"You… disappeared and left me alone with a horde of venomous spiders, huh?" Ren muttered, still glancing toward the pile of multicolored crystal shards, the remains of the giant spider that had just been taken down.
He tilted his head slightly. "You ditched me to go hunt… that thing?"
Aisen replied with a shrug, clearly unfazed. "What other choice was there? No way I was gonna hand a monster that big over to a greenhorn like you."
Ren frowned, his voice cold. "This thing is a lot faster than it looks. Nearly got me."
"Yeah, I saw that," Aisen cut in, lazily resting a hand on his hip. "It moved way too fast for something that bloated. Gotta admit... a bit surprising."
He turned to look at Ren, a faint glint of amusement in his eyes. "But hey, good thing you're still alive, right?"
Ren hadn't fully taken his hand off his sword hilt. He watched Aisen with a mix of suspicion and wariness, while the spider's remains finally dissolved completely, leaving a few dimly glowing loot drops on the cave floor.
Aisen exhaled, flicking his fingers like he'd just taken out the trash.
"See? Told you, stick with me and there's always a show. That was an exclusive performance, by the way. No reruns."
He glanced at Ren, one corner of his mouth curling into a mischievous grin. "And you? The way you were dodging its legs, I thought you were rehearsing a dance routine or something."
Ren sighed and shook his head. "…If I hadn't dodged, I'd be stuck to the ceiling right now."
"Would that really be so bad? Maybe once you got stuck up there, you'd have spotted its weak point on the back," Aisen shrugged, hands in his pockets, pretending to think seriously.
"Sometimes, being bait is an admirable tactic, don't you think?"
Ren looked at him, unsure whether to laugh or frown.
"Thanks. And don't tell me you intentionally led it toward me…"
He said it with a tone that wasn't quite angry, but definitely exasperated, something that happened often when talking to Aisen.
Aisen gave him a hearty slap on the shoulder. "Hey, I call it 'faith in my teammate's ability to adapt.' Besides…"
He crouched down and picked up a faintly glowing purple gem left behind by the boss's corpse. "We just took down one of the strongest beasts in this cave. So… celebration?"
Ren looked at the gem. Then at the Dark Elf's hand. "With what?"
Aisen narrowed his eyes. "By letting you loot the rest. I'm generous like that."
"Nice! Looks like we've got lunch," Aisen grinned, crouching and rummaging through the loot pile left behind after the giant spider disintegrated into shimmering glass dust.
Ren stood a short distance away, still recovering from that intense close call. While he was still tensed for danger, the Dark Elf, the same guy who had burst from the shadows like a demon, was now casually digging through loot like this was just another day.
And that's when Ren realized something.
NPCs were no different from players.
They could fight.
They used weapons and skills.
They took quests, claimed rewards, leveled up.
And apparently… they enjoyed their victories even more than players did.
Ren glanced over.
Aisen had just pulled out one of the spider's legs, nearly as big as a person, and raised it high with a look of pure pride. "Ren, look! This leg's huge!"
He even gave the leg a little shake, like he was showing off some kind of mountain delicacy. Never mind that it was a venomous spider. Not roast chicken or barbecue pork.
Ren stared at the bloodied leg, its thick fur still trembling at the hooked end. He shuddered slightly.
That was it.
The battle had ended just minutes ago… and his companion was already thinking about lunch.
In the end, their reward from the encounter was a bit of Cor and a few spider eyes. Not a fortune, but not bad enough to complain.
Ren rolled one of the eyeballs between two fingers. Spider eyes, creepy, sure, but actually a valuable material in crafting circles.
According to the system's item description, they were used as solvents, helping stabilize and neutralize in antidote recipes. From level-one toxins to level-three, this ingredient was in all of them.
A core component. A nameless but essential backstage player in every battle's aftermath.
Ren wondered, "Has any player gotten really good at crafting by now?"
A few names flickered through his mind.
Lisbeth, the hot-headed pink-haired blacksmith who never quit. She was literally forging her way up the Smithing skill tree.
Asuna, who he'd seen the night before tinkering with small items in Kizmel's tent, every movement precise and practiced, like she'd done it a hundred times.
And then there was him…
Ren looked up toward the rustling treetops of the third floor's forest. Pale silver light filtered through the mist above, quiet and soft, like half-finished thoughts drifting in his mind.
He was still going solo. Hunting monsters. Doing quests. Repeat.
