After finishing with his usual tasks around the house, doing a quick trip to the store to stock up on perishables, as he would be too occupied by the game to go out, he returned to his computer. He trawled through Shadowland and other sites for information, as well as answered a few messages on the mysterious site.
There were countless messages clamoring for information, threatening him, trying to recruit him, trying to scam him, trying to ask him for nudes (that one caused a bit of head-scratching), and of course offering ludicrous amounts of money for all sorts of information.
Some he knew but refused to give up as he planned to use them for his own, and his company’s benefit. Some were so nonsensical that he didn’t even know where to begin.
“Why would you need to know about the mating cycle of the Scaled Rock hawk?” he wondered out loud. It was a small monster that could be found all around the world of Magic Unbound. The name came from the odd formation of its crest feathers that resembled shimmering scales. Its feathers were preferred by fletchers and bowyers all around the world due to their durability. So he could understand why someone would want to breed them, but ultimately it would be a useless venture due to the development of magical firearms.
‘But for now, it could make a good amount of money… And I do know the catalyst…’ he mused. He found a book in the library when he was suffering under the debuff after Lucky’s evolution ritual that contained the information. Though, to be perfectly honest, he only went through the book because the illustrations were extremely well done.
For a moment, he contemplated setting up a Scaled Rock Hawk breeding business, but then he shook his head. While it would be profitable in the short term, he really wanted to focus on long-term gains.
With a grin, he began typing away, and after he was finished, he sent a message to the other guy with a crazy price. If they were too lazy to visit the library, then they should be prepared to pay through the nose.
Turning his attention to the next message, he visibly recoiled.
“You want the three sizes of who?” he murmured in disbelief, then he shook his head in disappointment.
Instead of answering the question, he looked up the woman in question and offered to sell them the fool’s name.
Good deed done for the day, he began to review his investments.
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After going through his backlog, doing a little exercise while watching cartoons, and waiting patiently for the login time to approach, he returned to the game.
Opening his eyes, he found himself in his apartment at the company headquarters. Thankfully, Lucky had decided, now that he grew to the size of a small horse, it would be a bad idea to lay on Sam as he slept, but even then, the silly wolf still tried to snuggle up to Sam. Sadly, this attempt made it so that the wolf occupied ninety percent of the rather sizeable bed, while Sam was pushed to the edge.
He grumbled a little, but then reached over and began to run his hand through the silky fur of his adorable companion, while Lucky looked at him with adoration, his tail wagging energetically.
Sam spent a good quarter hour just luxuriating in the feeling of warmth and companionship that the virtual wolf radiated, but in the end, with a put-upon sigh, he finally got up from the bed to the disappointed whine of his furry companion.
“Sorry, Lucky, but we have things to do…”
The wolf nodded his head, stood up on the bed, and stretched, not unlike a cat, before gently hopping down, walking forward, making sure to rub his body against Sam’s before simply walking against one of the walls of the apartment covered in shadows.
Sam saw the beautiful eyes of his companion stare back at him from his own shadow for a second, then they vanished. Smirking a little, he made sure his equipment was ready and left the room in search of sustenance.
Outside of the room, he found a small table with a stack of documents and a small note on top of it with his name.
He picked it up and as he walked towards the company cafeteria; he began to leaf through it. He watched, fascinated, as the gibberish characters rearranged themselves on the papers he held in his hand as soon as he channeled a bit of mana into it. ‘It seems Lucy is making good use of that Encryption skill…’ he mused as he went through the very thorough report that was prepared for him.
Apparently, Heavenly Forest was working without issue. The guests were all satisfied, though the information gained from them was yet to show itself useful. He expected as much, but it was heartening to see that the system was working properly.
The other ventures were also going well, and the expansion into the neighboring cities was progressing at an appropriate speed.
Then came the report about the items he asked Lucy to stock up on. They had several giant containers of water, with rations of all kinds stockpiled for any emergency, while the cafeteria storage was also filled to the brim with food.
Aside from that, there was a decent stockpile of healing items, including potions as well as materials used in repairing weapons and armor.
Nodding to himself, he put the report into his inventory, then sent a brief message to Lucy that he had read it, and she should continue as is. He then headed out to find the team.
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Sam found Katie practicing in one of the closed training halls of the city, Dan in the library as always, and Clarissa in the healing district.
After collecting them, they sat down for a short strategy session, with Sam going over the fight against the goblin camp, mentioning things that were good and things that could be improved upon. They also set up a few battle commands, code words for certain situations, and so on.
It was a little beyond what people usually used in online games in this day and age unless they were super professionals, but with what Sam knew of the future of the game, he knew it was better to get into the habit of using them now instead of later.
