“Isn’t the gatekeeper of hell supposed to be a giant three headed dog?”

Meat Shield looked slightly offended at being called a dog, but there was also a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“That’s just a rumor. A baseless rumor…”

“You’re really weak for a gatekeeper of hell, you know…”

Meat Shield wagged her tail angrily.

“That’s not true. I’m the strongest pet in the world, you will see my growth potential one day~”

“…”

“Useless cat.”

Evelyn chuckled as she watched me bicker with Meat Shield.

“Because Spoon is such a nice, handsome boy with a cute cat-chan, I’d like you to do a favor for me~”

My quest senses were tingling. I was interested to see what kind of quest a succubus hiding in a human city would offer.

“Well, you see…”

Evelyn paused and began to blush.

“It’s a little embarrassing. One night, I was changing after a nice steamy bath on the roof of my shop, when suddenly a biiiiig gust of wind blows away my favorite pair of special panties onto the street below. And then a soldier picked it up.”

Her face was beet red.

“Because my panties have special magic, it makes them very alluring to human males. So the soldier did b-b-bad things with it and then sold it to a merchant, who sold it to someone else… and now it’s in that perverted Duke of Talos’ treasure room.”

Disregarding the subject matter, this did not sound like it was going to be an easy request.

“Can you get my panties back for me? They’re my favorite pair, made with moonlight silk, which is really rare!”

Quest Evelyn's Favor Objective Return Evelyn's special moonlight silk panties, which are currently in the possession of the Duke of Talos. Type Unique Quest Difficulty S Rewards Increased affinity with succubus race. Increased attractiveness to succubus race. Evelyn's special skillbook. Time limit 3 days

I blinked several times. My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. An S ranked quest!

The quest rewards were a bit confusing. Increased affinity and attractiveness to the succubus race? What does that even mean?

The third reward was very interesting though. A named NPC succubus’ unique skillbook, as a reward for completing an S rank quest, must be insanely good.

The only concern was the quest’s difficulty. At my level, there should be zero chance to complete an S rank quest. But there was no punishment for failure, so I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“If Spoon-kun accomplishes many good deeds and becomes a hero, you might be able to ask the Duke for a special reward~”

I shook my head.

“I’m not strong enough to be a hero yet.”

Evelyn chuckled, causing her breasts to bounce. Her figure was mesmerizing.

“I know. Actually, the reason I chose you is because I have a feeling you are very good with your hands, and you are resourceful to have a demon kitty for a pet~”

She winked at me.

I got what she was hinting at. She wanted me to steal it. Steal from the duke of a major city's personal vault. No wonder this was an S tier quest. This was suicide, and the quest's time limit meant that there wasn't much room for extensive preparation or trickery.

“I will try, but no promises.”

“Thank you~”

Evelyn hugged my arm and rubbed her face affectionately on my shoulder. It was a bit too much for a healthy young male like me, so I tried to change the subject.

“By the way, what is your special skillbook? It says that’s a reward for completing the quest.”

“That’s a secret~ Trust me it’s good~”

It was an S tier quest reward. I had high hopes.

“I’ll do my best.”

Before I left her shop, there was one last thing I had to do. I needed special equipment.

“Do you sell any equipment with high magic resistance?”

“Yes, take a look~”

[Fine Sorcerer’s Robes]

A fine pair of dark navy sorcerer’s robes.

Fine

Item rank: E

+10 intelligence

+10 magic resistance

+5 defense

Level requirement: 10

I couldn’t use this. It wasn’t just because of the level restriction—it was because the robes amplified intelligence. The increase in intelligence would make Thunderbolt's recoil scale even harder. What I needed was a piece of equipment that only had magic resistance.

“Evelyn, do you have any equipment that doesn’t boost intelligence, only magic resistance? I can’t use any equipment that boosts intelligence.”

“Interesting request, let me take a look!”

Evelyn floated to the back of her store and started flipping through the robes. She couldn’t find anything there, and then moved onto a few dusty boxes on the shelf.

“Sorry, this is all I found~”

She looked a bit guilty as she handed me a pair of disheveled robes.

[Sorcerer’s Forgotten Dark Robes]

A second hand pair of dark robes. Because of its condition, its stats are lower than normal.

