In my presence, who dares to call themselves first-rate?

This blonde young man from North America was named Joffrey Frus.

When the God Forsaken Game descended, he happened to be holding his coming-of-age ceremony.

Originally, Joffrey thought that of all the gifts he received, the best was a handgun from his old man…

But looking back now, the descent of the God Forsaken Game was the best gift for his coming-of-age ceremony!

Because he obtained a unique Hidden Class—Spirit Absorber!

The base class of the Spirit Absorber is Mage, so he can learn all Mage class skills; furthermore, the trait of this class is terrifying, as it can temporarily absorb the attributes of allies to enhance himself.

Of course, this isn't a forced absorption; it requires the consent of the allies.

Additionally, he obtained an Emerald-grade Talent, 'Thunderfire Legend.' His fire and lightning damage are both increased by 50%, and if his attacks carry both lightning and fire damage simultaneously, they will trigger an additional large-scale explosive damage effect!

A unique Hidden Class, an Emerald-grade Talent, and being a handsome 'Mage Lord' made Joffrey a hot commodity in the 'New York City Ruins,' with all the major guilds extending olive branches to him.

Ultimately, he joined one of the top three guilds in New York City—White Bull Altar.

Under the specialized cultivation of the White Bull Altar Guild, Joffrey's strength advanced by leaps and bounds, and based on his class trait, a 'Spirit Absorption Team' was specifically assigned to him.

The sixty people in this team were originally considered second-tier powerhouses within the White Bull Altar Guild.

But as long as Joffrey had a need, these sixty team members had to agree to be 'spirit absorbed,' contributing their attributes to him!

After his third class advancement, Joffrey's 'Spirit Absorption' could absorb up to 20% of the total attributes from each of the sixty people.

This was equivalent to letting his total attributes skyrocket to more than ten times their original value!

Especially when raiding a BOSS, a top-tier team would provide Joffrey with 'Spirit Absorption' to bring out his peak combat power, and then he would cooperate with the strongest team to raid the BOSS together.

With such a pivotal status and strength at the peak of New York City, the young Joffrey already possessed four beauties, one of whom was once a famous movie star…

This had left the young blonde lad feeling a bit lightheaded and arrogant.

And this time, the White Bull Altar Guild gave him a mission: come to Great Xia, break into a Hideout, and kill a woman named 'Luo Xiaoxiao'!

"According to intelligence, this Luo Xiaoxiao is a Soul Reaper."

"As long as she is killed, many Great Xia powerhouses will be liberated. Those Great Xia powerhouses all have more or less some conflict with the Great Xia Official…"

"When that time comes, those powerhouses will all join our White Bull Altar."

In fact, Joffrey had absolutely no interest in whether the guild prospered or not.

Originally, he had a completely dismissive attitude toward this errand. After all, causing trouble in Great Xia meant provoking Shadow, and who could withstand that?

But there was no choice…

The guild offered far too much!

And most importantly, the feasibility of this plan!

Under normal circumstances, Joffrey's Spirit Absorption ability couldn't just be used recklessly because his absorbed state lasted at most three minutes. After the state ended, he would fall into a 'Weakened State' for an hour. In this state, not only could he not absorb spirits to increase attributes, but his own attributes would also be weakened by 50%…

This made him dare not run wild in Great Xia no matter what.

Because the success rate was too low!

But not long ago, the White Bull Altar Guild obtained a batch of equipment through some secret channels that were said to have been dropped by Shadow.

There were several Diamond-Level pieces of equipment, and even Epic-grade equipment whose level requirements had been lowered by the Sledgehammer NPC in the Demon Capital!

The arrival of this batch of equipment allowed the White Bull Altar Guild to finally conquer a Devil NPC and bring it back home.

The function of this Devil NPC was definitely like adding wings to a tiger for Joffrey.

It could force a person into a stealth state, and most crucially, it could increase the duration of a player's buff states and shorten the duration of negative states…

This allowed Joffrey's Spirit Absorption ability to last for 15 minutes!

The weakened duration after the state ended was also only 12 minutes!

He could 'Spirit Absorb' infinitely!

Of course, the fees for this NPC's buffs weren't cheap. Adding one stealth cost three thousand years of lifespan, and adding one duration increase cost one thousand six hundred years of lifespan… Unless it was for something important, it was unlikely to be used.

But at a very critical moment, this ability was terrifying.

After absorbing 20% of the attributes from the top-tier team, Joffrey's total attributes had already reached over 6,400 points!

This was why he felt he was terrifyingly strong!

Of course, even so…

Joffrey still didn't think he could go toe-to-toe with Great Xia's 'Shadow'.

Because obviously, he had tried attacking an Epic BOSS; under full buff status, his highest damage skill only dealt a bit over 7.2 million damage.

This damage already crushed any other player.

But compared to 'Shadow' alone, it was completely incomparable!

"Just what kind of monster is that Shadow?"

Joffrey felt it was simply unbelievable.

He absolutely did not want to have any dealings with 'Shadow'.

And for this current operation, if everything went smoothly, he wouldn't encounter 'Shadow' either.

With his current terrifying output capacity, a maximum damage Thunder Blast with added fire damage would deal tens of millions in damage to a defensive barrier.

Even for a guild of the Great Xia Official, no matter how much lifespan they had in reserve, they wouldn't be able to withstand his continuous attacks for five minutes!

In just a few minutes, Joffrey was confident he could force this guild to consume tens of thousands of years of lifespan to replenish the durability of the defensive barrier…

Furthermore, since the action was taking place in reality, the other party wouldn't know who did it after the deed was done.

If they were truly found through some special means, the White Bull Altar Guild was also willing to spend a large amount of lifespan to settle the matter.

After all, everyone knew that although Great Xia's 'Shadow' was incomparably strong, as long as there was lifespan involved, he was very easy to talk to. Weren't many previous matters resolved this way?

Everything was being handled by the White Bull Altar Guild!

At this moment.

Watching the defensive barrier of the Hideout before him continuously being blasted and then repeatedly repaired by consuming lifespan, Joffrey could sense how much it pained the other party to replenish that lifespan!

Currently, relying on the powerful buffing ability of that Devil NPC, the White Bull Altar Guild had already firmly secured the title of the number one guild in New York City.

After taking action against a medium-sized guild and successfully subduing them, other large guilds also came to bring gifts and seek peace with the White Bull Altar Guild…

This had caused Joffrey and some others in their guild to become quite arrogant.

"As long as the barrier is broken, someone will work with me from the inside to provide Luo Xiaoxiao's location."

"It's said that this woman usually has two first-rate female warriors protecting her at all times; normal players have no chance at all to take action against her…"

"But in my presence, who dares to call themselves first-rate?"

Joffrey smiled with full confidence.

But just as he threw out another Thunder Blast skill, which landed heavily on the defensive barrier…

Suddenly!

Everything before his eyes suddenly turned into pitch blackness!

"Hmm?"

"What's going on?"

The blonde lad was still riding his Dragon Hawk and slinging skills when he suddenly fell into a state of darkness where he could neither see nor hear!

At the same time, Joffrey felt that all the Upper Affixes on his body had suddenly become invalid!

In an instant…

The blonde lad began darting around in the sky like a headless fly.

This unprecedented situation gave Joffrey a terrifying thought: 'Could it be… that Shadow has arrived?'