Returning from the dark and terrifying ghost cave to the splendid, sunlit imperial city full of my own kind, that feeling is truly indescribable. Why is everyone looking at me? Did I rip my pants? Or is it because I’m too handsome? Why do they all look like they've seen a monster? I quickly ran to the main hall and sent a message to Little Henry, who happened to be in the city as well.

Little Henry looked just as silly as everyone else, but he was even more disgusting—he actually started drooling.

I smacked him on the forehead first. “Little Henry, are you crazy! I’m not some pretty girl, so don’t drool at me. I’m not into that.”

“Boss, no way, is it really you? How are you level 20 already, and where did you get the Cursed Armor? Wow, you’re decked out in top-tier gear! My God, what happened?”

“Is level 20 really that high? I still have another set of this armor, do you want it?” Thinking about it, it does seem odd—I leveled up pretty easily.

“Really? Boohoo~ Boss, you’re truly my second parent!” Little Henry then tried to wipe his snot and drool on me, but I kicked him away.

“Boss, you know, besides you, the highest level I’ve seen is only 18, and they’re all wearing trash gear. Where did you train?”

“In the ghost cave, of course. Didn’t I ask you to come with me? You didn’t want to go.”

“No way, the ghost cave doesn’t drop much, and the environment sucks. There are no girls, the monsters are hard to kill, and usually people only team up to go there after level 15. Did you really solo all the way?”

“Yeah, there are tons of potions there, never ran out. I even made 4 gold coins.”

“That can’t be. Most players think it’s too hard and the drops are bad, so they plan to go for the Cursed Armor after level 18. It’s not a good place to level up. How did this happen? Boss, did you have some special encounter?”

“Hm? Oh right, I have 3 luck now, not sure if it’s useful.” I told him about what happened when I registered, but left out the necklace part—after all, that was just too weird.

“What? You get luck on level up, and it’s already 3? I’m speechless. You know, luck helps maximize your gear’s potential, increases item drop rates (especially for lower-level monsters), and when killing monsters lower than your level, you get less experience (same level gives 1.5x experience, higher level than monster gives less, lower level gives more), but I’m not sure what else it does. Basically, it’s like a goddess fell from the sky—you’ve hit the jackpot! I always knew you were a hero, dashing and charming... but you’re even stronger than I thought. Bro, help your brother out.”

“Is there any way to get luck now?”

“I’ve only heard that boss-level monsters might drop luck-boosting gear, but that’s nothing compared to you. Maybe the system glitched? Why can’t I get lucky, where’s my pretty girl? No way, you have to power level me. I’ve been grinding so hard and I’m only level 15, but my cooking skill is level 1 now.”

“No problem. I’ll ask customer service first to see if my situation is a system bug, just in case I’m happy for nothing. We’ll go to Half-Beast Mountain together in a bit.”

“Hello, this is the Second World Customer Service Center. How can I help you?” A pleasant female voice.

I explained my situation to her.

After a while, “Sir, your account is perfectly normal. As long as there’s no external interference, all variables in the game operate according to the rules. Have fun, goodbye.”

Finally, I was relieved. With such a great opportunity, I’d be letting myself down if I didn’t achieve something. Back in the game world, I prepared for my trip to Half-Beast Mountain.

On the way to Half-Beast Mountain with Little Henry, everyone looked at us with all kinds of complicated expressions—envy, jealousy, and more. I felt quite proud, and even Little Henry had that “I’m close with the person you all admire” look. Short and chubby Little Henry puffed out his chest and stuck out his belly, which was hilarious.

The hidden attribute of the Cursed Armor is, of course, the curse. In battle, there’s a 5% chance to cast a level 1 dark magic—Curse. Curse can lower the defense and speed of non-undead creatures, making it super easy to deal with low-level monsters like half-orcs. Little Henry kept luring monsters over, and once they were gathered, I unleashed the level 2 fire spell, Blazing Flames. Fire swept everywhere, and with the curse and Little Henry’s poison, we killed them in no time—corpses were everywhere in a flash. Just as I was feeling proud of my achievement, I suddenly noticed something was off around us. Haha, I went a bit overboard—I killed all the monsters, so now no one else had anything to kill and could only watch us. A few warriors looked eager but hesitant, as if they wanted to attack me but didn’t have the guts. Only Little Henry was happily picking up loot everywhere, muttering, “Kill them all, pick them all, snatch them all,” completely oblivious to everyone else. If looks could kill, he’d have been vaporized by now.