He knew that in the future, the big guilds would invest a lot of money into information-gathering teams, whose only task would be observing the fights of teams from other guilds while trying to break the code they used to hide their communication.
Frowning thoughtfully, he opened his message screen and shot off a quick message, hoping that the other person was online. Luckily, they were, and the return message was promising.
Smiling to himself, he returned his attention to his team as they were discussing hand signals.
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Over the next three days, as he waited for the next mana pulse, he took his team around the farming areas surrounding the city of Ironwood.
They fought against the earth golems infesting the mountains while skirting around the giant guild farming teams; they ventured deep into the marshes, hunting a few Mossys as well as haunted trees while dodging enraged marsh snakes. He even took the team back to the cavern system where he met Katie and they went on a jolly adventure through the caverns deep below.
Clarissa appreciated the fact that her spells seemed to have a negative effect on the shadow and undead-natured monsters in there.
They also took up a few quests from the city. More specifically, they followed up with the city guards and accepted the task of hunting down the increasing number of goblinoids. And this time Sam didn’t stay back, instead he actively participated in the fight.
He would dance around the monsters, peppering them with his Wind Blades while making sure that every fire attack that Dan shot off was fanned to be even stronger. He would use his defensive spells and skills to make sure that Clarissa could comfortably concentrate on healing, while also herding the monsters in Katie’s direction, satisfying her craving for brutal violence.
When they took breaks, he would continue helping Dan refine his fire spells while sharing some of what he discovered about mana control and mana in general. Katie wasn’t interested in the minute detail of how spells worked, but she still listened with half an ear and Sam noticed that some of her spells had become much more focused and stronger. Followed by her maniacal laughter upon witnessing said destruction, which was disturbingly mimicked by her cat familiar.
Listening to a small cat try to meow maniacally was rather disturbing…
However, Clarissa simply soaked up the morsels of knowledge Sam dropped. He was still a little stand-off-ish as he didn’t fully trust them not to take the knowledge and sell it to the highest bidder, so Sam only shared the absolute basics.
Every time they sat down in a forest clearing or cliffside to practice, she was always the first one to be ready and the first one to do his exercises.
After a while, Sam couldn’t help but ask.
“Why are you so excited about this?”
Clarissa looked at him agog, then snorted. “Are you kidding? One, this is knowledge I couldn’t find anywhere. Two, the more efficient my healing is, the more I can heal, and I make more money. What’s not clear about this?”
And, as they say, that was that. Feeling a little foolish, Sam simply continued with the lessons.
At the end of the three days, just shortly after they returned to the city guards to report the destruction of another goblin camp, this one producing some kind of noxious concoction at the direction of a Lesser Goblin Shaman. And seeing that the goblin camp was near one of the freshwater sources that fed the city’s water reserve, it was pretty clear what the goblins intended. Thankfully, they didn’t have the brain capacity to have someone with actual power to protect the site.
Sam was heading towards his waiting teammate as they leisurely conversed next to the building, which housed the guards as they waited for him to finish his report when his always active Mana Sense blared at him.
He froze, closed his eyes, and cast his senses toward the incoming information.
If the first pulse was like a gentle ripple on the surface of a lake after somebody threw a pebble into it, then this one was a wave before a tsunami. The mana curled towards a point that was so far from Sam, he couldn’t even sense it, but only its aftereffects. Even though this was happening, the mana in the world was placid and calm, as if nothing was happening.
Sam suspected that while the first pulse could only be sensed by those extremely talented with Mana Sensing, lucky ones who were looking in the right direction at the right time, however, he was pretty confident that this one would be sensed by almost everybody who had a high-level Mana Sense skill.
‘The Mage Tower should be starting to panic right about now…’ he mused, then cut his eyes towards the guard captain, who froze similarly to him. Their eyes met, and it took a few seconds for the guard captain to realize that Sam sensed the same thing he did, then he became deathly pale, did an about-face, and rushed away. ‘Give it an hour and everybody is going to know something is going to happen…’
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Naturally, he was right.
When they returned to the headquarters to take a break, both in-game and out of the game, and he logged out he saw on his computer that the forums were alight with speculation.
Everybody was talking about the mana pulse as if they knew what was going to happen. A lot of people suspected that it was a first event, and some even guessed that it was going to be a monster horde type of event.
By the time he returned from a bathroom and snack run (not at the same time), the forums had split into three camps. The smallest was insisting that it was going to be an alien invasion, while the other two were talking about a monster horde attack and undead uprising, respectively.
Even Shadowland was blowing up with requests for information about the event.
Sam took a moment to appreciate the chaos, then gleefully began selling his ‘guess’ to the clueless masses in other cities.
One should never miss a chance to make a truckload of money…
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After the second mana pulse, Sam knew that the third wasn't far away.
