Marty MacMillan's heart was finally at ease.

He was a very laid-back person, so he never showed it, but deep down he was beleaguered. What parent would want to leave their offspring with back-breaking burdens? And the manor in which he raised his children and grandchildren was exactly this. It never depreciated, so they could always sell it and find something cheaper, only why force them? That would surely be a sad day.

Now, however, the future looked bright. He did a rough calculation, and even discounting Diana's sheer luck, which would allow her to make up for her failed Olympic attempts and put her archery skills to excellent use, turning her into a real powerhouse after she was done with all the conquests Carl had planned, their combined income was nothing to scoff at.

A rank 4 giant red crab habitat numbered roughly 800 of them, potentially over 40 gold worth of claws and legs, some 12-14 tonnes of cargo. Thomas and Diana were so efficient, the empowered arrows delivered to the brains so smoothly, that they didn't have to lure the mobs far from the pack at all to stay safe, their neck-breaking pace on track to clear the dungeon in 8 hours. And if the dwarf slipped up and died, he could still comfortably resume his task with 10% weakness, only losing a bit of steam, or better yet – switch with his son.

At this rate the natural mana regeneration more than sufficed, so there was no need for potions, and the only cost was in the irrecoverable common arrows, 60 copper a piece, totaling about 6-7 gold together with the fine bow's maintenance, plus in the NPC wages, closing the tab well below 10 gold, and half of that if inferior arrows happened to be viable at higher skill levels.

This would add up to 30 gold of net profit a day! In a rank 4 dungeon, for heaven's sake!

Unfortunately, there was more to it, and Marty understood it perfectly. It was a rock-solid consensus that crabs were a reliable, but slow grind, so how could they earn as much as professional blood sports gamers did in the black wolves' den?

The biggest obstacle was not killing, but loot transportation, which had a time limit on it. For one, the bodies of slain mobs would disappear after 24 hours, but it was much worse than that – only fresh crab parts harvested by expert pickers were worth 100% of the bounty, dropping 10% per hour until they expired in 10 hours at best. Try carrying 12-14 tonnes over 2 kilometers … or 60-70 kg over 400 kilometers … on sand and gravel …

No, that would never do. The whole point of clearing a dungeon was to take advantage of instantaneous recall, saving a monumental amount of effort. So long as one party member remained inside, the others would pack up an inordinate load until they couldn't move, teleport to the expedition hall, cash in, then run back unencumbered from the portal. Rinse and repeat.

After 8 hours, however, the average quarry would be almost 4 hours old, and even if Marty and Peter quit the team to make room for 2 more NPCs, 3 of them would still need a few hours to clean up, reducing the end bounties to scraps. And 8 hours was already ridiculously fast, unreachable to anyone but pros …

That's why this strategy was designed for – and only applicable in – the rank 5 giant stone crab habitat. They had 25% extra value-to-weight ratio, were twice the size, and more importantly – twice less numerous! If they could clear two of those dungeons a day and extract 40-50% of their total 100 gold worth of prize …

And if Radiant Bulwark delegated his best archer to them so that Marty and Peter could lead a second team …

Carl was indeed a genius. Not only had he nurtured a group of loyal natives, which were poor to begin with and more than happy to work for him, but he had also contrived such a money-minting factory. Now, all that remained was to hastily promote some talented NPCs to the expert level, designate them as looters, assign a couple physically fit porters to each of them, then graduate to the much more challenging stone crabs. Meanwhile …

… Merciful Breeze was yet to display her newfound capabilities!

“I'm here!” the girl cheered.

“Hey, welcome back, cuz! What spell did you learn?” Looming Oak, who returned from unloading a minute ahead of her, greeted with anticipation.

“Hehe, I'm curious as well. Show us, please,” Fleeting Time requested with a grin, pointing at the two busy combatants.

Suddenly, the crab Ingolf was stalking started behaving aberrantly …

“Huh?” The dwarf balked.

“What– … ! Cuz, what did you do to it?” Lissome Shot gaped.

“Hurry, it's draining my mana!” the joyful healer urged.

For as long as she kept her staff trained on the animal, it resembled a drunk, having completely lost its bearings. It didn't defend at all when approached and lifted up for a swift execution.

“Wow! This spell is amazing!” Ingolf celebrated, while Looming Oak goggled in disbelief.

“Guys! This can double or triple your clearing speed!” the young man realized with shock.

“Quadruple!” Lissome Shot corrected with stupefaction.

“Haha, not so fast!” Merciful Breeze laughed with amusement. “It's so heavy on mana, I'd need to continuously drink great quality potions to use it non-stop. Only after I've gained some proficiency could I switch to good quality.”

“Oh … that's a shame …” The other girl deflated.

“Still, I'm loving it!” Her brother stood firm. “What's it called?”

“Confuse. It's a peak grade 0 debuff that does just that to a mortal creature's senses, rendering it helpless, especially the unintelligent ones. Players with high willpower and evolved creatures can resist it, though. Normally costs 61 mana per second at entry level, giving me only 7 seconds until I'm drained, but decreases by 20% upon each rank-up, down to 20 mana per second at master level. It also grows stronger and can inflict lasting effects! Temporarily, of course,” Merciful Breeze vigorously explained.

“61?! Ouch …” Looming Oak bemoaned.

“Hmm, didn't Carl say you can rest at the sanctuary and be extravagant with mana potions for the sake of quick progress?” Ingolf noticed. “Wouldn't common potions be enough at master level?”

“Tommy, for crying out loud, be more considerate!” the old cleric pleaded with a wistful scowl. “Do you not understand how much capital Carl would have to invest for her to get there? I'm afraid a thousand gold wouldn't be an adequate loan. And even at master level, that's what, 90 potions, 45 gold per hour? Come on, forget about it!”

