Might as Well

When she started to play the game Magic Unbound, it was an idle curiosity. She was bored and the latest games were just not doing it for her. But then she saw the advertisement for a ‘revolutionary’ game, watched the trailer, and decided to give it a go.

Lara didn’t really enjoy going in with full force and trying to exterminate the local ecosystem with weapons or magic. No, her vice was taking the game’s system and taking it to its maximum potential. Creating meta-breaking weapons, armors that were so powerful they got banned, and potions that encapsulated concepts. Lately, she had been on an architecture kick, using mathematics to optimize space utilization, movement between sectors and just building mathematically perfect edifices.

Thus, she entered the game and began her journey.

Thankfully, the game didn’t force her to farm adorable bunnies just to get enough levels so that she would be able to start crafting.

No, the game was much better than that.

One simple conversation with a mage who unlocked her magic – even with her current focus, magic was still cool and she wanted to be able to shoot fireballs whenever she wanted – she was on a cart heading for the capital where she would be receiving her education.

Granted, it wasn’t that easy and she had to do a few hundred quests just to reach the capital, but it was still better than the usual ‘kick ten puppies, skin them, and then get a few coins’ type of progression that most games insisted on.

And starting from there, things just continued to change…

For example, she met Dan.

Honestly, at first, she thought he was one of those muscle-bound idiots who used their sparse brain cells to super focus on a few select things, like lifting weights and, in Dan’s case, plasma physics.

Then she started talking to him, mostly to avoid one of the idiots who thought the fact their grandparents were rich, talented, and skilled in business, entitled him to everything he ever laid his eyes on. And to Lara’s misfortune, he laid his eyes a lot on her body.

Seeking shelter near Dan’s perfectly muscled body was a calculated move and falling in love with the earnest man after spending an entire night talking about high-energy physics and mathematics proved that she wasn’t as great at arithmancy as she thought she was.

Still, she managed to gather a boyfriend who was smarter than most of her usual suitors (which was not a great accomplishment), somewhat socially awkward (it was an engineering university), looked very handsome, and was insanely talented in the game of the century.

All in all, a perfect catch.

Then she met Sam.

Looking into the eyes of the man, she didn’t see a moderately handsome (Dan was much better) man who loved playing a game. No, she saw a calculating monster, much like some of the people her grandfather employed in critical positions. Men whose decisions shaped the lives of thousands, sometimes even millions.

He was a nobody. Even her grandfather confirmed that. No background, no connections, not even a slightly influential blood relative hidden somewhere.

Yet, he knew exactly how families like hers, Katie’s, or Isabella’s worked. He knew the pressure points and where to pressure. And not to mention his knowledge of the game that boasted an impossible-to-break anti-cheat system.

She knew tangentially one of the idiots who got caught using insider knowledge. Not a great loss to the gene pool, but Lara knew the business machine behind them very well. There was no way that Sam, whose net worth was a fraction of a fraction of theirs, would be able to do what they failed.

Yet, here she was, part of a guild that had more gaming talent – carefully trained by Sam – than most of the ‘elite’ guilds in the area and with better compensation than some CEOs earned in the real world.

Lara didn’t really need the money, even if she wasn’t the heir of the family’s business empire, but it was still very satisfying to see the money accumulate in the account she had created for this purpose. And it was very telling that even though Sam knew she was rich as fuck, he still treated her like everybody else in the guild.

Watching the exciting battle with the titanic spider from the safety of the support tents, for the first time she felt a little disappointed that she didn’t go with a battle-focused character build. Watching the other players gleefully rush into the battle just to be crushed by falling debris from the mountain off the spider’s back, vaporized by the red lightning that seemed to be everywhere, consumed by the endless tide of minions, or in a few unlucky cases, trampled by the crowd as they tried to avoid one of the aforementioned dangers.

Plus, watching Dan sling lances of hyper-heated plasma at great velocity and magnitude did things to her…

She was mostly present to see what effects the battle would have on her construction, but when she saw the poison-guzzle guild, Abyss Vipers, rush into the battlefield, frothing at the mouth for the imagined reward, she simply moved closer to where several people were starting to pack up.

Lara was pretty sure that there was a plan in motion, but as she wasn’t part of the command structure (yet), she wasn’t aware of what it was. However, based on Sam’s personality and what she saw from Adam, she could make a few educated guesses.

And if she was right, she wanted to see every last second of it…

‘I should have brought popcorn with me…’

Fighting against those stupid stone spiders was not hard, but despite their levels, they still had to struggle, especially against those big ones.

