[The item Broken Spear is now repaired]…[You lost 512 ranks in a job. Operation terminated because the level of the job is zero]I worked tirelessly for tless hours, and this was it—the result of all my effort! My heart raced as I failed o time. Please, please… let it overflow.

  [The item Broken Spear is now repaired]…[You lost -512 ranks in a job.][gratutions! You are now 5-Grandmaster Entress; Maximum rank had been reached][Please seleark and an alias, if you desire]“ I choose a snowfke as my mark and Ice Princess as my alias?” I blurted out before the blue box even materialized.

  [gratutions! Your mark is a snowfke][gratutions! Your Enting alias is Ice Princess][You were caught by the anti-cheat system. Please remain still. Iigation is in progress…]My hands felt unresponsive, my body growing increasingly numb. Well, I’d expected as much. Then a pleasant young man’s voice echoed in my ears, “Manipution not detected; achieved solely by in-game means. Reward in progress… Grandmaster not obtainable, suggesting Expert, level zero. Do you sent?”

  Yes, I do, dear System! I screamed in my mind.

  [gratutions! You are now 3-Expert Entress]Suddenly, my vision was engulfed in blinding white light, and I felt the strange hold on my body slowly release. I yelled triumphantly, “I am an Expert Entress!”

  My shouting jolted Lucas awake, and he yelled, “Alfa six!” Once he got a grip on this reality, his bleary eyes focused on me as I ran around g and cheering. After a moment, he asked, “Is that… good?”

  “Yup! Spell and job levels have six ranks, and normally, reag expert takes years!” I bounced over and hugged him, then quickly shifted to hugging a nearby tree.

  He watched me with a bewildered stare, eventually standing up and dusting off his clothes—slowly. Giddy, I hugged aree with the biggest grin pstered ay face. He gently touched my shoulder. “Okay, but… how exactly does that help us?”

  “Silly Lucas, we sell ented items!”

  Lucas buried his fa his hands for a moment, then looked back at me, hesitant. “I hate to say it, but you o hear this. The most expeem they’ve sold went for around twelve gold. Even if we sold for fifteen, that’s just thirty dolrs. How do you expeake ten thousand? Charlie…” He trailed off, uo meet my eyes, and walked away.

  Silly guy, I thought. He never had much imagination. “Stop being so rational,” I called out. Spotting the spear nearby, I threw it toward him, and it shattered on impact. As expected, he just stood there like a lost puppy. Not everyone had a knack for exploiting the system. hing on my list? Enting a shield.

  “Hey, Mr. Mage, find us a fallen tree! I’ll make a shield, and that’ll be our ticket to greatness!” I grinned, spreading my arms wide. “We need a big o least a foot wide!”

  Luodded relutly, aarted bing through the woodnd, which was full of trees. So, who would’ve thought finding a fallen one would be so hard?

  The sound of snapping twigs marked our progress as we thrashed through a small, rown ravine. Finally, we spotted the perfect tree.

  Well, almost. It was mostly decayed, with mushrooms sprouting all over it. “Yep, that’s… fine, I guess,” I muttered, cutting out a rge circle. The decayed wood nearly crumbled in my hands, but I mao carve an improvised hah a chisel. What a masterpiece! A rotten shield!

  [You created Pitiful Shield][Pitiful Shield]Quality: 0-brokenDEF:1Durability:1/1This is garbage; do not use it.As Lucas rested orunk, I handed him the shield. He ied it, eyes widening in surprise, nearly causing him to lose his bance. He turo me with a look of pure disbelief, like I’d just offered him a non-alcoholic beer. I burst out ughing at his expression.

  My jokes are the best!

  “I get it, Charlie. Do what you must. I’ll go fight some wolves over there,” he said, leavio my unstoppable ughter as he climbed up out of the ravine. Had he finally gotten fed up with me? Whatever—I’d save him. The weight of this debt still felt like a bear sitting on my chest, so I turned my focus back to the shield. Here’s hoping it’ll work.

  Now that I had something to ent with Fire Resista was time to engrave the runes. Since I couldn’t afford any mistakes, I repyed the instrual video a few times.

  Following the figure in the video, I scattered the dust across the shield. But no matter how carefully I tried to spread it, the dust clumped stubbornly. Useless garbage! I ched my fist, blew it away, and tried again. This time, the wind swept in and scattered it. Perfect.

