Chapter 5: Assault
In a certain backroom of a certain tavern...
"Man...man I cant take this anymore..." one of a few people said, his eyes giving the appearance as if his mind was breaking. He had a two handed sword next to him, and was drinking with another man and two women. All of them had large strength stats, willpowers, and all had chosen human appearances.
However, right now, they were depressed, confused, and unable to comprehend reality. To them, what had happened to them was an unrealistic occurance, even though it had happened, and their minds were trying to reject reality. However, the bartender, who poured them a drink, didn't mind any of that.
Lately, their minds were so broken, they had taken to robbing people at night in the dark, other players. Saying vulgar things and what not. Many groups like that were forming now, though they had their own reasons. Some were just already messed up in the head, brutal and relentless, and would push anyone and anything to get their way. Others felt so out of place in their new bodies, they felt as if they had to do these things. Some just wanted to prove it wrong, to do something so depraved the moderators would reveal themselves, prove it was all a lie, and force log them out so they could return to the real world.
And some, some were just bad seeds.
"You know...I heard a rumor" the bartender went. Although all the NPCs in town felt like real, living people, it seemed some game programming still had influence. "...that there is a group that went into the Admin Tower...and that they brought out the one who caused great suffering to many adventurers".
With these words, the drunken lot perked up. In some way, they felt as if it related to them. Or maybe it was their hopes, to torment and suffer the people responsible for their suffering. They didn't believe any of the rumors, like about them being saved. They were confinced it was a lie...this group therefore, had to be the liars. Allies of the ones who made them suffer. Their minds warped like that.
"Go on..."
"And apparently, that same group has been going to a field beneath a river....supposedly, someone will pay a great reward if they are captured and brought to them. Condition does not need to be good, just alive..."
To this group, it was as if fate had decided to drop a tasty steak in front of them. They wanted to make them suffer. They wanted to make them pay. They wanted to use them for their own enjoyment.
And so, paying the bartender, the now focused group of adventurers left the bar. The moment they did...the bartender's appearance changed, as if it was a digital hologram, collapsing and appearing as a well endowed woman.
"Let the games begin...I do hope you will give me some entertainment".
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The twins stared in shock, as they entered the Guild Hall of Silvercrest. Most people had small guild halls, with only a few exceptions. Keepers of the Dawn, Thunder God's Empire, and Market 77 would be some of those. However, this Guild Hall, while not the largest, was bigger then others they had heard about.
But even more so, they saw the name of the Guild as they entered. Silvercrest. They had heard rumors of Silvercrest, like it was controlled by an eight foot tall monster, or that the leader was some sort of insane mage with crazy power, or the like.
As they took their shoes off and entered the guild, Azra floated up to the second floor, and Toko went to sharpen and maintain his sword.
"Ah, hold on" Ryuu said as he went over to the Guild's Storage Box, and deposited his own supply of herbs. "There, now lets see how much you both got so we can pay properly".
The twins were still stunned. That was when Azra floated back down, upside down now.
"Hey, we still need new members, and everyone saw each other naked already, so why not invite them to the guild as well?"
"It would be nice with more party members".
"Not to mention inventory space".
"Hmm...good idea! Hey, you two, want to join Silvercre..."
""Yes!""
To the twins, joining such a famous Guild, even if information about it was obscure, could only be a benefit.
"Sweet!"
"And now we are up to five".
"First female member too, now that I think about it".
"Ah...I need to set up another bedroom".
"Do we?"
"The first one only has four beds".
"Ah...yeah, in that case we do".
"Lets celebrate reaching five members! I will get the booze!"
"...right, we can actually drink booze because our bodies have actual alchlohol tolerance. Would be impossible back in the original world".
Although the original world was mentioned, no one entered any instance of obvious sulking. That said, they were all people who went out quickly after learning what happened to them, so it was obvious their mental strength was strong. Hence why recovery after their initial embarrassing meeting was also fast.
Well, Azra had a rock thrown in his face, but that was going to happen to the first person who spoke regardless of what they said most likely.
Either way, once the bedroom was made, and the snacks and drinks were gotten, everyone celebrated.
"Cheers!"
Consequently, they did not know if the alcohol tasted like teal alcohol or if alcohol from their old world would taste differently, but they sort of enjoyed it all the same...though Toko ended up being a lightweight, despite having the highest endurance short of Ria.
Still, everyone enjoyed themselves, celebrating the expansion of their guild, and got so merry, not a single one of them realized something.
