Chương 275: Chapter 264

Finally acquiring his most powerful spells and magic, Sam felt it was time to take a little breather and do some housekeeping tasks. The first thing he did was to go to one of the guild's warehouses and unload some ungodly amount of junk from his inventory, sorting out things that had no more uses, were obsolete, or simply worthless. He also made sure to stock up on the potions he had used, as well as the few items the guild had in storage.

Sadly, most of the one-time-use items he used in his latest escapade were rare enough that he would need to wait for them to come up in the Auction House where the guild representative would then buy them. Making a quick stop at the blacksmith and armorer, he also had his equipment inspected and repaired, including his trusty sword, Moonlight.

"Well, boss, I have good news and bad news for ya!" came from the rough-looking man who was covered in soot and who knows what as he turned around the sword in his hand, testing the edge, balance, and who knows what. Sam let out a sigh.

"Lay it on me…"

"The sword is, well was, awesome… Not anymore," came the harsh answer.

"I can repair it, but from what I'm seein' the enchantment is almost finished. A few more uses with your…uh… skill level and it's going to shatter," the man answered. Sam nodded, expecting as much.

"Very well, then please pretty it up as much as possible…"

"Mantle piece?"

"Why not? It served me well…"

"You got it, boss!" The fact that his poor Moonlight had reached the end of its life had caused a little derailment in his plans to relax and just faff around. The downside of Magic Unbound's equipment system. No gear treadmill, however, finding the perfect weapon for your style of play is much, much harder. He knew the location of a few famous swords, but when he looked them up, most of them were either in the hands of their 'original' users, or still being fought over.

He had enough enemies already, he didn't want to add even more, even if some of those swords were rather tempting. Though he didn't know how his new magic would function with them…

'Let's see if I can find some inspiration, if not, then let's go for a low-hanging fruit…' he mused as he took off toward the Auction House. Entering the always crowded building, he was happy to see that he couldn't see lines of people hanging around just to sell their services. If his memory served well, then it was around this time that people began to realize that they could capitalize on simply being able to play the game.

However, thankfully, some rule changes in the game's TOS and actual laws being presented in multiple countries made people rethink their choices. Sadly, from what he had seen on Shadowland and heard from both Tim and Lucy, that didn't mean that it wasn't happening. It simply meant that people weren't doing it in the open. They had already discussed and made sure to watch out for any of that happening in their territories.

Sam didn't know how successful that would be as most of those transactions happened outside of the game, but there were still some 'special' individuals who delighted in creating elaborate fleshmarkets. He was aiming for those kinds of perverts. The guild even had a standing bounty for anyone who had actionable information about these kinds of practices. Sam knew that these actions were akin to taking a glass and using it to get rid of water while the boat was sinking, but he couldn't do nothing.

For now, he would be going through the endless mire of the Auction House and seeing if he could spot something worthwhile. He wasn't really hoping he would find his new weapon there as most enchanted weapons were almost immediately used by those who found them, or sold in private auctions. Hell, even Shadowlands had a well-functioning and incredibly busy marketplace where goods exchanged hands. He had a few feelers out, but so far nothing of worth had surfaced. Embrassingly, it was mostly his fault.

Swords were already one of the most popular weapons – not just in Magic Unbound but in other games as well – and with his actions, which were broadcasted by the company to all sundry, they got even more popular. Even as he walked down the street toward the Auction House, he could see at least dozens of people, dressed as he did – in light armor, cloak and sword at their side – with a few of them even having wind and shadows swirling around them in some effort to seem more mysterious (or powerful)…

Any semi-powerful sword was bought almost immediately once it was put up for auction. Hell, from what he read on the forums, there were even blacksmiths dedicated to producing imitation copies of his Moonlight to sell to collectors, fans, stans and even stalkers. Lucy had delighted in showing him the dark side of the internet… Rule 34 transcended space, time and even dimensions…

Shuddering slightly and once again happy that Lucky didn't know what the internet was, he wrenched his mind back from the horrible abyss and refocused on the task at hand. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Which was browsing the endless deluge of delusional people's items. Thankfully, due to his standing in the city, he was afforded a private area where he could do this and he didn't have to join the throngs of people shouting at each other.

He could even order catering service… The first few minutes were spent going over the skill book lists, seeing if he could find anything that would catch his interest. He mostly looked for stealth-related skills and maybe illusions, those seemed to be rather useful so far. Sadly, as with every game ever made, the most useful skills were rather obvious, were purchased immediately, and the auction house was filled up with fire bolts, mana slash, and other equally pedestrian skills.

As he browsed the list, he watched as new listings appeared only to scramble around when he saw one lone book appear. Almost punching through the virtual screen, he clicked on the Buy Out option, not even looking at the amount it was set at. It was only when the confirmation for the purchase came did he calm down and glance at the price.

