"Hey slow down - no one's taking your food away" Isaac looked at Kassie with disgust.
"I can't help it—this is delicious!" Kassie barely looked up, her spoon moving with laser focus as she devoured the last of her soup. The sting of losing her gold coins faded with each savory scoop.
The broth was humble in appearance but enchantingly rich. You could tell it was slow-simmered over an open hearth, infused with the earthy sweetness of freshly dug root vegetables, hand-picked herbs, and generous chunks of tender, pasture-raised chicken. As Kassie took her final bite, she didn't just enjoy it—she suddenly realized that all those years of eating instant noodles and off-brand tuna hadn't been living at all.
"Can I have another?" she asked, eyes now gleaming with unfiltered joy.
Isaac frowned. "Do you think I'm made of coin? I'm only treating you because you didn't abandon me back there. Don't push it."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Relax. It's not like we're in a hurry to head back out, right?"
His gaze sharpened. "We? There's no we - I'm covering your meal—and that's it. After this, we part ways."
Kassie froze mid-sip. Alarm bells rang in her head. "You're just gonna ditch me? Seriously?"
If this really was Splendor of Serendale, survival meant sticking with the strongest person around because what if something worst than a Nyxwing comes and attacks her. And Isaac, who was a Legendary character was definitely someone she had to stick to.
"I don't carry dead weight," he repeated himself flatly.
As he stood and reached for his coin purse—a weathered leather pouch cinched by a drawstring, usually hanging at his hip.
His hand closed on nothing.
He looked down - the pouch was gone!
Before he could react, the innkeeper strode over, wiping her hands on a grease-stained apron, gaze narrowing. "Is there a problem, traveler? You're not thinking of leaving without paying, are you?"
From the corners of the room, several of the inn's rougher patrons subtly reached for their weapons. Blades gleamed under candlelight. The mood shifted in an instant.
Isaac's jaw tightened. "Seems I've dropped my coin pouch somewhere."
The innkeeper's voice turned cold. "Do I look like I was born yesterday? That's the oldest trick in the book."
Tension crackled like the air before a storm. Isaac's hand twitched toward his sword, preparing for the worst.
Then—clink.
Kassie leaned forward, casually sliding a gold coin across the scarred wooden table.
"I'll cover the tab. Let me know how much we owe you."
The innkeeper blinked, stunned—especially as two more gold coins followed with a cheerful clatter.
"Why... why, miss! That's mighty generous of you!" she exclaimed. "One gold coin will cover three meals and an overnight stay in our best room! We'll even draw a bath for you—hot water and everything!"
"A bath?" Kassie lit up. "I'd be delighted."
"That's too expensive for the your inn, isn't it?" Isaac muttered, eyeing the smoke-darkened beams and sagging floorboards that groaned with age.
"You got a problem with my Inn Sonnie? " The Innkeeper gave him a death stare, a crowd of loyal patrons stood behind her ready to fight.
"Nothing - never mind" Isaac cleared his throat sitting down from the overwhelming killing intent the old lady.
Kassie turned to him with a playful glint in her eye. "Well, Isaac, are you leaving? Or shall we get you a room too?"
"I'll head out," he muttered, throwing on his cloak.
CRACK!
A jagged bolt of lightning split the sky outside.
Moments later, the rain came—pouring in heavy sheets and pounding against the tavern roof.
Kassie raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. Perfect weather for a dramatic storm exit."
Isaac paused mid-step, scowling at the sky like it had betrayed him personally.
The innkeeper, already polishing one of her gold coins, chimed in with a grin.
"Bad night to be on the road, friend. Flooded paths, slippery trails. But with one more gold coin, we can give you a cozy room like the young miss here."
Isaac looked at Kassie.
She grinned sweetly and slid a coin his way.
"The rain's not stopping anytime soon. Wouldn't you rather be warm and dry than cold and miserable?"
He sighed, long and heavy, and dropped back into his seat. "I should've let that Nyxwing carry me off."
Kassie clapped her hands. "Boss! One more room, please!"
"Right away, dearie!" the innkeeper beamed, already bustling toward the back to prepare the accommodations.
Kassie leaned back, smug and satisfied. "Well, now that you're officially stuck with me, how about you tell me more about yourself? And Serendale?"
Isaac rubbed a hand over his face. "Alright I'll answer your question if you answer mine"
"Great! I'll start first! What's your name, and are you an adventurer?" Kassie asked, her mind racing. She realized they hadn't even had a proper introduction yet. Of course, she knew him from the game, but it was important to play along and make an introduction seem natural.
"Isaac and I'm a C-Rank adventurer," he said curtly, barely looking up from his meal.
