Might as Well

Rewards squared away, body and mind rested, potions and other useful items stocked up, Sam was ready to head to Deepanchor and secure a few properties for the company as well as hopefully fuck with the Steel Lions.

He made sure that Lucy didn’t need him for anything, then warned his team that he was leaving. To his surprise, he found all three of them in one of the leisure areas of the headquarters with one of the maids serving snacks and drinks to them. Clarissa and Katie were talking quietly – well Clarissa was quiet, Katie not so much – as Dan pored over some magic theory books he had collected from the various shops of the city.

Sam left them, happy to see that finally, Clarissa was feeling part of the team.

The next step was the workshop of their in-house streamer.

‘It’s a pity that we can’t let her stream from the Heavenly Forest…’ Sam mused as he approached her workshop. Unfortunately, the whole mythos they built up around the fancy hotel excluded the possibility of a streamer walkthrough. Its current mysteriousness was its biggest selling point. The rich people they catered to liked the feeling of having something that the ‘poor’ didn’t have any access to.

Gently knocking on the door, he waited until he heard a quiet ‘Come in!’ and opened the door.

Inside was an organized chaos. Small drones were flying everywhere, while a gigantic drone the size of a big beach ball was hovering in the middle acting as a mobile tool station. There were several tools and material boxes on the drone’s head, while its arms were holding up several bags filled with the same.

And in the middle of the chaos was Liz, practically dancing around her flying motorbike made of metal, leather, and a lot of crystals.

As soon as the door opened, she looked up and smiled at Sam.

He gave her a thumbs up.

“Very magic steampunk chic!”

She snorted with a small grin.

“Thanks!” Then she cleaned her greasy hands with a cloth that looked like it once had color but now just had a black-ish tint. Stepping away from the contraptions she had been working on, she spoke up.

“How can I help you?”

Sam reached up and scratched the back of his head bashfully. “I was wondering if you have finished the rebreather? I kinda need it for my next job…”

She looked at him for a short moment then smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it’s done. Didn’t take much time.” Liz motioned him to follow and as he carefully stepped over unidentifiable components, tools, and who knows what, she retrieved a small-ish box from somewhere, then with a sudden movement swept a few things off from the nearest surface to them, the materials clattering on the floor, and placed the box in front of him.

After getting an encouraging nod, he reached forward and opened the box.

Inside was a rebreather mask, heavily reminiscent of any of the scuba rebreather masks Sam had ever seen. The only differences – aside from the materials it was made from – were that it had no hoses leading anywhere and that it had no glasses attached to it. Thanks to magic it had its own container of air but it was the user's responsibility to protect the eyes. Thankfully, Sam had wind magic for that.

“Specs?” he asked while taking out the item from the box and turning it around in his hands.

Liz immediately began to list them.

“Depth depends on you, but I guarantee a hundred yards, maybe a little more. Operates underwater, or in a poisonous environment. Acid resistance depends on the acidity of said gas. But I tested it on most basic acids that I can get around here and it will last a few hours against them. Air is good for 12 hours at rest. When exerting it depends on you.”

“Wow,” he said, amazed. He expected something cool, but this was beyond what he imagined she would be able to craft. ‘It makes more and more sense why people were willing to go to such lengths to get the guy with this skill. If he had half of Liz’s talent…’ he mused as he brought up the system description of the item.

[You gained Crystal Rebreather v1.789!]

[Crystal Rebreather v1.789: Created by SummerRose the Crystal Geomancer, it allows the user to move in an environment where the air is not present or mixed with harmful substances.]

‘Short and to the point…’

He looked up from his examination and smiled at Liz.

“This is excellent! Thank you!” He finished with a little bow of his head.

Then as Liz did a little celebratory dance with her drones, he put the rebreather back into its box and then the box into his inventory. He would have to do a few experiments with it, but for now, he was set.

Dance finished, and the young woman’s attention was back on him.

“Anything else you need?” she asked with an eager look in her eyes. Apparently, this crafting thing was really agreeing with her. Sam smiled but shook his head.

“No, I only needed this.”He paused for a breath then continued. “And you? Is everything good here? Any complaints?”

She shook her head with a wide smile. “No! Everything is perfect! I love it here!”

“That’s good. Still, if you need anything don’t hesitate to contact Lucy or me. Alright?”

“Yup!” came the enthusiastic answer from the young woman.

“Great! Then I’ll take my leave!” he said and began manoeuvering slowly and carefully around all the discarded or carelessly thrown away tools, materials, or half-finished components, while Liz giggled behind him.

“See you, Sam!”

With another magical tool added to his arsenal, it was time for the journey. Using his Chameleon Mask he snuck out of the headquarters to the outside of the city then returned, riding Lucky with his uncovered face then entered the building with the guards and servants playing up his presence with loud greetings and questions.

Then ten minutes later, once again hidden behind his Chameleon mask, Sam left the building attached to a group of workers who were on their way to dinner. He accompanied them, but when they entered the establishment he quickly entered the washroom, from where another person left the building.

‘This item is the best…’ he thought with a grin, outside of the city, on a small hill, looking back at Ironwood.

He spent the first part of the journey on foot, to make sure to confuse any watchers that he couldn’t sense with his Mana Sense. Then as soon as he stepped into the sparse forest and was shielded by the ancient trees, he called out.

