“What is this?! What the hell are you doing?!” Antoinette screamed at Siegfried after seeing that the place where Siegfried had run over to was a narrow ravine.

“Are you trying to get us killed?! Why did you run here of all places?!” she screamed once again, furious.

Siegfried continued to ignore her ramblings.

Rumble… rumble… rumble… rumble… 

The herd of Mutated Bisons was now right in front of them.

‘I’ll set up my circle first,’ Siegfried thought as he cast Circle of Mortality.

Wooooong!

The scarlet circle that debuffed the enemy’s defense appeared around Siegfried.

“Moooooo!” A Mutated Bison mooed as it charged at Siegfried.

‘Evade it first…’ he thought as he evaded the charging bison.

Bam!

The Mutated Bison ended up slamming itself into the rock wall behind Siegfried.

‘Now it’s my turn…’ he thought and used Smite to slam his steel rod into the bison’s body.

Siegfried had no time to check how much damage he dealt to the bison.

“Mooooooo!” Another Mutated Bison mooed as it charged at Siegfried.

‘It’s narrow here so they can only come two at a time. I can be at ease and fight to my heart’s content,’ he thought in relief.

The overwhelming number advantage the bisons had was no use in this terrain, and Siegfried no longer had any reason to be afraid of them.

‘Evade it and counter-attack…’ 

Siegfried evaded the second Mutated Bison’s attack and smacked his steel rod into its body.

[95 Physical Damage!]

‘Look at the damage loss…’ he inwardly grumbled when he saw the number on the damage counter.

Siegfried could feel the gap between the Attack Power of Smite and his basic attacks.

A Mutated Bison had 1,300 HP, and it would take him more than ten hits to kill a bison if he were to attack them without Smite. And this was only if most of his attacks landed as a critical hit, which would deal 142.5 damage each.

‘When will I kill all of them like that?’ Siegfried complained.

The Mutated Bisons numbered over thirty. His stamina would certainly be depleted, and he would be incapacitated even before he could finish them all off.

‘Let’s use Circle of Weakness to cut their HP down…’ 

Siegfried remembered the other skill he still hadn’t used just yet.

Wooooong…!

Siegfried cast Circle of Weakness.

[5 True Damage!]

[5 True Damage!]

[5 True Damage!]

The Circle of Weakness reduced the Mutated Bisons’ HP by 5 every second.

‘Alright…’ He nodded with satisfaction.

Siegfried decided that he would evade and counter-attack whenever he could while letting Circle of Weakness chew the bisons’ HP away.

‘I think I will be able to power level once I level Circle of Mortality up since most weak mobs will die in a single hit after their defenses are shredded,’ Siegfried thought as he instinctively realized how to maximize his class’ abilities to rapidly grow stronger.

“A strong person is someone who rules over the area around him. You will be able to swallow the entire battlefield if you slowly expand your area of influence around it.”

Siegfried recalled the teachings Deus bestowed upon him in those days he spent training with the latter. The ninety-nine days he spent with Deus might seem like a short period of time for most people, but for Siegfried, it had been a time filled with nothing but hellish training, torture, verbal abuse, and violation of his human rights.

Siegfried finally realized that Deus had been drilling his teachings into Siegfried’s mind through the violent and abusive teaching method. However, every single thing Deus had done was for the benefit of Siegfried.

‘Master was right. A Debuff Master is someone who rules the area where he stands, and I am currently ruling over this area,’ Siegfried thought as he remembered his master’s teachings while fighting against the Mutated Bisons.

The tides of the battle soon shifted in Siegfried’s favor.

The Mutated Bisons could not use their numerical advantage in the narrow space, and Siegfried went on a rampage, swinging his steel rod and killing the bisons one by one. However…

[You have successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Points +180]

[You have successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Points +180]

[You have successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Points +180]

[You have successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Points +180]

Siegfried was not getting the full 200 experience points he was supposed to get from the Mutated Bisons. He was only getting 180 experience points from killing them.

He was suffering a ten percent loss of experience points for some odd reason.

***

“Kyaaaaaahk!”

The culprit behind the experience point loss was none other than the woman wildly swinging a stick against the Mutated Bisons.

