One of the biggest challenges in Arcane Heroes was securing funds. Most players dealt with this by opening businesses using their reserved units. Stronger characters would require more money to sustain, so the stronger players needed multiple sources of income.

Thanks to the versatile crafting system of the game, players can open many different shops. Some players choose to open escort agencies or other similar businesses.

One of the popular methods was opening a blacksmith shop. Not only did you earn money, but you also saved some by repairing your own team's gear.

That was the case for Psysen. He had opened several blacksmith shops in secret within Arcane Heroes, and he had retained all that knowledge.

He has already managed to open one shop in Union City, and for the past year, he has been doing his best to grow his shop. Thanks to the dwarves' having attitudes that were hard to deal with, he had no trouble with them as they competed in the city. It just goes to show how valuable customer service is.

"That should be the last one," Psysen dusted his hands as he finished storing all the firewood in his storage room. "With this much, I should be set for winter."

He left the storage room and took a seat on his workbench. A blueprint was laid on top of it, showing the schematics for a carriage.

"Since the shops are fully stocked, I finally have time to work on this bad boy," Psysen grinned as he admired the blueprint.

Chasm entered the workshop, holding an orb.

"What is it?" Psysen raised an eyebrow as Chasm held out the orb to him. "Someday, I'm going to figure out how to make you talk," he muttered as he accepted the orb.

It was an orb used by mages to increase the magic output of their spells. An average blacksmith wouldn't be able to make this, and even though Psysen wasn't an average blacksmith, he didn't make orbs.

"Where'd you get this?"

Chasm pointed at the door he came from. Psysen got up and went out the door Chasm pointed to. It led to a back alley that didn't lead to the main road at all. This was because Psysen designed this to be an escape route in case of certain situations.

The fact that Chasm found an orb here meant someone found his escape route.

Walking deeper into the alley, Psysen found traces of a fight but no bodies in sight. The only thing he saw was a piece of paper that had the words "Now, we're even."

"Don't tell me I have to move..."

------

"How did you get this strong?" Artemis asked as she drew her sword.

"I got beat up a lot," I replied as picked up a staff.

"Make this interesting for me," Drafaira spoke from the sidelines.

A blue aura wrapped around Artemis's whole body before she charged towards me. I created a barrier in her path, forcing her to dodge to the left, where the tip of my staff waited to strike her.

Artemis managed to block it with her shield before stepping back and spinning to try and land a kick to my side. I raised my staff to block, but her kick smashed through it. I jumped back to avoid the kick, prompting Artemis to throw her shield like a frisbee.

I grinned as the back of my right hand glowed, and a magic circle appeared behind me. Blue jumped out of the magic circle, catching the shield in his mouth.

"You're a summoner?" Artemis questioned.

"Kind of," I replied as Blue tossed me the shield.

It was my turn to take the initiative and charge. I blocked a swing of her sword with the shield in my left hand, then used my right hand to grab her left arm. Blue's tail went under my arms and struck Artemis on the chest with just enough force not to pierce through her armor, but the part that was hit started to freeze.

While Artemis was confused, I used the shield to attack the frozen part, shattering it. That didn't deter Artemis as her sword began to shine with a golden light.

She charged, and Blue met head-on. Her sword clashed with his claws, the magic covering it preventing it from getting frozen. The aura surrounding her spiked as she kicked Blue out of the way and charged towards me at an incredible speed.

I either dodged or blocked any attack she threw at me. She was fast, but I trained against Drafaira, who was much faster and far more relentless. Dealing with her attacks was far easier.

Blue slammed his tail on her side, sending her tumbling across the ground. Before she could charge again, Drafaira stood up.

"That's enough. Neither of you is entertaining at all."

Artemis sheeted her sword. "I apologize, lady Pendragon," she bowed.

"Trust me, she's just hard to please," I whispered.

Drafaira's eyes twitched, and then she flicked towards me, sending a shockwave that sent me crashing through a wall.

------

"How did you get her to train you?" Artemis asked as we waited outside of the garden while Nerisa and Drafaira were in a meeting.

"She asked for my help, and for payment, I asked her to train me."

"And you managed to get that strong? Your stats are comparable to mine."

"Compared to the hell I had to endure, I don't think it was worth it."

"What about your class?"

I shrugged. "I don't know anything about it."

"It didn't come with information?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Maybe it just lets you use the Hero Maker system better," she suggested.

"Didn't have any issues with it even before getting this class. It did come with a skill."

"The one you used to summon your raptor?"

I nodded. "Pretty useful."

"How many Heroes do you have?"

I smirked. "That's a secret."

Her eyes twitched. "I can make Heroes too."

"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

That seemed to piss her off even more. "Tsk. Have you found your merry crew?"

"What?" I turned to her in confusion.

"You weren't the only one in Arcane Heroes that used the Hero Maker system often," Artemis stated. "Aside from Psysen, you also made a lot of deals with Sonic and Moe."

"I know where one of them is, but I'll keep that to myself."

Artemis glared at me. After that, we waited in silence for the next few minutes before Artemis asked another question. "Do you plan on going back?"

I turned to her. "Not really."

