VRMMO: Passing of the Sword

Crippled Feather was very condescending as he retorted, “Nonsense! I don’t believe anyone from the tumultuous region would dare to take up that quest.”

“What if I’m just taking it up for fun?” This was a rare instance that Blue Maple had some kind of emotion in his voice. He was being a little sarcastic.

“You! I’m going to kill you!” Crippled Feather knew that the person in front of him was mocking him, and was instantly infuriated!

Crippled Feather instantly entered stealth mode and disappeared.

No fighting was allowed in town because there were civilians. As for the Mercenary Union, the rules dictated that mercenaries were inherently risky and didn’t care for their lives. No one cared about fights in the union, as long as no NPCs inside the union were hurt.

Blue Maple appeared very calm amid all that happened. He acted as if nothing had happened. Those who were still watching held their breath, not daring to exhale.

They didn’t know where Blue Maple came from. However, Crippled Feather was truly among the top ten in the leaderboard. If such a player fought, how could they not be excited? Some of them even secretly activated their video function.

The three skills of a Thief’s first class advancement were Stealth, Backstab, and Eviscerate.

Stealth was used to conceal oneself, while Backstab allowed a Thief to invoke dizziness in the opponent. Eviscerate intensified the harm done to an opponent from using Backstab.

Crippled Feather furrowed his brow as he looked at Blue Maple from one corner, From the looks of it, it seems like he’s a left-hander. That’s weird. Among the left-handers, I don’t remember him...

In fact, Blue Maple wanted to use both hands, but he decided against it and chose to train his left hand, so he changed to left-hand use of his sword. However, his left hand was already trained. Perhaps he was trying to conceal something.

Damn it, don’t tell me he’s really acting to increase his fame. He didn’t even draw his sword. Fuck!, Crippled Feather was infuriated as he thought to himself. He was really afraid that Blue Maple was pulling a fast one on him.

Just as he was getting more and more furious, Blue Maple walked in front of the counter.

“He’s left. Pass Quest S09 to me.” Blue Maple calmly said to the NPC.

“Ugh…” The NPC was confused.

“What the fuck. That works? Impressive.”

“This is my first time seeing someone stealing a quest like this. What a skill!”

“Bloody hell. I’ve seen so many quest stealers, but this guy must be tired of living.”...

I must kill this bastard!, Crippled Feather thought to himself. However, he didn’t shout out loud. This was a good habit he had developed in reality. When killing someone, it was best not to announce it!

After waiting for countless seconds, Crippled Feather suddenly unleashed an attack. Even though he was infuriated, he still maintained a clear mind. He wasn’t going to recklessly charge up to hack someone.

Backstab!

Is he here? A smirk flashed across Blue Maple’s face.

No wonder he’s one of the best. But...

Blue Maple swiftly crouched, shifting laterally before turning around while unleashing a sweeping kick!

“What!” Crippled Feather completely didn’t expect the move. Blue Maple immediately reacted the moment he made a move. Blue Maple quickly dodged his attack and even counterattacked!

“Asshole!” Crippled Feather immediately lifted his hand to block Blue Maple’s sweeping kick. How is it so fast?, Crippled Feather was horrified as he thought to himself.

Peng! Blue Maple’s leg struck Crippled Feather’s arm hard.

When Crippled Feather lowered his arm after he blocked Blue Maple’s attack, Blue Maple had already vanished from in front of his eyes.

The next moment, Crippled Feather sensed a strong killing intent coming from behind him. It was already too late for him to avoid the attack. An ice-cold sword was already laid horizontally across his neck!

He had lost!

He had lost the moment he used his Backstab. Everything had happened so quickly. It was so quick that there was simply no time to respond!

Crippled Feather was horrified as he thought to himself, Who exactly is this guy?!

“What exactly just happened? Didn’t Crippled Feather use his Backstab? How did that fellow’s sword land on Crippled Feather’s neck?”

“Who the fuck saw what just happened?”

“It seems like that fellow immediately dodged Crippled Feather’s attack before he sweeping-kicked Crippled Feather. If not for Crippled Feather’s quick reaction, he would already have been kicked away. But how did that fellow’s sword end up on Crippled Feather’s neck?”

“Who videoed it? Let’s take a look at it!”

“Yes, the recording. Let’s look at the recording!”...

Crippled Feather recovered after his momentary shock. He knew that Blue Maple must have used a Skill to instantly shift behind him. However, he was still astonished at how Blue Maple knew that he was going to attack and managed to dodge so quickly. Given that deft and swift reaction, he knew that Blue Maple was no ordinary expert.

No! He couldn’t have predicted my attack. Rather, it’s his reflexes!, Crippled Feather was thought to himself in horror.

Who exactly is this guy? His personality doesn’t fit those guys who I don’t have any information on. If he’s a left-hander too, then I seriously cannot think of anyone who fits his profile…, Crippled Feather still couldn’t figure out Blue Maple’s identity.

The surrounding players were still in commotion. Blue Maple and Crippled Feather remained in this state until Blue Maple opened his mouth.

“Isn’t the old name better, Tian Sha?” Blue Maple spoke in a manner that only Crippled Feather could hear. At the same time, he retracted his sword and placed it back into the sword holder behind his back. (A swordsman’s sword is either placed behind his back or to the side of his waist.)

“What the fuck?! This guy knows my real identity.” Crippled Feather turned around to look at Blue Maple, astonished once again. Blue Maple appeared very leisurely, but Crippled Feather was completely confused.

