Rimelion: The Exploiter

12. Anti-cheat system

[You created Pitiful Shield]

[Pitiful Shield]
Quality: 0-broken
DEF: 1
Durability: 1/1
* This is garbage; do not use it.

As Lucas rested on the trunk, I handed him the shield. He inspected it, eyes widening in surprise, nearly causing him to lose his balance. He turned to me with a look of pure disbelief, like I'd just offered him a non-alcoholic beer. I burst out laughing at his expression.

My jokes are the best!

"I get it, Charlie. Do what you must. I'll go fight some wolves over there," he said, leaving me to my unstoppable laughter as he climbed up out of the ravine. Had he finally gotten fed up with me? Whatever—I'd save him. The weight of this debt still felt like a bear sitting on my chest, so I turned my focus back to the shield. Here's hoping it'll work.

Now that I had something to enchant with Fire Resistance, it was time to engrave the runes. Since I couldn't afford any mistakes, I replayed the instructional video a few times.

Following the figure in the video, I scattered the dust across the shield. But no matter how carefully I tried to spread it, the dust clumped stubbornly. Useless garbage! I clenched my fist, blew it away, and tried again. This time, the wind swept in and scattered it. Perfect.

Finally, after managing to place the dust and set the Essence of Fire at the center, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Wasn't this supposed to be one of the easier jobs? Whatever. The rune itself was simple—just one symbol—but that didn't mean it was easy. It took a few tries to picture it clearly in my mind, and even then, the faint imagined contours weren't easy to trace.

The tricky part was channeling my mana to create the rune by hand. Any halfway decent artist would've laughed at my attempt as I carefully drew the lines.

But hey, I wasn't an expert; I was The Exploiter. The rune pulsed, mana bubbling up as if I were holding a pot about to boil over. The moment I poured in all the mana, a blinding red light burst from the shield, forcing me to shield my eyes.

The dust absorbed the rune like a sponge, engraving it on the surface of the rotting wood exactly as I'd drawn it—like a child's drawing, but it worked!

A stunning snowflake, about three inches in diameter, formed at the center where the Essence had been placed. And below it, the name I'd chosen during my little exploit—Ice Princess—curved neatly around the snowflake's base.

[You enchanted the Pitiful Shield. Rating: 46%]

[Pitiful Shield]
Enchanting: +5% fire resistance
* This is garbage; do not use it. Enchanted by 'Ice Princess'.

Great! Without further delay, I headed back to the village, instinctively tiptoeing and even leaping over shrubs.

Behold, the art of running! A small part of me expected the game to mock me with a "Level 0 Running" notification, but the game windows stayed silent. Disappointing. My stamina only held out for a few minutes, so I had to walk the rest of the way.

Whatever.

At least ten NPCs crowded the auction house, and I squeezed through them without a single apology. Four customers were lined up for Ryan, who was now in full business mode.

Come on, move! Sell your useless wares to the NPCs, not my Ryan!

Despite my inner urgency, I had to wait. When my turn finally came, I said, "Hey, Ryan, look at what I made!" I dropped my shield onto his counter and puffed my chest with pride, almost splitting my robe in the process. This thing is useless! Bah!