Returning to the headquarters after his lucky find at the Auction House, he immediately headed for Lucy’s office while simultaneously shooting off messages to the rest of the team, calling on them to gather at the gates, ready for a hunt in a while.
Managing to complete the quest would boost the company’s value beyond anything they could imagine. Just the few percentages that Sam would be able to negotiate, with the Silvercrest family, off the taxes would boost their income several fold. Not to mention any other income revenue…
‘Maybe some souvenirs…’ he mused as he climbed the stairs. ‘A ‘I completed this dungeon but only got this t-shirt’ shirt would be a very funny idea…’
Reaching the door, he nodded to the secretary and, after seeing no indication of anybody being inside the office with Lucy, or her being otherwise engaged, he calmly opened the door and strode in.
Lucy, as usual, was sitting behind her desk, reading over reams of documents. However, what was different was a small temporary table set up on the side of the office, holding three somewhat familiar items. A dagger, a shield, and a menacing-looking spear.
“Are those?” Sam asked as he automatically moved towards the hopefully identified weapons that dropped from the giant boss monster.
“Hello to you, too,” came the sarcastic reply from the woman behind the high-quality desk, which was followed by a tired sigh. “But yes, those are the weapons you looted. They just came back.”
“Thanks!” he called out, picking up the shield first and taking a look at it. It was black, with red accents at the edges. It was a simple shield, around four feet tall, triangular with the sides pointing downwards curved slightly, and the side connecting the top two corners flat as possible.
[Arachnotum: (Shield) A shield born from the energies of the fractured dimensions. It is capable of channeling mana without deteriorating. Any defensive spell or skill used through this medium will have an increased effect. Harkening back to its namesake, those who wield it see more. While it doesn't grant eight eyes, the wielders will still have an increased perception. (+20% to PER)]
Checking the details, Sam noted that while it was a good shield, it wasn’t the best. But still, it was one of the first dungeon drops and people would surely go bananas over it.
‘Can’t sell it in-game, so I’ll need to do it through Shadowlands…’
Placing the shield back on the table, he picked up the spear. It was another weapon made of black material, however, here only the edges of the blade on top of the shaft, made from something that looked like a spider carapace, were deep red. The spear itself was simple. A long shaft almost nine feet, with a simple triangular blade on top that had a few inches of serrated edges.
[Arachasta: (Spear) A spear born from the energies of the fractured dimensions. It is capable of channeling mana without deteriorating. Any single-target spell or skill used through this medium will have an increased effect. Harkening back to its namesake, those who wield it move faster. While it doesn't grant eight legs, the wielder will still move with an increased speed. (Base speed is increased by 50% when wielding the weapon.)]
The single-target spell and skill enhancement looked good, but another weapon he couldn’t really make use of, nor did he have a person who used spears. ‘Another for the Shadowland auction…’ he grumbled a little, though the thought of the money coming in from the future sales cheered him up a little.
Then came the last weapon. Exchanging the spear in his hands for the wicked-looking dagger. Also made from the same black material, it looked like a standard kris. However, only one side of the blade was wavy, and the other was covered with a dangerous-looking serrated edge. The red accent showed up as thin veins covering the blade originating from the handle.
[Arachente: (Dagger) A dagger born from the energies of the fractured dimensions. It is capable of channeling mana without deteriorating. Any poison-type spell or skill used through this medium will have an increased effect. Harkening back to its namesake, those who wield it leave behind something that once belonged to a spider. While it doesn't grant fangs, the wielder's strikes will still leave poison behind. (Any successful attack with this weapon has a 50% chance of leaving behind traces of spider venom.)]
‘Should I learn some poison spells?’ he mused as he read over the description a few more times. ‘I do know a few shadow-slash-poison types skills…’
“Are you done?” came the call from the desk.
Placing the dagger back on the desk, he turned around and smiled at Lucy. “Indeed, I am. Thank you for taking care of it.”
“Anything useful to you?”
“Nah, none of them mesh well with any of our builds sadly…” he explained. “Fancy one of them?”
Lucy shook her head with a small smirk and reached into one of her drawers and retrieved a steampunk-looking pistol with several crystals visible on it, then placed it on the desk between her and Sam. “I have this!”
“Ohhh!” Sam spoke up, amazed and somewhat excited. “She started producing them?”
Lucy nodded, then frowned. “Only one-off production. We don’t have the money, space, or even the tech to set up mass production.”
Sam nodded in understanding and picked up the weapon, idly turning around the pistol in his hands.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” he spoke up and nonchalantly shared his newest quest with his friends.
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She read it, then let out a chuckle. “So, he agreed to your idea?”
He waved one of his hands that wasn’t holding the weapon in a non-committal manner. “He trusts me, but not so much as to invest a lot of money. First, I have to prove that he has a lot of fractures in his territory.”
“And does he?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Probably,” Sam shrugged. “If he has, I’ll be able to find them with my skills…”
Lucy spent a few moments thinking then nodded. Sam placed the weapon back on the desk, from where it vanished into the desk in short order, then sat down and retrieved several documents that contained more detailed information about his deal with Lord Silvercrest.
She reached out and took the first one into her hands and began to read. Sam simply sat back in the comfortable chair and began waiting.
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They talked for almost an hour, going over the details of the contract and what they could realistically expect from the noble house of Silvercrest, also speculating a little about what the rewards from the mayor’s office would be.
“Did I get an invitation yet?”
Lucy shook her head. “Not yet. I think they want to finish the cleanup before doing any kind of event.” She smiled sardonically. “You know how politics are…”
“Hmm… then I’ll take the team and go start on the quest,” he said while starting to gather up the notes he had made. He would need to export them to his computer and do some organizing after gaming time was up. “Any problem with that?”
