Silver birds with tiny bodies chirped and watched as Bill carved a hole inside of a sturdy piece of lumber using the Blueprint as a knife. He listlessly slotted a sharpened stone into it. It was too big to fit, but nothing beyond his insightful management. He reshaped the beautiful tool into a mallet and hammered away at the stone until it sat inside tightly, now flatter on one end.

  [Lost 2 wood, 8 left.]

  [Lost 3 stone, 7 left.]

  [You mastered Stone Axe – Gained 10 XP!]

  [Objective: Build a Stone Axe (1/1) – Gained 5 XP!]

  Cid swung around the crude stone axe then sighed. It looked how it felt—brittle. Not effective as a weapon since it did five damage watered down to a pathetic quarter.

  With the completion of the pale workbench—which seemed to have no use at all—Cid became a level three Crafter, unlocking new recipes in his white crafting domain.

  Cid entered it with a crestfallen frown and stared at an archaic stone furnace, a small torch and a rustic bed—the newest additions to his furniture family. Amazing.

  He lacked the energy to turn his head towards a transparent wall made of cut logs and wooden boards, a matching floor and an angled roof. They all required different amounts of wood and logs to create and all of them shared the same sad fact that they weren’t a weapon.

  ‘That’s everything new…’

  Cid glanced at the primitive furnace and the small panel hovering over it.

  [Basic Furnace: 3 wood, 20 stone, 10 (???).]

  Cid cocked a brow then looked at the bed.

  [Bed: 16 wood, 8 (???).]

  “Is this a glitch?”

  Irregularities weren’t too surprising if the system was still in beta, but this one threatened to cost him a useful healing station.

  “Boxy, you little reliable cutie, help me out here. What does that symbol mean?”

  The attentive little panel unfurled to answer him.

  [Help: What does the symbol mean? — Deleted creatures and materials don’t appear in the database. Legacy role cannot function without a replacement. Alerting admins to initiate hotfix repairs for the role.]

  “Deleted creatures? I thought all the creatures here were real… If that’s the case, won’t deleting them mean completely wiping them out? Talk about excessive…”

  [Hotfix update of the recipes completed. New materials will require the Crafter’s logic and will produce altered results based on pre-made Legacy functions.]

  With a pleasant digital click, the windows above the furnace and bed refreshed.

  [Furnace: 3 wood, 20 stone, and 10 (Illuminant Material).]

  [Bed: 16 wood, 8 (Soft Material).]

  Cid scratched his head. The system said it would follow the Crafter’s logic but what did that mean? Did everything he labeled as soft work as an alternative or was it based on his outdated role?

  Building a bed out of wolf fur was the perfect way to test his theory, but that still meant he had to kill some.

  The sound of something scraping against dirt in short scratchy intervals creeped out from behind the trees. He tensed up and deactivated his mental room in a panic.

  “Who’s there!?”

  “You look so goofy staring at nothing, Cinders… Were you fantasizing about having girls fawn over you?” Heidee chuckled and dragged her sled from between the trees.

  “Oh, Hades. I see you’ve uhh… been busy? Hopefully not developing weird desires for fighting humans… Hopefully not thinking I’d be a good practice dummy because I have a thousand reasons why that’s a bad idea. I mean I drank expired milk this morning and if something touched me, humanity will experience a supernova like no other–”

  “What are you rambling on about? I’m not going to attack you… I wouldn’t get enough XP from killing a level one player.” Heidee moved the sled closer to Cid.

  ‘That’s your reason!? Not the fact we’re both human beings with only one life!?’ Cid screamed silently.

  “Here, Cinders.” Heidee pushed the husk with her foot and gestured to her spoils of battle.

  “Oh. Uhm… Great haul. Well done. Why are you showing it to me though? You want me to congratulate you?” Cid asked with a snicker, genuinely confused at her gesture.

  “What’s with the sarcasm? Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to sell them for gear!?” Heidee exploded angrily.

  “Huh? When did I say that?”

  “What!? I cut off my leather armor and dragged these all the way here for you! You ungrateful shit!” Heide’s sword manifested into existence with a bloodthirsty glint behind it.

  Cid quickly grabbed the makeshift leather harness around the sled and started pulling it with a well-constructed smile.

