Chapter 274: Reunion of Old Friends
"...A smuggling route."
Fang Raon thought out loud.
It made sense that there was some way for the locals to move between floors that didn’t include fighting through the boss to get there.
However.
He had no idea that players could actually access that smuggling route.
"Are you up for it?"
Raizen asked.
"...Before that, I need to mention that I actually have a Legacy skill already—Aurel’s Blade Dance."
Fang Raon said.
"That’s fine. You haven’t upgraded it to level 3 yet?"
Raizen asked.
"No. Not a single percentage yet."
Fang Raon wryly smiled.
"It is harder to upgrade Legacy skills than normal skills. We can still take a visit to the Player Market and find another person’s legacy skill for you, if you want.
"I don’t know who this Aurel is, but since I haven’t heard about him, he must be a Minor Legacy Character. We can definitely find legacies of stronger ones for you."
Raizen said.
"...Well, I am down."
Fang Raon said.
He really did want to take a visit to that Player Market place.
"There are some shady locals that are willing to smuggle players through the smuggling routes. I think we can find one on the 7th floor."
Raizen said.
’...7th floor, the Desert Floor. I don’t really have good memories of that place, as I only remember getting my stuff robbed and having to deal with that Randell guy.’
Fang Raon thought.
In that moment, Raizen pulled out a Tower Pearl and then destroyed it with a strong squeeze—the shattered pearl vanished into a purple mist.
And then... purple mist suddenly engulfed Raizen, and he quickly grabbed Raon by his arm, and both of them suddenly vanished from the roof of the Macarena Building.
...
Swoosh~! The wind of desert dust blew past his nose as Fang Raon opened his eyes to a view of the desert city on the 7th floor.
Beside him, Raizen pulled a bandana mask from his inventory and put it on to hide his mouth and nose.
Then, he took a second one from his inventory and handed it to Raon, who also put it on to shield himself from the sandstorm.
"At night here, the sand and dust would be unbearable without these masks."
Raizen said.
Fang Raon nodded, as in just a few seconds without a mask here, he felt like he could barely breathe.
Then, he noticed the locals and players on the floor were also wearing different kinds of masks and even hooded robes.
"Follow me."
Raizen said and started walking through the dusty night air, and Raon followed closely behind.
The 7th floor was a shady place, and as soon as they arrived here, there were many players eyeing them up.
"Are they good targets?" they were thinking inside their heads.
A short walk later, they arrived at a local-owned tavern by the crossroads of Dust Street and Sand Street.
It was where locals of the 7th floor gathered at the end of the day. Players often did not go here, as the bar’s selection of alcohol wasn’t to their liking.
It was either not strong enough, not weird enough, or didn’t have enough of a kick for them.
"I think we will find someone here."
Raizen said, and then he pulled down his mask, and Raon did the same, and then he looked around outside.
There were players hanging around on roofs, on some balconies, and in nearby alleyways—they were trying not to look in his direction.
’They’re curious about us.’
Fang Raon thought.
While they were trying to hide the fact that they were eyeing them up, Raon was still able to see the truth.
’Well, if they try something, they’re in a world of hurt.’
Fang Raon thought.
Not because he was going to do something, but Raizen would annihilate them without breaking a sweat.
He kind of wanted someone to try something so he could watch the show of Raizen putting a fear of God into them.
Then.
Fang Raon turned around and walked inside the tavern with Raizen, and they just found a place to sit.
Meanwhile.
Over at the roof outside, a man with a hair color that resembled sand looked through the window of the tavern.
It gave him a good glance at the two players.
And then, he turned to his friend on the right.
"That player... I think that’s the guy that Boss Randell wanted to be found, right? I remember him putting a bounty on him."
"...Is he?"
His friend reached into his inventory, pulled out stacks of bounty posters, and after a while, the sand-haired man took one of the bounty posters.
"It is him."
The sand-haired man slapped the bounty poster that had the drawn picture of Fang Raon’s face and a small bounty of 2,500 gold coins.
"The bounty poster says to not engage with the person, but if he is discovered, one must immediately go to Randell to inform him about his whereabouts."
His friend said.
"Then let’s go!"
The two players jolted to their feet and ran off in excitement, as with 2,500 gold coins they might be able to afford some ladies in the brothel!
...
"...They all look pretty shady to me."
Fang Raon said as he looked around the tavern for any potential local to take them to the smuggling route.
However.
Everyone pretty much looked like a criminal, so it was quite a difficult feat to find the correct one.
"I’ll find one."
Raizen said, and he deeply scanned every single one of the locals in the tavern with a hawk’s gaze.
’He must be using Read.’
Fang Raon thought.
It was a really useful skill to have, he thought, especially for situations like this and even in combat.
