I blinked a few times at the glowing system notice, trying to wrap my head around the message. The God of Ice Blood? If I membered correctly, he was one of the original twelve gods. Probably should’ve paid more attention to the lore, huh? Damn! But hey, meeting a god is always a good thing… right?
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[You entered the legendary location Ice Mountain.]</td>
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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 an eternal engagement ring? OP item that would help a lot.
Towering mountains loomed around me, their snow-capped 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 scientist who claimed he loved Arctic icebergs more than whiskey—an unforgivable offense, resulting in my legendary cold shoulder. Aren’t I funny, Lucy? Damn, she’s stuck in the future…
I grinned at the memory, shivering as a blast of icy wind tore through the valley. The sudden chill hit me hard, making me suddenly aware of the wide, frozen lake stretching before me. Its crystal-clear ice gleamed under the muted sunlight, reflecting fractured shards of light that danced like if you look through a glass bottle.
I found myself unexpectedly 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 landscape.
The sound of my feet echoing off the ice walls created an eerie, thunderous clap that sent chills down my spine. Why wouldn’t it, when it sounded like a marching army? The sky glowed a deep, blood-red hue, like a permanent sunset, while the waterfall cascaded in a rich crimson that froze just before reaching the crystal-clear lake below.
“What a strange place,” 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, persistence and wits,” a deep voice 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 Flame-God, Dmitry? Yes! My eyes sparkled. As everyone else, I used to watch his videos; the unique hero phase was so flashy, 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 cringe. Whatever, nobody’s recording this. Right?
Just to be extra sure, I scanned the valley one more time.
“You have the potential for greatness! You are the only child of destiny to pass my trial,” the voice boomed. 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 expensive bottle.
Quickly, I lowered my head, hoping the cringe-worthy roleplay would be enough. “I haven’t devoted myself to any god yet, nor did I plan to. But... a chance to be the hero of my era? That’s tempting.”
“I like you! So young, so full of energy! Very well, so be it!”
<table style="background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgba(0, 75, 122, 0.93); margin: 10px auto; width: 90%; border: none; border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 2px; padding: 0">
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<td style="text-align: center; margin: 3px; padding: 5px; color: rgba(218, 213, 206, 1) !important; border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25) !important; background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1)">[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 Dance unlocked]
[Passive skill Ice Blood unlocked]</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; margin: 3px; padding: 5px; color: rgba(218, 213, 206, 1) !important; border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25) !important; background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1)">[Hero Call]
Type: 7-legendary
Effect: All your stats are increased by the magnitude of 10
Duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown: 512 hours
* type is increasable; magnitude can be increased; potentially added another effects
* for the activation, the player needs to in the position of hero * this skill is inherent, thus doesn’t count toward the limit of skills</td>
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“My god!” I couldn’t contain my excitement as I read through the skill descriptions. “I’m a hero now!” The first skill was clearly the flashy one every hero possessed. It would transform me into a monstrous powerhouse for ten minutes—a ranker ten times stronger, a force to be reckoned 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 flashy skills would only come out for major events, and my dreams of soloing bosses just took a serious hit.
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<td style="text-align: center; margin: 3px; padding: 5px; color: rgba(218, 213, 206, 1) !important; border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25) !important; background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1)">[Ice Dance]
Type: 6-marvel | Lv. Novice 1 | Mana: 20% INT
Effect: Slows your enemies for 20%, add an ICE damage to melee attacks (INT)
Duration: 10minutes
Cooldown: 25minuts
* as you increase the proficiency, the slow effect is increased, cooldown is decreased * you need to pierce armor with your attack, otherwise the damage is halved</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; margin: 3px; padding: 5px; color: rgba(218, 213, 206, 1) !important; border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25) !important; background-image: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1)">[Ice Blood]
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Type: 6-marvel passive | Lv. Novice 1
Effect: 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 proficiency, the percentage conversion is improved
* stacked; if you are not hurt in five minutes, the effect disappears</td>
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The real kicker was Ice Dance—it was impossible not to get excited about this skill. If I could boost my INT up to level 20 with decent 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 chance 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 weapon was about twenty feet, if memory served. But which weapon had that reach? My warrior days were all about swords—I’d been a bit of a sword geek back then.
“Yes, my child. Use my powers well.” The strange, icy landscape vanished, and suddenly, I was back on the cold dungeon floor.
I checked my skills again, half-expecting 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!
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As I sneaked past the Goolems, a world message flashed across the screen. Great. Exiting the dungeon took longer than I’d hoped, thanks to a few frantic sprints along the way. Naturally, sneaking wasn’t exactly a priest’s strong suit. Pesky details.
Only a handful of players were loitering around the entrance. It was a level 5 dungeon, after all, and just a few hours after launch—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 dungeon entrance. “Thanks, guys, but not right now. Besides, you’re only level two. If I were you, I’d head back and farm the wolves—that’d be more efficient.”
“Shut up, bitch. Dung is the place 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 new staff from the dungeon, and I was giddy about trying out the loot. I needed to get to Main Village Number Four for an identification scroll. Or maybe wake up Lucas? I grinned at 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 spine; those knights were level five hundred powerhouses.
From the dungeon entrance, a trail branched off toward several villages, leaving me with a simple choice. I decided on Main Village Number Four, where a few famous players had started. Plus, Lisa was nearby, so there was a chance she’d gone there too.
Grinning, I set off with the confidence of a true exploiter. Even my heels weren’t so bad on level ground, and the rhythmic clap with each step was oddly satisfying, filling me with 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 was probably more meticulous than necessary—thanks to years of professional test reports, I couldn’t help myself. My bug reports were always flawless!
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 regular at the bar, so we’d cross paths eventually, and I’d fill him in on the details.
My route led me through an area populated by gray wolves. Gray wolves. The name sounded noble, but in reality, 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 near the rangers.
But when I glanced at the activation runes for Ice Dance, my jaw dropped.
You’ve got to be kidding me, you damnable god!
I clenched my fist and punched a nearby tree stump. To activate the Dance, I’d have to cast a ridiculous series of three runes. The lines twisted 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 chants? Those were easy! But no, Nathan had to design it this way. If you wanted to play as an “intelligent” character, you had to do “intelligent” things. If you wanted to play 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 runes. The 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 later, 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 crackling sound filled the air as a thin layer 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 inevitable pain, and dashed toward a patch of ground where those ridiculous wolves were busy rolling in mud. I spotted one happily bouncing in the sticky, muddy mess, probably reveling in the filth. Whatever.
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Type: 1-common | HP: 50/50</td>
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“Come here, Wolfie, let Auntie Princess crush your bones!” I taunted, brandishing my ice-covered stick.
The creature spotted me and let out a roar; the ground vibrating as it charged, flinging clumps of mud in its wake. As Wolfie barreled closer and entered 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 clashed, I sidestepped his predictable claw swipe, even managing it in these cursed shoes. The satisfying crack of splintered wood filled the air as my mighty stick connected with his head.
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My enemy yelped, and I grinned even as mud splattered across my dress. “Now we’re talking! You, dear Wolfie, are merely the pitiful stepping stone in my brilliant career!” The fight was over quickly, netting 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 control.
I resumed my trek toward Main Village Number Four, but drowsiness weighed down my steps. Realizing I wouldn’t make it there awake, I logged out.
A strange screeching 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 was playing. But it wasn’t fitting as smoothly as before—my boobs were in the way. Wait, what?!