After the first quest, Cane decided to stick around the farm a little more to try and gather more materials. The more he farmed, the more exp he would gain.
What he was doing was not a good idea for any player, much less someone who wanted to level up quickly. But because of his modifier that allowed him to gain 100X exp, he was leveling up at the same speed as others.
But unlike hunting, which gave increasing exp as you killed bigger monsters, farming gave a fixed low value.
Even his leveling speed had fallen compared to when he started. After hitting level 5, it took him two hours to reach level 6. The lack of any accompanying quest also made leveling up difficult for him.
[Warning: User has been playing for too long. User's current connection will be forcefully terminated in 10 minutes. User is advised to log off at a save point.]
The system warned Cane, and he sighed. Here was the dreaded time he did not want to see. He wanted to keep playing this game.
But even he understood that his body had needs.
"A save point, huh. Usually there are NPCs for this kind of thing. Should I ask the farmer? But won't it be funny if I could use myself as a saving point? I am an NPC as well by class, right?"
He asked with a laugh. But he was just joking here. No matter how glitched the system was and how weird his class was, he was still a player. There was no way the system would give him the same perks as NPCs, right?...
…
[Would you like to save your progress? Saving Point: NPC Player Cane]
…
Now Cane truly felt like the system had lost it. It was one thing for the system to assign him unusual classes, but to change features like these as well?
It was all… too exciting.
"I knew that this glitched account was a landmine of gold, but this is even better than expected. I'd better hit my goal quickly and then start streaming. This is such a goldmine."
The system's warning flashed across his screen once more, and he hit save before he closed his account.
Once he woke up, he quickly took care of his needs and threw his body onto his bed. It was time to sleep, and his body felt tired.
Weirdly enough, there was still some pain in his stomach where he had been pierced by the enemy that had been out of bounds. But he attributed it to a psychological reaction.
'I need to go… grocery shopping tomorrow and then… make another announcement for my stream. I have a lot of work to do…'
Cane closed his eyes and fell asleep.
++++++++++
"Boss, did you see the readings? Something serious is going on in Clash Online. The energy numbers were weird yesterday."
A stack of papers was pushed in front of a beautiful woman, causing her to look up at her secretary. The secretary paled as he saw the dark circles under his boss's eyes.
He knew that look, and he knew that look well.
"So, what is it this time? A new creature we have no idea of appeared? Another player broke 100+ level? Or is it more boring paperwork?"
The boss snapped as she rubbed her eyes. She felt exhausted and not in the mood to deal with her workers.
Every time the secretary brought her something 'important,' it was nothing more than what was expected. She had stopped taking his 'serious' as 'serious' now.
"B-Boss, this time it is truly a serious matter. T-There was a break in the security barrier. Someone managed to break past into the 'other side.' Here, check the numbers out for yourself."
The secretary showed his boss the numbers, and Reeze Khoi, the chairwoman of the parent company of Clash Online, looked startled.
"What—? Why didn't you say that before? Show it to me… it's true. How did that happen?"
She asked as she looked at the numbers on the papers. She wanted to deny the truth, but the evidence was in front of her very eyes.
To the public, Clash Online was nothing more than a game that they used for entertainment, but only those in the know understood the true secret of this 'game.'
In truth, it was a lost technology that had been recently discovered, and from what they had been able to decipher, the person who would reach the end of that world would gain ultimate power.
Everyone involved had tried to keep this matter under wraps for now, but it soon became evident that they wouldn't be able to crack the case open themselves.
That was why they decided to develop Clash Online as a front so that people could use it to find the answer for them.
For people, it was no more than a silly game, but little did they know that they were contributing to something great.
"So, who is the one who managed to break the game? Do we know their identity?"
Reeze asked, but the secretary shook his head.
"We don't know. The system is protecting the player's identity, and we cannot trace them. Also, our opposition is erasing any traces of the person's identity because they want to see this case cracked open."
The secretary shook his head before recalling one last detail.
"Ah, but I was able to retrieve one key data from the system. The one who caused the crack is the same beta tester that gave us that nightmare with the glitches. He must be back to end what he started."
The secretary informed her, and Reeze almost fell from her chair.
"What did you say? Who's back? Oh no—! Not him… anyone but him…! My dream to get off work on time… it's evaporating into thin air."
The woman spoke, and the secretary wanted to curse her out.
'Your dream to get off work? Think of us all who are stuck here with you? Ugh, of course she won't. No one thinks about the bottom workers like us.'