Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Zane was completely dumbfounded by the nearly 2000 attack stat. The gap between hidden classes and regular ones was just too vast.

A full-strength build swordsman, equipped with top-tier Rare gear at Level 20, might barely hit 700 or 800 attack. But that would already be the upper limit. In fact, if you didn’t invest at least some points into Vitality, you were basically a walking corpse in real PvP situations.

Not to mention, the Autumn Moon Sword was a unique weapon, far beyond the current stage of the game. That kind of damage only seemed remotely fair because of that.

At this point, if MrFixIt dared to show up again, Zane was confident he could one-shot him mid-Charge with a single Frenzied Blade.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t expect Starry getting drunk could affect my main body…’

He still had no idea what exactly happened yesterday. Somehow, he ended up switching to the Mad Swordsman class, and Theo had disappeared without a trace. And most absurdly, he’d actually fallen asleep inside the game.

That said, the sleep itself wasn’t bad…no dreams, no interruptions, just solid rest.

Aside from a few sharp stabs of pain in his head, Zane actually felt remarkably clearheaded now. But the gnawing hunger in his stomach hadn’t gone anywhere. No surprise there as he hadn’t eaten anything from lunch to night, and on an empty stomach he’d downed all that alcohol.

Even if the in-game liquor didn’t carry over to reality, the discomfort definitely did.

✦✧✦✧✦

After pocketing the small glass of Saintspring Ale that Zenn had left for him, he logged out.

Taking off the helmet, he felt like he’d just returned from another world. His total online time had nearly hit 20 hours, yet his limbs didn’t feel stiff at all. His head still throbbed a bit, probably from sleeping while sitting up.

‘Didn’t Shiu try waking me up?’

There was a cold, untouched late-night snack sitting on the coffee table. He walked to Shiu’s room and found him fast asleep, snoring away.

‘So hungry… It’d only been sitting out for three or four hours. Guess it’s still edible.’

✦✧✦✧✦

Zane had been staying at Shiu’s place for a full month now.

Shiu’s real name was Shuideon. But that sounded terrible, so Zane preferred calling him Shiu, it just felt better.

Originally, he’d left home out of spite after a fight with his family. With nowhere else to go, he ended up here. The entire house belonged to Shiu. The guy was seriously loaded.

And yet, he wasn’t obsessed with money or women, he went all in when it came to helping his friends. That was how Zane saw it anyway. In just the past month, Shiu had lent him 200,000 yuan, bit by bit.

Sure, it was true that Shiu had money to spare, but taking someone in and lending that much cash so freely… it honestly moved Zane.

As for where all that money had gone… That was a longer story.

Zane had a biological younger sister… not ‘Zaria’ from the game. Her name was Zina. She’d been born with a rare, mysterious illness.

Every month or so, her hair would completely decay, turning gray and lifeless. It wasn’t the kind of elegant silver you see in anime; it was haunting. Imagine a child whose hair made her look like she was on death’s door, it was utterly chilling.

Fortunately, it wasn’t entirely incurable. After years of searching, when Zina was three, they discovered a remedy that could slow the aging effect. The medicine itself wasn’t expensive, it was more of a folk remedy. They paid a few thousand yuan, and the person handed over the prescription without hesitation.

From then on, Zina only needed to take the medicine once a month. Aside from that, she wasn’t much different from a normal girl. But that was just temporary. Years of medication had left her body extremely weak. She’d lost her natural resistance to even the most common illnesses.

Because of that, their family could never save up any money. His parents were just average office workers, earning four to five thousand yuan a month. Combined, their salaries barely covered living costs and the medicine.

Zane used to think his sister was a bottomless pit that sucked up money. But whenever he saw her pale face, constantly enduring pain in silence, he realized just how little he understood.

✦✧✦✧✦

‘It’s already 5 o’clock…?’ Watching the hour hand tick over to 5, Zane finally came to his senses. ‘I’ve been eating for that long?’

At this hour, most people were probably still asleep. After tidying up a bit, he logged back in to continue grinding.

Two figures reappeared in Oceanrise Village. Crushing a Return Scroll, they warped to Wynwater. Though by now, hardly any players remained in the city. The functional NPC shops, however, stayed open 24/7, tirelessly standing by as always.

He glanced at the current gold exchange rate—172—and noticed a slight upward trend. It seemed that after the gold farming frenzy in the Kobold Caverns, the market-savvy players were quietly starting to act.

That said, it probably wouldn’t be long before the market dipped again. The reason was obvious: most players were now around level 18 or 19, and farming gold had become noticeably easier.

Chances were, some of the top players from the first and second wave would reach level 20 today. They were bound to become the backbone of the battlefield soon enough.

‘Time to head to Mapleblossom Grove and keep gathering Bloodroot. I’m still stuck at Alchemy Level 2.’

The lack of people actually made things easier. In no time, they found an empty corner, and Starry rode side-saddle on the gray wolf as it sprinted out.

Five minutes later, a dense patch of herbs came into view. They clearly just respawned and untouched by other players.

‘This is it!’ Zane’s eyes lit up with greed as he dove straight in. ‘All mine!’

Meanwhile, Starry cleared out the nearby Treants, letting Starmew gain some XP.

No skills required, just a plain slash and the Treant in front of her crumpled, lifeless. At this point, Rare-grade monsters simply couldn’t keep up with their progression.

But because Treants could camouflage and moved incredibly slowly, the grinding process wasn’t particularly fast. If you didn’t pay close attention, it was almost impossible to tell the trees apart from the Treants. And until they revealed themselves, even an Inspect would just return “Mapleblossom Tree.”

✦✧✦✧✦

After gathering over 200 Bloodroots, a chat request suddenly popped up.

It was from Duskwraith.

‘Still playing at 6 AM? Hardcore much?’

“What’s up?” Zane asked.
“Bro, are you free right now?” Duskwraith’s tone sounded urgent, though he was polite about it.
Aside from picking herbs, Zane really didn’t have much going on. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

“Originally, we planned to log off around 3 AM. But then someone in the guild triggered a hidden dungeon! It should’ve been great news, but once you die in this dungeon, you can’t get back in.”

He sounded frustrated. “Someone accidentally set off a trap earlier, and more than half our guys lost a level. The mobs here are no joke either. After clearing them, only three of us are left, now we’re just stuck staring at the boss, unable to do anything.”

Zane immediately understood what he meant and asked, “What kind of boss is it?”

“Well… we had five people before. Two got one-shot by the boss. But it all happened so fast we didn’t get a chance to check its stats.”

“…”

“But from the look of it, its skills are similar to the mobs. Hard to explain clearly… I’ll just stream it to you.” As he said this, the chat window switched to a live feed.

In the video, a massive stone statue unleashed a beam of purple energy into the sky. Moments later, two lasers came crashing down, striking two of the Nether Dawn players dead-on.

‘Is that… a True Damage?’