Gram paled dramatically as a hundred eyes turned to him for answers. He had persuaded the soldiers to place their bets, so the accusation of cheating was taken seriously. "Lenny... that kid..."
The soldiers and players were hanging on his every word, watching him like a hawk.
"He's not using magic, Lenny," a butch brunette beside him said, taking pity on the man. "He possesses so little mana that it's eerie—almost sickly. I've never encountered someone with so little in my life."
Disbelief rippled through the crowd, prompting a self-satisfied smirk from Grey. His potential for power was great, but his actual stats were a mere two. The teen had been relying entirely on borrowed stats!
"It's true... I've never seen anything like it," a soldier who hadn't placed a bet confirmed. "Moreover, his divinity grade is just as low as the other transmigrators, and he arrived here right after the warp."
"How does that make sense, Marcus?" Lenny demanded gruffly. "You're saying he's the weakest kid you've ever seen, but he took a full Cobra Punch from a primed soldier. How do you explain that?"
"Lenny..." Gram swallowed nervously, staring at the kid. "There's only one explanation—he has an inherent blessing."
Payton felt the blood drain from his face, leaving him queasy and weak. The players looked on in confusion, murmuring among themselves about the meaning of this revelation.
"Woah, so you guys can't see it?" Grey asked, visibly baffled but inwardly grinning. "No wonder no one believed me when I said I was a 'chosen one.' I was starting to think everyone was just stupid."
Budding Greed fans erupted in laughter and applause, cheering for the teen, cracking his neck.
Grey used Loki's blessing as inspiration for his strategy, and they fell right into his trap. They could only stand there, shocked that they stood before a rarity.
"Well, I didn't break any rules, and I'm not going to apologize for transmigrating with a god's blessing," Grey said dryly. "It's irritating being accused of cheating when I told all of you—multiple times—that I was a [chosen one] and that you'd regret betting against me.
You all dismissed me as arrogant and treated me like I was insane. Now, some of you look like you want to attack me for telling the truth and warning you. This place is fucking shameful."
Checkmate.
Payton clearly remembered the Greed saying: 'Are you serious? I'm a [chosen one]. Do you think I'd learn from a lowly soldier like you? I'm new here, but I'm already better than you.'
He had goaded him into a match and systematically played them from the start. Every word and action the teen had taken was part of his scheme to swindle them out of their money.
Hell, Payton finally noticed the comical amount of blood on his face from where he had been hit—he had been playing them even during the match. But now it was game over.
Or so he thought. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case—not by a long shot.
"I'm done with this farce," Grey declared boldly. "At least it was good for something."
Everyone turned to him, awaiting his ominous words.
"It finally allowed me to regain my balance," he said, his smile sinister and chilling.
Payton's instincts screamed at him to submit, but before he could utter a word, the teenager's fist materialized before his face.
CRaaaACK!
The teen's fist delivered a brutal uppercut to his jaw, resulting in a nauseating crunch that made onlookers wince. Blood sprayed in all directions as Payton's body was launched like a ragdoll into the ring of soldiers.
With a mere 20 stamina, Greed could withstand Payton's onslaught. So hitting the lieutenant's face with 50 strength transformed his body into a human bowling ball, toppling the surrounding soldiers. For maximum pettiness, the teen used his 50 dexterity to aim the lieutenant's body at Lenny, the complainer, out of sheer spite.
Though the impact was not lethal for a Primed entity, it shattered Payton's jaw and rendered him unconscious. Under normal circumstances, his jaw would be wired shut for months.
However, instant recovery triggered in the man's mouth, rapidly reconstructing his jaw. The process halted when only minor fractures remained, too swift for the streaming cameras to capture the healing.
DING!
A notification popped into the corner of all the transmigrator's eyes.
-
─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player Greed has become the first player to win a Battle Event against an NPC.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
-
Then another popped up immediately, followed by a dozen more, rattling off like a machine gun.
-
─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player Greed has become the first player to win a fight against an enemy ten levels stronger than them.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
Player Greed has become the first player to win a fight against a Primed entity.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
…
─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player Greed has become the first player to win a fight against a higher entity.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
-
All the players in the training area fell silent as they got the notifications, creating an eerie atmosphere that confused the soldiers.
Grey also had a notification that popped up before the world announcements triggered.
-
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
Congratulations! You have won your Battle Event against NPC Payton Reece [Level 22 (Primed)] (1st Lieutenant).
Reward: 3,300 Zecta
Note: Combo Trainer disabled experience points collection. It did not affect your match, as players only get experience by consuming soul essence after killing opponents.
─┈━═━┈━═━┈━═━┈─
-
Although content with the outcome, he didn't exhibit any emotions or smile—instead, he calmly walked away while attention shifted to the notifications and Payton's condition.
Soon, the confusion would dissipate, and the hunt for him would begin. His only defense was the pretense of being able to incapacitate soldiers with a single punch. Apart from that, he possessed a mere [2] in all his stats and persuasive arguments that he was incapable of using magic.
Grey was under no illusions about the consequences of winning the event. It was simply a necessary step in his time-sensitive endeavor.
He had taken the risk to secure the necessary funds. Now, his priority was to escape the base unscathed.
As Grey hurried through the throng of transmigrators, his pulse quickened. He surveyed his surroundings with heightened paranoia. Name tags only appeared once a person's name was learned, so while they knew of [Greed], they didn't know that [he] was Greed, lending a sense of authenticity.
Nevertheless, it wouldn't be long before inquisitive players scrutinized the streams for his likeness. He had to act swiftly.
Grey managed to evade the gaze of all who had witnessed him. However, matters were rarely that straightforward.
"WHERE DID GREED GO!?"
With a single utterance, everyone in the training area learned that Greed was present in the Markov Military Base. Now it was a race against the clock to get the hell out of there.