CHAPTER 66: FEAR AND POWERS

Everyone listened to what Ethan said. His three demands were Weapon, Gold, and Star Essence.

For some reason, part of them thought those demands were too much. It would be better if they started negotiating with Ethan.

"Some of us are not okay with the Star Essence."

"So?" Ethan asked, cold.

"How about just the weapons and gold?" the man asked.

"Fine. One weapon per person and 25,000 gold," Ethan answered.

"THIS IS BS!" another man shouted from the back of the crowd.

Ethan turned, clearly hearing the man’s complaint. He walked forward with an angry look, forcing his way through the crowd until he stood in front of the man and kept cursing him.

"Why should we give you our money? We have a lot! You’re alone. It’s easy for us to kill you," the man said.

"Really?" Ethan asked, challenging him.

"Of course. I can beat you by myself, no help needed," said the bald man.

While his eyes stayed fixed on the man in front of him, Ethan glanced to the side now and then to watch the 23 players lying helpless and near death.

No one could save them except Hissy. Even the Priest failed to cleanse the Venomfang poison from their veins.

Only Ethan could do it. That clearly meant the lives of those 23 players were in Ethan’s hands.

"You!"

"Start counting once the fight begins," Ethan said.

"Counting?" a woman asked, shocked.

Ethan nodded. He stepped closer to the bald man and set a special condition. If the bald man could last more than ten seconds, Ethan would free everyone.

But if the bald man lost in under ten seconds, everyone had to promise to give up their weapons.

They heard that challenge. Some of them felt optimistic that the level-43 bald man could surely hold out longer than Ethan.

The woman assigned to count understood Ethan’s instruction. One man came forward to be the match judge, and both sides drew their weapons.

"The match will start in the count of 3...2...1!"

Ethan sharpened his gaze and leaped forward hard, aiming at the bald man who looked shocked and wide-eyed as Ethan jumped fast and strong toward him.

He tried to defend, but the man’s shield failed to block the full power of Ethan’s ultimate skill.

"4...5!"

The ultimate effect fully activated, and the bald man was hit hard by the circular slash that appeared around Ethan.

Many people gaped, their eyes shocked as they watched the bald man’s HP drop a lot.

They began to wonder how strong Ethan really was.

After the ultimate, Ethan followed with his second skill — a thrusting attack forward.

"AAAKKKKH!"

"7...8!"

In an instant, the man in front of Ethan lost all his HP, his wounds terrible. The bald man’s body broke into tiny magic particles that scattered into the sky.

The fight ended at the 8th second after it started. It was clear Ethan won the match and everyone had to hand over the items as promised.

Ethan didn’t take their Star Essence for now; he focused on collecting their weapons and gold.

One by one they handed over their weapons and gold. There were rare weapons and uncommon ones.

With so many players surrendering, Ethan was sure he could get many rare weapons for his Talent Quest.

A total of 23 people were healed after they all gave their weapons and gold. In addition, 34 players gave up their weapons and gold out of fear.

They were sure Ethan alone could beat them all. If they acted rashly, they would only fail.

In total 57 people handed over their weapons and gold. 41 of them had rare weapons, 4 had epic weapons, and the rest were uncommon.

For gold, since Ethan did not take their Star Essence, he raised the gold demand to 25,000 gold per person. The total came to 1,425,000 gold.

Ethan smiled and agreed, feeling lucky they were realistic. He told them they could leave and to never start trouble with him again.

They already knew how strong Ethan was; some even guessed he could beat a whole guild team easily.

A terrifying power, some said. But they didn’t know how Ethan joined this event.

Soon, only Ethan was left in the place. Everyone had gone back to the city and regretted challenging him.

[Talent Quest:]

[Number of Weapons: 67/100]

[Duration: 14:09:32:21]

Ethan smiled. He could clearly see the number of weapons he got reached 67, thanks to the extra 45 weapons from them.

He needed about 33 more weapons to reach the Talent Quest quota of 100.

If Ethan counted 33 weapons as Rare Bow-and-Arrow, each priced at 50,000,

The total money needed would be 1,625,000. Ethan grinned wide; he only needed about 200,000 more gold to reach 1,625,000 gold.

There was only one way for Ethan to collect 200,000 gold: hunting monsters in the forest.

If Ethan was lucky and met another guild team, he might get their weapons. That would solve the missing gold.

Ethan summoned his weapon and nodded, clear about his plan. After he finished in that part of the forest, he left for the forest to the north.

He felt sure that the farther north he went, the more likely he would meet another guild team.

Ethan’s steps stopped when he met some monsters. He didn’t waste the chance and focused on attacking them.

After all, they were still valuable to him.

Although they weren’t Star Essence monsters, they were worth some reward.

With a quick strike, Ethan managed to take down the snake-like monster.

Ethan got EXP and Gold, but his gold was still not enough. He decided to keep looking for other spots, other monsters, or another guild team.

Ethan’s steps stopped when he reached a waterfall deep in the forest. There, he saw three large lizard monsters being attacked by a team from another guild.

What set those lizard monsters apart was that the lizard in front of them had a Star Essence under its red cursor.

"Star Essence monster?"

Ethan narrowed his eyes, clearly watching the guild team struggle. The monster and the guild team seemed to be about the same level, around level 43.

That made Ethan sure he could handle the situation. With his skill, he could take the Star Essence monster and the guild team.

There were five members on that guild team. If they had four Rare weapons, that would already be profitable for me.

Better watch their condition first before deciding to attack.

Ethan went around through the west side of the forest, hiding behind bushes.

He clearly watched the lizard monsters and the guild team fight, seeming even and hurting each other.

In the end, the guild team in front of Ethan beat the lizard. They got EXP, Gold, and Star Essence. But that gave Ethan the best chance to attack them.

Ethan jumped hard out of the forest and landed near the waterfall. His sudden arrival startled the guild members.

"Y-You?" the warrior asked, surprised to see Ethan.

"Who are you?" the man asked again.

Ethan opened his eyes and looked straight at them. He had a strong red aura around him, a sign Ethan was not an ordinary man.

"If you don’t want to die, hand over your weapons!"