Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! A LONG TIME JOKE IS BACK AND HERE TO STAY!
ANYWAY, so, I decided to do something a bit interesting, and hereby I announce the very first INSANIA Q&A! Write in the comments which character(Author is also a) you want to make the question to, and what do you want to know. As long as it is not spoilers, They will answer when I post the Q&A, either as a standalone page or together with the next chapter! TWO QUESTIONS PER POSTER ONLY! Don’t want things too hectic.
ALSO, well, we lost the third place in the weekly ratings. Kind of sad, but it happens. BUT WE DID REACH 1250 FOLLOWERS! THE CHURCH OF CYGNAS IS A FOURTH OF THE WAYT TOWARDS 5000! HOORAY!
ALSO(2), for those who didn’t see it, I’ll post it here once again, but the crossover with World gate online is complete! And I’m planning on doing Wargon’s side of the story later! As stated, the crossover is just a one-shot and non-cannon, so it’s mostly for the fun. I do, however, plan on giving Lucas an honorary Insanian character later on the story.
Cross over here!
Have a good read!
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I woke up with the blaring sound of rock ‘n roll playing in my cellphone besides me. Although it should be used to wake me with a shock, I’ve been using this same song for so long that I was already used to it, so I managed to wake up calmly.
I sat up upon my bed and scratched my head before turning the alarm off. A quick look at the window and I saw that the sky was already dark. The sleep was a bit too short for me, but I decided that it didn’t matter much. Nothing I wasn’t already used to.
Still… I had this really weird dream where a white haired guy came and started killing a level 90 or so golem boss… And he could travel through the worlds or something of the like…
Oh well.
I went to the bathroom so I could briefly wash my face and ate something before logging back in. There was the usual dark screen, before the login button. I quickly pressed it and immediately crumpled the window into a ball.
“HEY GO- WAAHH!”
I sighed relieved as I saw Cygnas spinning a few times in the air before even finishing her phrase. As always, my revenge is swift, painful and unexpected!
“Hi Cyg, how are…” I went on as usual as she pouted to me, but I blinked as I looked at her. “So… Seems like you are used to being a freezing tail, huh?”
As I said that she blinked confused and tilted her head slightly. I smiled awkwardly and pointed towards my head and my back. She looked confused at me for a moment before lightly touching her head, feeling the two furry ears atop of her head. Then she looked behind and spotted her three silver tails.
She moved her tails a couple of time before turning to me with an awkward smile.
“I… Didn’t notice…” She said while scratching her cheeks cutely. Actually, if I looked closely, the tip of her hair also had a blueish color now.
“Okay…” I said a bit wearily. “So… Anything new I should know about?”
“Anything… Hmm” she stopped to think for a moment, which made her ears fold slightly.
Usually, I would refrain from spoiling this Cyg a bit too much, but the fox ears beat my self control and I found myself petting her before she could give me an answer. She blinked surprised at this, but closed her eyes in bliss after a while.
“Hmm… This… Feels… Good…” She said in a dreamy voice while purring lowly. Although I’m pretty sure fox don’t purr, I kept quiet and decided to not say anything. “Oh… Your father and sister made their characters and are playing right now!” She said cheerfully.
“Already?” I asked surprised before stopping to think for a moment. “Okay, let me guess… My father made a Barbarian… Wearing plate, probably, and a two handed weapon. Is that right?”
Cyg looked at me surprised before nodding surprised.
How did I know? Well, that is just how my father is. He always liked these old-fashioned manly things like barbarians, Vikings and so on. Heck, half of the books at his house are about medieval warfare and warriors like the story of Arthur and so forth! If he didn’t make a barbarian that would leave me surprised.
But for portable doom I can’t be so sure. Knowing her, I would say something around the lines of being cute. Probably a fairy or something of the like… But she is around five years old and is as impulsive as I am, so…
Anyway, so they are already playing, huh? I wonder if the two are already in Eldor. Probably not.
“Oh, yeah!” I said after remembering something. “It seems that I am quite the talk in the forums… So what is up with that?” I asked her since I’m not used to browsing the forums.