'Not bad… They didn't know the actual value but suspected it was worth something…' he thought as he waited for one of the staff to deliver his prize. A few minutes later he was a proud owner of a new skill book. It was thin, with gold filigree and the cover was covered by a shield and a sword over each other. Tapping it quickly, he absorbed the new skill. [Congratulations! You acquired the Armory skill!] [Armory: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mastery over mana allows you to passively take care of your equipment. When not worn, your equipment gets slowly repaired. This time varies depending on the material it is made of.] It was one of those ubiquitous skills that was a must-have skill in the future. It simply granted a passive repair effect to the inventory. Granted, the higher the quality of the item was, the weaker this effect was, but over a long time it saved a lot of money. Plus, during a long fracture dive it could be a life saver. Just change into your backup equipment and let the main one regenerate a little.

Unfortunately, it was one of those, very rare random drops. It had no drop patterns (even in the future guilds couldn't find one) and players had to depend on the Auction House or a guild who had enough numbers to overcome this very rare drop chance. Honestly, he didn't even plan to go after it. If it dropped then he would have been happy, but it was such a random skill that it wasn't worth the effort. But now, he managed to get it on the cheap, even! Hurray, for clueless people!

Suspecting that his luck was used up, he turned his attention to the weapons category. As he expected, it was filled with trash, copies of famous weapons used by streamers or high-level players like him, or very situational ones. There were even a few very amateurish copies of Liz's weapons, though they were clearly much, much lower quality than their crystal crafter genius's.

'Maybe it's time to start on that too?' he mused while chuckling at the ridiculous attempts. Though how fast they were purchased, he suspected, most people didn't care for their quality.

'Magic guns are cool. That's a fact…' So far, he mostly told Liz to sit on her inventions and they – as in the guild – only used those which were designed for utility. Thanks to that, the entire Heavenly Forest, and to a lesser extent their guild buildings, were providing such a high-quality service, that several NPC nobles approached the guild to have the same things installed in their manors.

Thankfully, Lucy managed to fend them off by telling them that they were still working out the kinks and wanted to provide a much higher-level experience for people like them. Meanwhile, Liz was helping to set up their new town. Frowning, he brought up his messenger and called Lara. She picked up in seconds.

"What's up, boss?"

"Have you decided on the name for the town?"

"Yeah, Ferabor," came the quick reply causing Sam to blink in surprise.

"Did I miss a meeting?" Lara just chuckled.

"Lucy told me that I was building it so I get to name it. So a few days ago, Dan and I spent the afternoon throwing names at the wall."

"Well, alright. Thanks!"

"No problem!" He terminated the call and nodded to himself.

'One less thing to worry about…' Sadly, while those things were going swimmingly, the Auction House refused to provide him with anything worthwhile. Letting out a huff of exasperation, he made a list of items and products that would soon become useful if the war really started and sent them over to Lucy. He instantly received a 'Duh!' answer, causing him to smile wryly.

'Nice to work with competent people…' In the end, his leisure time ended up netting him one marginally useful but rare skill book, enough money to make a lot of people jealous and not much else. A little disappointed as he logged out for the day, Sam planned to get something fancy for dinner, when his phone rang. Casting it to the big screen, when he saw the caller, he sat down on the sofa and faced the camera.

"Hey, Katie!" he greeted the younger woman. She was wearing leisure clothes (though Sam suspected they were still the most expensive variety), her hair done in an elegant bun and worry on her face.

"What did your father do again?" he asked with a deep sigh. Her eyes widened.

"What? What do you mean? How do you know? Did he do something?" she asked in a rapid-fire way, her eyes darting everywhere. Sam just chuckled.

"You had the same face the last time we talked about him, so I took a guess…" Katie opened her mouth and then closed it with a small clicking sound. Nodding she frowned.

"I don't like what he did," she declared while crossing her arm.

"You never like what he does…" he commented idly while wondering what his friend's father decided to do now…

"That's true! But this takes the cake!" she exclaimed pointing her finger toward the heavens.

"That is…?" he asked leadingly.

"Oh, right. He invited you for a luncheon."

"A luncheon?"

"Uh-uh…"

"Me?"

"Yep."

"Your father? Who hates me?"

"Surprised me as well… Came out of left field…" Katie admitted in a rather confused fashion, which Sam mirrored.

"Any idea why he wants to talk with me?"

"Haven't the foggiest, boss."

"Alright, send over the details and tell him I'm going to attend."

"Really?"

"Why not? It's not as if he could hate me more, right?" Katie let out a giggle that sounded a touch eccentric when hearing that.

"Knowing you, boss, you would be able to achieve that."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence…"

"You're welcome," chirped Katie, her previous worry forgotten.

"Anyway, while you're here I wanted to tell you about my epic battle with a gigantic beetle! It was super awesome and gory!" Sam nodded, leaned back into his sofa and motioned for Katie to start. She took a deep breath and began to weave her tale with great arm movements and sound effects.

"So there we were, in the middle of the forest. Dan was all fire and whoosh, the cow was going oh, noooo my hair and my nails, and I was like whiirrrr…"