Chương 367: Chapter 353

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Not an uncomfortable silence, but one heavy with unspoken words as the two of them occasionally glanced at each other before quickly looking away again. Sam didn't really know what to think. Or what to feel. He knew there was something between them, something that might have grown beyond friendship a long time ago, or perhaps something neither of them had fully understood yet, but he didn't dare bring it up. It was ironic.

Inside the world of Magic Unbound, he was an unstoppable juggernaut that millions of players admired, envied, and feared, someone who could charge into impossible situations without hesitation, yet place him in a complicated real-world moment involving actual emotions and he became just as helpless as anyone else. By the time he arrived home, his thoughts had twisted themselves into a tangled knot that refused to loosen, no matter how hard he tried to make sense of them.

He spent some time in the shower, partly to wash away the lingering scent of the incredible food and partly because the steady stream of hot water gave him an excuse to stand still and think through everything that had happened. Not being an idiot, he had realized only seconds later what he had said to Lucy and, more importantly, how he had said it. Her reaction had only confirmed that realization. The problem was that he was afraid.

In his previous life, he had a few girlfriends, but none of those relationships ever developed into anything serious. He had watched friends stumble through awkward relationships, painful breakups, and emotional disasters before eventually finding the one and beginning to build lives with them. He never made it that far. Whenever things started becoming serious, whenever a relationship began approaching that final step where emotions became real and permanent, he always pulled away before things could solidify.

In the end, he had convinced himself – though he never had the courage to admit it out loud – that he was happier alone and that people probably wouldn't find him interesting enough to stay for long anyway. Now, after everything that had happened and after being forced to embrace this new life, he could finally admit what that mindset had truly been. Self-protection. It had been far easier to pretend solitude was a choice than admit he was terrified that nobody would ever truly love him enough to remain.

And despite everything, those fears still lingered. Then there was the added complication of being thrown into another dimension and inheriting someone else's life. He had noticed before that flashes of the original Sam's anger occasionally surfaced whenever he encountered people who had wronged the body's previous owner, but until now, he hadn't fully understood how deeply that trauma had rooted itself within him. The original Sam had been betrayed by several people, including his ex-girlfriend, Sarah.

That conniving woman had manipulated the poor, hopeful, naïve version of him with frightening ease, and when everything finally collapsed, he had been left standing in the wreckage with nothing but a shattered heart and enough paranoia to fill an ocean. After that, the original Sam never fully trusted women again. He questioned their motives. Doubted their kindness. Examined every action as though betrayal was inevitable. Even his other relationships suffered because of it.

The only people he trusted even somewhat were those he had known for years. People like Mike.

'Which turned out wonderfully…' So far, Sam had avoided thinking too deeply about relationships by framing everything through the lens of the game. Lucy was good at organization, so she handled logistics. When they spoke, it was about guild matters. About the war. About strategy. At least, that was how he justified it to himself. It was easier that way. Safer. There was less chance of dredging up feelings he wasn't ready to confront.

But after what had happened in the hired car, he wasn't sure he could avoid those feelings much longer. And even if he wanted to, Lucy wasn't the type of woman to sit on her feelings indefinitely. That much he knew for certain. Sooner or later, she would corner him somewhere private and force them to have a painfully honest conversation. Sam shuddered.

"Hopefully she's willing to wait until after we finish the war..." he muttered to himself as he turned off the shower and reached for a towel. Despite the steam filling the bathroom, he couldn't help shivering as goosebumps spread across his skin. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Strangely enough, he wasn't looking forward to that conversation. Yet some small part of him desperately was.

Taking a deep breath, Sam looked around the still-damaged city of Deepanchor and forced himself to set his emotional woes aside, at least for now. Focusing on the game was easier. Far easier. While he had been away enjoying the rewards of his bet with Lara, the city had not been idle. Cleanup efforts were already in full swing, and the countless people who called Deepanchor home – NPCs and players alike – moved through the streets like a colony of ants working toward a shared goal.

Some hauled away debris from collapsed buildings, while others worked to stabilize damaged structures before they could collapse entirely. Meanwhile, teams of fire mages moved through the districts that had been contaminated either by the krakens or by the strange blood plant that had covered part of Deepanchor in a crimson fog. Under the watchful eyes of city guards, they methodically burned away every trace of lingering corruption, clearing the city block by block.

Considering how heavily the Blood Army relied on poison, blood rituals, and biological horrors, nobody wanted to risk leaving something behind that might awaken later. No one wanted undead crawling out of basements six months from now. Or worse. They already had enough problems dealing with the occasional cultist, demon worshipper, or deranged alchemist. Sam also knew Lara was somewhere in the city, personally overseeing the reconstruction of the harbor. She wasn't simply repairing the damage either.

She was expanding it, improving its efficiency, and strengthening its defenses against future assaults. At the same time, preparations were underway for several secret installations that would house Liz's creations.

For now, those monstrous devices remained hidden deep beneath Ferabor, but the moment Sam was forced to deploy one publicly and reveal both their existence and the fact that such technology was even possible within the game, they would immediately begin transporting the rest to pre-prepared defensive locations throughout their territory. He hoped their existence alone would be enough to discourage future attacks. At least until the wider player base inevitably figured out how to replicate them.

