As they headed up floors, someone had cleared them already. Possibly the rogues party? "Shouldn't monsters respawn quicker than this?"

Ken noded. "Yeah."

"Okay."

Sophie asked Lauri, "do you always bullshit that much?"

"Depends what you mean?"

"Like, telling those dead guys that they fell for your trap?"

"Well, I don't think they'd have accepted my duel request if I were level 100, do you?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

They continue for a while and Ken finally suggests "it's too quiet. If someone fought their way down then the further up we go the longer should have passed. Then and there should be monster respawns."

"Why doesn't the main dungeon have instances?"

Sophie offered an answer, "to promote more people killing each other."

"Oh. That would produce a lot of megalophobia, yeah."

"Mega-what-now?"

"Just more bullshit. Don't worry about it."

They'd already reached floor 12 when Ken asked Sophie "did you charm Lauri?"

Sophie thinks about this for longer than might be expected before asking in return "would that count as a damning enough secret to know yours?"

"Then you have?"

She sticks her tongue out and winks, "not telling unless it counts."

Billy shook his head, "if you tell, please do it after I've departed. I really don't want in on any of what's going on."

At floor 8 they found out why there were no monsters as they caught up to Rebecca, herself is heading back. She smiled when she recognises Lauri, "what a coincidence."

"Not for me. You'd told me where you were going."

"And I told Ken to level up, so I suppose it's not. How's that going?"

"I'm level 11 and Ken is level 10. At the very least I can now take him down to the treasure trove in Library Dungeon."

Sophie perks up, "can I come?"

"Sure. Say, Bec, did you make level 20?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm on my way back."

"Any plans to level further?"

"Not until we're ready to party up. I'll get myself a Necklace of Greed and farm truth scrolls until then."

"Cool."

Sophie, starting to feel jealous, asked "you two haven't slept together have you?"

"No" they both answer. Lauri continues, "you were my first, remember."

"Just wondering," she smiles.

They fight the now comparatively weak monsters until they reached the dungeon exit. Despite not being in a party everyone got severe EXP penalties, not that anyone cared. Billy is quick to depart, saying a quick "thank you for helping me get past level 10."

Lauri looked at Rebecca, "is there something special about level 10?"

"There's the profession change, which is many's first chance at some good stuff, but for the most part people just die too easily sub level 10."

"Because not enough HP?"

"There's lots of ways to stay alive but a lack of HP is particularly bad for Warriors and other front-liners. To the point that many of them wait around for a healer to party with. At least until they learn how futile waiting for that is."

"Futile why?"

"Few people are willing to chose Priest. You know of any healers sub level 50?"

"Yeah, my friend Frank. He wears a Necklace of Greed to keep his level low and everything."

"You're very lucky to have someone like that with you these early levels."

"Oh, he didn't come with me."

"Then you're lucky you didn't break a bone or something."

"I did."

"And who was your parties healer?"

"We didn't have one."

"So you've still got a broken bone?"

"I hea...ve. I still have a broken bone, yep. You're going to become a permanent member of my party right?"

"Yeah...?"

"In that case, I healed the broken bone myself."

Sophie knelt down and looked at Lauri's leg. "You're just full of secrets, aren't you?"

Ken looked over to Sophie. "Now that it's just us permanent party members around. Yes, your secret is good enough for me."

Lauri added, "it's good enough for me."

Bec didn't know what's going on so joined in for the hell of it, "good enough for me."

Sophie looked a bit nervous. "Don't get any wrong ideas or anything but yes, I can charm people into doing things I say and yes I used a Seduction spell on Lauri."

Ken almost jumped in the air, "I knew it!"

Bec could only say "what... like, he's seduced right now?"

Lauri shook his head, "not anymore."

Ken interposed, "of course you'd say that if you were charmed. Is Lauri charmed right now?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, seems certain triggers informs people they're charmed but only when I ask for too much. I've been testing if he'd find out or not if I don't push it."

Lauri nodded. "Huh. Well I didn't know until now if that helps."

"Then when you took him into the tent?"

"No. That was of his own free will."

"That's not when you seduced him?"

"Well yes, it was, but I mean, when we did it, he wasn't magically charmed, either time."

Bec grinned, "congratulations Lauri."

After a moment it clicked with Lauri, "um, could you end your charm on me?"

"Oh, sure. Done. Now, what's your secret?"

"My secret is that I drain levels." He made his level public, "as you can see I am now level 101. As soon as I walk out of the dungeon it will drop to 11 as I can't maintain the drain on the crabs once I leave."

"Then that's why you needed the crabs?"

Bec seems to work out what they're talking about. "Mmm."

