Amelia did not let her face relax for a second. She grimaced from the moment Alan stepped into the house, with two cute NPCs following him.

“Y-yeah…” he muttered, not looking her in the eye.

“What—the—fuck?” Amelia said, looking disgusted. “Have you read too many harem novels, Al?”

“What? No! A few. But I wasn’t thinking about that! Look...” He grabbed the dog-eared NPC by the shoulders. “She can help you run the fashion shop!”

“What are their names?” Ashley asked from the couch, Sloochie resting on her lap.

“I haven’t named them yet. I wanted to use their old names, but they refused to, somehow. Any suggestions?”

“Anastasia and Bella,” Ashley blurted out almost immediately.

“Jackpot!” Alan beamed and opened his Menu Window. "Here is the gold I got for your dress."

A pop-up window appeared in front of Ashley. She only had to tap it to accept its contents. "100,000 gold," she said aloud.

"What?" Amelia frowned before a similar window popped up in front of her, for 65k gold. "What's this?"

"The 20,000 gold you lent me, and half the cost of the house. You bought it for 90,000, correct?"

"How did you get all this money?"

"By selling my old, rare gear."

"Huh? What do you mean by rare? ” Amelia shook her head. “Wait a minute, just a few days ago you were upset because people use NPCs as servants, and now that you have money, you buy two of them?”

“I liberated them, I didn’t buy them. You should have seen them. They were locked inside a display case, Amelia. Like toys!”

“Because they’re toys, Alan! For people like us! What would you do once we have to get out of the system?! You won’t be able to bring them with you outside! Look at these clothes, this house, that Slime over there! This is not real! This is just a distraction until--!”

“Let me be, dammit!” he shouted, startling her. “This is the only thing I won’t argue about! It’s like working in Kintech all over again!”

“W-what?”

“And, you're wrong, I'm not against them working!” Alan stomped forward to grab Amelia’s hand and made her hold the NPC’s wrist. “You take Bella with you and be nice to her, got it? I’ll send you her Blank File in a minute.” He turned his back, and for a brief second, Amelia could see a spark in his eyes. “Come with me, Anastasia.”

“Yes, Master.”

Alan could still be heard after closing the door. “And stop calling me that! Call me, Alan.”

“Understood, Master Alan.”

“That was definitely unlike him,” Amelia whispered, before looking at Bella, who smiled at her. “Go sit there, I’ll tell you what to do later.”

“Understood. And nice to meet you, Miss Amelia.”

“I really don’t get that guy…” Amelia said to herself, massaging her forehead.

“This time you will not be able to change his mind," Ashley said while caressing Sloochie's body. "This is something that goes far beyond his stay in The Novus.”

Amelia folded her arms and got close to the couch. “Maybe you could tell me what’s going on with him.”

“That is within my capacity. It is something he told me once.”

“Is it because he told you, or is it something you know because you’re the Isabella AI?”

Ashley stared at her in an inhuman manner.

“The latter.”

“Relax!” Amelia chuckled. “I’ll keep the secret. I’m your ally as much as I’m Alan’s.”

“I suppose you already know that I logged him out so he could make repairs.”

“Yes, I know all about The Singular.” As Amelia sat on the couch, Sloochie hurried to get on her lap.

“The reason I chose Alan was because he fit a certain profile. It’s related to an incident that occurred back when he used to work in Kintech, and the relationship he has with Automatons...”

***

“Hey, the deal was for you to learn Smithing, but why is she here?”

“I’m going to teach her all I’ll learn anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if she’s watching, right?” Alan said while opening his Menu Screen. “There, the rest of the 45,000 gold, as promised. Could you ask your wife if it’s okay to start, please?”

Jared glanced at her. “It’s pretty late, but I won’t mind as long as she’s okay with it.”

“I’ll do whatever you order, dear,” the NPC wife said in a soft tone of voice.

Of course she would answer that.

“Don’t say it like that, honey,” Jared whispered, before turning back to Alan. “Fine. It won’t take too long, anyway. This crafting profession is not like in our previous lives. Things are easier here, learning is… faster.”

“Thanks, Jared.”

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” he spoke to Alan’s NPC, who made a curtsy.

“I’m Anastasia, nice to meet you, Mr. Jared.”

“I have a workshop in the back. Use it. And you’ll have to pay for any material you use to practice. Honey, take notice of that, please.”

We’re alike, and not at all at the same time.

“Thanks, Jared.”

The Weaponsmith frowned at him. “You already said that.”

***

Just by knowing the basics, I realized I could theoretically recreate an already existing weapon or piece of gear. Although I will not be able to copy its unique effects or status, it is enough for me at the time.

