Considering that this is the beginning of a new arc, I suppose it's time I introduce a new format to this fic. It's still going to be the same multi-POV story everyone's used to at this point, but the scene dividers will no longer just be the words "REMNANT ONLINE." They will now serve the purpose of expositing the time and location of whatever scene they happen to be transitioning into.

In any case, here is the new chapter. Enjoy if you can - and if you can't, I apologize.

Midmorning, forest-city of Emerald, Junior's weapons shop...

As is the case with all cities, a number of buildings were available for players to rent or buy. Should they choose to do so, the ownership of the building would be given to the player - either for the duration of the lease when rented or permanently if bought. Junior's Weapons was just one of a dozen shops temporarily set up in the city. No one wanted to buy a building yet because no one had the money nor did anyone want to take up residence in an area that everyone would very soon leave behind. Once the [Gate Dungeon] was beaten, everyone would rush to set up shop in the very next area, [The Ruins of Vale]. If accounts by the beta testers were to be believed, there would be where the action was.

"Whatcha' thinking about?"

The question was posed to Myrtenaster by one Crescent Rose as the two of them sat quietly in the waiting room outside of Junior's smithy.

"Real estate and logistics,"Myrtenaster answered. "Business stuff."

Rose frowned. "Your rich-girl is showing."

The white fencer twitched. "Shut up," she muttered flatly. She turned to face Rose. "I still can't believe you came up with this idea."

The reaper pouted. "You don't think it'll work?"

"No. I think it will work. Which is why I can't believe you came up with it."Myrtenaster scowled, massaging her temples. "You were the one who came up with the tree-climbing solution for the were the one who thought to use detection on the last gate boss when it pulled out a new weapon. Heck, you were probably the one who forced the system to rebalance the enemy distribution in this region! Having known you for three months and borne witness to your monumental stupidity," she paused for emphasis. "The thought that you are the one who keeps coming up with these game-winning ideas is unbelievably frustrating, unbelievably unfair, and plain unbelievable, period!"

Only when Myrtenaster finished her rant did she realize that she was causing a scene. A number of NPCs and even a number of players were watching her warily. The fencer forced herself to stare angrily at her clenched fists on her lap, ignoring the eyes on her.

"That's a way more intense response than I expected," Rose muttered.

Myrtenaster rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I haven't gotten much sleep. I'm amazed how you can be awake all night and not get irritable."

To that, Rose smiled. "I used to be like that. Then I started taking naps," she said proudly, as if her actions were praise worthy. It was amusing, at the very least.

"So you did," Myrtenaster said with a small chuckle.

Junior emerged from the smithy carrying a bunch of swords which he handed over to the other players in the waiting room. There was a brief exchange of words, followed by what looked to be a transfer of money by the players to Junior. With the transaction finished, Junior walked over to the reaper and fencer sitting in the far side of the room. They both stood as he approached.

"Princess, I'd appreciate it if you didn't shout at the top of lungs while in my 're disturbing my other customers."

Myrtenaster's face remained stoic. "I believe you're a crafter, yes?"

"Girl, you just saw me sell a bunch of newly made swords. What do you think?"

Myrtenaster's mouth twitched but betrayed none of the sourness she felt. With practiced ease, her lips formed a polite smile. "I am under the impression that you're a blacksmith. There's more than one type of crafting skill and what you showcased was not the one I'm after."

Unlike the usual equipped skills, [Crafting] was an umbrella skill that carried under it several sub-skills that had their own level was similar to the default [Armed Combat] skill where one could have [Straight Sword Mastery] and [Thrusting Sword Mastery] but have different levels on both. Utility skills like [Blacksmithing], [Tailoring], and [Cooking] were all available to those who chose to equip the [Crafting] skill. While many never endedup using any crafting skills, players usually equipped[Crafting] anyway so that they had the option. Both Myrtenasterand Rose were among those players who equipped it.

Junior regarded her with interest. "I'm an arms dealer, miss. That being said, I have levels in [Blacksmithing] and [Woodworking], though not a lot of people want to invest in wooden equipment unless they're looking for a light shield."

The transition of Myrtenaster's smile from fake to genuine was not entirely visible but the knowledge that Junior had [Woodworking] delighted her greatly. Rose was correct in her recommendation even though the reaper technically didn't know if Junior had the skill or not.

"That's good. We actually need wooden equipment."

Junior looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "Okay 'll you have?"

"I need torches," Myrtenaster stated.

"Torches," Junior repeated.

