With Money, You Can Do Anything!

Drip drop..

A few water droplets fell on Lennard's face as he slept. It was already morning.

Growl~

Lennard massaged his stomach.

"My goodness, I'm already hungry.." Lennard stood up and yawned. "How much money do I have left?"

Lennard checked his pockets and his face switched from calm to petrified from shock.

"What!?" Lennard saw that he only had one silver coin left. He then remembered what he did last night and he couldn't help but slap his forehead. "Don't tell me I was dumb enough to sell three of the silver coins that I earned..."

Lennard couldn't really blame himself that much. He was so exhausted last night that he was barely even thinking, so this kind of mistake was understandable.

But even so, Lennard felt aggrieved over the loss of three silver.

"Ahh…. At least I have the experience bar now." Lennard checked the system and saw that his stats now had the experience bar.

[Lennard J. Copperowl - Level:0]

Strength:1 Speed:1 Endurance:1 Vitality:1 Intelligence:1 Magic:0 Detection:1 Reflex:0 Resistance:1 Charisma:3 Luck:1

Attribute Points: 0

Balance: 3.3$

Experience Bar: 0/10 [Buy 10 ExP? : 1$]

As expected of the pay to win system..

"EVEN EXPERIENCE POINTS CAN BE BOUGHT? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY MICROTRANSACTIONS?" Lennard was stupefied by how predatory this system was.

Calming himself down, he used his balance to buy experience points.

Bling!

> You have leveled up!

+5 Stat points

> You have leveled up!

+5 Stat points

Lennard then looked at his stats and began putting the points on himself. He put one point on reflex and decided to put one on magic.

> You have not unlocked magic energy yet. Buy for 510.25$ to unlock.

"Screw you." Lennard was not in the mood to bicker with the system.

Since the system denied putting points on magic, he put 4 points on strength, and one point each to speed, endurance, vitality, intelligence and reflex.

Immediately, he felt a cool stream of comfort wash all over his entire body.

"Ahh.. that's the stuff." Lennard then stood up and decided to go to work today.

It was the same and broken down village and the same stone house that was giving out work for the villagers. Lennard knew that the lives of these villagers were so poor, that they had no choice but to work for the Curero Company.

Lennard was about to enter the stone house when he saw a silver ring on the ground.

"Hmm? What's this?" Lennard picked up the ring and was pleasantly surprised.

(Uncommon Grade Silver Ring - Price 12$)

[Sell? Y/N]

Lennard inwardly rejoiced. And just as he was going to sell the ring, he heard a bone chilling voice behind him.

"Hey! What's that in your hand?" Reighton walked towards and pointed at Lennard's clenched fist. He never let go of his gaze and watched Lennard for any funny movements.

Lennard was surprised by Reighton's sudden arrival. He then looked at Reighton's hand that was holding a broken silver chain necklace. After this, he realized that this ring was definitely Reighton's.

"N- Nothing! It's nothing!" Lennard gulped.

"Oh yeah?" Reighton was not buying it. "Open your hand."

Lennard slowly opened his hand, revealing nothing.

This surprised Reighton.

"Are you sure that you don't have anything on your body?" Reighton frowned and began gathering magic around him.

Feeling the strange energy covering his body, Lennard nodded. "Sir Reighton, I really have nothing!"

Reighton used magic to scan Lennard from head to toe. And with a disappointed sigh, he said, "Well if you ever find something, tell me and I'll pay you twenty silver coins."

Twenty silver was very enticing for a normal villager. But even if Lennard wanted to give the ring back to Reighton, he couldn't!

It's because he sold it!

Lennard swiped right on the empty area in front of him.

[Lennard J. Copperowl - Level:2]

Strength:5 Speed:2 Endurance:2 Vitality:2 Intelligence:2 Magic:0 Detection:1 Reflex:2 Resistance:1 Charisma:3 Luck:1

Attribute Points: 0

Balance: 12.3$

Experience Bar: 0/40 [Buy 10 ExP? : 2$]

"Damn, the prices went up?" Lennard's mouth opened in disbelief by how absurdly money grabbing this system was.

