Second World

Jack looked back at him without averting his gaze, he said, "well, to be fair, I am not your member when I told you about my level. Let's say it was my attempt at throwing you off guard. But that said, I will still not inform you about my level. I have something that can conceal my info, and that is one of my edges. I'm not about to give out my info just because you demand it and lose this advantage of mine. If you can't accept that, then you can just kick me out of the guild."

"Why, you…!" Bigarm was about to scold him again, but Scarface stopped him.

"All right, I can accept your reasoning. I will not pursue this subject, but I would prefer if you don't keep too many secrets from the guild."

"As a matter of fact, I have been intending to share with you the information about the Hunters Association," Jack lied. "That's why I was surprised by the fact that you have already known about it. A big guild's intel is really nothing to be scoffed at."

Scarface was just smiling at the compliment. Jack was actually truly surprised by the fact that Death Associates knew about the Hunters Association info. Even White Scarfs guild which had more member counts was not aware of it when he was telling them about it last night. Did that mean Death Associates was a more capable guild?

"So how many advanced class players do you have?" Jack asked.

"Including you, six," Scarface replied.

Jack was again astonished. This guild which had lower member counts than White Scarfs was having the same number of members who had achieved advanced class, if not including himself. That's mean their core fighting strength was the same.

He had heard that the current Death Associates in this capital was just a splinter from the actual Death Associates guild. He couldn't imagine how terrifying the guild was if they could assemble all their original members. Perhaps he had really gotten himself a troublesome foe.

"Now with the addition of you, we will be able to complete more hunting quests swiftly," Scarface said.

"Wait a minute," Jack said. "I did intend to share with you the info about Hunters Association. However, regarding the hunting quest, I am perfectly fine to complete the quests by myself. Although it will be faster with the help of the guild, how do you suggest we split the rewards?"

"You…! The coin reward and trophy item drops should be given to the guild as contributions!" Bigarm exclaimed. He was truly unsatisfied with Jack's attitude.

Jack was unmoved by Bigarm's outburst, "I've already explained before that I had no interest in the guild's contribution points. But I can share 20% of the coin reward and trophy item drops if you spare some players under my command. Otherwise, it was perfectly fine for me to just do the quests on my own."

"The guild is in dire need of coins, I can agree with an equal split on the coin reward and trophy item drop," Scarface negotiated.

"I'm also in need of coins, 30%."

"40! Let's not act like traders on fish markets. If this is unacceptable, then it's better that we go our own ways."

Jack decided not to push his luck too far, he said, "Okay. Let's do 60:40 then. I will give the 40% of the coins and trophy items as a courtesy for allowing me to join the guild, but all other drops will be fully mine."

This guy, even when yielding he could still do it in a cocky way, Bigarm was thoroughly incensed.

Scarface, on the other hand, was not too fussy about it. He took Jack to meet the other upper-core members, but he did not see any other advanced class players that Scarface had mentioned, which he was sure that Red Death was one of them.

Scarface informed Jack that those members had been busy being out in the field to complete the hunting quests. He himself was originally also just back from completing hunting quests. He came by here after receiving Bigarm's report about a potential recruit.

After the brief introduction to important members of the guild, he told Jack to rest as it was late already. He also instructed Bigarm to assign a few members to Jack to assist him in his hunting quests tomorrow.

Jack didn't make any detour after departing with the people of Death Associates. He returned straight to Amy's Bakery, but he did not forget to change his appearance back to Storm Wind first. Otherwise, he would have some explanations to do barging into the Bakery in his Mage disguise. Before he entered the bakery, he could see the building next door was covered by construction cloth. He could hear sounds of workers working behind the cloth. He didn't see Bill or Ellie around, they must have gone back to do their own things.

He spent the rest of the night practicing his rune forming. After experiencing the fight between Mages with Scarface, he realized more about the importance of speed casting. If he was to perform well under his Mage disguise, he could not be slow in forming his rune formation.

The next morning, he woke up early and departed as Scarface had made an appointment for him to meet early. When he left Amy's Bakery, the construction of the restaurant was still well underway. He looked for a secluded corner and changed into Unrivalled Arcaner, then he headed to the West gate which was the rendezvous point.

When he arrived at the gate, he met with six Death Associates members whom Bigarm had arranged for him. The allocated six members were divided equally between the three basic classes, two Fighters, two Rangers, and two Magicians. Surprisingly, he knew one of the members, or maybe more accurately, that member was one of his past victims.

He was staring at Warpath, who was known as a proud independent player who never submitted to any guild. But here he was. Jack even scanned him using his God-Eye monocle. There was indeed a guild tag under his name, indicating that he was truly a formal member of Death Associates.

His scan also showed that expert to be at level 12, which astounded Jack further. It had only been five days since he killed the fellow. It took him only short several days to increase his level from 1 back to 12. Seeing it made Jack wonder if the killing had actually made an impact on the guy or not.

But in actuality, Warpath had let go of his pride as an expert independent player and joined a guild in order to gain help in power leveling. That meant he had foregone his independence and was now in debt with the guild. The guild did not disappoint him, since he was used to be an expert player, they had high hope for him. They had attached him to numerous high-level teams to fight high-level monsters. He had accumulated experiences non-stop that allowed his level to skyrocket in just a few short days.

His decision in choosing Death Associates was not random. He would not degrade himself to join second-rate guild. But the most important factor was, he had heard that this guild also had a beef with Storm Wind, which was his nemesis. He swore he would build back his strength, and when he was strong enough, he would take his revenge. And with Death Associates' enmity against his enemy, he might not be alone when it was time for him to take his revenge.

Little did he know, the nemesis that he had a grudge with, was standing just a few feet from him, and had even been appointed as his team leader for the current mission. He noticed Jack's stare, even though he had lost his levels and equipment, his pride still made him hot-headed. "What the hell are you looking at?" He said in a hostile manner.

Jack was amused. If he was his usual self, he would just ignore the fool, but since he was now pretending to be an arrogant expert, he figured he should play the part. Instead of replying to Warpath's impolite words, he simply cast Mana Bullet.

Warpath was completely unprepared, the spell hit him squarely on his face. The force and shock caused him to fall backward. A large amount of damage appeared on his head since their levels were too far apart. He looked at Jack in disbelief.

"Another disrespectful word from you, and I will send you to your grave!" Jack uttered with an imperious tone.