NOVEL NEXT V1 Chapter 24: News
- 1st Person POV (MC)
-At Work, Tomorrow-
“Oi! Boss lady called.” -Colleague-
He made a gesture after gaining my attention. I internally sigh... after all, this guy over here has been... ‘Difficult’ towards me ever since I worked in this company. Although he did help me once during that Quality Control problem...
As I left my workstation after checking every sample was stable enough to be left alone and the analysers were fine.... I certainly didn’t miss a smirk adorning this guy’s face.
(“Strange...”)
I shook the feeling off until I easily found the boss’ office.
(“Haaaa.... here we go again.”)
*Knock* *Knock*
“Come in!” -Boss-
Her voice echoed outside as I entered the place. Immediately she gave away a wide smile which I knew from the bottom of my heart. That is a fake smile...
The desk is neatly cleaned, usually, it is incredibly messy with coffee stains. She can be seen tilting the chair backwards and resting away most of the time during work but this is the first time I see her look like a person of higher authority.
“Here, have a seat... How are you?” -Boss-
She extended her hand to a chair in front of her desk as I sat down with a polite smile of my own.
“I am doing quite well, what about you?”
“Yes... Yes... I am doing fine as well. Do you know why you’re called here?” -Boss-
Unmistakably, I could tell her tone deeper into a more serious one as I kept myself calm. But, she didn’t hide a mocking tone regarding me not knowing why I was called.
It seems she’s taking great pleasure in whatever the news going to come. Worst comes to worst, it is probably being fired.
Is it because of my constant pieces of advice regarding problems in the lab? She dislikes it yet continues to use my advice.
Ugh... A growing pain stung on the back of my head as I berated myself for going out of my way to ‘manage’ this mess of a lab. Perhaps I should’ve kept silent. In a way, I brought this on myself I think...
“No, I didn’t. Is there something in the matter?”
She clicked on the computer and checked on something before changing her facial expression into showing pity towards me.
“Unfortunately, it seems like we have decided to let you off.” -Boss-
It takes a second or two for my brain to process it then immediately changes to damage control as in autopilot I reply.
“May I ask the reason why?”
“We have reason to believe, you have tampered with Quality Control and that is a deed that this company couldn’t let off the hook.” -Boss-
She spoke with a serious tone but there was a bit of malicious smirk growing on her thin lips.
(“Wait a minute, that is not me doing it. That was... Oh... Ah... I see now. It was ‘Him’ that is why he’s smirking. If I say, that is not me then what kind of evidence can I bring up? He was the one helping me solve that Quality Control issue. I thought he was being kind! I should have been a little bit suspicious about why that kind of guy was suddenly being helpful for once.”)
“I see, then do I need to train up a new person?”
She shakes her head dismissively while checking my reaction.
“No, he will be doing your job.” -Boss-
She emphasizes ‘Him’ loudly while giving away a mocking tone as if she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Hmm... Then what about the unused leave hours and severance pay?”
Her eyes twitched for a bit, not from my question but rather from my calm composure. This is the calmest I have been...
“I-it will be calculated and paid accordingly in due time.” -Boss-
With her reply and the thought of leaving, internally I felt a sense of relief as if my burdens had been gone. How odd... never mind.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
I took out my ID card and gently put it on top of her desk. As I was leaving, I saw him immediately doing my job and he noticed me.
I nodded to him with a smile of my own which made him widen his eyebrows in confusion. As I took my bag and quickly left the vicinity.
While moving out, my brain was still in damage control as I thought about myriads of things regarding money and living expenses.
I know I should have been angry, I should have called the HR or Workers Union to report on the situation but instead, I didn’t feel anything like that rather...
-Perspective Change to 3rd Person POV-
“Hey, do you know how to do this?” -Colleague-
Being called out by this person, the other shakes his head and replies.
“Nope, not a clue. Usually, it was him who’s doing all of this.” -Colleague 2-
He abruptly left and continued to his usual work. Leaving him behind to solve this alone.
“Shit!” -Colleague-
He curses as he doesn’t know how to do all of this.
(“I already told her, I can do this job easily!”)
-Perspective Change to 1st Person POV (MC)-
Freedom, like a bird, came out from its cage.
