The main concept of the game was to increase your affinity with different characters and have them fight alongside you. But it was no longer a game. Everyone was no longer bound by the same concept. They will no longer fight for you or even fight with you. The affinity system no longer existed, so you needed to build actual connections with the people.

"Is everything alright, captain?" Pinky, another person from Earth, asked Artemis.

Artemis turned to the young woman. "Yes, there's no problem."

Artemis was appointed to be the captain of a group of players recruited by Nerisa. There were ten members, including Artemis. Three of them were women, while the rest were men. Age-wise, the youngest was Pinky at seventeen, while the oldest was a twenty-seven-year-old guy called Cocomon. In terms of level, Artemis was the only level three, while everyone else was still level one.

"Do we really need to fight?" Pinky anxiously asked.

"It's unavoidable if you want to survive in this world," Artemis replied.

"But I want to become a supporter."

"You'll still need to learn to defend yourself. We only have one life here," Artemis stated. "You need to reach at least level five to live comfortably."

Her advice didn't work much on Pinky, but she couldn't sugarcoat their situation. She was responsible for the lives of her new team, so she needed to make sure they were ready for what would happen.

The place they were heading to was called Living Forest, a level-one hunting ground with nature-type monsters. It was a good place for her team to get some practical experience.

On the way there, they saw a tall wooden wall surrounding a property. "That's some dedication," one of her team members commented as they were walking by.

"They have to be hiding something in there," another commented.

"Or they're just trying to protect themselves from monsters," Cocomon spoke up. "We're outside the walls after all."

"Whatever you say, old man."

As her team members chatted, Artemis saw a figure fly over them.

"Was that a gargoyle?"

------

You'd think the Hero Maker system would be a popular mechanic in the game. Still, among the three hundred players of Arcane Heroes, less than fifty players even had a created Hero in their team, and only five players had a whole squad of created Heroes.

There were three reasons the Hero Maker system wasn't popular. The first one was the material requirements. It wasn't easy earning money and gathering materials in the game, so creating one Hero was expensive enough. The second reason was the gameplay. Created Heroes needed to be controlled or instructed manually, unlike the recruitable characters. The third reason was the process of their growth. Created Heroes had jobs the moment they were made, but the maximum level they could reach was level three. After that, you needed to provide ascension materials, which were even more expensive and challenging to obtain.

"That's why a lot of people called me a crazy bastard for making a lot of Heroes," I explained to Michelle.

"Why didn't you just recruit characters like the other players?"

"Well, the first reason was that most of the characters were already recruited before I even started playing," I answered. "The other reason was that I didn't do well with the affinity system."

"Could you explain the affinity system?"

"It's pretty simple. It's a meter that shows your progress with recruiting a character. Doing quests for them or giving them gifts increases that meter, then once a certain point is reached, you can recruit them into your team."

Michelle nodded in understanding. "Can it also decrease?"

I nodded. "Abusing them will make the meter go down and would lead to the character leaving your team."

"If I was in that game, does that mean someone made me fight too?"

"Maybe, or they assigned you a job like farming. Those things existed in the game as well."

"I don't like that game," Michelle commented.

"A lot of people would agree with you. I didn't want to worry about that meter, so I used the Hero Maker system."

"You like blind loyalty?"

"You make me sound like a villain."

"More like a noble," Michelle smirked.

I just gave her a flat stare. "I'm not even going to entertain that anymore."

Michelle just laughed.

"By the way, there's a pregnant bison."

I raised an eyebrow. "There were females in that herd?"

It was Michelle's turn to give me a flat stare.

"Do you have any plans today?" Michelle asked.

"I wanted to go to the city and look for a business to sponsor or buy."

"What do you mean?"

"We're earning a lot from selling the horns, but I didn't want to rely on that."

"Why? We're earning thousands of gold coins."

"I wasn't the one who came up with this method. It won't take long for the other players to do this as well, then the demand for thunder bison horns will drop along with the prices."

"... you're pretty smart."

"I'm both flattered and insulted."

"What's your plan then?"

"I want to have one blacksmith shop, restaurant, inn with a bathhouse, and even buy more land."

Michelle nodded. "Like a noble."

I ignored her comment. "Is there any chance I can buy the surrounding land?"

"You mean the other farms?"

"Whatever's available."

"You can, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why is that?"

"If you further to the west, there's the Living Forest, and a bit to the north is the Raijin Ruins," Michelle informed. "You'd be constantly attacked by those monsters if you built a base there."

"Oh... It didn't occur to me since the monster didn't leave the hunting grounds in the game."

"Unless you can make a force strong enough to keep the monsters back, then try heading to the merchant guild."

"Make a force?" I grinned.

