Formal Registration
I stared down at the potion bottle with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
"D-Did... did the teddy bear change?"
The cute little brown bear emblem had suddenly turned into a polar bear with stark white fur. Was it really just because this was an ice mana potion?
"My adorable Mr. Bear... turned into this."
The soft brown coat was gone, replaced by pristine white fur and a nose like a tiny black bean. Well, I had to admit this Mr. Bear was pretty cute too. A polar bear had its own distinct charm, but it felt suspiciously like a company pushing its beloved mascot only to rebrand it overnight due to backstage corporate politics.
The teddy bear emblem has changed under the unique power of the Ice Mana Potion.
"Won't people call this a knockoff?"
Whenever a product hit it big, an endless wave of cheap imitations inevitably followed. But wait, wasn't my situation completely different?
"This is my original product!"
Nobody answered my indignant cry. Well, running your own small business was always a rough ride.
"Haa... whatever."
Formal Registration is recommended.
I tilted my head at the message hovering in my status window.
"Formal Registration? What am I, an unlicensed street vendor?"
Upon completing Formal Registration, a nameplate brand will be affixed to all listed items.
Additionally, exchange transaction fees will be reduced to 3%.
If there was such a sweet perk, it should have told me earlier!
"Formal registration, huh..."
I opened the Exchange window and flipped through the help guide. Formal Registration—found it!
"Now, for the information to submit..."
The moment I tapped 'Enter Information,' a document crafted from high-grade parchment materialized in midair. I scribbled my way through it in a hurry, only to screech to a dead halt at one specific section.
"G-Gender..."
If I wrote 'Female' here, wouldn't I be treated as a complete woman forever? Stealthily, I tapped the box for 'Male.' It was the final, desperate rebellion I could muster.
Verifying submitted information.
Inaccurate information detected.
The parchment flushed an angry crimson before snapping back to its blank state. In the end, my final struggle was ruthlessly crushed.
Right, it's just a game... I'm only pretending to be a girl because it's a game! It's not like I'm a crossplaying net-kama or anything...
I corrected the gender field and entered the rest of the details. Farewell, my old self... I'm letting you go for good now.
Verifying submitted information.
Registration completed successfully.
As the brief procedure wrapped up, a curious thought crossed my mind. What on earth did the Exchange gain if it even slashed transaction fees for registered merchants?
Formal Registration complete. A merchant registration fee of 5,000,000 Estel has been deducted.
Deduction complete.
Remaining Balance:5,901,350 Estel
Remaining Debt:100,000,000 Estel
"Huh...? W-Wait a second!"
You crazy bastards!
Nobody warned me the registration fee was this insanely expensive! My blood money!
Right as I collapsed to the floor in sheer despair, the door creaked open. A series of wet, bouncing squelches echoed across the room, and before I could react, a translucent gelatinous mass burrowed straight into my embrace. I blinked.
"Mallang?"
Sure enough, Mallang had already settled warmly in my arms. You really had to hand it to the little guy—it was undeniably cute.
"Did you come to cheer me up?"
A fond smile crept onto my lips at its thoughtful gesture. See? This was exactly why every household needed at least one cute pet. Gathering my resolve, I pushed myself back onto my feet. It was just five million Estel—I could easily make that back!
...Wait a minute. Mallang? Why are you wiggling right inside my cleavage?
I mean, having things actually fit and get wedged in there was novel, but... hey, this wasn't the time for that!
"Mallang? Come on, out you go. You have to listen to big sis, okay?"
Every time Mallang’s cool, squishy body squirmed, strange shivers rippled through my chest. A zapping, electric tingle ran straight down my spine, making me twist my legs together in flustered agony before I hastily pried the slime away.
"Mallang! Sis has work to do, so go outside!"
Wait, hadn't I locked the door? How did it even get in? When I moved to usher it out, I caught sight of the doorknob—it was half-melted, dripping with sticky mucus. No mystery who the culprit was.
"Is this brat actually male? There's nothing dangling down there, though..."
After giving it a brisk pat on the crown, I finally pushed it out the door. I only let it off easy because it was cute; if the Guardian Golem had pulled a stunt like that, it would have been smashed to pieces on the spot.
Setting the intrusion aside, I turned back to the workbench and pondered over the pricing as I prepared to list the potions on the Exchange. Come to think of it, I hadn't even read the potion's full effects yet. There was just one snag: unlike ordinary brews, this particular recipe refused to yield multiple bottles at once.
"That means I need to sell them for a premium..."
Only now did I finally cast an appraisal on the potion. A merchant couldn't very well sell something without knowing what it did—and if I was going to slap a hefty price tag on it, I had to understand its properties!
Effect:Grants the Aura of Frost upon consumption.
Duration:30 minutes
What the hell is 'Aura of Frost,' you damn status window?! Talk about totally user-unfriendly...
"In times like this, the best way is just to drink it."
Popping the cork without hesitation, I tossed the liquid straight down my throat. The taste was... wait. Could it be...?
A frigid wave rushed down my gullet, prickling with an explosive fizz like boiling frost. It stung sharply, but I gritted my teeth and endured it, a single tear leaking from the corner of my eye. This familiar sensation... it was definitely—!
"Kahh... Isn't this literally cola?!"
A crisp carbonation paired with a harmonious sweetness, completely lacking the syrupy stickiness that real cola left behind on the tongue.
"And this feeling..."
A chilling aura pulsed through my veins, yet I didn't feel cold in the slightest.
The Aura of Frost grants a Frostbite Immunity buff and significantly increases Cold Resistance.
I stared blankly at the status window, blinking once, then twice. Cold resistance on a consumable potion? Was that even legal in this game?