Sophie looks at Ken next, "and you?"

"I took the Thief profession and I can bypass the blessing of ownership to steal items. But I don't use it for that. I only use the profession so that I can use any magic item."

Lauri shook his head, "not any. I looked into that and it doesn't bypass gender restrictions."

Sophie stuck her tongue out and winked, "and for a second there I was thinking Lauri would use the stockings."

Lauri laughed. "How'd you know I could also use that skill?"

"Wait, you, what? I was joking. You're a Thief too?"

"No, not a Thief. It's just that I have access to healing skills and, well, skills from any Class."

Bec was shocked, "this is the first I'm hearing of this."

"Huh? Well, until level 10 I wasn't actually sure. The fact I managed to learn the skill Use Magic Device my first proof. Speaking of, lets leave now, I need Market access."

Making his level private again the group stepped out of the dungeon so Lauri could access the Market.

[Purchased 2x Ring of the Warrior for 20SP]

[Purchased 50x Potion of Potential Toughness for 2494SP]

He put one of the rings on and passed the other to Ken, who did the same and quickly appeared excited. "My HP is now 4,400!"

"Nice. My HP is now 55"

"Nice. Still more than mine but I expected that."

"Speaking of," Lauri got out the 50 potions, "drink up, Ken."

Ken drank 26 of them then said "wow, my max Toughness is now 330."

"You leveled up to 11 then?"

"Yeah. Should I put all my points into Toughness? Or 20 into Charisma first then 80 in Toughness?"

"It's your build and it's good to not die but you're not the tank either."

"Right. Done, I now have 12,400 HP. That's more than you."

"Huh? Um, not 55 hundred. 55 thousand."

"Ohhhhhhh..."

Bec did a double take, "wait, aren't I the tank?"

"Yeah. You're level 20 so you're HP must be at least 60k, right?"

"Are you kidding? It's 6k."

"There's 24 of these potions left if you want to up your Toughness Potential?"

"I'm already at 30 per level."

"Ah, Sophie, would you like them then? Might as well."

"Thanks." She drank them. "That brings me to 26 potential per level."

"Wait, so you were a breath away from death the whole time?"

"Um, no. I started with 20 HP and at level 11 had 220 HP. I'm still at 220 but I'll increase it next level."

"A breath away from death."

Rebecca asked "so how do I break the rules like the two of you are?"

"Hm. Good question. I'll check the Market," Lauri offered.

"What?"

"Yep, already found one answer. There's an item called Carry The World On Your Shoulders."

"No pun? I don't trust them then. Who knows what god designed them."

"Don't worry, they're a type of armour called 'shoulders' that you wear on your shoulders and there's a picture of the world engraved along their back."

"Phew. I'll check them out then. Wait, they're priced at 100 million System Points and are restricted to Defender profession. Still, this description is... wow."

Ken asked "what's the description?"

"It's like the ring except instead of 100 it's 250 so my 6k would change to 150k. Also it has +2,500 Toughness, which is crazy high. The kicker is that anyone in my party can reassign their HP damage to me if they want and I can't decline."

"It's not mandatory we do? That's perfect then."

"Except the cost part and the 'I'm not a Warrior' part."

Lauri is confused, "it doesn't say Warrior, it says Defender."

"Yeah but is Ritualist Defender the same as Warrior Defender? We'll never find out at that price."

"We only need to friend the seller and ask them. Except we'll talk to the person selling the one with basically no durability, priced at 1000 SP."

They sent a friend request to one Yasmin selling the near broken Shoulders. As they waited they tried to drop by the restaurant next to the slave markets but it was shut with a sign saying out of stock. Adventure rations weren't the tastiest so they went to the bazar and looked around. Most of the food stalls were shut or asking insane amounts but they soon found kababs for sale with a price mark-up of only 10 times. The idea worked and soon the request was accepted and they chatted a bit before heading meet up.

Arriving at her house, Yasmin was a middle aged woman who greeted them with a smile. "Why hello young adventurers, please come in."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Thanks."

"If I might ask, I started wondering why you came to me in particularm about the Shoulders?"

Lauri realised he can't tell her about Renew Item. "I reasoned you'd put these on the Market because you couldn't bring yourself to dispose of them."

Yasmin nodded. "Still, why did that bring you to me?"

Lauri wondered if maybe he did have a knack for bullshitting as he went on. "First-most, it's because you're giving us the time of day to test if it works. Since Bec isn't sure if she can even use them."

"That implies a second reason."

"The second is we can afford to buy them from you if it works. I can't say that about the ones that cost 100 million."

"You'd actually buy them, with 9 durability left?"