Freedom, like a captured fish freed from its bowl and fell into the ocean.
Freer than I ever was. The sensation and anticipation of not needing to think about setting up alarms. Dealing with difficult colleagues every day. Boss giving more and more work.
As if a heavy burden on my shoulders had been lifted away. A genuine smile unconsciously came from my face like when I was playing Open World Online.
“Heheheh~”
A giggle came from my mouth as I thought about how much leisure time I could have now. Instead of just home, eat, shower, sleep, work, overtime, and repeat all over again.
I sprightly went to a restaurant close by. I rarely have a chance to do this except at weekends. Plus, it’s in the afternoon! Ah, ~ warm sunlight feels nice on my skin.
After eating a big hearty meal, I walked back home and dropped my heavy tote bag. Containing information and what I have learned during work. Like test procedures, chemicals and what does it do, human biology, and the like.
Laying on the sofa, I let out a happy sigh as my eyes grew drowsy...
...
...
...
...
*BRRR*
It’s pretty cold...
Slowly I opened my eyes to be greeted with darkness.
“Oh... I’ve fallen asleep...”
*CLICK*
Turning on the lights, my room is well-lit and I can tell by the clock that it’s already 8 PM.
(“I slept for 6 hours! It must’ve been from that...”)
My sleep-addled brain slowly wakes up and I begin to think about what is my next step.
I don’t have a job which means I don’t have income.
I still have savings and by my calculations, I can last up to 6 months or 8 months if I tighten my expenses. The severance pay and other things will come later but this is what I have. I am not even sure if I am going to get a severance pay…
To be honest, I... I don’t want to get a retail kind of job or this job again. Maybe I should change my career but what qualifications do I have? Since my work is related to healthcare maybe I can try to study medicine and be a doctor. But... taking a student loan has its risks and I’m not sure if I can stomach study and assessments again.
While pondering what next step I was taking, my gaze landed on the helmet where I played Open World Online.
Like a flash of lightning, memories of forums regarding some players who quit their jobs and become fully independent on the game’s RMTS (Real Money Trading System).
A quiet voice within my heart utters.
(“Should I?”)
And I firmly answered it.
(“I should.”)
With that, I began to lay out my plans.
“First, I need a steady stream of Zeni either from doing adventuring jobs or selling items. I would prefer to choose the latter but it entirely depends on the market and what players want. While adventurer’s guild always have requests.”
“Second, to do the adventuring quest I needed a certain amount of rank to have higher rewards-based requests. Which means I need to take a lot of requests for promotion.”
“Third, all of that including selling stuff needing my character to have higher LV.”
All in all... the conclusion is that I need to level up, explore Areas, Dungeons, Fields, etc to get ingredients for crafting and also work on as many requests as I can.
My body is on autopilot as I’m showering and brushing my teeth. I am not hungry due to the meal I ate at late lunch and that long nap.
Seamlessly, I lay on my comfy bed and wear the helm after sufficiently drying my long hair.
Clicking the big button on the top, my world-view perspective changes in the blink of an eye.
-Entering O.w.O-
Warm sunlight prickled my skin and winds whistled in my ears. The familiar scenery of my home’s temple including the mysterious pedestal that controls the day and night cycle...
Seeing this pedestal though... Hmm... Wait... If I remember. The higher level I am the more things I unlock right?
I approached the pedestal just to check if there were any changes and indeed, there were...
Besides the ‘Wheel’ that governs the day and night cycle in my home. Another ‘Wheel’ has begun to float from the rest of the rusted ‘Wheels’.
(“Peculiar...”)
I stood closer to it and stared at the new ‘Wheel’. Since it isn’t rusty anymore, I can see the depictions carved into it.
As I scour around the wheel, four depictions are etched into it. The first is an image of the sun similar to the ‘day’ of the 1st wheel. The second is an image of a maple leaf. The third is an image of a snowflake. Then the fourth is an image of a flower.
In an instant, I know what this is telling me. The 1st Wheel adjusts the day and night cycle of my home. This 2nd Wheel adjusts the seasons of my home which are; summer, autumn, winter, and spring.
