Then both Lucy and Sam hopped on the internet on their respective devices, screens, and whatnot to see how the populace at large reacted to the news.
Predictably, there were some people who overanalyzed the press conference, going over every word spoken, even going so far as to try to explain the blinks of the presenter as some kind of code. There were the paranoid ones who declared it was a cover. Naturally, they couldn’t really agree on what the company actually was covering up.
Just after a cursory check, Sam saw people calling it an alien hoax, lizardmen exerting influence, garden gnome uprising, and simply the elite of the world suppressing the hard workers.
Of course, people were already digging into it, trying to find the culprits of the gold crash and the people behind them.
Sam gave it a few days before the names were leaked ‘accidentally’.
Even Shadowland was full of posts of people looking for the perpetrators, either to ‘thank them’ for their efforts or to link up with them and make big bucks, thinking that there was always time to make more money in their delusions.
He knew some of those were made in jest, but a depressing number of them were honestly trying to do it, and that made him weep for humanity.
While Lucy was going over the economics forums – which were abuzz with speculations about the crash reversal – he sorted out his incoming emails on the shady website.
Most of the questions were about the people behind the crash, so he simply deleted them. Then there were the usual scammers and malcontents that he didn’t have time recently to delete, so those went into the trash too.
Surprisingly, it still left him with a sizable list of messages.
He quickly went through them, erasing those who wanted to sell him stuff – mostly ‘secrets’ he already knew or were obviously not secrets – leaving him with a few legitimate messages.
For those, he made sure to read them carefully and send back a price for the information requested or a polite rejection email, as he either didn’t know or more likely couldn’t share if he didn’t want to be pegged as a cheater.
Still, even if only half the people answered his offers, that would net him a decent amount of money. Not that he needed it.
With only a small rise in the price of in-game gold, they had already made enough money to make several guilds jealous.
“How are the people handling the gold price changes?” he asked after a quick look at the account that was connected to the RMT market.
Lucy hummed for a few seconds before answering.
“The people who listened to us, or knew to do it, are very happy, or suspiciously silent. Already have a few messages of people wanting to leave the guild.”
“That was fast. Did they sell the gold as soon as the price rose?”
“Doubt it, even a blind person can see that the price is going to grow further…” she replied with a shake of her head.
“Do you think it will reach the same price as it was?” he inquired curiously.
“Nah… confidence is shaken. I think…maybe seventy-five percent of the original price?”
“Huh…we shall see…” he replied without looking up. From his memories, he remembered that the price shot up higher than it was originally for a little time, netting a good amount of profit for those who were patient.
However, he changed so much that he didn’t have the confidence to say that it would happen again. Economic markets were volatile on their own, taking into account time travel shenanigans they were inscrutable…
Lucy sent him a suspicious look, but he just shrugged.
“Don’t look at me like that. I have no idea what’s going to happen. There is a chance it could shoot up, but also that it will falter.”
“Mhmm…” she hummed suspiciously.
Sam just huffed and then chuckled a little.
“I hate when you do that…”
“Now you know how I feel when you do anything…” came the cheeky reply from a grinning Lucy.
Returning to the game, Sam made sure to quickly check over his gains from the experimentations with a happy look on his face while squishing Lucky’s face between his hands, to the delight of the wolf. ‘God damn, the fur is super silky…’
“Who is a good boy? Who is a good boy?” he asked, while Lucky’s tail thumped rhythmically on the floor.
“Woof! Woof!”
“Yes, you are!” he cheered, making sure to run his hands through the silky-smooth fur.
With his experiments, he mostly wanted to practice the basic runic circles, going through the list to make sure he knew how they worked and to be able to recognize them on sight and with his magical senses.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Then he used the available materials to see if some of his thought exercises were viable or not.
Finally, he tried to create a small runic circle that he could use to anchor his own illusionary runes. When he did the ritual to look for the Valley of Distortions, it worked as though the runic circles carved into the stone slab were done by a master.
