"Selena dear, it might sound odd, but could you sell me rat tails?" My question catches the Assistant off guard. She confirms the two jobs, counting the reward money when this stops her hand mid-air. "I know you bought them before, and don't remember the price."

"Oh, it's going up now, isn't it?" She sees through me in an instant. That's Selena for you. She shakes her head though, the lone silver lock of hair coming loose. "No, I can buy them from you, but can't sell them. And now it wouldn't be worth selling them to me, huh?"

"Last time they offered twenty coppers for one in the pharmacy. The price doubled right in front of my eyes." It feels risky to talk about business with this many people around. Who am I kidding, it's embarrassing: we discuss rat tails.

There are no red-named thugs inside, although their scouts don't have to dirty their hands. No matter how light my gear is, the closer the tenth level, the more the gankers worry me. Half a dozen leans against the wall by the entrance outside, waiting for their next victim.

This stirs up my stomach, which still hasn't calmed down after the plague rat encounter. That antidote tastes so bad, and the toxic fog smells sickening too. The earthy candle scent and smoke from the torches in the Guild only help a bit.

This can't compete with the pressure from the ticking clock and all the dangers. What if the quests run out? Go back to clear the spawn points? They give little experience, though it might be enough. What if those tugs get me because they saw me with DragonSlayer?

[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 9/10, Exp to next level: 8974/25600. (19/72 hours left).]

So close, yet so far. What is that, like fifty thousand left? Even after sleeping in, the progress was crazy good in the last five hours, but all the excitement took a toll on me. Imagine making a mistake now, and then you have to start over with less than a day left.

How can you look as unassuming as possible? Of all the near-death experiences today, it's still the gankers who seem the worst to me. Of course, nobody wants to grab their attention, unless they're stupid. For me, hoarding money can wait.

Still, after taking my time to cut off thirty more tails in the second mission, let's hope it was worth the effort. There are seventy of them in my inventory; this proves that the new method works. It would be almost one and a half gold at the last price.

And it's a good drill to use precision in my attacks. That's what the tutorial said too, practice is worth more than stacking in-game bonuses. Those are there to help the users and describe how each weapon compares. Still, we must land those strikes at the end of the day.

Did anyone try to cut up rats like this before, or players were fine with the occasional drops? What are they used for anyway? Were they always in this high demand? It might not have been worth it when the village had nothing but ratting quests.

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Now the available jobs run out fast, and the prices are shooting up. The stack on the Assistant's desk might be enough for two more turns if nobody else takes them first. She isn't in a hurry though, back to her usual self, calm, collected, and smiling.

"No, I'm afraid the Guild did not update their price tag for these items." She looks at the charts behind her, shrugging before handing out my next errands. My mind ran wild before this answer. "The best I can offer is five coppers but I can exchange your coins for silvers and gold."

She can tell my purse is heavy with worthless change. And she didn't see the thousands more stashed away in my chest. A nod is enough, and she takes my carryall, doing the exchange below the counter.

She returns it with one gold, four silvers, and the rest in copper. It feels much lighter, and my full inventory weighs less than fifteen kilos. Even money matters a lot. Still, the line is getting long behind me, so the Assistant waves me off with a smile.

"Good hunting, Noob, see you back soon."

I'm past the entrance before noticing that one of the jobs is F-class. It's the lowest-level ratting mission, with only twelve in the basement. Is she running out of quests already, or did she make a mistake? Knowing her, that seems unlikely.

Besides, it would need a lot of courage to return and complain. The red-named guys keep their eyes on me already, so the sooner I'm on my way the better. Fine, let's check out that job first, there must be a reason why she gave me that.

That reason reveals itself as a flood of system popups.

[The F-rank "Rat Infested Basement" escalated...]

[The E-rank "Rat Infested Home" escalated...]

[The D-rank quest "Rat Ravaged Home" escalated into C-rank "Ratpocalypse".]

"Whoa there, calm down." Three escalations at once? And they all come with loud pings echoing inside my head. Now the nausea escalates into a headache too. How old is this job? And C-rank? That name is ominous, and the game warns me about it in a separate message.

[Warning! This quest classifies as a C-class job, it's higher than what the Guild would give you. Completing it will reward you, but you can refuse it without incurring penalties. There might be more and stronger enemies you're used to. Do you accept it anyway?]

Well, how bad it can be? Rats are always rats, right? The antidote should protect me from their plague and um... Where is the villager? There is nobody here, not even on my proximity map. This is a first.

[Quest: Ratpocalypse. Importance: Medium. Difficulty: Above Average. Progress: 0/72. Reward: 5 Gold and 2000 Exp. Death Rats swarmed this house destroying everything in their wake. Kill the rats and report it to the Adventurer's Guild (6/12 hours left).]

Seventy-two? It pays five gold and so much experience. Wait a second, it says above-average difficulty, what does that even mean? How much will the rats give me, and how long until midnight? Despite all the red flags, this ought to be good.

There are twelve critters right by the door and no fog hides them. Is the antidote even necessary? Everything looks charred, including these monsters. Yes, they are closer to demons than rats now with their cracked skin, as if someone overbaked them in an oven.

They don't idle around either, springing into attack on sight. Instead of trying to bite my boots that never worked before, they jump to aim straight for my throat. Holy shit, that's C-rank for you! My only luck is that the shield is on quick-access and it's in my hands before the impact.

The fucker bounces off but still pushes me back, and out of the building. This won't stop the other eleven from trying the same.