Instead of ranging far away from the city, he took his team around the city, exterminating monster nests with extreme prejudice, while also stealthily checking out the locations where some of the most profitable permanent dungeons would pop up.
Dungeons, after the Fracture, had two types. One was permanent, which could be plundered as much as they wanted, and the other was temporary. It changed from dungeon to dungeon which parameters were that closed the dungeon down. Sometimes it was retrieving an item, sometimes it was killing the boss, sometimes it was not killing the boss and some of the times it was running it x number of times.
Guild wars usually happened around permanent dungeons while temporary ones worked on a first come first serve basis. That is, whoever survived finding it could go in and plunder it.
Then, just as they were in the middle of exterminating a smaller nest of Creeping Porcupines, a monster that instead of needles had creeping vines on its back, Sam felt the next pulse.
This time, it was turbid and aggressive, washing over him with a strength and fury of a storm. And he could see that the mana of the world was as calm as before.
Opening his eyes, he could see Dan and Clarissa sweating under the pressure of the mana pulse as their recently acquired Mana Sense skill tried to parse the information.
Finally, the pulse was over, and they opened their eyes.
Clarissa was the first one to speak up. “Was that?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah… the third one…”
“So that means…” she spoke, trailing off at the end as she tried to make sense of the information.
“It’s happening soon,” he stated matter-of-factly, then without turning away from his two sort-of-pupils, he yelled out. “Katie, stop playing with them! Wrap it up, we need to head back!”
His answer was a cheerful exclamation from the girl. “Yes, boss!” then he could only hear the desperate noises of the monsters as they tried to flee their inevitable death.
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By the time he was back at the headquarters, the entire city was abuzz with nervous energy, which made sense, as on the way back two other pulses swept over the land. He could have sworn that the last one made an almost visible shimmer appear in the world.
Instead of panicking, he was doing a last-minute check of his status. Over the last few days, he managed to level up a few skills, so he wanted to make sure everything was alright. Lucky was laying next to him, gnawing on a big bone.
[Mana Manipulation is now Level 19!]
[Mana Shield is now Level 56!]
[Mana Resonance is now Level 2!]
[Mana Tempered Body is now Level 20!]
[Thanks to tempering your body, you gained the Rapid Movement subskill!]
[Rapid Movement: Level MAX (Passive) Your body is trained for speed. For every 20 Levels in the main skill you gain +1 AGI.]
[Phasing Strike is now Level 5!]
[Extended Mana Strike is now Level 10!]
[You learned the Mana Construct skill!]
[Mana Construct: Level 0/100 (0%) (Active/Passive) You can create mana constructs over your weapons. These constructs cannot be separated from your weapon. You have total control over their shape and size. For every level in the skill, the mana cost is decreased by 1% and the damage inflicted by the skill is increased by 1%.]
Sam stared at the skill for a while, then smiled. “Finally, I got it!” he cheered for a few seconds, even doing a silly little dance with Lucky happily joining him before he returned to reading his screens and Lucky to the giant bone.
[Double Mana Slash is now Level 8!]
[Mana Body Enhancement is now Level 51!]
[Thanks to regularly enhancing your body with mana, you gained the subskill Mana Recycling!]
[Mana Recycling: Level MAX (Passive) Every time you use the skill, there is a 100% chance you gain 10% of the mana you used to enhance your body back. Additionally, there is a 10% chance to gain 50% of the mana back and a 1% chance that you gain 100% of the mana back.]
[Mana Disruption is now Level 10!]
[Spell Layering is now Level 10!]
[Light Ball II is now Level 7!]
[Firespark II is now Level 6!]
[Clean III is now Level 7!]
[Earth Wall III is now Level 6!]
[Electric Spark is now Level 4!]
[Water Bullet II is now Level 6!]
[Wind Blade III is now Level 5!]
[Wind Flurry is now Level 10!]
[You learned the spell Wind Blade Storm!]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 0/10 (0%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet II is now Level 10!]
[You learned the spell Wind Bullet III!]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 0/10 (0%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Bullet Barrage is now Level 8!]
[Healing Wind is now Level 10!]
[Wind Movement is now Level 20!]
[Wind Edge II is now Level 10!]
[You learned the spell Wind Edge III!]
[Wind Edge III: Level 0/10 (0%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Drill is now Level 10!]
[Wind Affinity is now Level 41!]
[Windstream is now Level 2!]
Sam was a little disappointed that Healing Wind didn’t net him an upgraded spell, but it made sense. He wasn’t a healing-focused mage, thus the system only saw him use the spell here and there. Enough to max it out, but not enough to grant the next level.
[Active Meditation is now Level 37!]
[Serene Movement is now Level 3!]
[Battle Awareness is now Level 2!]