The alcohol was actually having an effect.
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"M...muh?" Ryuu said, waking up with a weird uncomfortable feeling. His head felt like it was pounding, as if he had a massive migraine. No...it was a massive headache.
Did...the alcohol actually have an effect....
Azra had mentioned real world elements were being applied, in addition to game elements and lore elements, but they didn't think the alcohol would be this strong. However...the truly awkward situation became clear once he realized what was around him.
He was currently laying naked on a bed. That was relatively normal, it was hot because it was currently summer in Aurion. However, there was a naked Ria latching onto him, to the right of him, and slightly on top of him. And while certainly not the large types you would usually see in situations like this in anime or such, right against his arm were those things. Furthermore, her arms were grasping around his body, so he could not sneak away before she woke up.
Ryuu was really worried it might be a huge scandal, or they would get in trouble, or the twins might leave from this. At least, that was what he thought. However, that was when he noticed on his left side, there was a certain someone whose body was pressing against him, sandwhiched between Ryuu and the other twin, Rio. That was Toko. He was already awake, his face was super red, and it looked like he wanted to cry.
The only one missing...was Azra. At least, that was the case, until Ryuu saw Azra, also naked, curled up into a ball and floating above them. Apparently, that float skill could work even while he slept. He was currently hugging a pillow, mumbling all sorts of things.
Ryuu sighed, trying to remember what exactly had happened.
Toko, after getting seriously dizzy or such, was stumbling around looking for fizzy pop. Thinking about it, by that point it seemed they were probably already drunk. Azra asked what sort of alcohol Toko bought, but then Toko questioned it because he thought Azra bought the alcohol.
...thinking about it...two days ago, Ryuu had finished a quest for a supply merchant, and he gave him a large amount of low cost supplies. Since it was likely beginner stuff, Ryuu had just shoved it in the pantry...at least, he thought it was beginner...in that case, the alcohol was probably from that.
Then Toko came, but dizzy and tipsy, he ended up shaking the bottle and releasing it. It opened, and everyone got soaked. Everyone wanted a bath, but no one wanted to go to the bathhouse, so...everyone stripped naked and Toko used a whirlpool spell.
Needless to say, it was unpleasant and a terrible idea. After that, they were all exhausted, when Ria said...
"I dont want to sleep alone!"
And Rio said...
"Oh look, a blue and white pillow!"
And that was how Ryuu and Toko got captured.
And then, they all ended up heading into the bedroom. The twins, while holding Ryuu and Toko, both got on opposite sides of the bed, and pushed themselves in, pushing Ryuu and Toko together....and then, they fell asleep.
Huh...I can remember all that?
Incidentally, Ryuu had a good memory, but his wisdom and intelligence stats were having a real world effect and boosted it further.
Toko's entire body was being pushed into Ryuu, who was facing Toko now. If it wasn't for the twins arms, their faces would be mushed into each other like the rest of their bodies.
"So...I think we need to be careful with alcohol in the future".
"...agreed. Can we skip going to the river today?"
"...maybe...I need to make equipment for the twins anyways".
Plus, it seemed like everyone would need to recover from hangovers, and this incident in general...
"Oh...I was wondering what felt so soft and smelled so sweet in my dreams" Ria mentioned as she woke up, not panicking at all.
"...this is not making you freak out at all?" Ryuu said, his face red as she scooched in closer.
"After yesterday, not really...I mean, not all girls are fragile maidens who will shreik or think weird things just because they woke up in a weird way after drinking...although admittedly, the alcohol was stronger then I thought".
"I think I need to check and see what alcohol was used...I have a feeling it was stronger then we had meant".
"Hey...just a question, but...did anyone bother washing the fizzy pop covered clothes?"
They all sighed, and got out of bed. Ryuu threw a pillow at Azra to wake him up, who looked around in shock.
"Ah...that was unexpected".
"You said we would be fine!"
"...yeah, umm...Ryuu, Toko, did either of you happen to complete the Merchant Assistance 1 Quest?"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Ryuu nodded.
"Right, so...that only gives a ton of food, ingredient, and base crafting materials as a reward, but among the drinks, there were a few bottles of Goldengrove Ale...which in the lore, is extremely potent..."
"...I see...okay, we clearly need to work our way up to that alcohol".
And with that, everyone began to rise.