"I think those other players didn't call you crazy just because you used that Hero Maker thing," Michelle commented.

I laughed. "You don't say."

------

"On your right!" Artemis called out as she blocked a wood walker's attack with her shield.

"Yes, captain!" Two guys dashed toward the monster and slashed it with their swords.

The whole team panted as they took down the thirteenth monster in a row.

"Are we close to reaching level two?" Gumdrop, a teenage guy asked.

"Do you remember how long it took us to level up in the game?" Pjsplit, another teenage guy, replied. "Convert the minutes to hours."

"That's a pretty good estimation," Cocomon responded as he lowered his shield.

"Can you continue?" Artemis asked.

"If we're walking back, then I'm done for the day," Gumdrop answered.

"I agree with him," Cocomon spoke.

Artemis nodded. The three people in front of her were the frontline of her team, and that's why she would respect their wishes. It helped that Cocomon acted as a wise voice of reason.

"Everyone! We're heading back," Artemis announced.

"Hey, captain."

Artemis turned to Pjsplit.

"Why did Basara recruit us? Aren't they a matriarchy?"

"That just means their ruler is a woman," Artemis answered.

"To be fair, the strongest characters in Basara are women."

"That's how the game developers designed the game," Artemis replied.

Pjsplit shrugged as he walked away. As her team was packing up to leave, Artemis remained on guard for any potential enemies. It was a good thing since she felt a presence approaching them.

[Artemis

Level 3

Title: None

Job: War maiden

Stats:

Strength E+

Agility E

Vitality E+

Dexterity C

Sense C+

Magic F

Charm C

Luck F+]

She used a lot of Arcane Essence to improve her sense stat, and it paid off. She rushed towards the approaching target that was shrouded in stealth.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Her sword was blocked by a large blade shaped like a ring. The target was revealed to be a pale humanoid creature wearing a jester outfit.

"Stop!" Artemis and the jester jumped away from each other as a guy ran up to them. "He's with me."

Artemis pointed her sword at the man. "You are?"

"I'm just a normal guy gathering herbs," the man replied. "He was just scouting the area," he gestured to the clown.

"Name," Artemis demanded.

"Sorry, but that's none of your business," the man replied.

Artemis glanced at the man's side, where she saw a satchel with some herbs sticking out. She kept her eyes on them as she slowly backed away.

"Everything alright, captain?" Pinky asked.

"Yes. Go back to the team."

The man sighed in relief. "Let's head back, Chasm."

Artemis stopped in her tracks and turned back to the man. "Psysen!" She shouted, but the man and the jester were already gone.

Artemis gritted her teeth.

------

"Is this necessary?" I whispered to Michelle as we arrived at the city.

"If you want the merchants to give you the time of day, you need to look the part," she replied.

I rolled my eyes. I was dressed in a white shirt with a blue vest-like thing over it, while Michelle was dressed in her usual clothes. Lilith was also following behind me.

"We're attracting too much attention," I grumbled.

"That can't be avoided when you have a vampire acting as your guard."

In this world, there were two kinds of vampires. Monsters that acted savagely and had cores. The other kind were demon vampires that had sentience and lived in the demon kingdom.

Since Lilith acted with sentience, the people around us think she's the latter kind of vampire.

"With this, people will think you're a powerful person to respect," Michelle stated.

The spectacle continued until we reached the market area, and I despised every moment of it. "I swear, if people started approaching for no reason, I'm going to flip out," I muttered.

"Don't be so dramatic," Michelle replied.

I saw a small stand that was selling noodles. I went towards it to order a bowl. The shopkeeper was a woman with cat ears and a tail. I barely even noticed the ears since she was wearing some kind of hair net.

"How much for a bowl?"

"Just three coppers," the woman replied with a smile.

"Want some too?" I asked Michelle.

She shrugged. "Sure."

I turned to Lilith. "I do not require food, master," she replied.

Lilith's reply caught even more people's attention, making my eye twitch in irritation. "We'll take three bowls."

The woman happily served us, and as we were eating, the gazes of the other shopkeepers were bothering me. It seemed my annoyance was very evident in my face since they quickly averted their gazes.

Once we were done eating and paid for our meal, the woman thanked us. We continued on our way to the merchant guild to try and ask for someone who could help me with my plans.

"That woman must have it rough," Michelle suddenly commented.

"Pardon?"

"The noodle seller. She's a beast-kin."

"So what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You know that Union City is massive. Big enough to have separate communities in different parts of the city. Beast-kin isn't well-liked in this part of the city."

"Then why is she here?"

Michelle shrugged. "Don't know."

"She should just move to the beast-kin area then."

"Moving isn't cheap, you know."

