I blinked a few times at the glowing system notice, trying to my head around the message. The God of Ice Blood? If I membered correctly, he was one of the inal twelve gods. Probably should’ve paid more attention to the lore, huh? Damn! But hey, meeting a god is always a good thing… right?

  [You left ‘Goolem factory dungeon,’ stage 3][You ehe legendary location Ice Mountain.]An unknown force whisked me away from the dim dungeon into a breathtaking valley—thankfully, with no nasty after-effects. Damn, gods are impressive. Maybe I should start hunting for aernal e ring? OP item that would help a lot.

  T mountains loomed arouheir snoed peaks sharp, casting long shadows that stretched across the valley floor. It reminded me of that one night at the bar when I met a stist who cimed he loved Arctic icebergs more than whiskey—an unfivable offense, resulting in my legendary cold shoulder. Aren’t I funny, Lucy? Damn, she’s stu the future…

  I gri the memory, shivering as a bst of icy wind tore through the valley. The sudden chill hit me hard, making me suddenly aware of the wide, frozeretg before me. Its crystal-clear ice gleamed uhe muted sunlight, refleg fractured shards of light that danced like if you look through a gss bottle.

  I found myself uedly grateful for the shoes, despite their uselessness for running. “O divine one, you summoned me, yet where are you?” I called out cautiously, walking toward a frozen waterfall—the only thing that stood out in this surreal ndscape.

  The sound of my feet eg off the ice walls created an eerie, thunderous cp that sent chills down my spine. Why wouldn’t it, when it sounded like a marg army? The sky glowed a deep, blood-red hue, like a perma su, while the waterfall cascaded in a rich crimson that froze just before reag the crystal-clear ke below.

  “What a strange pce,” I murmured, and my voice echoed through the valley. Though the God had called me here, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Apart from the waterfall, the only features were the ominous blood-red icicles hanging from its edges.

  “Thank you for heading my call, Princess. You surprised me with your ferocity, persistend wits,” a deep voibsp;of god filled the valley. I tried not to tremble, but my weak knees gave way and I kneeled; how fitting. Strangely, the booming voice rumbled as if it came from within me, not from outside.

  “I want to offer you an opportunity to be a hero. Your indomitable will and spirit are remarkable.” I involuntarily raised an eyebrow. A Hero? As the Hero of the Fme-God, Dmitry? Yes! My eyes sparkled. As everyone else, I used to watch his videos; the unique hero phase was so fshy, bizarre and incredible!

  “Me, a mere mortal priestess? I kneel before you, oh mighty God, and am filled with reverence for your infinite wisdom.” My words spilled out. Years of repeating court quests forced me to learn to sound appropriately respectful, though they felt unbearably ge. Whatever, nobody’s rec this. Right?

  Just to be extra sure, I sed the valley one more time.

  “You have the potential freatness! You are the only child of destiny to pass my trial,” the voied. Oh, Boss kill? Yeah, I soloed that thing at level 3. Impossible turned possible, thanks to a tiny little exploiting. The memory made me grin, like the time Patrick let me taste his most expetle.

  Quickly, I lowered my head, hoping the ge-worthy rolepy would be enough. “I haven’t devoted myself to any god yet, nor did I pn to. But... a ce to be the hero of my era? That’s tempting.”

  “I like you! So young, so full of energy! Very well, so be it!”

  [You were chosen as one of the 8 heroes of the current era][From now on you bear the name Princess, Hero of Ice Blood.][Skill Hero Call unlocked][Skill Ice Danlocked][Passive skill Ice Blood unlocked][Hero Call]Type: 7-legendaryEffect: All your stats are increased by the magnitude of 10Duration: 10 minutesCooldown: 512 hours* type is increasable; magnitude be increased; potentially added another effects* for the activation, the pyer o in the position of hero * this skill is i, thus doesn’t t toward the limit of skills“My god!” I couldn’t tain my excitement as I read through the skill descriptions. “I’m a hero now!” The first skill was clearly the fshy one every hero possessed. It would transform me into a monstrous powerhouse for ten minutes—a raen times stronger, a force to be reed with. But, of course, the drawbacks were intense. I could only use it once every three weeks, and what exactly did “hero status” even mean?

