Chương 52: Chapter 51 - Interlude 4

Lucy stared at the closed doors for several minutes straight after her… benefactor left her new office. Everything happened so fast that she barely had time to do anything except just go with the flow. Originally, Sam looked rather weird and questionable, but he was prepared for almost every question that she could think of and had enough resources that she could do anything she imagined. All with a license to do exactly that. It was insane.

After so long just wandering around, trying to get any guild interested in her services and an opportunity like this falling in her lap was like a divine fortune. Lucy swore that she would make the most of it. And the first task was making sure that Sam's paperwork was up to order. Which turned out lucky because her mysterious benefactor missed some low-level stuff that could have tripped up their operations in the later stages of their plan.

So, she spent a few hours navigating the labyrinthian bureaucracy of Ironwood, which netted her enough experience points that she leveled up several times, and her administration-related skills shot up like never before. Apparently, her natural prey was mean old ladies behind little desks… Then came the organization of everything that Sam wanted. At first, Lucy balked at the constraints he placed on her, but as she went through the plans, she realized the sheer potential of the idea if carefully managed.

Ironwood will be used as a proof of concept and to refine the ideas and services they would provide. And when that was finished, they could simply copy-paste the entire business into any city. It was brilliant! Lucy couldn't help but grin as she began reading documents related to setting up a hotel in the city. She couldn't wait to see what the future held!

After organizing the cleaning and basic renovation of the headquarters, and hiring low-level staff as well as a secretary to handle the basics so that she could focus on the important things, the first thing Lucy did was log out of the game. She removed her helmet, stretched a little, then spent a few minutes looking for some clothing that would make her presentable compared to the dirty pajamas she was currently wearing.

After finding a pants and shirt combo that looked clean from a distance, she walked into her living room, which was always kept clean to make sure when somebody called her background would be presentable Lucy plopped down on her old sofa and with a few motions initiated a call. It rang several times, but eventually, it was answered. In front of her, a holographic screen sprung up on it the face of one of her oldest friends.

"Sarah!"

"Lucy! Hi! What's up? Still playing Magic Untied?"

"Magic Unbound, but yes…" she answered with a smile. Her friend just smiled innocently, but Lucy didn't believe it for a second. Her friend was just as game obsessed as her. Though, instead of the administration aspects, Sarah was focused on architecture in any way shape, or form. And like her, she tried to get into several architect offices after graduating but was always rebuffed after not presenting enough connections or open legs.

They got jobs at the same company, though in different departments, and spent their spare time playing games. Sometimes, they even teamed up. Lucy organized everything and Sarah made sure it was executed properly, as well as made sure that everything looked very nice. She flipped her short but airy hair back with a small smile and spoke up.

"So, why did you call me Lulu?"

"I got an opportunity!" she replied with a mysterious smile. Predictably Sarah was instantly interested.

"In-game right?"

"Yup!"

"You finally managed to get someone to sponsor you?" she asked, almost shrieking in excitement. Lucy spent a not considerable time bitching to Sarah about the lack of support for admin players.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, and Sarah immediately began to celebrate with her. After they got that out of the system, Lucy got back to what she wanted to say.

"…and then I was just left there with an office and buckets of money." Sarah just stared at her before speaking.

"You've got the weirdest luck Lulu…"

"I know…" sighed Lucy, then she perked up.

"And guess what!"

"What?"

"We need an architect! The light of creativity instantly lit up in her friend's eyes.

"Tell me more!" Lucy stared at Sam's retreating figure as he once again left her speechless in her own office, which looked much better than last time, thanks to the renovations and Sarah. How the hell he managed to gather that amount of gold was beyond her. Though, currently, she was more interested in the skill books on her desk. One was Mana Shield, the other was Mana Sense and the last one was Magical Encryption. All perfect for her skill set.

She immediately learned them and then spent a few minutes reading over the notes. The most interesting was the Magical Encryption, as that provided the most utility for her in her day-to-day work with AFK company. [Congratulations, you learned Magical Encryption!] [Magical Encryption: Level 0/50 (0%) (Active/Passive) Passively obfuscates your mana signature. The higher the level of the skill, the harder it is to identify or even find your mana signature after you cast a spell. You can also use your mana to cover certain items with a layer of mana that will make them unrecognizable to other people. The higher the level of the skill, the harder it is to see through it. It counts as an illusion and is affected by the skills that affect illusion skills and spells.] It used weird language, but Lucy was pretty sure Sam gave it to her to make sure she could make the documents of the company unreadable to anyone trying to snoop around.

