Chương 142: One Gold

Meno knew people had watched him enter the black portal in Serpent's Wake Coast, which meant there was a very good chance somebody had spent the last several minutes standing exactly where he would come back out. So when Excrino's pond disappeared and the darkness around him started thinning, Meno did not wait to check. He activated Xenocide immediately.

Vervenzal's Verdict came apart in his hand, the blade splitting into thousands of tiny black-metal shards that whipped outward while the ground around Meno darkened in a wide circle. Black lightning flickered between the fragments as they filled the death zone, and before Meno could even register what the skill looked like, three kill notifications appeared. As expected, several rogues had thought waiting beside the portal in stealth was clever. Levels 51, 53, and 50.

They died so quickly their corpses remained invisible. [-30 Karma | +30 Reputation (Grave Crown Bonus)]"Good try." EZ spawn camp counter THE CORPSES ARE STILL STEALTHED three rogues evaporated instantly that ability looks awesome WELCOME BACK TYRANT The shardstorm continued for the full 3-second duration despite having nothing left to kill, swirling around Meno while black lightning snapped between the pieces of Verdict.

When the effect ended, the fragments converged back into his hand and rebuilt the sword as if it had never come apart. He had no idea whether the same-type execution clause had triggered. With 1, 000 Chain already giving him absurd damage and the sword multiplying that further against targets above 80% HP, the rogues had been too weak to test anything useful. Testing Xenocide properly on Veyran was going to be difficult because almost everything here died before its stranger mechanics mattered.

Fractera would solve that. Before going there, though, Meno needed weapons, preferably at least Legendary III across the entire Tyrant setup. Both Annihilator and Quadrillionator inherited the weakest Damage Tier among the components used, which made low-tier experiments risky no matter how interesting the modifiers looked. He briefly regretted listing Jailer's Revenge on the auction house.

Its stackable damage modifiers after Dodge, Parry, Block, and Deflect would have been interesting with Tyrant, but it was still only Masterwork II with Legendary II Damage Tier. Combining it with Vervenzal's Verdict would lower the resulting weapon's base Damage Tier, and Meno was still fairly sure raw weapon damage mattered more than piling fancy modifiers onto something weaker. He summoned the Gravecycle and opened the map. The obvious equipment source was Marcel. Unfortunately.

Meno's Grave Crown Reputation sat at 219, 930. That might already be enough to unlock something useful, but the Tier 3 Mountstones had been at 500, 000 Reputation, which made 250, 000 look suspiciously like another vendor breakpoint. Getting there first would save him from reaching Westmarket, finding out Marcel wanted more, then having to ride back out and farm again. He also wanted to check the Black Market.

That place sounded more likely to sell bizarre PvP garbage than a clean Tyrant weapon setup, but after Excrino had already handed him a Divine skill, ignoring the illegal vendor would be stupid. Westmarket itself should still be safe, but a ten million bounty had a way of changing people's definition of friendly. Meno marked the nearest Resurrection Shrine and started moving.

"Need about 31 more of these to be safe. Shouldn't take much more than an hour if I drive-by them with Xenocide." test class cmon no more shrines unbelievable is he serious LEAVE THE RESPAWNS ALONE THIRTY ONE MORE??? grave crown reputation farming btw"I'll stop soon, don't worry. I just don't want to waste time going back without enough Reputation." The first shrine disappeared exactly as expected.

Meno triggered Xenocide without slowing, and Verdict dissolved into the same swarm of black shards around him as the Gravecycle tore through the clearing. The death zone rolled over the inscribed stones and erased the shrine almost instantly, then followed Meno out the other side while he accelerated away. A few nearby monster packs got caught in it too, vanishing beneath the shardstorm like grass under a lawnmower. That alone made Xenocide much smoother for mounted combat than the old one-shot Detonation setup.

Instead of timing everything around a single hit, Meno could turn himself into a moving death zone for 3 seconds and let the Gravecycle carry it through whatever happened to be nearby. Thornmire Wild made the route worse. The marsh was full of bad terrain, shallow water, and narrow strips of solid ground that constantly messed with the Gravecycle's line.

