Good news? We have a map. Better news? The mine is NOT a whole day away. It’s only a few hours out. Which means— they straight up LIED to me.

  I squinted at the piece of paper in my hands as I sat on the broken wooden fence that circled the vilge.

  "Alright," I muttered, running my finger over the details, "so there's a mine here… a stream way down there… and a hunting area?" My finger tapped at the rge red ink circle marked DANGER ZONE over an unspecified section of the map.

  My eyebrow twitched. "Oh, well, that’s totally not ominous."

  This map? Completely useless.

  I rolled it up and tossed it next to me.

  Bad news? My team kinda sucks.

  Sure, Elise had decent skills, but Rowan was a discount rogue with no stealth, and Vix could only shoot two or three fireballs before needing a nap. Garron was the only one I trusted to actually survive this, and he wasn’t even here—out hunting.

  Which meant it was up to me to prepare.

  Because I sure as hell knew they wouldn’t.

  I pulled up my Buy & Sell menu and started searching.

  First priority? Something strong enough to kill a lot of spiders.

  I typed ‘spider’ into the search bar.

  A ton of results popped up. Some I recognized, some I didn’t. Some of them were way too expensive, and some of them were so stupid that I was losing brain cells just looking at them.

  Then I paused.

  Wait. Why the hell am I limiting myself to insect sprays?

  I smacked my forehead.

  Spiders are not immune to EVERYTHING.

  If I needed a weapon that could clear out a ton of them at once, then why the hell wasn’t I looking at actual explosives?

  So, I looked up grenades.

  …And immediately regretted it.

  25,000.

  For one.

  I choked on air. "WHO HAS THIS KIND OF MONEY?!"

  Okay. New pn. Simir idea. Smaller budget.

  I typed in ‘Molotov cocktail.’

  5,000.

  I just stared at the screen. Dumbfounded.

  "You're kidding me," I muttered.

  FIVE THOUSAND? FOR ONE?!

  I was about to start flipping my shit when my brain finally caught up.

  Wait. The Buy & Sell menu is a scam.

  If the complete product is expensive, the materials might be cheaper.

  So I started breaking it down.

  I searched for individual parts.

  Empty beer bottle? 200.Pack of dish rags? 150.Fmmable liquid? 675 per gallon.I paused.

  I stared at the numbers.

  Then it hit me.

  I did the math.

  Buying everything separately cost me 1,025.

  Which meant the skill was scamming me for nearly 4,000 extra.

  Oh, hell no.

  I bought the individual items, put them together, and in less than a minute, I had myself a Molotov cocktail.

  For a fraction of the price.

  I smirked. "I’m getting better at this."

  Sure, it was only one, and I already had a lighter in my backpack, but it was progress.

  But then, another better idea hit me.

  Wait… why do I need the rag and the lighter?

  Vix literally shoots fire.

  I grinned.

  "Okay, Dan. Think like a gamer."

  Instead of throwing a single Molotov, what if I just bought a crap ton of fmmable liquid, dumped it everywhere, and had Vix ignite it?

  Oil + Gas + Fire = Big Bang = Perfect.

  I reopened my menu and started searching.

  Current Bance: 1,514.50 ? 489.50 Now, it was time to stock up on MORE.

  Things were about to get interesting.

  Pn A? Yeah, That’s Gone.Okay. So Operation Big Boom? Canceled.

  Why? Because gasoline was too damn expensive.

  1,000 for a single gallon of oil.

  And even if I had the money, how was I supposed to spread it evenly over a battlefield? I didn’t have a sprayer, and blindly throwing oil around like an idiot sounded like a one-way ticket to setting myself on fire.

  So. Back to the Molotov cocktail idea.

  I needed more bottles.

  But I wasn’t about to BUY them. No. That was a waste of money.

  I needed to scavenge.

  Gss bottles, or anything breakable that could hold liquid.

  Which meant searching the vilge.

  I wandered around the vilge for about ten minutes looking for anything useful.

  What did I find?

  Absolutely nothing.

  Good news? Everything I did find was broken garbage.

  Better news? I took it upon myself to “clean up the vilge” by selling every single useless piece of trash to my skill.

  Total profit? 11.34.

  Yes. I was now 11.34 richer.

  At this rate, I’d be able to afford another Molotov cocktail in about five years.

  Somehow, my random wandering led me right back to Marta’s pce.

  I stared at the house. I stared at the door.

  And then, I knocked.

  "What?!" Marta immediately yelled from inside.

  I opened the door, poked my head in, and grinned. “Heya, it’s your favorite person.”

  Marta turned to me, unimpressed. "Not even remotely close."

  “Aww, come on. No point in denying it. We’ve been through so much together.” I put a hand on my chest. “Life-threatening situations build bonds, y'know.”

  "Go away."

  "I will, I will—but I kinda have a problem."

  Marta rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."

  "Hey, don’t be like that."

  Marta crossed her arms. "Boy, you came to me with your first problem, and look where that got us."

  I blinked. Okay, she had a point.

  "Okay, fair, but to be honest, that wasn’t entirely my fault—"

  "Sure, boy. Whatever you say."

  I chuckled and sat down across from her. "Alright, fine, let’s get to business. You got any gss bottles? Big ones?"

