Chương 250: Chapter 241 - Interlude 23

The game was a blast! There weren't simply enough words to describe the things Cynthia had experienced while playing the game – strictly after school, per her sister's wishes – with her friends. The game managed to recreate everything so realistically that if it weren't for the magic, fantastical creatures, and flora, she would feel like she was walking through one of those recreation villages that her school liked to send them to for field trips.

They had to hunt, gather materials, and deal with quarreling NPCs while also taking time to help her parents get started. Thankfully, after the initial awkwardness and confusion, they got the hang of things and went off in different directions. Cynthia had asked Sam for advice on how her parents could achieve their dreams, as a horse breeder and magical mixologist, and pointed them in the right direction, making sure to hand over some gold she had left over from his gift.

She was a little worried about them, but their parting words managed to calm her down a little.

"Don't worry, honey! I played a lot of farming sims when I was little! I got this!" said her dad as he swung a low-quality steel sword around with enough glee to make a three-year-old jealous. Her mother gingerly took the sword out of his hand, then handed it over to Cynthia while shaking her head.

"I haven't mixed drinks since my uni days, but I'm sure I can get back into the saddle with a little practice!" Then, with a strong hug and cheery wave, her parents were off and she was left alone staring after them. Ultimately, she decided she didn't really want to know. Instead, she shook herself and left to regroup with her friends. As expected, Brittany and her minions joined up with some smarmy boy band rejects – naturally after making use of Cynthia's resources – but she didn't really mind.

They were somewhat competent, so they made the first few days much easier than they should have been. Plus, even if they didn't want to acknowledge it, they owed her for the tips and tricks she shared. At first, she panicked when they told her at school that they found a much better group and to please don't talk to them anymore, because the information she shared with them came straight from somebody that half the internet hated and the other half treated like a deity.

However, no matter what people thought about him, everybody was desperately looking for ways to figure out how he did the reality-defying things he did. Contacting him was rather nervewracking, but after she managed to babble out an explanation for a call, the bastard had the nerve to laugh at her. Understanding now why her sister was always irritated with him, she listened as he explained that the information he shared with her was common knowledge to most of the big guilds.

If a group acted like she, or rather her 'friends', delivered information that was important for them, then either they were lying to butter them up, or simply so low on the totem pole that it was not worth the time and effort to deal with them. Reassured that she didn't ruin everything, she put Brittany and her cronies out of her mind and refocused on leveling up both her character level and skill levels. The battle was one that belonged to the epics of history.

Blood, tears, and sweat were spent in gratuitous amounts. Her limbs trembled and her muscles protested, but she didn't give up. The surroundings were torn up, trees felled by the uncaring actions of the participants of the battle, and bushes trampled by world-shaking steps while her loyal companions panted, trying to drink in as much air as possible.

Her hands tightened over the shaft of her weapon, a spear forged by the greatest and with all her might she thrust the weapon forward, impaling her enemy right in their weak spot.

"HAAAAAH!" The wild hog had a moment to oink, then collapsed as the mass-manufactured spear pierced its hide. The body of the animal swayed for a moment, then collapsed into the dirt with a quiet thud, allowing the trio to relax and let out relieved sighs.

"Yes! We did it!" Cynthia called out, raising the hand that was holding the spear in the air, as she beheld the clearing filled with more than two dozen carcasses of wild hogs. Thanks to the increase in the number of players, the beginner area went through a few changes. Magic Unbound wasn't a game that left a few fields filled with adorable bunnies for anyone to kill, their numbers never decreasing. Instead, the area was tightly controlled by the rangers and druids.

Currently, they were using a sort of potion that mimicked the pheromones of a female hog in heat to attract the males to one location to decrease their numbers. And of course, to get experience points. Dani and Anna ran up to her and jumped around in celebration.

"We did it!"

"We are not dead!" She joined them, performing their victory dance, before calming down a little.

"Alright, girls. Time to clean up! Remember what the ranger said!"

"The handsome one?"

"No. The smart-looking one."

"Yeah, the handsome one was dumb."

"Pity, I liked the jawline…" Cynthia clapped once, the sound echoing around them.

