Chương 380: Chapter 363

He arrived back in Ferabor to a shocked city. As he entered through the gates, he saw people everywhere, both NPCs and players, whispering among themselves and speaking in hushed, urgent voices. Most of the players looked shell-shocked, staring wide-eyed at the system screens floating in front of them, while the NPCs seemed astonished by the news spreading through the country with impressive speed. Once again proving that gossip was faster than light, even in a video game.

Thanks to the collective need to discuss the events, Sam was able to walk through the streets without anyone paying attention to him. He wandered through the city for a while, simply enjoying the otherwise calm atmosphere. Trees lining the roads cast gentle shadows across the streets, and the breeze flowing through town kept the temperature pleasant despite the blazing sun overhead. Sam was really happy Lara had managed to design a city like this.

From his inherited memories, he knew that most player-built cities were little more than dense grids of buildings surrounded by the strongest walls their owners could afford. Only the wealthiest guilds had the luxury of hiring people to properly design a town, or more accurately, the luxury of having enough time to build one without rival guilds interrupting or sabotaging the construction.

It was nice that they had managed to build Ferabor so quickly before anyone else realized its potential and decided to intervene. Most of the buildings had plants climbing the walls facing the streets, adding even more greenery to the city. The vegetation was maintained by the local druid circle, which was primarily led by NPCs for convenience, though many guild druids had joined as well.

It gave players an easy way to earn contribution points without fighting while also improving their skills – he heard through the grapevine (heh) that there was even a player who focused all his skills on maintaining the greenery in the city. Sam had to admire that kind of dedication. Beyond that, several parks were scattered throughout the city, and even the smallest unused public spaces had been turned into patches of soil filled with flowers, herbs, or small shrubs. The result was genuinely beautiful.

They had even established a system where every household maintained a small garden filled with basic vegetables, herbs, and other useful plants. It lowered living costs, encouraged a sense of community, and all of it was reflected in the town's system interface, where the NPC citizen happiness remained consistently high. The streets were clean as well, thanks to the guild establishing a public works department.

Once again, it was staffed mostly by NPCs, since not many people played games just to clean roads, though there were apparently a few players who genuinely enjoyed it. Most guild members occasionally picked up maintenance tasks or trash collection jobs for contribution points. Whatever the reason, the city stayed clean. And that was what mattered to Sam. After an enjoyable walk through town, he finally arrived at the guild headquarters and stepped inside.

Lucy's office was dead silent as Sam sat in the chair across from her desk while she silently worked on something in front of her. Sam felt like he had somehow ended up back in elementary school, sitting outside the principal's office waiting to be punished. Finally, after several long minutes, Lucy put down her expensive designer magi-tech pen and let out a slow sigh before looking up to meet his eyes.

"I suppose you're pleased with yourself?" she asked evenly. Even the raven perched nearby was staring at him. Sam looked back without an ounce of shame.

"I mean… you were there when we planned it. I don't know why you're so angry." Lucy sighed again.

"Sam, the problem isn't that you erased Roserun from existence. We all agreed on that."

"Then what?"

"The problem is how you did it." Sam blinked in confusion.

"What? I didn't do anything special…" He mentally retraced the infiltration, but nothing stood out enough to explain this reaction.

"That's exactly the problem, Sam," Lucy replied.

"Tim already reviewed your recording. According to him, you practically walked in and out without anyone noticing you. We're going to have to spend a ridiculous amount of money upgrading our security systems again." Sam wisely chose not to respond. Probably wisely. He suspected that Lucy would not have been receptive to his usual sarcasm. Ignoring his silence, Lucy continued.

"Do you have any idea how much time and effort that takes? Or how much of my time gets wasted organizing all of it?"

"A lot?" he offered awkwardly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Lucy sent him a withering look.

"Very funny." She closed her eyes for a moment and took a slow, calming breath before opening them again.

"Now tell me why you're here." Sam straightened slightly in his chair.

"I need fifteen more levels to hit two hundred. Do we have any good fractures available?" he asked. He genuinely had no idea what the current fracture situation looked like. He had mostly left that side of things to Lucy, trusting her to keep track of it. Besides, with all the changes he had caused, there were now thousands of fractures he knew nothing about. Honestly, it was kind of exciting. Facing the unknown as all the other players. He was strangely looking forward to it. Lucy's eyes widened slightly.

"That's… actually amazing. Do you think you'll get another transformation like you did at level one hundred?" Sam shrugged.

"Who knows? But I want to find out." Of course, he already knew. But once again, he couldn't say anything. At level two hundred, the change wasn't nearly as dramatic as it had been at one hundred since the Mana Core had already formed by then. However, players who had failed to create a high-quality core at one hundred were given another opportunity to improve it and correct whatever mistakes they had made. One more opportunity to create a Perfect Mana Core.

Sadly, Sam already possessed a Perfect Mana Core, so there probably wasn't much room left for improvement. Still, he was looking forward to seeing what would happen. Thankfully, leveling would slow down significantly for everyone after this point as the required experience began to skyrocket. By his estimates, reaching level three hundred would take at least a year, and level four hundred closer to five.

