They sat around the table in the common room, someone had placed small bowls of namkeen, a spicy mix made of fried lentils, peanuts, and chickpeas, in front of them. Glade had eaten a full bowl without even noticing. She fidgeted with the empty vessel, turning it over and over in her hands with an endless motion. A ball of nervousness and excitement sat in her stomach. Somehow, she had crafted an item with a legendary imbued skill that then unlocked the perk [Legendary Crafter]. She started to hyperventilate, it must be a mistake, she hadn’t even maxed out any of the crafting skills yet. If mods notice she has this perk, they are going to ban her account for hacking! Years of progression gone in an instant, all the special limited time seasonal loot gone, all the private messages, friends list, guild standing, achievement records, mounts; but most importantly her only form of income. As if sensing her spiral Maze placed his viny hand on her shoulder.
“It’s O.K my friend” his smooth voice that speaks of a different background then her own. The Groveborn were a plant-people where a PC rare race. Unlike herself, Crocnor and Imple whose characters' bodies differed in size and proportions were all still humanoid, Groveborn had a more amorphous form. Their limbs grew from their bodies when and where they needed them. Glade’s mind broke away from her own anxiety for a moment to wonder what his rig was like and how he controlled it. Her real body, Linnets body, was strapped into a large metal and plastic rig, and as she moved her body Glade copied her movements. Bio feedbacks helped her smell and taste things like the spicy dust left over in the bowl or feel the heat from the nearby torches or the cold of the wind on this starry night. Haze didn't even have legs, just a mess of tendrils that she couldn't even begin to grasp how he could control as they each moved independently. The plant-man gently reached over and took the bowl from her grasp, she was holding it, so tightly her fingertips turned white. He topped it up with some more of the mix. His arm, or what could reasonably be described as an arm, stretched out and placed it back on the table in front of her. Before gliding over to take his own seat.
“Now that everyone is here” Crocnor said gruffly, giving the side eye to Imple who was shuffling slowly towards her place. Her body language almost screamed that she was already asleep for the night, awoken by Crocnor’s summon on her private number, and still only half awake. She blinked her eyes heavily, her pupils not totally focusing on the world around her. Imple slid up her seat, and groaned loudly as she heaved herself up, then limply dangled her legs off the side of the chair that was a few sizes too large for her, letting them swing asynchronously. Each of these actions made Crocnor’s eye twitch. She looked up at the armour stand that had been pulled up to the table given its own placing. Across its shoulders hung a cloak made of lightweight fabric that looked like it was made of woven earthly green leaves and knitted sky-blue grass. She could see that Glade had engraved her signature pattern along the collar that was pinned together with the golden stems that she helped collect last evening. It even had an imbued skill….
“FRACKING HALL” Imple yelled, Glade got the sentiment. She was now standing on the table with her finger outstretched pointing to the cloak, the bowl's snacks had been sprayed across the room like buckshot. Her head snapped from the gear to Glade and back again. “FRACKING HALL” she repeated full of disbelief.
There was a mixture of grumbles and laughter from the other members that were present that Crocnor silenced with a clearing of his throat.
“First, let’s recognize what has happened tonight. There are but a handful of Legendary perks in Isekia and all are held by famous players. Nightskil has Legendary Blademen, Hiligh has Legendary Surf and now our own Glade has Legendary Craftsman”
With everyone staring at her, Glade's cheeks and the tips of her ears turned red in embarrassment. She squirmed in her seat, she hated the limelight, that was part of the reason she played a support role. She tried to say something, but it came out as a little squeak.
Crocnor continued, “We are not a PVP group, but the pure stats alone on his cloak could carry a team into the top of gold ranking. Not to mention the end-of-summer raid boss that is always a massive drain on guild resources.” He leaned forward in his chair. “This is even without Zephyr Rainbow.” No one has even seen a rainbow rank skill before, and a hush fell over the group, till the soft tones of Maze spoke.
"For those unfamiliar, the Zephyr skill allows wind damage to bypass a percentage of armour. Zephyr++ raises this to 50%."
"So what?" Imple interjected, setting Crocnor's eye twitching again. "Rainbow takes it to 55/60% or something?"
This time, Glade found her voice.
"120%," she admitted quietly. "It deals more damage the more armour the target wears."
Stunned silence might have prevailed if not for Imple's ear-piercing scream, which clipped her audio, turning her small, high-pitched voice into a buzzing ring.
"Add in a hurricane cage, and you're looking at a one-hit knockout," Imple continued, her eyes wide. She yelled peaking the audio channel as she jumped off the table. "GLADE, YOU..."
[Imple has been muted for 1 minute]
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Crocnor closed the Guild leader menu, stood up, and placed his large, clawed hands on the table.
“As I was saying! Glade, this is your item; and your plan was to sell it, correct?”
She nodded. He turned and while still talking to her, started projecting his voice so everyone in attendance could hear.