“Hmm… Mostly it’s about people asking around where you are, how you make so many good items and so on.” She told me after closing her eyes for a second. “There were even around twelve different players reporting you for hacking.” She said strangely cheerful.
“That… Is worrying.” I said waryly.
“Not really. I doubt you would even be able to crack even the first layer of defense I have.” She said cheerfuly.
“Geez, That was encouraging…” I said in a deadpan face, but curiosity took the best of me. “So, how many layers of defense do you have?” I asked curious.
She lifted me ten fingers, before closing her hand and opening again. All the while smiling happily.
“Twenty?” I asked. I have no idea how these hacking things function, but it sounds a bit too low for me. But she shook her head. “More?” She nodded. “One hundred?”
“Nope. Ten… To the ten.” She said cheerfully.
It took me some good time for me to process the information. Isn’t that… A hole freaking lot? Just how monstrous is her firewall?
“Are… Are you kidding?” I asked her a bit shocked.
“Yup.” She said happily, which made me blink in surprise before feeling a bit disappointed. “You see, I can do real-time management of all the ports and access, besides easily out-performing all the other computers out there with a wide margin, and having more processing power than the usual human… So It’s more of a type-writer trying to hack into a computer than some half-time hacker trying to hack into a game. So it’s simply impossible to happen.”
She… Is surprisingly smug when it comes to her capacities as an AI, huh?
“Okay…” I said a bit awkwardly. “So… Besides me being famous… Is there something other I should know?” I asked. “Like that green-eyes guys?” Hmm? Why did she smirk back there?
“Well… You see?” She giggled slightly. “It seems that he was seen near the red-tails area some time ago.” She said cheerfully. Damn, that was close! I almost met up with him… “And lastly there were sightings of him in the general industries sector at Eldor!”
Okay, I’m leaving Eldor today. Now it’s definitive. Geez, that green eyes guy seems to be following me everywhere I go!
“Anything else that is raging on the forums?” I asked just to be sure. But this time Cyg made a strange and pained face. “Cyg?” I asked worried.
“You… See…” She gulped as she started to form her words. “There are words of a certain… Alfur Death-bringer…” I blinked surprised. That is quite the name, but why does she look like that? “And he is known for…” She looked worriedly at me. “Killing NPCs.”
“Oh…” I said.
She looked at me pained for a while, and I kind of understood what means. For her, and for me too, the NPCs are a lot more than just some bunch of automated data. She probably wanted to go and stop him immediately, but her job as the regulator of the world stopped her.
She shook her head and slapped her cheeks a few times to cheer back up.
“Anyway, he’s at a very far place right now, so there is no chance that you or your friends will meet me anytime soon.”
I smiled a bit awkwardly and patted her some more, which seemed to work to make her a bit more cheerful. Even if only a bit.
“Well… I’ll log in now. So see you in-game?”
She nodded while smiling, and the world faded to black once again.
…
I stretched myself a bit as I looked around and got used back to the feeling of being Wargon again. Sleeping in game is good and all, like that one time at the forest, but sleeping in my bed is still the best.
Now, it would be a good idea to resupply myself with some more knifes and arrowheads for the dungeon ahead, so maybe I should mine some more crystals? I think I still have some iron ores… Let’s buy some more while we are at it too.
Looking around quickly, I noticed Aura yawning cutely at my side. Probably waking up from having been left in the hibernation like state whenever I log out. Feeling a bit of pity for having woken her up, I picked her in my arms and let her go back to sleep while I made my way back to the main elevator, taking pleasure in the silent afternoon streets near the cathedral.
[Yuu]: Shishou! You are back!
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[Me]: Yep, the great me is back and ready to kick some ass!
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[Me]: After making some knifes and arrows, of course.
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[Han-chan]: Oh, then are you going to the blacksmith?
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[Me]: Nah. I’ll pass on the market before.
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[Me]: Out of crystals for crafting.
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[Yuu]: Then I’ll meet Shishou there!
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[Me]: See you there then.
I closed the party chat and made my way towards the elevator while carrying the little sleeping fox in my arms.
Hmm… The street on these upper levels were so quiet that I couldn’t even hear a thing while I walked. Heck, if I didn’t know better I would say that I can’t even hear my own steps!
