The ‘short’ meeting that he expected, sadly, never came to fruition. As soon as they were finished discussing the major points of contentions, the nobles, proving they were greedier than any dragon, began to delve into the minor points and fine print.
Hell, they even critiqued the way the initial contract was formatted.
If there was a point that would lead to some manner of profit, and seeing the topic of the discussion, almost ninety percent of points were like that, they wanted to discuss it. Mostly to decrease the gains of the AFK company and increase their share, but thankfully, Lucy stood steadfastly against their frankly demonic ways of manipulating the law and rules.
The supposed representative had to step in a few times with their ‘subtle’ warning as Sam was close to declaring the entire thing a lost cause, thanks to the man’s attitude. He wouldn’t do that for real, as too much gold was at stake, but in that moment, he just wanted the entire meeting to end. Damn the consequences.
The nobles, or more like their representatives – as what noble would deign to sit at the same table as two commoners – were probably sensing his mounting frustration based on the wary glances they sent his way, thus by the time they reached the last few points, they practically gave them up for free.
Despite all that unpleasantness, they all left the meeting with smiles on their faces – probably fake on all sides – secure in the knowledge that they got one over the other group. Time and history would reveal who was right and who was the true sucker.
The person from Nowhere, if Sam was right, left the room last, giving Sam a respectful nod, then smiling at Lucy.
Leaving the room to Tim; Lucy and Sam quickly returned to her office.
Lucy sagged into her super comfortable enchanted office chair, with her raven instantly flying to her shoulder and beginning to gently rub its face on hers. Meanwhile, Sam simply plopped down on the no doubt expensive carpet, summoned Lucky, and burrowed his face into the wolf’s silky-smooth fur.
The animal was confused for a second, but then he realized that Sam was hugging him, so he just grinned while his tail began thumping on the ground.
They spent a few minutes enjoying the ministration of their familiars before Sam broke the silence.
“I still don’t understand why I had to be present…” he mumbled, still resting his face on Lucky’s fur-covered body.
Lucy let out a long-suffering sigh. “Because, you moron, you went and made yourself important enough that if you didn’t show they would’ve taken it as an insult!”
“Really?”
“Really. Especially with that seal you got us for the capital…”
“The one for buying properties?”
“Yeah…”
“So that’s what they meant about suffering from success…”
“Very funny. Anyway, any word about that mysterious organization?” she asked with a slightly hurt voice.
Sam could understand why. Usually, he was pretty free with information like that.
He looked up from enjoying Lucky’s nature-given gifts and smiled at his friend.
“Don’t worry. I talked to them. I can’t tell you much, but they’re the type that will ‘get in contact’ with you,” he explained.
Lucy nodded in understanding, a relieved smile appearing on her face.
“Time scale?”
Sam just shrugged. “Apparently, they have to observe you first…”
“Fantastic…” she responded in a somewhat sarcastic manner. “Just to change the subject, check this out,” she said while offering to share something with him. “This entire thing was excellent for my skills. I gained almost ten levels and a new skill!”
Sam accepted the request and began to read it.
[Lord’s Shield: Level 0/100 (0%) (Passive) You are your lord’s shield. It doesn’t matter what battlefield, you protect them. Increase the effectiveness of skills when you are protecting your lord’s interests and holdings. Additionally, the skill grants you the Physical and Magical Resistance skills.]
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you going to call me lord, then?”
Lucy just snorted. “You wish… But the skills… They’re bonkers, Sam!”
Sam had to agree with her.
Plus, he actually knew this skill. A few years after the start of the game, the players managed to tease out most of the details. The lord in the name of the skill was the leader of the group or guild that was acknowledged by at least three parties, one of them NPC-controlled. Then the individual had to act in the interest and defense of the ‘lord’ several times against many different enemies.
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This usually meant a tank-type player with some supporting skills. Thus, usually, the players who gained these skills were the bodyguards of powerful people. Naturally, betraying the lord would make them lose the skill and gain something else, but having the skill was an excellent mark of loyalty.
Sadly, only one person could get it in one group.
However, from what the other Sam learned – after this information was publicized by the research guild – it was always combat-oriented people who got it. The fact that Lucy, who was very much not combat-oriented, got this skill made him want to break into evil laughter.
As the skill description said all skills, not just combat skills, meant that Lucy’s skills affecting politics (or being affected by it), which were always in effect in one way or another, would be improved by the Lord's Shield skill.
“It’s brilliant!” he exclaimed with a grin and a thumbs up.
“What about next? We finished the contract so we can continue with the construction. Adam will handle the fights, and Dan wants to hang around Lara a little more,” she asked after shaking her head at Sam’s declaration.
“I’ve reached Level 99, so I’m thinking of going for that ‘Race to the Top’ event…”
Lucy had to blink at that. “You want those models so much?”
“Hardly,” Sam snorted in derision. “But my name was added to it automatically. People are going to be hunting me. Better to vanish somewhere while the leveling fever lasts.”