“Lucky!”

His loyal companion emerged from the shadows right in front of him, with a silly grin on his face.

“Well, buddy! Let’s ride!” he exclaimed and with a running start jumped up onto Lucky’s back.

The giant wolf let out a small howl and began moving.

And while Lucky was running faster than any carriage could move, dodging trees by the hairbreadth, Sam kept an eye on the monsters. Sadly, the running parallel to the road exploit was recently fixed according to the whining on the forums so he expected to be ambushed at least once.

So, his Mana Sense was cranked to the max, and while one of his hands was holding onto Lucky, the other was on his sword, ready to strike at anyone or anything.

And lo and behold, when they were around halfway between Deepanchor and Ironwood, he spotted something big and fast-moving in an interception course with them. Then he noted another thing with his senses, right after the first thing.

“Lucky! Slow down a little! We are going to have company!”

The wolf slowed down a little but he could see small lights begin sparking around his claws and sense as the wolf began to ready the mana inside himself.

He kept an eye on the two things, his sword ready to act.

Then a few seconds later, amidst great cacophony two ogres broke through the forest, squabbling with each other.

They were around two times the height of a normal male, with flappy fat skin the color of gray with splotches of green and brown. Their head was small and stubby with somewhat large ears. They were wearing ratty loincloths, from which a lot of small items, including still bleeding heads of monsters, were hanging like some kind of macabre charms. They were both wielding giant crudely-shaped clubs and were roaring at each other.

However, the moment they broke through the thick trees, their beady little eyes, set deep back into their skull found Sam and Lucky rushing towards them.

Sam saw them look at each other, then grin, showcasing their disgusting mouths, filled with razor-sharp teeth.

Not even needing to give Lucky instructions, the clever wolf vanished from under him, returning to the shadows, while Sam, with the help of a few gusts of wind, continued toward the ogres who were already triumphantly raising their clubs.

Then Sam used a few more gusts of wind to turn around his body so that his feet were facing the monsters, right before slamming into the club one of the ogres was holding, slamming it directly into the ogre’s face, while at the same time, Lucky emerged from under the second ogre, his claws raking across its back – causing the ogre to let out a screech of pain - until the shadow wolf reached the monster’s head. Where he bit down.

Comically, the ogre’s head was small enough to fit into the wolf’s mouth.

CRUNCH

Sam ignored the headless ogre and landed on his feet as the first one staggered around, no doubt concussed. A brief exertion covered his sword with wind, and another launched himself forward, just in time for the ogre to stabilize himself.

The brutish monster shook itself, then just as it managed to refocus on Sam, it received a burst of deadly wind directly in its face.

He made sure that both of the monsters were dead, then picked up the meager loot and harvested a few things from the bodies. A few minutes later, he was back on Lucky’s back, the wolf running toward their destination as if nothing had happened.

Deepanchor was like every seaside city. Full of beachfront properties, sailors, merchants, tourists, and enough crime to fill several other cities. Oh, and it stank to the high heavens.

Even standing on a small hill overlooking the road leading to one of the gates, Sam and Lucky could smell the overwhelming scent of fish, oils, and an unmistakable stench from the direction of the harbor.

Despite its foulness, Sam grinned.

He turned to Lucky and spent a minute patting his head and running his hand through the wolf’s fur.

“Thanks, my friend. But from here, I’ll need to go alone,” he explained to his companion.

The wolf let out a sad whine, then walked forward and rubbed his giant body to Sam, then with one fluid movement, vanished into Sam’s shadow.

Sam just chuckled before spending a few minutes changing his clothes to something a low-level traveler would wear, then used the Chameleon Mask to change his appearance once again and began walking toward the road.

An hour later, he was approaching the open gates, mixed with merchants – NPCs and players alike – sailors returning from wherever, as well as the people visiting or leaving the City of Deepanchor.

The guards stationed at the gates barely glanced at him when he walked through, not even asking for a toll. Apparently, the traffic was so high that the city decided it wasn’t worth wasting everyone’s time for some measly toll. This was a harbor town, full of merchants. The smallest amount of tax paid to the city was more than any toll fee.

For a while, Sam walked around the city, dodging drunks, people fighting or trading, merchants hawking their products, and at least two dozen attempts to pickpocket him. Surprisingly, only half of it were attempts by the local ‘children’. He was tempted to ask them a few questions about the city, but now that he definitely knew they were fey, he was rather reluctant to treat with them. Who knows what would happen?

Instead, he just observed.

He watched as differently clothed guards patrolled certain sections, how certain warehouses were protected while others were left to fend for themselves, and he found out where the city guards patrolled and which areas they avoided.

Listening to the conversations happening around him, he now knew who the big guilds were, who the dangerous people were (with a quick trip to the bounty board confirming it), and those that should be avoided.

The true rulers weren’t so easy to find out, but with a basic idea about the layout of the hierarchy of the city, he could begin.

Donning his armor in a shadowy alley after making sure there were no people there, he walked out onto the main street and began heading for the Anchor Away Inn. It was the city’s biggest, and thus most important inn, and where he knew a start for an important quest could be found.

‘Can’t wait to see the Steel Lion’s faces when they find out that I stole it from under their noses…’ he mused with a wicked grin on his face and a pep in his step.