  “Oh, mighty God! May I ask when I should use the Hero Call?”

  “When I deem the fight worthy of a hero. You may only call upon it in dire situations.”

  Oh, bummer. So the fshy skills would only e out for major events, and my dreams of soloing bosses just took a serious hit.

  [Ice Daype: 6-marvel | Lv. Novice 1 | Mana: 20% INTEffect: Slows your enemies for 20%, add an ICE damage to melee attacks (INT)Duration: 10minutesCooldown: 25minuts* as you increase the proficy, the slow effect is increased, cooldown is decreased * you o pierce armor with your attack, otherwise the damage is halved[Ice Blood]Type: 6-marvel passive | Lv. Novice 1Effect: for every 50% of your HP taken, you increase the ICE damage and decrease the pain up to your [Reality Limit] (100%) by 1%* as you increase the proficy, the pertage version is improved* stacked; if you are not hurt in five mihe effect disappearsThe real kicker was Ice Da was impossible not to get excited about this skill. If I could boost my INT up to level 20 with det gear, I’d be adding around 22 ICE damage on top of my staff’s base damage. Unreal. If this wasn’t borderline cheating, then I didn’t know what was.

  Of course, there was a catch—because of the whole “ice-blood” Hero theme, I had to be literally bathed in an enemy’s blood to get the full effect. Without it, I’d be dealing only half the damage. No ce of one-shotting any armored bosses.

  Great. And guess what? Almost every boss is armored.

  Stupid game.

  The biggest drawback, though, was that it required melee attacks. The max reach of a melee on was about twenty feet, if memory served. But which on had that reach? My warrior days were all about swords—I’d been a bit of a sweek back then.

  “Yes, my child. Use my powers well.” The strange, idscape vanished, and suddenly, I was ba the cold dungeon floor.

  I checked my skills again, half-expeg it to be a dream. Nope—one of the past heroes would not be a hero this time. Sorry, unknown Dmitry, but the Exploiter just stole your fame!

  [Attention! A new Hero has been born!]As I sneaked past the Goolems, a world message fshed across the s. Great. Exiting the duook lohan I’d hoped, thanks to a few frantic sprints along the way. Naturally, sneaking wasly a priest’s strong suit. Pesky details.

  Only a handful of pyers were l around the entra was a level 5 dungeon, after all, and just a few hours after unch—the plebs weren’t quite ready to face the dangers yet.

  Despite that, a thief, who had formed a party with a warrior, approached me and asked, “Are you a priest? Wanna do dung?”

  His words caught me off guard, and I sized them up: typical low-level noobs camping out at every dungeorahanks, guys, but nht now. Besides, you’re only level two. If I were you, I’d head bad farm the wolves—that’d be more effit.”

  “Shut up, bitch. Dung is the pce to level up. What do you know?” he shot back, his tone dripping with irritation.

  Well, I was only trying to help. What an idiot. I shrugged. “Suit yourself,” I said, and walked away.

  Besides, I had a aff from the dungeon, and I was giddy about trying out the loot. I o get to Main Vilge Number Four for aification scroll. Or maybe wake up Lucas? I gri the thought of him fast asleep and me dragging him back to the game. Wait, why am I grinning? This stupid game!

  I’d have loved to milk more ez XP from the rare Goolems, but I didn’t dare tempt the wrath of the AI. The anti-exploit system was no joke—using the same exploit too often would trigger it, and I didn’t want some heaven knight hunting me down just because I got greedy. The thought sent a chill down my spihose knights were level five hundred powerhouses.

  From the dungeorance, a trail branched off toward several vilges, leavih a simple choice. I decided on Main Vilge Number Four, where a few famous pyers had started. Plus, Lisa was nearby, so there was a ce she’d gohere torinning, I set off with the fidence of a true exploiter. Even my heels weren’t so bad on level ground, and the rhythmic cp with each step was oddly satisfying, fillih a newfound swagger.

