JohnWillStab and Bonifacius walked down the old road leading south, it moved along the river as evident by the sound of splashing water.

“Bonifacius: I would have never expected thou to find a pet so quickly!” he explained.

Occasionally JohnWillStab would spot a demon-fish swim around near the edge of the water.

At one point, he could see the water spirit moving around near the water, from the looks of it, the spirit was fist fighting a demon-fish.

The trees above them were arched like an unfinished roof.

“JohnWillStab: Is it rare or something?” he asked seeing Arachnophobia still sitting on his shoulder.

Bonifacius nodded.

“Bonifacius: While they have little application in combat, pets that are not created by other players are very rare!”

“Bonifacius: Sometimes they are even given special abilities like detecting hidden enemies or carrying thy items!”

JohnWillStab considered the idea of strapping a backpack to his cat and using her like a package mule.

“I doubt a cat has all that much in the way of carrying capacity…”

John turned back to Bonifacius.

“JohnWillStab: I’m still surprised I missed a cowboy-shootout by only twenty minutes…” he admitted with a disappointed sigh.

“At least it’s good to know there are other roleplayers out there! I was worried Bonifacius was the only one!”

Bonifacius laughed.

“Bonifacius: Fear not, friend! I am certain even grander adventures await you!”

John nodded out of politeness.

As he was about to comment on his increased reputation with the people the, local chat became flooded with messages.

“XxFoxlyxX: LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“Garlicboi: Get back here, a#*hole!”

“NoPissBottles: What the f#*k was that mithril ore deal about!?”

“OheiMark: I SPEND MONTHS FINDING ALL THAT ORE!”

“Garlicboi: You thief!”

“XxFoxlyxX: Don’t be a sore loser!” he yelled back.

“NoPissBottles: I’ll get you for this!!!”

It was three humans chasing a frogman.

“Oh, cool. Somebody’s going to be lynched.” John remarked stepping aside and making way for the runaway and pursuers to keep moving.

Bonifacius stood in the centre of the road facing the incoming group.

“Bonifacius: Halt! What has happened to warrant such action against this person frogman?” he asked.

JohnWillStab looked over to Bonifacius a little surprised.

“Are you seriously planning to help EVERY person you see?” John wondered forgetting he was also helped by Bonifacius.

The four stopped, XxFoxlyxX moved a little closer to Bonifacius before also stopping.

“Garlicboi: What…?” All the “th”s made Bonifacius impossible to understand for some.

“JohnWillStab: He’s asking why you’re chasing the frog dude.” John explained.

Bonifacius nodded.

“Garlicboi: Ah.” He nodded understandingly.

“NoPissBottles: He undercut us on all our auctions by like one gold!”

“Garlicboi: Yeah! OheiMark was saving for a mount for ages and this bastard just set him back a few months!”

“Garlicboi: He drove our prices to nothing!”

“Auctions?” John thought turning to Bonifacius.

“JohnWillStab: What’s an auction?” asked John.

He was met with blank looks from the four strangers.

“Bonifacius: Tis a place for players to sell items to other players instead of selling their items to NPCs!” he explained.

“XxFoxlyxX: Pfft!” he played the “/laugh” emote gaining everyone’s attention.

The frogman had medium-length red hair and wore a green jacket over a black shirt.

He wore a big, oversized newsboy hat.

“XxFoxlyxX: The auction house is so much more than that! It’s where this game really takes place!” he exclaimed passionately.

“XxFoxlyxX: Boss-drops, monster parts, armour, weapons, food, ore!”

“XxFoxlyxX: They’re all cards for you to play in the game of auctioning!”

“XxFoxlyxX: Your gold is your health and level in one!”

JohnWillStab butted into the rant.

“JohnWillStab: So virtual stocks?” he asked.

Foxly nodded after a few seconds of delay.

“JohnWillStab: So, he undercut you guys by one gold?”

“Garlicboi: Exactly! That’s so scummy!” he exclaimed.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: True, but it is a legitimate technique… You should have kept an eye on the sales.”

“JohnWillStab: Or take the sale down and try and sell them in the future or just wait for someone to buy them for the current price.”

John’s suggestion piqued XxFoxlyxX’s interest.

“NoPissBottles: We did! He kept doing the same until we ended up selling each stack for 50g!” he exclaimed.

JohnWillStab glanced into his bag seeing he had about fifty silver.

“OheiMark: Normally a stack of 100 mithril would sell for 150 gold!”

Foxly breathed a sigh as a devilish grin spread across his face.

“XxFoxlyxX: 150g per stack?!” he burst into laughter.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“XxFoxlyxX: You’d sell it for 120g at best unless the Steeldew festival is going on!”

“XxFoxlyxX: Where’d you get those prices?”

“OheiMark: Even so, you should have at least sold your mithril for the same price as us! Wouldn’t that mean better money for us all?!”

