Nana Toki’s lilting, childlike voice rang through the tenth-floor chamber of the Divine Demon Tower, and the Hard-to-Name trio felt a winter draft slide under their armor.

The Treasure Imp’s play was venom-slick and veteran-steady, like a blade honed on a millstone, nothing an NPC in this game should be pulling off.

If she wanted to rob them, they’d be lambs under a hawk’s shadow, watching the talons and still powerless to swat them away.

“So? Wanna keep going down another floor? Just a tiny fee—one hundred gold.”

Nana Toki tugged Thorn out of the monster’s skull with a wet whisper, then beamed at the three players across the room. “And starting now, for every ten floors you clear, the next set comes with a ten percent discount. Heart racing? Then let your feet move.”

[Nearby] ThisNameIsHard: “......”

[Nearby] NamingIsHard: “......”

[Nearby] HardToPickThisName: “......”

She matched those forum posts to a tee—this NPC’s smarts were off the charts.

And a hundred gold was a hundred bucks; one jab of her dagger, one floor like fallen leaves in wind.

The game’s planners really knew how to make the coin flow like a tide.

On the surface, the Hard-to-Name trio looked calm as still water; inside, their knees were already on the temple floor before the loli a few steps away.

Too fierce, and priced like fire.

The three of them couldn’t tank this hit.

“Let’s pop out and tell the guild leader first.”

In tower runs, NeverGiveUp always called the charge, even if he also did the most coasting every time.

Brothers were brothers; you couldn’t scold the mountain into moving, so you fed it hotpot instead.

Being hard to name was hard; being this trio was harder.

“Works for me. Oh—this dropped off that mob. You can take it. The stats are trash; I don’t want it.”

Nana Toki scratched her small head, then casually tossed the gear that had just dropped.

[Nearby] ThisNameIsHard: “......”

He caught it on reflex.

“Holy crap, a Liuli Sword?!”

ThisNameIsHard nearly fumbled it.

It was a growth-type weapon. In the whole game, gear that scales like this was rarer than phoenix feathers, and she called it trash?

Is that a thing a human says?

Even at a low starting price on the auction house, a pack of wolves would fight for it.

How could the Treasure Imp not know treasure?

“Sorry. This little imp treats gold gear like dirt.” —Nana Toki.

Her bag already had a fistful of pieces better than this; no need to let junk hog the wind in her pack.

“.......”

Tongue-tied for a beat, ThisNameIsHard took a breath and asked the only question that mattered. “Boss, do you need a leg-hugger or a minion?”

Maybe kneeling to an NPC would make more money than raiding with the guild.

Nana Toki: “......”

Anyway.

Whether Nana Toki needed ornaments or underlings could wait.

The moment the System warped them out of the Divine Demon Tower, NeverGiveUp—who’d been jabbing an anthill with a stick out of boredom—sprang up and asked, “Well? Did you clear the tenth-floor boss?”

The boss on the tenth floor of the Divine Demon Tower was a thorn in NeverGiveUp’s heart-meat. Every ten floors, boss stats spiked like a cliff face; for a no-healer, face-first brawler comp like theirs, it was always pain like cold rain.

“Ah… that boss? It spawned and got one-shot.”

[Nearby] NeverGiveUp: “?”

What?

Didn’t that Treasure Imp only have five thousand attack?

Even with a trip debuff, you don’t just snap a boss like a twig.

“You three wiped and now you’re trying to sweet-talk your guild leader?”

NeverGiveUp squinted at his three brothers. “A wipe’s a wipe. It’s not shameful. We just come back and do it again next time.”

[Nearby] ThisNameIsHard: “......”

[Nearby] NamingIsHard: “......”

[Nearby] HardToPickThisName: “......”

“Knew you’d dodge reality. Here—this is what the boss dropped. She didn’t want it. Free for you.”

ThisNameIsHard held up the weapon Nana Toki had tossed him.

“Boss drops from the Tower sell for a lot. Don’t think you can fool me with—holy crap, a Liuli Sword?!”

NeverGiveUp stared, eyes wide as full moons. “Good grief, where’d you even get this? A growth-type like this goes in the cash shop as priceless. Don’t tell me you ganked some poor passerby.”

“......”

“I said it dropped from the tenth-floor boss. Why won’t you believe me?” NamingIsHard facepalmed. “Have you been boosting level 30–40 newbies too much and got newbie-brained? We’re Moonlit West River, a top-100 guild. Guild leader, stop embarrassing us.”

[Nearby] NeverGiveUp (Level 67): “......”

“Are you done huddling? If you are, pay up already. This lady’s in a hurry to buy items.”