The shrines themselves remained effortless, but with only around three in each zone, Meno quickly realized the Reputation top-up would take longer than he had hoped. The extra negative Karma also seemed useless now. He had already crossed -100, 000 and unlocked Tyrant. If another hidden threshold existed beyond that, it was probably far enough away that 30, 000 or 40, 000 more would not matter, or Solar simply had not built another one yet. Either way, there was no reason to chase it.

Redreed Frontier came next, followed by Goldplain Downs around Southreach. Low-level players shouted angry things as he passed, which was understandable. Destroying Resurrection Shrines was objectively annoying even if they returned after two hours, because anyone who died in the meantime would probably respawn back in the city and get stuck with a long walk if they lacked a mount. Meno gave Southreach itself a wide berth.

Regicide had pushed the important rulers, Royal forces, and Archmages in the remaining capitals to Level 80. That was Solar very clearly telling him not to try the same stunt again immediately. Without Annihilator or Quadrillionator even functional yet, Meno had no interest in testing how much damage a Level 80 city boss could do. The permanent 1, 000 Chain floor was enough to bully lower-level content, not enough reason to walk into something ten levels above him while missing half his kit.

From Goldplain Downs he cut through Templefall Hollow, then blasted west into Emberhollow Badlands before dropping south through Mireclaw Marsh and Ashfang Volcano. He skipped Skyfin Lake entirely because several shrine markers sat on small islands deeper in the zone, and Meno had absolutely no desire to add swimming to the route. Eventually, he looped north again toward Greenbelt Vale near Westmarket, where a mountain ridge separated the two regions. Normally, that would have meant finding a pass.

Meno had Airwalk now. He dismissed the Gravecycle near the base, bent his knees, and jumped. The first launch carried him far up the slope, and before gravity could drag him back down, he kicked against empty air. There was resistance, not a platform he could actually see or feel, more like the game simply accepted that his foot had found something solid because the ability said it had. The kick launched him higher, and at the apex, Meno stopped moving.

For 3 seconds, he simply stood in empty air above the mountain.

"That is great. Huge upgrade over False Wings." why can a warrior class do this how do I get this skill false wings was already OP three pit stops before gravity remembers him Meno tried moving sideways, and it worked exactly as advertised. Once he stopped at an elevation after a kick, he could walk through open air without losing height. Jumping again consumed another Airwalk charge and launched him forward with the extra Movement Speed and Jump Power from Arrival.

It felt like old False Wings with much better control. He could jump, stop in the air, reposition, then choose when to kick again instead of constantly committing to another arc. The only thing he had to respect now was fall damage. False Hero had removed it, but Tyrant did not. He crossed the ridge easily, used the final kick to control his descent, landed safely on the far side, and resummoned the Gravecycle.

The shrine spree continued through Greenbelt Vale and the areas around Westmarket, where Meno discovered that even Grave Crown players became annoyed when he deleted their respawn points. Apparently faction loyalty had limits. Garrison Fields came next, then Verdant Maw Jungle, which slowed him more than anything else on the route.

The Gravecycle's Low jump rating turned out to mean extremely low in practice, and the thick roots, uneven ground, and dense jungle constantly forced him to reroute while walking trees aggroed despite the level difference. Xenocide erased them whenever they became too annoying, but that still taught him nothing about the deeper mechanics of the skill because everything died too fast. He finally reached Merai Dunes, where the Gravecycle became fun again.

The corpse-fire wheels drifted across shifting sand while Meno cut sideways down dunes at ridiculous speed, occasionally triggering Xenocide to erase a shrine without ever straightening the bike. By the time he finished, he had cleared all thirty-three Resurrection Shrines from eleven zones. [Karma: -134, 270] [Reputation: 252, 960]"That should be enough." Meno turned back toward Westmarket, crossed the mountain again with Airwalk instead of following the road, and reached the city shortly afterward.

