"Are you saying… this is really possible?"
Leo wasn't particularly interested in DNF's lore, but there was one thing he knew very clearly: anyone capable of changing classes had already reached a professional level. And anyone crowned with the title of Awakening had surpassed the limits of ordinary people, gained insight into their true selves, and was absolutely not weak.
Aside from a few special professions—like Goblins, Goblins, and Throwing Goblins (male street brawlers)—there were basically no awakened classes that were seriously short on money.
After all, male street brawlers had it far worse than female ones.
"Well, she told me herself a few months ago that she was short on money. It seemed to be a physical issue too, so she should really need cash!"
The female street brawler nodded seriously, fully convinced of her own reasoning. When she noticed the doubt on Leo's face, she slapped him hard on the shoulder.
"Anyway, just trust me!"
"I don't even know your name and you expect me to trust you…"
Leo covered his face. He felt that what should've been a clean case of leveraging a favor had turned into this mess entirely because the female street brawler next to him was the root cause of it all.
He was supposed to be a hardened, deep, serious type—so why did he keep running into people this unreliable?
Leo really wanted to ask why.
"As for my name—this big sister here is called Galina! The one destined to become the next 'Poison King'!"
The female street brawler flashed a ferocious grin, then jabbed her thumb hard into her chest, creating a striking crater-like cleavage that was extremely eye-catching.
"I'm Leo… that's it."
Leo had completely lost the desire to complain. He didn't even have any erotic expectations toward the friend Galina mentioned anymore—if anything, he'd started getting interested in judo instead.
He'd always liked playing judo characters in Dungeon Fighter Online. Unfortunately, judo had been left behind by the times. Even after later buffs, it had already declined so badly that almost no one played it anymore.
And sure enough—
It flopped.
"Uh… this…"
The short-haired girl sitting atop a shipping container, with a voluptuous figure and dressed in a tight wrestling outfit, looked somewhat shy as she stared at Leo and the female street brawler standing before her. She scratched her cheek with her index finger and spoke awkwardly.
"I did say I was short on money, but it's not that bad… It's actually about muscle–skeletal enhancers. I've already reached my limit, so I want to remove the effects of the enhancers I injected back when I was training to become a judoka. I was a bit too eager back then. Now I want to reach a higher level, so I want to train without relying on drugs. That's why I need to save up some money. But it's not like selling my body would earn that much—and I don't want to get married and have kids that early either."
She glanced at Leo and gave him an embarrassed yet polite smile.
"So please just pretend you didn't hear what she said earlier."
It was true that many judo stars or trainees, when short on money during training, had used their exceptional grappling skills and physiques to latch onto wealthy patrons early on. After all, judo placed extreme emphasis on waist and leg techniques—so much so that they were practically specialized.
In certain… special situations, those techniques could be remarkably effective. For example, the Hell Cradle: used on enemies, it was a deadly move; used on husbands or lovers, it became an endless barrage of woman-on-top body slams.
According to rumors, very few people could endure it.
Many found the python-like constriction of judokas irresistible. She didn't like that sort of thing herself, but she knew about it.
After all, not everyone wanted to climb to the pinnacle of martial arts or reach the absolute limit of judo like she did.
Most people learned judo simply to master a skill, compete, or earn money through adventuring. If you were already selling your body, and another method was both pleasurable and could secure your future—why wouldn't you choose it?
But the money she needed wasn't something that could be earned so easily.
Setting aside the cost of a remover that could eliminate the enhancer's effects without side effects, just the rehabilitation expenses during her weakened period, the lost income from being unable to fight while retraining, and the contingency cost of re-injecting an even stronger spinal enhancement if she failed to break through—all of it added up.
She could afford any one of those costs individually, but all of them together exceeded everything she'd earned since debut.
That was why she'd casually mentioned being short on money when running missions with Galina.
But she had no intention of selling her body, and Leo didn't look especially rich either, so she'd refused outright.
"Huh? Then exactly how much do you need?"
The female street brawler's mouth twitched. She'd thought the judoka was starving.
She was from the street brawler scene and didn't really care about the judo world.
More accurately, the two sides didn't like each other at all.
To be even more precise—
Street brawlers disliked everyone. Every faction disliked every other faction. But the most universally disliked group was still street brawlers.
"Twenty to thirty thousand gold coins," the female judoka known as Storm Eye said calmly.
The moment that number came out, Leo clearly felt Galina's breathing grow rapid.
"Tw… twenty to thirty thousand?"
She stared, mouth agape.
"Yep. And that's with help from connections. Norton also owes me a favor," Storm Eye nodded matter-of-factly.
She then looked at the street brawler, who appeared to be recovering from a serious illness, and asked with concern, "Are you okay, by the way? Last time we teamed up, you were coughing up blood."
"I'm fine. Since you're not planning on that, just pretend I didn't say anything… I'll get going."
"Huh? You're leaving already?"
"Other people don't want me here."
"Well…"
The female street brawler fell silent. Thinking about how she'd gone to fight illegal matches for a mere ten-gold antidote made her feel incredibly stupid.
But she also knew that even if time were rewound, she still wouldn't borrow money from the woman in front of her.
Street brawlers relied on themselves!
Relying on others—what kind of strength was that?!
"Come on, I'll take you to ask someone else!"
Feeling thoroughly embarrassed, the female street brawler quickly grabbed Leo's hand and dragged him out of the judo dojo. Leo didn't say anything and followed along.
By now, he was genuinely curious what kind of nonsense this street brawler was going to pull next.
However—
"One more round of nonsense and I'm going to get back to real business."
Looking at the tavern with a pink sign not far away, Leo spoke very seriously to Galina.
He didn't have time to keep fooling around.