“So everything is arranged?” Sam asked as he reached for another piece of chicken, praising the fact that chicken strips were multi-dimensional. He dipped it into the sauce and took a bite.
Lucy, opposite of him, munched on her own food before nodding.
“Yes. I made sure they have everything and gave them the information you gathered,” she replied while reaching for another piece.
They were sitting at a table in one of those small restaurants that served only one type of food, but it was amazing. They had to reserve the table a month in advance. And damn, it was good. The chicken was juicy; the outside was crispy with a hint of spice. Paired with an in-house sauce, it was an excellent way to gain a few pounds.
And as they were in public, they were careful about not saying any specifics as they couldn’t know if somebody was listening to them. He wasn’t like some martial artist from fiction who could hear a swallow fart from several miles away.
“Do you really think they will manage it?” Lucy asked slightly worried.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Are you questioning their competence?”
She shook her head. “Not really, but you know they are prone to getting…distracted…”
“That’s why the goblin is not in charge,” he replied with a smile and Lucy snorted at the thought of Katie being in charge of anything remotely important. “I have full confidence in them managing to accomplish the goal. Even if I’m not there…”
Lucy nodded as she took another bite. “I know, I know… I just can’t help but worry. A lot is hanging on this…”
“True. That’s why we haven’t told anyone about the fracture. Not even Adam,” Sam said completely seriously. Lucy looked back at him incredulously, then her eyes darted around imperceptibly and she went back to munching on the phenomenal food.
“Yes, the loot will no doubt put us at the top of the food chain!” she declared happily, then she continued with a little happy dance as another fresh plate of chicken strips was delivered to their table.
He took one, swallowed it in a few greedy bites, then leaned forward and continued to discuss the non-existent but super-important fracture with Lucy, having fun making up the stupidest things about it.
Just because he couldn’t hear a swallow fart, didn’t mean he didn’t have pattern recognition… or a desire to fuck with people.
‘I wonder if anyone is going to post it to the forums?’ he wondered as he reached for another delectable piece of fowl meat. ‘What do they put on these? Crack?’
----------------------------------------
Thankfully, he only had to wait one week in the game for the expedition to start. While he was doing that, he spent his time skulking around the city, getting a true feel for the groups “ruling” the city and its surroundings.
He also sniffed around to see what he could find about the biggest groups participating in the expedition. Lucy and Tim put together dossiers about the most important people, but those were based on information they found on the internet. Walking around on foot allowed him to get a slightly clearer picture. He found a few pain points and such, but otherwise, he spent the rest of his time just hanging around and driving his watchers to tears.
After he left the building, he was immediately followed by several people. Sam wasn’t sure if they did so because he was a solo who pretty much showed up before enormously important events or because they recognized him, but as the watchers were content to watch him, he decided to play around with them.
He spent a day just running around the city of Sunspot and talking to shop NPCs in a certain order before repeating it three times while buying odd and weird items in specific amounts. Technically, he was just getting supplies for the expedition, but afterward, he observed several people repeating his ‘shop tour’ and Tim even found questions about it on a few forums.
Then he spent some time meditating in increasingly weird spots. He started in one of the parks of the city, where he meditated for exactly ten minutes under three different trees, and then he moved to the harbor, where he did the same thing on three different piers. Which he followed up by climbing several buildings with towers and meditating there.
It was nice practice for him but drove his watchers bonkers.
Meanwhile, he was coordinating the release of the basic mana control manual with Lucy, Adam, and Tim. His job was mostly writing it, then dumbing it down enough that it wouldn’t give other people an advantage over his guild but still showcase their ‘generosity’.
He was aware that it would give the blood mages more power but Sam suspected that at this point it was pretty much guaranteed that the blood rampage would continue. Giving them slightly better mana control wouldn’t change much…
However, the amount of PR points they would get would be worth it for the AFK company and the Chrysalis guild.
Adam pretty much hated the idea of giving away information, but even he realized that if they gave it only to their guild members, the secrecy wouldn’t even last five seconds. If they controlled the release of the information, they controlled the people’s opinion…
Sam looked around from his spot, sitting on some random balcony he took a liking to, sensing somebody moving toward the window from the inside, and jumped away, landing silently and gently near a chimney.
To his surprise, his system let out a notification sound.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
[Congratulations! You’ve learned a new skill!]
[You’ve learned Illusionary Stealth due to your baffling movement and quite frankly insane pattern of movement! Seriously, slow down. We are getting worried about those poor people…]
[Illusionary Stealth: Level 0/50 (0%) (Active/Passive) You can hide in a conventional sense from prying eyes, but you can also do the same while remaining visible. Passively improves your stealth capabilities and the power of illusion skills when you are using them for hiding. When activated, it shrouds you in a haze of illusions that blends in with the environment. When activating near people the illusion will make you look like part of the crowd.]
Sam blinked then snorted. ‘Finally, a stealth skill…’
He expected one with a shadow attribute, but he would take this one too. Quickly looking around, he spotted a group of gossiping housewives walking somewhere and with his incredible speed jumped down from his perch and activated the skill as soon as he reached the group.
Walking slowly with the older ladies, he almost laughed as he saw several people run past them with worried looks on their faces.
[Illusionary Stealth is now Level 1!]
