He asked, "How many gold coins do you have left?"

"More than ten, Brother Don. Take them all if you want. Hehe, production and gathering skills consume so much mana. If I hadn’t been selling jewelry on the side, I’d probably be in debt by now."

Don smiled, sent her a trade request, and transferred 2,000 gold coins directly. Since her whole purpose in coming to the game had been to follow him, he would nurture her in Realms Online the same way he’d once turned her into a top salesperson. Initial funding was necessary.

She knew his temperament and didn’t refuse. She accepted without ceremony.

Lily looked at the two pieces of jewelry now sitting in Don’s hands and sighed dramatically. "Sigh. You insisted I call you ’big sister,’ but you didn’t leave your own sister any benefits. So heartbreaking. Truly heartbreaking."

Little Chili was slightly embarrassed. "When I have more blueprints and materials, I’ll make good equipment for you two. That’s a promise."

"Fine, I was mostly joking. But if you make something nice and don’t give me any, I’ll just take it."

Don shamelessly equipped both pieces on the spot. "Alright. Enough talking. Let’s go fight monsters. We’re doing this for the little leather shoes."

...

Jewelry played a crucial role in equipment, much like the tip of a knife, or the smooth talk of a skilled negotiator. After equipping two pieces of bronze-grade jewelry, Don’s attack power increased by 300 points, his health climbed by 700, and his hit rate and critical hit rate both improved noticeably.

He had actually intended to give those two pieces to Lily and Kira, but since they were Little Chili’s heartfelt gesture, he couldn’t refuse her.

Little Chili’s own equipment was probably quite good, though its brilliance was deliberately hidden. She was hacking away at a Valley Wolf with her small axe, each strike taking away at least two thousand HP.

Nimi Dwarves had a unique combat style. They possessed few attack skills, primarily Deadly Gouge and Bone-Splitting Strike, but their attack speed was significantly faster than a Berserker’s despite wielding similarly heavy weapons. This came from their innate passive, Reduced Weapon Weight, which increased attack speed by 30 percent and sharpened their movement and positioning instincts. Some players with an obsessive passion for high-level mechanical play chose dwarves specifically to satisfy their desire for extreme maneuvering.

Little Chili wasn’t that kind of player, but that didn’t mean she lacked skill. At Don’s request, she pulled a ferocious wolf toward herself. Her battle axe looked almost casual in her grip, her footwork was incredibly fast, and nearly every attack landed at a different point on the wolf’s body. The frequency was relentless, almost like she was standing still and simply breathing strikes into existence. The wolf was furious, snapping at her repeatedly, but its bites barely inconvenienced the cute little dwarf.

Don couldn’t help asking, "Chili, have you ever played games before?"

"Never. But I used to play Eagle Catches Chicks a lot as a kid. I always played the eagle, and I’d raid the chicken coop until not a single chick was left."

Lily and Kira both laughed. Don did too. Virtual games were, in many ways, reflections of reality, skills a player possessed in real life could manifest naturally in-game. And their age group happened to be the period when reflexes were sharpest and sensitivity was highest, making operational ability easiest to develop.

Little Chili’s Bone Collecting skill was a special ability for harvesting materials from monsters. When activated, any monster that died would have its body soften slightly, making it significantly easier to extract production materials.

So when the ferocious wolf in front of her crumpled to the ground, Chili pulled a hunting knife from her waist and separated the wolf’s fur and flesh at lightning speed. Then she pressed the wolf’s head flat and knocked out its teeth with the back of her axe.

Don marveled. "You actually got three types of materials from a single wolf?"

Little Chili quickly posted the attributes in team chat.

Ferocious Wolf Fang — Lower-grade excellent material. Used to craft jewelry.

Wolf Hide — Low-grade excellent material. Used to craft armor.

Wolf Meat — Lower-grade high-quality ingredient. Used to cook dishes.

Don blinked. "How come when I skinned monsters, I only got inferior-quality materials?"

Little Chili pursed her lips shyly. "Brother Don, it’s because you don’t know the skinning skill. And even if you did, you’d have to max it out. High dexterity is what allows you to extract higher-quality materials."

Don’s eyes narrowed. "You’ve been doing skill resets, haven’t you?"

"Mm."

Lily made a pause gesture with both hands. "Wait. Don, I want to ask, what’s a skill reset?"

