After my encounter with the Liberation's Call Syndicate, I moved to another part of town. The shop where we fought was too close to where I lived. If someone tried to track me down to my hideout in the hotel, they'd probably have been able to.

By then I had already accumulated a hefty collection of possessions, from bikes to clothes to appliances. I wished I could drive a car and haul everything along, but alas, I didn't know how to drive, nor did I have a car. The cars parked on the streets often seemed abandoned, but without keys, I had no way of starting them.

Following my established playbook, I found another abandoned hotel on the opposite side of town. This one was farther away from the sea, and instead stood a couple blocks away from a city park, which I could see from my new room's window.

I planted a Cold Grenade in one of the new hotel's storage rooms, then returned to my previous dwelling. Once I gathered and packed all my things, I detonated the grenade and used my Ring of Pursuit to teleport over while carrying my belongings.

It took only two trips to bring everything.

By the time I settled into my new home, the date of the next Seasonal Challenge was looming just a couple weeks away. I took more effort to hide myself; players often sought PvP around the times of Seasonal Challenges. They did in Gold, at least. I had no interest in participating in any. I was strong, but so were those who lived here. Like the skull-helmed warrior.

Before the Challenge, I searched the neighborhood for a magic item shop. I found one a 20-minute bike ride away from my residence, and in it was the Mask of Lost Shadows. This time, I bought it. Without issue.

It turned out I didn't need to actually wear the mask to equip it; just having it on my person was enough. I strung it up to my belt, under my white coat, to keep it hidden.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Then came the day of the Challenge. I was transported to the arena, to fight a 1v1 match. In a 1v1 match, the entire arena shrank down to just the Middle Lane. A thin, long, rectangular arena. I marched to the outer Middle Lane tower and beheld my opponent, a single assassin robot.

I managed to land a few shots on it while we were both level 1. Then at level 2, I foiled its attempt to run in and stab me in melee. I was the first of us to reach level 3, and I took the chance to go all-in on the attack. My efforts scored me a kill on the assassin bot.

From there, the robot never recovered, and I easily snowballed my lead into a win by killing the robot a second time.

I breathed a triumphant sigh as the match finished, and I was transported back into my hotel room.

That wasn't hard at all. I could do this again and again. My experience, skills, and items had pulled me so far ahead of the robots that the matches between us weren't close anymore. A few more matches, and I'd be able to go home. I just had to play my cards right.

I rewarded my win by resting for the rest of the day. Well, day, as in 12 hours or so - there was no sun here.

The next day, I decided to visit an ATM on the other side of the park. The nameless youth had told me, everyone got 20K or so in their account after each Seasonal Challenge. And indeed I did. I withdrew my prize money and quickly stuffed it into my pouch. That made up for a bit of my expenditure in purchasing the mask.

With the money came a receipt. And at the bottom of the receipt, there was a special note.

Dear player,

Congratulations! You have been chosen as one of 20 lucky winners for this Seasonal Challenge. Please come to 3288 Locamore Rd., first floor, to claim your special magic item.

It is our pleasure to serve you,

– The Liberation's Call Syndicate

"Hmm," I said. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm."

Yup, not suspicious at all.