Tian Sha was the best and youngest assassin in the current world. He once killed the president of a country single-handedly and managed to escape successfully. He didn’t even assassinate the president from afar, and that president was not from a small country. The country was even considered rather important in the current world. As the country descended into rage upon the assassination of their president, Tian Sha rose through the ranks and built his reputation as the king of assassins. The entire world of assassins and mercenaries were astonished by what he accomplished. This had happened only a year ago.

It was established that he was only eighteen years old when he completed the assassination attempt. This also meant that he was only nineteen now. However, he did look slightly older than he was. He appeared to be in his twenties.

Not to mention the various countries, those in the world of assassins hardly ever saw Tian Sha’s true appearance. However, Blue Maple recognized him immediately. How could this not leave Tian Sha astonished? It was just that he was called Crippled Feather now...

“I still thought you left. Do you still want that quest? If you don’t want it, I’ll take it.” Blue Maple appeared as nonchalant as ever. No feelings of joy or anger could be seen on his face.

However, Crippled Feather could still sense his sarcasm, even though he couldn’t tell anything from his tone. It seemed Blue Maple was indifferent to everything despite what had happened. He easily dodged the sneak attack and quickly counterattacked. It was like everything was no trouble for him at all. whereas Crippled Feather was still stuck in his state of shock.

“Fuck me, who exactly is this guy? He’s still thinking about the quest now. He challenged someone in the top ten of the leaderboard, but he doesn’t feel the pressure at all. Don’t tell me he’s also one of the top ten in the leaderboard? We can’t even see his name!”

“Exactly. He seemed to have used a Skill earlier. It’s definitely from a Hidden Class.”

“Hidden Class... there shouldn’t be many in the game. Even if he’s not in the top ten, he must be some impressive character.”...

As he heard the commotion all around, Crippled Feather was slowly about to burst out in anger. Whereas Blue Maple...

“Seems like it’s a no. I shall take it over, then.”

“You!” Crippled Feather finally burst out in anger. “Do you dare to take up the quest with me? We’ll challenge to see who completes more of the final quest!” Crippled Feather glared at Blue Maple as he dared the other.

“I’m fine with that.” Of course he was fine with that. Blue Maple was good with it as long as he could take up the quest.

Jointly taking up a quest and challenging who completed it to a higher degree was one of the challenge modes in the game. As long as it was not a solo quest, it could be undertaken by two people and carried out jointly. The system would eventually decide who completed it to a higher degree. If the final verdict was deemed unfair or illogical, customer service could be requested to intervene. Blue Maple was fully aware of this.

“Although I don’t know who you are and what Class you are of, I want you to know that you cannot underestimate Crippled Feather!” Crippled Feather huffed in a serious manner.

His ego is really strong, Blue Maple thought to himself. At the same time, he replied as nonchalantly as ever, “Okay.”

“You!...Hmph! He and I are taking up Quest S09, and we are doing it in challenge mode.” Crippled Feather didn’t want to talk to Blue Maple anymore. He turned around and spoke to the NPC directly.

“Alright, wait a minute!” The NPC retrieved the quest plaque before taking out an unmarked quest plaque. After that, she pressed both plaques together.

When they joined together, they shone with white lights. After they glowed for a brief moment, two identical quest plaques appeared in the NPC’s hands. They were distributed to Blue Maple and Crippled Feather.

Ding! Announcement: Do you accept the quest [Exterminating Goblins] with Player Crippled Feather (Blue Maple) in a challenge mode?

After receiving the quest plaques, two blue floating quest panels surfaced in front of Blue Maple and Crippled Feather. However, they could only see the information on their own respective panels. When the others saw those two panels, they could only see illuminated screens.

Evidently, it was pre-designed to be like that. Crippled Feather’s floating panel was illuminated with blue lights, and nothing else could be seen. If it wasn’t like that, Blue Maple wouldn’t be confident of undertaking the quest. Otherwise, he didn’t know what trouble would ensue if others saw his name.

“Accept!” Both of them clicked at almost the same time. Crippled Feather furrowed his brow. Blue Maple?! That guy from the first day? I’ve never actually heard of this guy before. Did he change his name? For people like me, there aren’t many who change their names, apart from the few extremely well-known ones.

“Forget it. Let’s not care who this fellow is. I must let this guy know that the name Tian Sha wasn’t given to me for nothing!”

---

Blue Maple didn’t think of so many things. He was only relieved that he had finally taken up this quest.

Quest S01? If it wasn’t necessary, Blue Maple wouldn’t even do something like that. It was clearly stated that he had to face a Rank 50 Boss, and he wasn’t confident of winning. Things might be different if he had completed his second Class Advancement, but he had no choice but to consider this quest. After all, bears could stand. Since they could stand, they were still quite close to being human-shaped...

Bears were also clumsier. Avoiding their attacks would probably be more convenient.

However, Blue Maple and Crippled Feather didn’t know that the system forum was about to be flooded with activity. This was because someone had secretly uploaded everything what happened online. The title of the video was: Hidden Class Expert’s Big Fight with Crippled Feather...

Crippled Feather headed towards the exit first. He was about to proceed to the quest location. Blue Maple followed close behind, but he wasn’t in a rush. He didn’t need to make up for anything. That he was here to take up quests meant that he was naturally prepared.

Blue Maple was a little eager as he thought to himself, Boring quests are killing me. I wonder if this will be more interesting, Tian Sha!

Everything was planned by Blue Maple. Otherwise, Blue Maple wouldn’t have unnecessarily created trouble for himself. He had exploited Tian Sha’s strong ego!