Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Besides those, there were also two Rare items and a skill book.

“Recall… It’s a Summoner skill book! This is the first time I’ve ever seen one,” Dukeette said in surprise.

That wasn’t surprising. The drop rate for skill books was far lower than that of equipment.

“This skill should significantly improve a Summoner’s survivability. You might even be able to pull off some sneaky tricks with it,” Zane remarked.

“Exactly. Skills that improve control over summoned creatures are much better than blindly increasing the number of summons,” Shiu agreed with a nod.

YoyoPink happily asked, “Can I take it?”

“There aren’t any other Summoners here anyway.” Zane spread his hands helplessly.

“Mhm!” Unable to wait any longer, she immediately used the skill book and shouted sweetly, “Recall!”

A streak of red light wrapped itself around Lordsey, who was standing in the distance. The next moment, he had already appeared directly in front of YoyoPink. The Goblin looked completely bewildered. “What’s going on…? I was just…”

“Don’t panic. It’s your master’s new skill.” They tested it several more times afterward. With Lordsey’s intelligence, he quickly understood what was happening and even drew his weapon to experiment with it himself.

Once the loot distribution was complete, Shiu took the newly obtained Ice Crystal Fragment and headed toward the familiar spot.

As the crystal fell into place, that familiar sensation appeared once more. The scene shifted, and they found themselves back in the cave from the previous vision. The man was nowhere to be seen now. However, at the spot where he had once stood, there was an ice coffin.

Beside it floated a tiny icy soul, slowly circling around the coffin. At some unknown point, the entire space had become permeated with frigid energy. Gradually, all traces of living activity vanished. In their place, Frostcrystal ore deposits slowly began to take shape.

And then it ended. There was no thrilling battle and no heart-wrenching story. It was merely the process of an evolution unfolding before their eyes. The whole thing felt rather vague and difficult to understand. Perhaps they would only see the complete story after clearing the Hard difficulty.

When the notification appeared, a dazzling golden treasure chest was already resting quietly in the center.

“Yoyo, go for it!”
“Wait, let me do it! It had to be because of the dungeon difficulty last time. This time I’m definitely going to…” DumbCitrus protested unwillingly.
“No. What if you curse the loot again?”
“T-That’s impossible!”

Zane said nothing. He simply stared silently into her eyes.

“Ahhh, fine, I get it! Keep acting like this and you’ll never get a gir—” She glanced at Starry and immediately fell silent. Why would Sister Starry ever fall for someone like him!?

***

Another Frostcrystal Guard dropped from the chest. Unfortunately, it was a caster-type piece, and they already had one.

Since Zane was using the Shadowfiend Shoulderpads, he had no need to replace them. For now, they gave it to Yoyo. According to rumors, a Summoner’s own attributes would eventually provide bonuses to their summoned creatures in the later stages of the game, making personal stat growth equally important.

There was only one piece of equipment. The other reward was a blue gemstone.

Another collectible item? None of the others could make sense of it either, so they temporarily left it in Zane’s possession.

“Should we push through and clear Hard difficulty in one go?”
“It’s almost five o’clock. I don’t think we’ll make it in time. How about we grab dinner first?” Shiu suggested.
“Huh?” After checking the time, Zane realized it was true. Without noticing, they had already spent that long inside the dungeon.

In reality, the battles themselves hadn’t taken much time. Most of it had been spent learning and adapting to the mechanics. One mistake meant starting over from the beginning. Without enough patience, a player would probably rage themselves to death after only a few attempts.

“Alright, let’s log out and eat first.”

“Mhm.”

***

After logging out, Zane looked around for a while, only to discover that Zina was nowhere to be found. He stopped in front of her bedroom door.

**Knock, knock.**

“What is it?”
“It’s me. It’s almost dinner time. Do you want to go out and eat together, or should I bring something back for you?”
“Huh? It’s already that late? Wait a second, I’ll be right out!”

A series of hurried, frantic noises immediately came from inside the room. Who knew what she was busy doing in there? Five minutes later, she finally emerged, her cheeks slightly flushed.

“What were you doing?” Zane asked in surprise.

“Well…” Zina looked a little embarrassed. “Dreamscape. Didn’t we go out and buy a gaming helmet at noon? After I got back, I tried it out…”

I see. Had she entered combat mode already?

“Got it. By the way, what level are you now?”
“I’m already Level 2! Pretty fast, right?” Zina declared proudly.

A question mark slowly appeared over Zane’s head.

…

As it turned out, Dreamscape’s popularity had skyrocketed over the past few days. More and more players were joining. After all, the gaming experience was genuinely revolutionary, and with the rapidly growing player base came countless business opportunities. Quite a few people had already begun trying to make money by farming and selling in-game currency.

As a result, the number of players crowding the Beginner Village only continued to grow. The current situation was absurd. Just leaving the village required squeezing through crowds for ages.

As for competing for monsters? That was even worse. Thinking about it that way, only gaining one level in an entire afternoon wasn’t particularly unusual.

Unfortunately, players from different Beginner Village instances couldn’t return to help each other. For now, she would have to rely on herself to grind monsters and level up.

“Big Brother, what’s your game ID? I’ll add you later.”
“Emberveil,” Zane replied while taking a bite of food.
“Emberveil… Got it.” Zina nodded.

Someone at the neighboring table nearly spat out his drink. “Did you hear that? This guy just said he’s Emberveil! Then I must be Skypride!”

“Keep your voice down. Maybe he just picked a similar-sounding name. Why are you getting so worked up?”

“Oh, right. My bad. Let’s eat, let’s eat.”

Zane was speechless. These days, nobody believed the truth anymore. “…”

“Brother, is your ID really that famous?”
“It’s alright. Just ignore them.”

…

After returning home, he logged back into the game. The moment the screen loaded, a friend request popped up. The applicant’s ID was HerbalTea, a name that carried a fresh and calming feeling. It suited his little sister perfectly.

Below it were countless other friend requests. Names like StealingHerMilk, DeafKing, Hahahahahahaha, and many others. He rejected them all without hesitation. Being famous really was troublesome. If he hadn’t muted notifications, the constant system alerts alone would have driven him crazy.

“Brother, your level is so high!” Zina’s message arrived.
“Leveling is actually pretty easy. You’re only leveling slowly because the Beginner Village is overcrowded. Once you get out, I’ll carry you.”
“Mhm! There are already a lot fewer people now. I should reach Level 3 very soon!”
“Keep it up.”

After ending the call, he checked his friends list. The others still hadn’t logged in yet.

As he approached the dungeon entrance mechanism, the stage selection interface appeared before him. On the clear-time rankings, their party occupied first place on both the Easy and Normal difficulty leaderboards.

Wasn’t that a little too high-profile? That definitely wasn’t his style. If he had known, he would have cleared them a little slower.

‘Zane.’ Starry’s voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.

“The sleeping beauty finally woke up?”

She didn’t seem to have the energy to banter with him today. With a weary tone, she said, ‘There’s someone who’s been following me around nonstop. No matter what I do, I can’t shake them off.’

Zane’s body stiffened.

“A woman?”
“Mhm.”
“The dagger user?”
“…”

For some reason, he had a feeling that he might have caused something far more serious than he originally thought.