Chương 162: Chapter 157

They returned to the city in great cheer and retired immediately to one of the meeting rooms of the headquarters to discuss the results of the fracture. Sam had them sit down, with some snacks, courtesy of Claire, who was present when they arrived and took it upon herself to furnish them with some food. Now she was patiently standing behind her 'mistress' as Isabella, with assistance from Katie, gorged herself on finger sandwiches.

Compared to them, Clarissa and Dan were sedately munching on the provided nourishments. Lucky, Melody, and Hawky were on the other end of the meeting room, congregating around food bowls, and enjoying them. After the refreshments were served and consumed, Sam brought up the recording of their fracture delve and began the discussion. They went over the first part, pointed out things they noticed, and put together a few tactics that seemed to be viable for the future.

With Isabella's addition to the team, they were at the five-person limit. Most fractures were either five or ten people. There were a few solo ones, but those were special. This way, they could enter bigger fractures with equal power to anyone who joined them. They still lacked a proper tank, but with Katie and Isabella working together, they could take most of the monsters' attention while the rest of them demolished them. Naturally, not just Sam commented on the happenings in the fracture.

While he definitely had more knowledge about fractures, thanks to his inherited memories, he would be a fool to dismiss his teammates' opinions and observations. For example, Clarissa made sure to point out that he clearly favored the left side to strike from, as his sword was in his right hand and he used the left to cast magic. A rather exploitable habit. For the rest of the day, they simply went over everything and everybody noticed and talked about solutions.

Halfway through, it turned into an impromptu magic lesson given by Sam as he began sharing his 'discoveries' with the others. Dan and Clarissa simply opened their notebooks and began writing down what he was saying, but it was really funny to see the look on Isabella's face. In the end, Sam told them he had a few things to finish before they could go on an adventure as a team.

Clarissa simply told him that she had a few skills to learn from the Healers Guild now that she leveled up, Dan mentioned meeting up with his girlfriend and sounding her out about a meeting with Sam, Katie was instantly swallowed by a pitch-black portal that blew a raspberry at them while it closed, and after Isabella finished processing this fact, she mentioned that she also had a few things to deal with related to her old guild.

Sam was tempted to ask, but in the end, he decided that the young woman deserved a chance. Most people, from what he could remember, in the Eternal Light guild, weren't deceitful and traitorous bastards. Though when you were one of the strongest guilds in the game, there was probably no need to play in the shadows. Granted, it was a given that every big guild had a special group who dealt with things behind the curtains, but Isabella didn't really look like the type.

'Though, I suppose, that's what she wants me to think… after all, look at Tim...' he mused good-naturedly as he dropped a message to Lucy that he was going for one more recruitment, before leaving the headquarters. The man he was after was already pretty famous in certain internet circles. Naturally, he was a gamer and excelled at building up guilds. And why was he famous? Because every guild that he had a hand in forming, reached almost impossible heights, no matter what game the guy played.

The man was a genius in directing people, organizing battles, and simply recognizing talent in people. He was also pretty infamous. At least in the future, he would be.

One of the target's 'friends' who was always there, supporting him and helping with the guilds, got a little drunk one night and let loose, in front of a pretty diverse audience, that he had been using his target's tendency to hyper-focus on things to skim an ungodly amount of money off from their projects while outwardly playing up the supporting friend act.

Interestingly, the memory of the other Sam watching the shaky footage of a private booth in some high-end, yet trashy, party place had been burned into his memory. It resonated enough with the other Sam that after he watched the recording, he went and got shitfaced just to try to forget it. Obviously, it didn't work. Unfortunately, by the time the video surfaced, somebody already used its existence to blackmail the loose-lipped guy to gain control over the guild and everything in it.

Sam didn't really have a memory of what happened to the scumbag… But the target he was going after was one of the biggest examples of how the in-game 'slave' contracts ruined lives. Sam hoped that he would be able to provide an alternative to the man while protecting him from vultures. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

There were, naturally, more options, maybe even better, but as the other Sam spent a lot of time in the Emerald Kingdom, he was the most familiar with the happenings there. At least currently, in the future as the game slowly started to be consumed by everybody over the world, his attention widened. Sam felt that following along that route and picking up people who deserved a second chance would be the best decision. Finding his target wasn't hard.

As soon as the game started and he managed to gather up enough resources to found a guild – naturally without his supporting friends' help – he did so, and thus the Cyclical Circle was born. Currently, it was a small guild, albeit one that had a very nice quest completion rate, and a nice headquarters in a city in the middle of the Emerald Kingdom. The city was called Gladerest, surrounded by big swathes of rolling hills, forests, and farmlands.

Most of its industry was invested in hunting the animals in the forests – and making sure to have animals in said forests – to later sell the wild game and products made from the carcasses to the wider country. On Lucky's back, with his wind mana bolstering them he would arrive there by sundown. Thankfully, he had confirmed with Lucy that they had set up a presence there already. No Heavenly Forest, but their supermarket and warehouse business was booming.

