.

In the nearest safe zone, Winter Fog and Void Android led Autumn Mist and her party as they wondered what he was going to do. It was not that the members with them didn't have any faith in their guild leader, it was just that these members were not the pioneer guild members that really knew how Winter Fog was.

Though they were aware that their guild had somewhat some kind of reputation, they didn't really look up to their guild leader who hardly showed himself before them. They were afraid that this headstrong guild leader of theirs was being hotblooded and impulsive and might cause their guild to lose some of their reputation.

"[Winter Fog: It's good to see you again SummerBreeze. How long has it been since we last talked? 3 years?]"

"[SummerBreeze: More or less. I heard from Autumn-san that though you were interested in recruiting me at that time, you felt that it hasn't been the time to do so. That certainly piqued my interest because I think that I never showed much interest in what I do now back then.]"

Kazuya looked over at Autumn Mist's character. He felt that this person had changed too much. She was very tight lipped about secrets or sensitive information but she was a whole lot more social and trusting in this life compared to the past.

"[Winter Fog: Would you believe me if I said that it was a hunch?]"

"[SummerBreeze: I would have if we had met face to face. As for looking over our avatars over the screen..]"

"[Winter Fog: Though I would like to have had this conversation in a more controlled environment, it looks like I have to take care of a nuisance first.]"

Kazuya glanced over the server chat that was going crazy. The members of the Yamata no Orichi guild were fanning the flames and invited people to come and watch the duel that was going to happen soon. Kazuya gave a dry laugh and fixed the camera that had a stand and placed it to face the keyboard that was in front of him.

"[SumerBreeze: With your reputation, I don't believe that these people would pose that much of a threat to you. I shall stay online longer so that we can have a chat about a possible collaboration between us.]"

"[Winter Fog: Thanks. I'll be sure to make it quick.]"

Kazuya didn't care much about the people challenging him nor their motivations. Their mistake was picking his guild and his people to mess around with and that was enough reason for Kazuya to make sure that they would regret it. This would also serve as a lesson to those who were thinking about the same thing against their guild that was no longer in the center of the spotlight.

Meanwhile, the guild leader of the infamous Yamata no Orochi guild was stuck in a predicament. Nyan-E, or the person behind the character himself was cursing at the screen as he saw his own guild members fanning the flames. He wanted to back out of the challenge as soon as Winter Fog had mentioned that they needed to stream themselves.

Nyan-E liked being the center of attention. This was the reason why he had developed a troublesome persona online. He would often call himself a 'rebel' and made trouble for those who acted with manners online. To him, being online had offered him a sense of freedom that made him say or do whatever he liked.

He had some decent progress in game and found like-minded people over on the course of playing his game. This led to the formation of his guild. While he gained a reputation for himself, he decided to paint himself as a skilled genius of games and told everyone that he was still just a young person in his adolescence and he had yet to reach his full potential.

In reality, he was man who had been laid off of work and was currently living in his parent's house in the countryside. This was why he had been so mad at his guild members because now that they have fanned the flames to this point, there wouldn't be anything left for him if he backed out now.

What Nyan-E didn't know that Kazuya was already aware of his secret because it was one of the scandals that even a regular player like him in his past life had heard of. In one of the offline meetings of the Yamata no Orochi guild, one of their former members who was bullied actually released a video of him getting drunk that immediately made him unable to log onto his character due to the shame of being discovered.

"Let's see what choice you will make." Kazuya grinned over his screen as he placed his character inside the arena and began typing out a message in the server's chat.

"[Winter Fog: My streaming preparations are complete. I will begin the stream as soon as my opponent arrives and activates his. I will be waiting in arena #0869. The password will be the word that completes this sentence; The Yamata no Orochi guild is a guild made up of a bunch of _ _ _ _ s]"

"fufu.. your father is just too mean and funny!" the person behind the screen of Autumn Mist patted the stuffed animal on her desk and giggled.

As Kazuya expected, the one who showed up in the arena was not Nyan-E but rather, NaTuRaL Muscle. Kazuya had already begun streaming his gameplay except for the bottom right that had been blackened out because he had yet to turn on his camera.

"[Winter Fog: Don't tell me that you showed up to say some kind of excuse that your guild master can't fight right now. Is he hiding some sort of lie that he didn't want discovered?]"

Nyan-E cursed from behind his screen. Winter Fog had beaten NaTuRaL Muscle to the punch so anything that he said would have been deemed an excuse. He wasn't in the game so he had to pay Winter Fog's fee to be able to see his stream. This way, once he hunted him down to get back at him, he would be able to catch a glimpse of how this former legendary player played the game.

"[NaTuRaL Muscle: Our guild leader doesn't need to deal with you himself. Though it is true that he suddenly had an emergency, my skills aren't inferior to his. He is just the one that gathered us into one group after all.]"

Though Nyan-E was cursing at this arrogant guild member of his, NaTuRaL Muscle's statement wasn't exactly false. If people were asked if who among the upper echelons of the guild was the strongest, most of them would most likely lean towards NaTuRaL Muscle because of this person's relentless efforts in flexing not only his equipment but whatever he has over other players would be used to make them feel inferior.

"[NaTuRaL Muscle: If I win, I want that armor set of yours.]"

Without regard of what Winter Fog was thinking, he immediately showed his greed over the armor set that Winter Fog was wearing. None have seen this set before so he immediately wanted it for himself. NaTuRaL Muscle already started imagining himself wearing the set while he paraded down busy streets.

"[Winter Fog: You have no right to speak to me you inferior reptile. You do not have the title of guild master. As this is battle between guild masters to resolve the trouble your guild has caused mine, a mere senior member has no place in this discussion.]"