  “I just remembered! I… -ungh- was in need of… -omph- wolf pelts… Thanks, Hades…” Cid forced the words through the exertion of pulling the heavy mountain of corpses.

  ‘How did she pull this all the way here!? She wasn’t straining too hard or even looked remotely as tense as I am now!’

  Heidee grinned deviously then looked towards a spot with dried blood—the place she killed the first three wolves.

  “They’re gone? Cinders, where are the three wolves you said you’d protect? Did bandits actually show up… or did you get hungry?”

  Cid released the harness and hunched over, wheezing and heaving. “So… heavy… H-How strong are you?”

  Heidee’s sword disappeared as she walked to the sled and pushed the hill of wolves closer to the workbench with relative ease—she still used some effort but not even close to Cid.

  “My Strength is at fourteen, what is yours?”

  “Haahh… Mine? Uhh… Five? Heh… Five…” The fact he didn’t even have five to his name hurt his soul deeply.

  “What's your class, Cin– Huh?” Heide’s eyes widened when they landed on the crafting bench. A thread of curiosity quickly pulled her towards it.

  Cid looked up at her with labored breaths, his beating heart still exhausted. Heide seemed more gentle and attentive than usual, carefully looking through every detail of the bench. Her fingers softly traced it with the same inquisitive touch as a blind person.

  “You… made this while I was gone? Are you a carpenter?” She looked at him with surprise.

  “Huh…? Yeah, sure. I guess you could say that.” Cid shrugged.

  “It’s impressive… Just like the ones at home… So well made…” She exhaled deeply and looked like she was one second away from travelling through her memories.

  “Uhh… Yeah, not as impressive as you fighting wolves.”

  Cid was sure the surviving beasts told tales of her viciousness to make their cubs behave.

  Heidee shook her head and turned towards him. “So what’s your class? Low strength means you’re not a melee class. Are you a Mage, then?”

  Cid stared at her silently. The truth was dangerous, but lies were the foundation of ruin. On the other hand, was something a lie if it eventually came true in the future?

  “Budding Overlord. It’s a unique class.” Cid puffed his chest proudly.

  Heidee stared at him quietly, her judgmental gaze weighing heavy on his shoulders.

  “Wh-What about yours, Hades?” Cid blinked innocently.

  “I’m just a typical fighter. I grab a sword and go stabby stab.” Heidee shrugged and walked to the wolves with an angrier look. “Anyways, Cinders. I’ll skin these for you so you can sell the pelts later, but I’m using the meat for food. I’m hungry.”

  “Sure. You can cook them. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Cid grinned and walked away from her.

  “Fish?” Heidee glanced at him with a cocked brow as he approached a massive tree, four meters tall and two meters wide—the big boss of all the trees around it, although it wasn’t the only towering giant in the forest.

  It was perfect. Instead of tiring himself by cutting down several trees, one massive trunk promised the bounty of all of them. Not to mention, what better target to test his damage buff than the head honcho of wood?

  “Cinders, if your strength is five then you should pick a smaller tree, or better yet… I can cut it for you. Give that to me.” Heidee walked to him with her hand outstretched.

  Her assistance was the last thing he wanted so he ignored her and lowered his center of mass for a focused strike, his hands tightly holding back the axe.

  A three hundred percent increase from his passive skill and then a five hundo from his active skill… It wasn’t a wolf, but Cid knew it would still feel good regardless—breaking things always felt good.

  [Skill Activated: Weakpoint Exploit.]

  Cid’s emerald eyes burned bright as an ivory crosshair covered his right iris, mirroring a crimson target on the center of the tree that only he could see.

  “Jackpot!” Cid shouted and swung with all of his might.

  The stone axe split the bark with a bursting crash, instantly fracturing the whole tree in two and generating a powerfully explosive gale that stripped the leaves from its branches. The overbuffed strike caused the splintered trunk to spin in the air as if it was dancing weightlessly within a storm.

  Heidee stared at the insane display of power with extreme confusion, her mouth involuntarily opening while her hair fluttered aggressively in the chaotic gusts born from the hefty impact.

  Because of all the weight and momentum Cid put into the axe—expecting some form of resistance that never came—he spun uncontrollably and fell down on his side. He winced, then looked up at the giant trunk falling down on him.

