Money can't Fix Bugs

When Riva thought about all the cool skills just waiting for her to purchase she couldn't wait.

Wasn't it everyone's dream to be a magician in the truest sense? One that could be proud to be called as such. Someone that used cool, flashy spells!

Riva hastily found the 'Ice Magic' skill in the system shop and confirmed its purchase.

Next, she would get all the damn OP mind domain spells through Rao!

Maybe there were ways to easily add more spells to the shop? She would need to observe and identify them. A way to see many spells… A tournament might work? Didn't every good fantasy adventure have a tournament arc?

Riva didn't get much farther with her thoughts because she finally noticed the small popup that had opened layering over the shop window.

[Purchase failed. Weekly limit reached]

No!

Riva closed the tab and attempted to buy the spell a second time.

[Purchase failed. Weekly limit reached] Again the same message opened up.

No way!

Riva tried buying another spell.

[Purchase failed. Weekly limit reached]

This had to be a bad joke!

Third attempt: The same.

Maybe she was just doing it wrong.

She searched for clothes and tried buying them. They immediately appeared in front of her.

It was screwing with her. Again!

<System! Explain!>

[Please specify] Came the dry response.

<What's up with 'weekly limit reached'!? Why can't I buy any spells?>

[The user has reached the shop's limit: One skill purchase per week]

<I can't buy more than one skill per week?>

[Affirmative]

Nooooo! Riva was screaming internally.

<Do you realize how stupid that is?>

[Please specify]

<Why would you restrict my growth through buying skills from the shop if I have the necessary currency?>

[User would be unable to handle more]

"<Wrong!>" Riva was already shouting in both telepathy and voice. "<Excuses! Lame excuses!>"

"<I have learned plenty more than just one skill this week! You know what I think?>"

[System can not access user's thoughts]

"<The stupid purchase limit, it's a lame excuse to gloss over your messed up balancing! That's all!>"

[Does user want to send a suggestion or feedback?]

Yes, she would love to tell the responsible idiots a piece of her mind. They deserved a good tongue lashing! But from experience, it was near-certain that trying to send feedback would just end up fueling her frustration even further. Her blood was boiling.

Riva watched the number representing her energy count steadily climb, one number a time. The amount should have been enough to cover countless spells.

If the system was capable of one thing, it was frustrating her to the max.

She could have used 'Self Control' to contain her anger. But no! She needed to punch something. Anything!

Riva pulled the next best thing from her inventory.

The unlucky wild boar that Rao captured for her during their quest.

~

The poor beast appeared straight from the void. It looked extremely lost.

Its day had started normal (It wasn't aware of the time that it spent in the inventory). It was just minding its business, searching the forest floor for delectable nuts and worms. When out of the blue a strange man appeared and pointed straight at it.

Why? It had done nothing wrong. But the man didn't care. He used an unknown trick to make it hover in the air.

The poor boar was helpless. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn't escape.

It had to watch as it was taken into a cave where another person awaited them. It didn't understand what it and its abductor were talking about but it was sure it couldn't be anything good. The way they looked at it as if it was a snack!

When the man left it alone with the woman, the boar had been sure that this was it. Its life was over! It resigned itself to its fate and everything went black.

The next thing it knew the scenery had completely changed. The very atmosphere was different. But that wasn't important because the woman was still there and she looked fuming mad!

The boar's instinct finally kicked in. Good thing it was no longer floating. It took off running, the woman right on its heels.

It had no idea where it was going but anything was better than here!

At first, it tried to shake off its pursuer by zigzagging and suddenly changing directions with no results. So it just conserved its energy and ran in a straight line.

It wasn't long until it felt the burn. It was running out of stamina while its pursuer wasn't even breathing hard. No, it wasn't breathing at all!

Panic!

Now it also noticed another fact. Its pursuer had slowed to an appropriate pace even though she didn't look to be exhausted. She was toying with it. There had been no escape from the very beginning.

Dread!

To the boar's misery, it was also approaching the end of the terrain. A dense fog wall had come into view.

Maybe it could have hidden in the fog. But the closer it came, the harder it was for it to continue. As though it was fighting against a rubber band.

It still continued for as long as it could until it was basically running in place. Its pursuer had also followed behind. She was almost within arm's reach. Just a few more centimeters.

It was useless. The boar resigned itself to its fate and gave up resisting.

~

Riva had welcomed the wild chase.

This was just what she needed. She might not feel physical exhaustion but maybe due to her human muscle memory, she still felt as though she was burning her excessive adrenaline. In short, it was fun. And the boar was a good playmate. It dutifully ran with everything it had.

She decided against using her skills and to just use her physical prowess. She might not have increased her strength since she was human. But because she didn't have to worry about stamina, she could go all out, making her overall faster with the same stats.

Well, maybe her speed did increase. She did evolve so that had probably caused some sort of change. She could check later. Right now she wanted to enjoy the moment.

She just couldn't stop thinking. She had always been like that. Never able to turn off her never-ending thoughts.

By now the boar was slowing down. Riva chose to follow suit. The dungeon's border was coming into view. It was represented by an endless wall of fog. What would happen once they reached it?

Her question was soon answered. The fog didn't work as a simple obstacle. Rather, the closer she drew and the denser it became, the more a force was tugging t her, trying to pull her back into the dungeon. Maybe with enough strength, the border could be breached. But she had no idea what lay beyond.

The boar had run headlong into the fog and was now running in place. Its running strength and the force completely cancel each other. The sight had something cartoonishly funny about it.

The boar itself looked anguished. Riva had eaten countless boars by now. But somehow she felt sorry for this one. Maybe because she was fond of its pixel icon that had represented it inside her inventory?

Even if this was a dumb reason this was what saved its life because Riva had decided to keep it as a pet!

She saw that it stopped running and grabbed onto it. And not a second too late, because the overstretched force that was pulling them back fully took ahold of them. They shot back into the dungeon like a projectile released from a slingshot. It was a good thing, that the grass under their feet was slick with dew making the experience similar to riding a slide.

When they finally stopped both of them lay motionless in the grass. Riva was laughing while the boar was feigning death.

"This was fun. I could go for another round."