Rimelion: The Exploiter

3. Level one

My small hands trembled as I paced nervously from one tree to another, my mind struggling to process what had just happened. The world had ended.

Don't freak out. Please, John, don't freak out. Something had gone horribly wrong, but Lucas could fix it. Didn't he say there was some kind of 'unfreeze' thing once in a... blue moon or whatever?

With a long sigh, I sank down, leaning my back against a pine tree. Status. A translucent blue menu popped up instantly, and I mentally navigated to the friend's tab.

[You have no friends.]

Very funny game. Very funny. Thankfully, finding Lucas wasn't hard, and I lucked out—he was online and accepted my request.

[Lucas] Who are you?

[Princess] It's me, John.

[Princess] Wait... my name is Princess? What the hell?

Panic set in, and I quickly opened the character menu:

Name: Princess
Class: Priest
Race: Common Elf

[Lucas] Wow, that's awesome!

[Princess] No, it's not. I'm a girl—and a Priest. Can you check on that?

[Lucas] Sure, let me log out.

My heart was racing, panic swirling as I took loud, steady breaths, trying to calm down. Think of something else. I tried picturing Veronica's red outfit to distract myself, but it was no use. Thankfully, Lucas's icon turned green again in no time. Wait that fast? Had he even logged out?

[Lucas] Sorry, John, but there was another Charlie.

[Princess] Another Charlie?! Don't mess with me!

[Lucas] Yeah, same ID as the guy, but she was, well, a girl.

[Princess] So... can you change me back? Should I come over to use the scanner?

[Lucas] Here's the thing—you can't. It's too late; this ID is locked in. But hey, at least she's hot!

[Lucas] Anyway, let me know if you want to do some quests later. Priests make awesome healers, right?

The thing I feared most had happened. Well, I could deal with being a girl in the game. It wasn't like gender mattered when it came to building strength. No, that wasn't the real problem.

The actual issue—the warrior in the glass room—was the Priest class! How was I supposed to grind if I couldn't fight? At least mages could switch to being magic swordsmen, which was halfway decent.

But the poor Priest? Priests were the weakest combatants of all; they weren't made for solo play. And soloing was my thing. In QA, they'd pay you a bonus if you found a bug, but if multiple testers found the same one, we had to split the reward. Going solo was always better.

It felt like my life was slipping through my fingers. I looked up at the beautiful, hyper-realistic forest—it felt more real than reality itself. But then again, reality was fake anyway. Was any of this even worth it? Maybe that punk should've just let his father kill my simulation, so I wouldn't have to deal with this mess at all.

No.

Standing up, I solidified my resolve. Hopeless? Hardly. Nathan had said every class mattered, that it all depended on the player's skill. I'd be the ultimate priestess in the realm! With a determined step, I set out on the path to become a battle legend.

[Congratulations! You unlocked the STAMINA stat.]

The system kindly reminded me that every hero's first task was to exhaust themselves. Herself, whatever. Ouch! A sharp, needle-like pain shot up from my feet. Wait, why was I barefoot? I checked my [Inventory] and discovered my character's sorry excuse for gear: