Might as Well

After finishing the speech, Sam spent some time wandering around the Heavenly Forest, checking out everything. The rooms were high quality but with minimalistic design, and to his relief there was no golden filigree anywhere. The restaurant at the top was already open, with the chefs experimenting with the menu to the happiness of the waiters and any other staff that would walk by. The view from the garden at the top was excellent. Granted, it had nothing on any modern city with its lights, but it was still a view that people could enjoy, especially at night.

And at the back of the building, the craftsmen were hard at work preparing their workshops for the influx of requests. Everybody seemed to be in high spirits, but Sam, for now, attributed that to the gold they were paying them. He hoped they would be able to build up a company where people (even if they were NPCs) would be happy to work.

After finishing with his impromptu tour, he went to say goodbye to Lucy, who was in her office, reviewing the recording of the speech and madly writing notes. The secretary was sitting at her desk, and when Sam approached, she sent him a pointed look. He just sighed and nodded at her with a smile.

Closing the door to the office, he stopped for a moment, then cleared his throat.

Lucy looked up instantly and blushed. She made a motion, probably to close the window that only she could see, and pushed her notes away. Then, she spent a few seconds arranging herself, and then Lucy also cleared her throat while turning towards Sam.

“Yes, Sam? How can I help you?”

“I just wanted to ask if the advertising has begun?”

Sam saw the ghost of relief flashing in Lucy’s eyes for not mentioning her behavior.

“Ohh, everything is proceeding as we planned. We dropped hints on several sites that people we are aiming for frequent. I also contacted several fixers on Shadowland so that they were aware of our services.”

Sam just hummed thoughtfully, letting Lucy talk. Her earlier embarrassment was nowhere to be seen as she animatedly explained things.

“As for the other two, we are using in-game advertisement, making it seem on the surface as if it was created by NPCs as you wanted.”

“Yeah, less chance of somebody copying us…”

Lucy sent him an odd look.

“Do you think anybody else could get as much money as you?”

“I got it legitimately without purchasing from gold farmers,” he answered with a wry smile. “The people who would realize the potential in our idea are exactly the type of people who would be willing to invest money into purchasing gold.”

Lucy thought about it for a second, then nodded. “You make a good point. But with the RMT open, they could quite easily copy us.”

Sam shook his head with a chuckle.

“Do you think the developers didn’t think about this? I’m pretty sure that acquiring permission to purchase property, especially as much property as us, would be exponentially harder than it was before this update,” he explained.

And it was not just idle speculation. The developers knew that the introduction of the RMT service would attract investors who would do their best to buy up as many in-game properties before the prices shot up in the high heavens.

Thus, permits and recommendations became harder to acquire. He was pretty sure that his quest, where he received the recommendation from the Silvercrest family, would need a team to complete if attempted now.

“Are you sure?” Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep,” Sam answered, popping the p sound. “That’s what I would do, and to me, the developers seem to care about the long term…”

“Alright, I believe you,” she finally said after a brief pause. Then she steepled her fingers in front of her and looked directly into Sam’s eyes. “My lawyer said it is solid, so I decided to sign the contract.”

That caused Sam to perk up.

“Really?”

“Yep. The pay is pretty basic, but it’s not that different from my day job. So, I can quit and focus on this in-game company instead of toiling away at that hellhole.”

“Excellent!” exclaimed Sam with a big smile. He was pretty happy that he managed to rope in one of the most talented people. And now that the foundations were set, he finally could go after several other players who would have been much harder to convince to join without the services offered by his in-game company.

He was about to say something when there was a small knock on the door and Lucy’s secretary stuck her head in. Both of them looked at the slightly older woman with questioning faces.

“Sorry to bother you, Director, but I thought you might want to know. We just had our first customer.”

Sam looked back at Lucy and smiled at her.

“Go and deal with it. I also have a few things to do.”

Lucy nodded and immediately turned to her secretary.

“Who is it, and what package did they buy?”

As Sam walked away, he heard the secretary begin to answer.

“Well, Director, they bought one of the…”

With a pep in his step, he headed for the exit…

Out on the street, after making sure to leave the building through the well-hidden servant quarters, he simply began to walk around. It didn’t take long before he found his target.

Then Sam simply walked forward, pretending to head somewhere. The girl standing on the side of the street, clearly only there because someone paid her for it, handed him a leaflet as he passed her, not even looking at him.

Sam took the paper and gave it a cursory look.

It was the advertisement for their warehouse and hotel business. The hotel was more like a supermarket, with accommodations on top of it. It was simply named Ironwood Commerce Center and, seeing the crowd moving towards it, he could say it was marginally successful.

Probably had to do with their advertisement. He purposefully had Lucy advertise it via in-game methods using older styles to make people think that it was some kind of NPC that started them.

He walked with the crowd, holding the leaflet in his hand until he reached the street where one of the Commerce Centers was situated. It was the south branch, with two others in the east and west of the city. The north was where the nobles were, thus it housed the Heavenly Forest.

Sam entered the building to take a quick look.

Everywhere he could see players, and even some NPCs, were walking around and checking out the shops and what they offered. Naturally, crafters were the most popular. Though, as he roamed around in the building, he could hear several people petitioning for the tailor in their shops to take them on as apprentices.

Sam just smiled to himself.

Masters of Crafts were extremely hard to find in Magic Unbound. Thus, the people seeing so many journeyman crafters in one place would naturally go crazy.

Per company policy, they were to politely refuse them, but take their application for the Director to review. Which was a small ploy that Sam wanted to use to find crafters that would become famous in the future.

After completing a circuit of the building, he left the Center with a smile on his face. He could already hear the gold coins appearing in his bank account.

Finished with his inspection, he had only one task. Get stronger for the first official event of the game, the Fracture.

He had no hope of affecting the beginning, as it would play out without player interference in a faraway land (inaccessible for now without cheating). Sam could only prepare for it.

His first step was increasing his personal power, which he did before the announcement.

Thanks to his ‘rampage’ through several local quests, his level increased to 32, while Lucky managed to reach a respectable Level 28. Seeing as the highest level (at least among those who made it public) was almost fifty from the viewpoint of many gamers he was incredibly under-leveled. Though Sam didn’t much care. His skills would allow him to fight anybody at Level 50. At least for now. Thankfully, the next event would allow him to rapidly increase his level.

Aside from raising several of his mana skills a few levels, his biggest accomplishment was fully starting on Mana Manipulation. It was a decidedly odd feeling.

The phantom sensation of manipulating mana increased, but to Sam, it was as if he went from the kiddie pool to the deep end in one mighty jump. Tasks that required his utmost concentration before now could be done at the snap of his finger. Which made sense, as it takes the system some time to learn how he moved around his phantom appendage. Practicing with it felt amazing.

While going through his enemies, he made a conscious effort to make use of his wind and shadow skills in concert, hoping to acquire a mixed skill. Shadow Wind sounded amazing (also a little chuuni). Sadly, his enemies weren’t strong enough to cause him to even try, so he didn’t get the skill, but at least he managed to train them a little.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t managed to break through with Shadow Burst, but his ability to use the Shadow Mirages increased nicely. His summoned mirages even started moving around a little, instead of remaining still as a statue.

Sam’s sword skills also felt much more comfortable, his body moving much easier. He never thought that he would be this invested in sword skills, but it felt simply wonderful to step forward and, with a swing of his sword, decimate the enemies arrayed in front of him.

He also managed to increase his Spirit Link skill, gaining a new sub-skill.

[Spirit Connection: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You are in tune with your companion. Their nature is reflected upon you, just as is your nature on them. As you work together, you strengthen each other. If you are near each other, your and your companion’s shadow skills’ and spells’ effects are increased by 3% for each skill level.]

It was a nice little skill that he would make sure to max out. Not the least, because Lucky was an adorable wolf and he enjoyed spending time with the virtual fluffy murder machine.