[Spirit Link is now Level 31!]
[Advanced Sword Mastery is now Level 9!]
[Basic Armor Mastery is now Level 24!]
[Advanced Breathing Technique is now Level 6!]
[Calm Heart is now Level 39!]
[Flow is now Level 35!]
[Focused Flow is now Level 3!]
[Illusion Resistance is now Level 7!]
[Corruption Resistance is now Level 4!]
[Shadow Resistance is now Level 6!]
[Earth Resistance is now Level 3!]
[Multitasking is now Level 69!]
[Parallel Processing is now Level 6!]
Noting all the improvement, he was very satisfied. Especially with the Wind Blade Storm spell. It would definitely come in handy in the cramped hallways of several dungeons. Then he directed his attention toward the last part of his status screen. Vexingly, he still couldn’t break through with the Shadow Burst ability, but at least he managed with another one.
[Shadow Shield is now Level 10!]
[Shadow Transformation is now Level 10!]
[Shadow Mirage is now Level 27!]
[Thanks to your creative use of skill, you gained the subskill Mirage Obfuscation!]
[Mirage Obfuscation: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Thanks to your resistance to illusions and your mastery of the spell, it will become harder to spot you among your mirages.
[Shadow Cloak is now Level 24!]
[Shadow Footwork is now Level 50!]
[Thanks to your practice with the skill, you gained the subskill Silent Shadow!]
[Silent Shadow: Level MAX (Passive) The sound of your movement is decreased when you move under the cover of a shadow. (Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Thanks to mastering Shadow Footwork, you glimpsed another step on the path.]
[You can learn Advanced Shadow Footwork or upgrade your skill into Umbral Steps!]
Sam stared for a moment, and after giving it a thought, he made his choice.
[You choose Advanced Shadow Footwork!]
[Advanced Shadow Footwork: Level 0/50 (0%) (Passive) You dance on the path of the shadows. Your stance when stepping in the shadows cannot be seen or broken. Reading your movements has become harder. Your base speed is increased, and this increase is bigger when covered by shadows. Grants the Shadow Grace skill.]
[Shadow Grace: Level 0/10 (0%) (Active) When activated, your grace, stability, and speed increase by 20% for each skill level.]
He read the text of the buff skill and couldn’t help but feel satisfied. When maxed out, it would grant him a 200% speed increase! That was amazing!
Sadly, even with the high number of monsters they killed, he didn’t level up. He was simply too strong for the monsters, so the system barely awarded him anything.
Satisfied with his gains, he closed the screens and began preparing for what was to come.
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He stood on the top of the company headquarters, looking down at the city as it buzzed with excitement and nervousness. The mana pulses now came every hour or so, and the last hour had two of them. Sam suspected they only had around thirty or so minutes before it began.
So he gathered up a few high-quality drinks and relocated to the roof. Lucy declined his invitation, as she wanted to make use of every second to prepare for the calamity.
Sam winced as another raw mana pulse swept through the world, causing a visible haze in the air for a moment before it vanished.
His team, though, joined him on the roof. They were sitting at a simple garden table while one of the maids that worked at the company cheerfully served them cakes and tea. Or, in Katie’s case, fruit juice, as the girl refused to touch the drink.
He was at the ledge, looking down as the people run around trying to make sense of the situation. With how strong the pulse was, almost everybody who could use mana felt it.
Shuddering a little, he waited until the latest pulse passed and frowned. ‘That was rough…’
With how strong and aggressive the pulse was, he expected that maybe the next one would be the beginning.
And he was right.
Instead of a pulse, the next one was a veritable tsunami, washing over the world, suffocating and cloying, yet at the same time invigorating. He felt as if his entire body was supercharged, raring to go.
Down in the city, he could hear the cries of distress, but his entire attention was on the mana.
Instantly after the mana tsunami washed over them, the mana froze and with it, the world.
For a moment that felt like an eternity, everything stood frozen. Men, women, animals, and plants, even the very air, stopped whatever they were doing. Then the instant passed, and the world screamed.
Looking up at the sky, trying to weather the storm that was raging all around them as the mana churned like in a once a lifetime storm, he watched as a small technicolor pinprick appeared in the sky over one of the mountains nearby.
For a long moment, it hung there as if it was a newly born star, despite it being daytime, then suddenly cracks appeared originating from it, not unlike fresh ice breaking under precise strikes.
Then the cracks spread, crisscrossing over the sky, filling it with the same technicolor light.
And as Sam remembered the videos from his inherited memories, the pieces of the sky surrounded by the cracks fell, leaving behind a swirling chaos of color and non-color.
Then a giant wyvern fell out of the hole in the sky and let out an enormous roar, shaking the very building he was standing on.
The Fracture had begun.