  For some reason—whether it was the fear of death activating his fight-or-flight senses, or the rush of adrenaline fueling him—time moved slower around Cid. It was clear what it meant, it was an awakening. His hidden powers were rushing forth, imbuing him with an ability capable of destroying the tree with ease. This was his moment to grab the reins.

  Cid moved his hand up, focusing his inner ki for a concentrated blast. At least that’s what he wanted, in reality he simply waved at the tree while it spun towards him like a thick saw, threatening to gruesomely scatter his remains.

  “Rage!” Heidee ran to Cid’s side, her hands instantly smashing against the spinning tree and stopping its momentum. The weighty column was still too mighty and too large, and it triumphantly slammed her down on the ground, embedding her into the dirt next to Cid.

  She still refused to yield, her quivering arms squirming intensely just to keep the tree inches away from both of their faces. Intricate crimson markings snaked across the right side of her tense face, the side Cid looked at with wide eyes.

  Heidee gritted her teeth and bared her fangs. “What the hell… are you still doing down here, Cinders!? Move!” Her sharp voice snapped him out of his daze.

  “R-Right!”

  Cid instantly rolled out from under the tree, spinning a few more times out of fear of being squished.

  He quickly sat up on his knees and felt the ground under him shake when the tree fell down completely, parting and disturbing the dirt under it.

  “Huh!? Hades!? Hey, are you alright!? Hades!” Cid jumped to his feet and looked up and down the length of the girthy tree for the reckless redhead.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Say something! Is this really how a psychopath like you dies!?”

  But there was no response, no sign of anything beyond the wood. Cid swallowed and rushed to the other side of the tree, hoping she somehow pushed it aside and made it through. He ran past the boughs and branches of the tree and peeked at the other side.

  Heidee was lying next to the tree with one of her arms buried under it, her fangs bare and her face wrinkling deeply from anger.

  “Ahh… You actually made–”

  “I’ll break your spine in half, you wood-making bastard!” Heidee growled and hit the trunk with her free fist, the mark on her face glowing as bright as her scarlet eyes.

  “Or uhh… you could just take a quick nap and wake up when you’re less agitated. I’ll go cook us a nice meal to help with that.” Cid waved and fast-walked to the mountain of dead wolves, sweating bullets.

  “If she won’t calm down then she’ll have to get used to living under that tree. Her strength is too damn high. Any light punishment she decides to dish out might actually kill me… That aside, [Weakpoint Exploit] is better than I expected…”

  The buff from his skill was insanely powerful, it destroyed the massive tree so mercilessly even though his axe only did five damage. It meant his damage debuff didn’t matter, he could still fight and enjoy what the world offered in terms of trials and challenges. “Good…”

  A glint drew his attention to a sword embedded next to the carcasses.

  “Oh, she had her weapon out? Wait, was she going to skin them with her sword? That’s so uncomfortable…”

  Cid grabbed the sword and wiggled the blade. It was not as rigid as he expected but still heavy, reminding him that it was an actual weapon and not a prop. It was hard not to fall in love with its weight.

  “Aahh… Now this is a weapon… Hehehehe… It’s nothing like my trashy stone axe.” Cid chuckled like a greedy merchant then glanced back at the fallen tree.

  “She screamed ‘rage’ and then that mark showed up on her face… I think it’s safe to say her class must be a Berserker or some variant of that… And if I’m guessing right, she should be unstable until her Angry Mode wears off… Hmm… Berserker fits with how high her strength and health are, so I’m sure of it… She’s not a typical Fighter.”

  Cid summoned the shimmering piece of azure paper and looked at its heavenly gleam with awe.

  “The Blueprint looks so beautiful… It would easily sell for billions in a museum back on Earth… Now, how do I do this?”

  Be–Beep!

  [Help: Blueprint Activation — The Blueprint is an indestructible tool exclusive for the Crafter role to copy objects and structures for custom recipes. As such it can also reshape itself to complete constructions. To copy items, simply move the sheet completely through the desired target or put it against the target for five minutes.]

  “Thanks, Boxy.”

  Cid stared at the glinting tip of the sword, sharp enough to cut paper. Even though Boxy said it was indestructible, he still hesitantly moved the fluttering paper over the blade and observed with a racing heart as it glided down without any resistance, like a buttery specter.