“Go away! Get away from me!” Antoinette screamed while evading the Mutated Bisons’ attacks.

She was leeching Siegfried’s experience points away since the party play system gave her a portion of the experience points in exchange for making negligible contributions to the battle.

And that was not all…

[Antoinette has successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Point +180]

She even had the nerve to deal the final blow to a Mutated Bison Siegfried had injured.

‘Is she kidding me…? Look at this freeloading leech…’ Siegfried thought as his expression crumpled.

This woman had just reached the pinnacle of being a nuisance.

In addition to dragging the herd of Mutated Bisons toward him, she even had the nerve to steal kills from him.

“Hey!” Siegfried shouted toward Antoinette.

“What?” Antoinette said in response.

“Can you please go away and not steal my experience points?” Siegfried said.

“When did I steal your experience points?” Antoinette brazenly asked in response while glaring at him, and then she added, “What do you mean by that? I’m just getting my fair share for helping you out!”

“Sure you are…” Siegfried responded sarcastically.

“What did you just say…?” Antoinette muttered. She was seemingly taken aback by his words.

“What do you mean by helping when you aren’t even doing a rat shit’s worth of work? Like I said, can you please go away and not steal my experience points? You are being a nuisance.” Siegfried grumbled.

He was actually in the right here since Antoinette wasn’t contributing anything aside from luring the herd of Mutated Bisons to him.

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh!” Antoinette exclaimed with a loud scoff, and then she let out a condescending laugh before adding, “You call yourself a man when you’re so petty?”

“What did you just say?” Siegfried asked with furrowed brows.

“Will you die or something if you share? You petty little fart!” Antoinette retorted.

“…”

Siegfried did not say anything in response, but something was boiling inside of him.

“What? Cat got your tongue? Can’t you help someone out and share some experience points while you’re at it? I mean, how much will you lose by sharing?” Antoinette said while looking at him with disgust.

Siegfried’s eyes turned cold as he made up his mind.

‘I can’t just let this slide now, can I?’

***

Siegfried was currently very sensitive when it came to experience points.

He was riddled with debt back in reality.

On top of that, the thought of his enemies growing stronger as they farmed in high-level dungeons made his blood boil. As such, every second and every single experience point was precious to him right now.

To leech experience points off of Siegfried, considering his situation was a huge disservice to him.

‘I’m sure she’ll demand her share of the hides and horns too,’ Siegfried thought.

The bisons’ hides and horns were an excellent source of income for Siegfried, who was both dirt poor and without anything to his name at the moment. As such, he had no plans to share a single patch of hide or a single piece of a horn with the freeloader.

Grip…!

Siegfried gripped the steel rod in his hand tightly.

Antoinette was a thieving rat gnawing away at his experience points, and she would definitely not be satisfied with just his experience points. He was certain that she would brazenly demand her share of the loot as well.

There was only one solution to Siegfried’s pest problem.

Whack!

Siegfried smacked the thieving rat on the head with his steel rod.

He would gain bad karma if he killed her, but he did not mind getting some.

The karma a person would get from killing another player would increase the higher the victim’s fame. As such, nothing serious would happen if he killed a classless Level 9 player.

And there were no witnesses in this place…

“Kyahk!” Antoinette screamed before she collapsed to the ground.

“W-What are you… doing right now…?” she asked while stuttering in fear.

“I’m killing a rat, can’t you see?” Siegfried replied.

“Rat…?” Antoinette muttered in confusion.

“Yes, a thieving rat that entered my granary,” Siegfried explained.

“Are you calling me… a rat right now…?” Antoinette asked.

“Yes, I am. What else can I call you when you are stealing my experience points without contributing even a tenth to the hunt?” Siegfried asked.

“You crazy bastard…!” Antoinette muttered while glaring at him.

Siegfried did not even bother to listen to her ramblings as he mercilessly swung his steel rod over and over again.

Puk! Pukeok! Pak! Pak!

***

A message popped up in front of Siegfried when Antoinette’s HP reached zero.

[You have killed the player ‘Antoinette’!]

[Experience Points +120]

[Your Karma has increased by 1!]

