Might as Well

“I can’t believe that asshole dared to do that!”

Sam watched as Katie raged around while they were walking toward the capital city. A few shrubs and trees fell to her rage, but in the end, she calmed down somewhat and turned back to Sam. Her eyes were radiating murderous intent.

“Say the word and I’ll raze their headquarters to the ground!” she declared while hoisting her greatsword over her head.

He simply shook his head and placed a calming hand on the younger girl’s shoulder.

“Calm down, Katie. It’s not like I didn’t expect it. Your father is a businessman. I interfered in his business so he will naturally lash out. That’s just how his nature is…”

Sam was quite frankly talking straight out of his ass. Neither the other Sam nor him had any connection to high-level businessmen. The closest would be his late father, who was a mid-level manager in several companies. He was mostly basing his opinion on the tropes he had read in the past about this genre.

As so far, every trope came true, although, with a rather small amount of face slapping and young masters (but he was hopeful), he was operating on the belief that everything would work the same. Naturally, after Katie told him about her father, he made sure to research the guy. Business moves and decisions, rumors online, and everything else.

To Sam, the guy looked like a standard businessman obsessed with the idea of power and money, which could be exploited if one knew how.

In the end, while playing the same game, Sam and Katie’s father were playing fundamentally different games.

Katie’s father was all about maximizing the profit he could get from the game. That’s it, while for Sam the money was secondary. He only pursued making money to make sure he could play in comfort.

So, as long as Katie’s father was after profit, Sam would always know what he was going after. Maybe the method would be hard to figure out, but the end goal would always be obvious. On the other hand, his friend’s father would be forever guessing about his motives.

Katie put her sword away and crossed her hands in front of her with a pout on her beautiful face. “I still don’t like it. They could have killed you!”

“So?”

Katie opened her mouth and then closed it. “Oh, right. This is a game…”

Sam just chuckled. “It would’ve been a hindrance, yes, but not the end of the world.”

“Hmmpf…”

“Would it help that the fact that your father’s men worked together with demon cultists would cause him a lot of trouble?” he asked, looking at Katie’s face.

Katie looked back at him, confused for half a second, then her eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, yeah! Everybody hates those guys!” she declared with a massive grin.

Before Sam could answer, however, another voice cut into their conversation.

“That is indeed correct, young lady,” came the cultured voice from behind them.

There he was, his escort, still in his dark uniform, not looking like somebody who spent the last few days in the wilderness.

“Ooooh! Who is this?” Katie asked, looking the man up and down.

“Haven’t the foggiest…” he answered truthfully.

Katie only squealed and jumped forward, only to begin circling the slightly bewildered man.

“So cool! So mysterious!” She made to poke the man in the shoulder, but before her finger could make contact, a well-callused hand gently grabbed it. “Oh, and he is not an illusion!”

She took a step back and eyed the man in a way that women stand when they try to judge a man. “And not bad looking!”

Another step closer, almost in the man’s personal place. “So, who are you, mysterious handsome man?” she asked, batting her eyelashes in a cutesy way.

Sam just watched with Lucky at his side (and Puffball sleeping on Lucky’s back) as Katie tried to ‘charm the man. Sadly, most of her ‘charm’ was covered by spiky black armor that evoked slightly different feelings from the man than the one she was hoping for.

The uniformed man closed his eyes, took a deep breath, held it in for another breath, then exhaled dramatically. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked directly into the grinning Katie’s eyes.

“Miss Katie, please respect my personal space.”

Katie looked surprised for a moment at the man knowing her name but she nodded and took a few steps backward, enough to stand slightly behind Sam, covering his eight. “Sure thing, Mister Mysterious!”

“Thank you, miss,” nodded the man, then he turned to Sam. “Congratulations! You managed to complete the task assigned to you. Are you ready for the next one?”

Sam raised an eyebrow at the word-for-word exact sentence that was said to him when he completed the demonic fracture and nodded.

“Yes, sir. What’s the next one?” he asked, ignoring the notification sound.

There was a long silence in the clearing with the two men eyeing each other while Katie looked from Sam to the mysterious man and back, similar to how one would view a particularly fast-paced tennis match.

Finally, it was the mysterious man who broke the silence. Sam suspected that it happened because the man was worried that the vibrating Katie would explode.

“There is none. You passed,” came the unexpected statement from the man.

The man’s hand rose, holding a scroll bound together with a black ribbon. “Your instructions are here. Your… team can be told, but you’re the only official member. If they want to join, they will have to go through the quest. We will contact you when you’re needed.”

And then within two blinks the man vanished and Sam could feel a very faint mana signature heading insanely fast away from them before even that blinked out.

