Wednesday, May 1st, 2069
The dinner table was deathly quiet, and I could tell everyone was digesting the retelling of the information I’d just shared. I myself was still trying to digest just how frustrated and impotent the day had made me.
Every witness that was called to the stand had their words twisted by Mr. Varnish. Mrs. Stovall certainly did a good job of countering his points and fleshing out more of the story, but it felt like the seeds of doubt were being sowed. Mrs. Stovall had even told me that this would happen to an extent, but I just hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
She also hadn’t expected a key piece of evidence to have gone missing. This truly felt like a movie or court drama TV show—evidence didn’t just go missing, right? Mrs. Stovall was talking to the Detectives tonight, and trying to get to the bottom of the ‘missing’ items.
The current theory from all parties involved was that it was simply left off the list. My gut told me something different though. It just felt like something Mr. Varnish hadn’t stumbled onto. Or maybe I had watched too many of the aforementioned dramas.
“Trust Mrs. Stovall,” my mother said, as she placed a hand atop my own. I gave her a weak smile, knowing she was right, but also not really in the best of moods to acknowledge it at the moment. “Geneva and Kristen have good news,” my mom said with fake enthusiasm—clearly trying to change the subject.
I turned to the two women and caught the tail end of them both ‘turning a frown upside down.’ Kristen was the first to succeed, and with a wide, forced smile she said, “We’ve sold the five B-rank Crystals on your behalf, and we’ve finished editing the video. We brought it here for your review!”
Geneva began digging in her work bag beside her chair before Kristen was even half finished, and soon a tablet was on the table, ready to play. Part of me was excited to see the second video they’d made. I was especially curious after the first’s wild success and yet it still took a moment for my brain to convince my heart to play it.
With a mood-changing sigh I stood up and pressed the play button on the black screen. Instantly, the sound of pickaxes on Crystal and ore could be heard as an image slowly came into focus. Somehow, the sounds of Miner’s slowly began to morph into slow more recognizable swings on Crystals.
The video gained shades of a familiar green that was still fresh in everyone’s mind. The Goblin Caverns! I’ll admit that my mood increased by the second as the video continued, showing not only my skill as I quickly extracted full Crystals, but also the ‘companies’ capabilities. The women did a wonderful job of showing the Guild minder’s shock at the speed and ability of our team, and even put in the section where my father left to renegotiate with Echo-Five.
I didn’t recall it seeming so professional, and amazing in the moment, but Geneva and Kristen certainly made it out to be. Then, through carefully chosen clips they made it look like the Hunter’s who were sent deeper to scout had actually done so after the accidental cave-in to keep us safe.
It was brilliant. Untrue, to be sure, but it was genius editing that should appease Mirage. The deaths of the minder’s was shown to be tragic, and I even felt some outrage on their behalf as a line of text scrolled along the bottom of the video—saying they’d been eaten by the Monsters.
I was beyond impressed, but the video didn’t end there.
Next, small snippets of famous Hunters and Guild Leader’s were played. Snippets of them praising the hardworking people who toiled away in the Portals. Small conversations on podcasts and talk shows, where the dangers of the jobs for the lame Portal worker were discussed. The video ended with a beautiful shot of me and the group walking toward the Portal in the park, with picks in hand.
Words flew in and the sounds of Miner’s picks resumed as it crashed into the center of the shot, and froze the video. The words read, ‘Company Name.’ The guffaw that escaped my lips, was joined by many others around the table.
The video and their small joke had effectively pulled me completely out of my mood. Not just because of the quality of this piece—but also because it was a great reminder. Information could be manipulated, and Mr. Varnish wasn’t the only person capable of that. Here was a perfect example of the ‘truth’ being subjective. Geneva and Kristen were clearly good at their jobs to make such a compelling tale and narrative out of something that wasn’t there.
Mr. Varnish was the same. Mrs. Stovall surely had that skill as well. I needed to remember, I’d surrounded myself with good and skilled people. I just needed to trust them to do their jobs.
And I needed to surround myself with more…
“No!” Smegma complained, breaking the jubilant mood around the table with his sudden outburst. Everyone looked at him in confusion, likely thinking he was talking about the video. “Not the video, idiots! I’m speaking to the biggest moron amongst you.”
“Yes,” I said, a smile still broad on my face.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“No!” Smegma shot back. “You and moron number two spent all night last night talking about what you would become in the future. Now what? You changed your mind on a stupid whim?”
“Smegma, this plan doesn’t change that dream. It is an investment!”
“An investment into crappy Crafting!”
“Can someone explain?” My father stated pointedly. His voice wasn’t upset but it carried the threat of going there if we didn’t stop arguing and let the table in on the discussion.