Foxly shook his head.

“XxFoxlyxX: Why play a game for a reason other than to win it?” he asked.

JohnWillStab turned to XxFoxlyxX with a suspicious look.

“JohnWillStab: Did you buy it?” he asked.

Foxly nodded.

“XxFoxlyxX: That’s right!” he grinned.

Everyone glared at Foxly as he continued grinning like a villain.

“XxFoxlyxX: I drove their prices to the ground and bought them out for less than half of the price!” he laughed.

“XxFoxlyxX: Right now, I have an entire warehouse in Glumington filled to the brim with Mithril!”

“XxFoxlyxX: And if you glance over to your calendar, you’ll see what festival starts next week!” he grinned.

“Bonifacius: Tis the Steeldew festival! A time for blacksmiths and other craftsmen to create tools and armour from rare material for contests and quests!” he exclaimed with a look of shock.

Foxly laughed.

“XxFoxlyxX: That’s right!”

“XxFoxlyxX: Going off last year’s numbers, I’ll be able to sell each mithril piece for two gold!”

JohnWillStab nodded along.

“NoPissBottles: See, this is why we need to beat the s#*t out of that little twerp!”

Bonifacius shook his head.

“Bonifacius: While his actions are sly, they are not a reason to resort to fighting!”

“Garlicboi: Dude, this is just a game…”

“Bonifacius: Indeed, but death could cost someone their last honour-point rendering their character unusable!”

“JohnWillStab: Honour points?” he asked.

“Bonifacius: Each time thou die, depending on the circumstances, thou may lose an honour-point, should they reach zero or less thou will become a outlaw, almost all factions shall see thee as an enemy! Lose even more and thou could remain trapped an outlaw forever!”

“Bonifacius: However, when doing quests can increase thy honour points, even spending time not committing crimes will cause the number to slowly return to zero!”

“Bonifacius: There are exceptions, such a duels, guild-combat or dying during quests!”

OheiMark interrupted Bonifacius’ explanation.

“OheiMark: What are we supposed to do then?”

Everyone went quiet, John observed Bonifacius who was considering what to say.

“XxFoxlyxX: You can go mine me some more mithril!” he laughed.

“XxFoxlyxX: Though, I invested most of my gold into it, so I can only pay you a little!” he added with a forced frown.

“Garlicboi: Oh, f#*k off!”

“NoPissBottles: Hold on! Are you actually going to pay us?” the desperate NoPissBottles asked.

Foxly shrugged.

“XxFoxlyxX: Sure, why not!”

OheiMark looked over to his companions.

JohnWillStab stepped forward.

“JohnWillStab: Wait a second…”

A smug smile spread across his face in real life.

“JohnWillStab: Killing a skilled businessman like Foxly would be wrong…” he began.

“JohnWillStab: But if we were to beat him in his own game that’d be fine, right?” he asked turning towards Bonifacius.

Bonifacius nodded uncertainly.

“XxFoxlyxX: Beat me in my own game?” he asked with a grin.

“Garlicboi: I’m down, but how?”

“OheiMark: He said he has a warehouse! A WAREHOUSE!”

“OheiMark: And there is mithril inside!” he added.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: I know, but I’m something of a strategy-game expert,” he replied with a satisfied smile which practically radiated confidence.

XxFoxlyxX shrugged.

“XxFoxlyxX: Honestly, I don’t mind what you guys do in your free time, as long as I’m not getting killed that is!”

John turned to face Bonifacius, he realised he never consulted Bonifacius about this task he undertook.

“JohnWillStab: Oh yeah, are you down to help us out with this?”

Bonifacius laughed.

“Bonifacius: Of course! I am quite interested to see how thou will go about resolving this conflict!” he exclaimed.

Relieved that he could still exploit Bonifacius’ level and kindness, JohnWillStab turned to the three humans who up until mere moments ago were out for Foxly’s blood.

“JohnWillStab: Most importantly, are you three interested?”

“JohnWillStab: Just as a heads up, I’m fairly certain it’ll be a pain in the a#* for everyone involved,” he explained.

Despite the doubt planted by John’s promise of hardship, the trio agreed unanimously.

“Garlicboi: Alright!”

Fighting off another laugh, Foxly began heading towards Grimwood with his hands crossed behind his head.

He looked like the personification of serenity.

“XxFoxlyxX: Alright, till’ next week I guess!”

After Foxly left, John turned towards his group.

With all the confidence in the world he announced: “JohnWillStab: I guess I should come up with a plan!”

Everyone went silent as they looked at JohnWillStab dumbfounded, as if they were waiting for a punchline.

When the punchline never came, Garlicboi was the first to speak.

“Garlicboi: YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE A F#*KING PLAN?!”

“OheiMark: We’re doomed…”

Bonifacius turned to JohnWillStab with a look of confusion.

“Bonifacius: Are thou certain we are capable of this?”