"Let's clean up the corpses and head back to the town. I'm tired and dirty…" As her friends expressed their agreement, she turned toward the nearest carcass, and as she began dressing it, her hands following the by now well-practiced motion – they had been hunting hogs at various locations for a while – her attention shifted to her notifications. Per Sam's instructions, she set them to show up only after a fight to avoid distractions and to maximize their effect. [Spear Thrust is now Level 17!] [Spear Mastery is now Level 28!] [Body Enhancement is now Level 31!] [Mana Armor is now Level 41!] [Frailty is now Level 9!] There were a few more, but these were the most important ones. Especially Frailty, her most important skill. One that she only managed to get thanks to Sam's help. The concept was deceptively simple: use mana when hitting things with the spear.

But it was only thanks to Sam's help she knew how to direct and control mana to make sure it seeped into the target in a way that would weaken it. [Frailty: Level 9/25 (14%) (Active) You learned how to leave your mana in the body of your enemy, thereby weakening it. Every time you channel your mana through your weapon and you manage to hit your enemy, you will leave behind one Frailty debuff. The maximum number of debuffs that can be inflicted on an enemy depends on their strength. You can inflict this debuff on 3 enemies concurrently. Debuff - Frailty: The area where this debuff is inflicted on the enemy is weakened. Hitting the same spot refreshes the debuff's duration while also inflicting increased damage by the caster and allies. Increased critical chance for any attack to hit the spot.] For now, it was very basic and not too strong, but if what Sam said was true, this would turn into something rather amazing.

Hell, thanks to the time spent in the game and experiencing the magic system, she already had ideas about how to alter this skill in the future.

'Now I just need a mount and I will be the perfect spear warrior!'

"How did it go?"

"Well…he didn't say no…" Darell said as he loosened his tie and flopped on the sofa. His friend and vice guild leader nodded before joining him on the opposite sofa.

"So, we just wait?" He shrugged.

"Not much we can do at this point. Nobody else was willing to talk to me after Charles went around and had a talk with them. Even the NPCs refuse to entertain me…"

"Bastard…" his friend spat with his hands curled into fists. Darell just shook his head.

"Relax, it's just a game…" This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"A game? A GAME?" his friend asked almost hysterically.

"Darell! This fucking game is on its way to consuming the world! Everybody is talking about it! You cannot walk five meters without hearing somebody talk about it! What if we fail and the guild is swallowed by that asshole?"

"Come on… Then we just play the game normally. It's not like we have to stop playing the game if I lose the 'guild war'," Darell replied, doing the quotation marks with his hands as he kicked off his shoes.

"You don't die in real life if you die in the game. This is not one of your shitty VR novels, Brad…" Brad just continued to grumble.

"I don't care. We invested our blood, tears, and sweat into this guild. We're raking in the gold. Darell, I managed to eat lunch at Heavenly Forest! At Heavenly Forest, Darell! And now we're on the verge of being consumed by your stupid cousin who went and poisoned the well…" He just let his friend vent. This entire venture, as a test, didn't mean much to him. He was already guaranteed a position at the company thanks to his engineering genius.

Sadly, that genius didn't really translate over to the rest of his life. His cousin, Charles, started a mercenary company with his followers, hired people, and used that to slowly cut off all avenues of expansion for his guild. Stupidly, he didn't really pay attention to him as crafting had nothing to do with fighting and that was his undoing.

Darell knew that the moment he asked for help from Solar, he failed the test. However, at this point he was mostly doing it out of duty – a lot of crafters in the guild depended on the income they brought in – and to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off Charles' face.

"I know, I know…" he spoke up, trying to calm his raging friend.

"That's why I approached Solar. He is the only one that has the power to help us in the Emerald Kingdom."

"Can't we move to another country?"

"Charles would make sure we regret that…" Moving a few people in secret was easy. An entire guild? Almost impossible. Charles' mercenaries would hunt them down the moment they stepped out of the city's boundaries. Brad thought about it for a moment then nodded reluctantly. After a few seconds, he asked another question.

"What do you think about him?"

"He is… something else," Darell admitted as he replayed the night's events in his mind.

"I'm pretty sure he knew more than he admitted about the situation." Brad just shrugged.