Although... I didn’t see the wheel rotates only floats as I grew curious in trying to give it a push.
*HURRRRKKKKKK*!!!
It’s incredibly heavy as if I’m pushing a big boulder. I can tell that it is moving but only a miniscule amount and it’s still not rotating!
Scrunching up my face, I am trying to figure out what’s going on. Until I noticed that the sizes of 1st wheel and 2nd
wheel were drastically different.The 1st wheel is large probably as big as my hands being outstretched while the 2nd wheel is just... A quarter of it judging by my eyes only.
(“Maybe that contributes to the heaviness and rotation?”)
But how do I expand the size of the wheel?
Holding both ends of the wheel, I gently pull it apart as if trying to stretch it out...
*GRRRRRRSSS*
The 2nd wheel expanded easily until it became as big as the 1st wheel. Then it began to rotate, I could tell the changes happening as the colours of the grass field changed along with it.
“Ohhhh... That’s how you do it.”
Once I figured this out, everything became easy as I changed its size to slow its rotation speed. After all, the season moves much slower than day and night. I arranged it to begin at ‘Summer’ depicted by the sun image coincides with the day cycle and leave it be for it to move slowly.
--
Now that’s done! Let’s check on crafting, today’s schedule is to level up and sell a lot. Baby steps...
Gathering my 99 potions, I opened up the player's market to check regarding the existence of this.
(“Hmm... So far, I can find ‘Strong Healing Potions’ not the high-quality ones.”)
The price for it is around 15000 Zeni per potion. Since I’m selling a high-quality version of it, I would increase the price but not too much.
It’s like purchasing large and medium cups in a cafe. The price of a large cup is slightly higher than a medium and that, makes the customer think it is worth it to get a large rather than a medium.
I feel proud of myself to be able to think that as I put the price as 20000 Zeni per potion. In my calculations, if all get sold I would get around 1980000 Zeni or in dollars would be 1980. But I need to ‘live’ in O.w.O as well so I’ll probably not even get 1980 dollars.
(“That is not enough though... my daily expenses are around 3000 to 4000 per month. Sigh... Shitty renting prices keep increasing every year.”)
Internally, I sighed.
Opening up my Safe, it seems Mr. Golem worked hard in replanting and harvesting as I have a lot of herbs.
“Hm... I don’t think Mr. Golem can handle loads of herbs, especially the scale I’m planning.”
Due to Gaia’s skill, I have tons of seeds but I couldn’t just plant them as Mr. Golem can only handle so much.
“Haaa... I wish I could make more than 1 Golem at a time.”
Is there a {Spell} like that in the academy? Oh, wait... No... I’m still LV 10 so the Spell Books only display Tier 1 and Tier 2 {Spell}.
Ah! My dagger and swords were sold. Hurray!!!
Clicking on the ‘Receive’ button, I can distantly hear the noise of coins clinking as the Zeni display in my inventory is increased by a big amount.
(“Okay... this will be my first time doing the conversion.”)
Taking a deep breath, I clicked on the ‘recycle’ button near the Zeni display and the familiar panel of conversion popped in front.
I choose to convert half of my Zeni as I put the numbers in and press confirm.
With that, half of my Zeni vanished and a notification from the system appeared.
-System-
Please check your email and bank account!
-System-
Nodding, I stroke Gaia’s head before logging off for a quick check.
-Exiting O.w.O-
I’m still wearing the helmet, but the visor is transparent so I can see where I’m going as I took my phone on my bed table.
“Hm... Where... Ah! There it is.”
The email is from the company I presume since it’s decorated with those animated floating blue cubes and it shows a receipt telling me the conversion of Zeni to Dollars.
*TING*
My phone rang as I checked the notification and indeed it seems that they transferred directly to my bank account. Well, that is convenient!
With a small satisfied smile, I lay down on my bed and press the button on my helmet.
-Entering O.w.O-
“BAAAAA!!!??” -Gaia-
He was startled by my sudden appearance as I chuckled. Then Gaia began to come closer and rubbed his cheek towards my waist.
Sparing not a single thought, I already ruffle his head while operating my <Crafting – All> {Skill}.
Navigating to the Magicraft and then to alchemy, I used the ‘Auto Mode’ to quickly craft 99 potions again and another 24-hour waiting period.