"I'm a curious man. I'd test things like whether they lose durability if Bec stands at the back, not actually taking hits, only using the damage transfer ability."

"Oh, I see. Something I never even considered. You'll come back and tell me how it goes?"

"I wouldn't have thought to but now that you've asked I'll make sure I do."

Bec finished putting them on and was all smiles, "hey, everyone, it works! I can equip them. I feel like I'm invincible. I'll buy it right now, thanks Yasmin."

"I'd give it to you for free except the Market doesn't let me remove a listing like that."

The Shoulders vanish from Bec's shoulders and appear in her hands. "I guess that's how the Market wants to do it. Now I need to put them on again."

Saying 'thank you's they make their leave and Lauri starts using Renew Item on the Shoulders. "Wait, what the hell is going on, my new items durability is increasing."

Lauri grinned, "ssssshhhh. There's some secrets I can't event tell you. Goddess Dike's orders, sorry." Had Lauri thought of a better way, he'd have done it differently. Still, this caused Lauri to be hit with inspiration. There hadn't been many unrestricted items cheap when he first checked the Market. However now he had very few restrictions. As he looked items up and removed restrictions, the Market System didn't seem to understand his intent as started prompting him.

[Warning: It is recommended you apply durability filters. Continue?

Warning: It is recommended you apply Class or Profession filters, non-restricted items will still be displayed. Continue?

Warning: It is recommended you apply level filters, non-restricted items will still be displayed. Continue?

Warning: Over 100 million unique matches, cannot process request. Please apply more filters and try again.]

That last one wasn't even an option, so Lauri filtered to only items with 10% durability or below, equitable items, costs below 2,000 SP and not female only.

[Warning: Over 400 thousand item matches. It is recommended you sort results. Display first 100 only?]

Lauri scratches his eyebrow. That's a lot of opportunities for him to make profits. Though, won't people start to notice if his name is all over Market? And wouldn't the pattern be too obvious to figure out? He decided that a slow start would be best until he had more ideas. It took some learning butm as their group travelled towards the old Survivors Guild, he figured tricks out. Eventually Lauri had limited his search to items with a high trade volume and only items with an average sale value above 100 million. This left 0 items but Lauri knew of the Shoulders so it was likely such expensive items didn't trade often enough. Lauri keept lowering it until he reached 2 million SP average sale value which revealed 6 items. There was too much on the screen with the requirements and he didn't care about that so he hide the extra details. About to hide notes he left them as they seemed interesting.

{

SP: 12

[Cost in System Points]: [Item Name] [Durability], [Notes]

500: Flaming Mantle of Fireballs 20/8,000, Notes: Radiates heat, 20dur could keep house warm for 2 years. Otherwise might last another 20 fireballs. Possible jump start for newbies

1000: Extra Skelly Friend 2/10,000, Notes: Don't buy unless you know how to maintain minions beyond cap. I have spares so don't do that but this could be an opportunity for someone

1000: Ankheg Armour 500/50,000, Notes: Enough dur to keep a newbie alive through their early levels, if you don't act stupid

2000: Broom of Flying 101/2,000

2000: Dumb Dumbbell of Dumbness 198/100,000, Notes: They're cursed but good news is you don't need to pay for removal. Just keep exercising until they disappear ;D

2000: Lead-Lined Suit 50/2,000

}

Seeing the Ankheg Armour Lauri was surprised to find out it was a high trade volume item and that it had an average price over 2 million. He went to buy the one for sale but apparently he'd blown all his SP somehow. Still, he checked what they were selling for.

{

SP: 12

[Cost in System Points]: [Item Name]

2.99... million: Ankheg Armour

}

"Say, Sophie, I just saw that Ankheg Armour are selling on the Market for as much as 3 million. Interesting, hey?"

"Should I give back your suit?"

"Not now. Unless you want me to sell it, buy something cheaper and lend you that instead?"

"I definitely want that!"

Lauri checks for current Ankheg Armour purchase orders and finds one. "There's a purchase order for 2.5 million. Find something that costs less 2 mill or less and we can try for that trade."

"You know I'm basically naked under this armour?"

This catches Bec's interest, "why?"

Sophie isn't sure how to answer so Lauri jumped in, "her other clothes were burnt by a flaming beetle breath."

Bec stares at Lauri suspiciously as they walked. "You know I can cast my truth spell again now?"

"Hah. Go for it." Bec cast her spell and Lauri repeated "Sophie's other clothes were burnt by a beetles flaming napalm like breath. As was our tanks crotch. I almost got a dousing of liquid flames as well."

"Oh wow. Now I don't know why I even doubted you."

Lauri nodded then asked "Sophie, how far is your house from here?"