Winter Fog, being the owner of the arena room activated the mute function. Kazuya already knew the importance of information so he had already briefly looked up information about these peculiar individuals. This person specifically had a loud mouth so taking it away from him made his empty pride take a hit.

Of course, NaTuRaL Muscle was enraged. As it was an arena, he could only spam the challenge button so that the duel could be initiated. He even went as far as activated the conditions for beginning the duel which let the people who were watching to see the person behind the braggart of a character.

What the people paying attention saw was of course, something that was a person that was so far from his known name in game. It completely shattered the image they had in their mind of a person who flexed his muscles as frequent as he flexed his items.

"[Winter Fog: Seeing as your courage, which of course is leagues above your guild master. I'll reluctantly accept this duel.]"

[COUNTDOWN!]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[DUEL!!]

Wasting no time, Winter Fog was immediately attacked. Kazuya cast the spell he had prepared before turning on the camera. This made the people have even more of a shock than when they saw NaTuRaL Muscle's real identity. Winter Fog had chosen to stream the hands that he used to play the game with along with his keyboard.

The senior staff members of Kazuno Tech were gathered in one of the board rooms which streamed the battle. These members were here for one reason, and that was so that they could catch a glimpse of their mysterious boss.

They felt a little bitter and tricked because of what they saw but this was the first time that they caught a glimpse of the mysterious person that they owed their current success to. They felt a little pity for the man who showed himself because they were obviously getting messed with by their boss.

"[Winter Fog: I heard you were the type to flex your equipment over people.]"

Kazuya quickly typed messages as he dodged and started to change the equipment set he was wearing. This was to prove that he was indeed the one whose hands were controlling the character.

"[Winter Fog: I may just be a crafter who faded from the spotlight, but you should know who you people are messing with. I don't need that new set to deal with you. If I wanted, these rare items you're so proud of will start becoming common equipment sold on the market.]"

This caused the person behind the character to hesitate for a second before missing his next attack. He has yet to land a single hit on Winter Fog while the opponent had been typing messages, but also changing equipment and dodging attacks at the same time.

NaTuRaL was wearing a special set which was crafted with very rare materials from bosses and had a very low success rate. He would also buy the same set whenever it hit the market or would harass players who had this item so that there would be limited number of these sets that people possessed. He would parade around in this set whilst discouraging people to even have an interest in it.

"[Winter Fog: I believe most of the people under the pioneers alliance are watching the stream so I will refrain from sending this in the server chat. From now on, if the Yamata no Orochi guild is able to secure a guild NPC in the monthly auction, a raid strategy from me will be withheld from the alliance.]

New Gods online had a system that helps guilds strive to become better as well as control the economy. There is a monthly auction where a specific number of guild npcs that would be able to open up the guild shop feature would be put up for auction. Their contracts would last for a month and players found this extremely useful because one of the main features lets all guild members able to use this NPC to sell the stuff they had no time to waste in trading. Players would also check if these NPCs had what they needed before visiting the marketplace because not only were the prices on them usually lower, the taxes the game charges are also significantly lowered.

This immediately put pressure among the famous players that were part of guilds who formed the alliance. Those who were part of the alliance knew that most of their success in clearing the raids that were constantly being released in the game in a proper fashion was due to their constant purchases in strategies and tactics that were being provided by Winter Fog. This was the reason why no pioneer adventurers dared to mess with the Midnight Wanders.

[Winter Fog: Now then, I believe I already made my point clear.]

Without warning, Winter Fog had stopped dodging around and immediately drew a weapon. While everyone was being distracted by the pale and young and feminine looking hands that was on the corner of the screen, the viewers saw both the character and the hands speed up from the already surprising fast pace they moved before.

Many players who knew of Winter Fog and his reputation from playing from the early release of the game hailed him as a genius as he led unknown players to finish raids that were barely just released. He was rather a player who didn't mingle much in the competitive Player Versus Player scene but he had a reputation for wiping out parties that tried to kill him for fame.

Though people believed that it was because of Winter Fog's tactics and intelligence that he was able to achieve his current achievements, the players now caught a glimpse of what the player behind the character was capable of. A player like NaTuRaL Muscle had only lasted for seconds against Winter Fog who didn't even use his main set.

Though Kazuya's recently slain opponent nor the guild master watching the stream didn't quite understand the real meaning behind Winter Fog's announcement, those who were in the know understood that there was no more future left for the Yamata no Orochi guild in this game. Every pioneer guild will make sure that the infamous guild and their players wouldn't be included in any high-end raids as well as those guilds would work together to make sure that their guild would never be granted a guild NPC every month.

[Winter Fog: If your guild still has the stupid idea of messing with mine, it will not end with me just preventing your guild from getting a guild NPC.]

The mute was still in effect and Kazuya wasn't interested in hearing what this person had to say so he just turned away before finally closing the arena. The stream was also ended despite the numerous number of people who were requesting for Winter Fog to stay longer. He had more important things to do as SummerBreeze was still waiting for him in the guild headquarters.

[SummerBreeze: I heard you weren't quite as active in the game as you were before. Looks like I was worried for nothing.]

[WinterFog: Sorry for the wait. Now, shall we talk about your recruitment?]

[SummerBreeze: Though I am grateful that you've taken an interest in me before I was able to grow up, I would still like to know who the person I will be working for. Though I really am quite interested in the approach your company is doing when it comes to unique inventions, I would still like to see for myself whose ship I'm getting on.]

Kazuya couldn't help but give wry smile after reading SummerBreeze's message. Unlike the time where he was recruiting people, the difference between SummerBreeze and them was that he was not desperate to find partners to work with. What he stated in his interviews was that he was looking for a collaborator who he could trust.

[Winter Fog: Would a video call suffice?]

.