  Finally, after managing to pce the dust ahe Essence of Fire at the ter, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Wasn’t this supposed to be one of the easier jobs? Whatever. The ruself was simple—just one symbol—but that didn’t mean it was easy. It took a few tries to picture it clearly in my mind, and evehe faint imagined tours weren’t easy to trace.

  The tricky part was eling my mana to create the rune by hand. Any halfway det artist would’ve ughed at my attempt as I carefully drew the lines.

  But hey, I wasn’t an expert; I was The Exploiter. The rune pulsed, mana bubbling up as if I were holding a pot about to boil over. The moment I poured in all the mana, a blinding red light burst from the shield, f me to shield my eyes.

  The dust absorbed the rune like a sponge, engraving it on the surface of the rotting wood exactly as I’d drawn it—like a child’s drawing, but it worked!

  A stunning snowfke, about three inches in diameter, formed at the ter where the Essence had been pced. And below it, the name I’d chosen during my little exploit—Ice Princess—curved ly around the snowfke’s base.

  [You ented the Pitiful Shield. Rating: 46%][Pitiful Shield]Quality: 0-brokenDEF:1Durability:1/1Enting:+5% fire resistahis is garbage; do not use it. Ented by ‘Ice Princess’.Great! Without further dey, I headed back to the vilge, instinctively tiptoeing and even leaping over shrubs.

  Behold, the art of running! A small part of me expected the game to mock me with a “Level 0 Running” notification, but the game windows stayed silent. Disappointing. My stamina only held out for a few minutes, so I had to walk the rest of the way.

  Whatever.

  At least ten NPCs crowded the au house, and I squeezed through them without a single apology. Four ers were lined up for Ryan, who was now in full business mode.

  e on, move! Sell your useless wares to the NPot my Ryan!

  Despite my inner urgency, I had to wait. When my turn finally came, I said, “Hey, Ryan, look at what I made!” I dropped my shield onto his ter and puffed my chest with pride, almost splitting my robe in the process. This thing is useless! Bah!

  He picked up the shield, examining it ily and turning it over in his hands, then looked at me with utter fusion. I rolled my eyes. “God, Ryan! Ighe shield itself; focus on the entment!”

  That foolish Irishman ied it again, and his eyes suddenly widened. He tapped it with a tiny hammer, and before I could yell at him to be gentle, he excimed, “Five pert? How is that possible? The best enting I’ve seen barely reaches two pert!”

  I couldn’t hide my grin. “I’m just that good. you get in touch with Lisa, the Fire Goddess?”

  Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. “For heaven’s sake, don’t call her that! Yes, I know someone who reach her. But why? Are you looking to sell your services?”

  “Yes, I need credits, and I hem fast—ten thousand. Desperate times, desperate entress. All I need for the fire resistantment is Essence of Fire and Enting Powder.”

  He nodded, uanding. “Lisa’s the one. She’s aiming to get into the fire dungeons. I’ll get you the money.”

  As Ryan made his calls, I sat cross-legged on the ground beside him, the stant bustle of the au house. Devs only given booths, two chairs, and I couldn’t hog the er’s seat. Low-level pyers came by oer another, selling whatever scraps they found lying around for a few pitiful silvers.

  One pyer even brought in a wolf’s pelt. A wolf's pelt! After unloading all his furs into the unlimited ste box o the booth, he grinned happily at the meager two silver s he received. Seriously? Does he know two silvers are basically… nothing? I g Ryan, biting back a ent—I hadn’t realized he was in this mafia-like extortion business.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, clearly annoyed by my staring.

  “Nothing. It’s just… all that work for two silvers?” I watched the dwarf shuffle away, shaking my head. “Wouldn’t it be better for them to fight specters and collect psma? They’d level up faster and earer money—several times faster.”

  Ryan smirked, fshing a rare hint of a grin. “You’re such a pamer, aren’t you? Don’t deny it; I know one when I see one. Just enjoy the game. By the way, have you heard about the Duke’s quest? Are you going?”

  I slipped into the er chair to get off the rough ground. “Wait, what quest? I haven’t heard about that.”

  Leaning to one side, Ryan shot me a smug look, clearly enjoying a moment of superiority. “The Duke’s ship expedition is arriving soon, and they’ll be recruiting pyers for a mai.” He gnced around the hall with a sigh. “Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to level up to seven in time.”

  I’d never heard of this Duke’s expedition before. It must be a minor mai I’d skipped in my st life, so I knew nothing about it. But mais were always rewarding. “Sounds iing, Ryan. I’ll try to make it, and thanks for the tip.”