By the end of our conversation, we arrived at the merchant guild and were quickly surrounded by people offering to do business with me. Lilith stepped forward, giving them a glare that made them all step back.

"I hate this place already."

Michelle patted me on the back. We approached the counter, where a beautiful receptionist greeted us with a smile. "How may I help you?"

"I wanted to buy some land. Is there someone that can help with that?"

"Certainly," the receptionist waved over a colleague. "She will show you our catalog of posted properties under the area of our guild," she said with a smile.

"Thank you," I nodded, and we were led by another employee to a private room.

"Would you like some tea?" the employee offered.

"No, thank you."

"I'm good too," Michelle replied, while Lilith just remained quiet.

"Is there a specific purpose for buying a property?" the employee asked.

"Just for a home. Somewhere isolated would be nice."

Michelle turned to me. "Are you leaving me?"

"You expected me to stay in your guest room forever?"

Michelle just huffed and looked away.

The employee sweatdropped at the scene. "Unfortunately, we don't have any isolated properties posted in our catalog. We could introduce you to the landowners outside the city if you wish?"

"How would that work?"

"We will arrange a date to have an employee go with you on a carriage to visit the landowners."

"When will that be possible?"

"We will need a few days to arrange it. If you give us your address, we can send you a letter."

"It's fine. I'll just come back in two days," I replied.

I want as few people as possible to know where I live.

"Understood."

"See you in two days then," I got up to leave before they could offer me anything else.

"I didn't expect you to dislike human interactions this much," Michelle whispered. "How did I even get on your good side?"

"I react well to positive intentions."

"Huh?" Michelle just looked confused.

"Don't mind it."

As we left the merchant guild, we were greeted by the bustling market. Thankfully, this time, we didn't gather much attention.

"Should we check some shops?" Michelle suggested.

"Sure," I agreed, then in the corner of my eye, I noticed a scene that gravely irritated me.

A little girl with cat ears and a fluffy tail approached a group of children, but the children immediately began pulling in her ears and tail, causing her to try to run away. The kids ran after her, holding up sticks, and one of them even threw a rock.

I had already moved closer without even realizing it, causing the little girl to crash into me and the rock to hit my arm that I used to cover her.

The smile on the children quickly vanished. But I was sure it wasn't because of me but because of Lilith's menacing form behind me.

I held up a hand to stop her from trying anything and used my other arm to pick up the little girl. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes," she was crying with her tears falling on my clothes. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I rubbed her back. "You did nothing wrong."

"I-I just wanted to play with them."

"It's okay. Nobody is blaming you," I wiped her tears with my sleeve. "I'll take you home. Where do you live?"

"I can walk home," she said through her sniffles.

"Don't worry about it. I need to also explain things to your parents so they don't worry."

"My mom is still working."

I got a good idea of who her mother was now. "I'll take you there then."

I turned to Michelle to tell her about the detour but noticed that she was nowhere in sight.

"Where did she go?"

"She followed the children," Lilith answered.

"..."

------

When Nerisa got the report that Zed entered the city with a vampire of all things, acting as his bodyguard, she had to see it for herself. Artemis had informed her that Zed specializes in using a form of alchemy that allows him to create living beings, but seeing a vampire call him master was unbelievable.

"Should we do something, commander?" one of her knights asked as they observed from a distance.

"Leave it be. They're not breaking any laws."

The vampire met Nerisa's eyes.

------

"Thank you so much," the mother bowed.

"Don't mind it."

The mother's name was Cecilia, while the little girl was named Erina. They had moved to this part of Union City because of Erina's father, but the man had suddenly disappeared. Now, they were left to survive where they were not welcome.

"Thank you again. Would you like some noodles?"

"It's alright," I just smiled.

"Bunch of little shits," Michelle grumbled as she walked towards us.

"Where did you go?"

"Gave those kids a good scolding," Michelle said. "Also told their parents that they pissed off a guy with a vampire as their bodyguard."

"If weird rumors about me start popping, I'll blame you."

Michelle glanced at the mother and daughter. The scene of Cecilia looking after Erina seemed to affect her.

"You know, we need a hand to help at the farm."

"It's your farm. You do the offer," I said.

"You really wanted to avoid interactions that much, huh."

"Yes."

Michelle went to talk with Cecilia while I looked around the market. For a brief moment, I wondered if anyone in this crowd was a player. I doubted the players knew what each other looked like in person, so how would they find each other?

Was it the clothes?

"Ah! Mr. Zed!"

I turned around to see Elise. "Hello. Are you on a day off?"

She nodded. "You recently sold us some horns, so I expected you won't be coming by today."

"Am I still your only adventurer?"