Yeah. Right.
Very funny. As if something like that would even be possible.
I mean, it’s not like I’m that silent to the point that the others won’t notice me, right? I mean, I would probably have surprised other people whenever I walked into then and…
WAIT A SECOND!
For constantly muffling your steps as you walk to the point you can’t hear yourself, you have unlocked the stealth sub-skill: Muffled steps
WARNING: YOUR CLASS DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE STEALH SKILL, THUS MUFFLED STEPS WILL COUNT AS A SKILL ON ITS OWN.
THIS SKILL CAN’T BE DERIVATED NOR PASS THE INTERMEDIATE LEVELSkill: Muffled steps [lvl3]
83%Your steps are as silent as a feather landing on the ground, and not even the noisiest of the equipment is capable of changing this.
Reduces Armor and Movement noises when in stable grounds by 13%
Reduces Armor and Movement noises when in uneven grounds by 6,5%
This bonus may increase the slower you movePassive
...
[Me]: You are joking with me, right?
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[Cygnas]: Actually… That was the system’s doing. I did not have a hand in that.
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[Cygnas]: Do you remember when you asked me to check your armor back at the beginning because you thought it was a bug?
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[Cygnas]: Well… Let’s say it wasn’t a bug at all.
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[Me]: …
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[Me]: !@#$%^&*
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[Cygnas]: Did… You really type those symbols instead of swearing?
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[Me]: Yep. ( -.-)
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[Cygnas]: I feel that I should comment on something… But I’m not sure on what…(^.^’)
I closed this chat window and started walking back to the elevator. And if I wondered if it was possible to walk even quieter than before, now I found out how.
If any of you is wondering why I didn’t talk to Cyg through Aura instead, then let me ask this. Would have the courage to wake a napping Aura who is snuggling against your chest without feeling extremely guilty? Well, my heart is made of flesh… Actually, it might be a rock… Heck, do golems even have a heart? Well, whatever it is, is extremely soft and makes me unable to do such a cruel thing.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Well, on the plus side, it did make the walk even quieter and now there was even less of a chance to wake the little freezing tail up.
Hmm… But now I wonder why didn’t I get the skill earlier. If I would guess, I probably needed the rogue skill-tree to unlock it. I mean, it does sounds a bit rogue-ish. That is probably the reason why I didn’t get it even earlier. But there was more than enough time for me to get it since I got the class…
Maybe it’s because I wasn’t alone for very long? Or never was alone in a quiet place for long enough? The skill did say that that it was ‘to the point you can’t hear yourself’ so I probably had to notice myself.
And why the hell was it up to level three already? I did notice that some of the new skills come with some experience at the beginning. Does previous actions count towards undeveloped skills? This is interesting.
As I pondered on these things, I had already arrived at the elevator and took it to the lower floors of the commercial Sector.
Right at the exit of the lift, I saw the two girls standing at the exit, and with a single glance I noticed that Yuu had changed her robe for something that looked a bit more like a mix between a martial arts kimono and one of those formal silk ones that woman use. She tied it with a white sash around her waist.
“Is that hand-made?” I asked her surprised, and she nodded cheerfully. “It looks really good on you.” I told her my honest feelings, which made her blush slightly, while Han-chan cheerfully nudged her.
But yeah. Somehow the more oriental clothing seemed to fit her a lot more than the usual robes, and in fact, I could see that almost all of the players around were stopping to peek a glance at her.
That is some mighty destructive power right there.
“Well, time to go window-shopping.” I told them cheerfully, and the two nodded cheerfully.
We took our path through the streets and elevators until we reached some streets with a larger concentration of players walking around while buying and selling their stuffs. Be it to NPCs or other players. Actually, it was a lot more packed since the last time I came here, which left me slightly surprised.
“Looking for group for Misty Marsh. Healer level 23!”
“Want to buy: Steel ingots! One gold per ten ingots!”
“Looking for blacksmith to make me a sword! Got materials!”
“Group looking for level eighteen ranged dps for Norwan’s Cave dungeon!”
I heard all of those usual things you hear on areas with many players. There were even the usual jokes here and there, but I mostly ignored them. I guided the girls towards the usual stall that I mostly visited here.