  Still, my top priority was seg a steady gold supply. For that, maybe we should buy the meadow—the best early-game property in the elven forest. Irwen might be a variable, but she shouldn’t attack right away, right? A week, two and we would turn massive profit. Yes! If I could get Lucas to help develop it, we’d be raking in money.

  “Ryan! You old snake!” Lisa’s voiapped me out of my thoughts as she gave Ryan a firm handshake. “I hear you’ve got something iing for me?”

  Unfazed by her pyful tone, he handed her my shield. “Check out the entment.”

  “Ice Princess?” Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “What a cute niame! Do you know her?”

  I stood up, brushing off my worn, dusty robe, but a sudden wave of dread rose up in me, and I quickly sat back down. Okay, you’ve got this. Ign my body’s urge to stay silent, I forced myself to stand again and mao say, “Me. Princess.”

  An imaginary weight pressed down on my shoulders. Why? Why is this happening now? I stared hard at the ground, taking a deep breath. It’s just a versation in a game. Nothing to be afraid ht?

  “Sweetheart? From Frexie?” Her eyes widened as she looked me over, fog on my hair. “You are adorable!” Before I could react, she hugged me tightly, squishing my face to her chest. I was suddenly speechless… for airely additional reason. “But how is that possible, Princess?”

  Despite the nervousness g at me and the lump in my throat, I mao reply, “Look, my title.” Feeling a strange pride at this small victory, I shared my full h her.

  [Princess, Hero of Ice Blood]“You’re the Hero? How I be one? Is there a Fire God?” She couldn’t stop herself from babbling. I endured her embrace as she patted my hair like I was some kind of doll—not that I had much reason to pin. She gave me two very pelling reasons not to.

  “Psst! Secret!” I said, hugging her back. “Leader—first party—to clear scorg dungeohe title Fire Tamer. Coht?”

  “The Fire Tamer?” Her eyes lit up, and she started boung, dragging me along in her excitement. “How many entments you do? you tell me more?”

  I averted my gaze, feeling toied. Not now, please. Where’s my wine—or better yet, whiskey—to loosen me up? She still had me locked in her embrace, staring at me with a pleading expression just inches away. I wao answer, but the words wouldn’t e. e on, body, work with me here. Finally, I slipped from her hug and sat down on the ground in silence.

  “Lisa, I said the trade goes through me. I’m the middleman.” Oh, thank you, Ryan. “There’s nothing like this entment on the market, so our services are costly.”

  “How costly?” Her tourned serious faster than I could blink. “You know gold’s scarce—the demand’s way higher than the supply. The exge rate’s up to three-to-one now, and I ’t buy gold in rge amounts.” There it was—the fiery heiress I vaguely remembered from my past life. She was living in the same city—people nearby got spawned nearby in game—and she used to be semi-celebrity.

  “We’re aware,” Ryan replied smoothly, “so we’re you the option to pay is instead. Twelve thousand should cover it. And as a gesture of goodwill, we won’t sell fire resistao anyone else—not until you plete the dungeon.”

  “That’s steep. But The Fire Tamer…” Her gaze swung bae, and her face lit up as if she wao devour me with that grin. Instinctively, I squeaked some barely coherent words, jumped up, and backed into a stall wall. I’d rather face the ultimate boss than her right now. “Will she ent the equipment for the entire party?”

  “Yes, as long as you supply the ingredients—Essence of Fire and Enting Powder,” Ryan answered.

  “Deal. I’ll have my cousihe moo your at right away.” She turoward me, eyes sparkling. “Princess, could you e to our rented room at the tavern this evening?” Without warning, she buried her head into my chest, guiding my hand to pat her head. What the hell? Is this normal behavior?

  [Lisa wants to add you as a friend.]“Yes,” I said, though it was all I could get out. It was enough for her; she fshed a bright smile and took off, waving at me from a distance. I let out a tired sigh, my shoulders slumping. I ’t be thinking about dating a girl now, I? She was far friehan I’d expected—nothing like the ruthless “fire destroyer” from the rumors. Her friendliness was why I liked her right away. Definitely not the close tact. Of course not.

  “A pleasure doing business with you.” Ryan turo me with a smile aured for me to head out.

  [Ry4n1 wants to add you as a friend.]“Thanks Ryan, same here. Please sehe money right away.”