Chapter 4: Supply and Demand

Within the city of Arkrell, existed a certain guild.

Some say the guild is inhabited by the insanest of insane. Others say they are monsters in human skin. OThers say they are the greatest crafting guild known in this world.

Their name? Silvercrest.

"Oof...here you go, one eye of newt...I cant believe those things actually have use" Toko said, as he put down a crate full of ingredients by the forge. As for the one using the forge, that would be their esteemed guildmaster, Ryuu. He was in the middle of taking some metal harvested from the Galgaros Mine and making a new bow for it.

Right now, they were inside their Guild Hall, but it was more like their home. They had taken their shoes off by the door, and freely walked around with bare feet or protective slippers, when near the forge. Although...their third member came floating by.

And yes, he was floating. Wearing just a white T shirt and black shorts, he was reading a book, upside down, while floating. THe only player here who had not started as a human, the conscious mind if the AI assist program, who chose the name of Azra. Azra was currently catching up on everything he had missed out on, such as manga.

For the record, he had chosen the Archer class, though he also utilized dual wield daggers. He had recently gotten up to level 10. Ryuu was level 25, and Toko was level 18.

At the moment, it was just them three boys in the guild. Its not like they were exclusive, however....for the past week or so, not many people had been joining guilds. Especailly with the information that was getting released.

Naturally, it was the Keepers of Dawn guild that was in charge of releasing it, since they already had one hundred members, letting people know the dangers of this world. That it was their real world, that it was for keeps. That there were ways one could die permenantly. But that there were also various safeguards in place, and also they explained what had happened, and why.

Because of this, there was a lot of recoil. By now of course, plenty of people had noticed the logout button, Call Moderator button, and several other things didn't work right. That was because the Game System had bled together with realitiy, so a lot of things in real life applied, but also a lot of game logic applied.

In the mean time, Azra uploaded his own database to the Guild Library.  Even though he was an AI, he had a surprising amount of TV shows, anime, manga, and such, so now the guild Library was fully stocked with things.  However...

"By the way, Azra...I noticed today, some of that anime included episodes of currently running anime that were not released yet.  How did you get them?"

"Ah, well they had finished all the episodes already, and in the process of taking over servers and power sources to do what was needed, since it only took an insanely small part of processing power, I downloaded the libraries from the studies".

"Ah...well, thats good to know".

Given that they now lacked access to their original world, things like this would be nice.

"Ah yeah, I also kinda grabbed a whole bunch of stuff as well...some documentaries, dramas, but also textbooks and such, I dunno, in case that ever becomes important" Azra said as he floated on by.

"By the way, what are you reading right now?"

"Some web novel about a guy who was reincarnated as a sludge...err, slime, I think..."

"Ah".

As for the three of them, they were handling it fairly well.  Sort of.  Ryuu cried into his pillow since he was worried about his family.  But then he remembered, his brother was online, so Ryuu called him later that night.

Leaving aside the shock and such of learning his little brother was alive in this world, he was happy to speak to him again.  Word was also traveling across the area through magical communication devices, and more importantly, friends list chat.  

Apparently, he was on a city on the same continent, so he was a bit far away, but he would head to Arkrell to meet up with him.  His username was Tsuka.

"Right, well..." Ryuu said, as he finished forging some new daggers for Azra.  "We should probably attack the mine again soon.  Im a bit concerned about the possibility that while monsters spawn, they probably dont despawn...that is what you said, right Azra?"

"Yeah...there is lore to monsters spawning into this world, however...there is no lore that supports despawning.  As a result, if you leave a Dungeon alone for too long, it will likely overflow.  Well, events like that were planned for the game as well, which makes them more likely to happen since they also have lore for it".

"Yeah.  The mine will be a good source of materials anyways".

"You are adapting surprisingly well, by the way" Azra mentioned to Toko.

"Yeah...well, we all have our circumstances" Toko replied, giving off an air of not wanting to talk about it.  However, Azra floated down and hugged him from behind.

"Well its okay...we are you family now".

Toko's face got a bit red, but his face relaxed into a smile.  Ryuu didn't have the heart to tell him that line was from a manga he saw Azra reading earlier.

"By the way, how is the potion brewing going?"

Although Ryuu had his own potion brewing skill, he had focused more on magic items so far.  Meanwhile, Azra, who saw Ryuu's superior skill in that regard, and also understanding the best about how both the game system and this world worked, had gone into potion making, and his brewing and cooking skill were both superior to Ryuu's.  The cooking seemed to come from the fact he finally had a sense of taste, and really enjoyed all the flavors of food.  Well, he was not a major fan of sour things though and didn't like overly spicy food either.

But he loved sweets, as well as diner food.

"So far so good.  I think I have come up with a new, effective, more efficient recipe for potions.  At the moment, I think they will come in handy...although..."

"Although?"

"There has been a drastic increase in demand for HP potions.  Probably because no one wants to risk death, they are getting purchased by the dozens.  Actually..."

He took out a piece of paper.

"We also got a request, from Keepers of the Dawn.  They were wondering if we would supply them with ten quality magic swords like the one Toko used against the Admin Tower dungeon, such as being able to fire lasers, and 50 high quality potions".

Keepers of the Dawn.  A Guild that was started by one of the highest ranked players in this world, and a Beta Tester for the original game.  THey had ended up adding each other as friends after the Dungeon raid, and it seemed he was deeply interested in the equipment used at the time.

Apparently, very few Beta Testers went crafting since that system was still being fine tuned and was limited in the beta, and nearly everyone who logged in for the first time made their characters more combat/adventurer based.  Because of that, Ryuu was considered to be one of the best crafters in the city...however, he somehow also got a reputation of being hard to approach.

But that might have something to do with the fact he was rumored to be a seven foot tall muscular Draconi with jet black scales and blood red eyes.  Basically, no one could even recognize him because someone spread a super bizzare description about him.

"...I wonder who it was...its so clearly off the mark..."

He first looked at Toko, but he was too timid.  Then at Azra, who was a bit more prankster like...but he had been really absorbed in reading manga and novels and watching anime, as well as leveling up.  He was doing work properly too.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

His unique skill that the game gave him was rather interesting though.  He was capable of floating, levitating, and even flying in the air, and could use it on other objects and people too for a limited time.  Ryuu questioned if he was actually a human, or an Elari, as there was an Evolved Elari race that had been released which allowed flight, but it appeared he was just a small human.  It appeared he took this form based on the analysis of several popular characters, concluding that "White hair", "red eyes", and "looks like a child" were an extremely popular combination, citing sources such as DanMachi, World Trigger, and such.

Getting back on his train of thought, it was likely the Keepers of Dawn released such a bonus description for some reason.  Maybe so they would not get harassed?  Its possible, they didn't seem mean, but...it could also be a prank.

"Well, I wont get anywhere thinking about it" he said as he finished the set of daggers, in addition to some other gear he was making.  "Anyways, if there is a potion shortage, that could be bad.  But...it also represents an opportunity.  Everyone, change in plans.  We are going to go to Imaro Fields".

"Imaro River Fields?"

"Yeah...there should be plenty of ingredients for recovery potion making there, and I doubt anyone else will be there".

"Hold on...but shouldn't there be other guilds who at least have some crafters who are thinking the same thing?"

"Maybe, but...for a variety of reasons, Imaro River Fields is a tricky location".

"You can say that again" Azra mentioned.  "I am amazed it survived beta testing, honestly".

"Wait wait, what is so bad about Imaro River Fields?!"

Ryuu looked away.  "It has a...troublesome entrance requirement..."

Toko looked on with a confused look.