But I didn’t find his usual stall there, instead, right behind it was a small store with a plaque written: Argento’s Emporium. And in small letters beneath it was: Wargon’s official selling channel.
Bloody bastard. He really doesn’t lose the chance to use my name to make some good old gold with it, doesn’t he?
I blatantly entered the store without even a second thought and saw a couple of girls standing behind a stand while attending to two lines of clients who waited not so patiently. At least the players, there were some NPCs amongst them, and these seemed a lot calmer as they chatted happily.
But there was no sign of the usual gnome around, so I approached the stand and tried to talk with one of the girls, but…
“Sorry, sir.” She said while shaking her head. “But you must wait in the line for your time.” She said in a professional tone.
“No, but I don’t want to buy anything, I just want to…”
“Sorry sir, but these are my orders.” She kept on with the tone.
I sighed loudly and leaned against a wall in the back of the store while holding a fuming Yuu through the collar. I have the feeling that if I let go of her she would freeze the girl right now and then. I picked up the now awaken Aura and put her atop of my head, like the first time that Cyg took control of her and used my free hand to type something in a chat window.
I could write using my eyes and focusing on the words, but I found that this way was easier.
We didn’t wait for much longer before a door at the back of the store opened, although we couldn’t see what came from it since there was the stand on the way. However, I knew that it was the gnome who came out, because the two attendants looked towards the door surprised before turning to me slightly pale and motioning me to come in.
Ah, the power of connections! It feels so good!
We came in to a small office like room, with many books and a desk filled with paperwork. There was a gnome sitting in a raised chair on the other side of the desk looking happily at us.
“Gon! It’s good to see you again!” he said while standing on the chair and extending his hand towards us. I shook his hand and sat at the chair on the other side. “So, what kind of money-making items do you have today for me?”
“Geez, straight to the point, aren’t we?” I asked wryly, but still started to unload my to-sell items on the table. I left all the red-tails daggers, the first blazing-tail sword, that one with low durability, and my old equipment which were obsolete for now. “Well, these are the ones to sell.”
“You… Never ceases to amaze me, Gon.” He said with two gold coins for eyes. “These daggers are almost worth their weight in gold! And this sword…” he was probably calculating the profit he would have with these.
“So, it seems that business have been picking up, right?” I asked after looking back at the store.
“Yeah. I even hired those two to help me with the desk-job, but it’s still nowhere enough.” He said happily. “Your items are the best merchandise I could ever ask for!” He looked at me happily, before turning to the girls. “Say, aren’t the two of you interested in giving me a help with the store?” He asked straightforwardly. “Of course, I would pay you!”
The girls blinked in surprise and looked at each other confused on what to do.
“Anyway, I didn’t come here only to sell.” I said to change the subject. “I’m a bit out of elemental crystals and I want to get some quickly. Also some iron ore, if possible.”
“Those crystals? Really?” He asked surprised, but shrugged it off and went towards the door.
He said a few things to the girls at the stand, and after some minutes one of them came in carrying two sacks. One full with ores and other with crystals of all elements. After checking it all, I smiled happily and nodded satisfied.
I asked him to deduct from the payment, and I was nine gold coins richer compared to when I came in.
“So, for now I’ll go to the blacksmithing sector make me some things. What are you girls going to do meanwhile?” I asked them.
“Can’t we go with you, Shishou?” Yuu asked me.
“Well, down there is the closest to hell I’ve ever been, so I’m not sure if you would be able to endure the heat…” I said wryly, and Yuu nodded sadly.
“Why don’t we try helping with the store?” Han-chan said happily, making Argento perk-up in expectation. “It would be a good chance to do something slightly different, right?”
So, in the end, the two girls became temporary attendees at Argento’s emporium while I went to Torg’s and started crafting some more throwing knives and arrows. I also decided to use steel instead of iron to see if I could use a bit more of damage out of them.
And I actually did get something shiny, as the steel arrows had a +1 damage to them!
I spent all my ores and crystals making everything, and around three hours had passed by the time I finished. I did go all the way to make a full set of normal steel arrows so I wouldn’t run out middle-dungeon, but this left me oreless once again.
