Next day. Early morning

Joe was awake. The man sat at the table and drank some coffee with a chocolate bar. He needed calories. It was his second breakfast.

Yesterday Joe had returned home late at night and slept just for a few hours. Then the man woke up. He felt rested but was very hungry. The system demanded to replenish the spent energy, thus the man headed to the kitchen and cooked some food.

Soon Joe finished his second breakfast and returned to the living room, where he sat at the table and continued to do his new hobby: origami.

The bus driver took a new banknote and began to make a cute dog. He had already spent almost all of his useless money on this. Many cute paper animals stood on the table. 100 banknote were used for cats, 50 for dogs, 20 for squirrels, 10 for dolphins, 5 for crabs, 2 for frogs, 1 for turtles.

Soon Joe finished his small project and observed all his savings, which had become nothing so far.

“Cute.” He signed and relaxed in the chair. At least this money still can be used for something.

The man didn't want to go outside to do grinding. He earned little. For instance, during yesterday's evening he had earned about [200] experience. It was barely enough to buy food for a day. Besides, the bus had almost run out of fuel.

I need to refill the gas tank.

The system – in Joe's stats - asked [1] experience per gallon.

I'm curious how much a gas station asks for a gallon?

Besides, Joe doubted that there was a gas station that would accept money instead of experience.

Joe took his phone from his pocket and began to read some news.

The army continued to block the dungeons across the country, but as it turned out not all of them. Some players had already found a small number of hidden or unguarded ones and uploaded a few videos about those dungeons' exploration.

Joe watched those videos with great interest. As the man thought, he needed to prepare well before going to explore a dungeon in the future. The dungeons were dangerous, because every party – which had uploaded those videos - had sustained losses.

Many people speculated about the so-called “Wandering bosses”. It turned out that there were three types of those bosses: humanoids, animals, and undead. They were dangerous opponents who had already killed many people around the world.

More players began to gather in front of the city hall, their demand was the same: a free access to the dungeons.

Some guilds had appeared. In forums they recruited players in their ranks.

As Joe read the news, he had found that the bazaar had been opened in Evergreen City recently, where people could sell or buy their loot. The man had remembered about the white assassin belt that still was in his inventory. That item was useless for Joe, thus he decided to sell it. Besides, the man was curious to see the bazaar.

Joe grabbed his bat and strode to the front door.

+++

The headquarters of the National Security Service. The same day

The chief of Analytical Defense Department (ADD) – which was a subordinate organization of NSS - sat at the table in his own cabinet and studied the documents. The situation outside was awful.

A week ago the appearance of the system had caused a turmoil across the country, and a lot of absurd rumors began to circulate in numerous offices of NSS' headquarters. The corridors were full of agents and officials who hurried somewhere, but in reality they didn't know what was coming off or what they should do.

The parliament had gone mad. The president looked lost. The people wanted answers, but no one could give them that.

Actually, the whole planet was in turmoil. The mysterious system has appeared everywhere. As a result, many radical groups activated their cells all around the globe, and the record of killed NSS' agents went up drastically.

The chief of the ADD sighed. The army had sustained terrible casualties following their attack on the dungeons the day before yesterday. So far, many soldiers were dead, but they managed to bring back some crystals. It turned out that those crystals were very valuable, especially those who could prolong life. Taking into account that many top officials were old, the chief of the ADD realized that those old politicians would do anything to prolong their life, because no one wanted to die.

The chief of the ADD – mister Nelson - took a new document. Unexpectedly the money had lost its value, because many people began to accept a payment in the system's experience. It turned out that no one wanted money anymore. During the week they had become just useless paper.

All day yesterday and the whole past night the top brass debated until they had reached an agreement this morning. The old greedy men – who also wanted to level up their stats - decided to collect taxes in experience. It was feasible. The system could do that.

As well, the brass concluded to open an access to the dungeons, but not for free. It would cost some experience to everyone who wanted to get in. Besides, the top officials had made a decision to establish the Dungeon Management Department (DMD), which would manage the dungeons and all related affairs.

It was decided that a head of the new department would be Rut Nordin, current vice-chief of the ADD. She was a smart and hard-working person with a perfect service record, but the chief of the ADD firmly believed that Miss Nordin didn't know such conceptions as "friendship", "loyalty", and "mercy". She was an unscrupulous careerist; a cruel machine that moved to her goal. No one could be safe beside her. Besides, mister Nelson knew that miss Nordin aimed at his position as the head of the ADD. Actually, many wanted to sit in his luxury cabinet, but no one had accomplished that yet.

