The silence in the forest clearing was heavy, broken only by the crackle of a dying flame on a nearby bush.

Gideon’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

His eyes darted from the massive, dead Razor-Back Alpha to Asher’s perfectly unblemished, bare chest.

[Current Viewers: 4,120]

The chat section on Earth was moving at a speed that could give a normal person a headache.

[User_Tim99]: BOOTS. OFF. NOW.

[LootGoblin]: Look at his face! Gideon is glitching out in real life!

[NoobSlayer]: Streamer just completely humiliated a whole guild squad while naked. This is legendary.

[MinMax_Andy]: Look at the Level Up. He’s Level 6 now. Strength and Agility are both at 21 baseline. His stats are completely out of proportion for a starter map.

"I... I don’t believe this," the Iron Vanguard priest whispered, dropping his wooden staff into the dirt.

"He didn’t even use a shield. He just... he just took the Alpha’s charge like it was a breeze."

Asher ignored them for a moment.

The purple mist hovering over the Alpha’s corpse was dense, swirling with a dark orange core that indicated its elite status.

This was his first time extracting from a regional boss, and he wasn’t about to let the soul dissipate.

"Activate talent: Extraction," Asher said, pointing his left hand.

The golden slot machine that materialized this time was completely different.

The iron frame was wrapped in dark, jagged metal spikes, mimicking the ridges on the Alpha’s tusks.

The mechanical gears groaned loudly as the reels began to spin at a dizzying pace.

[Spinning Regional Elite Loot Table...]

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

The colors blurred, white, blue, purple, and a deep, pulsing orange-gold.

"Come on," Asher thought, keeping his face perfectly calm for the camera drone while his gamer heart hammered with anticipation.

"Give me an active skill. I need something to dump my mana into."

Clack... Clack... Clack.

The first reel stopped on a rare skill icon.

The second reel glitched, the golden lights flashing aggressively.

The third reel locked into place with a sound like a slamming iron vault door.

[SSS-Rank Gacha Success! Elite Modifier Applied.]

[Extracted Skill from Razor-Back Alpha: Unstoppable Momentum (Rank E - Active)]

[Integrating skill data into host soul...]

A sudden wave of intense heat rushed through Asher’s legs, making his muscles tighten.

He instantly opened his skill interface to read the description.

[Skills Updated]

* Feline Agility (Rank F - Active)

* Unstoppable Momentum (Rank E - Active)

- Consumes 20 MP. For 5 seconds, increases movement speed by 50% and grants low-grade crowd-control immunity.

Your next physical strike applies a ’Stun’ effect to targets lower than your Level. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

"A gap-closer with crowd-control immunity and a stun," Asher smiled inwardly.

For a Vanguard build, this was a holy grail skill.

It meant he could lock down high-value targets or toxic players before they could even cast a spell to run away.

He turned his body smoothly, facing Gideon’s party.

He deactivated his skills, the blue vapor around his boots fading away into nothingness.

He rested his steel vanguard sword back on his shoulder and took a few casual steps forward.

"Well?" Asher said, his silver night-vision eyes locking directly onto Gideon’s trembling form.

"We had a deal in front of the entire plaza, Gideon. Ten hides. I cleared the field. Are you going to take those boots off, or do I need to extract them from you?"

Gideon’s face went from pale white to a furious, dark crimson.

His fingers gripped the hilt of his broadsword so hard they turned blue.

"You... you cheated. There’s no way a Level 5 naked vanguard has that kind of defense. You’re using an illegal system exploit! If the Iron Vanguard guild finds out about this—"

"The guild?" Asher interrupted, letting out a short, cold laugh.

He took another step forward, his stance perfectly relaxed but his aura suddenly shifting.

"You’re the one who proposed the bet in public to show off for your little club. Now you’re crying about exploits because you lost to a guy without a shirt?"

[GamerGuyX]: FACE-SLAP TIME! DON’T LET HIM RUN, STREAMER!

[User_Tim99]: If he breaks the bet, PK him! Let’s see what a player extraction looks like!

[Whale_Watcher]: I’ll drop another $50 if you strip his gear right here.

Gideon looked at his party members, looking for support, but the mage and the priest were backing away, their hands raised in retreat.

They had seen Asher tank a Level 8 Elite without flinching; they knew their low-grade spells wouldn’t even tickle his skin.

"Gideon, just... just give him the boots," the mage whispered, his voice trembling. "It’s not worth a character reset. If he PKs us here, we drop back to Level 1."

"Shut up!" Gideon roared.

He looked back at Asher, his teeth grinding.

With a violent, angry motion, he unbuckled the heavy iron plates from his shins and yanked his thick leather-and-iron boots off his feet, throwing them hard into the mud at Asher’s feet.

"Take them! But don’t think this is over, Chronos. The Oakhaven sector belongs to our guild. You won’t be able to step outside the city gates tomorrow without fifty of our elite rankers hunting you down!"

Asher didn’t look threatened by the warning. He calmly leaned down, picking up the heavy iron boots from the mud.

[Item Obtained: Iron Vanguard Guard Boots (Rank F)]

Type: Heavy Armor - Footwear

Defense: +12

Attributes: +2 Vitality

Durability: 32 / 40

"Nice stats," Asher said, tossing them into his virtual inventory space.

He looked up at Gideon, who was now standing in his white cotton socks in the middle of the wet, dirty forest floor.

"Thanks for the boots, Gideon. Tell your guild master to send his strongest squad next time. I’m running low on stat points, and their extractions will make great content for my stream."

"You... you monster!" Gideon hissed.

Without another word, he turned around and began to jog back toward the city path, his socks instantly soaking through with dark mud and forest debris as his party members scrambled to follow him.

Asher watched them disappear through the trees, then turned his gaze back to the hovering camera drone.

His viewer count had just crossed 4,500 concurrents, and the donation ticker was flashing gold.

"Alright, chat," Asher said, a wide, victorious grin breaking across his face as he wiped a stray speck of dirt from his shoulder.

"That’s ten hides collected, an elite boss cleared, a new active skill unlocked, and a toxic guild leader sent back to town in his socks. Let’s head back to the Adventurer’s Hall, turn in this quest, and see how much silver we just made."

He turned back toward the main road, his steel sword gleaming under the forest canopy as he prepared to claim his first official reward in the heart of Oakhaven.