"This is massive!"
I immediately dumped the entire contents of my inventory onto the workbench. There was no way I was sleeping on an opportunity like this! Dragging out every scrap of Frozen Light and cave mushroom I had hauled up from the underground cavern, I rolled up my sleeves.
"Even if I have to pull an all-nighter, we grind!"
Part of it was my desperate urge to dig myself out from beneath this suffocating mountain of debt, but there was an even greater motivation driving me.
"I want to see that new region get cracked open."
The endgame zone whose final raid dungeon had remained completely uncleared ever since the update because of its lethal, bone-chilling cold—I was dying of curiosity. Back when I worked part-time at the convenience store, I could never dream of keeping pace with the massive pay-to-win whales, but I had still poured everything into optimizing my stats without cashing out my gold. Come to think of it, I wondered if my original main character was doing fine right now.
Without taking a single second to rest, I churned out potions like an automated assembly line. By the time I finally finished, on the absolute verge of passing out from sheer exhaustion, I collapsed face-first onto the bed.
"Ugh... I don't even care anymore..."
After slaving away like a dog, I deserved at least two hundred thousand... no, two million per bottle.
With heavy, half-lidded eyes, I hurriedly punched in the numbers on the listing screen.
Listing Bear Special Ice Mana Potion at 200,000 Estel each.
Did I count the zeros right...? I was so drowsy my vision was swimming.
"Mmh... yeah, that looks right."
There were a bunch of zeros, so it had to be correct. It's not like I'd commit a blunder like Missing a Zero, right? Hehe... when I wake up, I'll be swimming in cash... If they all sell, that's nearly a billion... one billion Estel... zzz...
Tapping the confirm button, I plunged straight into unconsciousness.
Parna was a land of absolute zero—a realm of death where the cold was said to freeze arrows right out of the sky mid-flight.
"Let's take a short break before we push in."
A male wizard clad in pitch-black robes—known across the community forums by the handle Black Archmage—halted before the dungeon entrance. No matter how you analyzed it, the raid's tuning was ridiculous. Even if the developers intended to gate endgame progression and slow down content consumption, this dungeon went far beyond reasonable bounds.
"Freezing debuff after standing still for just thirty seconds..."
Black Archmage let out a heavy sigh, looking over the guild members accompanying him on the expedition. Equipping cold-weather gear crippled their damage output so badly that they couldn't beat the enrage timer before time ran out. Yet marching in with standard offensive armor meant everyone succumbed to Frostbite and wiped within moments.
If only there were some kind of cheat-code potion...
Gripped by frustration, he pulled up the Exchange, filtered for potions, and sorted by highest price. After refreshing several times, a new listing caught his eye: Bear Special Ice Mana Potion.
Two hundred thousand Estel... That's an absurd price for a potion.
He had no clue what the effects were, but almost as if spellbound by the word 'Bear,' he bought out the entire stock in one click. Last time, he had hesitated over the price and missed out on a hoard of game-breaking intelligence-boosting elixirs; he refused to swallow that bitter pill of regret again. The item description merely mentioned granting an ambiguous buff called 'Aura of Frost' without any detailed data... yet he staked everything on that single brand name: Bear.
"Everyone, assemble!"
At Black Archmage's command, the guild members hurried over. As he distributed the vials, bewildered glances were exchanged at the shimmering blue liquid inside.
"Drink up, everyone. We enter immediately after."
Though someone muttered that they hadn't rested long enough, they all tipped the vials back. The sharp, sparkling fizz and sweet burst across their tongues drew immediate murmurs of surprise.
"Whoa, what's this? Since when does the Guild Master provide gourmet beverages?"
Because they were a disciplined, veteran guild, no further complaints followed.
"Wait... the chill is completely gone. Is there some kind of warmth buff active on us?"
Whispering in astonishment, they filed into the dungeon. And shortly thereafter, a server-wide announcement blared across every player's interface.
The dead-silent community forums instantly exploded into pandemonium.
For once, I woke up feeling completely refreshed. Stretching out my limbs with a leisurely yawn, I slowly sat up in bed.
"Ugh... what a great sleep."
Ding! Ding!
The cheerful chime of system notifications caused my eyes to pop open, and I covered my mouth with a delicate, elegant yawn. A wonderfully light, blissful mood washed over me.
All registered items have been sold.
Finally! I was finally escaping the clutches of debt, with nearly nine hundred million Estel landing straight into my pockets!
"First things first, clear the debt!"
Would you like to repay the remaining debt of 100,000,000 Estel?
Without a split-second of hesitation, I slammed confirm, a radiant smile lighting up my face. Nothing in this world could scare me now! Nine hundred million... what should I even do with that much money? My heart hammered against my ribs—it was an astronomical fortune I had never come close to touching in the real world.
All outstanding debts have been fully repaid.
Remaining Balance:2,707,350 Estel
Mhm, yep. That's right, my remaining balance is...
Wait. What did that say?
Why the hell does my balance look like that?! Even after wiping out the debt, I should still have hundreds of millions left over!
"What?! What is this psychotic system even blabbering about?!"
Panic surging through my veins, I frantically tore open the Exchange interface. They promised the transaction fee was 3%! How much did they take from me?!
And then, the moment my eyes locked onto the transaction sales history, pure, unadulterated despair crushed my soul.
"I missed a fucking zero!"
Startled by my ear-splitting screech, the Guardian Golem vaulted into the sky and came hurtling straight toward the house from above.
Wait... hold on... if you land there—!
With an earth-shattering BOOM, the roof caved in, and my soul cleanly drifted out of my body.
Why the hell can't I have a single quiet day in this goddamn game?!