Chapter 258: David’s Tax, Leaving like a Coward! Tier 3 Benefits and Mason’s issue
"You..." David exclaimed as he confidently walked over.
He stopped directly in front of Caelus and Sylvia’s stall.
He had realized that these two people belonged to his town. He recognized it by seeing a manage option when he looked at them.
Only a town member would have such an option appear over them.
With this excitement, he was quick to act.
"You both belong to my town," David stated with a cold smile forming over his face. "Hand over the town tax of 25% right now. Every player doing business must hand it over to me as its town leader."
"If you refuse, I will demolish your cabin and make sure that you won’t be able to walk free normally in the town."
He sounded completely confident.
Nobody had ever openly challenged his authority before.
As for the tax, it didn’t exist. He just made it up.
Ryan, who was behind him, immediately stepped up to support David.
"You should just listen to David," Ryan said with a small smile on his face. "Unless you want your life to be a hell inside here. It’s best to listen to young master David."
He was rather jealous of Caelus, of his face, and of him having a girlfriend. This was the perfect opportunity to let out his anger.
Caelus looked at him upon hearing this. He let out a small chuckle.
"And why would I do that, Ryan?" Caelus asked with a cold smile. "Now that you have left Chad’s side... Are you going to betray David the same way you betrayed Chad and me after I beat him up?"
"I have heard snakes hiss before," Caelus continued. "But there is one standing right in front of me."
He then shifted his cold gaze toward Jennifer.
"That goes for you too, Jennifer."
Ryan and Jennifer immediately froze up hearing their names being called.
That voice...
Their eyes widened.
They finally inspected the player standing behind the stall properly with the system. They looked at his name floating above his head.
"Caelus Kross?!"
Both of them blurted the name out at the exact same time.
They were in complete disbelief as they stared at him.
Jennifer shook her head frantically.
"No..." Jennifer muttered. "That cannot be... You do not even look like Caelus. He was just an average-looking guy. How can it be you?"
David was equally stunned.
He never expected the person standing before him to be that same poor classmate from school.
Caelus simply smiled at this.
"You wanted your tax, right?" Caelus asked. "And if I do not pay... You are going to destroy my cabin?"
David quickly regained his composure, and his expression quickly turned cold hearing his words.
"That is right," David said even more confidently than before. "You had better behave, Caelus. You should know your place. Do not make life difficult for yourself. After all... Your parents only have one son."
It was a clear threat. Anyone could see that.
David originally thought he was provoking some unknown big shot. Finding out it was merely his poor former schoolmate immediately restored all of his confidence.
The surrounding players began to whisper among themselves seeing the commotion.
"I know him," one player muttered. "He is from my school."
"Then what is his relationship with Sylvia Reign?" another player immediately asked.
Someone else quietly asked about David.
"David belongs to the Wilson Family," a knowledgeable player from LLC High explained softly. "They have countless powerhouses. They practically control a huge portion of New York City’s business. Messing with him is not a good idea."
The surrounding players all fell silent.
Everyone knew this was blatant injustice.
But nobody was foolish enough to interfere.
No one wanted to provoke someone like David, who had such influence after all.
Then, without saying another word, Caelus slowly began walking from behind the stall.
He stepped directly toward David.
The atmosphere became incredibly tense.
David sneered, assuming Caelus was giving up and was going to hand over the origin credits.
"So you finally came to your senses," David said mockingly. "Hand over the credits. I will only take twenty-five percent."
David did not actually need the money. He was simply trying to establish his dominance in front of everyone.
However, just then...
Slap!
Without any warning, Caelus slapped David directly across the face.
The crisp sound echoed throughout the entire marketplace.
"Wha..."
Every single player froze seeing this.
Nobody expected someone to publicly slap David Wilson.
Ryan, seeing this, immediately snapped out of his shock and shouted. "Caelus! What are you doing?! Do you really have the guts to mess with David?!"
Caelus casually turned toward him.
The next instant, his figure disappeared.
Boom!
He reappeared right beside Ryan as air burst from where he originally stood.
The following moment, Caelus’s leg flew like lightning as it hit Ryan’s legs.
Crack!
Another strike followed. His arm broke cleanly in half.
Ryan then collapsed onto the ground as he screamed out in agony.
"Ahhh!"
The sheer speed displayed by Caelus made everyone’s hearts drop.
They realized they could not even follow Caelus’s movements!
Then, he turned towards Jennifer.
Jennifer panicked seeing this. She stumbled backward.
"W... What are you doing?!" Jennifer cried out.
Caelus calmly smiled at her.
"No hard feelings, Jennifer," Caelus said. "You abandoned Chad and me with Ryan back then. You escaped with an Escape Rune while leaving us behind to die. This is simply payback."
Without any hesitation, he kicked forward.
Crack!
He broke both of her legs as well.
She collapsed right beside Ryan, sobbing uncontrollably.