"What?! Just a C-Rank Adventurer?" Kassie blurted out, stunned. In the game, she was sure Isaac's character had been the Warlord of Steel—an S-Rank legend who led a small band of adventurers to reclaim his homeland, earning a royal title from the king himself.
"Not that I need to prove anything to you - getting a C-Rank adventurer at my age is a feat in itself." You could see his veins bulging at his temple at the audacity of the question.
"My turn, Are you running away from human traffickers? Because if you are, I need to know. I don't deal with runaways. It's such a pain in the neck."
Kassie blinked. "Uh, no? Like I said my name is Kassie and actually, and I'm - "
Isaac raised his eyebrow.
She leaned close to him in a conspiratorial whisper. " - I'm not from this world, I got reincarnated and am now living inside the game I used to play... It's called Splendor of Serendale."
Isaac stood up, pushing his chair back with a loud scrape. "Actually, getting drenched in the rain doesn't sound so bad compared to sitting here with a lunatic."
Kassie's eyes widened. "Wait, no! Come back! She leapt to her feet, hands waving frantically as she scrambled for an excuse.
"Well to tell you the truth - " Kassie tried to be more serious now. thinking honesty would get him to be on her side faster. "I don't know where I am and how I got here. But I need to get home - "
"Home?" The words rang heavy in Isaac's own words.
Kassie then realized she pressed the right button - right this man had one goal in the entire game which was to get back his home. The reason he got She steeled herself "That's right Home! I'm trying to get home - I know I'm from the east."
Isaac was silent for a long while. His gaze lingered on her, as though weighing her words. "So you're also fleeing from the East?"
"I am or rather I'm trying to get back to the East!"
"Are you crazy the East has been flooded with dungeon monsters, from small villages to cities I hear it's nothing but a wasteland now"
Kassie gupled, "But still it's my home! I want to return and reclaim my home!" That's Right towards East is where the final boss for the game is If I can make it there maybe I'll find answers.
"Reclaim your home?" Isaac's voice was low, his gaze dropping as the wheels turned in his head, a flicker of hope passing through his eyes.
Kassie felt the silence stretch between them, thick with unspoken understanding. She could see Isaac hanging on every word, as if weighing them carefully. She opened her mouth, ready to press deeper with more convincing words, but before she could—
"Your rooms are ready, dear guests!" The innkeeper, oblivious to the growing tension, cheerfully broke in. "And we've prepared a warm bath for you!"
"Wait! I haven't finished —" she began, but the innkeeper was already on a mission.
"Now, now, dear guest, the warm bath won't stay warm forever!" The innkeeper chided, holding up a towel with exaggerated pride. "I've brought out our new towel! Never been used! This is reserved only for our most esteemed guests! Feel how soft it is!" She wrapped Kassie up like a human burrito, securing the towel snugly around her. "You're practically floating on a cloud now!"
Kassie, trapped in a towel cocoon, opened her mouth to protest " "No, wait—hang on, I—"
But the innkeeper had already swept Kassie off her feet, hoisting her over her head. "Hurry now, you don't want to miss the bath—firewood is extremely previous in these parts!"
The innkeeper didn't break stride, humming a merry tune as she marched through the tavern.
As the innkeeper disappeared around the corner with Kassie, Isaac smirked, muttering under his breath, "What a tragic coincidence..."
Isaac's mind drifted to his past—the life he'd tried to forget. He was once a noble, the son of a baron. Everything was taken from him in a single night. A corrupt Duke had worked Isaac's father to death, draining their land's resources to fight the dungeon monsters. The Duke promised to repay the debt, but he never did, leaving their family with nothing.
He looked down at his hands—dirt caked beneath his fingernails. It reminded him of the day he left the Orecul Barony, when he buried his parents with his own small, bleeding hands.
"A warm bath sounds nice, actually," turning toward his room.
*****
"Ugh! I didn't even get to ask him about the situation in Serendale! How am I supposed to get out of here?!" Kassie splashed the water in frustration sinking into the warm bath.
The warm water engulfed her, its heat soaking into her sore muscles, the steam rising in thick, fragrant clouds. "He said he was a C-Rank Adventurer , doesn't that mean it's not even the start of the game's beginning storyline? Even in Diablo mode Isaac's first appearance was that he was already the Warlord of Steel."
The scent of lavender and thyme the innkeeper tossed into the water tickled her nose, grounding her for a moment. She sank deeper, the warmth enveloping her like a heavy blanket, but it did little to calm her mind. "Did I at least convince him not to leave me? If Maggie were here, she'd won him over with her charm - "
The thought of her friend made her pause. "Maggie... I wonder how she's doing? Did I really get isekaied or was I reincarnated?" Her brow furrowed. "If I was isekaied, there's gotta be a way back, right? But if this is reincarnation... then... does that mean this is my new life?"