Before she could say anything else, Drafaira and Nerisa returned from their meeting in the garden. "Let's go, Artemis," Nerisa called her over. "I will look into the matter, Lady Pendragon," Nerisa bowed before leaving.

I turned to Drafaira. "What was the meeting about?"

Drafaira just gave me the side eye before walking away.

------

Michelle never expected her life to change this much in a year. Her run-down farm had changed so much that her past self wouldn't even recognize it.

"How are the calves?" Michelle asked.

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

"They're doing fine," Cecilia replied. "They can keep up with the others now."

"That's good," Michelle nodded. "Where's Eri?"

"She's still sleeping," Cecilia answered. "She had some trouble sleeping last night."

"Was it because some thieves tried to break in again? Didn't Lilith deal with them before they could get past the wall?"

"It wasn't about that. I think she just had a nightmare."

"I see," Michelle looked around. "Did Lilith or Aegis say anything about Zed coming back soon?"

Cecilia shook her head. "No, but they did mention that his training will end soon."

Michelle hummed. "I'm still a bit annoyed that he suddenly decided to go on a year-long training period."

"He still comes every few days though," Cecilia mentioned.

"Still... I wonder what he's even doing?"

------

"You want a frost rex monster core?" Drafaira raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes. Do you know where I can buy one since you got the frost raptors?"

Considering how she managed to get two frost raptor cores, the place where they got it should also have the higher-ranking monster.

"From what I recall, only mid-rank cores can be used in your magic tricks," Drafaira said.

"Yes, but the high-rank monster cores are used to ascend them," I explained.

"Oh?" Drafaira became interested. "Can my Igneel also ascend?"

"I don't see why not."

"What are the conditions?"

"The only condition is to reach level three, then level six, and lastly, level ten."

"I see," Drafaira nodded. "Then we have somewhere to go?"

"Where?"

"A hunting ground," Drafaira smirked.

Within a few minutes, Drafaira had her servants prepare a carriage to take us to a hunting ground outside the city gates. It didn't take long for me to notice the air getting colder.

"Where are we heading?"

"You wanted a Frost rex, right?"

"Are you telling me you didn't just buy those cores?"

Drafaira just smiled. Glancing out the window, I could see that the sky had darkened, and no sign of the sun anywhere.

"You do know that the monsters in this hunting ground become stronger as winter nears."

The hunting ground we were heading to was known as Winter Bell Mountains. It was a forest surrounded by steep mountains and heavy snowfall. The harsh environment combined with the powerful monsters residing in it, the Winter Bell Mountains was labeled as a level six hunting ground, a place where a level three like me shouldn't be near.

"I will assist you," Drafaira stated. "I advise you to bring along your other creations."

"Shouldn't you have said that before we left?"

"Can you not call for them whenever you wish?" Drafaira pointed out.

"Touché."

The only one I would be bringing would be Lilith since she's the only one who still needed to level up. In the past year, Aegis and Blue had reached level three. The only reason I haven't ascended Aegis yet is because I have yet to find a monster that works well with gargoyles.

When we arrived at the hunting ground, Drafaira summoned Igneel, warming up the area around him. Lilith was summoned beside me, ready to fight.

"Let's not waste any time," Drafaira said as her magic power flared and began to melt the snow around her.

Scales formed on her arm and neck. A pair of black curved horns grew on her head.

Due to the spike in magic power, monsters were attracted and began gathering around us. In response, Drafaira unleashed a primal roar that paralyzed all the monsters in fear.

Igneel and Lilith used that opportunity to attack. Chaos erupted as Igneel tore through monsters as if he weren't level one. Something that I figured out about Igneel's creation was that although his level was reset to one, he retained his experience and skills. Additionally, Drafaira's combat knowledge was linked to him, making him the strongest Hero created.

While all of them were fighting, I made myself useful and gathered the materials.

------

There were four neutral organizations in Trientalis, the Adventurers Guild, the Alchemist Association, the Merchant Union, and the Wizard Tower. Each organization is led by a figure in their respective field, making sure that each organization stays neutral.

The one leading the Wizard Tower was the only archmage on the continent, Clifford Arden.

"What's this?" Clifford muttered as he discovered something unusual in his recent research.

For the past year, humans called players appeared, and their presence caused significant changes in Union City. Changes that couldn't be ignored. Rare materials started appearing more frequently in the market, and higher-quality potions and weapons could be purchased in random small shops.

From their investigations, they found out that the more skilled players were the cause of this. They choose to stay hidden, gathering power before revealing themselves to the world. These changes prompted a lot of high-ranking mages to begin researching these players, trying to figure out everything about them.

Clifford was one of those mages.

"Fascinating."

"Did you discover something, master?" his assistant asked.

"The players have perfect unification rate with Arcane Essence," Clifford stated as he placed down the results of his numerous tests. "They're able to absorb it without wasting a single speck of it. It's as if they're the perfect vessel for it."

Clifford had already heard about the players having an affinity with everything. Adding his recent discovery further increases their potential.

"Sooner or later, they would be able to take over this world," Clifford muttered. "Only time could tell just what kind of world they will create."