Sam had never been interested in hoarding technology or knowledge for himself. In fact, he had already asked Liz to prepare a basic primer that they would auction off the moment the public realized what was happening. Part of that decision was practical. Making the knowledge public would reduce the odds of rival guilds targeting them solely to monopolize the technology. It would also guarantee that innovation spread quickly.

And after seeing what Liz had managed to accomplish while operating in near-total secrecy, Sam was genuinely excited to see what would happen once millions of players began experimenting with magi-tech. The original timeline had possessed similar technology, but it had been significantly rarer there. Those creations were usually treated as legendary artifacts rather than practical tools because the people capable of creating them were so uncommon. Even so, most major guilds possessed at least a few.

Shield generators. Automated greenhouses. Massive mining machines. And they protected those creations with near-religious fanaticism. Entire guild wars had been fought over those machines. And over the players capable of building them. The original Sam had even heard rumors that several real-world technological breakthroughs happened because researchers had studied magi-tech artifacts and stumbled into revolutionary discoveries. He had never known whether those stories were true.

Still, based on some of the comments coming from people working under Liz, he found himself cautiously optimistic. After quickly sending a message to Darell – the former leader of Glorious Artifacts Guild and now one of Liz's assistants – Sam refocused on the task ahead. He walked through the city at a relaxed pace, weaving through heavy traffic and workers rushing between projects while mentally reviewing his plans. Madspire had been one of the Blood Army's earliest major conquests.

They had transformed it into a massive alchemical production center. The city had already attracted alchemists due to its unique geographical features – unique springs, geysers, and so on – so the Blood Army had simply taken advantage of what was already there. Now it produced poison, acid, and countless other chemical weapons in absurd quantities. And naturally, they protected it accordingly. Madspire was one of the most heavily defended cities in Blood Army territory. Even so, Sam couldn't help smiling.

For him, getting inside would be absurdly easy. At least in theory. In the original timeline, long after the Blood War had ended, the city had been infiltrated through a hidden entrance by a group seeking to conquer it. The guild responsible had eventually released an absurdly well-edited video series documenting the entire operation – after sealing the entrance behind them, of course – and the original Sam had been one of hundreds of thousands laughing while watching it.

With the game system monitoring him for exploits, smuggling a large force through that route would likely trigger accusations of cheating. But technically? He could get almost anything inside. He simply chose not to. If the surveillance bugs planted at the restaurant were actually there as Tim stated, they would soon notice increased military movement by the Blood Army around Madspire. And that would lead them exactly where he wanted. The decoy attack would appear to be the real assault.

And the real assault – which would never happen – would quietly become the decoy. Playing with expectations never got old. Sam sidestepped a large repair crew moving toward a dangerously leaning building where several earth mages were using mana to keep the structure from collapsing and taking half the block with it. A few minutes later, he arrived at a quiet section of the partially restored harbor.

Ignoring the overwhelming smell coming from harvested kraken carcasses, he stared at the calm ocean and sank into deep thought. The decoy plan was solid. But it depended entirely on his enemies taking the bait. Until they saw evidence that the stolen information had been accepted as genuine, they couldn't fully commit. Still, preparations were already underway.

They needed to create the perfect situation without revealing their intentions – a situation that would lure their enemies into a position where total defeat became inevitable. Which would be only possible if the Blood Brothers – the notorously secretive leaders of the Blood Army – were present personally. Destroying a guild outright took too much time. Sam preferred something faster. Something far more devastating. He wanted to break them psychologically.

If they suffered a humiliating enough defeat, public opinion alone might tear the guild apart afterward. As he stared soulfully into the distance, lost in thought, a notification sound suddenly pulled him from his reverie. He opened his messenger. A message from Tim had appeared in the leadership group chat. There were only a few words – as usual for the bespectacled harem protagonist. Madspire awakened. Roserun open. Sam read the message twice. Then he grinned. Hook. Line. Sinker.

Excitedly, he opened his messenger and found Tim's name. Clicking on it, he initiated a call.

"Hey, boss," Tim greeted him.

"Any questions?"

"No questions. I just had a request."

"Oh? Go on…"

"There is a fracture I read about. Supposedly it drops a special speed potion recipe. Could you and your team go there and see if you could get it?" There was a brief silence on the other end of the call.

"Where is the fracture?" Tim finally asked. Sam grinned.

"Oh, not far from… what was it again? Ah, right. Near Madspire."

"Huh. What a coincidence."

"Right?" Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn't. Either way, it was totally worth trying.

"So, total secrecy?" Tim asked in the same tone someone might use while discussing grocery shopping.

"I mean, it is enemy territory…" Sam pointed out.

"Understood," Tim replied, then let out a tired sigh.

"Good thing you called. They've been begging me to let them do something exciting ever since your fight. They're annoyed they didn't get to show off in front of you." Sam strongly suspected Tim's team wanted to show off in front of Tim rather than their guild leader, but he wisely kept that thought to himself. No reason to ruin the betting pool.

"Well," Sam said, "this sounds like the perfect opportunity."

"Thanks, boss!"

"No," Sam replied with a laugh.

"Thank you." After ending the call, he spent a few seconds sending the link to the fracture over to Tim, then Sam stepped forward and sat on the cold stone edge of the harbor, letting his legs dangle above the churning water below. He exhaled slowly. A few more minutes of peace. Then the chaos would begin.