Still, the guild was paying them to exterminate them, and the pay was pretty good.

Also, it was much better than being back at the construction site and being ‘asked’ to help with hauling construction material or digging ditches and holes.

He didn’t know what the guild was planning for those ruins, but he was looking forward to seeing it. Probably some kind of special guild headquarters.

There were some people who suggested they snoop around and sell the information on Shadowland, but he didn’t want to be part of it. He joined the game to enjoy it and not to play political games.

Plus, from what small things he saw, the bosses would see through those attempts so fast it wouldn’t even be funny, just very sad.

Then they got a message that one of the officers was on their way to see what was up with the quarry, and he couldn’t help but worry.

Even in real life, if the superiors had to show up, then that meant that somebody fucked up somewhere. The only question was how many heads would roll…

The guy who showed up looked… lame.

Basic armor, no frills or any enchantments he could see. His weapon was a simple straight sword without any visible symbol from any of the big craftsman groups.

His first thought was that it was probably somebody’s cousin who was given the ‘privilege’ to solve this very problematic issue. And even if he died, then no great equipment would be lost.

Then that stupid Fred with his ascot was called over and he had listened to the guy telling them there would be a raid. He had to hold back a snort.

Like that wasn’t obvious…

Then he was distracted by the next wave of monsters. He was ready to unleash his Flaming Cleave, learned through an arduous process, enhanced by several passive skills he had to almost sell his kidneys for. Hell, he even managed to shorten the chant to a few words from the original dozen!

He watched the guy walk into the middle of the area, after having cleared it with the aid of that idiot Fred, and then his jaw dropped as the guy silently just waved his hand and hundreds of wind spears just appeared out of thin air above him.

What the hell?

The battle with the new wave of spiders, if it even could be called that, was over within seconds.

He looked down at his axe forlornly, lamenting the fact he couldn’t do the same with it.

However, before he could really comprehend how the guy who just showed up in shitty gear could do what he did, the mountain decided to explode and he had another set of problems to distract himself with.

Fred, BlueKnight officially but things happen, enjoyed the game they were playing.

Magic Unbound was fascinating and all sorts of amazing. After his friend group managed to put together a coherent party, they even managed to get accepted into one of the best local guilds. Now he only needed a familiar, but he planned to take his group to Brightgarden and contract one of the guilds there to help them acquire some much-needed animal companions.

For a long moment, he feared they would be fired after that fiasco with one of the high-rollers of the guild, but aside from some lambasting and refresher in how to recognize high-ranking people, they were left alone.

Well, they were also assigned to clean up a few monster nests, but at least he was put in a leading position.

Nobody expected the giant spider the size of a mountain. Or rather, the mountain that was actually a spider.

Fred had no idea how it worked, but he was just glad his group survived the initial explosions.

After that, it was a blur as they rushed about trying to stem the unending tide of spider monsters while the gigantic monster rampaged around them.

He quickly got assigned to another group when the guild arrived. If it were any other guild, he would be suspicious about that, but this was Chrysalis, and from everything he saw, they were extremely prepared and paranoid.

Based on the power of the guy who showed up (and they tried to arrest), Fred almost thought that the guild players who showed up were simply his escorts.

Then he watched as the guy simply jumped up in the air and began climbing the monster’s leg, simply tanking several shots that had vaporized several people previously.

‘Right. That’s not my problem. My problem is surviving,’ he mused as he glanced around.

He was told to hold the line against the minions, and that’s what he would do. The guild contribution system was extremely fair, and even if he didn’t even scratch the raid boss, he would still be getting rewarded.

In the back of his mind, he lamented a little at the lost opportunity, but his rational mind knew that despite steamrolling through the quests with his friends, he didn’t even have a fraction of the guy’s power.

How the hell did he manage to find a skill that eliminated spell chants?

Fred just knew that their dedicated mage was thinking about approaching the guy. He wished the guy all the luck, but Fred suspected he would be out of his luck.

He brought up his shield and slammed down the giant slab of enchanted metal in front of him while murmuring the incantation for the spell that would magically extend the protected area.

“…WHITE SHIELD!” he finished with a yell and watched in satisfaction as his shield glowed white and a pane of white light extended on his left and right, providing cover for his comrades.

‘Enough thinking about things I can’t do jackshit about. Time to earn my keep…’

He gazed through the stone dust that seemed to blanket an area and waited for the first spider monster to show itself.

“FIRE!”

“A giant spider, you say?”

“Yes. With a mountain on the top of it.”

“Where exactly?”

“Not far from Ironwood.”