His experiments were fruitful, and he managed to find a circle that would allow him to anchor an illusionary runic circle for at least some time. Thus, while he waited for the signal that would indicate that somebody was attacking, he used different materials to carve the anchoring circle onto them. Later, when he needed them, he could just throw them to the ground and start casting.
It was a little wasteful, using them as disposable items, but with the current skills he had that was the best Sam could do.
Still, even with that, the gains were very respectable.
[Shadow of the Dragon is now Level 12!]
[Greater Shadow Affinity is now Level 56!]
[Journeyman Runecarver is now Level 48!]
[Illusionary Runes is now Level 41!]
[Corporeal Illusions is now Level 11!]
[Lingering Effects is now Level 23!]
[Carving is now Level 3!]
Good enough for now. He still had the recommendation from the library, so after this whole chaos was finished, he planned to take a short trip there and see if they could help him improve. Unless something came up…
He was about to head out to walk a little with Lucky when he heard an incoming message.
“Yes?” he answered immediately when he saw it was from Lucy.
“They started moving,” came the answer without any preamble.
He was instantly checking his gear, while Lucky, sensing the change in his mood, went into lookout mode, his head swiveling around, looking for threats.
“Where?”
“Not the HQ as we expected…”
“Well, it took time, but they realized that’s an impossible task,” he answered with a chuckle while heading out of his room. “Where are the others?”
“I sent Katie and Izzy to one of the warehouses on the outskirts with some guild personnel. Less chance for damaging the surroundings.”
“Mhm. Dan?”
“He is with Lara. Clarissa is staying here in the HQ, just in case.”
“Got it. Where do you want me?”
“The newest warehouse. It’s the least upgraded one…” came the prompt reply. Sam could hear Lucy also walking around, no doubt putting on her armor and other equipment.
“Any idea who is doing it?”
There was a moment of silence before Lucy answered. “From what I can see there’re several groups, but…”
“But it’s probably one instigator covering their tracks…”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “I’m going to try to figure out what they’re after while you keep them occupied…”
“Not Katie and her friend, who is a girl?” he asked sarcastically.
Lucy just laughed a little. “Do you expect her to play with her food?”
He stepped out of one of the hidden entrances, nodding to Tim, who was skulking around and laughed a little.
“Touché!”
Then, with a twist of his mana, he vanished into the shadows.
He appeared near the target warehouse, his sensing skill firing at maximum, trying to suss out any attackers. Around the building, he could see several guild members and NPC guards patrolling, while he could feel another group inside the building, no doubt, there to react in case of an attack.
Thanks to his badge and Lucy calling ahead, he was allowed in almost instantly by the guards. Inside, he was met with a group of players, lazily sitting on crates or leaning against shelves as they talked amongst themselves.
Entering their sight, he was greeted with a few half-hearted waves and plain indifference.
The supposed leader, clad in very shiny and visibly enchanted gear, gave him a once-over and shook his head.
“Hey, buddy… I don’t know how you joined this guild, but going around with that kind of gear is practically offensive…”
The surrounding people chuckled at his ‘witty’ remark, while he seemed proud of his accomplishment. Sam just gave him a small smile.
“I don’t need anything more…”
“Sure, sure, buddy…” came the condescending answer from the guy. “Just don’t expect to be saved…”
Sam was about to retort when he heard some noise outside.
At the same time, he could feel through his senses as several people appeared after removing whatever hid them. He rushed over to one of the few windows near the door. Around it was a desk and a filing desk, probably a station for the guard.
Outside, he could already see the players and NPCs getting ready to confront the approaching cloaked people.
He quickly dialed Lucy.
“Hey, just out of curiosity, how important are the items in here?”
“Mostly raw materials, why?”
“I’ll tell you later,” he replied, then canceled the call and reached for his sword.
Behind him, there was a motion, and then the rush of magic. However, thanks to his own skills he was already out of the way when the magic, some kind of ice magic splashed against the wall, creating an area filled with extremely sharp ice crystals jutting everywhere.