The scroll, however, remained in the air, as if laid on an invisible table.

“Wooow! That was so cool! All mysterious!” she exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement. “Was it some kind of spy organization? Sam, are you now a spy?”

Worried that his friend would explode from the anticipation Sam stepped forward to grab the scroll while answering her excited questions.

“I have no idea. They basically kidnapped me and threw me into a fracture. But I suppose we’re about to find out…” he explained while gently unraveling the scroll.

The moment the ribbon left the scroll, he once again heard the notification sound, but he once again dismissed it in favor of reading the scroll.

He unrolled it enough that Katie could read over his shoulder and began reading.

Greetings Adventurer!

You have passed many trials, both ours and Fate’s. We are happy to welcome you to our group. As you may have known, demons infest our world, and it is our sacred duty to oppose them wherever and whenever. And now you have joined our organization.

As you are still a new member, not much more information will be shared with you. However, work hard and prove yourself and we will embrace you fully as a comrade!

Your tasks are as follows…

“Booo! You’re not a spy!” exclaimed Katie in a disappointed voice. “Kinda lame… We were already fighting demons…”

“Yes, but now there is a chance we get paid for it…” Sam told her with a smile while finishing reading the scroll.

Katie instantly perked up. “Now I can be happy about that. Do you think I can also join them?”

Sam put away the scroll and took a long look at Katie.

Standing at the height of five-six, and covered head to toe with a black heavy plate armor that had more spikes than was necessary while his Perception Filter gained experience points every time he took a look at the young woman with his Mana Gaze. He considered the idea for a few seconds.

“Sure. You’ll fit right in!”

“That’s right! I’m…” Katie stopped speaking when she realized he was joking, huffed, and looked away. “You’re so mean…”

“Hehehe… don’t be like that, Katie. How about I tell you how I’m planning to fuck over your father?” he rushed to reassure the young woman.

Naturally, she instantly turned back to him with a dangerous grin on her face and rubbed her hands together. “Will it be humiliating?”

“Only if you help me!” he told her with a grin while gesturing forward.

The two of them once again began walking with their respective familiars following them. Well, Lucky followed them. Puffball didn’t even wake up for the excitement.

“Say, you guys have servants right?”

“Tons!”

“Do they spy on you?”

“All the time! Can’t even buy anything naughty without father knowing about it…”

“Well, that is a little more information than I needed but oookay.”

“Hehehee… sorry!”

“Anyway, does your brother keep your secrets?”

“Hell yeah! Brother has a spine made out of a cardboard box when it comes to father, but he can keep a secret!”

“Good. Then I want you to tell him the following while making sure there are servants around…”

The resulting laughter scared the wildlife enough that several squirrels enjoying the bounty of nature simply seized up and fell to the ground, dead.

They reached the capital without any issue, mostly spending the time updating each other on how their respective quests went and Katie showing off some of her gains, causing Sam to question the sanity of the developers.

‘Why the hell did they include Eldritch gods in the game?’

He naturally knew they existed in the lore, and the other Sam gave him some memories where he watched spells related to them, but he had no memories of a person so deeply immersed in the ‘darkness’.

Thankfully, the old gods in Magic Unbound, while inscrutable and generally madness-inducing, were mostly just that. Bored old gods that had nothing better to do than to play around. They were not evil, just chaotic. Their closest ‘friends’ were the Fey… Even then, they fucked with each other all the time.

It fit Katie perfectly. Probably why the system made the connection between Katie and the old gods.

After telling Katie to try the training grounds to get used to her new powers, he retreated to his room in the Mage Tower, and made sure that Lucky was given some high-quality meat as thanks for his help with the fight, he shucked off his armor and finally took a moment to rest on the provided bed.

It wasn’t as luxurious as the one back at the headquarters but it was enough to relax a little.

Finally, feeling the urge to fall asleep, he forced himself into a sitting position, and with one hand running through Lucky’s fur, he opened his menu.

Instantly, he was bombarded by a deluge of notifications.

“Alright, let’s start with the quests…”

[You completed the quest: The Test of the Survivor!]

[Your reward is joining a mysterious organization that you don’t know the name of. Don’t you feel lucky you?]

[Thanks to surviving something unlucky, you gained + 1 LUCK]

[New quest acquired!]

[Eternal Vigilance!]

[The demons are everywhere in the world, and now it has become your job to stop them from causing chaos. You have an entire organization supporting you, but you are still a greenhorn. Prove your mettle by destroying demonic plots or killing demons.]

[Time Limit: Until Revocation]

[Reward: Increased reputation with ???]