Feeling satisfied with my work, I went back to the commercial sector and decided to check on the girls while we waited the last hours before the time we marked with Yagver. And somehow the store seemed even more packed now than before, and the four girls were hastily running behind the stand while picking and selling the items.
And the guys were pretty obvious that they came here to see the two new additions, as they didn’t even try to hide the fact they were staring at the girls.
Heck, even Lieutenant had appeared and was helping around by keeping the order and slashing at anyone who tried to cut the line.
The girls cheered up on noticing me, but quickly went back to their works as attendees before the number of clients climbed up even more. I was almost sure I could hear a certain gnome laughing cheerfully back at his office.
I squeezed myself through the crowd just in time to see a guy jumping cheerfully as he carried one of the Red-tails dagger I made. Luckily, most of the players would simply ignore each other and not really focus on getting each-other’s name, so I bathed in the fact that no one here knew who I am.
Seeing as we still had more than enough time, I decided to help the girls by managing the inventory and fetching up the items they needed, this way I wouldn’t stand out in the open for too long and still help a bit.
And boy, was it an hectic work. I didn’t even had time to go and sort out the items, and had to keep running back and forth while bringing this sword or that armor. Of course, the most sold items were kept in the store itself, but even then, I had to pick a lot of the merchandise on the backside of the store that worked as some kind of warehouse.
We kept at it, keeping the cash flowing in for a good time, and only around two hours later, when night fell, that we ran out of items to sell and the NPCs stopped coming altogether. We closed up the shop and we all fell down on the ground exhausted.
“That… Was… Tiring…” Yuu said while leaning her back on the wall.
“Well… At least it was… Fun…” Han-chan said with a small smile in her face. “It was… different…”
“Not my smartest idea…” I gave my opinion to the conversation.
We rested around for a bit longer before deciding to leave and eat at a restaurant or something of the like as a commemoration before leaving. The girls seemed to like the idea and we immediately left the store and looked around for it.
We found one close to the Silver Gauntlet, two blocks away from the guild on the same outer street.
Sitting at a table on the outside of the shop so we could enjoy the breeze, a young dwarf girl came to take our order while bringing a menu written in some kind of leathery scroll. Me and the girls chose something and waited patiently for our orders.
Meanwhile, I finally asked what I had in my mind.
“So… When is it?” I asked the two suddenly.
They looked at me a bit confused for a moment, but after a moment Yuu started to blush furiously and looked away while saying in an incredibly flustered tone.
“W-Wh-When is wh-what? Shi-shi-shishou?” Her tails were standing straight up and her ears were perfectly perked. Her eyes would wander slightly towards me from time to time before looking away.
She looks so cute when she is lying… I couldn’t help but want to tease her a little more.
“You do know what I’m talking about…” I said in a fake serious tone.
“I-I-I have n-n-no idea…” She said while fidgeting around in her chair.
I squinted my eyes at her for a moment, which made her shiver slightly. In the end Han-chan sighed out loudly with a ‘we’ve been caught’ smile and shrugged.
“Give up, Yuu-chan. We were too obvious.” She said while patting her shoulder, and Yuu’s ears and tails fell down immediately.
“Father… Have a business meeting in Brazil this weekend.” Yuu said a bit sullenly. “And we have a holiday next Thursday.”
“So, we decided to get a lift and visit you meanwhile!” Han-chan said cheerfully.
Me? I was a bit too shocked to process all of this information. So, they are coming here next weekend? Isn’t that a bit too soon? Heck, do they even have a passport already? What about plane tickets?
“And since we already have our passports, we only need to buy our tickets!” Han-chan said cheerfully as if reading my mind. But Yuu immediately corrected her.
“Actually, we are taking father’s private jet since its simpler.” She told her friend as if she was answering a question about the weather.
“Then it’s even easier!” Han-chan said cheerfully.
So, Yuu’s family have a private jet? Like, A FREAKING PRIVATE JET? The kind that costs a few millions? I mean, I kind of knew that she was rich, but isn’t this a bit too much?
I looked surprised at the Kitsune sitting at the table with me, and I couldn’t help but feel that I might be a bit over my head by having met her.