She looked at her reflection from the water, she looked the same except now her eyes was a deep blue. "Either way is there really a point of going back? I can't even experience a warm bath like this at home."
She then stood up, wrapping the inn keeper's treasured towel around her body, the steam rising in the room making everything feel surreal. "Either way I'll just do what I normally do - make the most of my situation!"
Kassie sighed and opened her system interface again.
The first landing page of her system was her basic Stats:
Name: Kassie Level: S-Rank Class: Lucky Mage
Health:∞
Mana: ∞
Strength: ∞
Agility: ∞
Intelligence: -9 (+1↑)
Luck: ∞
Charisma: ∞
"Is this some kind error? Why does it say infinite on everything but negative on intelligence?! Is this thing calling be dumb! I'll have you know I ranked 20th in my whole class! I mean sure there's only 24 of us but still I'm in the advance science class!" She waited for the system to respond.
"Isn't the system suppose to talk back to me or something?!" she sighed.
"Am I really an S-Rank Adventurer? I practically have no skills except the plant skill! Lucky Mage - I wouldn't call myself dying from a vending machine accident to be lucky."
She opened her Inventory and in it was one single item a stack of gold coins "One item, huh? can I store anything else?"
She glanced at her ragged clothes on the floor, covered in dirt and leaves. With a wave of her hand, they vanished into her inventory.
Her inventory now contained a new item in the once empty slot, it was a small pixelated image of her blouse and skirt with a description: School Uniform x 1.
"I guess that's useful. Let's see how much Gold do I have - wait isn't that infinite symbol! Hang on!" Kassie's eyes widened she didn't notice it before since her mind was focused of surviving that Nyxwing .
"Could it really be...?" Kassie cupped her hands testing her theory.
Gold coins poured to her hand, the weight of it almost unreal against her palm. The faint glow from the coin illuminated her face as she held it up to the light, watching the delicate shimmer play across its surface. Her heart skipped a beat.
She let it spill freely across the bed. The gold clinked as it tumbled out, forming a small, gleaming pile on the bed. Her breath caught in her throat as the pile kept growing.
"Oh my god..." Her voice came out as a half-laugh, half-squeal. "Is this... is this real?!"
Her eyes widened, heart hammering in her chest as she stared back and forth between the glittering mound of gold and the gold coin stacked in her inventory. "Infinite? Like, actually infinite?"
Her mind reeled, the weight of the moment crashing over her. She'd never had this kind of money in her past life. Back then she had to penny pinch and do odd-jobs just to get by.
She let out a breathless laugh, her chest rising with excitement. "I—I struck gold! Like, literally!" She waved her hand through the pile, gold coins spilling and rolling across the floor, the sound of their clinking filling the room. For the first time in a long while, the weight of her worries seemed to lift.
Kassie leaned back, eyes wide, a grin stretching across her face. "This is insane. I have enough money to never worry again."
Her chest swelled with a sense of freedom she hadn't known in years. No more scraping by. No more worrying about bills, about where the next meal would come from. She could do anything. Go anywhere.
"Wait! I can't let anyone know - if anyone finds out what if they'll entrap me and make me pour out coins like I'm some sort of Golden Goose!" the sudden realization struck her. With a wave of her hand she made the gold coins vanished storing it back in her inventory.
"Mom No! I don't want to be chained up and lay golden eggs!" She deflated, another realization dawning on her. "Dang it does this mean I'll never get to see my family again?"
"It's okay! I can figure a way out of here! " trying to comfort herself.
"I can check the quest tab! That always has answers." She tapped it eagerly, but she was greeted with the words You Have Not Accepted a Quest
"It's Empty is this a glitch or something?" Her eyes reread the words over and over.
She opened the Familiars tab it was empty as well, she moved to the next one —Adventurer Vending Machine. A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
"Isn't this just a little too tragic my murder right in front of me?"
She browsed through the items available, her eyes narrowing at the list. The vending machine had all the usual suspects—healing potions, food rations, clothing and a variety of weapons— as she scrolled down she saw an item she actually needed.
"Level 1 Adventurer Clothing – Basic Tier."
The description blinked to life:
A starter outfit for fledgling adventurers. Lightweight, enchantment-ready. Modest defense.
She snorted. "Well, at least it's better than walking around in my ripped-up uniform..."
She inserted one gold coin and Click-clack!
With a mechanical whirr, the vending machine lit up. A large capsule dropped into the chute steam puffing out around it like a treasure chest unlocking.
She stared down at it. "I can't believe I'm getting dressed by a snack machine..."
Now dressed and significantly more comfortable, Kassidy scrolled further down the vending menu.
"Random Magic Spell?"
Her eyes lit up. "Ooh! Let's try this out."
