Chương 381: Chapter 364

The Auction House, as always, was the exact opposite of silence. People clustered in frantic groups, eyes locked on their screens, only to erupt into cheers or collapse dramatically when bids succeeded or failed. Others lurked in the corners, cloaks drawn tight, doing their best impression of mysterious shadows while they waged private wars over listings. Some paced anxiously back and forth, like criminals waiting for a verdict that would decide their fate.

And then there were the wealthy few, lounging in the comfortable seating provided by the Auction House, surrounded by their entourage, laughing as they spent more money than most people would see in a lifetime. Sam ignored all of that. Flashing his guild symbol, he was swiftly escorted to a private room. The attendant bowed silently and closed the door behind him. Sam crossed to the wall-length one-way window overlooking the main floor and lingered there for a moment, watching the chaos below.

Then he turned away, returned to the decadent couch, and sat down as he opened the Auction House interface. He had to be careful. The first thing he checked was the skill book section, scanning for any of the legendary skills he remembered from his past.

"Let's see… Fireball… Fireball… Fireball… ooh, Multi Fireball. Daring today, aren't we?" he muttered as he scrolled. Unfortunately, being as well-known as he was had its downsides. Every skill he had ever shown interest in had been heavily researched. Shadow-related abilities in particular were either snapped up by rival guilds for analysis or collected by fanboys, wannabes, and opportunists. Finding anything useful now meant either monitoring the Auction House constantly or assigning an entire team to do it.

He wasn't that desperate – or that cruel. Still, he scrolled anyway, just in case today happened to be his lucky day. A few minutes later, he paused, a grin forming.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" He opened the listing. [Blurry Shadows: On rapid movement, the caster leaves behind fleeting shadow-echoes that mimic their form, obscuring their true position and misleading onlookers.]"Perfect…" he murmured, checking the price, wondering why it hadn't sold yet. Then he winced.

"One thousand gold? What in tarnation?" A thousand gold wasn't as big a deal as in the beginning. For a top player like him. For an average player, it was months of grinding. Enough that most would sit on a listing like this, waiting for the seller to realize their mistake and lower it. Sam, however, didn't care. He simply pressed the buyout button and watched as the listing vanished from the screen.

A minute later, the door opened, and a silent attendant entered, delivered the book with practiced efficiency, and left after a bow. Sam picked it up and absorbed it without hesitation. [Congratulations! You learned Blurry Shadows!] [Blurry Shadows: Level 0/50 (0%) (Active) When activating while moving rapidly, you will leave behind fleeting shadow-echoes that mimic your form, enhancing your stealth, and diminishing enemies' ability to hit you.] He nodded once, satisfied, then closed the interface and returned to the Auction House. There was another item he remembered appearing around this time. Not something game-breaking, but undeniably useful for what he had in mind. He switched to the reagent tab and began searching. Thankfully, this time, he could honestly say he was buying things because they seemed useful. He wondered why people hadn't thought about trying what he was about to do with the item in question.

After a few minutes of scrolling past herbs, powders, and alchemical odds and ends while pretending to evaluate several options carefully, he finally found it. It looked like dried seaweed, tangled like dry, handmade pasta in the listing image. [Blood Freezing Grass: A grass that grows in the shallow pools of mountain lakes. Exceptionally resistant to the cold weather.] Currently, it was used to craft high-grade cold resistance potions and similar alchemical concoctions.

Then one day, way after the Blood War, someone discovered its true secondary use: counteracting certain forms of blood magic. Sam selected all available listings and bought them outright. He would store them in the guild warehouse later and have Lucy pass them to the alchemists for experimentation.

"There must be a reason it is called Blood Freezing Grass…" he murmured to the benefit of the system as the door opened again and an employee entered carrying a large box. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sam looked over Lucy. They were sitting in his apartment. Sam was on his comfortable couch, while Lucy was on the other end, her legs tucked under her, both of them eating lunch they had picked up from a nearby place. As always, before they started brainstorming how to take over the world of Magic Unbound, they ate something first. Usually it was takeout or something from a nearby restaurant, but sometimes they would cook at the start of the meeting.

Today neither of them felt like dealing with the cleanup, so they went with takeaway. Sam made sure to chew and swallow before answering.

"Why not? Did anyone target the island?" Lucy shook her head.

"No. At least I've not heard anything like that."

"Then what's the issue?" She lifted her chopsticks and pointed at him.

"The issue is that we're in the middle of a war. You cannot just leave." He shook his head.

"Come on…" She gave him a flat look, and Sam sighed.

"Fine. Yes, we're in the middle of a war, but right now everyone is wondering which city I'm going to destroy next. What do you think they're going to do?" She furrowed her brow.

"My first thought would be a blitzkrieg to prevent you from using any more of the Sunburst devices." She scratched her cheek lightly.

"But they don't exactly know how you did it. So my next guess would be reinforcing their defenses and upgrading their security." Sam smiled.

"Bingo. But you forgot one thing…" Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Which is?" He grinned.

"Roserun!" She frowned again.

"Roserun? What about it?" Sam let out a small chuckle and took another bite of his meal, enjoying the warm, spicy meat.

