Chương 368: Chapter 354

With Tim sent off to investigate the fracture near Madspire, Sam was finally free to devote his full attention to Roserun. He had complete faith that Tim and his team – made up of the guild's finest stealth specialists – would uncover whatever secrets the fracture was hiding. In truth, Sam had expected at least some reaction from the company after sending them there, but nothing happened. The fracture was public knowledge at this point.

Its location had already spread across the forums, and it wasn't unreasonable for him to claim he was simply looking for some hidden advantage against the Blood Army. At least, that was how he justified it to himself. When the company remained silent, he found himself feeling strangely validated. Shaking the thought away, he forced his attention back to the far more immediate problem in front of him. First, he needed to return to Ferabor and resupply, and after that, he would head straight for Roserun.

Those explosives had captured his imagination far more than he wanted to admit. And he already had several ideas for how to use them. Standing outside Deepanchor's main gate, he turned and looked back at the slowly recovering city while Lucky chased one of the cautiously returning butterflies through the nearby field. The wolf bounced through the grass with reckless enthusiasm, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and his expression somehow managing to look both majestic and profoundly derpy at the same time.

A few younger players had gathered near the edge of the field to watch the spectacle, laughing as Lucky repeatedly failed to catch his target. Sam barely noticed them. His attention remained fixed on the city. By now, Lara and Adam had everything under control. Yet the fact that this attack actually happened still stung. He drew in a slow breath and deliberately pushed the feeling aside. It was time to strike back. He let out a sharp whistle, calling Lucky back to him.

The wolf stopped mid-pounce and looked between Sam and the escaping butterfly with obvious internal conflict. That hesitation gave the butterfly enough time to disappear entirely, which earned Sam an offended whine from the wolf.

"Come on, you silly wolf. We have things to do," Sam said with a smile, waving the animal closer. Lucky sprinted toward him, growing larger with every bound until he was once again large enough to ride. The nearby players stared in amazement as the now-famous familiar transformed before their eyes, and Sam vaulted onto his back with the ease of long practice before they raced toward Ferabor. When they arrived, Sam dismounted in front of the guild headquarters and sent Lucky to play in the nearby park.

Whatever he planned to do next would take hours, and Lucky deserved some time to relax as well. And it wasn't like leaving him alone was dangerous. A few guards would keep an eye on him, and there were very few things in existence capable of threatening Lucky in the first place. Even if someone somehow tried, Sam would feel the danger long before it reached his familiar.

As he stepped through the headquarters doors, he glanced back and saw that the local population of children had already descended on Lucky, climbing all over the fluffy beast while he accepted his fate with saintlike patience. Sam smiled at the sight. Then several of the children looked directly at him. And smiled. Their expressions stretched just a little too wide. Their eyes lingered just a little too long. Sam blinked. The smiles vanished, and the children were no longer looking at him at all.

A chill ran down his spine.

'The fey are still creepy…' he thought with a shudder. Closing the door behind him, Sam followed an attendant deeper into the building until they arrived at a prepared workshop. The room was located underground and reinforced with heavy stone walls clearly designed to survive catastrophic accidents. Worktables lined the walls alongside storage cabinets filled with crafting materials, and near the entrance sat two stacks of crates. One pile was covered in warning labels.

The other contained the materials he had requested. After dismissing the curious attendant, Sam sealed the door and activated the privacy runic circle etched into it, cutting the room off from the outside world. No eavesdropping methods would work, and no scrying spells would penetrate the barrier. Once he was certain he had complete privacy, he removed his jacket, draped it over a nearby chair, rolled up his sleeves, and began working.

From the unmarked crates, he pulled out thin sheets of metal that had been cut exactly to his specifications. He dragged an unused table into the center of the room and carefully sorted the plates into organized groups before moving on to the remaining crates, which contained reagents and a variety of specialized materials. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. After arranging everything exactly how he wanted it, he finally approached the crates covered in warnings.

Beneath the hazard labels sat Liz's logo. A small smiling drone. For some reason, that only made the containers feel significantly more dangerous. Carefully opening them, Sam stared at the explosives nestled snuggly within layers of shock-absorbing material as a slow grin spread across his face. They looked rather unassuming, but he knew what they were – theoretically – capable of. He rubbed his hands together and couldn't help but feel elation as he began to prepare for his plan.

"You wanted to destroy a city?" he muttered to himself. His grin widened further.

"Let me show you how it's really done." He actually giggled while taking inventory. He had specifically requested only the highest-yield explosives available. [Crystal-Core High-Yield Explosive Device (SUNBURST): A magi-tech device engineered for the specific purpose of erasing a large amount of space from existence. The device received the project name 'SUNBURST' because of the overwhelming burst of light produced during detonation.] These devices were not available to anyone else in the guild.

According to Liz, she had originally created them simply to see how far she could push explosive output before things became unreasonable. Project SUNBURST had been the result. And now the entire inventory sat directly in front of him. The explosive yield was so absurd that Liz had never even tested them. Sam swallowed, knowing that a single mistake could erase the entire city. He found himself briefly wondering whether the people who had delivered the shipment had any idea what they had been transporting.