She smirked and took a random document from her desk and cast the spell. Instantly, a shimmer of grey light spread through the piece of paper, but to her, nothing changed. Lucy frowned a little, then pressed a small button on a box at the edge of her desk.

"Layla, could you come in for a second?"" Of course, Director," came the answer immediately and a second later the doors to her office opened, and her very competent secretary entered, looking questioningly at her.

"Yes, Director? How can I help you?" Lucy just offered up the document she cast a spell on.

"Please, read this." Her secretary gingerly took the paper. Lucy watched her face in fascination as the older woman realized she couldn't read the words. Finally, Layla looked up at her and frowned.

"What happened to it?"

"Encryption spell," she simply said, then watched as her frightfully smart secretary realized the implications. The bloodthirsty grins sported by the two women would have scared lesser people. Lucy looked at the email that just came in and couldn't help but fret. It was one thing to sign a contract in-game, but signing one in real life?

Granted it was everywhere on the net that the announcement happening soon would introduce RMT to the game, so she kinda understood what Sam wanted, but it still made her a little anxious. Still, he had dealt with her in good faith, so she owed him at least that much. Getting comfortable in front of her computer, she opened the file containing the contract and began to read. If she joined him in this, she was going in with both of her eyes open!

"When are you going to give up that silly thing and return to the real world?" She stared at her mother, lips squeezed together tightly to prevent her from saying something inadvisable. Her mother, however, took her silence as a prompt for her to continue.

"I get it that it's fun and such, but it is high time that you leave your silly hobby behind and focus on more important things."

"It's not a hobby. Or silly." Her mother just negligently waved her hand.

"Oh, you don't mean that… I mean, you may make some money here and there, but it's only because you're kinda pretty!" she said glibly. She swallowed the first retort that came to her mind, then the next several, too. Finally, she spat her answer with something resembling a neutral voice.

"I make enough money to make a living, mother." Her mother just sent her a look." Now. Trust me, honey, the moment you stop caring for yourself your income will vanish." She gave her a smile that was probably supposed to be sweet, but to her, it just looked vapid.

"You should follow my footsteps…"

"To do what? Marry a rich guy and then sit at home and watch stupid dramas?" She tried to stop it, but the years of resentment and her mother's attitude just caused everything to bubble up and erupt like a ferocious volcano. Her mother gasped theatrically and exclaimed.

"How dare you? I raised you, I fed you, and clothed you! And you dare to throw all that back at my face?"

"I'm pretty sure the amount of makeup you have there would protect your face from even a nuclear attack!" she shot back, glaring at her mother. Her mother once again gasped, and she was pretty sure she practiced it because it looked and sounded exactly like those gasps from soap operas.

"Elizabeth Jane, how dare you?" She stared back at her mother and moved to speak. She opened Pandora's Box, might as well go all in.

"… and don't even think about crawling back when your pitiful career fails, you little bitch!" Liz (to her friends) slammed the door behind her and angrily marched out of the building. She was breathing heavily and sweat was streaming down her forehead, but she felt strangely light. As if a burden that she had carried for a long time had been removed from her. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A few seconds later, she stood on the street, looking at nothing as the uncaring crowds moved around her.

'Okay, that happened.' She looked back at the building that her mother 'owned' thanks to her late father. May the miserable bastard rot in hell. Liz shook her head and began walking aimlessly, going over what had happened in her head. After almost an hour of wandering in the city, she came to a conclusion.

'I need to move!' After returning home, she immediately logged into Magic Unbound, knowing that messing around with her crystal artifacts would help calm her down. Plus, she was in the finishing phase of her latest project, her greatest to date. Her drones already numbered seven, all of them blue and sparkly and adorable enough that the internet loved them, but she knew the attention of the internet was fleeting. So, when not streaming, she was in her workshop (sadly rented) and working on this and that.

She had already upgraded her spear focus, and her personal shield, but those were more like for survival. Liz's latest project, however, was a vanity project that had a useful side effect. The door opened, and she stepped in, closing it behind herself. In the middle of the room stood a thin artifact, around the height of an average human with two spokes jutting forward and a seat in the middle. On the desk, next to the artifact, were two thick crystal disks glowing with her now trademark blue light.

Around them was debris from when she was shaping the disks and tools were all over the room. She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and, with a swipe of her finger on her bracelet, activated several construction drones. They buzzed to life, and their bodies bobbed in greeting toward her. Liz gave them a smile and then gestured towards the almost-finished crystalline magical motorcycle.