------

"She could at least told me we were going somewhere cold," I shivered as I followed the carnage left behind by Drafaira and the Heroes.

As I harvested the valuable materials from the monster corpses, a pack of frost raptors emerged from the forest. They were a lot smaller compared to blue and lacked the dagger-like spikes on his back. But that didn't change that these were mid-rank monsters, and I was just a level three.

Before any combat could happen, the ground began to shake. "I don't like the sound of that..."

The raptors hurriedly ran away, something I should be doing as well. But the monster that revealed itself was the monster that I was looking for.

The frost rex roared as it fully emerged from the forest.

"Drafaira can take care of herself. I need you here, Lilith! Blue!"

Both Heroes appeared before me.

"Blue, aggro. Lilith, aim for the eyes," I instructed.

Blue dashed toward the rex, getting its attention. The rex tried to slam its tail down on Blue, but a barrier blocked it and allowed Blue to use his spikes to slash under its tail.

The rex roared in anger, but it halted as Lilith shot several bullets at its head. Unfortunately, none of the bullets hit its eyes or pierced through its hard scales.

"Tsk," Lilith looked annoyed.

She aimed her once again, and mana began spinning like a drill on the gun's barrel. The bullet that fired traveled faster and drew blood when it hit the rex's head, but it still wasn't enough to kill it.

The rex aimed its sights on Lilith, but Blue regained the aggro by running up its back to claw at its eyes. It tried to shake Blue off, but its head slammed into a barrier, disorienting itself.

Lilith used the opportunity to fire more enhanced bullets into its head. However, the rex began to thrash around more recklessly, causing Blue to get thrown off.

[Frost rex has activated a domain skill: Ice age]

My eyes widened. High-ranking monsters had powerful abilities called domain skills, but monsters in hunting grounds never used them since those monsters are considered to be level one. Domain skills are acquired at level five.

The snowfall turned into a full-on blizzard, making it even harder for me to endure the cold. Ice spikes shot out of the ground around the frost rex, impaling Blue.

[Blue has been bested]

[Recovery time 24:00]

"Shit!"

The dinosaur charged towards me, so then I created multiple layers of barrier to stop it. The rex crashed through the first few barriers without any issues but thankfully slowed down after breaking the last few barriers.

"Is it time to run away?" I muttered.

My chances of actually killing this monster were low even when Blue was still alive. Continuing to fight would just get me killed.

"Let's retreat."

I turned towards where Lilith was, only to not find her there.

[Lilith has activated a domain skill: Blood well]

I looked up into the sky to find Lilith. "The hell?"

Heroes did not have domain skills.

------

Drafaira flicked away the blood and flesh on her scaled hands. She had probably slaughtered over a hundred monsters by now with Igneel.

"Hmm?"

Her attention was grabbed by a blood-red cloud appearing from the direction where they had come from. She glanced at Igneel, who seemed to gain interest in the cloud as well but with a more aggravated expression.

"Shall we check what's going on?"

------

I jumped out of the way of an ice spike that collapsed to the ground and another one swept by the blizzard.

"Am I seriously going to die from collateral damage?" I grumbled as I avoided a tree.

Blood well had increased Lilith's stats and created a cloud of blood in the sky to use in her arsenal. She combined it with her mana bullets, creating giant swirling blood bullets.

"Perish."

Lilith made it rain down bullets, destroying everything in the surroundings. Had I not run away, I would have been caught in the attack as well. The frost rex's defenses had been enhanced by its domain skill, but the sheer intensity of Lilith's attack was slowly overwhelming it.

Witnessing this sight, it was easy to realize that everything I knew about the game wasn't set in stone. I had expected several differences, but not something this drastic. This meant any opponent I would face further on in the future would be even more powerful. But there was a positive to this as well. My Heroes have far more potential as well with their domain skills available in their arsenal.

But first, I needed to survive.

I needed to stay away from Lilith's strike zone. One hit from those blood bullets, and I was done for.

I surrounded myself with barriers to protect myself from the blizzard. Then, I distanced myself from the battlefield as much as possible.

It wasn't being a coward.

It was being smart.

Once I was at a safe distance, I observed the state of the battlefield. There were craters around the rex, and its body was heavily damaged, but it was still standing. Despite the onslaught of attacks, the frost rex proved that it was one of the most tenacious monsters in this hunting ground.

Unfortunately for everyone, the ruckus attracted the biggest threat in this hunting ground. One of the mountainsides exploded, sending rubble everywhere. A giant maw came out of the smoke, chomping down on the frost rex and tearing its head off.

"Well... I'm screwed..."

The Glaciorex stands taller and more robust than the frost rex, with a body covered in a dense, spiked layer of frost-coated scales that shimmer like ice in the sunlight. Its skin is a blend of icy blue and white, helping it blend seamlessly into snowy landscapes. But it hardly mattered when it made such an explosive entrance.

Maybe it would somehow ignore me.

A blood bullet was shot in its face, doing no damage to it at all.

It roared, unleashing a frost breath along with it, turning Lilith into a vampiresicle. She began falling from the sky and shattered upon impact on the ground.

[Lilith has been bested]

[Recovery time 24:00]

I was definitely screwed.