Before any questing could start, we headed into the auction house to empty our inventories.

  All combined, I expected the haul from the Sunken Crypts, with the boss drops and Cupcake Crew’s gear, to net us around twenty thousand gold. I’d earn slightly more than her, since my boss drops were better.

  Entering the auction house, Veyra headed straight to my usual spot, grinning as she spotted Sam, who was snoring in his chair. She thumped her hands on the table, making Sam flinch awake. “I’m back, you dumb idiot,” she said.

  No way she also picks Sam, I thought. Was this a sign? It had to be.

  While Veyra was talking to him, I picked one of the more normal NPCs who didn’t entertain me with any funny dialogue. All of Cupcake Crew’s shit went straight to the auction, including Sullivan’s adamantite axe. For my half of their loot drops, I hoped to gain around three thousand gold.

  I put in Arachnid Queen’s Cutlass for a highball instant sale price of thirty thousand gold just to see what people would be bidding for it. I expected to gain a minimum of five thousand gold, since it was an epic unique sword with a nice demonic curse effect.

  I considered selling Rathax’s Soul Orb, but I eventually decided not to list it. The item was good as a situational item in my set, keeping it in my inventory to swap it for one of my daggers if I needed it. That was risky, since any items in my inventory dropped upon death, but for now I was willing to take the risk.

  Veyra sold all of her stuff as well, including the Robin Hood hat. She said it was too situational to risk keeping in her inventory. Better to just sell it.

  With that, we were ready to start questing. I picked up my teleportation stone and selected the location.

  [Teleporting you to Nightshroud Mushroom Village…]

  [Please hold hands with the players you wish to teleport with you.]

  Thank you whichever developer added this feature! I held Veyra’s hand and initiated the teleport. The walls of the auction house flashed out of vision, and I found myself inside an oversized mushroom bedroom.

  [You have arrived in Nightshroud Mushroom Village.]

  [You are in a semi-safe Zone. Player combat disabled. This area might become a hostile zone in the future.]

  We teleported to a guest bedroom, just like I had in the rogue encampment, though this time I luckily didn’t wake up in bed with my sleepwear. The mushroom house itself was shaped like a tall igloo with a round window blocked with curtains, lit with a cozy kerosene lamp.

  “Wow,” Veyra said. “You actually already secured a teleport zone here. How long have you had this bed?”

  “I found this place on the second day after the event dropped,” I said, which was a few weeks ago. “So, who do we need to meet here?”

  Veyra batted her eye, looking genuinely surprised, until she focused on the quest. “The hint was that I needed to visit a dark mushroom village of the original followers to meet their elders. The mushroom guys are apparently responsible for setting up the spell, but they should also know how to unseal it.”

  I nodded and opened the door outside. Thick, dark mist flowed in right away. This time, the mist hindered vision enough to make the place feel hostile. The mushrooms themselves glowed, offering light, but other than that, the place itself felt cursed.

  Silhouettes of dark figures trotted sluggishly within, each one infested with mushrooms growing from their skin. Their faces were wretched, eyes lifeless, and most walked with a cane. They didn’t attack us, however. One of their tags read, Cursed Walker (NPC, Level 94) (Weakened).

  Everything looked normal, until I suddenly spotted an imposing figure in the middle, wearing purple glowing armor. It looked like mithril armor enhanced with a crazy amount of arcane runes. A legendary chestplate, if not a mythic—the best tier in the game.

  Above, a nametag read, [Warmaxx] Lapadin. The rank 2 paladin player, top 19th on the global leaderboard.

  “Well, shit,” I said. “We’re too late.”

  Lapadin spotted us, frowned, and didn’t hesitate for a second as he walked up like some duke of a nation. “Veyra,” he said. “We’ve been looking for you. I have an offer.”

  I stood my ground with Veyra next to me. I knew with research that Lapadin was an insanely skilled player, much more skilled than Pink or Oblivara. He didn’t just brute force his way through fights. He knew when to defend, when to cast every divine smite and whatever paladin stuff his class allowed, and he had some innate sense to know when his supports were about to be assassinated. I wouldn’t want to deal with him on the battlefield—which was why I had attacked Nova Imperium instead.

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  But we were in a safe zone. Here, he could threaten us, but not kill us.

  “I’m all for money, if that’s what you’re offering,” Veyra said.

  Lapadin took off his helmet, revealing a middle-aged face with scars on his cheeks. “I’ll offer you five thousand gold if you exit the safe zone and let me kill you right now.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s blunt.”

  “You can stash your gear first,” Lapadin said. “We don’t need your loot. But you should be aware that you’ve stolen our quest. The holder of the dragon egg. An invitation quest.”

  “I mean…” Veyra said obliviously. “I have a quest, but it’s definitely not an invitation quest. I’d like to complete it.”