“So what is it going to be this time?” Kristoff asked at the sight of his new best client. “Were you able to replicate it?”

Alan smirked and placed a handgun over the counter. “See for yourself.”

“You’re freaking kidding me,” Kristoff muttered, examining the rough replica of a silver sharpshooter class weapon he had sold to Alan a couple of days ago. Its Attack was only a fraction of the original and its rarity was a rank lower. “A Bronze Weapon... You have crafted something that is not normally available for a Low-Leveler like you. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone try something like this.”

“Maybe because no one else had the need to.”

“Yeah.” Kristoff nodded while returning the gun. “High-Levelers are always changing gear the more they level up, always thinking of what to get next. So no one bothers crafting inferior stuff. Do you want me to get you more firearms? Shotguns, sniper rifles.”

“Yes, please. In the meantime, do you have silver Tank Gear?”

“Yeah, I have some. A bunch actually.” After manipulating his Menu Window, the displaying cases changed their contents. “People used to travel back and forth to this town during the first year, so they would bring and sell what they found in other cities. Lots and lots of unsold silver rank gear. Are you going to fire that thing while wearing a full plate?"

Alan strolled to the center of the room with an absent expression on his face and hands inside his pockets. “Oh, it’s not for me,” he said, pointing with his chin towards his companion. “She’s level 25. Hey, I didn’t know that NPCs could level. Awesome!”

“They need to sometimes defend themselves, you know.” Kristoff filtered the selection of displaying gear to only show Defensive oriented items. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

Alan smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I already know what to do. Let’s equip her.”

***

“Welcome to The Eternal Sunshine Boutique! How may I help you?” Bella smiled at a couple of female friends who entered the already crowded establishment.

“Hi. Is it true that you sell jewelry here?”

“That's correct, miss. Right, this way.”

“Welcome!” Amelia beamed from behind the counter, wearing her favorite red dress. “We have jewelry, clothes, and accessories!”

“Do you really need to be here?” Ashley asked, sitting behind her. “The System automatically runs the shop.”

“It’s the inauguration, Ash. People need to know that I’m not so bad after all and that my presence has done nothing more than enhance this town’s value. Argh! Where is he?! He promised to come and see how the shop is going!”

“He’ll come by dinner, surely. You can show him then.”

“I wanted him to see how it looks full of people!” Amelia exhaled while checking her Friend List Tab. Alan’s location was at the town’s outskirts, in ‘Farole Road’. “At least he has found a new motivation…”

***

** Weasenox Defeated ** ** Congratulations! You have reached Level 7! ** ** Your Passive Skill, Minion Master, is now Level 2! ** ** Your dedication has unlocked the Puppet Master Passive Skill, Level 1! **

While fighting alongside Anastasia, I have learned a lot about the use of mobs in this game-like world.

The System classifies as Minions every other trainable companion that is not a monster. Like a Humanoid Magic Familiar, or a Summoned Demon.

Although the System identifies Anastasia as a Minion, it also classifies her as a Robot, a 'species' unique to the Engineer Class.

The Monster Trainer class is a variant of this. Those Users can fight with 3 beasts at a time. It's balanced because the monsters cannot equip more than 1 piece of gear.

Some Minions and Robots can use a complete set of armor.

What’s the catch of being an Engineer, who can have a fully equipped Robot to fight for you?

Well, Anastasia won't be able to level up until I reach her current level, and the Engineer class is physically weak as shit. Stats that would normally increase our strength and durability, are swapped with a bunch of passive and boost skills.

“I sucked at swordplay and close-quarters combat, anyway. I could never do what Astrid can,” he muttered while holding his still smoking pistol.

“Alan?” Anastasia called. Her silver full plate armor still looked shiny, without a single sign of wearing down. The visor of her helmet hid her face. In her right hand, a gleaming sword, and on her left, a huge shield she carried with ease. “Master Alan?”

“Sorry, I was lost in thought. You did an excellent job, Anastasia. Well done.”

“Thank you, Alan.”

“Let’s go,I promised Amelia that I would go to her Shop’s Inauguration, she must be pretty furious right now.”

“Shut down,” a third voice said. Alan glanced behind him, finding his companion frozen in her spot. “Good afternoon, Alan Warden.”

A known girl was sitting atop a log, far away from the Weasenox corpse, wearing a black Victorian dress. Although her appearance looked young, just like Kathleen Maher, her smirk was that of a wicked adult.

“Hey, nice seeing you again!” Alan said while putting away his handgun.

“I didn’t know that a Low-Leveler could use that kind of weapon.”

“I crafted it. Do you need something, Miss Administrator?”