He did a final check of his equipment, made sure it was not dirty and looked sufficiently noble, with Moonlight visibly affixed to his side, and then headed toward the Silvercrest manor.

The guards just nodded at him and let him in without a word. Inside, he was met by the aging butler, who gave him a nod of respect. Before he could even explain why he was there, they heard a squeal of excitement and the butler closed his eyes and let out an almost inaudible sigh.

The next few minutes were full of chaos as the ever-excited young lady of the house swept in followed by a sedate mother, demanded the release of Lucky, then when the equally excited wolf emerged from the shadow, she dragged him away with her mother following them.

Sam stood there, a little windswept, and shook himself. The butler looked like he handled the ‘event’ marginally better. He looked at Sam and spoke up.

“How can I help you, young master?”

“I wished to speak with Lord Silvercrest. I came across information that needs a little more authority than I have.”

The butler raised an eyebrow and then nodded.

“Follow me, please.”

He was led through the mansion once again by the butler, though this time the smile on the servants’ faces wasn’t polite but genuine when they bowed to him.

They arrived in the office of the lord that conveniently overlooked the garden where the lord’s daughter was running around with Lucky while her mother was sitting in the shade, elegantly sipping tea.

The lord of the manor stood in front of the window and was watching them intently. The moment Sam stepped through the door and the said door was closed behind him by the butler he turned around with an enormous smile on his face.

“Young Sam!” he greeted him extremely loudly. Then he stepped forward and gave the surprised Sam a brief hug. “A welcome sight you are!”

“Thank you, my lord. It is nice to see you again. I’m glad that your wife seems to be in better health,” he replied after getting over the surprise.

“Not just seems, my friend!” yelled the enormous man. “She is so healthy that we-“ he seemed to rethink what he wanted to say as he suddenly swallowed his words. He raised a fist to his mouth and coughed awkwardly. “Anyway. She is healthy and getting back into shape. All thanks to you, young Sam!”

Then he indicated at the chair in front of his desk while taking a seat in his own chair.

“How can House Silvercrest help you today, my friend?”

Sam got comfortable, then looked at the lord with a serious face. He would have to word things carefully so as to not get busted by the system, but he needed the help of the overly loud lord if he wanted to maximize his rewards from the next event.

“Well, my lord, I’m sure you have noticed the increase in the population of the adventurers?” he asked.

The other man nodded with a grin.

“Indeed, my young friend!” then his grin changed a little sinister. “I’ve seen your business, and might I say, it was a terrific idea to make use of the increased population.”

Sam coughed awkwardly.

“Thank you, my lord.” Sam shook his head, then continued. “I’m here because, from what I heard through the grapevine, there is almost a hundred percent chance that something will happen.”

“Something?”

“Yes. Too many groups with too many goals. Eventually, it will overflow and the end result could be anything from wars between mercenary groups to large-scale magical events.”

“Oh, you’ve heard about this?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Sam seriously, as he could see the lord’s eyes shine with deadly seriousness. “I heard mention that several groups are aiming to ‘control the city’. I’m sure you are aware there are several methods to achieve this control.”

“And you are here because?”

“Well, sir, fighting is bad for my business,” Sam answered calmly.

For a moment, there was silence as the lord stared at him. Only the sound of playing from the garden could be heard, muffled by the windows.

Then he threw his head back and began to laugh. Loudly, of course.

“Hahahaha! What a young man!”

The lord spent a few seconds laughing, then after wiping a tear from his eyes, he turned back to Sam, steepled his fingers in front of him, and spoke up.

“You seem to have thought about this issue. I have my methods, but you are, after all, an adventurer, thus, you know your people better. What would you recommend, my young friend?”

Sam let out a relieved sigh, then took out a small notebook. He opened it and began to list his ideas.

“Well, first of all, you need to increase the distribution of the guards in and outside of the city so that they can react faster to anything…

As Sam began to explain his ideas, the Lord just stared at him with a serious expression.