She nodded again. "But my supervisor told me it's alright since we make a lot of profit with your transactions. I'm even getting a rank up."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

As we were talking, an explosion occurred just a short distance away. A swarm of bugs had appeared in the middle of the market. Lilith wasted no time and began shooting down any bug that came close.

"We need to go!"

Melissa was about to get attacked by a bug, but it was sliced in half before it could reach her. "Evacuate to the fountain!" Nerisa called out.

I turned towards the fountain and saw that the statue on it was shining, creating a barrier around it.

"Lilith, take them to the barrier!" I ordered her.

Lilith turned into black mist and grabbed Elise and Erina first since they were the lightest.

I pulled out two daggers, but it seemed putting everything on my luck paid off as not a single bug was targeting me. "...I feel strangely offended."

Lilith returned from the fountain. "Take her first!" Michelle pushed Cecilia to Lilith.

"But-"

"Erina needs you!" Michelle stops Cecilia from protesting.

By this point, we already reached the fountain on foot. There was already a huge crowd inside the barrier, and even more were coming.

"We need to get out of here before the situation gets worse."

The guards and knights were dealing with the bugs, but there were far too many for them to contain in one place.

"Lilith!"

"Master," she retreated beside me.

"Find the queen. Get rid of her, and the rest will drop."

"As you command," Lilith turned into mist and headed right into the swarm.

These bugs were called Vilim drones. They acted for one reason, alone, feeding the Vilim queen. They'll attack anything that moves and brings it to their queen to eat.

"Hold on... I didn't tell her how to find the queen?"

------

It was pure chaos. Her team was already exhausted, and now they needed to deal with a swarm of insects.

"These are Vilim drones," Cocomon spoke.

"I noticed," Artemis replied as she cut down another bug.

"This is an event!"

"What?"

"It was the first event in Arcane Heroes after I joined," Cocomon explained. "Swarm calamity."

Artemis's eyes widened. Arcane Heroes had so many events that she could recall all of them immediately. One of the events was the Swarm calamity, an event for grinding Arcane Essence.

"What are we going to do?" Pinky asked.

"I'm not stupid and greedy enough to make you all face this swarm," Artemis answered. "We will hold out here until someone deals with the queen."

"Grind some essence!" someone from her team yelled.

------

"It's alright. We're going to be okay," Cecilia did her best to comfort Erina.

But the situation was not looking any better. The barrier was getting even more crowded, and there wasn't any sign of the bugs lessening.

"What are you doing?" Michelle asked.

"Something stupid."

Using all the Arcane Essence I had saved, I upgraded my magic stat.

[Magic D]

Next, I used my newest skill.

[Barrier magic (0%)]

A white barrier surrounded us. "Let's go!"

"Take me with you!" A man ran straight into my barrier, but he bounced off.

Michelle stared at the man, but before she could say anything, I grabbed her hand. "Let's go!"

The barrier managed to block the few bugs that came after us, but cracks were starting to form. I was the only combatant in the group, and I won't be able to protect everyone.

The wall beside us exploded with five Vilim drones coming through it. They rushed towards us, but a jack-in-a-box suddenly appeared out of nowhere and unleashed a wave of magic power that paralyzed the drones.

A jester appeared and used their ring-like weapon to finish off the drones. After the drones were killed, the jester vanished once again. I didn't know why they helped us, but we didn't have the luxury to consider it.

"Keep running!"

The focus of the swarm was within the city. The queen was inside, and there were plenty of targets inside, so they didn't need to leave the city. We just needed to make it out of the gate.

We were only a few meters away from the gate.

"Ah!"

Cecilia had tripped on a piece of rubble. This caused Erina, whom she was carrying, to fall with her, and three drones locked their sights on her.

"Keep running!" I yelled at the others as I grabbed the back of Erina's clothes and tossed her to Michelle, and then I helped Cecilia up.

This caused my concentration to falter, so when the three drones attacked, my barrier shattered like glass.

-------

Lilith didn't exist until a few weeks ago, and yet she had knowledge that shouldn't be possible for her to have. She knew the weaknesses of various monsters, strategies on how to fight as a marksman, and many more.

She was just a mere vampire soldier, a mere monster in the eyes of the residents of this world. But she was confident she could take down a dozen of her kind with no problem.

Using the knowledge within her mind, a mere monster like her could rival the heroes of this world. And it is all thanks to her master.

She will repay him by bringing glory to his name.

Lilith's misty form passed through the swarm, raining bullets as she went. When she reached the center of the swarm, she found a giant bug feasting on a dead human.

Her body materialized along with an enhanced revolver in her hand, causing the surrounding bugs to target her. She paid it no mind as the bugs bit on her flesh. Her gun was already aimed, and then she fired.

[Lilith has been bested]

[Recovery time 24:00]