"That's Solar… I heard one of the big guilds actually hired some retired military intelligence assets to try to make sense of his actions."

"Well, after meeting him I get where they're coming from. Especially after he showed up with an Astran on his arms…" Brad, who was taking a sip of his drink, spat it out and began to cough.

"You bastard. You waited until I took a sip!" Darell just smirked and waited for Brad to get himself under control.

"An Astran? Are you sure?"

"The introduction was pretty loud…"

"Could he have lied?"

"And survive more than five minutes after it?"

"Shit… That's big."

"Yeah, and he has the crazy Stelborne on his team. There is not much most people can do against him…" Before Brad could answer, the computer that sat on a desk next to the wall dinged loudly. Brad let out a sigh, stood up, and walked over to check it.

"Well… it seems they work fast. The contract is here…"

"Bring it over and let's check it out."

"Get some drinks and snacks while I set up stuff, will you?"

"Sure… sure…"

"So, how was the auction? Did you buy anything interesting?" Lara shook her head as she took a sip of her soda and looked at her grandfather.

"Not really, but I'm pretty sure we managed to cause a few blood feuds…" Her grandfather nodded at hearing that.

"At least that's something. What about your friend? Was he a gentleman during the evening or should I have a talk with him?"

"Grandfather!" she exclaimed.

"He was a perfect gentleman and an excellent date. I had a great time. It was a pity Dan didn't want to go but I understand it's not his scene…"

"Humpf…" her grandfather snorted.

"Really?" she asked, eyeing the elder man with an exasperated look.

"Just because you can't figure him out doesn't mean he is the evil incarnate, grandfather." There was silence as she simply enjoyed her drink and began mentally going over her tasks for the coming days. There were still things to organize, like the planting of new trees and how to make sure the rebuilt city was green enough for her quest while also making sure that the first army walking past the place couldn't conquer it.

If Sam and Lucy managed to get the Glorious Artefact guild on their sides, she knew that the efforts to build up the defenses would speed up by a huge amount.

"The problem is not that I can't figure him out," her grandfather spoke up abruptly, his face uncharacteristically – at least when talking to her – serious.

"I talked to a lot of people after my initial research was inconclusive. Even a few who work at Future Unknown. Nobody really knows his…deal. His actions are well documented and almost every step he takes is recorded while he is also shadowed by a few private investigators." Lara grimaced at that while mentally making a note to tell Sam about it. Heedless of her thoughts, her grandfather continued.

"Every step of his is observed, recorded, and analyzed. Despite all of that, nobody knows what he is planning."

"So? It's a game, grandpa. It's not like he is a politician… The most his decision would affect is his guild and in-game company…" Her grandfather grimaced.

"It's not that simple, honey. The game… it's changing the world. Most people can't see it and it won't be visible for a long while, but the world is changing. And your… friend wields a lot of power. And if the changes in the world are realized then your friend could use that power for many things." To that, Lara had not much to say.

"And you want to know what he is planning so that you could also plan around it, right?"

"Exactly. I didn't build this company just to watch the entire thing collapse because of one man's careless action."

"Surely, he can't…" she mumbled, reeling from her grandfather's admission.

"Trust me, honey. I know his type. People underestimate them only once…" She nodded.

"I'm not going to spy on him for you." Her grandfather cracked a smile at that.

"And I would never ask you to do that. I have people for that."

"Ugh…"

"Well, I think that was a successful evening. Don't you think so, father?" Katie asked her father, who was sitting with his tie askew at his desk, staring at nothing.

"I definitely had fun, and the catering was, as always, excellent." Her father said nothing, still staring at nothing. Katie decided to use the time to tease him a little more.

"And my, what a fascinating auction it was. Such wondrous items… The discussions after it were interesting, too." She saw him sigh, and finally, his tired eyes landed on her. Katie knew it wasn't because of the chaos. Most parties usually had some manner of chaos, thus they were long used to them. Her father simply didn't like spending time amongst so many people for so long. Usually, it took some time before his battery recharged for a proper conversation. Or at least what he considered proper conversation…

"Katharine…"

"Yes, father?" she replied brightly, perking up in her seat.

