Chương 256: Chapter 247

As Sam headed back to the more chaotic part of the town, the jeers of the guards still echoing behind him – though it was possible he was just imagining it – he went through his to-do list. First, he would need to join one of the groups heading down with the expedition, then find something down there that was worth the attention of one of the heralds, and finally – survive.

Which would be rather hard as he had countless number of bounties out on his head and he was currently in the bounty hunter capital of the continent. Or at least in one of them… Practically, this meant that if anybody recognized him in any way, he would be dogpiled by eager players faster than he could say 'You've made a mistake!' Thus, he would need to tread carefully. His Chameleon mask would be in full use, naturally. Thankfully, not many people had seen him on videos with his desert getup so that would stay.

However, Moonlight, his sword – despite looking pretty basic – was pretty recognizable due to people combing through videos where he appeared with a fine-toothed comb. He would need to get some temporary replacement for the duration of the expedition. Entering the nearest shop selling weapons, he spent half an hour choosing a simple long sword that was the same shape and form as his Moonlight and then buying a dozen of it just in case it broke.

Then he affixed the sword to his belt, hiding poor Moonlight in his inventory.

'Though, it's pretty much time to upgrade my main weapon…' he mused as the sword vanished into the depths of his inventory. It was so long ago he got the weapon that there had been much stronger weapons that appeared even in the auction house, but he got used to it so changing it or even upgrading it never really entered his mind.

'Maybe I'll get lucky and get a new one during this event…' he mused as he left the shop and the scowling shopkeeper. As for his magic, he wasn't really worried. As with everything else, as soon as he became popular on the internet (or rather infamous) copycats began popping up like mushroom after rain. As it was proven to be a strong build, a lot of people tried to ape him and 'dominate the competition'.

Unfortunately for them, videos didn't show the fundamental skills and abilities that Sam used to defeat his enemies. This, in turn, led to people once again calling him a cheat, a hacker, and everything in between and outside of that. Though Sam was heartened to see that most people called those who tried this scrubs and told them quite plainly to 'git gud noob'. Still, that phenomenon would allow him to blend in.

At most, some would call him an idiot or copycat and he could live with that if he didn't have to fight a city worth of people. Sadly, Lucky would have to stay in his shadow as his loyal companion was much more popular than he ever was.

"You really have to do this?" Lucy asked while massaging her brow. Sam shrugged.

"Can't help it. I need to deliver it and I need reputation to deliver it. The easiest is to join the expedition."

"Do you really need to go alone? Why not have the others join you?"

"I told you already. I can blend in. With all of us together, we would be recognized in five seconds flat."

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked worriedly, petting her raven that was perched on her shoulder. Sam nodded.

"Just a quick in and out. Then I can continue with the scouting," he reassured her with a smile. Even though he knew that with how strongly the game system was railroading him, the expedition would be anything but a cakewalk.

"And not to change the subject, but how about I change the subject? How is the situation with the kingdom?" Lucy sighed but seemingly accepted the subject change. Though Sam expected that she would continue this talk outside of the game.

"I've talked to Lord Silvercrest and, according to him, the government is taking this very seriously," she replied with forced cheer.

"Ignore it until it's not profitable?" Sam asked with a small groan.

"Pretty much…" He let out a sigh, and after a few seconds, spoke up.

"Please put together the documentation I sent you about the blood-crazed monsters and send it over to Lord Silvercrest." He had compiled a small document about the crazed bloodbeests that he had 'fought' and knew that Lucy would be able to pretty it up.

"Do you think that would help?" Lucy asked as she began to search for something on her desk. He shrugged again.

"At least it will allow us to say 'We told you so!' after everything finishes."

"More than nothing, I suppose…" came the reply from his friend.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing on my side. Anything from yours?" Lucy looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.

"Everything is going forward just as we expected. A few incursions from some of the guilds that hadn't gotten the memo yet but Dan and the girls dealt with them quite easily." She smirked.

"You raised a truly scary group of players…" Sam bowed his head with a smile.

"Then… I think we should start with Project Descent." Lucy perked up when she heard that.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Send my team with Clarissa in the lead. She is the most diplomatic." Lucy just snorted. Dan wasn't really a man of many words, and leaving Isabella or Katie to do anything diplomatic was just asking for trouble… or something strange to happen.

"Do you think they will help?" Sam nodded.

"My research shows that the Church of the First Drop was founded by a blood mage who didn't like the brutality of the magic." The library at Nowhere was really a godsend for covering his future knowledge. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Alright. It's worth a chance… and if it doesn't work out, we can just go with the good old-fashioned genocide plan…" Lucy replied cheerfully. The raven on her shoulder also let out a caw that sounded close to laughter. Sam approached the gathering clad in his desert getup and wearing the face of a blond man with a sharp jawline and a scar going over his left eye. The eyes were brilliant blue, and he chose the most anime-esque blond hair.

Hopefully, it would show him as a poser, wanting to look cool and make people avoid him. Though, he expected that somebody would try to 'bully' him… Just as he arrived at a crowd of people just standing there and talking with each other, he noticed a commotion. Looking between people, he saw a group of players dressed in pretty high-level gear (though slightly mismatched) while the crowd instantly began to buzz with excitement.

"Look he is there!" one of them spoke up in a hushed voice in excitement that despite sounding like a whisper, carried and caught Sam's attention. They pointed at one of the people in the procession. To Sam, he looked like every damn mercenary. Rugged with spikes everywhere and scowling like he was always smelling something foul.

"Ahh, they are from the Dreadflame Syndicate, right? I heard they defeated the Blackthorn Marauders last week!" another person whisper-yelled. Sam just stood there and mouthed the incredibly edgy names.

'Are they for real?'

"Yes! Marcus leads the Emberwolves team in the Syndicate! I heard he managed to reach level 100 and get a perfect mana core!"