"Come on, Lu. You're smarter than that." She stared at him, waiting. Sam sighed, still smirking.

"What would be the first thing you would do after hearing about the destruction of Roserun?"

"I assume after reinforcing my defenses?"

"Yes. After that."

"Well…" Lucy thought for a moment.

"I would probably try to figure out how you did it." Sam grinned.

"Winner-winner, chicken dinner!"

"We're eating beef…"

"Same concept. The point is you're completely right." Lucy chuckled softly and took another careful bite. After swallowing, she continued.

"I still don't see your point." Sam nodded.

"Right now, everyone is focused on Roserun, trying to figure out how I pulled it off. That means every guild, their representatives, their proxies, and anyone else involved is heading there." He paused briefly.

"And then there is Rosenite. Very expensive and very desirable." Lucy slowed her eating, watching him more closely now.

"Then you have to remember that it is Blood Army territory, and they're directly in conflict with us. They have the strongest incentive to figure out what I did. Once they do, they will likely start clearing out anyone who is not useful to them, whether that is fortune seekers or mining groups."

"And the players there will not like that," Lucy said quietly. Sam nodded with a small smirk.

"Exactly. Politics, and if it escalates, war over a resource."

"And a distraction…"

"Exactly. The Blood Army cannot afford to ignore Roserun. Which gives us breathing room." He finished his explanation and took a larger bite of food, clearly satisfied both with the plan and the meal. Lucy spent a few seconds thinking before speaking again.

"Sometimes I forget that while everyone else is playing chess, you're playing poker." She shook her head.

"I did account for the expected chaos and bloodshed, but I didn't think about the political fallout. Which is ironic, considering that is literally my job." Sam waved a hand lightly.

"Do not worry about it. You're not supposed to think like I do." He grinned.

"I'm an agent of chaos. You're my handler. You're meant to think clearly and keep my eccentric tendencies under control."

"We're calling it eccentric now?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"I mean, you usually call it batshit insane, but I was feeling poetic…" he replied with a small laugh. She tilted her head slightly.

"I don't think batshit insane is sufficient anymore." She picked up her phone, unlocked it, and started scrolling with a playful grin on her face.

"Let us see… one person called you someone who has transcended ordinary insanity and entered a plane of madness incomprehensible to feeble mortals." Sam snorted. Lucy continued.

"Or this one: bro lost custody battle with reality itself. Another: Solar is not mentally ill, he is mentally multiplayer." She kept scrolling.

"Guy achieved peak galaxy-brain madness. Oh, this one is good: I have seen more sanity in a chatroom full of drunk people." Sam laughed.

"And I wear it with pride. If people cannot predict what I'm going to do, they cannot plan against it." Lucy set her phone down and returned to her food.

"I'm pretty sure people stopped trying to plan around you about five minutes into this game."

"I live to serve," Sam replied with a grin. The wooden boat rocked beneath them as the sails caught the wind, carrying them steadily toward their destination. In the distance, smoke curled upward into the sky, thinning as it dissolved into the azure expanse above. Sam leaned against the railing of the observation deck while sailors moved across the ship, shouting brief instructions and ensuring nothing disrupted their passage.

Deepanchor was still in the early stages of reconstruction, but that did not stop merchants from heading toward the city with goods to sell. In situations like this, a good merchant could make a lifetime's worth of profit in a single trip. Because of that, it had been easy enough to hire a vessel to take them to the island. AFK primarily focused on land travel, so they did not maintain a dedicated naval fleet. They had a few ships for coastal routes and deliveries, but nothing suited for open waters.

But as always, money talks. And both AFK and Sam had money. The captain had grumbled at first, but the amount Sam put forward was enough to secure passage to the Burning Island without further argument. Dan stood at the far end of the observation deck, watching the open sea while Hawky, his fiery familiar, circled high above the waves.

At the prow, Katie and Isabella stood close together, acting all lovey-dovey as they gazed into each other's eyes while the wind pulled at their hair, forming a romantic scene right out of a book. Even several sailors were distracted, pausing their work to watch with wistful expressions. Sam caught fragments of quiet conversation about families waiting back home, or lovers they had left behind.

"Ugh, do they have to do that every time?" Clarissa asked as she stepped up beside Sam. Despite her words, there was no real annoyance in her tone.

"You are just jealous because the last guy you went on a date with would not stop talking about his sword," he said, glancing at her with a grin. Clarissa scoffed.

"I should not have told Izzy about that…"

"Do you want me to introduce you to someone with more brain cells than testicles?" he asked, still looking out toward the horizon. Clarissa leaned on the railing beside him, resting her forearms on it as she looked ahead.

"Honestly, at this point, I would take anyone who can maintain eye contact and understands object permanence." Sam chuckled.

"I will reach out to my contacts. I am sure there is someone out there who can meet your extremely selective criteria." Clarissa let out a long sigh.

"Thanks." They continued to stand there in comfortable silence, watching the island draw closer. They deliberately ignored the moment Katie and Isabella began dancing on deck, which quickly escalated into a sailor producing a set of musical instruments, including a fully tuned contrabass, and joining in. Why a sailor was carrying a perfectly maintained contrabass, Sam did not know, and at this point, he had decided it was safer not to ask.