"Let's go, boys! Today we are finishing this, fueled by my hatred towards my mother!" Lize would have sworn that the drones answered her call with an almost comforting buzzing. A minute later she was elbow-deep into one of the wheels and all the troubles of the world forgotten. They had a foolproof plan. Well, no. Before the foolproof plan, they had a quest. An easy quest. Go into some stupid mineshafts and search for some old amulet. The first shaft had nothing. The second had spiders. Giant spiders.

They didn't stay too long there. Then came the third. Which was just as empty as the last one. They, of course, made their due diligence and searched for the amulet. Sadly, it was all for naught, as they couldn't find anything. Then one of them had a bright idea. Wait for other people to get the quest and ambush them and take their stuff. Much better rewards than the stupid quest would probably give them. So they set up and even made some random posts on the forums referencing the quest.

Thus, they didn't have to wait for long for their first guests. A small cast of Fog and an ambush with arrows had everybody convinced that the quest was much harder. A few people tried a few times, but nobody liked dying in Magic Unbound as the penalty wasn't the most straightforward. Sometimes you would get Magic Exhaustion debuff or Lethargy debuff that sapped your mana or stamina, respectively. Sometimes you lost experience, maybe even skill levels if you mucked up hard enough. They had good lives.

Granted, most people that tried the quest were noobs, but even with those people, they amassed a respectable amount of coins and items. Then came that guy… Sitting at the resurrection spot, they looked at each other.

"We fucked up…"

"No. He was that much better."

"I don't care. There were four of us and one of him. We should've won." The four of them looked at each other, then as one sighed.

"Should we go back and continue?"

"No," answered one of them as he was checking over his axes.

"People will now know about us, so the ambush will not be so successful." The archer sat down petulantly and crossed his arms.

"I want to hurt that asshole!" The other three looked at each other, knowing the archer's personality.

"How?" the rogue asked hesitantly.

"Can we hire assassins?" the archer asked feverously, swiping left and right on his screen. They could only see his hand move around, not what he was looking at. The people around him exchanged another glance before the mage spoke up carefully.

"Are you sure that's the best idea? He looked powerful. I'm pretty sure any assassin we could afford would probably just be an exp fodder for the guy…" The archer just scoffed, while the guy with the axe winced. The other two didn't know, but he knew exactly what kind of person he was. And more importantly what kind of resources he had access to. Before he could voice his thoughts and maybe calm down his kinda employer, the guy exclaimed.

"I got it! Silent Step is already set up. I sent the message. The guy is dead!" he spoke proudly before closing his screens and standing up while dusting down his pants.

"Let's go level up!" The other three just stared at each other, but then they shrugged. They didn't have to pay, so it wasn't any skin off their noses. Plus, the guy had it coming… The axe-wielding person just gulped and hoped nothing extreme would come from this… Stephen looked at the assembled people and beasts proudly. After they leveled up enough that they could leave Greenwood, they immediately set off (after a recommendation from Ranger Rose) to Brightgarden.

According to the elder Ranger, it was a much better, although farther, city for people with pets than Ironwood, which focused more on mining and metal. The trip wasn't the easiest, but thanks to moving in a group, and the help of their adorable pets, they managed to arrive without an issue. Though, when they approached the city gates, the guards got a little twitchy when they saw Slathy, but he couldn't fault them. Sweet little Slathy, thanks to his skills, had managed to reach a respectable twenty feet in height.

Still, he was his sweet little fluff nugget and nobody could say otherwise! After they managed to assuage the guards' fears, that no, the giant rabbits were not attacking (apparently, again…), they managed to enter the city proper. Their first order of business was to get a proper guild headquarters and then begin a recruiting drive. They had fluffy animals, but it was not enough. It was never enough.

Stephen didn't know that his wanting to get a pet just because it was cute would lead to this, but as he sipped his virtual drink laying on the back of Slathor the Younger, Destroyer of Worlds, Ender of Universes, Ripper of Throats, and the Most Fluffiest Amongst Royalty, he couldn't really complain. The rest of his friends were similarly arrayed around him in the garden of their new headquarters, either laying on or with their companions or playing with them. Naturally, that judgey snake was still glaring at him.

Judging. Silently. The manor they commandeered in their quest to become the best pet guild, ranger guild, or summoner guild (they were still debating) was on the outskirts of Brightgarden. Seeing as the city wasn't as tightly packed as Ironwood (Stephen had seen the pictures and it would have been a nightmare to navigate that with their menagerie) almost every house had at least a small garden. And seeing as the city wasn't doing as well as in years past, there were a lot of empty manor houses.

