Chương 158: Chapter 153

The first thing was taking a short and quick walk back to his accommodations and taking a long, cleansing shower. Cleaning spells were good and all, but nothing beat a hot shower. Then, after putting away his clothing drenched with dirt, dust, and body fluids, he took out a fresh set, dressed and simply collapsed on the bed. Lucky instantly jumped up next to him and Sam just smiled and began running his hand through the wolf's fur as he idly navigated to the logout button.

He regained his consciousness in the real world within seconds. He tiredly shuffled the helmet off his face and got up from the couch. A shower was waiting for Sam with his name on it… Refreshed, and marginally less exhausted, he returned to his room in simple exercise clothes and sat down in front of his computer. Going over the usual notifications, he made sure there was nothing wrong with his financial situation.

The small investments he managed to acquire before the value of the Future Unknown company shot up were paying really nice dividends. The rest of his portfolio was performing well enough that even if he stopped playing the game, or rather gave up on the AFK company, he would be well off and never have to work a day in his life.

'Future knowledge for the win!' he mused as he quickly went over the seemingly random investments he made with the money he acquired on Shadowland. Just to be less suspicious, he invested in well-known companies, as well as a few who performed well for a few moments but then spectacularly failed. Whoever checked his investment history would find nothing suspicious aside from the fact that he had an excellent eye for picking out companies that would perform well.

Added to his income from the company in Magic Unbound and Sam could say he was very well off compared to some of the people on this little planet. Granted, compared to the true moneybags, he was nothing, but it felt rather nice to have an amount of money that he could have only dreamed of in his previous life. Clicking away from the secure software he used to check his investments, he started checking his email. Instantly, he was all smiles.

He finally received his confirmation email that his own virtual reality pod had been posted.

'Finally! I can give up the couch…' he grumbled a little. The couch was the highest quality he could find, but it was still uncomfortable laying there for hours on end. Then came the questions on Shadowland. Slowly but surely, the site had begun to transform into a site dealing with Magic Unbound primarily, compared to before when it was a clearing house for information about all sorts of games and software.

Now it was full of questions, information, and conversations about Magic Unbound as parts of it that were dedicated to other games were slowly shutting down, due to lack of engagement. The people who ran the site knew what the masses wanted. He quickly checked the questions, and requests aimed at him. He refused a few, making sure they knew he wouldn't be dealing with that kind of information, posting a simple announcement about the fact. Some people were just unrepentant perverts…

Most of them were ignored as they were full of whining people, begging or even demanding that he give them information about all sorts of stuff. Granted, he had the information, but he couldn't prove how he got hold of them for at least ninety percent of it. Then came the legitimate 'business inquiries'. Most of them were simple questions with an offer of money if he could provide. And provide he did.

For the next few hours, he just sat there, taking a short walk a few times, and kept answering questions from low-IQ people. The money was nothing much, but the reputation increase was very welcome. Sam explained skills, spells, and items. Skill interactions were clarified and confusion about game mechanics was resolved. He even revealed a few secrets here and there to maintain his reputation for knowing things that other people didn't.

It was quite the heady feeling knowing that any moment he could simply write a few hundred words to blow people's minds. Or send them to their doom… There were even questions about the AFK company and Solar, his player account. Some of them were clearly only fishing for information, but Sam was almost eighty percent sure he could pinpoint the person who worked for Katie's dad. They had this arrogant way of writing that showed that they always expected to be obeyed.

Sam leaned back in his chair and contemplated the message on the screen. It was requesting any actionable information about Solar with a guaranteed bonus if he could provide his exact coordinates when he was out of the city in a remote location. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He could have sold them some bogus information, but his alter-ego on the site was neutral and if he sold false information even once, his pristine reputation would be in tatters. Nobody would believe anything he tried to sell. Granted, Sam could claim that he also received false information or made a mistake, but that would only work for so long…

'But if I start selling them information that is useful, then they would come back to me for more information,' he mused.

'And that would mean I know what kind of information they want… Which could be very useful…' In the end, he couldn't really decide, so he simply sent back a reply saying that he would check on his sources and get back to them, then left the site.

"It would be a problem for future Sam…" he chuckled as he switched over to the server they used for the company. The first tries of the raid fractures were over and he was curious what their gains were. The antidote materials sold very well and the construction works in the capital would proceed with a little more ease. He chuckled when he read Lucy's notes about how most people who professionally frequented the Auction Houses were either horrified or amazed at their activities.

In summation, they made a buttload of money and enemies.

'Totally worth it…' Sam was about to continue reading the notes and documents left for him when his communication app began to ring. Clicking over, he was met with Katie's face, with her richly (but tastefully) decorated bedroom in the background.

"Katie?" he asked, inwardly worried that something happened.

"Hey, Sam!" she greeted him with a small wave and a smile.

"How is it going with your quest?"

