The Villain Rising: Ascension of Arcane Trickster.-Chapter 218: Sending a Very Explosive Greeting to Other Transmigrators.

Chapter 218: Sending a Very Explosive Greeting to Other Transmigrators.

"The one who defeated the Mind Harvester was naturally me, you dumb gamer."

I muttered it deliberately, emphasizing the last word because I had caught something very interesting in his choice of words.

Xyrrhael was the monster’s true name, a name that barely anyone in this world should know unless they had gone through an eldritch manuscript millions of pages long, something even scholars avoided like a plague.

Even then, I could have accepted it if this bastard had actually called it Xyrrhael, thinking he was one of those nutcases, but he didn’t.

He called it The Mind Harvester, the name I used back when I rewrote the story slightly for my game. I thought monsters like this didn’t need some overly grand tongue-breaking name. Xyrrhael sounded cool, sure, but it was useless for gameplay. So I renamed it Mind Harvester to perfectly describe what the thing did.

It was a name meant for gamers and now this guy was using it which meant only one thing that this bastard wasn’t a native.

He was a transmigrator and probably one of many, just like the previous ones had hinted at.

Heh.

Looks like fate finally decided to throw me a familiar face...

His eyes widened instantly.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice tightening as I could clearly see caution in his eyes.

I chuckled softly.

"You are a fucking rookie, aren’t you?" I said calmly.

"First of all, nobody in this world calls that monster The Mind Harvester and everyone knows it as Xyrrhael if you had read the lore properly and second..." I leaned in slightly, my grin widening. "I’m just like you."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

...Yeah. Definitely a rookie.

So I sighed and dumbed it down for him.

"I am a gamer too, dipshit." I muttered confidently.

"Did that fucker not tell you about me?" I continued, my tone sharpening. "Or don’t tell me you haven’t even met that good-for-nothing yet?"

I was certain this guy wasn’t here by coincidence just by the fact of how quickly he asked the question about the death of Mind Harvester and he definitely didn’t feel like someone who acted independently. That meant there were multiple gamers involved, probably an entire group and there was some kind of hierarchy among them.

And this bastard was definitely not the one in charge from how weak, sloppy and utterly incompetent he seemed.

This guy was just a pawn and that was also why I kept using gender-neutral terms to refer to the leader because I didn’t actually know who was leading them or even what gender that person was.

So, to learn more about them, I decided to throw out some bait and I wasn’t disappointed as the fish bit immediately.

"Y–you know... the Arbiter." He muttered hesitantly. "Do you work with him as well?"

I didn’t react right away as there was still one more thing I needed to confirm.

"Who’s that supposed to be?" I muttered, deliberately putting on an annoyed expression.

I already had a backup response ready in case that was actually the leader, something like Oh, is that what he’s calling himself now? but if he wasn’t, then this idiot would expose it himself.

"You don’t know him?" The man said, eyes widening even further. "Then... Do you work directly for HER?"

A smirk appeared onto my face as I spoke slowly.

"I don’t work for her because I work with her."

The first rule of bluffing was simple, you have to act like you know everything while revealing absolutely nothing of value.

Just from that exchange, I had already confirmed two major figures among the gamers. One was the Arbiter, who was clearly male and the other was the mysterious ’Her’, likely the one at the top.

And from the way he hesitated, never mentioning a name, it was obvious this bastard had probably never even met her which meant the Arbiter was the one directly dealing with them.

Perfect.

"So... what was your rank?" He asked, his voice trembling now. "And your username, I mean in the game?"

I tilted my head slightly, letting the silence stretch for a moment before answering.

"Take a guess but I was in the single digits." I said with a smirk and technically, I wasn’t even lying.

Back in the game, I had been ranked eighth not because I was a gaming freak but because perception mattered. When you needed players to trust you, being a top gamer worked far better than being a developer pulling strings from behind the curtain.

People trusted gamers more than devs anyway.

So yeah, I used my admin privileges to park myself neatly at rank eight from an anonymous account. I could have even ranked myself first but that would have been suspicious.

Sometimes, shifting perception was more powerful than raw authority.

The man’s body visibly shook at the revelation.

"I–I’m sorry about what happened earlier, sir." He blurted out, his entire demeanor flipping in an instant.

But I didn’t bother acknowledging the apology as letting him dwell on it would only complicate things so, I cut straight to the point.

"In any case," I said casually, as if piecing things together, "this Arbiter or whatever he is called, he is the one in charge of you guys, right? Come to think of it, she did mention having a competent subordinate once... I didn’t pay much attention back then."

I let out a quiet nod.

"Guess she was talking about him."

The man didn’t answer immediately and just smiled.

"So," I continued, my tone commanding, "how many of you are here, and why are you here in the first place?"

"There are five of us in this treasury including the Arbiter.." He replied almost immediately but then his eyes narrowed slightly. "As for the reason... shouldn’t you already know what we want, sir?"

Ah. So he wasn’t completely stupid.

My act had clearly worked, he was convinced I was a gamer but he still wanted confirmation, he probably wanted to be sure I was with them and not against them.