It seems that Miss Nordin will not become an exception.

The chief of the ADD smirked. He looked at the documents on his table.

DMD must become an important department in the future, and its head will carry a lot of influence. Definitely, I need to place my people there.

Soon the chief of the ADD heard a gentle knocking.

She has come, He realized.

At first the old man felt a desire to curse, but mister Nelson had a good upbringing. It was beyond him to say such inappropriate words.

"Please, come in!"

A beautiful high blonde woman came into the cabinet. Miss Nordin wore business attire, and smiled so sincerely as if she was truly glad to see the chief of the ADD.

"Greetings, miss Nordin," the chief of the ADD said warmly. "I'm so happy that you've come. Please, take a seat."

He smiled and gestured at the chair in front of his table.

+++

Rut left the cabinet of her superior, and a warm smile turned into a sly grin. Not long ago she plotted against her boss, because she wanted to become a new head of the ADD, and then of the NSS.

But a head of the DMD? I like that!

+++

Joe had found the bazaar. It was located beside a large abandoned factory on the outskirts, and a crowd of players had already been there. The players wore gray clothes.

Joe left the parked bus and – holding his bat - came up to the crowd. Here everyone carried some weapons.

The bazaar was small and looked poorly. Almost all items here were of gray color, and - as a rule - they cost cheaply.

The man spoke with the players. He learned that the system's loot could be divided into the main categories:

Items of your class. Items not of your class. Items for any class.

Joe learned that the system's items can be damaged or even broken. It turned out that some players had broken their weapons and looked for a replacement.

The man walked around, and soon he found a blacksmith at the bazaar. The blacksmith was huge. A big warhammer was leaned to the factory's wall while the blacksmith worked in a forge.

"Is that your weapon?" Joe questioned.

"Aye! That baby is mine!" The blacksmith agreed, continuing his work.

"That hummer is big."

"Aye!"

Joe imagined as the big warhammer crushing enemy heads. Without a doubt the weapon was deadly.

"If you wear some good armor, you will become a nightmare on the battlefield," Joe admitted with a hint of admiration in his tone.

The blacksmith chuckled and stopped what he was doing.

"My name is George," The huge man offered a hand for a handshake.

He looked over thirty.

"Joe."

Both shook hands.

He is strong.

"Joe, I don't plan to become a nightmare on the battlefield. My place is beside my forge. I'm a blacksmith. Not a warrior."

Joe smiled and looked at the forge. "Can you truly repair the damaged system's weapons?"

"Yes, I can but currently only gray ones. I need to level up my skills to repair white ones. Besides, I can work with some other items."

"That sounds cool. If I need a blacksmith, I will come to you."

"I'll be glad to repair your goods."

They smiled and shook hands.

"By the way, do you know where I can sell my loot?"

"It depends on the quality of your loot."

Joe took out the white assassin belt from his inventory and handed it to George. "I'm speaking about this equipment."

"A white one?" The blacksmith took the belt and began to inspect it. "The items of this color cost a lot currently."

"How much?"

"At least a few thousands in experience."

George pointed at the red tent. "Do you see that tent? Go there. There is a man who can buy your white equipment."

Joe thanked the blacksmith and headed to the red tent in front of which a thin high man sat at the cheap plastic table and sipped some beer. He wore dirty clothes, and the air was thick with odor of sweat.

Does this man can truly buy the belt?

The thin man burped and questioned Joe lazily. "What ya wanna?"

"I have a white item."

"Show me."

Joe took out the white assasin belt. He didn't say anything as well as he didn't hand the equipment to the thin man.

"A hundred?"

Joe got the first price offer.

A hundred? It even sounds a little. I think he wants to fool me.

"Five thousand." Joe said.

"Five thousands? That's too expensive, buddy. Do you out of your mind? Okay, I like you. You are a cool man. That's why I will give you five hundred."

The thin man stretched out his hand out. "Now give me my belt."

"Not so quick." Joe stepped back. "It seems that today is your birthday and you want to get a free gift, because five hundred isn't a right price of this fine belt. Your offer is ridiculous."

The thin man looked at Joe with interest.

"My eyes fool me now or do I truly see a man who can bargain?"

Both chuckled.

In a while Joe sold the white assassin belt and got [2,500] experiences.