"Why didn't you say that your friend was dating one of the Astrans? I didn't recognize her, but I know enough about your friend to know he wouldn't lie about such a thing," he asked, spitting the word friend as if it was poison in his mouth. Katie strategically tilted her head to the side, which she knew made her look adorable before answering.

"But he is not?" Her father's eyes narrowed.

"Don't play games with me!"

"But I'm telling the truth, father! She is not dating Sam!" she replied vehemently.

"Then why was she with him? I doubt he has enough pull with that family to ask for a favor just to annoy me, so, my dearest daughter, please be kind and enlighten me on how it came to be that your friend showed up to the event with a person like that?"

"But I'm your only daughter, father."

"Katherine!" her father snapped.

"Fine, fine," she grumbled.

"It's very simple. He asked her."

"What?"

"Sam asked Lara if she wanted to accompany him to the event. And she said yes."

"Why?"

"Because…Sam asked."

"That's it?" Should she tell her father that Lara wanted to see the stupid faces they made when she showed up?

'Probably not a good idea…' she mused.

"Well, they're friends," she explained.

"I'm also friends with her! It was also very nice to have someone other than Isabella with me at this event."

"Yes, because your and Isabella's antics were not enough for me to worry about…"

"I mean, it's not like most of those men approach us to talk about things thanks to you, father," she said reproachfully. Her father sent her a queer look upon hearing that.

"Yes. Because they leave you two alone because of me. And my warning. Naturally."

"Indeed!" Katie nodded emphatically. The memories of guys who were scared away flittered through her mind.

"Shameful really, father." Another sigh.

"Sometimes I just wish your mother would be here…" he said wryly. Katie just continued nodding. BAMMM CRASH THUD"Dammit! Somebody get rid of those siege engines!"

"We already sent two teams there!"

"Then what the fuck are they doing?"

"They're dead!"

"What the hell!"

"Well, I think–" The speaker was interrupted as another projectile slammed into the already crumbling town wall and caused it to crumble into pieces, creating a hole big enough for the enemy to enter. Sadly, the rubble also managed to land on the speaker, crushing them into fine red mist. The other person staggered back but didn't let go of their sword and shield. They shook themselves and took a ready stance.

Glancing back, he saw that there was already a team hurrying toward the gash on the town wall, so he felt a sense of renewed vigor and excitement as he prepared to defend the town their group settled in while they hunted in the surroundings. However, before anything could come through the destroyed infrastructure, the blood on the ground slowly began to rise, like a dark red fog.

He didn't know what kind of attack it was – he wasn't particularly good at magic, as mana control always felt confusing to him – but even he could recognize blood magic being cast. Thus, he prepared his own defenses." Life Shield," he murmured as he activated the skill he managed to get after leveling up the Blood of Life skill." Fast Steps.

"A speed-increasing skill." Hawk's Eyes.

"One to increase his reaction time. And finally, his favorite." Devastation Counter!" A skill that enveloped him in a shroud that absorbed damage which he could unleash on the enemy with the help of his shield. Pretty handy against an invading enemy. Then the hovering fog of blood seized and froze in the air before shooting toward him. Expecting an attack, he just readied his shield, knowing that Devastation Counter would absorb magical attacks too.

However, instead of that, the moment the fog would have touched the shield it swerved around it and headed directly for his unprotected face. Before he could react, the mist was going up his nose and his body froze while a list of notifications began scrolling down before him. [You have been affected by the Blood Mist!] [You have lost control over your Blood of Life skill!] [You have lost control over your Life Shield skill!] [You have been paralyzed!] [Blood of Life skill has temporarily turned into the Bloodletting skill!] [Bloodletting: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) You are losing blood and fast. Every second your health is damaged by the tenth of your Blood of Life skill's regeneration. For every minute this skill lasts, this damage doubles (0, 1->0, 2->0, 4->0, 8->1, 6->etc.). Blood also begins to seep out of your body.] He watched horrified as blood began to drip down on his armor and his health began to plummet.

His Blood of Life skill was fairly high level and his regeneration gained from that was equally high. By the time the relief team arrived, they were greeted by another fog of blood as he watched darkness consume his vision. [You've died!]