"Yes. They're flaming wooden sticks that light dark pathways and deal mild fire damage when you hit enemies with them."

Junior growled in annoyance. "I know what they are. What I'm wondering is why you're coming to me for them. Torches only need level one [Woodworking]. You could just equip the skill and make them yourself with some crafting materials."

Next to Myrtenaster, Rose leaned forward. "Yes, but we sortaneed a lot of them," she said helpfully.

"And we need them to last a long time,"Myrtenaster added. "Having high-level [Woodworking] would mean you could make them faster and of higher quality than any of us can 's just more efficient if we commissioned you. Besides, this could be considered 'easy money'."

Junior frowned at Myrtenaster before turning to Rose. "Red. You're in on this too, right?"

"I was the one who recommended you," Rose said with a smile.

With a sigh of reluctance, Junior relented. "Okay, fine. Tell me how many you want, when you want it, and I'll make an offer."

"Two hundred twentytorches that can last for thirty minutes or more before burning out," Myrtenaster said."I need them done in three days. We will provide the crafting materials if necessary."

"Two hundred..."Junior looked away with an increasingly confused expression. When he returned to face the girls, his look of confusion remained. "Look, I'm all fine with doing this job, but what the hell are you girls even planning that you'd need two hundred torches?"

"Two hundred twenty," Myrtenaster corrected. "As for what we're planning... There is an underground raid dungeon that spans the entire forest - I'm sure you've heard of it."

Junior nodded. "Yeah. A team took this quest last night that led them there. They wiped out. The entire raid team had to teleport out. It was, I don't know, something about spiders?"

"Let's just say we have a work around for what caused them difficulty."Myrtenaster crossed her arms. "We've made our demand. Name your price."

Junior thought for a bit before swiping open his menu as he consulted his inventory. He even called up a calculator display to run the numbers. "I don't have enough wood and oil for two hundred twenty torches," he said. "Get me 88 [Wood] and 126 [Oil] mats and I'll do the job for 13,200 lien."

Myrtenaster regarded the price. Assuming her figures were correct, he was charging roughly sixty lien for each torch - ten lien more than the torches that NPC shops sold. That wasn't even including the crafting materials he was asking they provide. She turned to Rose expectantly. The reaper seemed to be making calculationsof her own. After a brief pause, she nodded at the fencer, apparently satisfied with Junior's price.

Myrtenasterturned to Junior, wearing a stoic poker face. She smiled before nodding. "Deal," she said. "How do we go about payment?"

"Today is, what,Friday? Pay 6,600 lien upfront. Bring me the mats no later than noontomorrow. I'll have them all done by Sunday morning. I'll give you the torches and you pay the remaining 6,600."

"Don't we get a discount since it'snearly New Years?" Rose asked cheekily.

Junior raised an eyebrow. "How bout' 6,400 lien upfront and 6,800 later instead?"

Rose pouted. "That's not really a discount..."

"It's a lowered down-payment, though."

Myrtenaster rolled her eyes as she opened up the trade window and transferred 6,600 lien to Junior, not even bothering with the supposed 'discount'.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Junior said with a curt nod before moving to the next player in line, regrettably informing him that commissions were temporarily closed. Said player glared in Rose and Myrtenaster's direction.

Rose nudged Myrtenaster. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

With the ever increasing number of people who looked at them with contempt, she did not need to be told twice. The two hurried for the door.

Late morning, at Torchlight's hideout...

"Tell me, Ice Queen, do you enjoy my company that much that you visit every day?"

Rose glanced at Myrtenaster sitting quietly in the corner. She then chuckled. "She's out cold, Torchlight. I don't think she even heard you."

Torchlight raised an eyebrow at the sleeping girl in his office before palming his face. "Red, what the hell are you even doing here? You already sold me your info today. I know you don't have anything else."

"I actually want to buy some info for once," Rose said. "How much do you know about this game's magic system?"

Torchwick frowned, drumming his fingers on his table. "All I know is what you know. This game didn't have a magic system until you found that NPC and then suddenly it did.I'll pay real good money for any additional info on it and spread it like wild fire. The sooner everyone knows, the sooner it becomes less likely you'll get killed for knowing."

Rose nodded automatically, expecting to get such an answer. "How about Oobleck? What do you know about him?"

"That NPC?"Torchlight pulled up his menu and began scrolling his messages. "I've got some of my more bookishcontacts on that case. For a price, I can give you a list of relevant lore books and where to find them. Double that price and I can give you the names of players who've already read the said lore books - you can ask them instead of reading the books yourself. I can't really do more than that right now but I'll look into it."

