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Faced with Shiu’s questioning, Zane found himself momentarily speechless.

Seeing that Zane didn’t respond, Shiu pressed on relentlessly. “I’m saying this for your own good! If you keep going down this path, once the truth comes to light, you’ll spend the rest of your life in a holding cell!”

“Actually… she’s another version of me.”

“B̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲! Don’t talk nonsense!” Shiu snapped. “If you still see me as your brother, then stop dodging and speak straight!”

‘Damn it, telling the truth backfired?’

Honestly, if it hadn’t happened to him, he wouldn’t believe it either if someone else told him such a story.

Zane took a deep breath. “Shiu, there are some things I really can’t explain directly. All I can say is that I haven’t done anything against my conscience.”

Seeing the clarity in Zane’s eyes, Shiu fell silent for a moment. Then he said, “Alright. I believe you. If anything’s wrong, talk to me. Don’t bottle it all up by yourself.”

“Yeah.”

…

As the atmosphere quieted, Shiu deliberately shifted the topic. “I heard there was a big fight this afternoon between Nether Dawn and Brotherhood on the Grayridge Plains.”

“Brotherhood?”

“Yeah. From what I know, Brotherhood is an old guild run by Cloudsworn. In Dreamscape, they’re ranked at least within the top two hundred.”

“And the outcome?”

“Heh, surprisingly, Nether Dawn won despite being outnumbered. With smart tactics and better gear, they wiped out the entire Brotherhood!” Shiu got excited talking about large-scale battles. “You know what? It’s all thanks to those scale armors you sold. More than ten heavily armored warriors in Refined Scale Armor stood on the front line, and no one could bring them down!”

At this stage, gear was incredibly hard to obtain. The Rare gear on the market was mostly leftovers. Assembling a squad of elite heavy troops was no small feat.

Although forging gear provided a shortcut, obtaining Bioraptor scale was extremely difficult.

Around noon, more players began discovering the Wastelands. However, the Bioraptors there were far stronger than anyone expected. With extremely high physical defense and the ability to harden their scales, they could make physical classes feel utterly useless.

Even mages didn’t fare much better. After casting two spells in a row, the beasts would heal with a single Devour. You couldn’t fight them solo, only by bringing an entire mage team could players manage to scrape by in that area.

“This battle made Nether Dawn famous! I bet their guild is going to double in size soon!”

“…” Zane, however, wasn’t too interested. He didn’t know either guild that well. If anything, he preferred Nether Dawn winning since it would make future trading easier.

“I just remembered something,” Zane said.
“What is it?”
“Gold, man! Gold! Didn’t you say the exchange rate tanked? We didn’t list any all night, it must’ve crashed hard!” Zane’s expression darkened. Who knew how much money they’d lost in just one night?
“Oh, that? Don’t worry. Not listing it for sale actually earned us money.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”
“That kobold map had its drop rates nerfed back to normal starting last night, even slightly lower than same-level monsters. The devs probably adjusted the numbers. No way they’d let people farm gold endlessly.”
“So what’s the rate now?”
“Let me check… 148! And it’s even trending upward!”

“Damn it, then not sweeping up a batch of gold to resell last night means I lost out even more?” Zane said through gritted teeth.
“Come on, if you could actually predict market trends, would you still be freeloading in my apartment?”
“Hahaha, a real man doesn’t dwell on past glory.”
“…”

…

They ordered around thirty or forty skewers, and washed it down with Coca-Cola. It was pure bliss.

Even at that late hour, there were quite a few customers in the shop, likely due to Dreamscape going under maintenance. Many people were still hotly discussing just who this “Stardust” really was.

Zane only gave a faint smile and kept his head down, focused on eating.

After the feast, they returned to the little apartment. Zane took a shower and collapsed into bed. The streetlights outside cast faint reflections on the ceiling. Zane lay there staring blankly, weighed down by thoughts.

‘Starry… where did you go?’

His mind gradually grew hazy. But instead of drifting into the familiar dreamland, he found himself trapped in a vast, endless darkness. No matter how far he walked, there was no exit in sight.

‘Starry… Starry…!’

…

Morning sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the small room. Zane opened his eyes. It had been a long time since he slept this soundly, though his head still felt a bit foggy.

He wasn’t sure if he had been sleepwalking or what.

“Shiu! Wake up!” Zane shouted, shamelessly kicking at the bedroom door.

“Damn you! You were muttering all night in your sleep and kept me awake. And now you’re back to bug me again!”
“Huh? What was I muttering?”
“You’re seriously asking? You were going on and on like ‘Starry~ Starry~’ the whole time. I almost got up to kick you awake.”
“…Right. You go back to sleep then. I’ll go buy breakfast,” Zane mumbled sheepishly.
“Forget it, I can’t sleep anymore anyway. Gotta focus on grinding levels. I lost one yesterday, I need to make up for it today!”

…

After breakfast, they logged back in.

Whoosh.

Both characters spawned in simultaneously, right where they had logged off the night before. Nearly everyone on their friends list was online. ‘These people… sure are dedicated.’

Zane took a closer look. Snowy had already hit level 18! The other three were sitting at 17. ‘These guys are catching up fast!’

Sensing its master’s return, the Frostfang Tiger cub darted out from the pet space and landed on Starry’s shoulder.

“Good kitty, Starmew~” She stroked its silky fur. Honestly, the texture felt even smoother than a pampered housecat.

“Mew~” it purred contentedly.

‘Too cute. Wait a minute… aren’t you supposed to be a tiger? Speaking of which, now that we are both level 20, we should be able to learn new skills.’

However, both their characters were still Beginner class. Zane wasn’t too worried, his Wishkeeper form should allow him to learn new skills from Elna. With any luck, he might even unlock that incredibly powerful Invoke: Blessing.

As for Starry, she was almost ready too. With the Saintbloom Water secured, the next step was clear: brewing.

Since the recipe for Holy Spirit Sap couldn’t go to waste, they decided to each pick a different secondary profession. Starry would become a Brewer, while Zane opted for Alchemist.

He gave the others a quick update on their plans and told them to go level elsewhere for now. As for the Forgotten Tower Entry Pass, that could wait. Class advancement came first.

Zane went to speak with Sheen for details, starting with the Brewer profession.

According to Sheen, the Brewer class was overseen by a notoriously eccentric old man. He lived in Oceanrise Village, just south of Wynwater City. Because of his fame, both players and NPCs alike had sought him out as apprentices. The village had practically earned a new name, Drunkard’s Haven.

Unlike other secondary profession quests, this guy didn’t care for formality. Bring him good liquor or quality ingredients, and he’d take you in on the spot. Without that, no amount of politeness would change his mind.

There was even a dedicated forum guide explaining the tricks. For this old man, a single bottle of inn-quality liquor—starting at one gold—was enough to get him to casually toss you the Brewer’s Compendium and count you as initiated.

With Gray Wolf’s Rapid Stride, Starry reached Oceanrise Village in under five minutes. Along the way, several players spotted her and shouted in excitement, “Gray Wolf mount! Look, it’s Stardust!”

When she opened the door, she saw an elderly man lounging in a chair with his eyes closed, as if dozing off.

This was definitely the man. Starry had barely opened the door, much less pulled out the liquor she had prepared, when he suddenly shot to his feet, as though someone had flipped a switch.

“Young lady, I can smell the scent of Saintbloom Water on you,” he said, his face awash in pure bliss.

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