Don explained patiently. "Skill reset means you max out the proficiency of a learned skill, then find your class mentor to have it erased, and learn it again from scratch. Each time you do that, your dexterity increases. The more resets you complete, the higher your dexterity becomes, and the higher your dexterity, the better the quality of materials that gathering and crafting players can acquire and create."

Lily’s eyes lit up. "Then I’ll max all my skills, reset them all, and learn everything again! Maybe my skill attack bonus will suddenly jump to 200 percent?"

Don stared at her. "Skill resets only apply to crafting and gathering players."

"Oh."

He turned back to Little Chili. "What’s your current dexterity coefficient?"

Little Chili smiled faintly. "50 percent. I read that the lower the skill level, the easier the reset. If I wait until later in the game when proficiency is maxed, the process becomes exponentially harder."

"50 percent..." Don and Kira exchanged a glance. Then Don felt his heart pound.

That number might seem unremarkable to a newbie, but the effort required was almost incomprehensible. Each skill reset only increased the coefficient by roughly 1 to 4 percent. Even if every single reset had yielded the maximum 4 percent, she would have needed to do it thirteen times. No wonder her eyes had been so red back in the real world. She’d been staying up all night running resets.

Without thinking, Don reached out and lifted Little Chili into his arms, the height difference in-game made it feel natural.

Lily didn’t fully understand what had happened, but she could read the glances passing between Don and Kira. She murmured quietly, "Sister Chili, is taking a bath really that exhausting?"

Little Chili nodded, then shook her head. "It’s exhausting. But it’s worth it."

Dexterity was one of the game’s unspoken bugs, increasing it dramatically amplified the output quality of gathering and crafting skills. All three harvesting techniques Little Chili had used on the wolf, skinning, deboning, and butchering, had demonstrated that in action.

The experience gains from using production skills also explained why her level was already this high.

Their four-person team went on a killing spree through the valley. Little Chili’s addition dramatically improved their efficiency, allowing them to clear monsters and dismantle them for materials simultaneously. Experience ticked up accordingly.

That pace continued until around ten in the morning, when the Reincarnation team players logged in one by one. Don added them all to the party, including the battle-obsessed Crimson Reaper, who brought several high-level bounty hunters along to share resources.

Crimson Reaper was unremarkable in appearance. With his wolf-beast face, he didn’t look particularly imposing, but he was genuinely funny and loved livening up the atmosphere. He spotted Little Chili the moment he logged in and shamelessly said, without a hint of embarrassment, "Chili, find me a girlfriend. I can send money, I know romance, I can tell you stories, and I’ll even take you to see the goldfish."

Don was internally sweating. This guy has no idea what he’s walking into. Little Chili was the Queen of Criticism at our company. Going after her is basically suicide.

A private message from Little Chili appeared in his chat. "Hey, Don. Can I roast him?"

Don chuckled and typed back, "I don’t get involved in these things. I love a good show. You decide."

Little Chili launched her opening offensive with a radiant smile. "Brother Crim, does that mean you’d also warm the bed?"

Just those few words were enough to make Crimson Reaper choke. "Pfft, Sister Chili, I was wrong. Please just pretend I never said anything."

"But you already said it. How exactly am I supposed to pretend I didn’t hear?"

Crimson Reaper, feeling thoroughly cursed, bowed his head repeatedly in apology. "I’m fighting monsters, I’m fighting monsters. Hey, that monster over there looks interesting. I wonder if it drops good materials."

"You’re right, actually I did want to have a romantic chat with you. Come on, let’s pick a time and find a nice place. How about the Home Inn?"

Everyone present was an adult. They all understood what Home Inn meant. Intimate rooms, warm small beds with clean white sheets, a TV, a bedside table, and possibly something in the drawer that resembled chewing gum.

Crimson Reaper went completely silent and didn’t say another word for five full minutes.

Cappuccino sent Don a private message, laughing. "This girl is really something. Looks like old fox Crim has finally met his match."

Don replied modestly. "Don’t blame my little sister, she’s all bark, no bite."

"It’s fine. This kind of girl is popular."

Little Chili was feeling mischievous. Seeing Crim go quiet, she deliberately walked over to him, tilted her head back to look up at him, and fixed him with her large, watery eyes. "Brother Crim, why so quiet? The team feels so lifeless without you. Say something."