When he reopened his eyes, Arc found himself in the middle of a medieval city. Of course, he wasn’t in the center exactly, but he was in an alleyway, so no one had seen him materialize.

“So, we’re in Panitris. Who’s the target?”

In front of him was a green-eyed cat with blackish-blue fur: a Russian Blue.

“Be quiet. If the Panitris NPCs saw that you can speak, they’d be totally shocked.”

“I guess you’re right. Then, I’ll communicate through telepathy.”

Arc emotionlessly looked at Ellie as the latter let out a luscious meow~.

As if he’d been born wearing it, Arc’s entire body was wrapped in black, light leather armor. There was a gap between the top of the armor covering his nose bridge and the bottom of his hat, revealing his eyes, the only visible part of him.

“I should review the quest information first.”

“I’m not allowed to take things without prior authorization.”

“Yeah, that sucks. We’re running low on money, too.”

While listening to Ellie’s telepathic reply, Arc left the alleyway to find that there were quite a few people walking up and down the street. Everyone paused for a moment when they saw Arc’s unique leather outfit, but when he strolled away without drawing any more attention to himself, people soon lost interest and continued what they were doing. Most just glanced his way and thought, ‘What a weird get-up.’

He wasn’t showing off too much skin or harming others, so no one was barring his movements. Even in the real world’s modern society, if he were to leave his house in the same outfit, he may get a few stares, but almost no one would approach and ask why he was wearing such odd clothing.

‘North of here.’

As he walked, Arc listened to the many conversations around him. Since everyone was speaking in a language he couldn’t understand, Arc reached into the pocket of his black coat and took out a pinky-sized device. It was shaped like a modern wireless earbud, and it was called an ‘interpreter.’ Arc placed the interpreter in his right ear, beginning to understand the various conversation around him.

“It’s here.”

“Hmm? Who are you?”

Arc stood in front of a mercenary group’s entrance gate. One mercenary was standing guard with a slouch, blocking Arc’s entrance. They probably stood in Arc’s way because of the player’s suspicious outfit, but Arc didn’t care.

“I’ve come to see Sting.”

“What? How crazy are you? Where do you think you are? You can’t just come to the mercenary headquarters and state our leader’s name so brazenly-”

“Come out, Sting! I’ve come to challenge you!”

Disregarding the guard, Arc used his Roaring Lion skill to shout. The yell reverberated, shaking the guard and making him crumple to the floor from the overwhelming shockwaves. Roaring Lion was a skill that Buddhist practitioners used to chase away demons or make them submit. It was also the highest-ranking sound-based attack that the Buddhist practitioners possessed. Arc wasn’t an expert in the technique, nor did he expend much energy when using the skill, but it had rippled through the mercenary headquarters and caused quite a commotion nonetheless.

“W-what was that just now?”

“A challenge? A challenge, right?”

A whole group of mercenary soldiers spilled out from the headquarters. Most of them were only Level 2 or Level 3 soldiers, but a few who were Level 4 or higher were also scattered here and there. This mercenary group seemed to be quite powerful.

“Oho, a visitor who is looking for me. How interesting - I haven’t been challenged in ages.”

Soon, a large man with a scar across his face appeared, carrying his weapon of choice on his back: a Bastard Sword. Despite being a fair distance from the man, Arc could easily sense the aura of a well-trained and experienced swordsman emanating from him. It seemed that this large man was an NPC with considerable skills and abilities.

“My name is Arc. I challenge you to a one-on-one duel.”

When conducting a quest, one had to speak and act respectfully. If he had caused a commotion at the front gate, Arc would’ve had to fight the entire mercenary group rather than just the leader. Similarly, Arc also had to convince the large man to agree to a duel. If he failed, Arc would have to fight the entire mercenary group. This scenario differed from how it was previously, as foes would no longer just appear in front of users after entering a battlefield. That was a thing of the past, a previous version of the game. Now, after a patch, users had to take some extra steps before fighting their quest target, whether that be negotiating or navigating other conditions.

