One week had passed since Dream Land Online launched its beta phase.

  Cryssa and Frostina spent most of that time grinding monsters near Selini. Since no other players showed up in the region, they essentially monopolized the entire zone.

  They'd worked out a schedule: Frostina would control the body for six hours of leveling, while Cryssa used another six for either combat training or real-time monster hunting. Four hours were reserved for meals and playing with Roxy, and the remaining eight for sleep.

  For Frostina, six hours was luxury. In her past life, she barely managed one to three hours of gaming on weekdays unless it was a holiday. And even when Cryssa took over for combat, the experience points still got funneled back to Frostina, just halved.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t share stats or skills. So even if Frostina leveled up and boosted her attributes, Cryssa wouldn’t feel any of it when she was in control.

  The Administrator only contacted them once during that week. He’d requested that Cryssa not open the teleportation portal connecting Stellar and Selini to other players just yet. Stellar was already getting too much attention, and he worried that if the game appeared to favor one starting region, players in the other towns might lose motivation to continue reclaiming territory.

  In exchange, Cryssa was granted read-only access to the Dream Land Forum.

  She’d been glued to it ever since.

  (“Hahaha! This guy’s killing me!”)

  Cryssa burst out laughing mid-air, practically doubling over in her translucent form.

  Beside her, Frostina sighed, still focused on freezing down a pack of boar-like monsters with a sweep of her frost spell.

  “Are you seriously still reading those posts? You’ve been laughing for hours.”

  (“Nope! Not tired at all.”)

  Cryssa floated sideways, twirling slowly in the air.

  (“Ghost mode means no fatigue, remember? Unless you’re tired, I’m good.”)

  Frostina grumbled.

  “At this rate, your noble vibe’s gonna get fried from too much exposure to internet gremlins.”

  Cryssa just clicked her tongue playfully.

  (“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. There aren’t any nobles left in these towns but Stelluna anyway. And let’s be real, most of them probably got eaten. I’m etiquette-free~”)

  Cryssa had changed.

  Not in the sharpness of her swordplay or her unwavering discipline, but in the way she spoke, the way she carried herself when she wasn’t in front of an audience. The formality that once clung to her like polished armor had started to chip away. Well, not completely. It was like having two different vibes depending on the situation and her mood. She could still switch it on in a heartbeat. But outside of parades and speeches, she was… lighter.

  It wasn’t hard to guess why.

  The recent wars had stolen too much. Even before she lost her father, there were too many banquets clinging to protocol because it was needed.

  But now, with the parade behind them, with her people safe, and no nobles left to impress or appease, there was no reason to keep her shoulders so stiff.

  And then there was the forum.

  The moment she got read-only access, she’d devoured post after post like they were candy-coated rebellion. Memes, jokes, slang words. A thousand strangers cracking jokes and cheering her name. It lifts her spirits.

  Frostina called it a regression personality.

  Cryssa called it finally freedom.

  Well, Lyra didn’t mind it. Rather, she was overjoyed to see her sister become so cheerful every day.

  “Lady Cryssa, didn’t you say you still wanted to look cool and noble in front of the players?”

  The voice came from Yuki, a Legendary-rank human mage in the Starlace Order. Her long black hair shimmered against the light of her icy spells, eyes a calm, dark blue. Like most of Stelluna’s elite, she specialized in ice-based magic, a tradition among those trained under the Stelluna frost sword doctrine.

  Lyra hadn’t just let Cryssa run around alone in a monster-infested zone. She must bring at least one escort. And today, Yuki was Cryssa’s assigned bodyguard.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Because everyone in the Order wanted the honor of guarding Stelluna family’s members, they’d set up a daily rotation. And only those strong enough to solo C-rank monsters made the shortlist. It motivated the others to train harder, though all of them still enjoyed working part-time as maids back at the estate.

  Also, thanks to the Administrator’s generosity, all members of Stelluna could now see Cryssa and Frostina's translucent forms. He said it was a special reward for how Cryssa’s parade speech had made the game explode in popularity.

  Cryssa turned mid-float, her grin crooked and impish, eyes twinkling like she was about to pull a prank on the whole world.

  (“Sure, I said that.”)

  (“But it’s not like I’m back at some noble banquet trying to impress a bunch of dukes for three hours straight.”)

  She puffed out her chest dramatically, voice rising in mock grandeur.

  (“Or! I could go full silent mode. Say nothing. Just stare and smile. It worked on that rooftop guy, didn’t it? He looked like he just met a divine saintess.”)