He landed not far away, sword unsheathed, but pointing downward, looking at the group of people in the middle of the warehouse.
One of them was holding a staff, pointing exactly where he stood a moment ago, while the group leader was grinning.
“It seems, today is not your lucky day, buddy!”
Sam just arched an eyebrow. “So, what? Kill me, then rob the guild?”
The idiot just nodded. “Of course! Everyone knows that AFK has the best stuff. The things here should be worth a lot of money!” he declared while casting a greedy gaze at the crates.
Sam had to hold in a tired sigh. Instead, he asked a question.
“Did anyone pay you to do this?”
“Hah! I’m Boris, and I only work for myself!” the guy declared proudly while his men shifted around him, getting ready for a battle. Meanwhile, outside the warehouse, the battle had begun in earnest.
‘So, he is not the mastermind behind this… great…’ Sam mused as he used his own senses to get a measure of the people in front of him. All of them were around level eighty, with a nice selection of elemental leaning. One was obviously an ice mage, but he could also feel the icy grip in Boris’ mana, while one of the others was a water mage, their mana feeling fluid. ‘Good synergy…’
Boris took his silence as an affront to his manliness. Or something equally asinine and began yelling while pointing at Sam.
“Kill the bastard and we can start looting!”
Instantly, half a dozen weapons were aimed at Sam, letting loose a barrage of icicles, water, wind bullets, a few arrows, and some more esoteric effects that would affect his mind and root him to the ground.
Sam had around half a second to make a decision.
In the end, it was about the reputation of his company, so he chose to stay put.
They were level eighty, but their control was atrocious. They still had to yell the skill names…
He simply raised his shield spells and ignored the mind-affecting spell and rooting spell. Not like he needed to move to deal with this group of imbeciles.
The spells crashed into him, creating a great deal of steam, fog, and cloud of detritus as they destroyed some of the boxes around him, as the bastards couldn’t even aim properly.
He watched as his mana dipped to around half, then began rapidly regenerating with a grin. ‘It was worth investing so much into that…’
Another twist of mana caused the appearance of a well-directed gust of wind that dispersed the cloud of icy air.
He looked directly into Boris’ eyes, watching as the realization dawned on the man.
“My turn.”
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Titles:
Magical Items:
[Ring of Minor Health Regeneration: A small ring, made from subpar materials, with a low-quality magical gem. As long as the gem holds mana, it aids with health regeneration. Can hold 100 Mana Points, and regenerates 10 Health Points for every point of mana consumed. Current Mana: 100/100.]
[High-quality Troll Leather Armor: Created by a journeyman crafter employed by your own company. They worked extra hard to make sure to return your goodwill. Excellent quality, given the materials and the crafter. Enchanted to decrease the sound it makes during movement, as well as has increased durability. Thanks to the substance it was impregnated with the troll leather it lacks its customary weakness to fire.]
*Not actually bottomless.]
Quests:
Active quests:
[Just walk in there!]
[Prove yourself!]
Finished quests:
[Monster Parade!]
[Topping the tree!]
[Reap what you sow!]
[Seaside opportunity]
[Another seaside opportunity]
[The booty of mystery!]
[Demonic demonstration!]
[The Test of the Survivor!]
[To the city you go!]
[Eternal Vigilance!]
[Returning Champion]
[Volatile Valley]
Skills:
Mana Skills:
[Mana Body: Level 7/100 (21%) (Passive) Your mana permeates your body, enhancing and improving it. The better your control of your mana is, and the more mana you have, the bigger the effect is. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 1 Base Health gain. For every skill level, it increases the Health Regeneration by 0,1.]