Lucy pondered for a moment, then once again shook her head.
“I can’t think of anything. With the increased security thanks to your reward, we have enough guards to repel anything that comes our way. For now…”
Sam nodded in understanding. “I’ll look into getting some more security that is better than the basic NPCs.”
Lucy looked at him curiously, no doubt wondering how he would do that. Sam couldn’t really tell her that he would simply look up a person that was dissatisfied with their position and poach them away from their current position.
“Alright, you do that. Meanwhile, I’ll deal with the business side. As always…”
Sam smiled at her and bowed a little. “And I’m eternally grateful for it, my lady!”
Lucy smirked at him and waved him away. “Go away, you goof, I have work to do!”
He began chuckling and walked away while Lucy joined him in laughing behind him.
“See you later!”
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Sam made a quick detour at the bank, depositing the identified weapons and Blood Magic Resistance skill books in his vault, and made sure to talk to the account handler to see if there were any problems. Fortunately, there was nothing, but the man who handled his account was exceedingly polite to him, which raised some flags. But for now, he would shelve those thoughts while making a mental note to look into the situation.
When he stepped out of the bank, he couldn’t help but notice how many people were hiding in the shadows of the alleys in the surroundings of the financial building. No doubt, there to see who went in and did business with the institution.
Thankfully, they couldn’t get into the building to loiter in the lobby as the guards glared at everyone that tried. If you weren't already an account holder, or weren't there to open a new account, you were actively discouraged.
So, those poor fools could only stare from a distance and wonder what went on inside.
Leaving the masses of wannabe spies to their own, he left the bank and headed toward the gate, where he called to his teammates. He already received messages that Dan and Clarissa were on their way, while Katie has been blowing up his messages being bored waiting for them, as the young woman showed up almost half an hour ago.
He arrived to see the area busy with the guards rushing to and fro with groups leaving through the gates and some arriving, tired and exhausted through the same gates.
Katie, in her all-covering armor, sat leaning against the walls of the guard station on a bench placed there, with Puffball in her lap. The slightly terrifying familiar was on its back, enjoying its owner’s ministrations.
However, what was immediately noticeable was that there was a wide area empty around Katie, and her armor was sparking with furious bolts of yellow light. And her entire body posture screamed frustration and anger.
He beelined for her while ignoring one of the city guards as they made some frantic abort motions with their hands.
Upon his approach, she looked up, and Sam saw that her visor was up and a very expressive frown was on her youthful face.
“Hey, Katie, everything alright?”
The frown looked like it wanted to turn into a smile, but in the end, it didn’t succeed.
“Hey, boss…” came the dispirited greeting. “I’m good. Just had an argument with my father…”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Nah,” she waved her one hand not scratching her cat’s belly in a dismissive motion. “He is just a poopy head!”
Sam blinked, then nodded.
“If you say so.”
“I do say so!” came the instant response from the girl, and Sam saw that she was smiling, albeit only a little.
“Good. Then I need to talk to the captain. Then hopefully the others will arrive and we can start.”
“Yes, boss!” came the more enthusiastic reply from Katie.
With that, he turned around and headed for the captain’s office.
On the way, he ignored the soldier that previously tried to warn him, staring at Sam with wonder on his face, while his comrade sat next to him and was trying to bandage a burn on their hand.
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The discussion with the guard captain was short and to the point. He was told that his idea was received warmly by the leadership, but as of now, they were still working out the logistics and the politicians were jockeying for prominent positions in the project, so it would take a little time before anything happened.
‘Probably the system’s way to allow the players some freedom on handling the event…’
By the time he left the office, Clarissa was sitting next to Katie and talking quietly with the younger girl, while Dan was in some kind of flexing competition with a soldier who was almost as muscular as he was.
The moment he stepped into view, Dan stopped to the disappointment of several people around the area and turned to him and waved.
Sam simply motioned toward the gates with his head.
Dan nodded in response and turned back to his ‘enemy’ and began saying goodbye.
Meanwhile, Sam approached the girls.
“Are you ready?”
“You are paying…” came the caustic response from Clarissa.
“Don’t say that, Rissa!” came the exclamation from Katie. “You’re part of the team!”
“Please, don’t ever call me Rissa again,” she said while staring with an unreadable expression at the other girl.
“Sorry, Sissy!” chirped Katie, while depositing Puffball on her head and standing up.
“What?”
“You don’t like Sissy? How about Clairy? Or maybe Cissy?” Katie asked in a pondering tone, a finger on her chin as she stared into the distance.
Clarissa simply let out an exhausted sigh.
“How about you call me Clarissa?”
“Bleh, that’s boring…” came the very mature response, while Sam just stared.
“How about we head out?” he interrupted as the two girls stared at each other, not really knowing what was happening, but not wanting it to escalate.
“Okay!” chirped Katie happily, which was followed by an eager meow from Puffball. Clarissa simply nodded.
“I’m ready.”
“Good, let’s go…”
He turned around and began walking towards the gate, with Dan joining them halfway. Sadly, the two girls almost immediately began talking about nicknames, with Dan interjecting occasionally.
Sam simply tuned them out and activated all his sensing skills.
He would need them if he wanted to act like he was actually looking for fractures. Even though he actually knew the locations of several permanent fractures.
But starting with one would be extremely suspicious, so Sam simply planned to go through several one-off fractures, cleaning them out then stumbling on one that could be visited repeatedly.
‘Let’s go make some money…’