It made him even more eager to learn Read.
"Found one."
Raizen suddenly said, as he was looking at a lone guy over at the bar, drinking with a tattered cloak draped over his shoulders.
His skin was sandy, with messy hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in weeks, and he had a ruggedness about him that made him seem like he was used to being alone.
"Let’s go."
Raizen nudged his chin, and he and Raon walked across the tavern with all eyes on them—as they were players in a local tavern.
"Don’t cause trouble here."
The bartender said to them as they walked past with a tired, yet sharp gaze that didn’t allow any backtalk.
Fang Raon nodded.
In that moment, Raizen sat beside the rugged man, who didn’t tear his gaze away from his drink, and instead kept drinking.
It seemed like the man didn’t really seem to care about anything—even if he died, he probably wouldn’t care.
"I’d like you to take us to the 29th floor."
Raizen said.
"15,000 gold coins per person."
The rugged man said.
"Deal."
Raizen dropped a pouch of money in front of the man, but then the rugged man shoved the money back to him.
"Not here. I’ll get robbed as soon as I step out of this place if you give me that kind of money right now.
"My ride is over at the northern exit. I’ll wait there, but I’ll leave in an hour. You pay me there."
The rugged man finished his drink, then put his wide-brimmed black hat on and walked out of the tavern.
"We got the ride. Let’s get going."
Raizen said, and Raon nodded, surprised at how easy it was, and they headed for the door, but there was already a commotion outside.
As soon as they reached the door, they saw close to a hundred players standing on the roofs, evil grins on their faces.
’That’s a lot of people.’
Fang Raon thought and looked at his big brother Raizen and wondered whether they were here for him.
After all, there was a good possibility that Raizen had made some enemies, and thus they needed a hundred players to confront him.
"Well, well, isn’t it my good friend?"
At that moment, a familiar fat man stepped out of a wheelhouse, his fat stomach jiggling under the tight shirt, and he let out a hearty laugh.
"...Oh."
Fang Raon rolled his eyes.
"You do have balls to come back here after what you did. You thought I had forgotten? It hadn’t been that long, boy!"
Randell shouted.
"...A friend of yours?"
Raizen raised an eyebrow in question.
"You could say that."
Fang Raon sighed.
Since everyone was so focused on Raon, they had completely ignored the man he was with, but slowly, a couple players also took notice of him.
At first, they didn’t think much of Raizen, but slowly, they started to think that he looked quite familiar.
As if they had seen him somewhere...
"Wait... No... It can’t be..."
"...Is he... Nah, he wouldn’t be here..."
The players started to slowly whisper with each other, and they exchanged information about that man’s identity.
They all had the same thought: Isn’t he Fang Raizen?—and with so many people thinking the same, it became more of a reality.
"...WHAT ARE YOU ALL WHISPERING ABOUT?!"
Randell turned around, asking loudly, causing the group to jump and fall silent.
"WELL? SPEAK!"
"...B-B-Boss... T-That guy with this little shit... M-Might be F-Fang Raizen!"
Somebody gathered enough courage to speak.
"...Fang Raizen? That sounds familiar... Raizen... Raizen..."
Randell scratched the back of his head.
"Spear of Redemption, a member of the Dead Redemption!"
A player shouted from the roof.
"Huh?"
Randell turned around to look at Raizen, and slowly, his fat face started sweating buckets—maybe it was because of the desert heat or because of Raizen.
"Why are you here... and more importantly, why are you with this little shit?"
Randell asked.
"He is my brother. My brother’s business is my business, so what do you want with him?"
Raizen asked coldly.
When they heard that, the players felt like a spear stabbed through their hearts, knowing that they were in deep trouble.
’Fang Raizen is that little shit’s brother? What the fuck!’
Randell gritted his teeth, but then he remembered one thing, and he slowly wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Hahaha... You’re Fang Raizen, the Spear of Redemption, a level 6 High Ranker of the Warrior Pathway.
"My name is Randell, Anti-Healer, a level 6 High Ranker of the Helper Pathway. We’re of the same level, and not to mention, I’ve got a hundred subordinates here.
"We’re not afraid of you!"
He shouted.
For a moment, he thought that his subordinates would shout, "Yeah!" as a response, but they remained silent.
Too afraid to speak!
"Hmph. Foolish meatball. You really think that every level 6 is equal? The burgers you’ve eaten must’ve blocked the brain cells that would’ve told you how wrong you are."
Raizen said coldly, and at that moment, he pulled out his beautiful-looking spear from his inventory.
The spear glinted in the moonlight, and the pressure it exerted was suffocating—the players felt like someone was choking all air out of them.
"DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
Randell screamed, and he summoned his healing staff, the swamp-green light enveloping him like a warm blanket.