But hey, what did he expect from a system called the "Pay to win system?"

He bought forty experience points and leveled up.

Bling!

> You have leveled up!

+5 Stat points

Lennard put four of it on luck and one on strength.

[Lennard J. Copperowl - Level:3]

Strength:6 Speed:2 Endurance:2 Vitality:2 Intelligence:2 Magic:0 Detection:1 Reflex:2 Resistance:1 Charisma:3 Luck:5

"Hehehehe, now I'll be able to get more cash this time.." Lennard laughed with a cheeky tone.

He then went inside the stone house and bought a piece of bread. He ate it to give himself as much energy as possible.

Walking towards the carriage, it was the same people as usual.

"Alright, get your butts over here! I don't have all day!" The driver snorted unhappily.

The miners entered the carriage.

Lennard followed behind and rode the same carriage as usual.

Looking around, the miners were in a bitter mood as usual. It's a normal sight at this point anyways.

As Lennard quietly stuck to one corner, a miner looked at him and said, "Hey, aren't you that guy who mined without stopping yesterday? To think that you aren't collapsing yet is remarkable."

Lennard nodded, "Yep, that's me."

A middle aged man with huge arms laughed. "You're saying that this man mined without stopping? That's a death sentence for most of us.. Hey kid, don't do that again. Treasure your life and just take things slow."

The other miners nodded.

"Honestly, it's too tiring working for the guys from Curero. The work they give us is too hellish!" A man complained.

Lennard nodded. "Actually, is it possible to switch jobs?"

The middle aged man from earlier nodded. "Yes, of course. Why?"

"I'm actually planning to become a hunter tomorrow." Lennard wanted a place to level up since he already had the experience bar. This would be his stepping stone to buy everything from the system.

…

Everyone looked at Lennard with disbelief.

"What?" Lennard was confused.

"Brother er.." A miner spoke with a concerned tone.

"Lennard."

"Brother Lennard, the job of being a hunter is called the death route by everyone in the village. Are you sure you want to become a hunter?" The miner looked at Lennard with a very concerned look.

"Yes, I am." Lennard nodded.

The middle aged man sighed. "You must be desperate if you're doing so.. But hey, good luck if you ever decide to go through with your decision."

"I will.. Besides, didn't they say that the hunters can also bring back meat for themselves? What if I share that with all of you?" Lennard smiled.

"You're willing to share your catch with us? Brother, not to be rude but… the Curero Company takes 50% of your catch.. I don't think that would be enough to feed us when it's enough for one person with how little they catch." A thinner miner shook his head. He saw Lennard was a decent man with great intentions but with shallow eyes.

"He's right, you know. Even though I appreciate your kindness, it's better for you to keep your catch to yourself. It's not like we can't feed ourselves. Ain't that right boys?" The middle aged man patted Lennard's shoulder.

"Yep, yep."

"We just have to work hard for it."

"Mhm."

Hearing all of their concern, Lennard felt warm inside. It was true that the lower a person was in life, the humbler they are.

..

The carriage came to a stop and they began leaving to work on the mines.

As usual, Luis had him and the others to work on the deeper areas..

"Brother Lennard, make sure not to tire yourself out this time." The miner from earlier laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't. Oh and what's your name?" Lennard asked the miner who looked like he should be around 15-17 years old.

"Oh, it's Millard." Millard scratched his head.

Lennard entered the mines with the rest.

And as usual, they began mining for "iron ores."

Lennard stood in front of the stone wall that he mined yesterday. He picked up his pickaxe that was unusually lighter than usual and struck down.

Crack!

Immediately, he found ore. Not only that, there were two of them. He sneakily grabbed one of them and sold it for 3$

He took the other ore and put it on the minecart, surprising the other miners.

That quick?

Lennard smiled at the looks that they were giving him and began mining once again. The luck stat was way too overpowered, wasn't it?

Clank!

Lennard hit something tough and saw that it was a long object covered by stone. Picking it up, he figured out what it was.

(Lesser Grade Rusted Sword - Price 1$)

[Sell? Y/N]

"Duh, sell.." Lennard continued mining. And because of his increased stats, he was getting more stuff than usual.