"I'm homeless. I just sleep wherever."

Everyone stopped walking and looked at Sophie. Bec was the first to break the sudden silence, "do you own a change of clothes?"

"Lots of men have bought me clothes."

"So you do have a change of clothes. Where are they?"

"Yeah, like, at that house over there for example. Jeff's wife is home right now but when she's not he had clothes stashed away for me. And I know plenty of guys."

"How old are you?"

"Don't worry, I'm 18. All the well-off people have System blessings so nobody touched me until I was18. You don't need to worry about that."

"What sort of life have you lived?"

Sophie's eyes watered up a little as she spoke. "I'll tell you that before I turned 18, it wasn't a good one. Even after that... but I'm an adventurer now. Worst case scenario I can sell these stockings for... hang on, I'll check. How much gold is 100,000 SP?"

Lauri quickly answered "roughly 250,000 gold coins, depending on a fluctuating currency exchange."

"I'm set for life. Wow. I didn't realise I was rich now."

Lauri was a tad concerned, "you're not leaving the party are you?"

She gave Lauri her usual, sticking her tongue out with a smile and a wink, but this cause a tear to run down her cheek. "Not until we're all heroes. Sexy statue, remember?"

Bec openly started crying as she declared "your smile registers as a lie."

Sophie felt more uncomfortable from this apparent sympathy than anything else that happened. Which says something considering their day so far. Sophie found a means to redirect the conversation, "I found a Shield Maidens Shield for 800k that doubles my shields. It could stack with the Leather for 4 times and your shield can then be backup?"

Bec asked "which leather?"

Lauri points at the Sexy Leather of Skin Showing he was wearing, "this. It's doubling the shields I make. Though Sophie's a Shield Maiden so I'm happy for her to use it instead."

"You can't make her wear that!"

Sophie asked "why?"

Lauri teased "Bec's right. Nobody can force you to wear this. It's your choice."

"Oh, okay."

Bec was a little torn as it's not what she'd meant and, realising the implication that Sophie was a Shield Maiden, didn't want to tell her she couldn't wear equipment apparently perfect for her build. "If it's what she wants then that's a different story, I suppose. She can always wear a shirt over it."

Lauri shook his head, "if that were and option I'd be wearing a shirt."

"I... see."

Sophie broke a moment of more silent walking, "there's also a Skirt of Skirting which would boost my movement dramatically. Then you won't need to carry me next time we're running for our lives."

Bec absorbed this information as Lauri asked "how much is it?"

"It's 1.2 million and has a note about being great for kiting. We could buy a kite and go to the park and run around with it."

Lauri smirked, "sounds fun. I'm sure it'll mostly be used for kiting around enemies but the park is a great idea."

"I think I'll stick with Shield Maidens Shield."

"Okay. Now we just need to get you something to change into."

"I can change into the Leather."

"Yeah. I suppose I can go shirtless."

They dropped by a public convenience, otherwise known as toilets, and Sophie got changed into the Sexy Leather. Lauri double checked everything was in place and used Renew Item to bring the Ankheg Armour to max durability to meet the requirements of the purchase order. Then he made some trades.

[Sold 1x Ankheg Armour for 2,500,001SP]

[Purchased 1x Ankheg Armour 500/50,000 for 1,000SP]

[Purchased 1x Shield Maidens Shield for 800,000SP]

[Purchased 1x Skirt of Skirting 1,200/10,000 for 120,000SP]

[Purchased 1x Flaming Mantle 20/8,000 for 500SP]

[Purchased 1x Extra Skelly Friend 2/10,000 for 1000SP]

[Purchased 1x Broom of Flying 101/2,000 for 2000SP]

[Purchased 1x Dumb Dumbbell of Dumbness 198/100,000 for 2000SP]

[Purchased 1x Lead-Lined Suit 50/2,000 for 2000SP]

The items went into Lauri's Item Box so he withdrew the shield and skirt, giving the skirt a few hits of Renew Item. Sophie beamed with joy, "you got me both?"

"You can play innocent but I know you were fishing. Also there was a cheaper option which I'll have it renewed in a jiff. Besides, what would Bec think of me if I made you walk about town without a skirt on?"

Bec didn't know quite what to think but this prompted her to ask "you're not worried what I'll think about her walking around with her breasts out?"

"Huh? I've lent her nipple tape, see?"

"That's hardly better."

"Really? I thought it was heaps better. Is it okay for girls to walk around showing their nipples? I suppose I'm walking around with mine on display now. Guess it would be sexist to say girls couldn't."

Bec took in a slow, deep, breath in before she responded "I suppose it's not commonly accepted behaviour for girls to have their nipples exposed in public. Point taken."