Neither of them had a single chance to resist.
His combat score was just that high.
David had already recovered from the slap by now.
His face twisted with rage as he rushed towards Caelus.
"What do you think you are doing, brat?!" David roared. "I am the Town Head! I will make sure the rest of your life becomes miserable! Someone who disrespected me doesn’t deserve to walk free!"
He immediately pulled out his sword and attacked.
Seeing this, Caelus grinned.
He stepped inside David’s guard and completely overwhelmed him with one simple move.
Bang!
A heavy punch buried itself into David’s stomach.
Crack!
Caelus grabbed David’s arms and snapped them like twigs.
Crack!
He kicked David’s knees, breaking his legs entirely.
Smash!
A final backhand knocked several bloody teeth out of David’s mouth.
David collapsed helplessly onto the ground. Blood poured from his mouth as he sobbed in pain.
The crowd watched in stunned silence.
They could not grasp the situation right now.
Amidst David’s pain and sobbing, he quickly opened his system menu and forcibly exited the Origin Ascension Domain.
He did not want to deal with this any longer.
A flash of light surrounded him, and he disappeared.
Seeing this, Jennifer and Ryan also left the domain.
The surrounding players stared at the spot where David and the other two had vanished from.
"He left?" They were dumbfounded.
By this point, everyone realized David Wilson was nothing more than a coward who hid behind his family. The moment he faced someone stronger, he ran away.
Caelus stared at the spot David was in before turning towards Sylvia.
"Let’s go. The animals have successfully gone back to their cages."
Sylvia simply smiled sweetly as she began walking with him.
On the way, Caelus thought about the consequences for a bit before forgetting it completely.
The Shadow Halberd Guild already wanted him dead. If the Wilson Family wanted revenge too, then so be it. One more enemy would not change anything.
If they came after him, he would just deal with them himself.
They then walked into the Golden Chamber building.
Caelus and Sylvia found Avni, their trusted Golden Chamber Assistant.
"You guys sure made a ruckus outside," she said with a wry smile. She was observing it as well.
She couldn’t help but give them a thumbs up. She liked how Caelus stood up for himself.
That was a good quality in a man in her book.
Caelus simply smiled. "We are here to see what our tier is. We completely forgot to ask about it last time with the Shadow Halberd Guild present."
Avni nodded and swiftly took out Caelus’s information.
They had officially become Tier 3 Merchants. This granted them lower transaction fees and access to higher quality merchant services. Precisely a 6% discount and cashback on every purchase.
Satisfied with it, they said their goodbyes to Avni and headed toward Mason’s gambling den.
"We will do 1,000 today," Caelus said with a small smile as he handed the origin credits over.
Mason simply nodded, and soon the gacha wheel changed.
Caelus immediately spun it.
It spun for a solid five seconds before it stopped.
[Ding! You have received a 5x Rebate on your recent market sales.]
A massive sum of Origin Credits instantly flooded into his account.
Caelus immediately grew excited.
However, halfway through his excitement, Caelus noticed something was wrong.
Mason was not cheering or joking like he usually did when someone won.
His face looked incredibly tired and stressed.
"What’s wrong, Mason?" Caelus asked with a curious look on his face.
Mason let out a heavy sigh. He rubbed his forehead slowly.
"Someone has been threatening my village," Mason explained tiredly. "It is located on the outskirts of the Regional Lord’s territory."
"Threatening you?" Sylvia frowned. "Why?"
"Another player wants to seize control of it," Mason said bitterly. "He wants to force everyone there to work under him and then tax them. He basically wants slaves."
"What is the person’s name?" Caelus immediately asked with a frown.
Mason shook his head.
"I do not know," Mason replied. "He hides his identity well. I simply know this player has become increasingly aggressive over the last few days."
Mason looked down at the wooden counter.
"If I do not show up tomorrow... I am probably busy dealing with him."
Caelus fell silent for a moment.
He silently looked at the exhausted merchant before making a decision.
"Give me the coordinates of your village," Caelus said with a smile.
Mason immediately looked up. His eyes became highly suspicious of Caelus.
As he was right now, he had a hard time trusting players.
"What?" Mason frowned, taking a small step back. "Are you planning to rob us yourself?"
Caelus laughed out loud hearing this. Then, he shook his head firmly.
"Nothing like that," Caelus said helplessly. "Just trust me and give me the coordinates."
Mason stared at him for a few seconds.
After a brief hesitation, he finally let out a long breath and opened his interface.
[Ding! Player Mason has shared a location coordinate.]
Caelus stored the coordinates in his map without saying anything else.
He already knew exactly what he was going to do next.
Before another conversation could begin, a loud chime echoed across the entire sky.
[Ding!]
[The Domain is Closing.]
Bright white light began surrounding every single player in the marketplace.
Swoosh!
One after another, they turned into particles of light and disappeared.