(Lesser Grade Rusted Nail 4x - Price 0.8$)

[Sell? Y/N]

(Lesser Grade Metal Scrap - Price 0.9$)

[Sell? Y/N]

(Lesser Grade Rotten Bandages 3x - Price 0.3$)

[Sell? Y/N]

Lennard was getting more and more stuff than he was usually getting. But then, most of them were useless stuff that didn't even amount to a dollar.

But it was still good, he wasn't as tired as before and he was getting more and more money.

Because of this, his balance reached 10 dollars.

> Balance: 10.3$

"Don't tell me I'll get to level up again?" Lennard swiped right and began buying experience points.

Bling!

> You have leveled up!

+5 Stat points

Lennard felt like he was getting tired, so he put four points on endurance and one on luck.

[Lennard J. Copperowl - Level:4]

Strength:6 Speed:2 Endurance:4 Vitality:2 Intelligence:2 Magic:0 Detection:1 Reflex:2 Resistance:1 Charisma:3 Luck:6

Attribute Points: 0

Balance: 0.3$

Experience Bar: 0/100 [Buy 10 ExP? : 4$]

"And of course there's a spike as it increases." Lennard sighed. He just wanted all of this to be over with.

Bang!

…

After a long day of work, and a small break which is lunchtime, it finally became nighttime.

But even so, Lennard was still mining without stopping.

Millard gulped. He was on the ground, exhausted while Lennard was mining with all of his strength.

The other miners looked at Lennard with shock. Even the strongest one among all of them was speechless.

Does this man have the strength of a bull?

Lennard kept mining and mining. He was the reason why the minecart was almost full. When he grabbed one last gold ore, he put it on the minecart as he wiped his sweat.

"Goodness, that was a long day of work." Lennard put the pickaxe down and sat to rest.

Soon after, they heard Luis' footsteps.

When Luis saw them, his eyes grew wide.

"You guys mined this much?" He looked at them with disbelief.

Millard was about to say that Lennard did all of the work, but Lennard spoke first.

"We all worked pretty hard to do this. Isn't that right guys?" Lennard smiled at them.

The miners were taken aback. But seeing how Lennard pushed the credit towards them.

+40 Favorability to Millard

+40 Favorability to Norsem

+40 Favorability to Eman

…

"Pfft- what?" Lennard wasn't expecting to receive their favor, all he did was to hide his powerful mining capabilities to prevent them from abusing his prowess.

After all, if someone's this good at mining and they want to change their job, no one would be dumb enough to take a loss. The Curero Company would want to keep him in their grasp.

But despite that, Lennard went along with the flow and gave them a thumbs up. "I guess a bit of favorability isn't too bad.." Lennard thought inwardly.

"Alright, you guys worked hard today, you guys deserve some rest." Luis was in a good mood. Since the workers are bringing in this much of a haul, his contributions to the company would be giving him nice returns.

Everyone around Lennard patted his shoulders.

"You did us a good favor brother…" A miner smiled.

Lennard shrugged. "I'm just glad I get to help." Lennard knew that he only worked hard for himself just to make himself even stronger. He really believed that he didn't deserve the praise that he was getting.

The workers all left the mines soon enough.

…

The night was dark. The only thing that gave them light was the moon and the torches that lit up the area.

They rode the carriage as usual and went home.

But this time, their moods weren't as gloomy as before.

"Hey brother, do you have a house?" Millard asked.

Lennard shook his head. "Sadly, I do not."

"Eh? Then where do you sleep?" Norsem asked.

"Outside." Lennard answered. "But that's just because I don't come from the Carmil Village."

"So where are you from?" Eman asked. "Is it from a nearby village?"

"No, I just happened to stumble across this place. I was raised by my parents who were traveling merchants. I lost them when I was still young, but I managed." Lennard wanted a layer of ambiguity behind his origins so that he wouldn't be called out on it.

"Ah, that's sad.. I hope you find them someday." Millard felt some sympathy for Lennard.

Lennard felt touched by how Millard treated him despite being a complete stranger.

"Yeah…"

"I hope so.."

Lennard stared at the stars with a melancholic expression.