels?”

  I don’t own a car, I thought, and I wondered if I should admit that or not. Gods… I really sucked at socializing. As if some car would somehow impress others.

  “My family of crayon-eating assassins tend to move around with ninjitsu nonsense and stuff like that,” I said. “But we always remember to look both ways at the crosswalk. Wouldn’t want soccer moms or truck dads running us over.”

  “Oh, America has crosswalks these days?” Veyra asked.

  “Nah,” I said. “I wouldn’t know. I play Wonderwind. I don’t go outside.”

  Veyra let out a laugh, until her grin fell. Her eyes turned strangely somber. “Yeah… It’s way nicer here than outside.”

  I blinked at the sincerity of her voice, and that was the last of our small talk before the village gates came into sight.