This was probably the riskiest part of the route. Grave Crown players he had passed outside still appeared friendly, which was promising. The system also had strange interactions around Hunted players and safe zones, and Meno was not entirely sure how much protection Westmarket would still provide. Normally, players without enough negative Karma could not attack inside cities, but Meno was carrying a Global Bounty.

When Hunted triggered, the other factions had explicitly lost their safe-zone protections against him. Grave Crown's version had simply said the faction did not care, which Meno interpreted as Westmarket still protecting him. He hoped that interpretation was correct. Meno entered without dismounting and drove directly toward the Royal Quarter. Players moved aside as the Gravecycle screamed through the streets, most of them simply watching him pass. At the inner gate, the Grave Crown guards did something unexpected.

They knelt. Meno slowed enough to look back, and the NPCs remained down with their heads lowered. THE GUARDS ARE KNEELING tyrant buff??? NEGATIVE KARMA KING PBG HAS NPC AURA NOW Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. this faction needs help"That is cool." He continued toward the park near the main castle, where Marcel was presumably still existing in permanent party mode.

Before subjecting himself to that conversation, Meno opened the PvP ladder to see the competition and whether anyone else was getting close to his negative Karma total.

[Bounty Board | Global Negative Karma Rank] [1] PrayerBeadGod (70) | Swing Master Tyrant | GC | GraveMistake | 10M [2] ArayuXO (60) | Arch Elementalist Myriad | GC | GraveMistake | 1M [3] ScuzzyIamDisease (60) | Plague Blade Hollow | GC | GraveMistake | 1M [4] Karmabeast (60) | Venom Tormentor Umbral | GC | GraveMistake | 1M [5] DieselForBreakfast (60) | Arch Pyromaniac Feral | GC | GraveMistake | 500K [6] FukuOnProbation (60) | Vein Flayer Hollow | GC | GraveMistake | 500K [7] BNanaSendFeetPics (60) | Phantom Stalker Feral | GC | GraveMistake | 500K [8] JerkoNoobDestroyer (60) | Arch Cryomaniac Tempest | GC | GraveMistake | 500K [9] NaClyHomeless (60) | Arch Electromaniac Infernal | GC | GraveMistake | 500K [10] SatotanPlsNoMad (60) | Savage Tormentor Ruinous | GC | GraveMistake | 500K Meno closed the window and immediately opened it again because for a moment he genuinely thought he had clicked the GraveMistake guild panel by accident.

The same list returned.

"This is unreal. Are you guys seeing this?" Every person in the top ten belonged to his guild. ScuzzyIamDisease being above Karmabeast was almost as surprising as the rest of it. Meno had never even heard of the guy. The classes made sense at least: all rogues and mages. The names were where the whole situation fell apart.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this before? Since when were all these degenerates in my guild?" Meno scrolled down again.

"Chadculator went sewer diving and invited all the rejects. I thought we were a family-friendly guild." HE ACTUALLY DIDNT KNOW LMAO YOUR GUILD OWNS THE CRIME BOARD Family Friendly?????????? banana squad represent CHAD BUILT A CRIMINAL SYNDICATE PBG discovers his own guild epic fail Meno immediately called Chadculator through the phone-link, because Chad had some explaining to do. Chad answered after a few rings.

"What's up? After the failed Naraltan rescue, I thought we weren't on speaking terms."

"Why wouldn't we be? I was just busy. Thanks for trying anyway." Meno kept moving through the Royal Quarter.

"You can tax the guild, except me of course. Ship costs and repair."

"Already did. So what do you need?" Chad sounded completely normal.

"I saw your class. I can't even be bothered to do the math for it because everything depends on the weapons you combine. I don't think I need to tell you it's beyond broken." That was fair.

"Both Arayu and Karmabeast are going crazy trying to get the other two Tyrant slots right now," Chad continued.

"Scuzzy probably gets there second, though. His class is the best for NPC farming. Still going to take a while without the Regicide jump you got."

