Might as Well

After logging out, Sam only had the energy to take a quick shower, then quickly fell into his bed.

Waking up the next day, he did a little housework, a grocery run (there were options to order in, but he wanted to spend at least a little bit of time outside of his apartment), and the usual exercises to keep his body in working condition.

He couldn’t wait until the game got popular enough that they would set the playing hours for everybody because this kind of chaotic living, even with his exercises and healthy food, was taking a toll on his body.

Plopping down in front of his computer, he reluctantly opened the forums for the game as well as several gaming sites that dealt with Magic Unbound, where prominently on the main pages were the posts that celebrated the continuously growing population of the game.

Consequently, the forums were full of posts that cursed the crowded beginner villages as well as the increasing prices due to the demand that so many players made on the system that serviced said villages.

When Sam read these notes, he had to take a minute to curse as he had planned to set up a simple Merchant company that would provide said goods to these villages and ride the wave of new players.

But now, probably due to his own actions, it was too late. If the mainstream portals were talking about it, then those who could see the trends were already making money off of it. He would need to focus his efforts somewhere else.

It still felt rather shitty. In the novels that he had read in his past life, the main character always managed to ride economic waves; always finding the best moment to buy or sell something and here he was, watching as an opportunity vanished in front of him like a fart in the wind.

Still, it wasn’t the end of the world. Exploiting the beginners was one of the things that he planned to use for the creation of his economic foundation in the game, but it wasn’t the only one. And with how the Silvercrest family quest was going, he suspected that his next several steps would become much easier.

The rest of the forums were filled with discussion of every facet of the game, mostly positive, though there was a loud minority who were decrying the complexity and difficulty of the skill system. Though after a cursory look, Sam found that universally the answer to those posts was: ‘git gud noob’.

He had to agree. The skill system of the game wasn’t the easiest, but with a bit of practice and elbow grease, one could learn it without trouble. It was the definition of easy to learn, hard to master, once again demonstrating that the developers of the game were thinking in the long term.

Of course, there were already videos popping up from experts and experts who were analyzing the emerging economic situation in the game. Sam checked out a few videos, but he didn’t see anything he didn’t know, so he simply closed them.

He had better things to do with his time.

Finally, he checked his account on the Shadowland website, but his mailbox was full of people wanting to buy the Life of Blood skill book and other extremely rare, or common skill books that nobody knew where to get. Sam thought about exploiting this and selling a few books for a quick buck, but in the end, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk. He built himself up as a trustworthy and fair information broker and exploiting his customers would only cause him grief in the long term.

Then, stretching a little, listening as his back popped satisfyingly, he returned to his gaming couch and began the login process.

The room he stayed in was still the same as he left it, with only Lucky having moved around while he was logged out, turning around in the bed.

This resulted in him ‘waking’ up to a mouthful of the wolf’s tail.

Spitting hairs out, he sent a half-hearted glare at the pitifully whining wolf that seemed to be growing at an accelerated pace, already reaching the size of a medium-sized pony. ‘I wonder how big he will get.’ He wondered while he checked his equipment and status screen.

Instead of going downstairs for breakfast, he simply began munching on his rations and began practicing his spells.

“Healing Wind!”

Calling out, he watched with his senses and Mage Sight as the mana formed into the spell and left his hand; it swirled around Lucky, in a translucent, slightly green-tinged wind, then it sunk into him without any fanfare or effect as the wolf was fully healthy and well-rested. Lucky bore being selected as target practice very well.

Sam repeated it several times, trying to get used to the feeling until he could manage the spell without yelling out its name, earning himself several levels in the spell.

Finally, he stood in the middle of the room, eyes closed, meditating slightly as the healing winds swirled around him.

He kept up with it for a few minutes, but as he felt he was sufficiently familiar with this low-tier spell, he finally let up with the casting and watched as the last of the greenish wind sunk into his body.

Letting out a satisfied smile, as healing spells if you weren’t specialized in them, were rather rare in lower levels. Using Healing Wind, he now had a few opportunities to acquire even stronger spells.

Then he turned his attention towards one of the other spells he had just gained thanks to completing the sub-quest.

Taking up a silly pose, leaning slightly back, head tilted down, arms crossed in front of him and his finger formed into random gang symbols, exclaimed.

“Shadow Mirage!”

There was a brief burst of mana moving around in his body then it was expelled and formed into first a copy of him out of shadows then a fraction of a second later that shadow gained definition and color and thus there were two of him standing in the room in a silly pose.

Chuckling slightly, he let go of the pose and began walking around the Mirage as it kept standing there, still as a rock.

The replicated detail on the mirage was amazing, as he could see individual hairs on his arms, but the stillness was still annoying. Although he knew that with enough practice with the skill, they would soon learn (that is, the game system would learn their behavior pattern and fighting style) and would begin to move. But for now, it would be enough to play with the mind of any enemy he came across.

He reached out and tried to touch the mirage but his hand went through the spell and not a moment later the entire thing burst into motes of sparkling mana and shadows, falling to the ground and vanishing entirely.

