Robinson stood right in front of the door to Sasha’s room.

He had resolved himself.

His hands trembled, but, as soon as he was about to knock, the old woman’s voice could be heard.

- Don’t do it. I’m not interested.

His cheeks turned red, and his eyes swollen with tears. He wasn’t a woman, the adventurer inside the room wasn’t a man.

Still, he had decided he would do anything in order to achieve it. In order to achieve ‘player’ status, the so-sought ‘immortality’.

Of course, no player would be truly immortal. However, as long as someone reclaimed their past lives’ memories, then they would have a great chance of finding immortality.

In fact, reclaiming one’s past lives’ memories was the first step to be recognized as an official adventurer.

Ever since the time of the Goblin War, very few of those who weren’t adventurers at the time managed to do climb into the rankings and achieve that by themselves.

After all, the Demon Kingdom had rewarded its players with souls for generations. Souls which were used for all kinds of purposes - which meant they soon became spread through the NPC population… and then degenerated further into “pseudo-players”, that is, people who were born from NPCs but had souls.

People like that still came into existence every single day. Their lives would be doomed to be solitary and hard, as most ‘real players’ would, at most, take one of them as servant.

Who would want to groom a pseudo-player into a proper one? They had enough problems raising their own ranks already!

For this reason, Robinson decided to give his all. If Sasha wanted his soul, then he would give her his soul. If she wanted his body, then he would give her his body. If she wanted his mind… then he would give her his mind.

His attire was simple and his body smelled of fresh soap. Who knows? Even something like selling himself wasn’t too much.

As long as he managed to get her help, even if it was just with a magic item or something, then that would be enough.

However, his offer had been denied even before he could do it. For a moment, he wanted nothing more than to be a woman, and for Sasha to be a man.

“It would be so much easier!”, or so he thought.

His feeling was, indeed, of being totally inadequate. A woman craving a boy’s body. It happened in the past, but it was definitely something rare. Way more difficult than a grown man craving a girl’s.

Still, he did it. Or, at least, he tried to do it. He was denied even before trying.

Looking at his feet, Robinson found himself shaken. He found himself to be silly, stupid, ridiculous even.

Still, it was all he had to offer. And being all he had to offer, he decided nonetheless to try and go on with it.

Even after being refused. Even if it was humiliating and silly.

His hand raised a bit in the air, and he knocked in the door.

***

- I’ve said… - Sasha told him, door still closed - that I’m not interested. No matter what you want to give me, just go away and let me sleep.

Then, he knocked again. This time he got no answer, except for silence and indifference.

Then, he knocked again. And again. And again, again. And so on, for an entire night.

At dawn, his father appeared at the corridor, his eyes red with bags under them.

- That’s enough son. She won’t do it. - The innkeeper held his son’s hand, gently hugging him afterwards. - Shhshh… it’s fine now… it’s fine.

Shame. Embarrassment. Robinson cried and cried, his face buried on his father’s chest.

As for Sasha, she left as soon as Robinson knocked in the door, her head covered on the old mantle, her steps as unmerciful as always.

Behind, she left nothing. Not even a note or single word of advice. These kinds of situations were all too common for her - besides, what she said was indeed true.

As long as someone with a soul were to kill a lot of other beings, the exp they gained would in turn open space for them to grind skills and get stat points.

Allocating stat points was a tricky thing, since they would need a Neuromancer to help them with it, but those could be found for hire at every major metropolis.

The price was exorbitant, but what in life wasn’t? Besides, as long as the player wasn’t stupid, they would surely apply their first 30 levels into Intelligence in order to become able to at least access the character menu.

At that point, they would be able to both work for others charging an exorbitant price, and keep on grinding.

Surely, 30 levels weren’t easy to grind. Not at all. In Another World, at the time of the Great World Purge, getting 30 levels would make one a medium or even high-leveled player.

But that was both in a “death-with-no-consequences” environment as well as a “I’m playing two hours a day and that’s a lot” environment.

On another words, if one was brave enough to face danger in search of fortune, it was possible to become a neuromancer in 50 years or something - getting 10 levels in the first year, and slowly grinding the next 20 over the course of five decades.

After all, it wasn’t easy getting levels without increasing one’s Stats, and even when they had enough money to pay for a neuromancer, they would still need to invest it all into intelligence.

Sure, some, for one reason or another, would just give up on becoming one. Those people usually had their own agendas, and choose, for one reason or another, not to pursue immortality, fame and fortune.

Most did.

Or at least, most of those who had the guts to face life-and-death situations every day.

As many levels a regular adventurer apprentice grinded, a single goblin arrow could easily end his miserable life.

After all, not having access to the Character Menu meant it was impossible to unlock skills, increase stats, unlock elementary skills, or any other action which could be used to increase one’s own strength.

50 years of work, and that’s if they didn’t die. Most of this time, the apprentice adventurer would have to live of menial work which gave little to no exp, while also trying to save money for the future.

It was no wonder most people decided to abandon the dream of pursuing immortality.

Unless they had a teacher, of course. Being under the belt of a true, full-fledged Adventurer would mean the chance of getting to level 30 in less than a year, in some cases!

They just had to contribute a little bit on all big kills, and they would rocketeer all they way to the moon!

For some, it was worthwhile to give up on everything and try to curry favor. For most, indeed, as the life as a regular person was too mild for the tastes.

However, that didn’t make the experiences of those with resolve to drop everything less painful - especially after being rejected.

Offering your all, getting nothing in return. The innkeeper knew the feeling very well, and now his son had experienced it by himself.

Only one of those deep sufferings of life, which no one has the courage to talk about. Those who steam from things so silly and small, so ridiculous, but hurt so much.

Sasha walked on the streets and found herself a new place to sleep.