Chapter 29

It shattered.

Inside?

Nothing.

Just more rock—all the way through.

A horrified cry erupted nearby.

Other survivors had checked their own supplies.

And every single one of them had found the same thing.

All stored food had turned to stone.

“On a related note!”

Algrim cheerfully raised his voice over the chaos.

“All provided food is nutritionally complete! Even if you eat nothing but steamed potatoes for ten years, you’ll stay perfectly healthy! So don’t stress about ingredients—eat whatever you please!”

With that final note, Algrim clapped his hands.

And then—

A building appeared.

Summoned out of nowhere, a storefront materialized in the center of the village.

Before anyone could react, Algrim walked inside.

And at that moment—

A new quest appeared.

《Main Quest: Income and Expenditure》

• Category: Main Quest
• Objective: “The saddest rich man is one who has nothing to spend his money on. Fortunately, that’s not you! Spend freely and enjoy your wealth. Within one week, spend 50 Mana Stones at the store.”
• Reward: [Automatic Mana Stone Collection] skill unlocked.

“…Well, shit.”

Justin laughed.

Because this quest?

It was mandatory.

The reward alone was too important to ignore.

[Automatic Mana Stone Collection]

In World Breaker, it was a minor convenience skill.

Normally, you had to manually collect Mana Stones from monster corpses.

This skill simply removed that step—automatically gathering stones when monsters were killed.

That was all.

Back then, it was a luxury.

But here?

The entire situation had changed.

“In-game, collecting Mana Stones was just a few clicks.”
“But now?”

In this real world, manual collection meant:

• Cutting open every monster’s chest.
• Digging through blood and guts to extract the stone.
• Dealing with the stench, the filth, the stress.

And on top of that—It took time.

Which meant—A hunter had to choose:

• Prioritize leveling up? → Ignore Mana Stones.
• Prioritize wealth? → Waste time collecting.

“But with this skill, I don’t have to choose.”

It wasn’t just convenient.

It was a game-changer.

A skill that could define the entire early-game economy.

“No one can afford to skip this.”

He grinned.

But then—

He frowned.

Because one problem remained.

“Doing this alone is suicidal.”

They were in uncharted territory.

Monsters?

Unknown.

Dangers?

Unpredictable.

He needed a team.

Luckily—

At least one member was already set.

“Mr. Justin!”

A voice called out.

Turning, Justin found himself face-to-face with Ethan.

“Want to party up for this quest?”

Justin smiled.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

They shook hands.

The two of them were an ideal combination.

• Justin – Firepower.
• Ethan – Frontline defense and healing.

In a two-person squad, this was as good as it got.

But still.

“Just the two of us might not be enough.”

“Agreed. We don’t know what we’re up against.”

Even a strong duo had limits.

It would be safer to recruit more people.

But…

“Problem is,” Ethan mused, “Would anyone team up with us?”

Justin nodded.

The Pioneers weren’t the type to bend for others.

And after Derek’s failed attempt to intimidate them, it was clear—

Everyone here was prideful.

Ruthless.

They’d do their own calculations.

Which meant—

If Justin and Ethan approached first, it would make them seem desperate.

“And in negotiations, the first one to bend… loses.”

As they pondered their next move—

A nervous voice interrupted.

“U-um… excuse me…”

Both men turned.

It was a teenage boy.

The younger brother from the first rescued family.

The high schooler who had first called for help from the window.

Shifting awkwardly, he spoke.

“D-do you… um… need a runner?”

“Runner?”

Ethan and Jason exchanged puzzled glances.
A runner boy, just like that? Out of nowhere?

But the explanation that followed made sense.

“So… you’re saying you’ll do any kind of grunt work or errands in exchange for help leveling up?”

“Yes. Is that… not possible?”

The student looked at them with an anxious expression, clearly worried about being turned away.

Jason feigned hesitation, exchanging a glance with Ethan.

‘This is lucky for us.’

‘No kidding.’

At any other time, they would have rejected such a request outright, dismissing it as more trouble than it was worth.

But now? Now was different.

They had an urgent need for exactly this kind of role.

‘We needed someone to handle the magic stone collection, anyway.’

No matter how they tried to frame it, retrieving magic stones was a thankless job. Sifting through monster corpses, digging through their hearts for stones—no one wanted that task. No matter who joined the team, it was an assignment people would naturally avoid.

Yet, if they all stopped mid-battle to collect stones themselves, their efficiency would drop significantly.

And here, right in front of them, was someone willing to take on that burden. Someone who had no choice but to accept the job without complaint.

Jason cleared his throat, pretending to maintain a neutral demeanor.

“Alright, I get what you’re asking.”

Still, they needed to vet him first.

“So why the sudden interest in leveling up? You weren’t worried about it before.”

“I always wanted to level up, but my parents wouldn’t let me,” the student admitted.

“Ah.”

That made sense.

If he had tried to leave, his parents would have surely dragged him back, probably with a good scolding.

For a minor, it would’ve been even worse—no way they’d allow it.

Now that he had their attention, the student let out a weary sigh.

“But I can’t just do nothing anymore. The NPCs are openly discriminating against people, and now there’s currency like magic stones. If this keeps up, I’ll be in real trouble, but my parents still won’t listen.”

“What are they saying?”

“They keep telling me we need to stay calm, that we shouldn’t fall for this ‘trick’ and accept quests. Some of the stuff they say is even crazier… like how games are evil, so these things must be evil too.”

Wow. That was bad.

Now that he thought about it, hadn’t this guy’s older brother said something similar yesterday?

Looked like their whole family was stubbornly clinging to old-world logic.

That was fine in the past, but now? In a world where the old rules had crumbled, such thinking was outright dangerous.

“But now, if I go out alone, I might actually die. So please, I’ll do whatever work you need. Just let me join your team.”

“Hm.”