A week passed. Seven days of walking on eggshells.
My life had become a strange routine. I went to classes, I nodded politely to people who expected a sneer, and I said as little as possible. It was exhausting. Being Klaus, the arrogant bully, would have been easy. It was his default setting. Being Klaus, the quiet, slightly confused guy, took constant effort.
But my glitchy interface was my guide. Every time I held a door open for someone, or didn't make a snide comment about a commoner, I'd see a tiny, flickering +1 or +2 next to someone's Favor. The numbers were pathetically low—most of my classmates were still in the 10-to-20 range—but they were going up, not down. It was working.
The problem was the future. The Royal Masquerade was creeping closer, a ticking clock on my social life. In the game, Klaus's downfall began when his family cut him off financially after the duel, leaving him penniless. He couldn't pay his debts, couldn't maintain his lifestyle, and his "friends" vanished overnight.
I, Null, had never worried about money. As the final boss, I had secret treasuries all over the game map. But Klaus had a very limited allowance from his disapproving father, and it was all spent on fancy clothes and expensive wine.
I needed capital. Starting capital. And I knew exactly where to find some.
In my past life, I'd discovered a hidden exploit in Blooming Love. Very early in the game, before the main story really kicked off, there was a way to get a large sum of money without fighting or completing a quest. It was a developer's oversight, a chest full of gold that was placed in the world for testing and never removed.
And it was here, in the capital city.
The memory was as clear as any of Klaus's. A forgotten sewer tunnel, hidden behind a false wall in the old merchant's district. The chest was just sitting there, containing 5,000 gold crowns—a fortune for a low-level character, pocket change for a late-game boss. For me, right now, it was a lifeline.
The hard part was getting to it. Klaus von Herrmann, Viscount, did not go crawling through sewers. I had to be careful. I had to be sneaky. It was a skill my new body wasn't built for, but my old mind remembered well.
I told Bernard I was going for a long walk to "clear my head." He'd looked so pleased by this show of introspection that his Favor ticked up to 67. The guilt was a small, sharp stone in my stomach.
I changed into the plainest clothes I owned—a simple white shirt and brown trousers I used for fencing practice—and threw a dark cloak over them. I felt like a teenager sneaking out of the house. It was ridiculous.
The old merchant's district was a maze of narrow, smelly alleys. The air was thick with the scent of rotting vegetables, cheap ale, and unwashed humanity. It was a world away from the perfumed halls of the academy. My interface flickered constantly as I passed people, showing low Favor and surprisingly varied levels of Corruption. This was where Klaus would have ended up. Broken and penniless. The thought made me walk faster.
I found the alley I was looking for, a dead-end strewn with garbage. At the back was a rusty, iron grate leading to the sewers. According to the game, one of the bars was loose.
I grabbed the third bar from the left and pulled. It didn't budge. Panic started to prickle at my neck. What if the exploit didn't exist here? What if this world was different? I pulled again, putting my whole weight into it. With a screech of protesting metal, it swung outward on a hidden hinge.
The smell that wafted out was indescribable. I gagged, pulling the collar of my cloak over my nose. This was so much more real than a pixelated screen. Taking a deep breath of the marginally cleaner alley air, I squeezed through the opening.
The tunnel was dark and damp, with a shallow stream of filthy water trickling down the center. The only light came from the grate behind me. I pulled a small, pre-oiled lantern from my cloak, lighting it with a flint and steel. The flame sputtered, then caught, casting shaky shadows on the slimy brick walls.
Just like the old days, Null, I told myself, the thought giving me a strange comfort. Just a quick dungeon crawl.
I moved slowly, my boots slipping on the wet stone. The map was clear in my mind. Left at the first junction, then straight until the tunnel widened. I tried not to think about the rats skittering in the darkness just beyond my lantern light.
After what felt like an hour, but was probably only ten minutes, I saw it. A section of the wall that looked different. The bricks were newer, less worn. I ran my hand over them until I found one that felt slightly loose. I pushed.
With a soft grinding sound, a section of the wall swung inward, revealing a small, dry alcove.
And there it was.
A simple, wooden chest, bound with iron. It looked exactly as it had in the game. My heart hammered against my ribs. This was it. My ticket to a future that didn't end in the gutter.
I knelt down and lifted the lid. It wasn't locked.
The inside was filled with bags of heavy, clinking coins. I opened one. Gold crowns glittered in the lantern light. The sight was more beautiful than any sunset. It was freedom.
I quickly transferred the bags into a large, empty sack I'd brought with me. It was heavy, almost too heavy to carry. But the weight felt good. It felt like security.
I closed the secret door, leaving the empty chest behind, and started the long, smelly trek back. The sack strained my shoulder, but I didn't care. With every step, I was planning. I wouldn't spend it foolishly. That was Klaus's way. I would invest it. Find a business, maybe a small shop or a quiet inn, something that would generate a steady income. Something my family couldn't take away from me.
When I finally squeezed back out through the grate, the evening air smelled sweeter than any perfume. I replaced the loose bar, covering my tracks. No one would ever know.
Back in my room, the gold safely hidden under a loose floorboard, I finally let myself relax. I had done it. I had used my knowledge from a past life to cheat the system. I had secured my starting capital.
I pulled up my interface. It flickered to life.
User: Klaus von Herrmann [Null]
Title: Viscount, Third Son
Fate Points: 1
Wealth: 5,000 Crowns
There it was. Officially recognized. I was no longer the "penniless villain" waiting to happen. I had a foundation.
But as I stared at the numbers, something else happened. A new line of text, faint and red, stuttered into view beneath my Corruption stat.
[Exploit Detected: Wealth Inconsistency]
[Corruption: 85 -> 86]
My blood ran cold.
My Corruption had gone up.
The system knew. It knew I had cheated. Using my knowledge as Null, acting in the shadows for my own gain… it was feeding the very darkness I was trying to escape. I had secured my financial future, but I had also strengthened the ghost of my past.
I was playing a dangerous game. Every move I made to save myself risked turning me back into the villain I used to be. I had bypassed the "penniless villain" start, but I was dancing dangerously close to becoming a different kind of villain altogether—a richer, more powerful one.
I had won the first battle. But the war for my soul had just become a whole lot more complicated.