The 120 experience points she gave were significantly less than what the Mutated Bisons should give, but it was enough to cover the experience points he had lost.

And his karma only rose by a measly one point, so it did not bother him at all.

“That wasn’t bad at all…” Siegfried muttered with a cold, satisfied smile.

It was a smile that revealed his resolve to kill anyone who would dare to hinder him.

***

[Your level has risen!]

[Your level has risen!]

[Your level has risen!]

Siegfried leveled up three times while fighting against the herd of Mutated Bisons, and he was now Level 5.

“I’ll invest everything into Strength for now. Then, I’ll equally level Smite and Circle of Mortality up… I’ll invest just a bit into Circle of Weakness…” he muttered while distributing his stat and skill points according to his master’s advice on the book.

Afterward, he took his dagger out and proceeded to harvest the hides and horns of the dead bisons in a cautious and diligent manner.

***

“Y-You… are you really a novice…?” asked the guild receptionist named Jericho.

“Well… yeah,” Siegfried muttered in response.

“Y-You hunted all these alone…?” Jericho asked in disbelief.

“As you can see…” Siegfried replied.

“Oh my god…” Jericho muttered in shock.

The novice standing in front of him right now was definitely not a novice, and it was evidenced by the bloody and fresh hides and horns of the Mutated Bisons the novice had brought over.

“Wow… You don’t seem like a normal novice. This is really amazing. It seems that you are someone pretty skilled at hunting back in your own world, too,” Jericho said.

The world NPC Jericho was referring to was the reality where people lived, Earth.

“You are free to think as you like,” Siegfried nonchalantly replied.

“Hmmm…” Jericho muttered.

“Anyway, what about the result of my qualification test?” Siegfried asked.

“Of course, you pass!” Jericho exclaimed before adding, “Give me a moment. I will issue your license right now.”

Ten minutes later….

“Here you go,” Jericho said as he extended Siegfried’s license toward the latter.

“Thank you very much,” Siegfried replied.

He had finally obtained the license which would allow him to officially receive quests from the Mercenary Guild.

[Mercenary Guild License]

[Name: Siegfried]

[Type: Adventurer]

[Tier: Bronze I]

[Class: No Class]

[This license proves that the Adventurer above has passed the rigorous tests of the Nürburg Continent’s Mercenary Guild.]

[This license has been issued by the Branch Manager of the Mercenary Guild in Biermann Territory. (Signed)]

However, there were a few errors on the license issued for Siegfried.

The first error—Siegfried’s class was specified as ‘No Class’ when he actually had one.

The second error—his tier was Bronze I.

The Mercenary Guild tiers were divided into eight—Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster. The tiers were further divided into three divisions represented by the roman numerals III to I.

“Why is my tier Bronze I? Doesn’t it usually start at III?” Siegfried asked.

His class being unspecified was understandable since an NPC like Jericho did not possess the Rune of Insight, which all players possessed. However, the fact that he was starting off at Bronze I was definitely an error.

“Well, it’s a given that you will start there, no?” Jericho replied.

“Huh?” Siegfried muttered in confusion.

“Look at the achievements you made,” Jericho said. He pointed at the pile of Mutated Bison hides and horns before continuing, “Didn’t you hunt twenty-seven Mutated Bisons, even though you’re just a novice? I can’t place someone like you at Bronze III.”

“Hmm…” Siegfried muttered while trying to process Jericho’s words.

“Our Mercenary Guild gives special treatment to those with bright futures,” Jericho explained.

“I see. Then, thank you very much,” Siegfried replied.

“Don’t mention it! Just work hard from now on, and don’t forget this branch where you started if you ever became a hero who would shake the continent up in the future!” Jericho exclaimed.

“Haha…” Siegfried awkwardly smiled at the receptionist’s words.

‘So, a special treatment actually exists…’ he thought.

Siegfried couldn’t recall receiving any special treatment in the past.

However, getting the license had been a breeze after becoming the Debuff Master. Climbing the ranks seemed to have become easier as well since he normally would have had to start off at Bronze III and slowly claw his way up the divisions and tiers.

‘As expected… a person has to be strong for them to be treated with respect…’ Siegfried thought with a bittersweet taste in his mouth.