"Yeah, that's actually why I'm calling. Why does the negative Karma board look like my guild panel? And why are Karmabeast and all these people in my guild?"

"I mean, obvious reasons. You have insane viewership. If they associate with you, they get more viewers, and when you're offline, the spillover is huge. We're also the top Grave Crown guild by far now." Chad paused briefly.

"These guys don't care much about level progression, though, so you probably won't see most of them on the main ladder." Meno understood why they wanted GraveMistake, but that did not explain why Chad had apparently accepted everybody with a pulse.

"I get why they would want to join. Why did you invite everyone?"

"You told me I get a thousand gold per person per month. The more people in the guild, the better." classic PBG moment chad the math god 1k per criminal LMAO pure greed faction invite me too coward Meno regretted every decision that had resulted in him sharing a guild tag with someone named BNanaSendFeetPics. Major setback.

"Chad, I hope you see the huge banana in the room. Why is that person in the guild? That's going a bit far. We have an image to uphold."

"You mean Nana? She's a she, by the way. She's nice."

"Nice in what way? She has a 500k bounty."

"I mean, I asked her out." That explained everything instantly.

"Oh. And?"

"She said no." CHAD NOOOOO REJECTED BY SENDFEETPICS HE INVITED HIS CRUSH TO THE GUILD 500K BOUNTY HEARTBREAKER CHAD TAKING REAL DAMAGE Meno decided there was nothing useful he could contribute.

"Anyway, fine. Invite whoever you want, I guess. I don't want to deal with this at all. I was trying to project a respectable image, but I see now that's futile." YOU KILLED A KING TODAY RESPECTABLE IMAGE DIED HOURS AGO TEN MILLION BOUNTY BTW family friendly criminal syndicate"Okay. I'm going to sleep now. Bye." Chad hung up. Meno decided Marcel could wait, preferably forever.

The Black Market entrance was supposedly inside Westmarket Royal Cathedral, where Lord Chancellor Radnik had once led him before introducing him to the skeleton in the basement that turned out to be King Malrec. In hindsight, High Priest Ashtor had been suspicious from the beginning. There was a 100% chance the guy worshiped Excrino. Meno rode around the castle until the cathedral came into view.

White stone towers pierced upward above the surrounding buildings, and gothic arches covered the exterior in enough detail to make the whole place look extremely holy from outside. Apparently, it was completely rotten underneath. Good disguise. Meno stored the Gravecycle and entered through the enormous ornate doors. Ashtor was there. The old priest still had white hair, dark purple irises, and thin lines of black ritual script traced across his face.

A heavy metal ring hung from his nose nearly to his upper lip, while tiny skulls dangled from his belt beneath formal priestly robes. The moment Ashtor saw Meno, he bowed. That was new. Between the guards kneeling and now the High Priest doing the same, something had definitely changed. Meno still could not tell whether the NPC behavior came from Tyrant, his Reputation, or the catastrophic Karma total. Tyrant felt most likely.

"How may I serve?" Ashtor asked. Meno had already had enough cryptic roleplay for one night.

"Show me the way to the Black Market."

"Naturally." Ashtor turned toward the main stone altar and tapped several points across its surface. The stone liquefied, flowing downward like water until it disappeared into the floor and revealed a narrow staircase descending beneath the cathedral.

"This way," Ashtor said.

"Follow the main path. The others lead to places where even someone of your stature might not return from." That sounded bad enough to be interesting.

"Is the Black Market connected to the other cities underground?"

"Yes. And more." Ashtor remained perfectly calm.

"But those are not paths you can traverse. Not yet. They lead to places sealed by divine will."

"Whose divine will? Excrino?" Ashtor's expression sharpened.

"Do not speak their name. They are listening."

"Right." Meno descended before the conversation could become any more dramatic. The staircase went much farther than expected. At first he walked normally beneath blue magical torches embedded along the walls, but when the steps showed no sign of ending, he started running. The deeper he went, the hotter the air became. After several minutes, the underground passage had turned into something close to a sauna.