“Hot damn. I’m speechless. You just showed up, but you’re already asking for a fight. What do I get out of this?”

Sss. Cling. Cling.

Without responding, Arc reached into his robe, pulled out a sack, and dumped two gold coins onto the street. Once the mercenaries saw this, their expressions instantly changed. Similar to the difference between the Korean won, Chinese yuan, and American dollars, the gold in DIO also had regional differences. For example, Dynamic Island’s Starting gold had a different value from Panitris’ gold. Dynamic Island’s gold was worth around ten times more. In other words, the two gold that Arc had just dumped on the street was worth 20 gold in Panitris.

“Oho, so it seems a rich silk pants has appeared.”

In Panitris, a single Panitris gold piece was enough to purchase an entire cow. Since a cow in real life costs between three to four million Won or 2,500 to 3,200 USD, 20 Panitris gold could be equated to around sixty to eighty million won. And while the cows’ quality would differ, this was still an incredible sum of money, to say the least.

“Since it may seem crude to try and sway a mercenary leader with just money, I will also offer up my life. Furthermore, even if I happen to win, I won’t necessarily take your life. I have no use for it.”

Arc’s tone and his way of speaking left no room for jokes; it was as if he was simply stating a fact. Before, the mercenaries were completely focused on the gold in the street, but after hearing Arc, they all jeered with angry, hateful expressions. The air was tense, and the atmosphere seemed to be turning for the worst, but Arc stood firm. He didn’t even bat an eye.

“This guy, he just says whatever comes to mind without thinking about it. So, you think that there’s no chance of losing, huh? In addition, you chose to fight under unfavorable conditions-”

“Why are you speaking so many words? Perhaps, you’re….”

Arc’s monotone voice cut off the leader, seemingly lacking any humor or emotions in general as he continued.

“… scared?”

“Hahaha!”

Sting broke out into a burst of hearty laughter, and with little delay, everything around him was filled with bone-chilling killing intent.

“This little bastard thinks he’s hot shit since I’ve been answering his questions and talking respectfully. You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you!”

Clang!

Sting’s sudden strike came out of nowhere, and he moved so fast that Arc was only barely able to block with the palm of his left hand. There was a tremendous amount of force and power behind the attack, which made the lack of any preparations even more mind-blowing. Even with his magic-imbued leather armor and self-defense technique, Arc still felt his bones shake as Sting’s attack reverberated inside of him. However, Arc didn’t show any signs of being taken aback, as this was an obvious outcome. After all, this was a Level 7 test. Inevitably, his opponent would be capable of challenging him.

“You’re pretty good!”

After attacking, Sting had distanced himself from Arc and grabbed his Bastard Sword from his back, holding it in both hands. Then, he stabbed forward three consecutive times. Of course, Arc deflected every strike, even the accompanying shockwaves.

“Ack!”

“Avoid the shockwaves!”

The shockwaves weren’t strong enough to kill someone by touching them, but since they were being constantly unleashed from the fight, the surroundings became unsafe for the observing mercenaries. This was why they started backpedaling and making room for the two fighters.

“I’m letting you know in advance. I’m also a mage.”

“Hmph, why are you spewing nonsense all of a sudden?”

As Sting had his Bastard Sword raised to attack at any moment, Arc looked at the NPC and spoke in his trademark emotionless, monotone voice.

“I just don’t want to hear you cry about how you lost because I used magic.”

“You little…!”

Bam! Clang! Boom!

Arc believed firmly that, aside from those consumed by fear, the easiest opponent was one who’d lost all reasoning ability. Sting had grown enraged and raised his energy and power levels accordingly, which is why he started showing openings in his attacks. With this advantage, Arc didn’t let this chance go to waste as he counterattacked. His internal energy-filled strikes caused Sting’s injuries to stack, and soon, blood started trickling down from the corner of the NPC’s lips.

“Master!”

“That fucker!”