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"This is...super embarrassing" Toko said, as he, Ryuu, and Azra were standing naked in a large stream, with the water level up to their knees.  No underwear or swimsuits, but Azra playfully splashed them both.  Since it was just three boys, it was okay, but the location was not that isolated so Toko was worried and embarrassed that someone might come over and see them.  These were their real bodies now, after all.

"Its pretty much guarenteed not to be in use though".

"How long do we have to wait?"

At the moment, the only thing any of them had equipped was a magic bag, which appeared as a satchel with a strap.  

"It should be any...ah, here we go".

Suddenly, after standing like that for so long, the water around their legs began to bubble and glow...and then, the three of them were sucked in.

They twisted and turned in the current, before feeling themselves glow...in the next moment, the three soaked boys were deposited in a strange place.  They were at the bottom of a pond, with a stone circle at the bottom.  They quickly swam to the surface so they would not drown, and climbed onto the grassy area.  They were soaked and somewhat muddy, but Ryuu took some giant leaves from a nearby tree to wipe them off.

Imaro River Fields.  If this was just the game, the condition would not be so bothersome.  After all, VR bodies are not real bodies, and going in without any armor, weapons, or gear equipped aside from a magic bag was a common quest detail for some more difficult challenges, or just some parts in generals, for RPG games.

In this case, it was to make PKing in the area less likely.  It is a spot that was great for picnics provided you could get over having your avatars be naked, and it was also filled to the brim with plants that were great for making HP potions with.  This allowed new players to have a safe place to come and harvest potion ingredients, without the worry of having their gear stolen.  

Furthermore, the entire area had a restriction where one could not equip anything aside from a magic bag while inside, and in case someone tried to get around it, monsters spawned that, while doing only one HP damage per hit, were fast and accurate with attacks and each attack reduced weapon and armor durability significantly.

It was all a safeguard to prevent player killing, or PKing.

Of course, as their VR bodies were now their real bodies, it was a bit more embarrassing, but that was why Ryuu figured the place would be plentiful and full of ingredients.  And for sure, he could see it, the wide fields of Imaro River were basically untouched...except...

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Ryuu, and two people who looked exactly alike, reacted like that.  In front of the trio, was a boy and a girl completely naked except for a magic bag.  They both appeared a bit older then the three of them, thirteen or fourteen, although neither had any major growth.  And furthermore, they looked almost identical, aside from the genders of being male and female...twins.  They also appeared to have chosen the Haldari race, as they both had black cat ears and black cat tails.

It appeared they were also harvesting plants in Imaro River Fields.

No one was quite sure how to react in this situation, so Azra went first.

"I guess we were not the only ones who had this idea".

And as a result, Azra got hit in the face with a rock.

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After everyone had calmed down, and it got less awkward, the group was sitting on a blanket.  Although there was a girl among them, both sides had endured the initial embarrassment and were trying to get over it.

"So, you came here to take advantage of it too?" he asked as he put some more herbs in his magic bag.  They had used wind magic, since magic was not weapons or armor and could still be used, to cut down a bunch of herbs and gather the massive pile by the blanket, so now they were just doing the monotinous task of storing each individual item in their magic bags as they sat and talked.

"Yeah...by the way..."

"Ah yeah, we are twins.  I am Rio, and this is my twin sister, Ria".

Toko, who appeared the most embarrassed out of everyone and was hiding behind his knees while sitting, looked up to ask.  "You seem...okay with each other".

Understanding the statement, it helped break the awkwardness and tension a little as the two laughed.  "Yeah, because me and my sister are twins, we are used to taking baths and changing in front of each other.  Even as we grew older, we remained close, so I guess it helped.  Though, it was shocking when you three appeared".

Ryuu himself was embarrassed, but was putting it aside for the moment.

"So, I guess the demand for healing potions is as high as I heard.  I guess everyone is being cautious about damage taken".

"Yeah...it seemed a bit scary, so we thought coming here was safer.  Well, I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that even if its embarrassing, others would take the safer option".