Common

Item rank: F

+1 intelligence

+20 magic resistance

Level requirement: 1

“This is perfect! I’ll take it.”

I eyed a pair of rubber boots in one of the dusty boxes.

“Are you selling those?”

“Those are just rain boots, are you sure you want them?”

“Let me see.”

Rubber was a good insulator against electricity. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had anti-electric properties. I took a look at its properties.

[Rain Boots]

A lonely pair of rain boots.

Common

Item rank: F

+10 electric resistance

+10 fire resistance

Level requirement: 1

“I’ll take them.”

“Okay~”

I paid for the [Sorcerer’s Forgotten Dark Robes] and [Rain Boots], and began hunting for information about the duke’s palace.

==========

A noble bumped shoulders with Books and sneered.

“Watch where you’re going, commoner.”

A lesser potion of health fell from the box of goods Books was carrying, shattering on the pavement. Books felt like crying. The noble had two bodyguards with him, so if he talked back he’d lose more than just a potion.

Books respawned at the capital of the kingdom after dying during the goblin invasion.

The capital was a populous center for trade and wealth, but there were some downsides. The first thing he noticed was that the capital had a stringent social hierarchy. Commoners lived in the slums around the city, while the nobles resided within the gated inner city.

The outer city was a busy commercial district, and nobles and commoners shared the space. And that was where he currently was, trying to make a living.

He was the Merchant of Avarice, which came with the [Potioneering] skill, a skill that spawned random potions during combat. Books used this ability to farm potions that he could later sell, by aggroing weaker monsters.

The problem was that there were no weak monsters around the city. He spent a good amount of time running from giant boars and other monsters that could easily kill him, all the while trying to avoid using any potions so he could sell them later on.

The lesser potion of health that just dropped when that snobby noble bumped into him was the product of an hour of hard grinding [Potioneering]. He wanted to punch the noble in the face.

Books bit his tongue and told himself to stay calm. His time would come. After all, wasn’t his goal on Eclipse Online to become rich?

===========

I logged in the next day and sold all the beginner equipment in the Dimension Room. It came out to a decent sum of gold.

For the rest of the day, I tracked the security around the duke’s palace as if I was in a heist movie. I was starting to appreciate the power that came from my [Dimension Room] skill. As long as I wasn’t in combat, I could escape from any situation, or hide for as long as I wanted.

I was almost seen by patrolling guards twice today, but [Dimension Room] saved me. However, if the guards detected me for even a second, [Dimension Room] was no longer an escape option, so I had to be meticulous with my portal timing.

I needed to be pre-warned. If only there was some sort of early warning system for guards...

That’s where Meat Shield came in handy.

“Good girl, here’s another treat.”

I flicked a pork jelly bean at Meat Shield, who caught it and munched with a content face.

“I want a belly rub now, master~”

…

The things I had to put up with to use this stupid cat as a lookout.

It was ingenious though. The patrolling guards saw Meat Shield plenty of times, but she didn’t set off their aggro because she was just a cat. Just a cat doing cat things.

“Nya~ a little lower~”

Meat Shield stretched as she enjoyed her belly rub.

…

It took every fibre of self control I had in my body to resist the urge to strangle this useless, spoiled cat.

During work the next day, I drew a crude map of the duke’s palace on my phone, so I could plan out my heist.

“What are you up to?”

My coworker Yura was looking over my shoulder at my phone. She was a year younger than me and was very pretty, with big eyes and wide delicate lips. Her body was petite and slender at 160 cm, with a large chest that was obvious through her white work clothes. She looked like a real life manhwa character.

“Just something for a game…”

Yura smiled charmingly.

“You mean Eclipse?”

I nodded. Even with millions of active players in Korea, I was still surprised that a girl like Yura was knowledgeable about Eclipse.

Her soft face was mesmerizing. She was completely my type.

“Your eyes are really pretty."

….

Yura’s eyes widened in surprise at the bold statement.

I got too distracted by her face and said something without a filter.

“I was just thinking out loud, sorry…”

“It’s okay.”

Looking slightly flushed, she politely left the documents I needed to review on my desk, before turning around to head back. I wasn’t sure if that was a good reaction or a bad one.

I reviewed the documents thoroughly before pulling out a pen to continue landscaping the duke's palace mansion.