Watching the four clowns chatter, Nana Toki rolled her eyes like tossed pebbles. Who knew a top-100 guild could be a whole circus.

“......”

Impressive, this NPC.

She even throws around ‘this lady.’

They traded a hundred gold to Nana Toki; NeverGiveUp didn’t flinch a muscle.

Forget the value of clearing one floor of the Divine Demon Tower for a hundred gold. For the Liuli Sword alone, that hundred was blood well spent.

Maybe don’t fix the Treasure Imp bug, he thought, hugging the Liuli Sword like a warm brazier.

“Thanks for your patronage. Come again.”

Nana Toki pocketed the coins, waved Moonlit West River off, then spent the entire hundred like a spark on tinder—she bought a broadcast horn.

Well, she had a face now, didn’t she? Not hopping on World to chat felt like letting her NPC signboard collect dust.

System: “......”

Have you ever seen an NPC pop off on World Chat?

The System in her head was stunned.

Its host’s little brain always chased flashy plays like a kite in a gale.

[World] GloomAndDoom: “Any carry for Divine Demon Tower? I’m stuck on floor fifteen!”

[World] SingingPeaceDove: “Need one healer for level 65 raid. Fast joins pls, ty!”

[World] SoutheastBranch: “Level 70 central raid. Need a hard carry, pls pls!”

Like any MMO, when there was no drama, World Chat was salted fish begging for carries.

Until—

[World] Ma Jinhua: “No way. Moonlit West River, the no-sustain crew, cleared floor ten?”

[World] FishAndPanties: “I just checked the rankings. Yeah, Moonlit West River shows floor ten cleared, but their guild leader’s personal best is still stuck at ten.”

[World] MonaLisasDumbSmile: “I bet the Hard-to-Name trio picked up a healer and ditched their leader to clear it.”

[World] LittleStone: “Same thought here.”

And then NeverGiveUp, quietly doomscrolling World Chat, got shot by a stray arrow.

[World] NeverGiveUp: “?”

[World] FishAndPanties: “Look, the victim’s here! /laugh”

[World] GreenFadesRed: “Let’s invite the abandoned guild leader to share his feelings.”

[World] NeverGiveUp: “......”

[World] NeverGiveUp: “You won’t believe it. My three guildies used my money to hire an NPC to carry us through floor ten. /world-weary”

[World] CoolEleven: “?”

[World] TreeNoChild: “Your NPC can carry you in the Tower?”

The lurkers bubbled up. Nobody believed it.

Moonlit West River had been jawing nonsense lately; hang with them long enough, you learned their flavor.

[World] Ma Jinhua: “Moonlit West River, where you at? Your guild leader forgot his meds again.”

[World] NeverGiveUp: “...... Knew you dogs wouldn’t buy it. [Liuli Sword] So I’ll show you what dropped from the tenth floor. /laugh /laugh”

[World] NeverASlave: “Holy crap, Liuli Sword? Which NPC carried you?!”

Weapons like that were rare as comets across the whole server.

And nobody had ever heard of an NPC hard-carrying a Divine Demon Tower run.

[World] Treasure Imp: “Daddy. Me.”

Nana Toki tucked herself into a quiet corner and dropped the line like a pebble into a pond.

Ripples exploded.

[World] NeverGiveUp: “?”

[World] FishAndPanties: “?”

[World] GreenFadesRed: “?”

[World] CoolEleven: “?”

[World] TreeNoChild: “?”

The clump of salted-fish chatters went slack-jawed.

[World] Ma Jinhua: “Treasure Imp, weren’t you bug-fixed? How’re you on World Chat?”

And with emotes, even.

[World] Treasure Imp: “I bought a broadcast horn. Why can’t I be on World? Are you dumb? /disdain”

“......”

Amazing, our NPC.

She can buy horns now.

How did one patch make the Treasure Imp bug wilder?

Did the devs just slap tape on it?

[World] GloomAndDoom: “Treasure Imp, did you carry Moonlit West River in the Tower?”

[World] Treasure Imp: “Mhm. Problem? /feeling-big”

[World] GloomAndDoom: “Can you carry me too? /hopeful I’ll spam 666.”

[World] Treasure Imp: “Sure. One hundred gold per floor. Say no to freeloaders, starting with me.”

[World] SuggestYouCrawl: “?”

[World] LiBaiCanDance: “?”

[World] DamnSoCold: “?”

Was the Treasure Imp going to flip the heavens or what?

She was taking player money now.

Another patch and she’d climb the power rankings, too?

[World] Treasure Imp: “So? You in or not? DM me if you are. I’m busy.”