  Frostina gave her a side-eye.

  “You mean the streamer?”

  (“Yeah! I saw his video. His whole chat lost it when I waved. I swear, if I really winked, he would’ve given a lot of donations from them.”)

  Cryssa looked at Yuki and added brightly.

  (“You should try it too, Yuki. Easy mode for popularity.”)

  Yuki shook her head, a faint smile touching her lips.

  “We’d all love to be popular like Iori… but not at the cost of Stelluna’s dignity. Better to earn it through skills.”

  Cryssa pouted.

  (“You sound like Sis Lyra.”)

  Yuki shrugged.

  After the parade last week, only Iori, besides Cryssa, had caught the players’ attention. Her moment in the Stelluna Defense video turned her into a fan-favorite overnight.

  The rest of the Order had mixed feelings. Not bitterness, just the quiet kind of envy born from shared pasts. Iori had once stood among them in silence, eyes lowered, voice rarely heard. Like all of them, she’d worn the collar, endured the weight, lived the days where her name didn’t matter.

  Now people called her a legend.

  That envy became fuel. Every member began training harder, hoping to have their own moment in the light.

  Still, none of them were angling for fame over loyalty. Protecting Stelluna, especially Cryssa, Lyra, and Roxy, remained their highest honor.

  Hopefully, that wouldn’t change.

  Yuki's voice was calm, but her eyes still lingered on the horizon where the ice-shattered corpses of monsters glinted like broken glass.

  “Everyone talks about Iori now. It’s not jealousy, really. We’re happy for her. It’s just... strange.”

  Cryssa glanced over.

  (“Strange?”)

  Yuki nodded.

  “Back then… none of us thought the world would ever see us.”

  Cryssa didn’t respond for a moment. Just floated there, watching Frostina toss a chain-freeze spell into the next wave of charging beasts.

  Yuki continued quietly.

  “Now I hear the shopkeeper whispering the Starlace Order’s name like it means something sacred. Kids trying to copy our sword drills in alleyways. Some townsfolk call me ‘ma’am’ even when I’m off duty.”

  She shook her head, more overwhelmed than proud.

  “Feels like we’re wearing someone else’s legacy.”

  Cryssa let out a small breath that turned into a laugh.

  (“Yeah… weird, right?”)

  Then she turned back to her interface. The thread she’d pinned was growing fast, hundreds of replies, all with the same question that had been asked by mercenaries too.

  “How do I join the Starlace Order?”

  So many of them, especially women, were flooding the forums with declarations and questions, some half-serious, others completely earnest.

  She’d already brought it up to Lyra, who gave her a smile and told her, “If we open the doors, we must be ready to raise them too.”

  So Cryssa and the core members had been discussing it privately. Not just if they’d recruit, but how.

  Nothing was finalized yet, but Cryssa had an idea:

  They wouldn’t recruit based on strength.

  They’d recruit based on resolve.

  The kind of resolve she saw in their own girls. The ones who trained all morning, then still volunteered to act as maids by night. The ones who didn’t ask for glory, just permission to fight.

  But… players treated this world like a game.

  Sure, Cryssa could hold a PvP event and pick the winners.

  But this wasn’t a leaderboard.

  This was survival.

  They couldn’t rely on the Administrator to hand out alerts, or on Frostina’s memories of a future they’d already changed. A lot of monsters were still alive, ones that, in Frostina’s memories, should’ve been defeated by wanderers who were now sitting comfortably in the Order’s ranks.

  And if a crisis struck at 3 A.M.?

  Strong or not, an offline savior was still no savior at all.

  So the discussion kept spinning.

  And still, no answer.

  Cryssa giggled again, still scrolling the forum mid-air.

  (“One guy said he wants to join the Order just to polish our armor.”)

  Yuki rolled her eyes. “Disgusting.”

  (“I thought it was cute.”)

  “You would.”

  Cryssa shrugged, unfazed.

  (“Still, Frostina’s equipment request was even cuter.”)

  At the moment, Frostina wore a plain gray robe and wielded a basic wooden staff, mass-produced gear used by most new mages and priests. But behind the scenes, she’d already put in a request through Glacia for a custom set, a robe and weapon crafted to her personal specifications. The design was intentionally simple, nothing flashy or enchanted-looking, just clean and unassuming. The order had gone to one of the apprentice blacksmiths in town, and it would be ready in a few days.

  Frostina sighed again, half-amused, half-exhausted.

  But if Cryssa could laugh like that…

  Maybe the end of the world wasn’t so bad.