"The original offer from the buyer wouldn't reflect the true value of this item, nor would we be able to cover it with our guild funds, even if we liquidated all spare gear. So, in my mind, you have two options. First, break the deal with the buyer and put it up for auction. You could easily fetch a minimum of 14k, and I wouldn't be surprised if it reached 30k."
Glade swallowed, with that she could pay off a chunk of her debts including her student loans. She swallowed again as her mouth watered, or even a new CPU. Breaking the deal however would lead her to getting a low review and would ruin her 4.8-star rating.
“Second; Go to bed, let the team gather the ingredients needed for another set of robes. Re-craft in the morning, deliver the double-plus and keep the robe for the guild.”
Glade stood and looked around to her teammates, her friends. She had known some of them for years at this point. But this could be her out, and it's only going to be worth this much till it gets patched, or a new meta comes out.
“Can… Can I think about it” She asked
“67, 68, 69, ok I'm back! That was not 1 minute” Imple said crossly. “Look Glade, you need to do what's best for you. If it were me I would be gold-plating my rig right about now. But if you want our help then I’m on it” She grinned a full smile showing her her razor-sharp teeth.
[Crafting complete: 350 stamina potions added]
[Quest: asfafafafefavavaf can now be completed]
[Quest: asfafafafefavavaf auto completed]
[297x Stamina potions removed]
[10 Guild Points added]
The team leaders broke out into groups, some of the normal team members logged out and Maze started handing out the newly delivered stamina potions to people who were joining in the group quest. The newly crafted potions were still warm on the tongue as each member popped the cork and drank deeply. Normally these potions were used to restore stm points, the energy that governed martial skills, it however had a side effect.
“WHOOOHOOO” Imple yelled as she buzzed with stimulant. Her team, coated in the golden buff chased after her as she zoomed off into the night. The other teams set off too. Glade stood there for a while and watched them go. The camp was quiet, and with everyone gone it felt cold.
Linnet signed out of Glade's account and pulled the headset off her face. It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to her dimly lit room, but sadly her ears and nose did not get the cool down period. The smell of campfire, summer grass and mixed spices was replaced by the smell of never drying damp and uncollected street trash. The sound of night birds' songs and singing wind reeds was replaced by a chihuahua having a tantrum and her neighbours having a screaming match. She bent down, pulled out a fresh tube of GmrFd™ glugged its firm but slimy chunks into the feeding tub connected to the rig. She caught herself singing the slogan “GmrFd™ we drop the vowels so you don't drop the frames”. The new level was just below halfway, she was slightly concerned about how much she had already eaten this week. Maze levelling up this chef skill was running up her food bill, but it was so good. Last week he had made Elephant-Finch eggs and the way they popped on her tongue was otherworldly.
She looked at herself in the mirror, she had modelled Glade after herself. Same black hair in a fishtail braid, same large blue eyes. Though Glade was taller and more curvy, and had a sharper jawline, and much better skin, and her make-up was always put together nicely, and her lips were a bit plumper. Linnet turned away from the mirror and frowned. Then flumped her 5ft 4 thin frame onto her bed. The upside to playing on the rig is that it was amazing exercise, not quite 1 to 1 movements but good enough for government work as her dad used to say. She rolled over and ran her fingers down her stomach. She even had abs. Not something she had before when she was playing MMO’s on keyboard and mouse. However, the rig did take up most of her studio apartment. She didn't have space for a TV and only had one of those fold-away tables as a work surface. A work surface that was forever filled with junk. She was so tired and could feel her eyes already begin to droop. In the darkness her phone buzzed, its cracked screen lighting up her room.
[Ryder<3: u up]
[Glade: yeah, I got some amazing news, so you know I been working on that crafting job for like a week now. Its all I've been doing to get the drops. ]
[Ryder<3: but u not online now. Wuu2 ]
[Glade: Just got done. im getting into bed, im going to crash. Im so tired]
[Ryder <3: in bed 🙂, you a sleepy girl]
[Glade: Kek yesh.]
[Ryder <3: Send pic ]
Linnet blushed and bit her lip
[Glade: I look gross.]
[Ryder <3: no u.]
She sighed, reached up and took a selfie. It was dark and grainy. She took another, trying a different smile. And took another from the left side of her face instead. No one of them looked right. What was worse, she could see the imprint of the rig’s goggles on her face.
[Ryder <3: ….]
[Ryder <3: ….]
[Ryder<3: u dere bby?]
[Ryder <3: helloooooo?]
[Ryder <3: ???]
[Glade: They are not coming out good, its dark and im tired]
[Ryder <3: sned anyway.]
Linnet picked out the one she liked the most out of all the bad options and sent it. The little check mark showed he had got it, and she blushed again. She waited.
[Glade: did you get it?]
She waited again. She could see that he had read her message.
[Glade: Ryder?]
[Ryder<3: K night. ]
[Glade: you okay?]
She was left on read. She thought about chasing him up, but her eyelids were sagging again. She blinked once more and was gone.