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"...to think that there would be painkillers in the general supplies...I think that merchant must have known this would happen" Ryuu complained, as the painkillers made everyone's headaches better. They were all wearing clean clothes, because Ryuu got annoyed and used MP stored within four magic stones he had just to quick clean and dry the clothes.
"This must be why everyone always said that alcohol was bad for you and not to drink it..." Toko added.
"I dont think it was...that...bad?"
As Azra said that, everyone turned to glare at him. After all, he had been the one who got the bottle without checking what it was.
"I said I was sorry!"
"Anyways, lets put off harvesting at the fields for sure. In any case, we have quite a bit of funds, and Azra did some brewing yesterday. You kept some of the stock for later for experimentation, right?"
"Yeah, and some just in case. That said, we have a number of high quality potions to sell".
Suddenly, money signs seemed to appear in Ryuu's eyes.
Although he crafted to make cool and unique stuff, that did not mean he didn't like having large amounts of funds.
"Alright...Rio, Ria, please take these potions along with the weapons I already made and the delivery request to Keepers of the Dawn. Toko, could you go sell the potions in the market. The prices should be quite high, and I want to take advantage of it before others get their potions on the market".
"Aye aye!"
"Azra, could you do some research on market prices? I still need to make the twin's gear, so I will be in the forge".
"Rodger" Azra said, looking outside for a moment. "I will check out the market itself and see about how it works".
Saying that, he equipped his armor and weapons and floated outside. Rio and Ria were a bit nervous to deliver a shipment to such a notable guild, but Silvercrest was notable, although hard to find, in its own way. And so, they headed off.
They were hurrying along the ground. It must have rained last night, because the ground that was not paved was muddy, such as through the side streets and alleys they were going down. They had spent the first day or two exploring the city, so they were good experts on how to get around. Their boots sploshing through the mud, and the wind in their hair, they really felt alive.
The city was so beautiful in the morning, their hangovers had been totally forgotten.
So when suddenly Ria who was in front had a shield come out from the corner and slam into her face, it was quite the shock. She fell backwards, and Rio barely stopped before running into her. Suddenly, four people had surrounded them, the looks in their faces full of rage and depravation.
"Well well...look who we found...some scum for us to teach a lesson".
"We can use them to have some fun and enjoyment".
"Maybe we can get them to tell us how to get home".
"As members of that guild, they must know something!"
The twins had no idea what they were talking about, but the way they were looking at them was weird and twisted.
One of them took a sword and began to cut apart Ria's shirt....but, he began to float upwards all of a sudden before he could do anything.
"Now now...what are you doing to our junior guild members?"
Azra said that, floating in the sky while holding the man who had begun to float upwards. He then let go, and suddenly the man fell to the ground with a thud. He then landed, so that he could cover the twins better, but not looking worried in the slightest.
"That bastard is also one of them...get him!"
One of them charged, but then Azra seemed to sink into his own shadow. He then jumped up out of the man's shadow, and hit him on the back of the head with the pommel of his dagger, which in addition to the force of his running and the reduced stability of his legs, caused him to fall into the mud.
The other two were glaring now, and tightened their guard. It seemed that they had realized what skill he had used, and were arming themselves against it.
Meanwhile, the one who fell seemed to be getting back up, but the man he hit in the back of the head was staying down, apparently unconscious. This confirmed Azra's test.
As I thought, while weapon attacks would be counted by the game system, its possible to still knock people out if you do something irregular, like using the pomel of a dagger to the back of the head, like in the other world.
In other words, while even normal attacks tended to get calculated into the stat system, there were ways around it. Just like how they had gotten drunk on alcohol. Or how he was able to accept the guild invite to get out of the tower and be counted as a player.
The game system was adaptive, and there were clear signs of that happen. Ryuu's demonstration of crafting skills, the part of him still managing the game system is still working on adapting, whether its through the development and use of combat skills, to the development of crafting.
The blade of the dagger was considered the damage part, so one could knock someone out with the pommel without really affecting the HP or stats at all.
""Azra!"" the twins said in unison.
"Don't worry, its fine" he said, as his eyes began to glow. "Origin Tree Prison!"
Suddenly, tree roots sprouted from the ground and entangled the two of them, but they quickly began to cut themselves free. It appeared they were probably a higher level then Azra by a good bit.
However, Azra had already taken out his bow made by Ryuu, and fired an arrow. The arrow hit one of them, but as he pulled it out, he stumbled backwards and fell asleep. That was because Azra had developed a powerful sleeping toxin from his brewing skills.
