"Whew..."
Wayne let out a long breath and showed the letter to Tess.
Tess's eyes widened: "What?! They're renting it to you for free?! Boss, how did you bamboozle them? Those old-timers actually fell for your tricks?"
Wayne gave a slight chuckle: "It's not just about that plot of land. The location in this contract is only a temporary rental for the transition period."
The thought of no longer being squeezed into this tiny net cafe made Tess excited: "Then when are we moving there?"
Wayne: "People from the Stonemasons Guild will go to renovate it. It should be ready in about a week."
He pointed to the contract: "The land is free, but the renovation costs money. And they require payment upfront before they start working."
Originally, Mathias had thought Wayne only wanted that specific piece of land, which wasn't worth much to begin with. He had intended to practically give it to Wayne for a pittance so that his agents could continue monitoring the movements around Crystal Lake from the nearby farm.
Who would have guessed that the scale of Wayne's plan was far grander than he had imagined? This orchard was merely a stopgap measure for Wayne to alleviate the urgent problem of the long queues.
Although Mathias was not a civil official or a member of the House of Nobles and had no authority to decide whether Wayne's plan could be implemented, given his status, he was certain that if he presented this plan to the returning Old King, no monarch would be uninterested.
Thus, the farm at "No. 76 Block" ended up being leased for free as a gesture of gratitude for Wayne's intelligence.
However, hiring the Stonemasons Guild was a bold move. After the rebellion that led to the formation of the Defias Brotherhood, those people were sensitive topics. But Wayne had told Mathias that this was also part of the plan to bring back the King, simply because the Stonemasons Guild and the Defias Brotherhood shared deep-rooted connections.
But all of that would wait until tomorrow. Today, there was still work to be done.
He returned to the net cafe and sat back in his usual seat.
The Westbrook quartet hadn't seen Wayne play the game in a long time. While they were watching Saint Seiya, they kept pulling down their VR glasses to peek at Wayne's screen.
"Stop peeking. If you want to watch, come into the game."
Wayne was already in the Gathering Hall organizing his bag and equipping the heavy bowgun he had crafted after countless Black Dragon hunts: the "Dark Hunter."
The attack power of this bowgun was the highest in the game, and it also provided 20 points of defense—crucial for Wayne, who was wearing the Silver Sun set to boost his ranged damage.
Seeing Wayne pack bottles of Cool Drinks, Mega Potions, and the materials needed to craft Large Barrel Bomb Gs, the quartet knew Wayne was going for something big.
Fully equipped, Wayne accepted the final quest in the Gathering Hall:
"Gathering Hall Quest — The Final Hour"
The screen went dark. At this moment, everyone—from those playing inside the net cafe to the crowd outside watching the live broadcast—focused their attention on Wayne's screen.
The story picked up immediately after the fall of the Black Dragon at Castle Schrade.
Deep within a volcano, surrounded by slowly flowing lava, the Crimson Fatalis sensed the fall of its kin. It let out a roar toward the hunters intruding into the volcanic depths, a sound so powerful it seemed ready to shatter the mountain walls.
It had two horns larger than those of the regular Black Dragon. More distinct was its lower jaw; a protruding ring of hardened scales protected the connection between the jaw and neck, resembling a knight's heavy helmet.
It spread its wings and rose from the magma. Underneath its black scales, the wing bones and abdomen glowed with a fiery red hue, as if the internal flames were ready to erupt at any moment.
When its massive body landed on a patch of scorched earth, the entire volcano shook as if an earthquake had struck. A flap of its wings stirred the air, making the surrounding fires burn even more fiercely, turning the dragon's lair at the bottom of the volcano into a literal sea of flames!
The camera focus pulled back and cut to Wayne. The battle had begun!
Wayne immediately ran away from the dragon's front. Just as he moved, a pillar of fire from the Crimson Fatalis blasted the spot where he had been!
"My God! Its fire-breathing speed is way faster than the Black Dragon's! There's almost no wind-up time!"
As the words were spoken, Wayne hid to the side to consume an "Ancient Potion" to max out his health and stamina. The Crimson Fatalis had already spread its wings and was hovering in the air. A series of tracking fireballs rained down. Wayne, still stuck in the recovery animation after using the item, took a direct hit.
This fireball was different from the fire attacks of previous flying wyverns. It triggered a damage check upon hitting the player, and then another burst of damage the moment it exploded upon hitting the ground...
In this state, Wayne's entire health bar vanished instantly, leaving only a tiny sliver on the edge of death...
It could be said that it was exactly the extra 20 points of defense and resistance from the Black Dragon gear that saved him from being one-shotted by the Crimson Fatalis's unparalleled attack power.
Today, in addition to the quartet, Captain Reanier was also at the net cafe. With the time for clearing the gnoll camps and the showdown with Hogger approaching, he wanted to "train" more to increase his strength so he could lead his men to safety in a mission where Stormwind was destined not to send reinforcements.
However, seeing this, Reanier—who had thought about how he once helped Wayne kill the Black Dragon and was eager to assist again—completely abandoned that thought.
The flaming giant beast before him was far superior to the supposed final boss, the Black Dragon, in terms of speed, power, defense, and the frequency of its attack patterns.
The five of them had witnessed Wayne's journey from the Velocidrome to the final boss. Today, they finally understood why Wayne had waited so many days after defeating the Black Dragon before entering the Crimson Fatalis's lair.
It wasn't because he was lazy. It was because, with the gear used to kill the Black Dragon, one could not afford a single mistake against the Crimson Fatalis. A moment of distraction meant an instant kill and being carted back to camp.
The subsequent battle was somewhat similar to the Black Dragon—the serpentine charge, linear fire breath on the ground, tail swipes, wing dives, bites, and claw strikes. There were also sudden pounces after short flights. Wayne perfectly dodged these programmed attacks using the same routines he used for the Black Dragon.
The people inside and outside the net cafe watched nervously. For those outside watching the live stream, this was the most breathtaking and tense scene they had seen in days.
A mortal, holding a bowgun, was soloing an ancient dragon with semi-divine power in the depths of a volcano. Even the popular pulp novels on this continent wouldn't dare write such a plot.
Then, the Crimson Fatalis demonstrated another terrifying ability.
It breathed a ring of intense flames around itself. Though the attack was swift, Wayne had anticipated it, sheathed his bowgun early, and ran away.
But just when everyone thought this new attack pattern was over, the fiery essence scattered in the air suddenly exploded in a circle of massive sparks around the dragon!
The quartet couldn't help but shout: "Who could have predicted that?!"