  As I walked, I pulled up the report window and typed up a detailed message about the hole we’d dug and how I’d slipped into the dungeon. My report robably more meticulous than necessary—thanks to years of professional test reports, I couldn’t help myself. My bug reports were always fwless!

  It felt like an instinct, hard-coded into my DNA. I noticed an input box at the bottom for an employee ID to receive the report, so after a moment’s thought, I entered Ian’s number. He was a friend and a regur at the bar, so we’d cross paths eventually, and I’d fill him in oails.

  My route led me through an area poputed by gray wolves. Gray wolves. The name sounded noble, but iy, they were smaller than Labradors and covered in mud from rolling around all day. Stupid wolves. But they’d make perfect practice targets for my new skills. And if things got dicey, I could always take cover he rangers.

  But when I g the activation runes for Ice Dance, my jaw dropped.

  You’ve got to be kidding me, you damnable god!

  I ched my fist and punched a nearby tree stump. To activate the Dance, I’d have to cast a ridiculous series of three ruhe liwisted over each other in six intricate loops, so I stared at the patterns, muttering curses as I tried to mimic them.

  Why couldn’t it be like warrior ts? Those were easy! But no, Nathan had to design it this way. If you wao py as an “intelligent” character, you had to do “intelligent” things. If you wao py as a warrior, you just bashed stuff! I felt a wave of fatigue hit me as I focused, but I shrugged it off. No way was I stopping until I tested every skill.

  Grabbing a random stick, I tapped into my mana, trying to visualize the ruhe mental part? Surprisingly manageable. But my hand refused to cooperate, twisting the lines in all the wrong ways.

  Again.

  And again.

  Again. Again. Again.

  Each time my spell fizzled, my frustration grew until a nearby tree felt my wrath as I snapped my stick over it.

  Five sticks ter, and an hour of failed attempts, I finally succeeded. The three runes glowed with a blue light, shimmering and waiting for activation.

  “Ice Dance!” I shouted, and a chill crept over my skin. A satisfying crag sound filled the air as a thin yer of hoarfrost coated the surrounding ground, while a mist curled around my body and my mighty “super-stick.” Now what?

  I took a sip of wine, letting the intoxication numb the iable pain, and dashed toward a patch of ground where those ridiculous wolves were busy rolling in mud. I spotted one happily boung iicky, muddy mess, probably reveling in the filth. Whatever.

  [Gray wolf Lv.2]Type: 1-on | HP: 50/50 “e here, Wolfie, let Auntie Princess crush your bones!” I taunted, brandishing my ice-covered stick.

  The creature spotted me a out a roar; the ground vibrating as it charged, flinging clumps of mud in its wake. As Wolfie barreled closer aered my ice kingdom, his pace slowed just enough for me to read his movements like an open book—it was a noob level mob after all.

  When we cshed, I sidestepped his predictable cw swipe, even managing it in these cursed shoes. The satisfying crack of splintered wood filled the air as my mighty stick ected with his head.

  [Critical hit! Target lost 7HP (1x2 normal + 3x2 ICE damage)]My enemy yelped, and I grinned even as mud spttered ay dress. “Now we’re talking! You, dear Wolfie, are merely the pitiful stepping stone in my brilliant career!” The fight was over quickly, ing me a mere 2XP. But that wasn’t the point—I was grinning like an idiot. For the first time since I logged in, I actually had things under trol.

  I resumed my trek toward Main Vilge Number Four, but drowsiness weighed down my steps. Realizing I wouldn’t make it there awake, I logged out.

  A strange screeg sound filled the room as the capsule slid open, and I reached for my shirt hanging nearby. With a grunt, I pulled it over my head, only to find it seemed to have grown while I ying. But it wasn’t fitting as smoothly as before—my boobs were in the way. Wait, what?!