Dimension Beta

It was already 2 PM when Tom logged into Beta. He immediately left the city gates, heading toward the bee hive he had visited last time with Felix's parents.

His hope was that someone would be power-leveling there, allowing him to collect wings from the ground. Otherwise, he would just have to fight through the wasps himself.

Since they were already 2–12 levels below him, he felt confident that he could kill many of them without any real risk.

The last time he visited, it only took 30 minutes because Felix's parents had carried him. This time, traveling on foot, it took him an hour and a half to reach the place.

Even at max speed, he was nowhere near as fast as Felix's parents. The only good thing was that his stamina never seemed to deplete, no matter how much he ran, likely another positive effect of his new body.

When Tom reached the hill, no one was there. He had already expected this and got straight to work. Instead of running all the way up the mountain to pull hundreds of wasps, he ran up for about 10 seconds, made a loud jump to draw attention, and ran back down. About 20 wasps followed him, buzzing angrily.

These wasps were much less intelligent than the wolves he had fought before. They flew straight at him without any sense of self-preservation. They didn't even try to dodge his attacks, allowing him to kill them in just two hits at most.

It took him only about a minute to kill the entire group, surprising him with how efficient it was. He didn't even manage to stack his passive weapon buff all the way to 100.

What shocked him most was how little damage he received. Each attack from the wasps only dealt 10 damage. With his high damage output and the shield generated by his weapons, their attacks barely scratched him.

Tom grew bolder and decided to pull larger groups. Soon, he had around 100 wasps chasing him down the hill. When they surrounded him, only 10 to 15 could attack at a time due to their size, making it easy for him to fend them off. Tom systematically killed them, barely losing any health.

Encouraged by his success, Tom continued to pull larger groups. After a few hours, he was pulling groups as large as the ones Felix's parents had handled when power-leveling him.

He didn't forget his mission, carefully collecting the wings and stingers from the wasps after every wave. He knew Pech needed the wings, and Smork had sold the stingers for a good price last time, so they were worth gathering too.

After five hours of farming, Tom had gathered all the materials he needed and leveled up twice, reaching level 54. Despite the wasps being far below his level, he earned good experience due to his speed and efficiency.

About a third of his time was spent inspecting each wasp and gathering materials, but it was well worth the effort.

When Tom was done, he began running toward the city. At the halfway point, he took out a teleportation scroll and used it to appear in front of the city gates. Wasting no time, he headed straight for Smork's shop.

Smork greeted him with good news: the previous batch of stingers had all been sold to a weaponsmith. The smith said they were perfect for crafting javelins and spears and had a large order to fulfill. He even asked if more materials could be gathered, offering an additional 20% on top of the original price.

Tom was thrilled. He dumped another four square meters of stingers in front of Smork. For the first batch, Smork handed him 50,000 gold coins as payment. For the second batch, Smork estimated they would earn at least 120,000 gold coins.

Tom thanked him and promised to return the next day, then headed to Pech's shop to deliver the wings he had collected.

At Pech's shop, Tom found more crates of potions stacked high, while Pech lounged in a chair, seemingly relaxing. "Put the materials in the back," Pech said lazily.

Tom did as instructed and returned to find Pech handing him two crates. The first contained healing potions for levels 60 to 120. Tom inspected them and confirmed their quality; there were no defective potions.

The second crate contained a shimmering blue liquid. "What are these?" Tom asked. The game only displayed information for items he already knew, so he couldn't tell what these potions were.

"These are flying potions, levels 60, rank 2 and rank 3," Pech explained. "They're made entirely with uncommon and rare ingredients. Each rank adds a 20% efficiency bonus."

"Wait, flying potions? Can you actually fly with them?" Tom asked, surprised.

"Sort of," Pech replied. "They temporarily give you wings, but using them takes practice. I've heard plenty of stories about people crashing to their deaths after drinking one."

Tom had been tempted to test a potion but decided against it after hearing the risks.

"How much should I sell them for?" he asked.

"A crate of level 60 healing potions goes for 3,000 gold, and level 120 ones for 10,000 gold. The flying potions? Rank 2 can sell for 2,000 gold each, and rank 3 for 4,000 gold each."

Tom's jaw dropped. "Four thousand per bottle?!"

He quickly calculated the potential profit. With 10 crates of flying potions, each containing 80 bottles, they could earn nearly 2 million gold coins. With the additional materials he had gathered today, they could make even more.

Tom then mentioned his mother's offer to help with recruitment and described her stats to Pech. Pech chuckled, clearly recalling his first meeting with her. After some thought, he said, "She can help, but there are conditions. She needs to reach level 179 first, then pick a new class at 180. Her options will be limited, but I promise it'll be worth it."

Tom hadn't expected so many requirements. He decided to tell his mother about it the next time they met.

Logging out, Tom messaged his mother to talk after school the next day. He then posted about the potions on the forums, listing their quantity and quality without mentioning Pech's involvement.

The thread quickly drew attention. Some users doubted its legitimacy, others complained about the high prices.

Mongus23410:

"Hey, did you rob an alchemy shop or something? Are these potions legit?"

Artischoke43xxx:

"This has to be fake. And what's up with those prices? Healing potions used to be way cheaper. Why are these so expensive?"

Mongus23410:

"Yeah, lower the price! I'll buy them if you're reasonable."

The comments ranged from skepticism to outright hostility. Some users even sent threatening private messages, demanding cheaper prices.

Amid the chaos, Tom found a serious offer: someone wanted to buy 50 rank 2 flying potions at the listed price.

Eager to seal the deal, Tom messaged the buyer to arrange a meeting location and logged back into Beta.

Tom stood behind the tavern he had been working for just a few days ago. The familiar surroundings gave him a sense of security, making it the perfect place for his meeting.

A man clad in shining armor suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley. He paused for a moment when he spotted Tom, seemingly taken aback, but then walked straight toward him.

"Are you Strongbear2324?" he asked, his voice firm.

"Yep, that's me. You got the money?" Tom replied, trying to sound casual.

"Sure, but let me see the product first."

Without hesitation, Tom reached into his spatial pouch and pulled out one of the flying potions. He wasn't particularly worried about being cautious anymore; at his current stage in the game, the chances of someone outright attacking him for it were slim.

The man inspected the potion carefully, using some kind of analysis skill. After confirming there was nothing wrong with it, he nodded and handed over a sack of gold coins. Tom quickly counted the coins, ensuring the amount was correct, before taking out the remaining 49 potions and handing them over.

The man inspected the rest of the potions, seemingly satisfied. Without saying much else, he thanked Tom and left the alley.

Tom exhaled in relief. The transaction had gone smoothly, without any issues. He didn't like the idea of carrying so much gold around, so he immediately made his way back to Pech's shop.

When Pech saw Tom walk in, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Not bad, kid," he said, impressed that Tom had already sold his first batch.

Tom simply nodded and handed over the gold, then grabbed another 50 potions. Without wasting any time, he logged out of the game to check the responses to his sales post.

To his surprise, the number of messages had skyrocketed. It took him nearly half an hour to sort through them, filtering out the serious offers from the noise. He confirmed several buyers and set up meeting times with them in Beta.

Over the next few hours, Tom completed transaction after transaction. Everything went smoothly, and by the end of the day, he had sold nearly 500,000 gold worth of potions.

His last customer of the day was different, though. The man wore a long-sleeved robe with a cape that obscured his entire body and face. The only detail Tom could discern was the man's deep voice, which hinted at his gender.

"You're the seller?" the robed figure asked.

"Yeah, that's me. You here for the flying potions?" Tom asked, his instincts on edge.

"Yes. Let's make this quick," the man said curtly.