"Seriously, how deep is this?" The stairs finally opened into a much larger chamber, where Meno had expected a dungeon and instead found a bar. Wooden panels covered the stone walls, barrels were stacked everywhere, and shady looking humans and zubras sat around heavy tables playing cards while drinking a dark red liquid that was definitely not blood because that would have been too obvious. The room quieted the moment he entered, and every NPC looked at him.

Meno did not attack anybody, so after several uncomfortable seconds they returned to their games and conversations, although much more quietly than before. Six smaller doors lined the opposite wall. The first was white, and each one after it became progressively darker until the sixth was completely black. Nearby, a much larger stone door sat behind an obvious magical barrier. The bartender was a broad man whose face looked like it had lost several decades of arguments with fists. Both ears were missing.

He shouted across the room.

"Drink? On the house." There was absolutely no chance.

"Pass." Anything served free in an underground criminal bar had far too much first one is on us energy. Meno did not need to discover some permanent addiction debuff because he drank glowing red liquid for content.

"Where are the merchants?" The bartender reached behind the counter, pulled out a sword, and used it to point toward the six doors. Very subtle.

"Cool. Which one is the worst door?" The bartender looked at him.

"What do you think?" HE REALLY ASKED choose the obviously cursed one tyrant brain cells DOOR SIX SPEEDRUN"Yes, I get it. Very edgy. Still had to ask."

"Talk quieter. She's sleeping." The bartender pointed the sword toward a corner near the entrance, where a black cat lay curled against the wall, completely asleep. Meno looked from the bartender to the cat.

"Cool." That was definitely a hidden raid boss. He went straight to the black door and, of course, found more stairs behind it. Meno descended until the light disappeared completely, leaving him inside a pitch-black chamber whose actual size was impossible to judge. A voice greeted him before his eyes had any chance to adjust.

"Ahh, the first one." The sound changed while it spoke, shifting from a thin, almost childlike pitch into something deep enough to feel like a mountain talking.

"Little Tyrant. What do you seek?" Definitely not human. Maybe an elemental, shapeshifter, spirit, demon, or just somebody using voice magic because being mysterious was apparently mandatory down here.

"What do you have?"

"You may see all I have." A vendor window opened. [Mindmelter] (Stock: 1) Disguise yourself as a full member of another Faction. Usage Requirement: -66, 666 Karma or Lower. Price: 1, 000, 000g FACTION DISGUISE??? do not buy this please one million almost free JOIN RED BASTION LMAO buy buy buy"That is something. Not sure what the point is." Meno was more interested in the next item. [Crystallized Wrath (Unstable)] (Stock: 1) One-Time Use. Permanently enrages all bosses in active dungeon instances throughout Veyrath.

Usage Requirement: -66, 666 Karma or Lower. Price: 1, 000, 000g Meno disliked it immediately.

"This is grief city. Anti-streamer item." It was basically a button designed to ruin progression groups and anyone streaming a difficult boss.

"I really don't like that this exists. You guys in chat would absolutely spend a million just to wipe me once." ABSOLUTELY Karma req bit much yes saving up rn WORTH EVERY GOLD BUY IT AND SAVE IT FOR KESTREL global grief button"Good thing none of you have the Karma for it. I'm not buying this anyway. I only have around 2. 8 million gold." The third item changed that restraint immediately. [Cursed Divine Teardrop (Diluted)] (Stock: 1) One-Time Use. Unpredictably corrupts an item, increasing its Rarity Tier by 1.

Usage Requirement: -66, 666 Karma or Lower. Price: 1, 000, 000g Meno bought it without hesitation, and his balance dropped to 1, 800, 648g before chat even finished reacting. The voice laughed.

"Lick it for me. I always wondered about the taste."

"Yeah. Don't think so." Meno stored the Teardrop and opened the next question instead.

"Why do you only have one of each?"

"Worry not. I get more soon. More and more." The voice climbed into a high crackle before dropping again.

"Come back later and I might have more. Or I might offer you others." Rotating stock. Good to know. Meno opened the next listing and almost shouted.