"Just finished. Why did you call me?" She fidgeted a little before taking a calm breath and began speaking.

"Well, I just received a message, and seeing as you're the party leader and owner of the company we operate under, I thought I would bring it to your attention. Just in case." She hesitated a little, then continued with a weird look on her face.

"Please, feel free to throw it into the trash where it belongs!" Sam blinked, then gave her a look.

"Katie, what did you do?"

"Me?" she asked with an innocent look on her face.

"Nothing. I'm just the messenger." For a long moment, they just stared at each other before Sam just sighed and made a move on motion with his hand.

"Just tell me…" Katie nodded, sat up straighter, and began to talk.

"Remember that co…girl, called Isabella?" she asked with a small scowl. Sam just nodded but said nothing.

"Well, she sent me a message."

"Eternal Light, right?"

"Yeah. It seems they want her to take the blame for the losses…"

"And she is hoping we could help her?" Katie shook her head.

"No. She is hoping we could take her in."

"What?"

"Yeah, it seems this was just the last straw on the cow's back. She wants out, and this is the perfect opportunity." Sam took in the information and mulled it over.

"She is rich, right?"

"Why?"

"Because that means she is not just making a decision for herself, but for her family," Sam said. Katie opened her mouth to answer, but after a few seconds just closed it. Then opened it again.

"You know what? Just talk it out with her." She instantly began to click around before turning back to Sam and pointing straight at his face.

"But don't even think about it, buster! I'm staying and making sure that… woman doesn't do anything nefarious!" Before Sam could even put together a coherent answer, the screen split down the middle and the enchanting visage of Isabella appeared. She was dressed in a sporty getup, but the background was just as posh as Katie's, if in a different style.

"Hello, Solar!" she called out a greeting with a blinding (and probably well-practiced smile) then her smile turned into a scowl as she sent a withering glare at Katie.

"Goblin." Katie nodded in greeting.

"Cow." Her eyes dipped a little lower than Isabella's eyes. The girl in question just smirked victoriously before her attention turned back to Sam.

"I really wanted to talk to you. I don't know what the goblin told you, but I'm…" Sam interrupted the girl by raising his hand.

"I know. She told me. The question is what do you want? What does your family want?" She sent him a searching look but took his questions in stride.

"While my family is invested in the game, they are mostly focused on my sister," she explained professionally.

"She set up a guild far from the Emerald Kingdom, so there is no problem with me joining you. In return, I won't be bringing with me any financial support."

"It was my understanding that the Eternal Light had benefited from your presence?" he asked. She just shook her head.

"They did. There're people there who move in the same circles as my family, if a little lower," she explained a little condescendingly.

"You know how it goes… Their family talked to my family and things happened…" Sam nodded in understanding.

"I suppose, I have even less chance of getting whatever support the Eternal Light got…" She gave him a rather gallic shrug.

"You could try to talk to them, but…"

"Don't worry, I understand." Instantly, she was beaming at him.

"Thank you!" She clapped her hands together which did some amazing things while Katie simply scowled.

"But don't worry. I'm not coming with empty hands. And I don't mean my winning personality!"

"Oh? Do tell…" She made a few motions and Isabella sent a simple text file over to Sam. He ran a quick check for viruses and other hidden nasty surprises and when none were found he opened it. To his surprise, it was a list of items. Some were worthless, though the current player base thought they had some amazing potential, but a few were rare enough that he didn't even plan on trying to acquire them. The chances for those items to drop were ridiculously low.

Only very lucky people could get them or guilds who had the manpower to farm the areas where they dropped until they got it based on pure statistics.

"Is this your peace offering?"

"A weregild, sort of…" she answered with a smile.

"Do you like it?" He made a waffling motion with his hands.

"Some of it is good, but…"

"What's wrong?" Sam simply motioned toward Katie.

"Are you able to work with Katie?"

"The goblin? Sure thing! I have already prepared my defenses against her!" Sam simply ignored Katie's menacing "You wish!" whisper.

"And you Katie? Can you constrain your tendency to devolve into a maniac?" Very visibly the girl didn't deny the accusation, she just simply crossed her arms, turned away with a pout, and mumbled something. Isabella just grinned, and the next second, Sam got the notification that the girl was recording the session.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear you clearly!" he spoke up a little louder. Katie stayed like that for a moment before sighing and turning back.

"Fiiiiiine…. I will tolerate that annoying cow. But if she tries anything, I'm bringing out the glitter cannon!" Sam ignored the second part, like the brave man he was, and turned back to Isabella.

"So, with that done – and hopefully not blowing up in my face – let's talk about your list." Isabella perked up, shot a victorious look at Katie, who very maturely stuck out her tongue in response, and nodded.

"Yes, let's talk. Which one are you interested in?" Sam brought up the list again on his screen and opened a document to take notes.

"Now, what about this Tablet of Light? What can you tell me about it?"