“Straight to the point, huh?” she giggled. “You know, it normally is a great honor to talk to any of us.”

“Why?” he asked, making her frown. “We’re all the same outside The Novus, correct?”

Is this the same guy I monitored two weeks ago? Jane thought before clearing her throat.

“Whatever. I’m Jane Andersen, The Administrator Ruler of Conduct,” she proclaimed, putting a hand on her chest. “I’m in charge of listening to the needs of the Userbase and punishing those that threaten or abuse the System.”

“So, Viola Lang is in charge of the Novus’ monsters, Adriano Silva fixes bugs, and… I’m sorry,” Alan squinted, “it’s not clear to me what your role is.”

Jane pouted her lips before raising her voice. “Anything related to you, the Users.”

“I see, I see.” He nodded. “Can I ask you a quick question, then? Is it considered ‘abusing the system’ when a bunch of High-Levelers torture a Level 5 for fun?”

“I didn’t come here to talk about that.”

“Well, then you lost my interest.” Alan strolled forward but noticed that Anastasia remained immobile. “Did you do something to my partner?”

“I didn’t want her to listen to our conversation, which we will finish when I say so,” she said with closed teeth. “As the one in charge of the wellbeing of the Novus’ Userbase, I need to know what happened to you.”

I knew I would have this conversation eventually.

“Are you talking about my low-level situation? I was in a coma--”

“I know,” she interrupted. “Your story is being shared all over The Novus as we speak.”

Crap.

“But we know you’re hiding something.” She crossed her legs and smirked. “Come on. You can count on us.”

“By us, you mean the administrators.”

“Do you want to know why we know you’re lying? Because the Cryo-Pods can’t induce you into a coma!” Her collected expression turned livid in a second, but Alan would not flinch.

He folded his arms and balanced his weight on his left leg. “It’s a better story than getting others to believe that my pod failed.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Santa María’s staff logged me out because my pod was not working properly. They said that if I hadn’t been ejected from it, I could have suffered from brain damage.”

Jane remained silent, hearing every word.

“Why did it take so long for you to return, then? You spent eight real months outside. How could anyone believe it took the staff eight months to repair a single pod?”

He sneered. “More like 100,000 malfunctioning pods.”

"What?"

"Do you remember what happened on The Novus' fifth day?”

Jane tilted her head, confused. "Are you talking about the ‘Freezing’?"

***

“Ashley?” Alan called while exiting the kitchen, wearing an apron. Something boiling could be heard behind him.

"Is dinner ready?" she asked after putting a steaming mug on the table.

He chuckled. “No, I want to ask you something. I didn’t have the chance to ask Isabella the Fist more details about The Singular. So, how do you know that it's hiding inside the Novus?"

"That is easy. 14 hours and 15 minutes after The Santa María voyage started, The Singular was detected. We and the ship's crew managed to neutralize after 4 hours and 20 minutes of conflict. Soon after, the Cryo-Chambers suffered from a power shortage that lasted 10 seconds. Tell me, Alan, did you experience something at the time?"

"When would that be in Novus' time?"

"On the Fifth day, 18 hours and 35 minutes."

"Oh, yeah, everything around us frozen and we couldn't move. It was horrible."

Ashley looked down at the contents of her mug.

"I suspect The Singular did this so I could not find in which pod it hid..."

***

Yeah, I can use that...

“The Captain told me that both Cryo-Chambers suffered a blackout, immobilizing everyone here for about 1 minute. When they logged me out to repair my pod, the Captain gave the order to check every single pod in case another situation like mine could happen. So I ended up volunteering, because..."

"I've already read your profile," Jane said, annoyed. "You almost got accepted to work as one of The Santa María's technicians." She grunted. Something that did not fit her lady-like persona. "So, are you telling me that you spend 8 months helping the staff search for any other malfunction in every passenger's pod?"

"Yeah."

"...Fine," she mumbled.

"Come again?"

"I said fine! You can go now." She snapped her fingers and a portal materialized beside her, which she walked through without glancing back.

A second after, Alan could hear Anastasia strolling towards him. "Is something wrong, Alan?"

Once she tells the story to her group, the supposed traitor will know I'm lying. But what else can I do if they have already taken an interest in me?

Alan cracked a smile, then giggled before bursting out laughing.

And I won't be able to do a thing! I'm totally screwed!

"Master Alan!" Anastasia called aloud, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Sorry to disturb you, but I detected anguish in your voice."

“Anastasia, do me a favor. If any of us gets in danger, take priority on helping Amelia and Ashley.”

Alan could barely see the NPC’s lit blue eyes through the helmet’s visor. “Understood, Master.”