“When did it appear?”

“The news came a minute ago. Apparently, they figured it drops some kind of special guild blueprint…”

“Blueprint for what?” Stephen asked, interested as he fed specially grown lettuce to his giant rabbit familiar. Slathy had performed beautifully in the last battle and he decided to reward that kind of action.

The druids and alchemists were in a competition to grow the best food for the animals and they wanted to know the rabbit’s opinion.

Two birds with one stone…

Azy just shook her head, her octopus joining her. “No idea. I think it’s idle speculation or even worse…”

“Worse? How?”

“It could be a bait…”

“Bait? Why would they want MORE people there?”

The guild’s head of administration just shrugged. “It’s the AFK company and Chrysalis. I have long given up trying to figure out what they are thinking.”

Stephen hummed as he watched Slathy enjoy the fresh produce before posing another question.

“Should we join?”

Another head shake.

“Just mobilizing the guild would take at least half an hour. Not to mention the war that is happening here…”

Stephen nodded at hearing that. Then he had an idea. “What about the other guilds here? Did anyone rush off to join?”

It took AzureTiger two point three seconds to comprehend his question and realize what he was suggesting.

Her grin caused a tingle to go through his spine.

“I’m going to check. You start mobilizing…”

Stephen watched as the diminutive girl practically flounced out of his ‘office’ and looked back at Slathy who was still comfortably munching on some gigantic lettuce leaves, enhanced to taste like a full salad.

“Well, my friend, it appears we’re going into battle again… Do you think you’re up for it?”

The giant rabbit quickly inhaled the lettuce in his mouth, then wiped it with a nearby towel (AzureTiger insisted on the familiars being taught manners for some reason). With a quick movement, that belied his size, he placed two of his gigantic paws on Stephen’s shoulder, and began enthusiastically licking his face.

He chuckled and began to run his hand through the rabbit’s fur.

“I will take that as a yes!”

Lucy just knew that this entire fiasco was somehow Sam’s fault.

She didn’t know how or why yet, but every instinct in her body said the same thing. Her erstwhile compatriot and business partner did something and now they had to deal with a mountain on legs.

Well, the guild had to deal with it.

She ‘only’ had to handle the logistics, administrative, economic, and political parts.

Already there were people from some of the noble houses at the reception demanding answers while she was still dealing with distributing resources for the fight.

Looking over several documents, she smiled evilly and made a few decisions before sending off her orders with a runner.

‘Can’t wait for Liz to finish those things…’ she grumbled inwardly.

A few discounts here and there, and the mobilizing guilds, heading to fight the giant spider and claim the loot for themselves, would fall over themselves to give the company money. All in the name of success!

Which she very much doubted would materialize, knowing Sam and his hair-brained plans. Plus, with Tim out there and sowing chaos wherever he went, Lucy suspected that the fight would not go the way their enemies expected it to go.

Her only task was to make sure nothing happened while most of the people were away and that the political theater was in their favor.

Thus, she stood up from her desk, walked over to the door in her office, and stepped through it, arriving in a small room, equipped with a shower and faucet, a makeup desk, and a wardrobe section with an excellent selection of clothing.

Sam may have had his stupid spells and skills, but she had the clothing, ready for all manner of situations.

She sat down at the makeup desk and began applying some of it, while the door opened behind her and her secretary entered, who without a word began working on her hair.

All the while, she watched through her ravens’ eyes as the people all over the city began to move toward the quarry where the current raid battle was going on.

Lucrecia was very sad.

Just minutes ago, their scouts had brought the news that her beloved was battling one of the fearsome titans straight from the legends.

A titan!

Her father would be so jealous!

However, her guard detail refused to escort her to the place of the event so that she could spectate as her knight would single-handedly defeat the humongous monster and maybe would even offer a trophy to her, proving that their relationship was destined to be!

Alas, even Fortuna, the clever wolf, was against them leaving.

Her familiar even went so far as to grab the hem of her skirt and pull her back with a whine and a pitiful look in her eyes.

In the end, she relented under the begging gazes of her familiar, maids and head of the guards. Still, she ordered the scouts to head out and observe the battle.

Officially, to make sure the battle and its results didn’t hurt any Silvercrest interest, but secretly, she just wanted to hear how her beloved acted.

She was pretty sure it would be glorious!

Chuckling about how she tricked her guards, she headed for the strategy room. Even if her thoughts were mostly about her beloved’s actions, she knew from her studies that a battle such as this would affect the surroundings in a myriad of ways.

And some of that fell under her authority…