(“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try.”)
I quickly changed to the Artisan section of crafting and indeed, I found several recipes already unlocked in the ‘Auto Mode’.
Especially the furniture of the Deep Woods biome and many others, purely decorative as per the description.
I am thinking of converting this ‘Cone’ and ‘Section’ where I farm my herbs into small Deep Woods lookalikes. Might as well be both functional and fashionable.
Thankfully, They needed simple stuff like Woods from chopping trees and stones from mining boulders within Deep Woods.
-After a quick trip to the outskirts of Deep Woods-
Currently, I’m in my home as I navigate to the Artisan crafting.
I think I have enough...
I learnt something new too, the pickaxe icon that I usually have for mining boulders. Turns out, its shape shifted to an axe if I am facing a tree for chopping as well. No wonder I didn’t find anyone selling axes in the city.
Crafting all of those decorative furniture takes around as much time as making 99 potions. Now then...
I guess it’s time to grind levels!!!
*PING* *PING*
(“Hm...?”)
The system’s panel had a red blinking dot as I scrolled through the tabs until I reached the chat system.
-Chat-
(Siegfried)
-Eh? You are online? I thought...
-Anyway, wanna come for a grind?
(Me)
-Well, that’s a long story
-Sure why not?
-Where do we meet?
(Siegfried)
-The usual
(Me)
-Oki Doki be right there in a minute.
-Chat-
Just in the nick of time and talk about coincidence! Without wasting more than enough time, I said goodbyes to Gaia and Mr Golem then teleported to Frontera.
-Adventurer’s Guild-
I’ll take this and this...
At the moment, while waiting for Siegfried I am accepting all kinds of requests that are highly valued in terms of Zeni until I reach the max of 10.
Most of them are slaying, gathering rare mats from monsters, and of course boss killing. I purposely ignored the resource gathering request since it doesn’t give a lot of Zeni but I will still do it after all it could be useful for crafting.
“Hi” -Siegfried-
“WHOA!!!”
That voice was too sudden and close to my ear as I stiffened my back and turned around to see the semi-naked lanky man wearing lion-faced pauldrons.
“Hahaha...” -Siegfried-
He giggled seeing my reaction as I stared at him trying to convey my feelings of irritation before I just sighed.
“Have you taken the requests yet?”
Siegfried calmly nods and we begin to compare our requests. Another set of coincidences came again as the requests were the same.
“Don’t tell me... you’re looking at the Zeni reward too?”
“Yup, you’ve caught me!” -Siegfried-
He gave a sheepish smile and I just snorted.
(“That is why his requests are different from mine at the start.”)
It’s a good thing that we have the same thing.
“Shall we go?”
Siegfried nods while seemingly staring in deep thought at nothing.
“We do need to pass by Deep Woods.” -Siegfried-
With a nod on my own, I already put all my important stuff in my Safe while in my inventory are just my potions.
“Hmmm... I think we need some antidotes too.”
The next destination for the level 10-20 Area is called Wet Swamplands. Filled with bogs, dead plants, and decaying matter. It is riddled with poisonous and venomous monsters so it makes sense we stocked up on antidotes.
“I brought some.” -Siegfried-
“Good... Good...”
(“I sure hope there are some new plants I can discover for new potions!”)
-Travel to Wet Swamplands-
Upon arriving at the entrance of the Area, I can tell the biome has changed. From the lush and fertile forests of Deep Woods.
Into stagnant waters, decaying barks, and a musty scent coming from everywhere. Swamps that have odd bubbles releasing strange coloured steams. Even the colour scheme looks so bleak from here... Fewer players traverse here and I understand why.
Just as we entered the bog our legs went into the mud. It was... slimy and wet, that is all I can say.
Due to the terrain, our movement speed has been lowered. This makes me move slower and I don’t think I can dodge attacks at this slowness. So, I need to be careful.
As we journey on into the depths of the marshlands...
*HISSSSS*
Appearing from beneath the mud, a giant serpentine creature emerges to bite Siegfried.
“Hup!” -Siegfried-
He dodges effortlessly by turning his body slimmer. He would make many girls and guys jealous of that ability if it is real.