"No way. Do you guys see this? JACKPOT!" [Mythic I | Sinseeker] (Stock: 1) Type: Two-Handed Bow Damage Tier: Legendary IV Durability: Indestructible Default Arrow Type: Magic Piercer Magic Piercer: 100% Absorption Pierce. Default Arrow Capacity: Infinite Attacks with this weapon fire homing projectiles at the closest hostile target that cannot miss. Purchase Requirement: -66, 666 Karma or Lower. Price: 1g Meno's pulse spiked.

A Mythic I ranged weapon with Legendary IV Damage Tier, infinite ammunition, and homing arrows that pierced Absorption and could not miss, all for 1g. He bought it so fast he nearly broke the interface. MYTHIC FOR ONE GOLD QUADRILLIONATOR BOW FOUND ABSORPTION PIERCE HOMING UNMISSABLE WHAT THAT IS NOT A REAL ITEM ONE GOLD JACKPOT FIRST TYRANT REWARD CONFIRMED The vendor sounded delighted.

"Enjoooy. Enjoooy. Took me forever to get rid of that cursed object." Meno's excitement died instantly.

"What curse?" There was nothing in the tooltip, no downside under Durability, no hidden line under the arrows, and absolutely nothing to explain why a Mythic I bow had cost 1g. The vendor had to be trolling.

"There is no curse." The voice laughed, sliding from something like a siren into deep rolling thunder.

"If you say so." Meno narrowed his eyes at the darkness. This guy was messing with him for sure. He checked the final listing. [Fael, the One] (Stock: 1) Type: Non-Combat Pet Favorite Food: Human Nap Time: Always Petting: Forbidden Personality: Extreme Purchase Requirement: -66, 666 Karma or Lower. Price: 1, 000, 000g Chat instantly stopped caring about weapons.

BUY FAEL OR RIOT PET PET PET HUMAN IS FAVORITE FOOD LMAO ONE MILLION WELL SPENT PBG NEEDS A PET BUY THE TURTLE MONKEY THING The image attached to the tooltip looked like somebody had put a turtle's head on a chimpanzee and then regretted creating life.

"A million gold? Absolutely not. It's a cosmetic pet, and apparently it eats humans." Chat rebelled. BUY IT NOW COWARD we demand family friendly content you bought corruption juice FAEL IS FAMILY SELL THE BOW BUY THE PET"If you guys send me a million, I'll buy it. Promise. I have a bounty on my head and a severe lack of weapons and equipment." The voice crackled through the room.

"How about I give you a discount?" The price changed. Price: 1g Meno did not touch the button.

"The bow wasn't cursed, but this pet definitely is. Still don't want it." buy the pet you monster ONE GOLD NO EXCUSE fael deserves a home PBG hates animals confirmed this is the only important item"I thought I had serious viewers. This isn't the stream for this kind of roleplay crap. Stop crying." A notification appeared. [You have been gifted Fael, the One by the Sin Broker] Meno stopped talking and pointed toward the darkness.

"You can't do this. Take it back right now." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FAEL IS YOURS GIFTED PET WELCOME TO THE FAMILY Meno opened his inventory, found the pet-summoning item, and immediately tried dragging it out. [Cannot drop Cursed Item. Seek Divine Intervention.]"Thanks, chat. This is all your fault." The Sin Broker laughed again.

"Told you. The bow was cursed." Great. Just great. Meno closed the vendor interface and started the climb back toward the bar. Before leaving, he tried the fifth door, but it refused to open. The fifth merchant probably did not have another Mythic for sale, but now Meno would think about it anyway as he went back to the bartender.

"Why is the other door closed?"

"You already met the Sin Broker today. You are cursed. Nobody will deal with you now." The bartender leaned against the counter.

"Come back tomorrow." Annoying. Meno looked toward the stairs leading back to the cathedral, then remembered there was still one NPC nearby who deserved to experience the consequences of tonight. He opened the pet item again.

"Okay. Let's introduce Fael to Marcel."