  “Nice!”

  The cerulean sheet momentarily flickered in a rich golden shine and let out a joyful jingle once it finished scanning the weapon. Cid raised his arms joyfully, finally in possession of his first weapon—or at least its schematics…

  “What do I need to craft it?” he asked the world excitedly.

  Rather than the whole gridded room, a simple ivory outline of the weapon appeared in front of him with a green box showing what he needed:

  [Plain Sword: 4 Heirachtic ingots, 3 Deadwood.]

  “Ingots and Deadwood? Where do I get those?”

  [Help: Location of materials — Deadwood is primarily found in the northern part of the forest, within the Deadlands after the town of Earlius. Heirachtic ore is found in caves and wolf dens.]

  “Earlius…?”

  [Help: Earlius — A town catering to the needs of new players, offering basic trade, simple quests, cheap inns and various entertainment establishments. Recommended destination for level 5 players.]

  “Interesting… Thank you, Boxy.” Cid patted the small panel as it narrowed into nothingness once more.

  Cid glanced at Heidee’s sword. It wasn’t anything special, just a placeholder sword that nobody cared about, switched at the earliest discovery of anything else. It was a symbol for the starting point and nothing more, the fact he had to jump through so many hoops just to craft a starter sword was ridiculous.

  Cid sighed and walked back to Heidee. He slowly and cautiously peeped at her from behind the tree.

  “Hades? Yoohoo… are you awake?”

  Despite her arm painfully lodged under the wooden column, she was breathing softly with her eyes closed. Every notion of her being a battle-hungry freak or an irritated woman stopped existing behind her sleeping form.

  ‘My psychopath can’t be this graceful… No, no, I’m definitely seeing the grace of the setting sun reflected on her face, I won’t accept any other explanation.’

  Cid turned towards the horizon, at the sun inching closer to kiss its edge. He couldn’t leave Heidee here and explore while she was vulnerable, even though he really wanted to go find the ores and Deadwood for his copy of her sword.

  Cid’s eyes drifted to the massive trunk keeping Heidee hostage, his fingers tracing its rough surface thoughtlessly.

  ‘It’s so big… I wish I could just take it inside of–’

  The trunk glowed a soft green and instantly fractured into emerald glitter, stowing itself in Cid’s inventory.

  [Acquired 10 logs, 20 wood.]

  “Oh…”

  Cid was surprised it actually went inside his digital pocket since it refused to do it before. What changed?

  Regardless of the reason, he was now able to build wooden walls and create a safe area for Heidee without fear of wolves attacking them.

  “Then what am I waiting for? I’ll go make a house right away!”

  ‘And I can’t forget my lovely ghost mode perk. Heheh…’

  Cid nodded to himself enthusiastically and slipped out of his physical body, leaving Bill to the task of building a simple defensive wall near Heide.

  [Lost 10 wood, 18 left.]

  [Lost 2 logs, 8 left.]

  He didn’t know how long it would take to build so he flew like a pigeon that spotted a newly washed car, and zoomed towards the wolf den which Heidee cleared.

  ‘Under RPG logic, the ores should be easy to spot…’

  Like a bullet, Cid went towards the cave’s mouth with a one-track focus. He refused to allow himself any distractions and zoned in on his target.

  Except he was only human, naturally drawn by mysteries and curiosities, so he kicked the air to stop himself when he noticed something abnormal; the ground near the den had a circular bump hiding an incline leading into the earth, into the mouth of another cave that somehow looked more promising than the small den of wolves above.

  ‘Whoa… A hidden underground cave… You can’t even see this unless you’re walking close or flying above…’

  Cid glided down like he was on a slide at a playground and went right into the tunnel, where he learned that darkness still blinded him even as a fake ghost. It would’ve stopped his search if not for the distant sapphire glow of several round growths—a trail of luminescent mushrooms that guided him to a split in the tunnel.

  Cid’s eyes stretched wide in amazement at the chamber on the right, its depths brimming with mystically glowing fungi. Sparkling spores drifted around enchantingly like mana-infused glitter, and an eerie combination of stalactites and stalagmites made the natural room look like a dragon’s terrifying mouth.

