The wind chime hanging by the door jingled softly, mingling with the dusty air, the scent of old wood, and the sharp stink of rusty metal floating through the room.
Sean slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw wasn't the familiar ceiling of his downtown condo bedroom, nor the glaring neon light from the computer screen he'd been staring at for more than sixteen hours straight. Instead, it was a rotting plank ceiling split by long cracks, with drops of condensation slowly falling and striking his cheek with a clammy chill.
"What the... Did I fall asleep at my computer again?"
He muttered softly to himself and raised a hand to rub his eyes, but his gaze caught on that hand instead. His skin, once pale from spending so much time in front of a screen, had become rough and weathered, with scrapes and caked mud packed beneath his fingernails. The clothes he wore weren't soft pajamas, either. They were a grimy brown linen shirt covered by a thick leather apron full of small pockets.
Before his mind could process what was happening, a gust of wind swept through the room—and a translucent blue interface window suddenly popped into view in front of him!
[ Welcome to the world of 'Chronicles of Atheria' ] [ Complete soul connection detected... ] [ User identity confirmed: Sean (Starting City NPC - Paldia) ] [ Current status: Used Gear and Scrap Merchant ]
"Chronicles of Atheria...? The VRMMORPG we're running a farming bot in right now?!"
Sean's eyes widened in shock. Atheria was a globally popular online game that had just announced the longest major server maintenance in history—seventy-two hours. He clearly remembered that right before he blacked out, he'd been sitting there ordering junk items from the market to resell for profit... So why had he suddenly become the NPC who ran the old junk shop at the edge of town?!
He hurriedly reached out, trying to find the 'Log Out' button or the System settings. But the upper-right corner of the holographic window was completely empty. There was no way to withdraw, no option to contact the Game Master—only his own basic status panel.
[ Name: Sean ] [ Class: Used Gear Merchant (NPC) ] [ Level: 1 ] [ HP: 100/100 | MP: 50/50 ] [ Physical Attributes: STR 5 | AGI 4 | INT 8 | DEX 12 | LUK 99 (Hidden) ] [ Passive Skills: 'Appraisal (Lv.1)', 'Bargaining (Lv.1)' ] [ Unique Skill: 'Dark Merchant Forge - Unlocked' ]
"Where the hell did the Log Out button go...? What is this crazy crap?!" Sean began to feel a cold sweat seep down his back. He tried shouting for the System's voice-command window, but received no response whatsoever.
BANG!
The shop door flew open so violently that its wooden hinges creaked. Two young men wearing starter leather armor and short iron swords at their waists strode into the shop. They were visibly rushed and panicked. Their names and HP bars floated clearly above their heads.
'Player: Optimus Gale (Lv.3)' 'Player: Thousand-Corpse Blade (Lv.4)'
"Holy crap! The NPC's still here! Old man... Hand over every HP potion and warp scroll you've got!" the man named Optimus Gale shouted in Sean's face, slamming a pouch of copper coins onto the wooden counter.
Sean glanced at the money pouch and narrowed his eyes. A veteran gamer's instincts let him process the situation immediately. These Players weren't AI or programs. They were real people who had been dragged into this world too!
"I don't have any warp scrolls... And we're out of HP potions. Been out since yesterday." Sean tried to keep his voice flat, like an ordinary NPC. "All we've got in the shop is scrap metal, F-rank equipment, and junk the other Players sold off."
"Damn it! It's really all screwed up!" Thousand-Corpse Blade cursed in frustration and yanked his friend's collar. "I told you the Log Out button was gone! And the monsters outside the city keep getting crazier. If we die, who knows whether we'll even respawn at a save point!"
Fear began to take over the little shop. Sean quietly drew a deep breath, confirming the hypothesis in his mind beyond a doubt. This wasn't just happening to him. Every Player in Atheria was trapped in this world—and the game's rules and systems were beginning to warp!
As the two Players lost their minds and turned to leave the shop, Sean's eyes swept over a pile of old weapons in the corner. His body sensed some kind of pull, and he reached out to touch a rusty iron sword whose chipped blade was nearly broken in half.
At that instant, a black System window glowing red burst into view!
[ Unique Skill activated: 'Dark Merchant Forge' ] [ Target item: Tattered Short Iron Sword (F-rank) ] [ Materials in junk storage: 2x Low-Quality Iron Ore Fragments, 1x Dried Monster Blood ] [ Do you wish to use Dark-Style Extraction and Fusion? (10 MP) ]
Sean didn't hesitate. He confirmed it in his mind at once!
FWOOSH—!
A stream of deep purple energy burst from Sean's palm and wrapped around the rusty iron sword. A flash of light flared for only a fraction of a second, and the rust and chips on the blade vanished. In their place was a razor-sharp silver blade radiating a faint, icy aura.
[ Synthesis successful! You received: 'Silent-Forged Iron Sword (C-rank Special Grade)' ] [ Attributes: Attack Power +45, 15% chance to inflict 'Bleeding' on enemies (5x higher than standard F-rank equipment) ]
'Damn...' Sean marveled inwardly. He'd turned an F-rank junk weapon into a C-rank Special Grade weapon in just one second?! During Atheria's early game, C-rank weapons were rare enough that top parties fought over them!
"Wait, you two..." Sean called out to the Players as they were about to step through the shop's door.
"What now, old man? I told you, if you don't have antidotes or warp scrolls, then don't—" Optimus Gale turned back with an irritated expression, but swallowed the rest of his words the instant his eyes landed on the sword in Sean's hand.
Silver sparks gleamed clearly along the blade. The weapon's C-rank stats were displayed right in front of the two Players, making their eyes bulge like goose eggs!
"That's... a C-rank sword?! In the starting city?!" Thousand-Corpse Blade gulped loudly. A weapon of this caliber would let them hunt monsters outside the city with ease—and greatly improve their chances of surviving in a chaotic situation like this.
"I just dug it out of the junk pile behind the shop..." Sean gave a faint smile, his eyes shining with the knowing glint of a seasoned merchant. "A C-rank weapon normally costs at least 50 silver coins... But since you two are in a bind, I'll sell it for 30 silver coins. Or, if you've got junk or unusual monster parts, you can trade those in for a discount."
The two Players stared at each other in shock, then hurriedly rummaged through their bags and willingly piled every silver coin and scrap of material they had onto the counter, as if Sean were a saint sent to save them.
Sean accepted the money and materials with a smile. As he watched the two Players leave the shop with their new weapon, he turned back toward the piles of junk and scrap metal filling the back room. The corner of his mouth curled into a sly grin.
If the game system was breaking down and there was no way back to his old world... then he would use this identity as a junk-dealing NPC merchant to extract god-tier items, control the entire economic system, and become the mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes in this world of Atheria.