  “Stop with the bullshit,” Lapadin said. “Congratulations on snatching the quest first, but we both know you’re not good enough to complete it, let alone compete in Worlds. I’ll spell the deal one more time. If we kill you, we obtain the egg, and the quest goes back to us. We’ll buy the quest from you. Five thousand gold.”

  A few days ago, I would have taken that offer without hesitating, I thought. Five thousand gold was enough to keep paying for four months of pod time in The Cave.

  Lapadin kept frowning at Veyra, who wasn’t answering. “I’m offering you five thousand gold,” he repeated. “You can take your gear off. I won’t steal anything. I’ll just kill you, and I’ll take the quest.”

  “I decline,” Veyra said.

  He blinked, stubbornly standing still, as if that would change her mind.

  Behind him, more players walked up to the scene. [Warmaxx] bigDpriest, who was the rank 3 healer player, 34th on the global leaderboard, a bulky support mage with large muscles and a rather revealing outfit. [Warmaxx] Pumper, who was a top 100 ranger player.

  The third player surprised me the most. [Celestial Order] DJmikolele.

  What the hell was Celestial Order doing here?

  DJmikolele, known as Miko, was a tall but slim man with a colorful robe and eyeliner on his face. Most of his set seemed to be unequipped, and he had no weapons, but I knew he was a decently famous influencer, and the top 1 warlock player, 49th on the global leaderboard.

  “Yo, Aiden, Veyra,” he said, walking up to us with a smile.

  “Hello,” I said cautiously.

  “You two are getting famous,” Miko said in a soft and friendly voice. “Congrats on the fame. I’d say you’re both growing strong enough to consider receiving an invite to the top guilds. Annath sent you a message, correct?”

  “About the boss drops, yes,” I said.

  Miko nodded. “And your decision?”

  “The items are listed up for auction right now,” I said.

  To my surprise, Miko grinned at that. “Alright. I respect that. Annath will be mad, though. Positively fuming. You’ll be our enemies.”

  “Yeah, we kind of deduced that,” I said. “We need the money.”

  His grin widened. “Yep, as long as you understand. I look forward to fighting you.” He turned around and said, “You two look cute together, by the way.”

  He grabbed his teleportation stone and headed out.

  Everyone else, including the Warmaxx members, watched silently as his figure disintegrated to his next destination—everyone unsure about what to make of what we just witnessed.

  “Well,” Lapadin said. “You just made an enemy of one top guild. Are you sure you want another? At this pace, everyone that spots you in the wilderness will kill you.”

  “Can we chat your offer privately for a moment?” I asked Lapadin.

  He gave me a side-eye, as if registering that I was in the conversation as well. “Go ahead. I’ll give you five minutes.”

  Assassin: “I’d say we should meet the elder. We can progress faster than these guys.”

  Veyra: “Are you sure? They’re already here, and you estimated they’d be in the village. They can easily follow us if we keep going. It could be smart to try and assassinate them instead.”

  Assassin: “Lapadin is way too strong to just assassinate. We should at least see what the elders here say. Depending on that, we’ll see if we take the five grand or move forward.”

  Veyra: “I mean, sure, but Warmaxx is already here. They can easily eavesdrop.”

  Assassin: “Let them. Them knowing the details won’t matter.”

  Veyra tilted her head at me, but I was confident that this would be our best chance to advance. I faced Lapadin and said, “We’ll make the decision after getting the next quest advancement from this village. If the advancement is too difficult for us, we’ll take your offer. Is that okay?”

  He frowned, crossing his arms.

  Or rather, I thought, that’s what we’re doing regardless of your opinion.

  I walked up to the closest Cursed Walker (NPC, Level 127). I said, “We have the egg. We’re looking for some old wizard guy. Take us to your elders.”

  The wretched NPC’s eyes widened, as if I’d just hit him with some secret code word. Up close, he really looked like a cursed hunchback. There were pimples on his rough skin, and a small mushroom growing from his nose.

  “Ohhh!” he uttered out through a harsh throat. “Yes, this way please, yes, our savior. All of you, please see the elder now.”

  “All of you” seemingly referred to Warmaxx as well, as everyone followed the Cursed Walker. As was typical, the NPC waddled through the village at the pace of a snail, until we entered one of the mushroom huts. This mushroom didn’t have a regular cap, but a large oversized witch’s hat.

  Inside, an older woman sat calmly, drinking tea. Amolinn, Elder of the Cursed Walkers (NPC, Level 280).

  “Travelers,” Amolinn said and took a sip of tea. She eyed me over her cup with sharp soul-piercing eyes. “Thank you for coming. Tell me, which one of you should I curse to death, and who do I trust to find my husband, the last Great Mage who hasn’t fallen to the betrayers yet.”

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