Rose made a face. Reading lore text? Really?

Torchlight seemed amused at Rose's reaction. "You could always ask again later. When my contacts get back to me, I could compile all the relevant info. It'd cost a whole lot more than the lists but you'd get everything in one go."

The reaper sighed. "I think I'll pass," she said tiredly. "Know any good spots to farm [Oil] mats?"

"Oil," Torchlight repeated, switching to his map screen. "I might have something. How good are we talking?"

"I need 126 mats by noon tomorrow."

Torchlight raised an eyebrow. "You'd need multiple people farming different locations to get that much," he warned.

Rose shrugged. "That was the idea."

He began marking his map. "I've got three good places. I'll send you the data for 600 lien."

Rose inputted the said amount of money in her trade menu. "Waiting on you, man," she said.

Torchlight scrolled to the [Others] category on his trade menu and selected [Map Data] from the drop-down list. His hand hesitated over the [Accept] button. He gave Rose a skeptical look. "What could you possibly need that much oil for?"

Rose gave him a cheeky smile. "I'll tell you for 600 lien."

Meanwhile, in the citysuburbs...

Myrtenaster had let go of her lease of the upper levels of the city clock tower so she and her party could afford to go through with their plan for the next raid on the [Underground Root Complex].Their quest logs had been updated to show a countdown timer for the date of the next raid, which coincided with the next day of Myrtenaster's monthly rent payment -Sunday, January fencer simply did not have enough money to supply the party with their needed items and weapons and pay rent at the same time.

Thatwasthe reason Milou, Maggy, and Stormflower were currently strolling through the north-west quadrant of the city, scanning the houses that lined the city walls for something that was within Myrtenaster'srequested price were decidedly reluctant to make any choices as it was well known among their circle of friends that Myrtenaster was quite particular about how she liked to sleep - everyone still remembered the extremely petty duel between her and Gambol over a simple argument on lighting.

"They have to be dating," Maggy said as they passed a dilapidated household ready to collapse whose price amounted to basically nothing. "Like, they can't not be. You can feel the sexual tension when they look at each other. Plus, they sleep in the same room together."

Maggy's energetic proclamation echoed through the empty streets. Not a lot of people came through the area so there was nothing stopping the orange haired mace-wielder from speaking as loud as she wanted, much to the chagrin of her companions.

"I thought they agreed that they'd sleep in different rooms?" Milou said tiredly. "And don't you two sleep in the same room?"

Maggy waved her hand dismissively. "Me and Re-er, Stormflower are different."

Milou glanced at Stormflower who rubbed his temples, refusing to make eye contact. She shot him a smile of sympathy.

"We're together but not together-together. Gambol and Myrt are definitely together-together."Maggy stopped in front of a small single story house. "Oh! This one looks reallygood: two bed rooms and a combined kitchen-dining-living-room."

Milou walked over to the house Maggy was referring to and stared at it long enough that the building's status window appeared. Sure enough, the description included all the things Maggy had mentioned. Price was a very affordable 11,500 lien a month -one could build up that much money by grinding for two hours every day for a month, assuming they grinded relatively close to the city where spawns were less numerous than they were farther out. If the player were more adventurous, they'd easily be able to arrive at that amount of lien if a fraction of that time.

Feeling satisfied, Milou marked the location of the building on her map and continued searching. The lancer would send the map data later for Myrtenaster to review and the fencer could choose which one she wanted.

Maggy was already pointing at another house.

Noon, Emerald City central plaza...

Myrtenaster's party had reconvened at an NPC café near the center of town to discuss matters of importance. Much to Myrtenaster's displeasure, her party's idea of 'important' was different from her own.

"I still can't get over how you know what kiting is but not what a buff is!? Your family-" Rose cut herself off upon realizing that she was being too loud. She lowered her voice and continued. "Your family's company makes video games. How can you not know the meaning of the word buff?"

The fencer tapped a finger on the table. "Rose, I'm sure this is probably very important to you, and I say this with no intention of hurting your feelings, but I could not possibly care any less than I do right now," she said, exasperated. "Please talk about something else."

Rose shrugged. "Well, we talked about everything relevant. Right now, we're just killing time while waiting for the food to arrive." She glanced at the NPC waitresses walking around with food and drinks on trays, serving what looked to be... not a lot of customers. "It's taking a surprisingly long time," Rose added somewhat impatiently.

"We can review everyone's part of the plan," Myrtenaster entire table collectively groaned. "Does anyone else have a suggestion then?"