“JohnWillStab: Don’t worry about it, I’m in my element now!” he grinned.

Seeing this Bonifacius also smiled.

“Bonifacius: Then I shall leave it to thee!”

JohnWillStab opened the map seeing the massive continent he was located in the centre of which.

“JohnWillStab: Now then, where exactly is this mithril ore?”

Bonifacius scratched his chin as he read out the names of places the ore could be.

“Bonifacius: Highfall, Godsrest, Diasole.”

“Bonifacius: Those are the places were mithril ore has a chance of appearing on this continent,” he explained.

JohnWillStab nodded.

“So, it’s an expensive ore that doesn’t spawn in my starting zone…”

“It’d be reasonable to assume it has a higher chance of spawning in the highest-level zone!”

JohnWillStab turned to the three humans.

“JohnWillStab: What level are you guys?”

“Garlicboi: 56”

“NoPissBottles: 59“

“OheiMark: 53”

“JohnWillStab: And which mithril-spawning zone is the highest level?”

Bonifacius already knew what John was thinking about.

“Bonifacius: That would be Godsrest, tis between level eighty and ninety!” he explained.

“JohnWillStab: Great, let’s go there!” he suggested.

“Bonifacius: Yes, let’s make haste!”

The two began walking with Bonifacius in the lead.

“Garlicboi: SLOW THE F#*K DOWN, YOU TWO! WE DON’T STAND A CHANCE IN A LEVEL 90 ZONE!”

“OheiMark: Yeah, even if you were both 100 it’d be tough…” he added.

“Bonifacius: Fear not! I am in fact level one-hundred!” he exclaimed.

The trio looked at him in awe, a mix of hope and admiration twinkled in their pixelated eyes.

They turned to John with the same look.

“JohnWillStab: I’m only level six, hehe…” he laughed awkwardly.

“Garlicboi: …”

“NoPissBottles: …”

“OheiMark: …”

After about twenty minutes of walking the group finally entered Godsrest, a medium-sized zone located far north-east.

During the journey, JohnWillStab not only got some time to brainstorm a plan, he also got a chance to pick Bonifacius’ brain for any more information about the mechanics of this game.

“Garlicboi: By the way, we should probably introduce ourselves!” he announced mid-journey much to the discomfort of his two allies.

“NoPissBottles: please don’t…”

“OheiMark: do we have to?”

“Garlicboi: We’re the only three members of the guild Mithril Minors!” he exclaimed.

Nobody replied for a solid ten seconds after Garlicboi exclaimed the name of their organisation.

“JohnWillStab: …”

“Bonifacius: Tis… a name…?”

NoPissBottles practically summersaulted into damage-control mode.

“NoPissBottles: It’s a typo, ok?!”

OheiMark joined him.

“OheiMark: A guild name-change costs like 1000 gold!”

“NoPissBottles: Yeah and making a new one costs the same… originally it was only 500g but since we already created one, the price doubled…”

“Garlicboi: It’s not that bad!” he told his group before turning to Bonifacius and John for some sort of confirmation.

Both pretended not to see this.

“NoPissBottles: Yeah, it’s really f#*king hilarious hearing the same F#*KING JOKE in every SINGLE inn!”

“NoPissBottles: yOu cAn’T cOmE iN hErE, wE dOn’T sErVe MiNoRs!!!” he shuddered.

He clenched is fists and gritted his teeth.

“NoPissBottles: I burned seven inns and I’m not planning to stop…” he muttered with eyes open so wide they could slip out of his eye sockets.

John nodded uncertainly.

“JohnWillStab: So, what, were you guys always planning to mine mithril?” he asked.

“JohnWillStab: Wouldn’t a simple name like “All-Purpose Minors” fit better?” John continued.

“NoPissBottles: No, we kept changing our names depending on what the best ore we could mine at the time was…”

“OheiMark: Yeah, I liked “Voidstone Miners” the most…”

“NoPissBottles: Coal Miners was also alright…”

“JohnWillStab: So only the latest version of your guild name has a typo?” he asked.

They all nodded.

After a few sombre moments they all looked over to Bonifacius and John as if they expected them to start talking about themselves.

“JohnWillStab: I’m not in a guild, I’m just new to this game,” he shrugged.

“OheiMark: Really? Your name sounds kind of familiar.” He remarked.

John’s confident attitude did a one-eighty.

“JohnWillStab: What??? No!”

He began to sweat.

“NoPissBottles: Same… for some reason I feel like I heard your username before…”

“JohnWillStab: OH HEY! LOOK, GUYS! A DISTRACTION!” he exclaimed pointing nowhere in specific.

They turned to where John was pointing and saw a large rock with sparkling blue formations shaped into smooth cubes.

“OheiMark: It’s mithril! We found some!”

John breathed a sigh of relief in real life as he looked around their location.

“It’s just out in the open… weird…” he thought.