"Maybe it's time I picked up a crafting skill too."
Not just for money. But because… survival isn't always about the sword.
Well, okay, it was for money… from a side gig.
"Smithing or crafting, huh?"
He laughed softly to himself. "Wonder which one pays better than almost dying to venomous spiders."
Ren had completed his first quest.
The system announced it in a short, simple message:
[Relationship points with Dark Elf: +5]
From a cold, empty zero, he now had a slight presence in their eyes, even if it was just at the neutral level.
No grand welcome.No special reward.Just a few nods, a few glances that felt a little less indifferent from the guards at the camp gate.
Along with that, the experience bar ticked up slightly: [Lv.11 – 1622 / 3648 EXP]
A small step... but many small steps can still take him to the finish line.
There wasn't much time to enjoy the feeling of ranking up. Just as Ren was debating whether to take a break or find a quiet spot to check his gear...
Aisen was back, his face lit up like he had just thought of something fun.
"Let's go, kid. Got a few light tasks to take care of." And before Ren could react, he had already turned and walked off.
Light?
And so for the rest of the afternoon, Ren was dragged into the most non-bloody quests imaginable: cleaning out storage rooms, arranging tents, transporting rations, and worst of all, shopping from the human settlements.
"We can't just waltz into populated areas. That's on you," Aisen said with a grin, like handing a toy to a child.
And so... Ren had to spend his own money to buy a whole bunch of rations, dried meat, hardtack, dried herbs, crates of special sweet water. Everything piled into his personal inventory, so heavy that the system triggered the [Overburdened] effect, reducing his movement speed due to exceeding weight limits.
He trudged along the dusty red road that ran south of the forest. Dry leaves crunched under his boots. The sky wasn't sunny, but the humidity pressed down on his shoulders like stone.
Luckily, Aisen was walking with him on the way back to camp.
Despite the jokes, his stride always leaned slightly forward, as if ready to shield Ren at any moment.
In [Overburdened] status, even running was difficult. Fighting? Pretty much out of the question.
Every step felt like dragging a warehouse on his back. At times, he felt like a pack mule, slow, heavy, and painfully vulnerable.
But Aisen was different.
Not a single monster survived a strike from him.
His sword, slightly curved, a signature weapon of the Dark Elves, moved like a cold wind: decisive and precise.
Every swing brought a body down. The small forest mobs never even realized what hit them.
A smiling meat grinder.
"Don't look at me like that, kid," Aisen said, half-joking, half-serious. "Keep working this hard, and in a few days, you might be a permanent resident of our camp."
Thankfully, the Dark Elves at the camp didn't let him go unrewarded.
Unlike last time, when Aisen blatantly hijacked the reward, this time they paid him properly, still with cold expressions and a few coins tossed in a leather pouch, but no outright theft, at least.
The system quietly updated:
[Relationship points with Dark Elf +5] → [Total: 10]
Ren smiled slightly.
The camp atmosphere had changed.
Most of the soldiers stationed in the temporary camp had now exchanged at least a few words with Ren.
Some nodded when he passed by.Some handed him a fire-starting stick.No one called his name, but they no longer saw him as a stranger.
After a busy morning, Ren finally had a moment to rest. He laid back against a cool stone slab, but before he could close his eyes, a strange burnt smell wafted into his nose.
He looked up.
Not far away, Aisen was crouched beside a makeshift fire, fiddling with something... suspicious. Something black and sizzling was roasting over the flames.
Ren squinted. "Wait… is that the spider leg from this morning?"
Aisen didn't turn around, just lifted the thing with a stick like he was showcasing some exotic dish. "Yep. Perfect timing, nice and toasty now."
Ren sat up, frowning. "You're actually going to eat that?"
"Never tried it?" Aisen glanced over, speaking as casually as if discussing breakfast pastries. "Tastes like those crabs I used to catch at the lake on the fourth floor. Sweet meat, fragrant, a bit chewy."
Ren stared. "...You call this cooking?" He poked the charred leg with a twig. It looked like a filthy, half-burned log pulled from a trash heap.
"Don't underestimate minimalist cuisine," Aisen chuckled, shrugging. "With the best ingredients, the simplest methods are enough."
Ren looked at him for a moment, then turned away. "I'm not eating it. If you get poisoned, don't drag me down with you."
Aisen laughed, then lifted the now-golden spider leg to his nose and took a long, dramatic sniff.
"Even better, no need to share."