Nodding to himself, he spent a few minutes memorizing how the spell worked so as not to have to yell the names of the spells, then turned towards Lucky.

Sam got on his knees, hugged the wolf to himself, and began murmuring.

“Okay, Lucky. This is important, so pay attention! I want you…”

Heading towards the Silvercrest Manor, dressed in his adventurer clothes, forgoing his Sunday’s best, because he fully expected that one way or another this entire thing would end in a fight, Sam watched with a satisfied smile as the entire city was in a tizzy. Harried guards walked around, paranoidly looking at everybody, even at each other.

Players belonging to guilds were doing the same thing, deadeye-ing people from other guilds, and fights could be seen breaking out everywhere, causing the already agitated guards to become even more stressed.

Apparently, his little distraction worked really well…

Cutting through the last alley before approaching the manor directly, he made eye contact with one of the urchins and gave them a small thumbs up. The smile he received in return sent shivers down his spine.

‘Why do I do this to myself?’ he lamented, continuing his journey.

Arriving in front of the manor, he was about to announce himself, but the gates immediately opened and one of the guards stepped out for a moment, looked around nervously, and then bade him to follow him with a respectful nod.

Sam said nothing, just followed him.

Inside, he was met by a familiar butler.

“Greetings, good sir. I hope you returned with excellent news!”

The man’s voice was the patented, even butler voice, but Sam could still hear the undercurrent of worry. He gave him a smile and a nod.

“Indeed. I got the item.”

The butler let out a relieved sigh, and Sam could hear the nearby guards doing the same thing. Apparently, they were rather loyal. ‘Or good actors…’

“Follow me, then, Sir,” came the clipped reply from the older man. He turned elegantly on his heels and began marching towards the manor proper with a pep in his steps. Sam followed him, one hand on his sword and his senses strained to the maximum.

It was the best time to ambush them…

Surprisingly, nobody attacked them on the way to the garden where he had his talk with Lord Silvercrest not so long ago.

Arriving at the well-taken-care-of garden, he immediately understood why the butler took him there.

Where before pristine grass delighted those who visited the manor, now it was covered by a giant slab of thin rock. Carved into the rock were runes, some he recognized, some he didn’t.

The runes were in a circle, and inside the circle was a triangle. And the points of the triangle stood three things. The nearest to him contained a small stone plinth, also carved with runic symbols, obviously the intended place of the chalice. The farthest from him was occupied with a distinguished gentleman in high-quality robes, leaning on a staff that seemed to be radiating magic and perusing a leather-bound notebook with great interest.

On the last point was a very simple divan, basically a slab of wood with minimal upholstery and four legs. On it laid the lady of the house, deathly pale, and Sam could see the beads of sweat flowing down her face.

The moment he stepped into the garden, every eye in the vicinity was directed at him, including the Lord’s.

“Adventurer!” came the excited yell, but Sam could see that the Lord was just trying to keep up the façade as his eyes always kept darting at his wife. “I hope you returned bringing great news!”

Instead of replying, Sam just reached inside his inventory and retrieved the Chalice of Restraint.

There were multiple gasps of surprise, predominantly from the wizard at the runic circle and another happy one from Lord Silvercrest.

“Ha ha ha! Yes! Most excellent, my friend!” Taking several giant steps the large man arrived next to Sam and gently took the Chalice from him, holding it in his giant hand gently, and with great care walked it over to the wizard who accepted the artifact with the same care, placing it on the plinth. “Let us commence the ritual!”

The wizard silently nodded, and the runic circle instantly lit up. Then the plinth and the Chalice of Restraint began to blaze with very familiar white flames. Following that, a dome of blue sprung up around the ritual while everybody else watched with bated breath.

Sam stepped up to the Lord, whose eyes were glued to his wife’s slumped form.

“Are you expecting an attack, sir?”

The Lord answered without moving his eyes. “Indeed, my young friend. I even sent my daughter away with a trusted friend.”

“Good, then I don’t have to convince you to prepare for one.”

The older man chuckled a little and sent him a small smirk.

“Fret not, my friend. I know very well what my enemies are capable of!”

Sam nodded, then refocused on his senses. His first target was the ritual, curious about it. However, it seemed that it was rather simple. The wizard was directing with the help of the runic circle the magic of a minor ley line into the chalice and then would probably use that to extract the parasite from the lady of the house.

He made sure to take a look at the runes (after toggling the recording software on with a small movement of his fingers) for later study, then directed his senses towards the walls of the manor as that was the easiest point of entry.

He didn’t have to look long. The moment his senses went further than the wall, he sensed the build-up of foreign mana.

Sighing audibly, he unsheathed his blade, ignored the tensing guards standing around, as well as the fearful maids, and turned towards the wall.

“What are you doin–“ came the question from the Lord, but he was silenced by a loud yell and the sound of something shattering. Probably the defenses of the manor.

“ATTACK!”

Before anyone could react Sam beaned the first attacker jumping over the wall in the head with a well timed Wind Bullet which caused everyone to freeze for a moment as they watched the man tumble to the ground, where he lay, still.

Then, as one, everyone began moving, and it was chaos.