By the time the original owner of this body had died, roughly ten years after the game launched, the top players were only beginning to approach level six hundred. The average population had remained somewhere between four hundred and fifty and five hundred. Honestly, if Sam ignored all the political nonsense and focused purely on grinding levels while abusing every dirty trick and piece of foreknowledge he possessed, he could probably reach level three hundred in half a year. Not that he planned to do that.

It would completely ruin the fun of the game. Reaching level two hundred ahead of the rest of the player base was already more than enough for him. Lucy, meanwhile, started sorting through the documents scattered across her desk until she pulled out a map. Motioning for Sam to come closer, she began pointing at several marked locations. She circled an area centered around Ironwood and Ferabor.

"Most of these are low or mid-level fractures. Useful until level one hundred." Her finger moved farther north.

"You already cleared these. You could probably grind the remaining levels there, but I doubt you'd get the opportunity with all the people trying to raid the dungeon you opened." Her finger shifted westward, toward the mountains beyond the Emerald Kingdom.

"There are a few fractures here that could work, but they're difficult to approach, and most of them are under private ownership." Lucy glanced at him.

"If you showed up there, I guarantee assassins would be on your ass within seconds." Sam leaned over the desk beside her, their shoulders brushing as he rubbed his chin and followed the map with his eyes.

"I assume south is out because of the war?"

"No, you moron. It's out because you went down there and destroyed a bunch of them," Lucy replied acidly.

"The Blood Army increased their defenses so much that I don't think even you and Tim together could break through anymore."

"Oh. Right. We did do that…" he admitted awkwardly.

"I'm guessing you already have another idea." Lucy looked up at him, amusement softening her expression. He looked down and smiled back. For a brief moment, they simply stayed like that, shoulder to shoulder, looking at one another, until Lucy cleared her throat and looked back at the maps as a blush slowly spread through her cheeks.

"Of course I have an idea." She pulled a smaller map toward herself and pointed at a tiny island marked with three hastily-drawn skulls.

"This." Sam stared at it for a second.

"Looks safe and welcoming. Let me guess, it's called the Island of Happiness and Flowers?"

"Close," Lucy replied, laughter creeping into her voice.

"We call it the Burning Island."

"Is that because it's on fire?"

"It is because it's on fire, yes."

"Perfect." Sam rolled his eyes dramatically.

"And why exactly do I want to go there?"

"Because one of our guild members discovered several fractures on it," Lucy explained.

"They're spread along the slope of an active volcano, and the farther up you climb, the higher-level the fractures become. They managed to reach the third one before getting instantly demolished by Magma Elementals."

"Sounds promising…" Sam muttered while studying the map and mentally tracing possible travel routes.

"Any problems besides the obvious?" Lucy gave him a flat stare.

"Aside from the fact that you can't even approach the island without basic fire resistance? The active volcano? And the whole island constantly being on fire?"

"Minor inconveniences," Sam dismissed with a grin.

"I meant things like hostile guilds or some terrifying guardian beast."

"There is apparently a guardian beast," Lucy admitted.

"But according to the report, it's sleeping."

"Inside the volcano?"

"Yep."

"Wonderful." Lucy hummed in agreement. Sam sighed.

"How much do you want to bet that beating the final fracture wakes it up?"

"I'm not stupid enough to take that bet," Lucy replied with a teasing grin. Then her smile widened even further.

"Though with your luck? One hundred and ten percent chance." She tapped the table thoughtfully.

"Actually… should we record it? We could call it Solar vs. the Mountain of DOOOOOM!"

"Just… arrange a ship," Sam replied, unsuccessfully trying to suppress his own grin. Lucy nodded and walked back around to her side of the desk.

"So what are you planning to do now?"

"I need to check the Auction House for something," Sam answered.

"Anything the guild can help with? The warehouse is pretty well stocked."

"I already checked. It's not there," he answered while walking away from the desk. Lucy nodded as she sat back down.

"Well then, good luck with the Auction House."

"Thanks…" For a long moment, neither of them moved. Lucy remained seated behind her desk while Sam stood awkwardly in the middle of the office, the two of them simply staring at each other in silence. Finally, Sam cleared his throat and turned toward the exit.

"See you at dinner!" Sam left the headquarters in a good mood and made his way toward the Auction House in Ferabor. Like most of the city, it was a beautiful building. Tall marble columns lined the entrance, each wrapped in thick green vines, while plants and hanging flowers filled nearly every available space. Most of the roof was made of glass, allowing sunlight to pour into the interior and illuminate the massive hall where people happily gambled away their life savings.

There was already a sizeable crowd gathered around the building, either standing in clusters or sitting at the many tables outside the cafés and restaurants lining the street near the Auction House. The guild had deliberately arranged those businesses around the area so people could relax, eat, and socialize while waiting for auctions to end or for their items to sell. The fact that they spent even more money while waiting was merely an added bonus.

After making sure his disguise was properly in place, since he had no interest in getting mobbed by players, Sam stepped inside the massive structure. Time for a different kind of hunt.