  Shadows danced from the gentlest sway of the mushrooms, orchestrated by strange ebony birds with thin stick-like limbs and spindly beaks as they moved from the caps to their burrows in the walls, each creature the size of Cid’s head or smaller.

  ‘Creepy things…’

  The opposite tunnel—the path on the left—was obscured by a curtain of darkness. There were faint glimmers of light betraying the presence of a deeper path if one dared to approach.

  But Cid couldn’t even entertain that thought once a violent force mercilessly gripped his stomach and pulled him dangerously fast, as if someone lasso’d him while flying through a wormhole.

  A thundering snap forced him inside his body, emptying his lungs of air. He instantly gasped for the air he lost and coughed when he accidentally swallowed his spit.

  [You mastered Wooden Wall – Gained 10 XP!]

  [You leveled up! Level 4 recipes unlocked!]

  ‘Bill is too good at his job! Damn him!’

  Cid glared at nothing and issued another construction order for a wall next to the first. However, he failed to leave his body and simply watched as another perfect copy of the wall manifested magically in seconds.

  [Lost 10 wood, 8 left.]

  [Lost 2 logs, 6 left.]

  “Ahh… That’s what [Quick Build] does… So I can’t use Bill to enter ghost mode after I master a recipe? That’s a shame… Let me build around Hades and then craft something else to resume exploring.’

  The system reacted to his silent command with an irritating buzz.

  [Insufficient materials to build Wooden Wall.]

  “Seriously!? This is annoying… I need to make sure to grab a surplus of wood… A thousand or a million should do.”

  ────?────

  A thud echoed, the creaking cry of wood announced the death of a falling tree before it crashed down on the ground. A simple meaty slap burned it in green digital embers and reduced it to nothing.

  [Acquired 6 wood, 3 logs.]

  Cid moved to another tree with a glum look and swung his axe with a practiced grip, splintering the tree deeply.

  “This is… not very exhilarating… I wish the trees fought back or something…”

  Cid sighed and quietly watched the trunk careen down and hit the earth with a soft tremor.

  “I’m truly the greatest tree killer there ever was… Haaahhh… If they could talk, would they scream and beg or just insult me? No, I gotta be optimistic… This annoying manual labor is the key to becoming a powerful warrior, I’m sure… I’m… at least hoping it is…”

  Cid put the splintered trunk in his inventory and looked at a collection of walls creating some sort of roofless room—the makeshift housing he made for Heidee.

  A silent order constructed the last wall of the box, ensuring her complete safety.

  “I’m surprised she hasn’t woken up yet…”

  Cid glanced at the pile of dead wolves, imagining himself heroically fighting a group of them if he had a normal class. His imaginary-self held a silver kite shield and an ornately decorated golden sword, and he was brave and fearless against giant beasts that snarled and growled with thick drool leaking out their mouths. It was the dream.

  “Just you wait… I’ll become stronger than anyone! I’m not giving up that easily.” Cid grinned and walked to the carcasses to make the bed, the growls from his thoughts still persisting.

  “I’d shut those wolves up so quickly.”

  The sharp snapping of teeth made Cid’s ear twitch, and a following guttural growl made the hairs on his body stand up on end.

  “Man… have I gotten really good at fantasizing or…”

  Cid slowly turned behind him towards an irritated beast, its drool-covered fangs exposed as it inched closer and closer.

  ‘Oh. Oh, I’m dead.’

  Cid stepped back and noticed Heidee’s sword propped against the crafting bench next to him. It gave him courage and converted his anxious frown to a confident smirk.

  ‘Wait, this is my chance! This is exactly what I wanted! I want to enjoy this world by hunting monsters, finding treasure and becoming stronger! Not cutting down trees and picking up rocks all day!’

  Cid grinned and swiped the weapon up, his eyes glowing with an emerald radiance.

  [Skill Activated: Weakpoint Exploit.]

  “Even if my damage is crippled, three hundred percent is still a lot! I’ll kill you!” Cid screamed and ran to the wolf with the sword held to his side.

  The beast welcomed his attempt by dashing to him with a snarl, unaware of the crimson mark appearing on its head and exposing its weakpoint.

  With a preemptive strike, Cid put all of his weight behind the sword and slashed down at the wolf’s head—although smashed was more accurate since the sword shattered against the beast with a devastating and resounding crack.