Thankfully, the explosives were stable enough that simple movement would not trigger them, though he still handled each one with extraordinary care. Leaving the explosive devices for now, he pulled another table closer and spread out a map of Roserun. The harbor city sat deep inside Blood Army territory. Originally named after the first ship that had run aground there, it had steadily expanded over recent months to accommodate the guild's growing operations.

After placing a sheet of thin paper over the map, Sam began designing the runic circle. Since he was working with devices named after the sun, he decided that the sun would serve as the ritual's central focal point. After sketching the foundation, he paused and added seven smaller circles to represent the seven celestial bodies in the game's universe, including the sun itself. That decision meant he would need to place seven explosives throughout the city.

It was far more complicated than using one or even three devices would have been. Still, his perfectionism demanded a grand design. And seven simply felt appropriately magical. Over the next several hours, Sam refined the design, checked forum references, performed far more mathematical calculations than he enjoyed, and gradually assembled the instrument of Roserun's destruction.

The first layer of the ritual would be etched onto containers holding the SUNBURST devices, serving as protection, concealment, and a connection point to the larger ritual while also including several failsafes. If the primary ritual failed, he would still be able to detonate the explosives individually. The second layer would be carved onto surfaces throughout the city itself, creating the larger ritual framework.

The third layer existed partly because three was also a powerful number, but it would also reinforce mana flow and strengthen the ritual's connection to the sun. Some portions required reagents. Others only needed carving. Every rune, every line, and every connection was meticulously mapped onto Roserun until Sam was finally satisfied. When he set down his pen – satisfied – a notification appeared in front of him. [Congratulations! You've created the SUNBURST Runic Circle!] […] […] [We, at Future Unknown, would like to remind you, dear player, that this is a game.] [You've gained the title, Mister Overkill!] [Mister Overkill: There is no kill like overkill. You embody this saying.] Sam burst into laughter before dismissing the notifications, rolling up the map, and storing it in his inventory. Then he reached for the metal plates and began assembling the final devices.

Hours later, he stood beside a table with his hands on his hips as he stared at the finished results with equal parts pride and concern. Even without the main ritual circle, the modified SUNBURST devices were terrifyingly dangerous. Seven metal boxes sat on the table, each measuring exactly seven inches by seven inches by seven inches, their surfaces covered in protective runic inscriptions glowing faintly blue as mana flowed through them.

Inside each box rested the secured SUNBURST devices surrounded by additional reagents and layered runic arrays. Next to the boxes was a crate filled with the prepared reagents he would need to use with the other circles. And next to that rested a small metal band with an obsidian centerpiece that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. [Runic Detonator Band: A band used to activate the SUNBURST Runic Circle. Once worn, it becomes bound to the wearer's life and will automatically activate if the wearer dies or is incapacitated for longer than thirteen minutes.] It was an insurance policy Sam hoped he would never need. Still, he was undeniably satisfied with what he had created. After carefully storing everything in his inventory, he meticulously cleaned the workshop and removed every trace of his activities. The room was secure, but he had no intention of giving anyone the opportunity to uncover his plans.

Later, he retrieved Lucky from the park, where the wolf was buried beneath a pile of exhausted children, and returned to headquarters as the final rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon. He deliberately ignored the strange sight of several children seeming to fade into the deepening darkness now that the fun was over. When Sam finally opened his eyes in the real world, he climbed out of his pod and immediately headed for the shower.

By the time he emerged clean, dressed, and hungry, he could already hear laughter coming from the living room. When he opened the door, he found his friends gathered around a table overflowing with food. Lucy, Tim, Adam, Lara, Dan, Isabella, Katie, and even Liz had packed themselves into every available seat while they laughed and talked over one another. The moment they noticed him, they welcomed him enthusiastically, and within moments, Sam found himself seated between Lucy and Dan while reaching for food.

The conversation remained pleasantly ordinary as they talked about television shows, amusing game news, and stories about their families. Clarissa complained about her sister in a tone that made her affection obvious, Dan lamented how often his university friends contacted him for game information or money, and Lara dramatically reenacted the despair of relatives who had recently lost their privileged positions.

Tim shared stories about infiltration missions that had gone unexpectedly wrong, while Liz enthusiastically described laboratory accidents that sounded alarmingly catastrophic. At one point, she casually mentioned that a corrupted version of her domestic drones had briefly attempted to erase humanity, though thankfully, they were built to be domestic helpers, thus lacked weapons and were quickly stopped by the non-corrupted models.

Sam made a mental note to have a gentle talk with the excitable streamer about robot uprisings and AI. Katie and Isabella finished the evening by sharing childhood stories involving teachers being driven to tears and mad laughter, one after another. Eventually, dinner ended, the table was cleared, and Tim thoroughly checked the room for listening devices before declaring it secure. Sam activated the projector, and the warm atmosphere vanished as everyone immediately grew serious.

Leaning over the projected map while his friends watched in silence, Sam looked at each of them before speaking.

"Right," he said quietly.

"This is what we're going to do."