“Cheers!” Everyone shouted with raised glasses. The group consisted of the core four team members, two employees, and two random adventurers that decided to join. The party was in full swing. Nicholas and Rex drank to their hearts' content, proud to finally be considered commoners. Xander joined in on the fun but stayed somewhat reserved. Meanwhile, Robyn tried to enjoy herself, but something outside grabbed her attention.

“Congrats on the progress, you guys. I’m so proud of you all.” Jenna, the tavern’s owner, said with a smile. She had been running The Feral Tomcat for years, and these customers were some of her favorites. They were kind and genuine, which was rare to find considering where the tavern was located. Jenna even offered to house them in the tavern’s spare rooms for a reduced price.

“Yeah, really proud. So proud to know that you’ll be paying off your tab.” Mateo, Jenna’s husband, said with a smirk. He was less giving than his partner. He preferred to charge the group full price, especially because they had been skimping out on recent payments. The team assured the married couple that they would pay their dues upon a certain mission’s completion, but it apparently got interrupted by someone extremely powerful. They stared down one of the gods’ disciples. That alone was worth the wait and annoyance.

“Ye- No. We’ll pay the minimum tonight. The rest will be covered later.” Nicholas responded to the passive-aggressive comment. He wanted to cover the entire tab at that moment. In fact, the team decided that they needed to pay off their debt first. Unfortunately, the newest class came with new skills. They replaced some of the previous negative skills with refreshing new ones. Nicholas received [Penny Pincher] which limited the amount he could give someone in a transaction. Additionally, his skill [Lying Proficiency V] evolved into [Master Liar], but that also had its downsides.

“Don’t worry about the small details. Let’s get the party started!” Rex said with delight. He was ready to continue drinking until the sun came up. This was due to both his excitement and his newest skill. [Irresponsible] forced him to make rash decisions every so often. This coupled well with the combat skill [Heavy Hit] which he would undoubtedly use at the wrong time.

“Fine. But you all better pay up eventually.” Mateo said. Despite his high charisma, he couldn’t fight against the influence of two skilled liars. Rex, alone, could hinder any conversation, so both men were a force to be reckoned with.

“I feel like I can take on the world,” Xander said with a slurred voice. Enough time had passed that the team felt the effects of their constant drinking. Robyn was probably the only reasonable person left, but she was still staring off at something.

“We probably could,” Nicholas said through a frown. He tried to stop his words but couldn’t. This was the downside of [Master Liar]. In exchange for crafting the perfect lie that worked on most individuals, Nicholas was afflicted with a secondary skill dubbed [Pathological Liar]. He was forced to lie almost every time he spoke. Each word had to be carefully arranged, but the Genesis Program still found a way to twist his sentence.

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“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rex replied. He wasn’t aware of the lying skills, so his warning was directed at both of the drunk fools. The team was still low leveled and obviously new to the world. No one knew how many participants were within the Genesis Program, so it was possible that they could be the strongest or weakest of the pack. Regardless, Rex didn’t want to say something he’d regret.

“Why not? We’re starting to figure out how Genesis works. Soon, this game is all ours, baby!” Xander cheered. He drank another full glass before waving at Jenna for another. The team was told about the most recent developments within the Genesis Program. Errors have been occurring. Not only that, they resulted in far-off skills that would have required weeks, if not months, of training to acquire.

“Um, Guys?” Robyn tried to ask but was ignored. She stopped looking at the window to see her companions drinking irresponsibly. Worry was painted across her face, but she returned her attention to what was outside. She wanted to make sure what she saw was real before causing a commotion.

“Yeah! No more stupid classes for you and me, buddy!” Nicholas said. He was happy to be free from the shackles that were the [Peasant] class. Even so, he knew what he said was a lie. Genesis always had a trick up its sleeves. The next class could be just as annoying as the first two. Knowing how the world worked, it was almost guaranteed.

“I’m just saying. Let’s not start this kind of talk when an omnipotent force is always listening.” Rex said with a calm voice. Thankfully, [Irresponsible] didn’t always hinder his thoughts. He tried to press the issue that something bad was due at any moment. Genesis rarely gave anything for free. The recent errors were bound to cause some sort of problem, and he didn’t want to trigger their reveal any sooner.

“You act like it could get any worse. Look at our skills. This stupid program is doing everything to hurt us.” Xander said with a drunken smile. He didn’t care if the program could hear him. In his eyes, they were already at the bottom. His skills were especially negative. He couldn’t deactivate [Forgettable], and it was always activating. Thankfully, the team was starting to understand his struggles with the appearance of more permanently active negative skills.

“I’m sure things are about to look up for us,” Nicholas said through gritted teeth. He couldn’t help his comment. He wanted to invoke a reasonable argument against focusing on the positives. Of course, he couldn’t do so. The team started to pick on the irritation that Nicholas radiated, but they were interrupted by Robyn.

“Guys!” Robyn shouted at the top of her lungs. It immediately brought the room to hush, but the drunk men weren’t in a suitable mindset to handle the confrontation.

“What?!” The three men yelled back. They all had looks of disgust that someone on their own team would ruin the celebration. Angered steps walked over to the window, but the mood suddenly changed.

Everyone went pale as they saw the raging fires outside.