Chương 66: Chapter 67: The Disguise Pivot

The virtual gates of Beth Shean dissolved instantly into an unforgiving, absolute dark. Ethan pulled his hands away from the interface console, his real-world chest rising and falling in a steady, controlled rhythm as his physical nervous system disconnected from the neural grid. He sat upright, his bare skin instantly slick with the familiar, humid heat of Room 12-04.

The low-frequency thrum of the Chinatown Sump's neighborhood power cap vibrated straight up through the floorboards—a dull, heavy industrial hum that he was finally preparing to leave behind. The market math had aligned perfectly. The real-world value of game currency continued to grow as Bereshit Online continued to grow in popularity and influence. He quickly traded his in-game fortune for the $300, 000. 00 SGD deposit. He didn't waste a single second.

He stood up unsteadily, walked three steps across the narrow concrete room to his terminal. He routed the downpayment on the private market real estate registry to initialise the sale of the Jurong East pylon pod. The crimson liquidation notice had lost its teeth. He tapped the screen again, scheduling an automated request for a low-cost private cargo transit drone to handle their household logistics, noting the standard twenty-four-hour processing queue on the terminal.

He didn't have the funds to buy luxury furniture or upgraded gear; they would be hauling their existing, tattered equipment—their old cupboards and tables, his self-repaired gaming capsule, and his grandmother's grey, soot-caked therapeutic medical pod—up into the pylon flat. He walked over to her pod, checking the status one last time. Her breathing was shallow but stable, her eyelids closed in a deep, peaceful sleep.

Twenty-four hours before the drone clears the gate, Ethan calculated, his eyes narrowing as he turned back toward his capsule. He couldn't afford to waste a single day of operational time sitting passively in the humid room while his monthly mortgage timer was already ticking. The transition back into the server was an instantaneous snap of hot wilderness air. Ethan made his way back to the limestone cave as he opened his character profile.

The transaction multiplier from the high volume household pottery and the twenty luxury vessels had propelled him straight to Level 43. [Character Profile: Ethan (Apprentice Yotzer HaRishon — Grade 6)] Level: 43 Strength (STR): 54 (+30 Primordial Core Bonus) Agility (AGI): 56 (+25 Primordial Core Bonus) Constitution (CON): 37 (+22 Primordial Core Bonus) Perception (PER): 85 (+34 Primordial Core Bonus) [Class Statutory Passive Multipliers Active] If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen.

Report the violation. [Unyielding Frame]: Health Pool multiplied by 2. 0x when standing directly on unpaved terrain. [Structural Analysis]: All raw material extraction speeds scaled by 300%. [Linguistic Genesis Engine] Structural Radical Analysis Radical Extraction Syntax [Created Entity Menu] Maximum Active Construct Slots: 3 / 3 Active Frames. These stats are far too high for an artisan class, even a high levered one. I'll need a new identity as we move south.

A raw, intimidating warrior silhouette will serve as a passive deterrence, forcing corporate player scouts to think twice before contesting my path. His mind automatically began evaluating combat disciplines that could survive his unique class restrictions. He couldn't equip iron or bronze swords, and standard wood infantry shields were locked beneath his structural timber ban. No chance for a charioteer or a shield-bearer.

When he had first launched his account, his entire financial strategy had been centred on unlocking the Royal Charioteer class because its elite military faction payouts were the fastest way to save Room 12-04. The Medjay! His mind immediately reached back to the hidden black binder. According to the developer notes, the Medjay were a highly feared, paramilitary scout branch.

While the royal heavy infantry were issued standardised bronze swords and wood-framed shields, the auxiliary scouts traditionally retained their tribal close-quarters shock weapons: Leet (throwstick) or bone mace-cudgels and layered leather tunics. By adopting the guise of a Medjay desert ranger —an elite Egyptian auxiliary tracker—Ethan could disguise as an exceptional, non-metal combat profile that bypassed his iron, bronze, and structural timber bans.

He dropped down into the vertical rock fissure behind the pool chamber alone. The three automated gray clay golems were still running, thudding out cheap peasant tableware into the dirt. Ethan walked up to each unit, raised his calloused thumb, and ruthlessly scraped away the active Aleph characters on their foreheads. Without a sound, the three automatons collapsed into the raw alluvial silt of the floorboards. He climbed back up the rock ledge and turned back toward the upper chamber.

He had returned his factory to the dust.