“Well, she doesn't have to fire it non-stop, does she?” the dwarf argued. “Only in key moments. She also mentioned lasting effects. We could work out an economical strategy, no? And … woah!” He inhaled with a start. “Wouldn't she be just as useful to Carl on conquests as Diana?”

Fleeting Time sighed deeply. Did gold coins grow on trees in Immortal Frontier? Everyone, however, was now looking at him expectantly … what were they thinking?!

“What if I used inferior arrows to fluently draw aggro in-between killing the crabs at hand? They're dirt cheap, right?” Lissome Shot proposed. “I'd time it to form a mob train, and Mercy would only need to confuse them for a second, every few seconds. Wouldn't that work?”

“That's … a very tight rope you want us to walk, Liss,” her grandfather cautioned with resignation.

“Ahh … If only I had picked differently,” the quiet Merciful Breeze lamented sorrowfully, drooping her head.

The tired elder sighed once more, brooded for a while, then initiated a communication.

“Uncle Time, how are the crabs treating you?”

“Haha, your advice was spot on, brother Carl! With the help from your NPCs, we'll be raking in the big bucks soon!”

“Glad to hear it. Need anything else?”

“Listen, brother Carl, it's like this …

The two men and two women stared at their patriarch in silence, intermittently disturbed by the crunching sounds produced by Phileas dismembering the slain crustaceans in the background.

“I think … he's making a call. Come on Hannah, we've got some inferior potions for you!” Ingolf encouraged, dragging the girls away and into battle.

…

“What? She doesn't have Mana Conduit? Have her reset her account right away and choose it, max out mental constitution while she's at it, or– … wait …”

“Are you sure, brother Carl? She has only just learned this super-hard spell, spending over 60 gold … and she'll have to do it again.”

“No matter, it'll be much easier the second time. This Confuse has me thoroughly intrigued, I admit. What proficiencies did she pick, anyway? She has 20 perception, right? Why not Mana Conduit?”

“Yes, she has 25, even. And … I never thought we'd be playing in the big leagues, so … I told her to go for Mana Battery instead.”

“Oh? What's that?”

“Doubles the mana capacity.”

“Wow! Requirements?”

“20 intelligence and 12 allocation points. If she drops it together with Pain Enthusiast, then she'll have the 16 points she needs.”

“Argh, if only I picked it in place of Pain Fanatic …”

“Heh, it served you quite well, didn't it, brother Carl?”

“Can this perk be obtained?”

“All of them can, but I doubt it's that simple. Not everything can be solved with money.”

“Well, now I know what I'll do once the full version comes around. I'll also lower my willpower to 5 and increase agility to 20.”

“Whoa! Brother Carl, what's that for?”

“Ah, I didn't tell you yet. Exposure to pain launches willpower through the roof, and I literally mean turbo mode. I'll be back to 25 and automatically unlock Pain Freak within an hour of tormenting agony.”

“What?!”

“A special sauce I acquired, hehe. Would take me several days without it. Maybe a day with enough healing and dedication.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah, a million points of exposure – or two million, whatever – is not that much, actually. If only for the tutorial, which has the arena where you can't die, I'd recommend for anyone who wishes to go full-realism to reset their account and circumvent the 1-day cooldown, while opting out of willpower and pain resistance perks.”

“Brother Carl … not everyone is a real-life pain freak like you …”

“True, and it's girls we're talking about, so it's up to them.”

“Huh … ? What are you– … ?! W–why are you saying it … in plural form? You're not suggesting …”

“Liss needs Mana Conduit as well.”

“Oh boy …”

“Relax, Uncle Time. They're both constantly protected by you guys, so full realism would be greatly advantageous for them. They'd gain proficiencies incredibly fast, and reach mastery within a day. With my support, that is. It's still hundreds of gold, after all. You would also not need expert pickers, only advanced. But like I said, it's up to them if they want to go full-realism, and then if they want to forego willpower to regain it through suffering on top of that. Either way, I'll help them get a rank 5 bow and staff … wait … can Mercy dual-wield wands in order to confuse two enemies at once?”

“Y-yes … theoretically … wands merely have shorter range and lesser amplification than staves, but–”

“Great, wands it is. I'll tell Bushido to get her some fine quality gear as well.”

“Brother Carl …”

“What about you boys, any desire flaming up in you? Is Ingolf preparing himself for a trial of fire, or did I misread it?”

“Haha! Brother Carl … ! I– …”

“Cool your heads and consider it carefully, all of you. It's a big decision to make. No pressure from me, by the way. Just have fun. And one more thing to keep in mind – the instructor I hinted at previously is a master, too, so advise Liss not to neglect tracking foundations when rebuilding her ranger.”

“…”

“The spies are watching you all because of me, aren't they?”

“Y-yes …”

“Right, I'll send Toothy with her to shake the tail off. Best when I'm asleep.”

“M-mhh …”

That was too many bombshells for Marty's battered old spirit, and all of them in rapid succession …

…

Fleeting Time glanced at his son, who scanned his own.

“I'm know what I want, but I'm not going to push anyone against their will.” Ingolf was first to voice his resolution.

“The girls are switching, and you think I'll stay behind? Who do you take me for?” Looming Oak showed his outrage.

“Oh? I reckoned you were hesitating.”

“Pfft.”

“No guts, no glory, eh?” The old cleric smiled solemnly. “Just don't tell your grandma.”

“Argh …” the dwarf groaned with a realization. “Don't tell you mum, either …”