"Phew, we managed to get away from the trouble. Anyway, now that we are in a safe place, I will introduce myself to you, kid. My name is Ely and he's Rudas. And you are—?"
Ely asked as she walked over to Cane. Her avatar looked a little bit damaged because of her fight with Canari, but she seemed fine otherwise.
Her partner, Rudas, was still supporting Cane, and Cane slowly pushed himself away from the taller male avatar. Cane's mana had all but recovered by that point, causing him to become vigilant of the two in front of him.
"So, who are you two, and why did you save me?"
Cane asked, his voice filled with suspicion. He was not going to trust another player as easily as he had before. Who knew what could happen because of his 'kill-on-sight' modifier?
"Woah-! Relax, kid. We are not here to harm you. In fact, we decided to help you because we are in the same situation as you. Both Rudas and I decided to have some fun and bam-! The next thing we knew, the game was making us targets for other players. Don't you think it's unfair?"
Ely asked, and Cane finally opened her profile to check up on her and her partner.
[Player: Ely (Lv105). Global Rank: 10
Main Class: Magician.
Special Modifier: Kill-on-sight.]
.
[Player: Rudas (Lv100). Global Rank: 25
Main Class: Brawler.
Special Modifier: Kill-on-sight.]
These two people did have the same modifier, and they were much higher level compared to Cane. But something about them unsettled him.
Ely sounded proud of her modifier, almost as if it were a badge of honor for her. Her eyes even twinkled as she asked Cane about his own modifier.
"So…how did you both get your modifier?"
Cane asked, and Ely's grin became even wider.
"I got it after I burned down the beginner's village because they wouldn't allow me to exp farm there. And Rudas got his because he kept killing low-level parties that tried to take his training grounds away. What about you? How did you get yours before you even had your first job change?"
Ely looked a little too excited to know. She had no regard or empathy for what she did in the beginner's village.
And why should she? This was a game—a world where players were allowed to do anything they could not in the normal world.
That also included their deepest, darkest desires that would get them in trouble in the real world. Why should she get punished for just playing as she wanted to?
"Ely, stop. You are making the newbie nervous. You do recall what we are here for, right? Boss won't be happy if you scare our newbie away before he has a chance to join us."
Rudas told her, and Ely let out a pout.
"This is not fair. Why can't I ever have some fun? Fine, I will back down now. Are you happy?"
Ely pouted before turning to face Cane once more.
"Anyway, you heard Rudas, right? We are here to offer you a helping hand and protection. Come join us, and you will be able to do whatever you want without hesitation."
She told him, and Cane felt tempted.
A guild would be a safe way to play the game and also get resources. But Cane also knew that such help could make the game less fun—especially since he was going to stream it.
"Sorry, I cannot join you at the moment. I have my own plans for this account, and I need to run solo for some time to achieve them."
Cane told the duo, and they looked shocked.
"You want…to go solo? Are you sure? I think you should reconsider. You don't know how annoying this modifier actually is."
Rudas warned Cane, and he sounded genuinely worried for Cane's sake. But Cane had made up his mind.
"Sorry, but I cannot right now."
He told the pair, and they sighed. They had not given up yet, but they also realized that talking to him anymore at the moment would yield the same results.
"Well, we did our part so the boss cannot tell us off, right? Anyway, it's time for us to go now. If you need help or change your mind about joining our guild, do let us know."
Ely told Cane before she teleported away. Rudas followed her, leaving Cane all alone in the cave they had taken him to.
Cane knew that the path he was taking was not going to be easy. He would make a lot of enemies along the way, and the system was not making things easy for him.
But he was not afraid. He only saw this as another opportunity.
"Now that I have hit level 10, I can start my streaming career. I should make an announcement online to let everyone know. This will be the start of a new era for me."
Cane felt excited. He could not recall when he had last felt this thrilled to start streaming a game.
He had barely scratched the surface of Clash Online, but he could already see the money rolling in.
"First, I should put some S-class weapon drops on sale. Let's see…what's the market price for the Sword of Holy Light?... Wow-! That's high!... a little too high. I don't think I could have ever afforded it."
The screen showed the price starting at 10,000 dollars for a +15 relic and 1,000 for a standard relic. Since S-class drops were so rare, they were almost considered collector's items—especially a +15, because beyond +10, there was only a 1% chance of enchantment. There were likely fewer than ten +15 items on the market.
Even +10 was rare.
The drops Cane had gotten were all +0, and he felt a little tempted to roll them to increase their value. To do that, he needed to get some raw materials that were only available to players level 50 or above.
'Well, time to call in some help. Heera should be able to help me out with this, right? Well, there's no harm in asking her this favor. And if not…I'm sure I can find some people to help me out.'
Being in the streaming business meant always having connections.
Cane sent a message to Heera first and waited for her reply. Her response came faster than he expected, and they made plans to start tomorrow.
He also dropped a message on his social media that he would be making his stream debut in Clash Online with a surprising guest, and his timeline went wild.
However, while he was having such a successful time, not everyone was enjoying themselves. Somewhere in a small pub, Canari nursed her drink as she recalled the humiliation she had suffered today.
And she vowed to take revenge for it, even if it was the last thing she ever did. She was never going to lie down and take it.