----------------------------------------
As the time for the expedition to start rapidly approached, the area around the building where Sam did his registration and test became incredibly busy. Several groups of caravans were parked on the courtyard, all of them there to support a certain group or guild while solos and small groups with only a few people (and guilds who couldn’t afford to set up a personal caravan) approached the carriages marked with the emblem of the city of Sunspot. Several Sun Warriors stood around the edges, keeping an eye on everybody and making sure nobody did something unwise.
Sam navigated around the crowd and walked toward the back where the service personnel set up shop and were preparing to head into the depths.
That was one thing he couldn’t check out. Due to the preparation and the close scrutiny from the city leadership, the public entrances to the depths beneath Sunspot had been closed to prepare the tunnels for the expedition and he didn’t want to expend the effort to seek out the hidden or secret entrances.
Within a few minutes, despite the hustle and bustle of the rather spacious courtyard, he managed to spot the same corpulent quartermaster and took off in his direction just as his system pinged him.
[Congratulations! You completed the First Task of the quest ‘Friendlessly into the depths!’!]
He didn’t even have to say anything, as one of the assistants noticed him and began heading toward him, half running and half power-walking with the energy of an assistant principal on observation day.
“You!” The man called out, panting slightly and holding a board with paper on it. “You’re the one with a cleaning specialty?”
Sam nodded with a big smile and struck a pose. “Indeed, my good man! I have been studying the broom since time immemo–“
“Right, right.” The man interrupted him with a long-suffering look, causing Sam to pout. “Please follow me to begin your assignment,” came the clipped instruction as the official turned around and began power-walking toward a stack of crates.
Sam spent a moment more pouting, then shrugged and began following the man as he watched the people around him from the corner of his eyes. Most of them were glaring at him, scoffing at his attitude, or pointing and laughing.
‘Just as planned…’
----------------------------------------
Barely a minute later he found himself next to a rather sturdy carriage marked with both the symbol of Sunspot but also with a gold drop of water. The symbol of healing in this part of the world…
The official took him by the shoulder and dragged him toward the back, where several hastily built tables were covered in all manner of bandages.
“Your first task is to keep those clean as they are stored away,” came the instruction as two other people approached, wearing sand-colored robes with the same golden drop of water on their backs. Their hands were covered in gloves and looked like they were itching to work.
The official stared at Sam as if daring him to break out another bout of boasting, but Sam just smiled and turned on his Clean Aura, then began firing Cleaning spells at everything in sight. The two healers’ eyes widened and rushed to take the clean bandages away.
The official seemed to be satisfied.
“Good. They will tell you the next task,” the man told him. Then, before Sam could reply, the man left with purposeful steps, already writing something on his board and muttering frantically. Sam said a prayer for the poor man’s sanity, then returned his attention to the task at hand.
[Second Task: Help with the supplies!]
[Reward: Your next task]
[Penalty: Unable to join the expedition]
By the time he read the notification, a quarter of the bandages vanished and one of the robed healers was hurrying back with another stack held in their arms, looking pretty excited.
“Do these, master!” he called out as he dumped them on the table while holding out his gloved hands. “And my hands too!”
Sam just smiled and did as he was asked. Even if most players would feel it was demeaning to do these kinds of tasks, he didn’t mind. It got him out of interacting with players who were assholes as well allowing him to get to know the NPCs. Much more valuable than trying to make friends with PK-obsessed idiots.
For the next hour or two, this was mostly his world. He would be given items to clean, clean them with a brief burst of mana – ignoring the whispers of the healers and other NPCs helping out about his mana capacity – and then watch as they were carted away, only to be instantly replaced.
He cleaned everything from bandages, to empty potion bottles, full potion bottles, clothing and armor, to tools of trade for the healers.
Hell, one of the healers went out and brought in a crate full of kitchen equipment for Sam to cleanse. He didn’t say a word, just did as they asked. So far, he hadn’t checked his skill notifications, but he expected some significant increase in most of his cleaning-related skills.
He even managed to slip in a few experiments with his clean aura, expanding it over the entire segment of the courtyard they were allocated to the joy of the NPCs around him.
As Sam finished another set of alchemical equipment, he called out. “Next!”
However, the reply surprised him. “We’re finished, Master Samuel!” one of the healers told him with a gentle smile, honed through countless hours of patient interaction.
He looked around and saw that the courtyard was empty aside from the tables and a few odds and ends as the carriages were fully packed.
“Come, it’s time we go…” continued the healer.
“Oh, it’s time for the speech?”
She shook her head. “I'm afraid that's already over," she told him apologetically. "The expedition is ready to head off!”
As soon as he finished, he saw a pair of burly soldiers leading some kind of six-legged lizards toward the carriages and attaching the carriages to the equipment on their backs.
“Come, Master. We made sure to reserve a good spot for you,” spoke the healer with a smile as he grabbed by the biceps and gently tugged him toward one of the smaller carriages carrying only people where several other people waved at him.
‘Well, that will teach me to immerse myself in my job…’ he mused as he allowed himself to be dragged to the carriage. ‘Though, I suspect that the speech I missed wasn’t exactly an epic for the ages…’
Soon, Sam was well situated in the carriages, sitting on a comfortable pillow – his Clean Aura enveloping the entire carriage due to the healers’ request – and was heading downward to meet destiny.
Or something with lots of tentacles, teeth, and an appetite for human flesh…