  Marta snorted. "Good luck finding that."

  "Anything breakable works."

  Marta raised an eyebrow. "Breakable, huh?" She leaned forward. "What for?"

  I grinned. "Gd you asked."

  I reached into my backpack and pulled out my Molotov cocktail.

  Marta’s eyes locked onto it immediately.

  I twirled it between my fingers. "This bad boy right here? Fire in a bottle."

  Marta narrowed her eyes. "Boy, what the hell is that?"

  "Homemade spider-killer."

  I expined how it worked.

  Marta took a moment, then nodded slowly. "Mmm. That’ll work on the babies. Probably the adults. But not the queen."

  "What about the ogre?" I asked.

  "What ogre?"

  I stared at her. "...The one by the mine?"

  "Oh, that old thing." Marta waved a hand dismissively.

  At this point, I was starting to think she had dementia.

  "Anyway," Marta continued, "ogres got thick skin. At most, lighting it on fire will just piss it off."

  I blinked. "...That’s a problem."

  Marta smirked. "That’s your problem."

  I sighed. "One thing at a time. First, I need something breakable. You got any bottles or jars?"

  Marta smirked wider. "Oh, I do."

  She leaned back, stretching. "Got some good ol’ cy jars. Big ones, too."

  My eyes lit up. "Awesome! I’ll take ‘em."

  Marta grinned. "You’ll have to pay for ‘em."

  I knew it.

  I sighed. "Alright, how much?"

  Marta tilted her head. "How much ya got?"

  I squinted at her. "...That’s not how negotiating works."

  Marta just smiled.

  "One gold coin."

  I blinked. "For some cy jars?"

  Marta smiled. "Yup."

  "That is a complete rip-off."

  Marta shrugged. "Yeah? Well, good luck finding some on your own."

  I rubbed my temples.

  Okay. This was a shakedown.

  Marta had something I needed, and she knew I wasn’t gonna find it anywhere else.

  Which meant she was gonna squeeze me dry.

  And worse? She just raised the price.

  I sighed. "Look, that gold coin is gone. It's never coming back. How about something else?"

  Marta raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

  I opened up my marketpce.

  Scrolled down.

  And found it.

  The very first thing I saw after killing that baby spider.

  Low-Rank Disease Cure Potion – 50.

  I bought it.

  The small bottle dropped into my hand like it had been waiting for this moment.

  I held it up. "How about this?"

  Marta stared at it. "And what exactly am I supposed to do with that?"

  I shrugged. "Cure diseases?"

  Marta scoffed. "Yeah… it does that."

  I grinned. "And you wanted one earlier."

  Marta nodded. "Yup. I did."

  "So now you can just have it!"

  Marta rolled her eyes. "That thing’s about as good as useless now."

  I froze. "Wait, what? Why?"

  Marta tossed her cane onto the table. "Because that book you sold us? The one about cures? Yeah, it told us the disease infecting this vilge—Malefic Decay—was cast by a fifth-circle mage. No way a low-rank potion is gonna fix that."

  I stared at the potion.

  Then at Marta.

  Then back at the potion.

  Then slowly pced it on the table. "…So. A medium-rank one?"

  Marta nodded. "That’d do the trick."

  I immediately opened my marketpce.

  Medium-Rank Disease Cure Potion – 5,000.

  I groaned. "Okay. Yeah. Never mind. I don’t have that."

  Marta ughed. "Figures."

  I paused.

  Then I had a 300 IQ moment.

  I had done this before.

  Like with my Molotov cocktail.

  Instead of buying a pre-made potion, what if I just bought the ingredients?

  "Wait." I turned to Marta. "Remind me of what’s in the cure."

  Marta sighed. "Sagegrass, Moonbloom petals, Silver Ash Powder, and the heart of a Queen Web Lurker."

  I nodded. "Got it. Hold that thought."

  I opened my market and searched for the ingredients.

  Sagegrass – 25 per piece.Moonbloom Petals – 55 per piece.Silver Ash Powder – 125 per unit.I grinned. "Hell yeah, this is working!"

  Then I searched for the Queen Web Lurker’s heart.

  …

  And found it.

  For 650.

  I stared at my screen.

  I processed what I was seeing.

  Then I yelled out loud.

  "GOD. FUCKING. DAMN IT!"

  Marta jumped. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

  I buried my face in my hands. "I JUST BUILT A FUCKING MOLOTOV COCKTAIL TO GO KILL A FUCKING SPIDER."

  Marta raised an eyebrow. "And?"

  I lifted my head. "AND I COULD’VE JUST BOUGHT A FUCKING QUEEN WEB LURKER HEART FOR BASICALLY ONE GOLD COIN!"

  Marta froze.

  "...Boy. Are you shitting me?"

  I sighed. "Nope."

  Marta just stared at me.

  I gestured toward my screen. "For some reason, my market actually has a Queen Web Lurker’s heart. Why? I don’t know. But it does."

  Marta just kept staring.

  I leaned forward. "Sooooo… you wouldn’t happen to have another gold coin lying around, would you?"

  Marta was still silent.

  I grinned. "Because if you did, we’d save ourselves a lot of trouble."