With this, there was now two people left. However, the man who had gotten back up had his legs swept and felt his body slammed back into the ground by Ria.
This was not a martial arts skill either. Ria was a blackbelt in real life. Just because she was in a new world did not mean she forgot all those skills.
Incidentally, the move she just did caused her to gain three levels of the Martial Arts skill instantly.
Rio however looked at that, muttering. "...was there leg sweeps in karate?"
Well, Ria might have reached black belt, but she didn't limit herself to fighting in a predictable way either.
As for Rio...
"Flame Entrapment!"
Flames circled around and then wrapped around the body of the final man. He was slowly taking damage, but it was so slow it wouldn't even get close to the Force Logout threshhold and he would just respawn.
"Thanks for the help, Azra" Ria mentioned as she knocked the guy out.
"Yeah...seriously, who are these people?"
Azra went and sniffed one of thier mouths.
"Apparently, drunks. I guess the lesson today is that alcohol is bad for you....or at least, should be drunk carefully and in moderation".
The twins nodded, remembering the scene earlier.
"Anyways, I will handle this. You go finish the delivery, and for now keep to main roads".
"Rodger!"
"Understood".
The two left and went back on the main streets, leaving Azra alone with them.
I guess it should be expected that people would also react this way...its not like I had a choice, but I suppose...we need to do something. To improve the mood, and raise morale for people with less mental strength...
Azra then wondered how the other major guilds were doing, wanting to check in and make sure it would not become a problem. Thankfully, he had quite a few abilities thanks to his unique race. Although it was human, it was a special unique evolved human varient known as "Manifested AI Human". With this, he still had limited access to the game system. He couldn't go around messing with stats or skills, but it seemed he had a limited ability to manipulate and change things in the world. He still needed to test it out more, but was like a weak Admin Authority.
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Thunder God's Empire was led by a man known as Raijin Attaro. He was also a beta tester, and he was known for being both an expert of swords and lightning magic, and was known as one of the strongest adventurers in this new world. After learning about what had happened about them and how this was their new world, his reaction was "Oh, well thats different" and brushed it off.
Perhaps his stats reflected his style, but he had a lower intelligence stat comapared to his others, and massively high strength, endurance, and HP stats. His wisdom stat was also pretty good, and his luck was outstanding. He also had some charisma.
As for the Guild Hall, it was a large manor/castle like place, with a large interior courtyard, plenty of bunk rooms, and even private rooms for the high ranking members. It had bits of Japanese style as well as European, and had multiple defensible positions. There was a pond that was placed in one corner, and a cherry blossom tree right in the center.
It had parts that appeared fearsome, and parts that appeared beautiful.
"So then, everyone understands right?" he addressed his fellow guildmates. "Maybe we were saved from destruction, maybe everyone is still alive, but either way, we are here! So rather then stress over things we dont know and cant control, let us push forward and make this our world! Let us do what we came here to do, have fun and follow our dreams! We are Thunder God's Empire, and we stand united, strong, and we go for our desires and achieve them!"
Cheering errupted from around the players in the guild, even some that had been looking down or sad. It was true, they did not know if their families and friends were dead or alive. But they knew they were here, with each other, and were able to go and achieve their dreams.
That was the power of Raijin's Charisma, and his words rang in the hearts of all of his guild mates. He looked strong, big, dependenable. A reliable man to lead them.
Ahhh! This is so stressful! He thought as he stood there. When everyone had come to this world, and when they ended up in their in game bodies, it was probably the most disorienting for Raijin, who wore glasses and was ov average height with normal muscles in the real world.
Incidentally, in the real world, he had been nervous and considered weak even, and so the character he created was so that he could feel strong. The reason for the low intelligence stat was more because he only put in as much as he needed, and wanted to be mighty and inspiring in a game at least.
Somehow, he had more charisma here then he had in the real world, and that was not refering to the stat. Someone who was ignored in the real world was a popular person here...although Aurion was now the real world.
Once he was done with the speech and everyone was rallied and inspired, their spirits raised, he went back into the Guild Master's Office and calmed down a bit. His second in command, a woman who wore white armor and robes with blonde hair and blue eyes, came in after him.
"That was very good, Riajin".
"Thanks, Cleo. Tell me, what have you learned?"
