MMORPG: The Almighty Ring

"Hoho. You had me there," said Zhang Yangxu as he laughed awkwardly.

Although his act was seen through by Jiang Fei, he had to act right there and then, or he would never be able to make friends with Jiang Fei the next time he sees him. If Zhang Yangxu allowed Jiang Fei to walk away after his little act, Jiang Fei would forever brand him as an enemy.

"Are you from the Zhang family?" said Jiang Fei bluntly. After going through so much, Jiang Fei had grown from the naive little boy he once was. When the young man introduced himself, Jiang Fei immediately raised his guard up high.

"Hoho, that's right…"

There was no way Zhang Yangxu could be subtle when Jiang Fei was being so cautious with him.

"Sigh… Just what you guys doing?"

Jiang Fei rolled his eyes and sighed. He already knew that Han Tianyu had paid a high price to guarantee Jiang Fei's freedom. Why would they still approach him?

"Please. I don't want you to misunderstand. We… I don't have any intention to harm you. We might have had some complications in the past, and that was why I had purposely crafted this scenario in order to gain some good guy points from you. Never would I have thought that…" Zhang Yangxu gulped down his saliva as he saw what Jiang Fei did to the thugs he had hired.

"These… trash is yours?" said Jiang Fei as he pointed to the unconscious thugs on the ground.

"Don't be silly. However, to be blunt, we would never have resorted to this if we weren't afraid of you coming for us in the future."

Zhang Yangxu kicked on of the fallen thugs in the head as he rolled his eyes. If he had sent people from his own family, they would never throw him under the bus, even if their own lives were at stake.

"Who are-" Jiang Fei tried to speak but was interjected.

"They were common thugs in the street. My goal was just to have them disturb or at worse, harass you. When that happens, I will show up and chase them away to befriend you. Well, but it turned out that you're so strong that help was unnecessary."

The jig was up, and Zhang Yangxu had no reason to keep anything a secret.

"Fine. Let them leave," Jiang Fei barked. Zhang Yangxu was right about one thing, help was not necessary at all. In fact, Jiang Fei had reached a certain level of strength where he felt that dealing with thugs was nothing but trouble.

"F*ck off you lots…"

Zhang Yangxu kicked them in their stomach to wake them up before chasing them away.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going back now."

Jiang Fei turned around and walked away.

"That's fine. As you please. Do allow me to treat you for a meal when you're free!" Zhang Yangxu cried out. That was the first time Zhang Yangxu had met Jiang Fei face to face. He dared not to do anything that would anger him. Even though Jiang Fei had caught him red-handed,

Zhang Yangxu had the chance to talk and introduced himself. Although the two did not brush it off nicely, they were not at each other throats. For Zhang Yangxu, that was considered as a victory.

When Jiang Fei returned to his house in Manda Square, he recalled the event and laughed. That man called Zhang Yangxu was an interesting man. Perhaps there was room to work with him in the future.

…

Now that he had a deeper understanding on metahumans, Jiang Fei had, somewhat, found himself. He was able to lower himself to stand on the same level as others, not place himself on a pedestal. A move only true men of power did.

Before the meeting, as Jiang Fei and Han Tianyu were bonding, he had gained some form of vision where he only recognized his own power as true strength. Even when he met other famous people, he was still undermining them. However, when he was informed of the existence of metahumans, he was soon clear of his place. He was able to set out his own path and understood that the strong should never lower their heads to others, nor force them to bow down to him.

When night fell, Jiang Fei entered the game. After two dungeon runs, Jiang Fei reached Level 39. The price of Pet Eggs had stopped rising. It took some time before anyone one-upped the bids. At that moment, the price of a Worker Ant Egg was 430 gold coins, a Soldier Ant Egg was at 970 gold coins, whereas the more valuable Dantian Pill had been completely ignored.

A day after, many more players had reached Level 30. As such, the city was littered with mounted players. It was to be expected. Most of the players were riding cheap horses. Riding a horse would be an unprecedented experience for one who has never ridden a horse before.

A short while later, Jiang Fei had received a piece of news that he had been waiting for.

"Brother Fei! I found it!" cried Smart Tomato as he contacted Jiang Fei.

"You found it?! A Lord tier boss?"

Jiang Fei's heart was about to leap out of his chest.

"Yes! It's a Level 50 Lord tier boss! Man, it wasn't easy to find. Just so you know, I've spent many days on this!" said Smart Tomato proudly.

"I'll take it. Name your price!" Jiang Fei replied happily.

"About that… The price will be higher since it took so much damn work. It'll be 5,000 gold coins!"

Smart Tomato aggressively placed it upfront.

"Done deal!"

Although Jiang Fei had no money at that moment, he went around borrowing some from his guildmates. He could easily pay them back with the sales of his Pet Eggs.

With no time wasted, Jiang Fei contacted Sun Mengmeng and borrowed 5,000 gold coins. Unlike the real world, the girls did not really spend much of their money in-game. They had not spent a single dime from their share of various Jiang Fei-led dungeon runs.

When Smart Tomato entered Jiang Fei's party, he was shocked to learn that Smart Tomato was only Level 24!

"What the hell happened to you? You gave up leveling altogether?"

"Hah… I was Level 29 yesterday. I died five times searching for this boss…" Smart Tomato laughed it off, as if it was merely part of his occupation.

"Urgh… You're the man!" said Jiang Fei, giving him a thumb's up. At that point of the game, to sacrifice one's level meant a lot.

After signing the contract, Smart Tomato led Jiang Fei into the hills. After two hours of trekking, both of them arrived at a deep cave beneath a large cliff.

"This is secluded as heck! How did you even manage to find this?" said Jiang Fei, when he realized that there was no way anyone would stumble across this place.

"Bro. This is part of my job. When I have nothing else to do, I'd run around places that no one would!"

"Awesome!" Jiang Fei gave another thumbs up. Even though Smart Tomato brushed it off as if it was nothing, Jiang Fei could see the pain in his heart.

"What comes next is a most tricky route. Follow my steps to the toe, or else monsters will be triggered. Trust me, I learned this the hard way."

"Will do!" Jiang Fei nodded. He had the Black Dragon Scale on him; he will never be attacked by random monsters anyway.

After several minutes, both of them arrived at the cave.

"The boss will be inside the cave. Be advised, the boss will immediately attack you once you enter the cave. I can't go any further. Even though I may have died a few times, a few more would definitely hurt. It takes too long… if you know what I mean."

"I got you. When I see the boss, the system will automatically transfer the money to you!"