"Wow! A perfect one? I heard it's almost impossible!" came from a third person.

"I've read dozens of guides, but none of them mention how to get a perfect one…" Another scoffed.

"Of course not. Those bastards keep everything to themselves! The only reason we even have basic mana control is because some generous soul leaked it from one of the big guilds…" Now that was something that caught Sam's attention. Carefully, he reached out with his mana toward the procession of mercenaries as they headed toward the building that housed the office where one could sign up for the expedition and took a look at their mana. As the surrounding people gossiped, he had to force down his laughter.

'That leaky thing? They call that perfect?' he mused as he observed the supposed 'perfect core'. He would barely call it round-shaped and was covered in cracks that leaked blood-like mana like nothing else. Curiously, he panned over his senses – none of his targets noticing – and saw that there were a few more leaky and misformed cores with various attributes. Some were elemental, fire burning sporadically, water dripping like from a badly adjusted faucet, and so on, but none of them stood out to Sam.

Sure, they were stronger than the average mook, but he didn't see any trouble with facing them. His attention was then caught by another snippet of conversation.

"…yes, I heard it was from Chrysalis."

"Really? They give something to non-officers?"

"According to my friend, everybody who has been part of the guild for at least three months got the manual…"

"No wonder it leaked," chuckled the other person. Sam just smirked. Originally, Lucy was pretty much against giving the 'peons' access to the mana control manuals, but Sam wanted to elevate the strength of their guild and he knew that there would be an enormous leak from one of the research guilds – he didn't even try to time it, just that it would be sometime after the first person reached level 100 – that would give access to most of the basic mana control exercises, skills and knowledge for the regular players.

So why not get ahead of it? After convincing Lucy of the soundness of the plan, they had Tim sell the manual to a few interested parties, posing as one of the players, as they were handing it out to garner some interest, then the plan was to post it on the forum for everybody to see. Then Sam would, subtly, of course, change the manuals they have given to their own guild members to contain his own superior information. All players would be equal, but his guild members would be just a tad bit more equal…

He turned around and began weaving through the crowd, but as he departed, he could still hear the people he was standing near discussing the issue.

"How much did you pay for that manual?"

"Too much…"

"And did it help?"

"Well…I maybe understood half of it, so yes?"

"That's doesn't sound convincing, you know…" As the last sounds were swallowed by the roar of the crowd, he couldn't help but smirk. Even if people had access to the manual, either the generic ones or his, it would still depend on their talent what they could achieve with it. It took him a while to fight through the crowd, before reaching the building where the registration happened for the expedition.

There were multiple lines with signs giving directions and stone-faced Sun Warriors standing everywhere ensuring the peace. Quickly finding the line for solos he approached the end and began to practice the ancient art of standing in line. Surprisingly, it didn't take long before he was standing in front of a bored and exhausted official.

"Name?"

"Samuel," he told the man with a beaming smile, giving him a thumbs up and a wink.

'Might as well play up the fool persona…' The official just scoffed silently and wrote it down.

"Speciality?"

"Wind and Cleaning magic, of course! No dirt shall touch my magnificent body!" he declared boldly while inwardly cringing.

"Oh, cleaning?"

"Yes!" The official scrutinized him for a moment before nodding and writing down a few more things. Then he reached into a drawer and retrieved a small coin with a sun symbol in the middle and a string of numbers and some other characters on it. Sam felt a brief burst of magic before the tired official held it out for him.

"Take this and go over to the red door," came the curt instruction, dismissing Sam.

"Next!" Sam bowed his head a little and under a lot of people's gazes, mostly those who had heard him, headed for the red door. Beyond the door was a corridor that led him to a courtyard filled with all sorts of crafters, support personnel, and several stacks of supplies being organized, checked over, and otherwise handled.

In the middle, a portly official with a bulging belly and rosy cheeks was sitting on an elevated chair that allowed him to see the entirety of the courtyard and writing on stacks of documents that were on a small foldable desk before him while several assistants ran around taking papers from him or adding to the pile. Sam walked up to him and waited until he was noticed. Took a few minutes, but the official, or rather the quartermaster, looked up from whatever he was writing and Sam bowed slightly.

He held out the coin he was given and it flew instantly from his hand into the quartermaster's hand.

"Specialization?" No greeting just a terse question.

"Wind and Cleaning," Sam answered, repeating himself. The official thought for a moment, then pointed to the side where one of the assistants was bringing over a barrel full of something. Whatever it was, it smelled something fiercely.

"Clean that!" came the curt order. Sam just nodded and sent a burst of cleaning mana at the offending barrel. Within seconds, the smell vanished, and the barrel looked like it was freshly varnished.

"Good. You're hired. Expedition launches within a week. You'll get your assignment then," he told Sam, then threw the coin back at him.

"That's your identification. Don't lose it, you won't get a new one." Sam caught it and nodded again.

"Thank you, sir." Not wanting to waste any more of the quartermaster's time as there were already half a dozen assistants waiting in the wing for a word, he turned around and began heading for the exit. He was sitting in a private room of a tavern when he finally had enough privacy to check his new quest. As soon as he left the office, there were several people following him with dubious intent. Took him a while to get rid of them. [New quest acquired!] [Friendlessly into the depths!] [You have signed up for an expedition into the depths under the city of Sunspot. Your goal is to gather enough merit to merit a meeting with the Herald of your choice so that you can deliver a letter. Show up on time, and perform your assigned job perfectly. And try to survive the chaotic mercenaries around you! Good luck!] [First Task: Show up on time!] [Time limit: One week] [Penalty: Unable to join the expedition] [Reward: Receiving an assignment and the second task] Sam made sure he understood everything, then began the process to prepare for logging out. There were things to arrange and calls to be made.