And after doing only a few minor quests for the city lord, they were rewarded with the manor. Granted, it was a fixer-upper, but at least they could remodel it in a way that suited their purpose.

"Hey Cactus!" Hearing the call, he rose from his fluffy bed and a heavy sigh.

"Yes, Joe?" Joe had his own pet at his heel, a small but incredibly fast and deadly fox that was slowly exhibiting a tendency to use illusions. Stephen would swear that sometimes he could see a very translucent second tail flicker into existence on the fox for a few seconds. Even now, the fox had that stupid grin on its face that told Stephen that it had just pulled some stupid prank. And seeing as Joe was always the prankster of their group, he never really disciplined the menace.

Even if he disciplined it, it was for failing a prank or getting caught.

"Sammy says that she got a lead on some blueprints for fancy stables or something. Wanna come with?" That caught Stephen's interest. They had already begun building housing for their companions, but if they could get something special, that would really help their anemic recruitment.

"Are we expecting a fight?" The moment the f-word left his lips, Slathy perked up under him. Stephen just patted his fur affectionally.

"Yeah," answered Joe with a crazy smirk.

"Apparently some architect wanted inspiration or what have you and wandered into the glades…"

"Alligators?" Stephen asked while Slathy's stubby tail began wagging.

"Alligators," replied Joe, in Stephen's opinion, too cheerfully. He jumped off his comfortable resting place and thought for a second. Finally, he nodded.

"Alright. Gather a group. Leave those with fire spells here to guard the manor. I don't want any marsh gas explosions." Joe had the temerity to pout.

"But, Cactus! The explosions are so pretty…"

"I don't care. I don't trust any of these jokers to not set one off." Stephen replied with a very pointed grin at the fox and its owner. Joe just grinned, and the stupid fox followed after him. It took a good half an hour to gather a respectable group, but in the end, Stephen was standing at the gates of the manor grounds, surrounded by his friends. Next to him, at a comfortable distance, stood Kim with her own pet rabbit, which, while also giant-sized, was somewhat smaller than Slathy.

Stephen looked at them one by one, making sure to avoid a staring match with the snake (he always lost), and spoke up.

"Alright, Sammy will be in the lead." Said young woman standing with a falcon on her shoulder nodded.

"Make sure to keep a watch out and I want to emphasize this: NO. FIRE. IN. THE. SWAMP!" Some people nodded in understanding, and several just chuckled.

"Alright, let's be off!" It took an hour for someone to blow up some marsh gasses without fire. Lucrecia was pretty happy. Her mother was getting better and better. Her father was much happier now that the horrible situation was over and her self-assigned task was heading in the right direction. She couldn't wait for the family healer to give the all-clear so that she would be able to spend more time with her beloved mother. Fortunately, she had several things to do that distracted her from that.

Spy organizations didn't just appear out of the thin air! She started with one of her maids, who she knew was also a great fan of the novel. She asked her to set up a sort-of book club with the other maids so that they could discuss books and such. It was a grand success! Almost every maid showed up, and Lucrecia spent an enjoyable hour with them, discussing their favorite novels. All in all, it was a great success!

Now she needed to slowly mold the book club into the core of the spy group while spreading it outside of the walls of her family's manor. Then she had the grand idea to research her beloved. And with great results! Turns out that her faith in her beloved savior was not misplaced. He had already started his own company with several properties that her father told her were in excellent locations for any business. And then the news came that he placed some kind of hussy to lead the company! Unacceptable!

Sadly, it turned out that said hussy was so competent that even her father contemplated poaching her. Only the fact they owed so much to her beloved stopped him. Still, she had something to do. It wouldn't do for some floozy to betray her beloved. So Lucrecia approached her old governess for a recommendation. The AFK company was looking for experienced people to train their maids and servants, so she asked the old lady that taught all the necessities of noble life if she knew anyone who was looking for a job.

Luckily, she had a niece who was looking for a job. Thus, with the help of the mean old lady and her father, she managed to insert somebody into the company who owed her a favor. Kinda. Lucrecia sat before her desk, looking over her plans, and smiled. Things were looking up for her! Then she stood up and headed for the dresser. She needed to get ready for another book club meeting…

"What's that, boss?"

"A picture of a wolf."

"Yeah, I know that. But why do you have an entire corkboard full of pictures of said wolf?"

"Because it's cute!" He looked at their boss, who was currently sitting at their desk, monitors full of information about the game, and was gazing at the wolf with a whimsical expression.

"I see…" His boss turned to him with a grin.