I took that chance to retaliate...
“[Flame Burst]!!!”
Once the mini-explosion settles, the body of the giant snake vanishes leaving behind glittering spheres.
I think one of our requests is to gather their rare drop which is ‘Venom Gland’.
“Haha... they seemed to camouflage themselves well. If not from my sensing ability I don’t think I can tell where they are.” -Siegfried-
He dipped his hands into one of the mud nearby and pulled out another big serpent then crushed it easily when his hands abnormally undulated into a bigger shape.
I sighed, knowing I didn’t have that kind of innate ability. But! I have something I can try dealing with this kind of troublesome enemy...
“Let’s try this {Spell} I learnt. I hope it works.”
I let my left hand hang in the air as I uttered the keyword.
“[Detect Life]”
It is an almost instant cast, as I can only see the cast bar appear for a split second and the magic begins. The palm of my left hand glowed in faint white light and then emitted a rather intense pulse travelling from my hand to my surroundings far and wide.
Bright marks are being left behind from the pulse and judging by the outline of it, they are snakes hiding underneath the mud.
“That’s pretty cool!” -Siegfried-
He compliments while staring at each marking from the {Spell}. The {Spell} also allows party members to see what I see resulting in Siegfried plunging his hand deep into the mud to grapple the snake and swiftly kill it.
“Thanks...”
I also follow along by casting a {Spell} that every mage class player knows and loves.
“[Fire Ball]!!!”
Aiming my staff to a cluster of those marks. The cast bar appears and alongside it, flames begin to coalesce into a single sphere of red-hot fires. Once it is filled, it shoots like a projectile. I can even feel the impact of my staff as it landed on the direction I chose.
*BOOOOOOOOOMM*
Explosion ensues as smoke disperses. With my INT status getting up there including my WIS. My MP regen is quite quick as I need a couple of seconds of rest time before shooting another barrage of [Fire Ball].
“Nyahahahahahaahah~”
I feel happy exploding several stuff to bits as the swamp area is littered with glimmering spheres. Of course, I avoid hitting Siegfried so he is fine.
He gave me an entertained chuckle and a defeated laugh as he doesn’t have AoE {Skill}. But he is better than me in terms of a single target.
This continued for quite a while until Siegfried told me that his rare item had been completed the same as mine.
“I am glad that you have AoE {Spell}. We did it so quickly.” -Siegfried-
I gave him a thumbs up and began searching for other stuff eliciting a curious look on his face.
“What are you looking for?” -Siegfried-
I stare at the roots of a dead tree or behind the rocks.
“I read that there are gatherable resources in this Area. Aha!!!!!”
Taken aback he follows my gaze and finds where I was looking at.
In the middle of a big swamp and from all of the bleak colours. One stood out, a small bush that have a striking dark purple colour of a flower growing at the top which is shaped like a bell.
After picking one I got the notification from the system and the description as well.
-System-
[Death Bell (Common)]
Description: A dark purplish flowering plant found within the poisonous swamp. Within its bell-shaped flower, there lies a blackened orb that contains highly concentrated toxins of the Swamplands capable of ending a life.
-System-
I also get its seeds from there as I grin happily.
“Uh... you know Magie.” -Siegfried-
“Yeah?”
“That plant is kinda poisonous.” -Siegfried-
“Yep.”
“What are you planning with it?” -Siegfried-
“Hmmm... that is a good question, but I think I’ll just plant it and maybe try to see if I can make something up from this.”
“Plant? As if... gardening or farming kind of thing?” -Siegfried-
He asked as if he was confused about what I was doing. Which makes me raise my eyebrows at him.
“Yeah? I mean that’s how I make potions after all. It would be a chore to come and go into the Area every time I’m out of Ingredients.”
Siegfried nods and replies...
“That makes sense but... to plant or farm, you needed a land and to have one you need to gain recognition from Noble NPCs. I couldn’t believe you did that where we are still below level 25.” -Siegfried-
My eyes widened for a quick second. I didn’t know... my home is regarded as ‘Land’ so that’s why I can plant stuff.
“Ah... Uhm... Y-yeah, that’s a bit... Uhmm....”