[Penalty: You don’t want to know]

[Contribution: 0/1000]

Sam stared at the quest for a while, then shook his head. It was a hard quest. Correction, it would be a hard quest for anyone that wasn’t him. Thanks to his inherited memories, he knew at least half a dozen demonic plots just in the capital and its vicinity.

‘The first level will probably be easy, but after that, the enemies will also get stronger…’ he mused as he dismissed the notifications and turned back to the rest.

Lucky once again raised his level and his skill level, even upgrading a skill and gaining a new one.

[Lucky is now Level 22!]

[Shadow Jump is now Level 20!]

[Lucky learned the skill Shadow Dash!]

[Shadow Dash: Level 0/20 (0%) (Active/Passive) Wherever the wolf steps, he can leave small pools of shadows that the wolf can use to jump into. When diving into the shadows, the wolf can travel at an even greater distance with his speed increased by 2% for each skill level.]

[Shadow Claws is now Level 14!]

[Fear Aura is now Level 9!]

[Your companion, thanks to your close connection, has learned a new skill, Spirit Armor!]

[Spirit Armor: Level Max (Passive) The durability of the wolf’s hide is increased depending on the connection between the spirit and the contractor. Armor is increased by 2% for each level in Spirit Link. Can be evolved when Spirit Link evolves.]

Sam stared at the skill, then at Lucky, who was enjoying his ministration with a blissful face and let out a content chuckle. ‘Finally, one step closer…’

Satisfied with the growth of his companion, he turned to his own skills.

Granted, after the solo dive of the fracture, he didn’t expect much but he at least hoped for some improvements.

[Mana Manipulation is now Level 37!]

[Mana Shield is now Level 78!]

[Layered Mana Shield is now Level 5!]

[Thanks to your continuous use of Mana Shield, you gained the subskill Second Skin!]

[Second Skin: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You have used the Mana Shield so much that it became like a second skin. Thanks to that, for each level of this skill, the corresponding number of layers becomes cheaper to maintain. Mana Shield maintenance cost decreased by 10%. Currently affected layer number: 1]

[Mana Resonance is now Level 9!]

[Mana Tempered Body is now Level 37!]

Once again, Mana Shield proved its superiority. While it took a while before it ramped up compared to the Magic Armor, it was very much worth it.

[Perception Filter is now Level 10!]

[Mana Gaze is now Level 15!]

[Triple Mana Slash is now Level 6!]

[Mana Body Enhancement is now Level 73!]

[Mana Disruption is now Level 18!]

[Spell Layering is now Level 21!]

Sadly, he didn’t get the next level for Mana Construct that would grant him a subskill, but Sam was still very happy with his gains.

[Light Ball III is now Level 7!]

[Ground Shake is now Level 6!]

[Wind Mana Manipulation is now Level 19!]

[Aerodynamic is now Level 5!]

[Greater Wind Affinity is now Level 22!]

[Gentle Wind is now Level 4!]

[Silent casting is now Level 7!]

[Spirit Link is now Level 44!]

[Spirit Connection is now Level 5!]

The elemental skills didn’t grow much, but that was to be expected, he didn’t use them too creatively or heavily.

[Advanced Shadow Footwork is now Level 18!]

[Shadow Grace is now Level 10!]

[You learned Shadow Grace II!]

[Shadow Grace II: Level 0/10 (0%) (Active) When activated, your grace, stability, and speed increase even further by 25% for each skill level and increase the stealth effect when covered by shadows by 5% for each skill level.

[Shadow Burst II is now Level 7!]

[Shadow Mirage is now Level 24!]

[Mirage Obfuscation is now Level 2!]

[Shadow Transformation is now Level 22!]

[Shadow Shield II is now Level 6!]

[Shadow Cloud is now Level 9!]

[Greater Shadow Affinity is now Level 19!]

[Shadowstride is now level 4!]

A much better haul with the shadow skills. However, the accumulation of the skills once again reminded him that he needed to find a teacher for his mana nature fast.

[Basic Armor Master is now Level 58!]

[Resistant Armor is now Level 3!]

[Flow is now Level 56!]

[Controlled Flow is now Level 2!]

[Surprise Strike is now Level 11!]

To his surprise, Advanced Sword Mastery had reached the breakthrough level, making his decision on what to do pretty clear. He had the quest to the Training Hall and they would probably be able to help him break through.

[Multitasking is now Level 97!]

[Journeyman Runecarver is now Level 15!]

Finished with his inspection, he looked at the clock and swore a little. He was almost late from his meeting with Lucy. Sam quickly got comfortable on the bed, with Lucky jumping up on it to settle in next to him and pushed the logout button.

There was chaos to organize!