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Handing over a bottle of Saintspring Ale had finally earned him his freedom.

Zane jogged over to Elna’s little villa. A petite figure stood at the door, she had been waiting there for him all along. Not surprising, given how big of a scene had just played out.

She grabbed Zane’s small hand and pulled him inside, then quietly closed the door behind them.

Elna was wearing a pale green set of pajamas. It looked like he’d come at the wrong time.

“Whew… that scared me to death just now. I really thought I was going to get exposed,” Zane said, heart still pounding.
“My brother was way out of line… treating you like that.”
“It’s fine. He just cares about you. At least that glass of wine helped smooth things over. Oh, and…he said he won’t restrict your movements anymore!” Zane added proudly.

Elna beamed with joy. “Mm, I heard it too. I don’t even know how to thank you…”
“Well then, do you think I’ve gotten a little stronger? I was hoping…”
“Mm!” She nodded and lifted her hand. A skill window floated in front of Zane.

Zane’s eyes lit up. This was the legendary skill Elna had used back then to help them turn the tide! Although its power seemed lower, likely because of its base skill level, it was still incredibly strong. After all, with equal cooldown and duration, this essentially became a permanent buff if uninterrupted!

“Learning cost…?”

There weren’t many Level 20 players on the forums yet, so Zane hadn’t learned about this system. At Level 10, class skills were learned automatically, but starting at Level 20, you had to learn them manually.

“It’s the standard rule for learning,” Elna explained seriously.

Good thing he had a close relationship with his mentor. One copper coin was nothing, he paid it without hesitation. With a system notification chime, the new skill appeared on his skill list. He didn’t rush to try it out yet, because Elna’s window showed another skill.

This was… the skill that helped Starry unleash Heartpiercer! Reading the description, he finally understood how she had been able to pull off that strike back then. Even setting aside the flavor text, the effect was incredibly useful.

If this was used during Autumn Strike, and the final hit of Triple Frenzy Slash critted… the damage would be ridiculous.

Another skill for just 1 copper coin, he learned it without hesitation. Looking further down the list, everything else was grayed out. He couldn’t learn any more.

“No offensive skills?” Zane asked, puzzled.
“…” She fell silent. “Brother Zane… I’m afraid I won’t be able to teach you much anymore.”
“Why not?”
“My body is still very weak. I won’t be able to recover my former strength anytime soon… and I can’t use any of the higher-level techniques.”

“…” Zane paused for a moment. “Then how about I help you level up?”

“Level up?”

“Yeah, like regaining your strength. You’re free to move around now, right? How about I take you out on adventures from time to time?”

Elna nervously clenched her hands. “Can I really…? I’d only hold you back right now…”

No—no party would ever reject a support class this powerful. But Elna wasn’t like adventurers… as an NPC, she only had one life.

“Of course you can. But there’s one condition. Our lives as adventurers are endless, but yours isn’t. So if we run into danger, and I tell you to run, you have to run. No questions asked. Got it?”

Hearing that, Elna clenched her small fists and nodded firmly. “Mm!”

“I’ll think about it… Let’s start the day after tomorrow, alright? I’ll come get you then. Tomorrow, I have to head to the Forgotten Tower.”
“The Forgotten Tower?”
“Yeah. I happened to find a pass that lets me enter. Have you heard of the place?”
“No…” she said, shaking her head regretfully.

Even Elna didn’t know about it?

“Oh, right…one more thing. I nearly forgot.”
“What is it? I’m listening.”
“Have you ever heard of someone named Lila?”

***

After logging off, Zane stood on the balcony, staring blankly at the city’s nightscape.

It had already been three days since Starry last made contact. She had appeared so suddenly, and then vanished just as suddenly, without the slightest warning. He couldn’t even return to that familiar dream anymore.

‘Starry… where did you go?’

**Bzzz… Bzzz…**

Suddenly, his pocket began to vibrate. He pulled out his phone and saw the word “Sister” displayed on the screen.

Zane hesitated for a moment, then picked up the call. The moment he answered, his younger sister’s faint and weary voice came through. “Bro… when are you… coming home?”

“…”

“Mom and Dad are really worried about you.”
“Just a little longer. I… I’ll make some money soon.” Without waiting for a reply, he hung up.

Tomorrow, he would list all the gold he had earned over the past few days for sale.

***

The next day arrived quickly, still with no news from Starry. Zane woke Shiu up for breakfast and then logged in.

As soon as he was online, he noticed that the price of gold had dropped to 97. Maybe something had happened again to affect the exchange rate. But Zane didn’t care, he just wanted to get all his gold listed.

An invisible pressure was closing in on him. After counting his funds, he found that he had a total of 1,276 gold coins. Subtracting the 500 gold from Nether Dawn, that meant he had farmed 776 gold in the past two days, a major haul.

He tried listing them on the market. After linking his bank account and completing the steps, he posted 1,200 gold coins. After fees, it came to 111,744 Yuan.

110,000 yuan. It looked like a lot, but Zane knew it still wasn’t enough to repay Shiu, and his family needed the money even more.

Within ten minutes, the gold had already been snapped up. As expected, Dreamscape was never short on whales.

He transferred the money to Zina’s bank account. As for Shiu… he could only offer another silent apology. It would probably be a long time before he could pay him back.

As in-game time continued to move forward, gold prices were dropping by the day. From now on, he’d have to rely more on selling equipment and materials to make money.

By 8:30, everyone had gathered.

Since the new healer had been kicked, there was now an open spot, and Stupid Orange was allowed to join. She hadn’t hit Level 20 yet, but as a Bard, her basic class skills, Battle Hymn and Inspiring Chant, could raise the whole party’s Attack and Defense by 3%. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing.

“Where are we going today?” DumbCitrus asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Zane replied, pulling everyone into the party. Then, he used the Entry Pass.

The moment he confirmed, a massive six-pointed purple magic circle enveloped the entire party! And that wasn’t all—