"Come look at this!" Without looking, he hit a few things on his keyboard and one of the monitors changed to a specific information screen. He leaned forward and began to go over the data. Then after reading the first few lines, he had to go back and start over slower.

"This…"

"Cool, huh?"

"Isn't this a bit fast?"

"Faster than we expected? Sure. Unexpected? Nope. It's within the margin that was predicted but, naturally, at the upper end."

"Has the big boss seen this?"

"Sure. He didn't care much as it's not abnormal or cheating."

"Huh. Still no cheaters?" His boss shrugged.

"A few edge cases, but most people the system flags are simply stupidly lucky or too smart for their own good. Even the wolf's owner."

"What happened?"

"System flagged him for cheating several times. Had to do some manual review."

"And?"

"Nothing. Either the guy did his research or was super lucky. No cheating."

"Pity. I saw some of the plans for the first cheaters. I kinda want to see it happen…" His boss chuckled a little.

"Don't we all?" Then he pushed a few more buttons, and a video came up on the screen. It depicted the same wolf he had seen on the corkboard as it was playing with children.

"Now, let us bask in the gloriousness of this fluffy murderball." He watched as the wolf moved around and as he grabbed a nearby chair to be more comfortable; he had to agree that it was indeed super cute.

"Hey, bro…"

"What's up, bro?"

"Heads up!"

"Ow! What the hell, bro? Why did you throw that rock at me?"

"Because you are stoned now!" There was a long silence as the two people looked at each other. Then both cracked up and began to laugh uproariously. Finally, after several minutes of giggling, they calmed down and settled back to their place on a cliff, high up in the mountains that provided them an excellent view of everything nature (and the game) created.

"Good one, bro…"

"Mhmm…" replied the first guy, taking a long and thorough drag from the weirdly colored cigarette held in his hand. Then held it in and finally let it out with a great exhale, creating a mini cloud for a moment, while passing the item to his friend. He waved his hand, and the cloud took the shape of a dog, then a cat, then another cloud, then an apple, then some weirdly proportioned female anatomy, and finally a sandwich before the magic ran out and the cloud of smoke was dispersed by the wind.

"This shit is so fun! Thanks, bro, for introducing this game to me…" The other guy took a drag of the blunt, waited a few seconds, and then exhaled.

"No problem, my friend. Ever since school, we couldn't really spend time together properly. My wife actually recommended this…"

"Your wife is really cool."

"That she is. And smart. I miss her…"

"Dude…"

"I know…" The two continued to smoke and talk in a low voice as they sat up high and looked at the magnificent view before them while sometimes playing with the exhaled smoke. Either to turn them into funny shapes or into weapons and play-fighting each other.

"Bro, this is the best! Smoke wizardry was a great idea!"

"I know!" replied the second guy, laughing while waving around a sword made of tangible smoke and making whooshing sounds.

"You know what we need to do after this?" The first guy looked up from the miniature smoke horse he was trying to ride.

"What?"

"Learn alchemy!" The first guy looked at the second one for an entire minute with a blank face, then a grin split his face from ear to ear.

"Dude, that's genius! We would be able to create so much good stuff!"

"Hell yeah!" cheered the second man, then watched with a distraught face as the smoke miniature horse dissolved amidst his friend's celebration dance.

"No! Horsey!" They spent a few minutes mourning the brief but shining existence of Smokey the horsey before they were distracted by a loud roar. Both looked up from the grave made of smoke and glanced at each other.""The golems are back!"" Abandoning the smoke grave, they rushed to the edge of the cliff and began looking in the direction of the coming action.

"What do you think they are going to do now?"

"Dunno, man, but that battle against the caravan was kinda boring."

"Maybe they sent more guards?"

"Hmm… maybe." It took them a few seconds to spot the clouds of dust covering the moving golems, then the first guy spoke up.

"Maybe we should help?"

"With what? I doubt the golems would like to get high…"

"You never know…" answered the first guy, shrugging.

"We should still try! For science!" The second guy contemplated the idea, then nodded.

"For science. After the battle, we will find a golem and offer it some good stuff…"

"Hell yeah, bro!" They spent some time getting comfortable and began to watch the action happening below with a few blunts shared between them.

"Oh, hey! It's not a caravan, but just one dude!"

"He looks strong! Think it's one of the power gamers?"

"Probably. He has sick moves!" The two watched as the guy far away from them dealt with the golems while oohing and aahing at appropriate moments as well as cheering loudly when one of the golems fell, or when the wolf appeared. And when the last giant golem with spikes everywhere showed up, one of them spoke up after taking a long drag.

"Do you think he has the rocks to win?"

"Dude…"