Smart.

That meant I had to tread carefully from here on out.

I scanned my mind, trying to think like a gamer.

What would a gamer want from this treasury?

But honestly... far too many things as the Divine Treasury was a chaotic mess of shifting rooms, packed with countless artifacts, skills and absurd opportunities.

Most of which was only available to those worthy of receiving them though there was a section where neutral artifacts were kept but even then there were tens of them and there was no single desire that could clearly define why someone would come here.

Should I just beat the shit out of him and force the information out?

Meh.

That would ruin what I planned to do next.

Once this idiot reported back to the Arbiter, they would inevitably realize I wasn’t actually with them. Hell, they probably already suspected that someone was screwing with the plot but I didn’t want that moment to come now.

So, I bluffed again.

As always, my Trickster traits didn’t disappoint and combined with my myth, The One Who Scammed Hel, even my lies carried unnatural conviction.

"I’m here on a different agenda," I said calmly. "And we don’t need to explain our plans to each other but it’s good that you are cautious."

I let out a soft chuckle.

"I was merely testing you and if you had shared her plans with me so easily without even doubting for a moment, I would have executed you on the spot as we don’t need naive fools in our ranks."

The man smiled, clearly taking it as praise, completely unaware of just how naïve he actually was.

"You seem smart." I continued smoothly. "How about working directly under me?" I even offered him a completely non-existent position. "That would put you at the same rank as the Arbiter."

His smile widened even further. "Th-thank you for the high praise, sir." He muttered, scratching the back of his head. "You’re too kind—"

I cut him off mid-sentence.

"No need to answer immediately." I said casually. "Take your time and I will ask her directly once I exit the treasury."

That finally wiped the idiotic grin off his face as silence followed for a brief moment then I tilted my head slightly. "Now, can you hand over your storage ring?"

I gestured to my very much half-naked self.

"I seriously need to change my clothes and my storage ring was devoured by the mind harvester while I was defeating it. Don’t worry, I will make sure you’re properly compensated once we’re out."

The man nodded immediately.

"Absolutely, sir." He pulled out his ring and handed it over without hesitation. "Everything in it is yours. I always carry twenty new sets of clothes with me and there’s food and water too."

He even undid the refinement on the storage ring before giving it to me.

"Good."

I slipped the ring onto my finger and refined it instantly, then checked its contents.

There were a few sets of clothes, three big barrels of water, some food and a handful of low-ranked artifacts.

...That was it.

Tsk. Broke bastard.

What was he even using his future knowledge for?

Or did he just not know much to begin with?

Well, I had stuffed the game with tons of exaggerated side content so remembering all of that would have been a nightmare for most people.

"You can go now," I said, waving him off.

My business with him was done as I had already extracted the important information and also taken his storage ring, letting him stay any longer would just invite unnecessary trouble and knowing my fate, there was a very real chance that the Arbiter bastard would try to find him right about now because destiny clearly loved reuniting me with my one true love death.

"Do you not wish to meet the Arbiter, sir?" He asked cautiously.

I waved it off. "Meeting him now would only create useless confusion in the chain of command and I have my own things to do." I paused, then added casually, "Though do tell him I said hi."

I lifted my hand as I waved.

A beautiful golden card materialized between my fingers, its surface etched with the image of a man praying beneath a full moon.

... how could I let my guest leave so peacefully?

That was also precisely why I didn’t want my cover blown before he met the Arbiter as I had a little gift to send to that bastard and I was planning to use the newly awakened Moon Card for that.

"Here, take this." I extended the card toward him. "Although the Arbiter and I haven’t met face to face yet, he should recognize this card. Give it to him and he will know what to do with it."

The moon etched onto the card glowed faintly as the man accepted it with care, then slipped it into his pocket, completely unaware of the small fragment of consciousness I had embedded within it using my mana.

The action bound to it was simple.

The moment the card was handed to the Arbiter, it would activate the Tower effect and detonate.

An explosive greeting, if I had to put it nicely.

I wasn’t worried about them figuring out my existence as my appearance was completely different right now thanks to my terminally ill form and the half-clown mask, which, coincidentally, was Eidolon’s Tears, the only artifact that had stubbornly remained with me even when that traitor cloak was chilling somewhere.

If they already knew someone was interfering, then I might as well give them the wrong trail to follow. Now they would be searching for a naked pervert running around the Divine Treasury, wearing a clown mask, with green eyes and white hair.

Good luck with that.

The man looked at me. "Goodbye, sir."

He turned to leave.

Just before he disappeared from view, I spoke again.

"It’s Orion, by the way." I muttered casually. "My name is Orion. What’s yours?"

I made a fake name effortlessly.

He paused, then turned back with a smile. "It’s Vance, sir."

I smiled back at him. "Good luck, Vance. You’ve got a very explosive future ahead of you." I added lightly, "And don’t forget to consider my offer to become my subordinate."

Vance smiled, clearly honored. "Yes, sir."

With that, he turned and left.

Seeing his receding back, a smug smile slowly spread across my face.

Too explosive to maybe kill you and a few others with you...