[Mana Shield: Level 99 (99%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 9,9 (physical) damage.]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 50 / MAG: 50 = 1 --> +2 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
Neutral Mage skills:
Elemental Mage Skills:
Wind Mage skills:
[Wind Blade III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Active) A spell that allows you to launch a blade of wind. The cutting power and speed of the blade are increased. You have greater control over its movement after creation. Allows you to slightly control its path after launching the wind blade.]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 6/10 (7%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 9/10 (99%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Explosion: Level 3/10 (21%) A spell that allows you to create a singular bullet of wind mana, and then fire it, which will, upon impact, detonate. The strength of the detonation depends on the amount of wind mana channeled into the bullet and your mastery over the Wind Bullet spell!]
[Wind Movement: 39/100 (19%) (Active) You can use your mastery over wind to move in any direction you wish. Your movement speed is increased significantly. This speed boost is increased by 1% for each skill level.]
[Wind Edge III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Affinity: Level 61/100 (17%) (Passive) You have a good affinity for the wind. Beings born of the wind will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Wind-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
- Wind Flurry
- Wind Bullet Barrage
- Healing Wind
- Wind Jump
- Wind Drill
- Wind Blade I-III
- Wind Blade Storm
- Wind Bullet I-III
- Wind Explosion
- Wind Movement
- Wind Edge I-III!
Utility skills:
Companion skills:
Shadow skills:
(Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Shadow Affinity: Level 30/100 (14%) (Passive) You have a good affinity with the shadows. Beings born of the shadows will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Shadow-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
Physical skills:
[Basic Armor Mastery: Level 91/100 (6%) (Passive) You learned the basics of wearing armor. Decreases the Stamina consumption slightly while wearing any kind of armor.]
[Clean Armor: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mana got used to a certain spell, so the waste mana radiating from you will, over time, permeate and clean your armor.]
[Resistant Armor: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Thanks to your practice, you can fully utilize everything that your armor provides, granting you increased resistance against the environment. Grants 2% increased environmental resistance per skill level. Environmental resistance protects against environmental effects only.]
[Durable Armor: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You learned how to roll with the punches. This includes knowing when your armor can take a hit and when it can’t. Increased durability for any armor you wear from incoming damage from non-environmental sources.]
[Epic Breathing Technique: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) You breathe, and the world breathes with you. You move along your own rhythm. Decreases stamina consumption even more during any activity and further increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight. Gain +2 Stamina Regeneration for every skill level.]
[Tranquil Heart: Level 11/100 (54%) (Passive) Your heart beats to the same rhythm as your body. It’s efficient and harmonious. You have an even easier time resisting mind-altering effects and a portion of of those effects are reflected back to the source. The portion is 1% per skill level. You also radiate an aura of tranquility that confers the resistance portion of the skill to your allies near you.]
[Flow: Level 77/100 (9%) (Passive) Thanks to being a natural sensor, you can read the flow of the mana. Increases your stability and the bonuses any movement or martial art skill provides by 1% per level in the skill.]
[Focused Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) When focusing on any enemy beyond what is normal, your ability to read their flow becomes clearer and more precise.]
[Controlled Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your read of the flow is more controlled, allowing you to see the flow much better. Increases the flow visibility by 20% for every skill level.]
[Immersed Flow: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) When you start reading the flow a counter starts. After every ten seconds, the effect of the Flow skill increases by 1% for each skill level. Maximum 600 seconds.]
Parry: Level 24/100 (13%) (Passive) Decreases the stamina consumption of defensive weapon movements. It allows you to more efficiently and accurately parry incoming attacks. Decreases the damage of the blocked attack by 0,5% for each skill level at the moment of blocking.]
Resistance skills:
General skills:
[Dwarven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dwarven language.]
[Elven Language: Level 7/10 (8%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Elven language.]
[Dark Elven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dark Elven language.]
[Sarkan Language: Level 3/10 (42%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Sarkan language.]
Crafting skills:
Pet skills:
[Strong Jaw: Level Max (Passive) The jaw of the wolf is strengthened.]
[Lucky Aura: Level Max (Passive) Those who are in the same party as the wolf receive a buff to their luck. It depends on their luck how big the increase is.]