Morning came.
Corrin didn't really sleep. Just a blink, and suddenly the sun was back in the sky.
The tutorial zone really was finicky. Terribly designed.
Still, it was a new day.
And one filled with people.
Lots of people.
There was only one reason for that.
Myth Online had finally updated.
After years of dangling plot threads and half-finished arcs, the devs had pushed the final chapter of the world's story—and forced everyone to start over to experience it properly.
The login rush had been insane.
By nightfall, though, the square had already begun to empty. Players chased efficiency the way they always did, sprinting past starter gear toward the fastest routes out of town.
Corrin had watched them go.
Warriors.
Mages.
Clerics.
No thieves.
Not a single one.
He couldn't even blame them. Thief was a terrible choice early on, miserable for solo play. Sneaking around to land critical hits sounded great on paper, but in practice?
Not so much.
As the morning rush finally thinned out, Corrin finished putting together a plan.
Corrin didn't give himself time to hesitate.
If he did, he'd talk himself out of it.
He slipped back behind the stall, more out of habit than necessity, and pulled up his status window again.
The numbers stared back at him, unchanged.
Unassigned Skill Points: 2
"…Alright," he muttered. "Let's make this hurt."
He selected the point.
A new branch unfolded beneath his class skills, small and unassuming. and absolutely not meant for someone like him.
Crafting Interface (Basic)
Unlocks access to personal crafting menu.
Warning: Skill points spent are permanent.
"Yeah, yeah," Corrin said, jaw tightening. "I know."
He confirmed, and the skill point vanished. Suddenly, a new menu shifted into existence.
Corrin sighed. The crafting menu is something Players got for free, while he had to spend a precious skill point just to get the basic version. Oh, how truly unjust the world is.
He focused on the newly acquired panel:
Crafting Menu
Available Categories:
Consumables Basic Tools Miscellaneous
Corrin exhaled sharply.
"…There you are."
He opened Consumables immediately.
Corrin scrolled through most of the obscure potions.
"Skip, skip, skip…" he muttered. "Man, when can I—"
Then, he suddenly found it. The thing he needed the most and the very thing that shall unshackle these unjust chains upon his being!
Health Potion (Minor)
Restores a small amount of HP over a short duration.
That was it. The most common consumable in the game. But do not underestimate its utility! Every party must have at least a few to clear bosses in cases where their clerics get one-shotted.
Corrin stared at it for a long moment.
"…You're the one."
He hovered over the crafting menu.
Then frowned.
"…Oh."
He scrolled down to the materials list.
Diluted slime residue, clear water, and spring herbs.
The kind of ingredients every starting vendor sold in bundles of ten.
Corrin's gaze drifted instinctively toward the nearest alchemy stall across the square.
He could just… buy them.
The thought lasted exactly one second.
He checked his inventory.
Gold: 0
Having no Players bother you also comes with the cons of having no Players bother you.
He was flat broke.
Corrin closed the menu and leaned back against the stall, exhaling through his nose.
"So," he muttered, "I can't buy the potion."
He rolled up his sleeves and looked toward the nearest gate.
"Guess I'll have to get the ingredients myself."
***
Night finally came properly this time.
Unlike the random sunrise of the tutorial square, this was real darkness—thick between trees, the kind that swallowed sound and made distance hard to judge.
Corrin slipped through the city gate without incident.
Perks of being a thief.
The road out of town was all too familiar, but he didn't follow it for long. He veered off into a nearby brush, one that had a peculiar shade of cyan instead of green.
It was the telltale sign that something hid there.
After walking for a while, Corrin finally made it.
A cave mouth with crude wooden spikes framed the entrance. Faded warning signs leaned at odd angles, their text long ignored by anyone who'd played the game more than a week.
This was the premier early-game experience grinder.
And a dungeon that just so happened to have everything he needed.
Goblin Den (Recommended Level: 2–3)
Even if goblins were trash mobs that even newbies wouldn't even be troubled with.
His circumstances…let's say they were a bit different.
Taking on the whole dungeon right now might just game end him early.
He didn't draw his dagger right away.
The first goblin was barely ten steps in, pacing lazily with a torch in hand. Corrin pressed himself against the cave wall, waiting for the familiar snap of aggro.
Yet, it never came.
The goblin yawned and scratched itself, then turned away and disappeared down another path.
Corrin's eyes widened.
That would've caught me normally.
In-game, that distance was suicidal. The cone of vision alone should've clipped him.
So what changed?
To be sure, he tested it again on another one.
And surely, the same thing happened.
"Does detection just…such on NPCs?"
A wide grin started to form on his face as realization settled in.
NPCs were programmed differently against monsters, which meant…
Corrin stared at his hands.
Is the Thief Class...broken?
"What the," he muttered. "This is gonna be easier than I thought?"
After moving for a while deeper into the caves, he'd finally reached his destination.
The large doors, the one that practically yelled at Players, that this was the Boss Room.
Corrin pressed himself against the cave wall and exhaled slowly.
The mistake that newbies, and more than a few veterans, make was trying to clear the entire dungeon.
That was never the point.
Everything that he needed to make Mission: Fake Corrin's Death possible was inside.
The goblin shaman, its pet slime, and the spring of water inside.
Corrin closed his eyes for just a moment.
He didn't have to guess whether this would work.
He remembered the method clearly.
After all…
It was ZeroClear who had discovered it.
Back when he had the chance to visit Myth Online HQ, the lack of latency had been intoxicating. With zero ping, every input mattered, and every mistake was his own.
And then, during what should have been a routine test, he made one.
A DoT ticked down.
He spammed his potion on instinct.
His HP hit zero.
Paused.
Then climbed back to 1.
ZeroClear had stared at the screen, reset the instance, and tested it again.
What he'd discover was purely coincidental. But once he saw it, he could never unsee it again.
The potion, which he queued right before he was about to die, had suddenly activated as his HP had hit 0, bringing him back to life.
He'd asked the developers if it was intended, to which they confirmed due to it being how the game was coded.
This time, as Corrin…he'd recreate it again.
He was literally in the world of Myth Online, so this would be zero ping…right?
The plan was clear: Nab the herb and spring water first, kill the pet slime, and finally get hit by the poison DoT. All while crafting the potion, and drinking it half a second before death.
Sounded simple enough.
Corrin straightened, rolling his shoulders once.
Even if this was real.
Even if death here meant death.
He'd cleared Myth Online at its worst. The number one Player, who cleared challenge runs no one else dared to touch.
"I'm still the best," he whispered.
Just as he took a step forward, something bumped into him.
Corrin froze.
Slowly, he turned his head.
A goblin stood there with its torch up. Its beady eyes just squinting straight at Corrin.
For half a heartbeat, neither of them moved.
"UGAKKKK!" the goblin screamed as he pointed to the intruder.
The sound ripped through the cave like a blade.
Corrin swore and sprinted, boots striking stone as alarms erupted behind him. The entire den was coming alive at once.
"So much for perfect conditions," he hissed.
The boss chamber loomed ahead.
A massive stone door shuddered as dungeon protocols kicked in, grinding open just long enough for Corrin to dive through—
Then slammed shut behind him.
Corrin skidded to a stop, chest heaving.
Across the chamber, beside the glowing spring, a crooked staff scraped against stone.
The goblin shaman rose slowly to her feet.
The plan had already gone wrong.
"...Shit."