Lucy, the ever-helpful person that she was, arranged for every building they owned to have a set of apartments for their use only. He could then use that as a base for his recruitment while questioning the staff about the local rumors. Sam already had a plan for dealing with the guy's friend, but if a better opportunity showed itself, then who was he to say no to fate? Entering the city he disembarked his loyal companion who gave him one giant lick with panting breath then returned to his shadow to rest.

The guards eyed him for a second, but when he did nothing suspicious, they moved their attention from him to gaze at the road leading to the city. As the sun was going down, the number of merchants were dwindling, but the adventurers' numbers were keeping steady. He navigated through the crowd, curiously looking around and taking in the sights. The other Sam had visited the city, but there was nothing memorable or interesting about it.

The entire thing was destroyed and rebuilt a few times while the other Sam played the game, but nothing really noteworthy happened here. Gladerest was as unremarkable as they came… Entering the supermarket, creatively named Gladerest Supermarket, mostly for the ease of documentation and log keeping. Or so Lucy claimed, but Sam suspected the woman was just bad at naming things… Flashing a token to the guards that denoted him as somebody high up in the company he was allowed through the service entrance.

A short while later, he was in the main office, standing in front of a modest office desk, as the director of the supermarket looked at him with an inquisitive look. He was an older gentleman, weathered by age, but with a hidden steel. An NPC, but Sam didn't much care. With the quality of the game, there wasn't much of a difference…

"Welcome! How may I help our esteemed leadership this evening?" he asked in a deep voice. Sam couldn't see if his presence bothered the man or not. He smiled at the man.

"Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm just here to touch base and to see if you have access to some information that I seek."

"Oh? What kind of information?" came the expected question. In lieu of an answer, Sam simply retrieved a small sketch of the man he was looking for. His likeness wasn't hard to find, after all, they made a lot of videos to advertise their guild and, of course, to cash in on that sweet, sweet ad revenue. The man took the sketch and looked at it. Sam saw him frown, but otherwise, nothing changed on his wizened face.

"I know of him. Why do you seek him?" Apparently, the guy already had a reputation. Sam smiled and began explaining. Half an hour later, he was standing in a shadowy corner of an entertainment establishment. All around him people – both NPCs and players – were making merry and enjoying the fruits of their labor. Or the fruits of their employees' labor.

Thanks to his Chameleon Mask, he was wearing a handsome but unremarkable face, while also eschewing his usual practical clothing, and instead wearing something that, while muted, still screamed that he had money. Sam was usually pants at picking out clothing so he had Lucy prepare a few sets for all sorts of occasions. And now, he stood there, nursing a small non-alcoholic drink, almost inaudibly humming the perfect song for spying on people and keeping a discreet eye on his target.

The scumbag he was looking for was with several people in an open booth, visibly and loudly having fun. He waited until two of the hostesses walked by him, who were giving coquettish looks, to flag them down. They immediately hurried over to him, smiling ear to ear. After all, he looked rich and bored. The perfect combination for this establishment.

"Hello, handsome!" they greeted him in synchrony as they shimmied up to him. Sam spent a brief moment admiring them.

"How can we help you today?" Sam smiled at them and motioned toward his target with his drink.

"See that guy?"

"Mhm, sure do, handsome…" one of them replied as she absently played with the hem of his shirt. The implied question was unmistakable in her voice.

"I need you, lovely ladies, to get him talking about money and work. You know, the usual… have him brag about how big his… money pouch is." She didn't react in any way, as if she heard the same request every day.

"Sounds… intriguing, handsome. And why would we do that?" asked the other one. A pretty brunette with a deep décolletage. Sam grinned at them roguishly and stealthily retrieved a pouch full of money.

"Because I can assure you, my… money pouch is bigger." The girls left him with his drink but without his gold and he relocated to another spot, pretending to watch a few alluring dances, keeping his target in the corner of his eye. Soon, he saw the two girls approach him with drinks in their hands and a few on a tray. The scumbag, naturally, cheered and instantly invited them to join. Moments later, they were drinking and laughing, clearly trying to impress the two women.

Sam gave them half an hour, then he would start on what he called Project Gladerestgate. Stupid name, but he was feeling dramatic. Obviously even more intoxicated, both from the extra drinks and the presence of the ladies, his target was oblivious to his approach. Granted the game simply emulated drunkenness, but aside from giving a slight debuff the next morning, it also stopped several skills from working. Mostly perception-type skills.

He stepped over to the booth, nudged one of the hangers-on to slide aside to give him some sitting space, and unceremoniously sat down across from the man. The man was tall, with black hair, and an arrogant look on his face that not even the intoxication could mask. Currently, he had his arms around the two ladies and grinning ear to ear, as if he was on the top of the world.

"Gentlemen, what a nice evening, isn't it?"