NOVEL NEXT Chapter 118: The Motorcycle Blueprint
Ryan pulled off his virtual headset, his shirt clinging to him with sweat. Those few minutes had drained him as if he had run a marathon.
All he wanted now was a long, cold shower.
Still a little dazed, he stretched his arms and headed toward the bathroom. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Molly watching him with a sly grin, as if she knew something he didn't.
"What?" Ryan muttered, frowning at her before reaching for the bathroom door.
It wouldn't budge. He shoved harder. With a sharp scrape of wood against tile, the door gave way at last.
"You really went for it!" Molly burst into laughter, her eyes dancing with mischief.
Ryan had no time to process her words. His foot slipped forward, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor.
A hiss of running water filled his ears. His brain stalled.
Standing in front of him, steam curling around her, was a girl with dripping hair, her skin flushed from the hot spray. She clutched the towel rack with one hand, the other pressed instinctively against her chest. Wide, furious eyes locked on him, her lips parted in speechless outrage.
Mia.
She had been in the middle of her shower. And Ryan had just barged straight in.
The scolding came fast, sharp, and deserved. Ryan lowered his head, stammered out apologies, and retreated to the living room. Molly was still cackling until his silent glare pinned her in place. After a few seconds of nervous laughter, she wilted, whining for forgiveness until he finally let it go with a sigh.
When Mia stormed out wrapped in a towel, her expression could have frozen the air. She shot Ryan one cutting glance, then slammed her bedroom door so hard the walls seemed to shake.
Ryan could only scratch the back of his head, embarrassed beyond words. He gathered his clothes, slipped into the bathroom, and finally managed a quiet shower of his own.
By the time he returned to his room and logged back into the game, his thoughts were still circling the same mess.
'What a disaster. My mind was so foggy… the door had been stuck, I had to shove it open. How did I not realize she was in there? It has to be the latch. If it hadn't been broken, there's no way I could have forced the door. Tomorrow, I'll get someone to fix it.'
That excuse gave him a small measure of comfort. Yet, against his will, Mia's furious face kept flashing in his mind, along with the memory of steam and water and her startled silence.
When the familiar world of the game came into focus, Ryan found the guild buzzing with energy. To his surprise, Mia's avatar was there too, chatting and laughing with the others as though nothing at all had happened. Ryan kept his distance, pretending not to notice, and quietly picked up a few quests.
Only then did he remember—he hadn't turned in his Death Siege mission. His curiosity stirred. What sort of reward would a quest like that bring?
He made his way to Verdant Spire, straight to Arch-Druid Benna Leafsong.
"Excellent, Featherlight!" the druid proclaimed, her staff gleaming with soft green light. "You have accomplished an incredibly improbable task. Your actions give us great confidence for the wars yet to come!"
A new quest appeared before Ryan's
eyes.
—
[Incredible Achievement: You have perfectly recreated the scene, allowing us to obtain such precise intelligence. Arch-Druid Delta Starfall has also heard of this, and he wishes for you to receive his reward.]
Quest Objective: Speak with Delta Starfall 0/1
Quest Reward: Arch-Druid Delta Starfall's Reward
—
This was the follow-up to the Death Siege. Anyone who survived without dying received it. But Ryan had cleared it flawlessly, with full health. Shouldn't the follow-up have been different? Was there really no distinction between scraping by and achieving perfection?
With his questions still unanswered, Ryan walked a few steps further until he found Arch-Druid Delta Starfall. After a brief exchange of words, the druid praised his efforts and handed over the promised reward.
Ryan's anticipation deflated the moment he saw it. The reward wasn't the high grade weapon or armor he had been hoping for. Instead, it was an Uncommon-quality gauntlet… and along with it, an Uncommon-quality schematic.
At first he sighed, then his eyes caught the title written across the parchment.
It was an Engineering schematic—for a motorcycle.
Ryan's heart gave a sharp leap. In his past life, the motorcycle had been one of the most sought-after crafts in the entire game. Normally, players needed an Engineering skill of 400 or higher, along with Exalted reputation at Iceblood Fortress, and even then the blueprint cost a staggering four thousand gold.
Could this be that same blueprint, available here already?
He looked closer, his excitement quickly fading. No—it wasn't the legendary version. This one only taught the craft for a motorcycle that boosted speed by sixty percent, not the one from Iceblood Fortress with its blazing one hundred and fifty percent.
—
Schematic: Mechanical Motorcycle K988 (Engineering)
Binds when picked up
Requires Engineering (225)
Use: Teaches you how to craft Mechanical Motorcycle K988.
Mechanical Motorcycle K988
Binds when used
Requires Novice Riding
Use: Increases your movement speed by 60%.
—
Ryan exhaled slowly, forcing down the disappointment. It wasn't the best blueprint, but it wasn't worthless either. The required materials weren't particularly rare, and although the cost to craft one was more than double that of a normal sixty-percent mount, it had potential to become a steady source of income.
That thought rekindled his motivation. Engineering 225 was still some distance away, but his current level was already high enough to keep pushing. Soon, when the Level 30 dungeon Forest of Decay unlocked, he could grind his way to Level 37 with the advantage of his past-life knowledge. That would let him skip the dreaded higher-level zone, Dreadful Mire, and head straight into the Land of Four Elements to progress the main story.
Of course, he would still have to clear the Dreadful Mire's main quests eventually, but with careful planning, it could all be knocked out in just a few hours.
Even thinking about that place made his skin crawl.
Ryan had always hated the Dreadful Mire. In his previous life, most players avoided it whenever they could, gritting their teeth and suffering through only when absolutely forced. Its twisted terrain and suffocating atmosphere were infamous, and while resource prices there soared because of its scarcity, it still remained one of the least populated zones in the entire game.
Every time Ryan had taken an alt through that nightmare, he remembered swearing under his breath, rushing through quests, desperate to escape as soon as possible. The memories were unpleasant enough to make him shake his head now.
Pushing the thoughts away, Ryan tucked the schematic safely into his inventory and turned his flying mount toward the next destination. The main quest in the Arid Plains was nearly complete, and he wasn't about to slow down now.
Twenty minutes later, he landed softly and walked up to a waiting quest-giver. A small gnome stood before him, his eyes glimmering with something that looked far too eager. Ryan accepted the quest wordlessly, reaching out his hand.
The gnome's grin stretched wider, triumphant and sly. As the parchment vanished into Ryan's log, the title above the gnome's head flickered erratically, changing in a burst of light.
Dapula the Deceiver.