Kenji looked at his empty wallet, then back at the glowing screen. "Yeah. But maybe we stick to the free-to-play fishing minigame for a while."
"Hold on, Kenji," a voice crackled through the comms. It was Hiro, the group’s resident healer and tech-skeptic. "Have you checked the new Billing System update? They’ve implemented the 'Hyper-Stream Transaction Protocol' (HSTP). If we fail this raid, our real-world credits get dinged for the repair costs."
"Fifteen percent?!" Kenji’s eyes bugged out. "That’s my ramen money for the month!"
Kenji laughed, a sharp, confident sound. "HSTP? That’s just a fancy name for a faster checkout. We’re the Paladins. We don’t fail."
"Guys, I’m literally paying for every hit," Kenji shouted, his confidence wavering. "The Billing System is tracking our moves in real-time!"
They dove in. The boss, a towering beast of shadow and jagged obsidian known as Malakor the Unpaid, loomed over the arena. As the battle raged, Kenji noticed something strange. Every time he swung his 'Excalibur 2.0', a small, transparent receipt popped up in the corner of his HUD.
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