"Market 77 seems to have recovered from the shock already, and are making moves to stabilize their existence and that of their members by becoming an economic power. It seems they are already making long term preparations. Keepers of the Dawn have also established a major pressence, being known as a group that is assisting in keeping order in the city and protecting people. They have not only fully rallied themselves, but also are rallying other independent players out of any depression they might be in..."
"I see...there is something else though?"
"There is also the guild reportedly seen working with Keepers of the Dawn, Silvercrest. For some reason, the Keepers of the Dawn coverly released a lot of strange and contradicting rumors about them, and Silvercrest itself did nothing to dispell then, so the rumors are likely to protect Silvercrest. We have confirmed that when the Keepers of Dawn sent three people into the Dungeon, they had met two memebers of Silvercrest along the way and joined forces. Additionally, Silvercrest had three guild members leave the dungeon, even though only two entered, so it seems they brought someone out".
"I see...so he was probably the source of the information then?"
"He is likely the savior that apparently saved all of us millions from the Earth's destruction. More then likely, the rumors are meant to obscure truth from fiction, discreditting the original rumors about the number of people that entered the Dungeon compared to when they left".
"I see...and Silvercrest itself?"
"It apepars to be a small guild that recently got two members, for a total of five. However, they use abnormal equipment, and due to them handeling quests and tasks above their level using that abnormal equipment, they are gaining and developing skills, both common and unique/abnormal. As such, the guild is considered to be a small but elite group. Likely, they had some very good unique skills. I have confirmed the white haired boy who emerged from the Dungeon appears to have some sort of floating skill, and may have other abnormal ones".
"Anything else?"
"Some scouts have reported abnormal monster movement down south....it may require investigation".
"I see...send a force to investigate. It might be something dangerous".
"Understood!"
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Meanwhile, at Market 77...
The Market 77 Building was actually an entire block, and probably one of the more expensive guild homes. It took up multiple buildings, and looked like an entire business district working togehter. There were offices to plan and plot meetings, crafting industries, marketing rooms to plan sales, and so on. And the most prominant building was where the higher ups operated in, includingthe Guild Master's Office.
"What do you mean, someone beat us to the market on potions?"
"Yeah...someone released a lot of great quality healing potions early in the morning, and got the drop on the high price marks. They also sold quite a bit, so the demand went down along with the price!".
Although not many people initially took crafting skills, there were a number of guilds that formed from people who wanted to learn them, afraid of the risk of permenant death. A few were led by people who took some crafting skills at the start. So it would be impossible to form a monopoly, but Market 77 was the biggest, and therefore thought they would be able to get a jump on the prices first. However, someone had moved fast enough to beat them to it.
"Do we know who?"
"It appeared to be a player named Toko, registered to the Silvercrest Guild".
"Silvercrest? Huh".
He had heard rumors that Keepers of the Dawn had been making requests of them, and that today, they even seemed to have brand new high quality swords, thought to be drops from some high level dungeon, or maybe even acquired from a raid, though it seemed rather soon for that.
If Silvercrest was the source, it was possible they had one of the rare players that specced into full on crafter right from the start. Perhaps even a Dex above 200.
Although a number of people were going into crafting, they also were putting a good amount of points into HP and Endurance. The panic was dying down a little, but as a result, low quality goods which were already easy to find became easier, so high quality stuck out like a sore thumb.
"It appears...Silvercrest might have a dedicated crafter from the very beginning of the game...tell me, what do we know about them?"
"The Guildmaster is a level 25 Elari Mage named Ryuu. Elari, who get bonuses to dex and intelligence, and start off with a crafting skill as well as a lore bonus. Based on one of our members spotting him in a dungeon a few days back, his magical attacks are highly accurate and can even track targets, indicating he likely has a high dex. Additionally, he is decked out in high quality gear. It is extremely likely he specced to crafting".
The Guildmaster of Market 77, Adamu, pondered. It would be fantastic if they could convince Ryuu to join Market 77, although he was already the leader of his own Guild and seemed to be doing well. Still, he had to try. Ryuu was far too great of a prize to leave alone.
It seemed like he had connections to Keepers of the Dawn, but still...the desire in front of him was great.
As for his guild, he had figured that doing work would both help keep their minds occupied so they could adapt to the sudden news, and also secure their future here, so they were busy at work. The comraderie of working and crafting together was helping them form bonds, which was helping them cope with this world. So far, everything appeared to be fine. Which meant the Guildmaster could pursue this desire without worry.
And so, forces inside the city began to make their moves.