She tapped it ten times in a row, each costing one gold.
"Wow it really is so Random., these are basically useless in combat" she looked at the scrolls that she opened each with a humorous description:
Candle Spark – create a flickering light the size of a birthday candle
Bubble Beam – fire harmless bubbles that smelled like strawberries
Heart Touch – Warm any object to the perfect cozy temperature with just a touch.
Dry Clean – Keeps anything perpetually clean, dry, and odorless no matter the journey.
Scroll of Recollection – Recall where you last placed your enchanted keys (works on keys only)
Glow Orb (Mood Edition) – Summons a hovering light that shifts colors to match or soothe your mood.
Silent Quill – Writes your thoughts in perfect prose as you think, speak, or mutter.
"At least these are somewhat helpful" she looked at the group of scroll she laid out on the other side. Three scrolls with a much different appearance:
One shot a burst of fire it read Flame Lash – Whips enemies with fire, causing burn damage
the other one floating in the air and it read Wind Shove – Blasts foes backward with a sudden gust of wind.
The last one had a bit of dust on it Stone Shield – Summons a floating rock shield that absorbs one hit.
She turned her attention again to the vending machine, "Random Weapon Drop?"
"Sure, why not?" She tapped again inserting ten gold coins.
She winced because the machine shook and whirred was much louder Clang. Bonk. Thud.
Out popped nine hilariously impractical weapons—one was just a spoon labeled "Silver of Destiny".
The last one was an enchanted wand that hummed in her hand, swirling with faint gold light.
"I suppose it makes sense for a mage to carry around a wand right" Kassie said, not even checking that the wand she picked up was a legendary item. It was the World Weaver Wand, an S-Rank item that can absorb and hold infinite mana.
But she tossed it aside interested in what other treasures the vending machine had to offer.
"Cozy sleeper set?" She looked The cozy sleeper set was a plush, cloud-like bed with soft, silky sheets and fluffy pillows that promised comforting warmth.
"Yes, absolutely, I could use it." She glanced around the room, the inn's so-called "best" offering. The stone walls were bare, with only a few dusty tapestries hanging limp, and the bed—though large—was lumpy, with a sagging mattress and frayed sheets. The real luxuries were the flickering fire in the hearth and the tub.
"Well atleast, I know I'll sleep in modern luxury tonight" she laid down on the new item, continuing on her vending machine shopping spree.
"This travel bag is so cute!" Tap.
"Let's get some gloves... and a cloak! Definitely a cloak - I should get one for Isaac too!"
Tap. Tap.
"Healing potion, mana potion, anti-venom... attack boost potion, shield potion, speed potion..."
She did a quick mental count. "I guess 10 of each is a good number, right?" Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap...
Then food. Of course food.
"I want an array of sweets! Sweets can cure a sad soul" Tap tap tap.
Suddenly the screen flashed red.
[VENDING MACHINE DAILY LIMIT REACHED: 100 ITEMS]
She sat up as though to protest "What?! There's a limit? That should be written at the top!"
But then she glanced at the loot pile that had grown beside her. "...Okay, maybe that's fair."
She waved her hand and each item went back to her inventory. She laid back down and continued her browsing until she reached some greyed out items.
The Header read: UNLOCK at Level 2
and a small prompt: Spend 10,000 Gold
"I guess these are locked out because of the vending machine's level isn't higher."
She continued scrolling down curious at the items the vending machine offered. Everytime she went down the items became more and more bizarre. In the section where it says Unlock at Level 5, there were items that read: Noble's Foundational Stone , Estate Defense Ward, Arcane Steward Bell, Tamed Utility Golem , Increase Production Speed.
"Wow! You can practically build a whole town with all of this!" she gasped, eyes sparkling like a child in a cursed candy store.
"Not just a town even a whole kingdom!" Then Visions of herself sipping tea in a frilly dress while peasants praised her taste in flower arrangements danced in her head.
"Duchess Kassidy!" She mimicked a poised butler calling her - role playing her imaginings in real life.
"Yes, I am Duchess Kassidy—no, no you may not stare in my direction!" she declared with regal flair, one pinky raised, the other hand fanning herself dramatically with an imaginary lace fan.
She snickered at the ridiculous idea while striking funny poses: chin up, pinky out as she continued to scroll the vending machine items. "Might there be a prince charming in here as well?".
While she was holding her invisible skirt and fan - she suddenly she stopped. Her fingers hovering over the screen.
A tiny gasp escaped her lips as she stared in disbelief at the last item in the section labeled Unlock at Level 10.
There it was, almost taunting her: Dimensional Teleportation Scroll. The words seemed to shimmer in front of her, an impossible possibility that made her heart race - could this possibly get her back home.