How do I explain this to him?
Siegfried who seemed to notice my shaky replies moved his lips in some kind of saying ‘Huh... What’s going on?’
“You see... I have... what the game said a permanent home.”
Upon processing my words, I can tell by his demeanour. He’s further taken aback, it seems a permanent home is kind of rare in this game.
“Holy shit! How!?” -Siegfried-
He had a curious grin on his face as he asked.
“Uh... It’s a reward when I finish the trial for my race change.”
The berserker rubbed his chin while nodding before saying in exasperation. His brow frowns...
“Ahhh... I’m jealous! I only got my {Trait} rewards.” -Siegfried-
He slumped his shoulder down while looking depressed.
I approached him and rubbed his shoulder in reassurance before asking...
“How do you get a permanent home ‘Normally’ anyway?”
Siegfried let out a heavy sigh and then explained...
“You need to pay an absurd amount of Zeni like... 1 trillion Zeni to get a single house. I mean! It’s like the price of a real house!!!!” -Siegfried-
He raises his tone and then mellows...
“H-haha.. Anyhow! Let’s not talk about those things. How’s the tournament going?”
I asked this in hopes of cheering him up and it did. His slumped shoulders straighten and he has a wide smile like a child getting his rewards.
You know... I thought Siegfried wasn’t talkative but getting to chat with him, he’s pretty talkative. Quite interesting hahaha...
“My coach has been training me up for the tournament. Man! I learnt a lot of new moves like...” -Siegfried-
He gleefully demonstrated several of the ‘Move’ he had learnt within the mud of the Swamplands. Even with the movement speed penalty, he is still agile enough and can perform those moves fluidly.
*Clap* *Clap*
I couldn’t help but give applause sharing the excitement he was in.
“Hehehehe... Thank you... Thank you...”
Rubbing the back of his head while giving away a small sheepish smile.
“It seems that you are quite close to your coach. Seeing that you admired him so much.”
The sheepish smile he made turned into a full-blown grin taking pride in my compliments.
“Y-yeah... He is sort of... Uhm... my role model kinda way.” -Siegfried-
He gently scratches his cheek and I can tell the tip of his ears turn reddish.
“Haahahah...”
I just chuckled, entertained by Siegfried’s innocent reaction. His coach must be a respectable guy.
“Oh! Did he play Open World Online too?”
Siegfried shakes his head.
“No, he doesn’t. I did tell him about this game. I just think he doesn’t like games.” -Siegfried-
I looked up to see the daylight still there while chatting and travelling with Siegfried amidst the Swamplands.
Oh! I better get some gift for Siegfried especially since he has a big day.
“When is the tournament by the way?”
I shoot out a question to Siegfried at the front.
“Next week, Monday. I’ll be facing my first opponent. It has been a while since I’ve fought. He said I’m rusty...” -Siegfried-
His tone fades at the end into muttering then his shoulder slightly slumped, though I heard him.
“How do you feel though? Are you prepared?”
I chimed in and his posture changed into a shrug.
“I’m not sure... I know it’s just nervousness and...” -Siegfried-
He opened his mouth and closed it several times trying to formulate words but then he firmly shut it.
“Well... I don’t know about giving pieces of advice or reassurance. But... experiences and knowledge you have learnt will pay off in the end. I mean... that’s how I got my job. Practice makes perfect and mistakes make it even more polished assuming you made it during training. Hahaha...”
(“Well, aside I have been fired recently. But let’s not divulge on that.”)
“Yeah... that’s true... Thanks!” -Siegfried-
He smiled at me and then had a realization before asking.
“That reminds me, you said you’ll be online on weekends but...” -Siegfried-
Yeah, I know he’s going to ask this.
“Well uhm... I got some free time to kill and this game is pretty fun so why not?”
He snorted and then gave a boisterous laughter before agreeing vehemently with me.
We then continued travelling until we managed to encounter a field boss in this Swamplands.
“Ohhhh... A hydra!” -Siegfried-
I can see a five-headed snake-like monster each spewing black murky liquid towards its opponents. It seemed like some players were challenging the field boss.
“Shall we?”
I stare at Siegfried and he replies with a nod as we enter the battlefield.