“What about the crazy twins?”
“Just have them help Adam. Katie still needs to learn how to work in a group better. It will do her some good working under someone like Adam…”
Lucy sent him a dubious look but, in the end, she nodded.
“If you think so…”
Back in the real world, after some nice relaxation and good food, Sam sat in front of his computer, ready to do some work and research.
Naturally, the biggest news, at least in their corner of the game world, was the appearance of the titan, its subsequent defeat, and the metric tons of salt from the guilds, groups, and players who perished thanks to gravity or Sam’s guild.
Shadowland was abuzz with people wanting to find more titans, but this time he refused any inquiry. He had no way of knowing about the rest of them, thus he could only claim ignorance. Not that he said that to the people who approached his account. He simply said that somebody paid a good amount of money for his silence.
Thankfully, by this time, people knew that he never broke his word, though it still didn’t stop some people from offering him some ludicrous amount of money for even one set of coordinates.
Ignoring that site for a spell, he turned his attention to the site that held the ‘Race to the Top’ event announced by Future Unknown.
The rules were simple. The first to reach the barrier – Level 100 was never mentioned anywhere on the site, Sam checked – would be declared the winner. Then the next nine would be counted from the second place to the tenth.
As he read the attached forum post, he saw that his great jump in level had infuriated a lot of people. After it happened, most of the pages were filled with people calling him a cheater and urging the company to ban him. Fortunately, his forum account linked to his name was set to private, so he wasn’t filled with messages.
He looked over the names in the top fifty, trying to place them using his inherited memories.
Surprisingly, there were a few that he recognized just from what he saw on the internet after being transmigrated into this world.
“Let’s see… Solo level grinder… solo streamer, speedrunner, rich kid, rich kid…” he mumbled as he went through the names he remembered, either from this life or from his inherited memories.
Most of the people who were on the list dedicatedtheir entire lives to be the first to reach the highest level. Their builds were probably utter chaos, which would decrease in efficiency and effectiveness after reaching the first barrier.
Sam just shrugged.
“Well…not my problem…”
True to his words, after he returned to the game, he made sure there were no emergencies going on and after assuring the disappointed Katie that he wasn’t getting rid of her, he left the headquarters of the company disguised as one of the guards.
The disguise was lost in the first alley he could step in, putting on the face of a random person he saw when he met the Eternal Light people. Best to confuse those watchers…
He idly glanced at one of the ravens that was staring at him, nodded, and he was off toward his target.
Getting enough experience to reach Level 101 would be stupid hard as a solo player unless he planned to grind away endlessly every available second he could spend in the game.
Which is what he planned to pretend to do. His target was in an area where he had never gone in this life (nor in the last, but the other Sam knew about it), but he knew through the forums that it was a place that was filled with strong monsters that were incredibly hard to solo and their drops weren’t the greatest. Even though the experience point gain was good, people still avoided the area.
Loot was indeed the king!
After leaving the city, he spent an hour wandering around, changing his looks and doing everything to throw off his pursuers. And after he sensed the last one disappear – and not knowing what to do about those he couldn’t sense – he finally reverted to his original look, jumped on Lucky’s back, and rushed toward his goal.
Once again, he ventured deep into the mountain range bordering the Emerald Kingdom.
Thanks to Lucky’s increase in levels having improved his endurance, they only had to stop once for the great wolf to rest.
The sun was over its zenith by the time they arrived in a very hilly area covered in trees and all other manner of flora. And all through the area were bears with deer antlers wandering through.
Despite being herbivores, sustaining themselves off the local bushes and grass, the males were aggressive, aggroing on anything that dared to look at the herd.
As he looked over the area, he could see the male monsters standing on the hills and looking vigilantly over all their herds.
That’s where the problems started.
Usually, one would just bait one of them, kill it, and go for the next one. However, the very first skill they used, through their antlers was a warning spell that alerted ALL the nearby monsters of the enemy’s presence. Including all the other male bear deers. Which caused a bit of a chain reaction…
It was not an enjoyable experience for anyone involved.
Thankfully, he had a plan…
Which was not targeting the antlers with his first strike. A lot of people tried it and it didn’t work as the antler was the most magical part of the monster and destroying it lowered the loot value which was already very low, and created a small explosion of pure mana that had enough flavor of the monster to alert the others.
He did his best to create a very silent bubble of wind barrier around himself to make sure that no smell would be able to give him away and began to slink toward the nearest bear deer.
The monster looked slightly agitated, as if sensing that something was afoot, but didn’t react otherwise.
Sam reached toward his magic and prepared his first two spells with a smile.
‘Once more unto the breach…’
Owed bonus chapters: One (1)
Titles:
[Apprentice: You are an apprentice learning under a master. Increased experience point gain in the key skill of the apprenticeship.]
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!]
[Peaceful land, peaceful mind]
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]
[Ride forward to be not killed in nasty ways!]
[Location, location, location!]
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: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +2,1 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.]