  A crimson streak of blood gushed through the air as the wolf fell down and tumbled across the dirt. Cid couldn’t halt his momentum and fell down in the opposite direction. Like true warriors of the blade, they both bet their lives on that one stroke of the sword.

  Cid instantly sat up and observed the motionless beast, his breath shallow and fast. The attack lacked the same explosive force compared to when he chopped the large tree, but his hands still shook with excitement and his target lay dead.

  He couldn’t help but look at the broken blade with a wide grin, feeling a hint of possibility, a glimmer of hope, a path towards his dream of becoming the strongest warrior.

  “I actually did it… I killed a wolf! Even with reduced damage, I have a fighting chance!” Cid laughed merrily, finally understanding why Heidee looked so happy. Risking it all for a skill-based gamble with your life on the line, it was beyond exhilarating.

  And this, this was the start of it all, the start of his path to power.

  Cid closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, feeling light, wonderful and victorious…

  …until the wolf’s canines stabbed into his shoulder and slammed him down on his back.

  “Agh!”

  [Received 16 Damage. 34 HP Remaining.]

  “It lived!? Gah!” Cid cried out in pain, his hands desperately trying to push the wolf away, but he lacked the strength to win the physical contest. The beast embedded its sharp claws deeply in Cid’s chest, pinning him down while it crushed his shoulder.

  [Received 6 Damage. 28 HP Remaining.]

  “Aagh!” The pain surged through him like jolts of electrified flames, burning him with sharp and intolerable agony. It still hurt less than realizing that his strongest attack still meant nothing in the face of a random beast.

  [Received 7 damage. 21 HP Remaining.]

  ‘This damned world… If I knew it would end like this, I would’ve gone home instead of that alleyway! If I knew I’d get screwed over by that creepy woman and her useless class, I wouldn’t have cared about all the stupid potentials and possibilities!’

  [Received 6 damage. 15 HP Remaining.]

  The rosy-haired woman’s mocking smile appeared in Cid’s mind, fueling his hatred into a primal rage. She definitely knew she picked the wrong class but still forced it on him. She clearly expected things to turn out this way.

  [Received 7 damage. 8 HP Remaining – Warning: critically low health.]

  Cid glared at the creature mauling him, at a very visible wound on the side of its head—a deep gash from when he injured it, exposing its brain to the elements.

  [Received 6 damage. 2 HP Remaining – Warning: critically low health.]

  Cid impaled his fingers inside the wolf’s gaping skull, pushing as deep as he could.

  The wolf yelped and jumped away, but Cid’s iron grip on its head made it fall on its side and kick its legs desperately from the overload of critical pain.

  “I’m not dying here! Not until I get what I want! Not until I get what I deserve!”

  Cid grabbed the broken handle of the sword and straddled the creature, mercilessly jabbing its head with the ruined hilt over and over again. He focused on its wound to truly exploit its weakpoint, his molten soul bared by his furious scream.

  It probably would’ve taken another person a single hit to end the badly wounded wolf, but Cid kept attacking its brain in a desperate stun-loop that lasted longer than he wanted.

  “Die! Die! Die! Just stop making noises and die! You… stupid–!”

  Whack!

  “Annoying–!”

  Thwack!

  “Brainless mutt!”

  Cid’s final stab cracked the skull apart and impaled the jagged blade deep inside the brain, making the wolf jerk for the final time.

  [Slayed Wolf (Level 1) – Gained 5 XP!]

  [Acquired 1 wolf fang.]

  Cid grabbed the dead wolf and shook it aggressively.

  “You think you’re above me!? Just because I didn’t do enough damage, you think you can kill me!? Look who’s still alive! It’s me, you dead sack of muck! It’s me! I killed you and I’ll kill everyone that thinks they can mess with me!”

  Cid let out a bestial roar—loud enough to make his ancestors proud—and then bit the beast’s shoulder. He glared at anything and everything while shaking his head rapidly, like a wild animal trying to rip apart its kill, urged on by the burning instinct of an apex predator.

  At least until his eyes landed on Heidee who looked at him with raised brows.

  “Cinders… What’s happening? Is that my sword? Did you… break it?”

  Cid glared at her silently, letting the calm of the night explain his situation while he kept his prey’s carcass in his mouth.