Maggy slammed her palms on the table as hard as she could, prompting the [Immortal Object] notification to appear. It did not do any damage to the table. It did, however, get everyone's attention.

Maggy shifted her eyes as she scanned the her teammates' faces. Her gaze stopped at Myrtenaster who was subconsciously leaning forward in anticipation. "Are you and Gambol dating!?" Maggy suddenly asked.

Once again, the entire table collectively groaned.

"No, we are not," Myrtenaster replied cooly, even though deep inside she wanted to unsheathe her Tailor's Tail and stab Maggy for bringing it up again. Sure, it'd only cause knockback but it'd definitely make the fencer feel better.

"We maintain a professional relationship," Gambol added from her seat at the corner. "Dating my client would be ill advised." Next to her, Wilting Blush grunted with approval. He glared menacingly at Maggy who shrunk back, sufficiently shut up.

Rose sat up. "Actually, there's something I wanted to ask as well." She turned to Gambol. "Would you be able to find Sir Bartholomew Oobleck, the quest NPC for our raid? I want to ask him some questions so I need to know where in this city he's staying."

Across the table from Rose, Milou frowned. "Doesn't he just despawn until the next raid?"

Rose shook her head. "No. I don't think he does. If he's anything like the essential quest NPCs from the beta, he'd stay spawned for basically the entire game if you can keep him alive."

Milou nodded slowly. "Hmm. I've heard the rumors about that but I've never confirmed if they were true."

"They're true. I spent most of my time in the beta following this dusty old crow. His AI didn't seem to know what to do with me so he kept saying lines that didn't fit the situations we were was like he was always drunk."

"Our farming starts at three, right?" Gambol asked from the corner. "I'll try to find him after lunch. I make no promises."

Rose smiled. "Thanks a bunch."

Finally, a waitress approached with a large platter of dishes. Conversation died down and gave way to consumption as the party began eating.

Character Stat Sheet...

MilouAkououLv 42(as of chapter 19)
Pyrrha Nikos 18yrs old

Stats:

Health: 57
Defense:48
Strength: 48
Agility:57
Luck: 42

Equipped weapons:

Tribal Ritual Spear (+5)
Attack: 75
Block: E
Crit: B
Parry: D
Scaling: Strength D- / Agility C+
Weight: C

Bronze Round Shield (+4)
Attack: 44
Block: A
Crit: E
Parry: B
Scaling: Strength D / Defense B+
Weight: C

Equipped Armor:

Bronze armor
Bronze leggings
Soft leather gloves
Comfy shirt
Comfy shorts
Fair commoner skirt
Belt bag

Most Used Skill:

Gift of Life I
Passive: Increases health regeneration outside of combat by 1 health per second, increases maximum health by 100, increases effectiveness of healing items

End of chapter...

Ah, that was satisfying to write. For the first time in a long time, I wrote something in the wee hours of the night between midnight and dawn.

This chapter marks the first official retcon of this story - one that can't even be caught by the very broad safety net that I wrote into the game. Thankfully, the retcon wasn't that drastic. It's just a little irksome. Basically, it's me amending the exposition in earlier chapters about crafting and the use of skill slots by certain skills. What was stated before is mostly still the case but certain details are different now.

For example, it voids Ruby and Jaune's joke early into the story about how [Cooking]takes up a slot that could be used for something more useful. [Crafting] would be what takes up the skill slot and is generally equipped by everyone because it is more useful to have than not.

Another example involvescertain types of combat skills like [Throwing Knife Mastery] or [Long Bow Mastery] which require a player equip the [Ranged Combat] skill, and hand-to-hand skills that require [Unarmed Combat].As was exposited in previous chapters, you still need to equip the skill to use the techniques of the specific type of combat, it's just that the skill required to be equippedhas a different name. (Take note that restrictions on unarmed combat can easily be circumvented by those who are trained in martial arts)

This chapteralsomarks the first chapter in a long time that doesn't have anyfighting in it - the last one was chapter 16 which was released several months ago. Instead of fighting, we're talking business, economics, and game mechanics, all of which I find very interesting. I still want to explore the intricacies of the various topics and mechanics I briefly brushed over in this chapter but I'll save all of that for a later in the story. Suffice it to say, there will be more of that, whether you like it or not.

Regarding RWBY Volume 4...
As I stated about Volume 3, I might incorporate certain elements of V4 into this story but Remnant Online will ultimately remain to be its own thing. If it doesn't mesh well with the current canon then so be it. That being said, don't expect me to make any major references to V4 any time soon.

That's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Until the next one!