“I want to use the Mana Coins to buy gear for other Portal Professions. Gardening Gear, Skinning Knives, and—“
“And?” Smegma shouted. “You don’t have anyone who’s a Skilled Cook, besides yourself, not to mention an Alchemist, Blacksmith or anything else!”
“We don’t, yet!” I countered my grin only getting smaller as I pointed two thumbs at myself. “If I’m not mistaken I’ll get a sub-Skill for each thanks to Overflow—“ Smegma sucked on his teeth, making a noise that threatened interruption but I overrode it. “—Plus! I can change the target of Overflow, maybe get some others a Skill!”
“Oh, come on!” Smegma complained. “I’ve been wanting you to change its target to me forever!”
“And maybe I’ll consider it if this works the way I hope for!”
Geneva, Kristen, my father, Dave and my mother looked at me and Smegma with mixed expressions. I could tell that Dave was disappointed I wasn’t going to purchase a Skill from the Shop, but simultaneously excited to possibly become a target of Overflow, and get more Skills that way.
That was an experiment I’d need to run later, though. Mostly because I still had a great deal of stats and Skills to unlock. Plus, if it did work as intended, it would be extremely dangerous for me if it ever got out. Someone who could just grant Skills by entering a dungeon, was certainly valuable. Would I just become a government asset if discovered? Or worse, assassinated by people who wanted to keep others weak?
My parents both wore thoughtful expressions, clearly thinking about the business side of what I’d just suggested. Geneva and Kristen were unreadable but thankfully Geneva spoke up and excitedly snagged the tablet. “We can add a recruitment notice and explain the new parts to the business. It probably won’t get you too many people applying, but it should get the interest of Guilds!”
I sighed and mentally shook myself of the dark thoughts from a moment before, even as the conversation continued.
“We’ll handle the other recruits,” my father said, looking at my mother. Then he followed up by asking, “How many Picks, Knives and Gardening Kits are you going to purchase?”
I didn’t have an answer but I mentally opened the Shop windows for Demonic Vault, and checked the prices of those items. They were each just ten thousand mC and with the million plus Mana Coins they’d barely make a dent. I responded, “As many as we can recruit?”
My father nodded even as my mother winced before adding, “We don’t know any other Trades, Brodie. Guilds usually take their materials directly to them. So, figuring out what it means to be an Alchemist, Cook and Blacksmith is going to be tough.”
“That’s okay, and not necessarily a bad thing. It means that the Guilds have had a monopoly on supplies for a while now. We might find that those materials are relatively cheap when considering what a Professional can do with them. We’ll experiment a bit for now,” I said and then canted my head before asking something I probably should have known before making this plan. “Does anyone know what things each Profession makes that is most in demand by Guilds?”
Smegma chuckled sadly and began rubbing the bridge of his nose. Then to my and everyone’s surprise, he grumbled, “I might not know what you Human’s want, but I know what was in demand by the Sects of Crendalar Five after five thousand plus years of battling the Portals.”
As if his reluctant words were a call to action, everyone started moving.
“I’ll make some calls!” My dad said.
“Me too,” my mom quickly crowed right behind him.
“I’ll help keep track of stuff,” Dave said, sounding a bit lost, but rushing after them both. I shook my head and smiled, knowing he’d do a fantastic job but also be a bother.
“We’ll edit this video, and post it—but we’ll still need a company name!”
“Oh, right,” I said, feeling my excitement wane a bit. How could the plan be so easy to come up with but a word or two be slightly terrifying?
Dave stuck his head back into the room. “Alonzo’s Alloys?”
“We’re going to be doing more than Mining,” I pointed out.
“Mars’ Mercantile?” Dave tried again. He cupped a hand over his mouth to call out down the hallway. “Gary! What rhymes with Flacarada? Alliteration is fine, too. The Flacarada Foundry? No? Well, couldn’t you have picked a better last name?”
My mom and dad entered the doorway behind him.
Dad slapped Dave on the shoulder. “I’ll be sure to let my grandfather’s grandfather know about your criticisms of the family name.”
I laughed at Dave’s sheepish look and shook my head, not liking the suggestions either.
“Merchants of Mars?” Dave tried again. This one was admittedly closer to what I wanted.
“We aren’t Merchants, though. Not really. We offer Portal Services, and Consumables…”
“Then go with something simple like that,” Dave stated.
“Alonzo’s Abyss: Portal Services and Consumables,” Smegma suggested in a whisper.
I blinked and looked at the Demon. It only took that glance to realize how much the name Abyss meant to him. I nodded.
“We’ll get it done!” Geneva squeed, dancing in place and clearly excited to have a name settled.. “Shoot me a text with the spelling just in case.”
I nodded, and everyone left the room again, leaving me and Smegma alone.
“Thanks,” the Demon whispered.