"So wait, do either of you two have the brewing skill, or do you plan to sell them to a brewer?"

"Brewer, neither of us have any crafting skills really, but we do have a bit of dex so we can havest materials.  We figured we would go as a sword and spell combo.  My sister got the Unique Skill Ultimate Duelest which lets her dual wield swords easily and with advantages to her stats, and I got the unique skill Magic Archives, which has given me a lot of different magic to utilize".

"I see...well, maybe you could sell it to us?  Azra is a great brewer, and we have a lot of crafting facilities in our guildhall.  How about, once we finish harvesting, you come back with us and check it out?"

"Well, sure.  How about we add each other to our friends lists?"

"Yeah, what my brother said!"

Ryuu could basically understand the basic vibe of these two already.  It seemed that Ria was more like a tomboy, while Rio seemed more like a bookworm.  And like that, their friends lists expanded and they finished the harvest.

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Once they had exited the field and got to shore, they quickly re-equipped.  However, unexpectedly Ria did not just have two shortswords, but four, two at each side.  The sheaths also looked rather small as well as the blades, but Ryuu realized there was compression magic on it to adjust their sizes.  That way, they did not get in the way.

As for Rio, he did not wear the classic mage robes or hat, but had a more leather based armor.  Both of them looked rather basic.

As for Azra, his equipment was now also visible.  His armor appeared to be based on agility, but he had some metal on his arm braces.  His sleeves and pants were short to provide easier mobility and flexibility, and it was also to make his Float power easier to use, since weight did play a minor factor.  Basically, there was a weight limit to what he could make weightless, so he prefered lighter gear and armor.

In fact, leaving aside Ryuu, everyone else here was pure agility based.  Ryuu also had some agility, but most of his agility and dodging ability actually came from dexterity.   That said, the bonuses were insignificant compared to if he had gone full agility, but dexterity was more for crafting, the agility bonus was just a nice supplement they did for balancing after getitng feedback from the Beta Testers.

Rio and Ria stared at the three's gear.

"Woah...that...that actually looks like really great stuff".

"Where did you get this all?!"

"Ah, I made it.  I got a lot of crafting skills at the start and...well, I think I might have taken advantage of a bug by mistake".

"A bug?"

"Ahh, you know the airship at the start?"

"You mean where you get the map and the magic bag and shorts and such?  the tutorial?"

"Yeah...you can harvest materials from the airship".

The twins stopped dead for a moment there, processing what he had said.  It was common knowledge, as the lore was brought up a few times, about the valuable materials used to create airships.

"...seriously?"

"...thats insane".

"Yeah...I went on a harvesting spree and harvested all of it".

"How was that not taken out when it was still a game?"

"...because the crafting system was not fully implimented" Azra mentioned, looking away like it had nothing to do with him.  Leaving aside that he was a human now, and back then he was just ones and zeros, it still hurt his pride a little a bug that massive made it into the game.  Although, that bug was what helped establish Silvercrest and that helped them rescue him first and get him out of that tower, so he was happy it wasn't...

...but it was still a fairly big blow he missed something so broken.

"Anyways, lets head back...though, given the demand, maybe we should come back tomorrow?"

"That sounds like a good idea.  Its gating late now though" Rio mentioned, as the sun began to set.  "We still need to get a new inn room.  Some jerks pushed us out of ours".

Yes, even though information was spreading, about how they might have been saved, about how this was their new world, although some were accepting it more easily, others...their outlook and personalities had turned bad.  Or maybe they were like that from the start, but a lot of bullying had been going around.  Players getting ambushed, attacked, having their belongings stolen from them...Toko was an example of this happening even before.

Since there was no real admins or moderators to call on, it was fairly lawless.  Some guilds, like Keepers of the Dawn, were trying their best, but...it seemed the situation they were thrown into had caused some mental instability among a number of people.

And so, while thinking of those thoughts, they headed back to Arkrell.