CHAPTER 17 DAY 15
During the log in I noticed that the number of players read 6,300,281. Staggering. All I could think was how much this game was making for the developers. Celina was curled up next to me when I logged in. It was mid morning but she was sleeping contentedly next to me. I stirred and she purred but awoke and looked embarrassed. She got up and went to her work bench.
Rather than deal with the awkward situation I walked to Celina gave her a peck on her cheek and went outside. I saw Gwyn, Carrie and Terry standing with a group of unfamiliar PCs. They must be their friends.
I approached and Carrie stepped forward and handed me a scroll. When I received it a prompt came up,
Activate the Guild ‘First Architects’ as the guild leader? Yes/No
“The guild leader has to activate it. These are our friends, Gwyn will introduce them.” Carrie said as she stepped back. I clicked Yes and suddenly had a new menu called ‘Guild Management’. Cool. I clicked on invite and added Carrie, Gwyn and Terry. They accepted immediately. I didn’t have time to play with the new menu right now. Gwyn stepped forward.
“Hey Daedalus, these are our friends. They didn’t buy the promo Cocoon but are all committed gamers. This is Tara,” she said pointed to a young teenage girl. She was still in her beige beginner clothes. She was a cute tiny blonde. “Tara is my younger sister.” Ok hands off! “Tara plans to play the role of an air mage and healer.” I walked up to Tara and handed her one gold and two rings I had made. I then invited her to the guild. Probably should have waited till she accepted before giving the gifts.
“Welcome Tara. Please accept these gifts and coins to begin your game.”
“Next we have Joker. He plans to focus on archery. He is a great ranged supporter.” He looked more like a warrior. Standing over 6’5” with a toned body. He also had purchased some new clothes.
“Welcome Joker. Please accept these gifts and coins to begin your game.” Handing him the gold and rings I smiled at him. I sent an invite to the guild.
“This is Madre. She was a death wizard in our last game but plans to be a water and chaos mage here.” She was a middle aged women still wearing beige clothes. She looked friendly.
“Welcome Madre. Please accept these gifts and coins to begin your game.” Handing her the gold coin and rings I smiled at her. I sent an invite to the guild.
Carrie moved to the next person. “This is Gray Eagle. He is shooting for a barbarian warrior type but played a paladin in the last game.” He was about 5’10” and looked like an average college male student.
“Welcome Gray Eagle. Please accept these gifts and coins to begin your game.” Handing him the gold coin and rings I smiled at him. I sent an invite to the guild.
“Finally we have Gaia.” She was the only non-human. She was a very beautiful elf. “Gaia plans to focus on Earth and Nature magic. Going for a druid.
“Welcome Gaia. Please accept these gifts and coins to begin your game.” Handing her the gold coin and rings I smiled at her. I sent an invite to the guild.
“OK welcome to the First Architects. Our primary guild goal right now is to defend this village and help it prosper. Make sure to key the translocation stone to a stud on your bracer. I gave you a little money to go buy some gear. The rings will help you survive. I will make you each two more rings of your choice. Then I will bind all four rings to you. We will be making attacks against the goblin port town regularly to thin them out and free slaves. Harrash,” I pointed to the dwarf on the beach, “will take groups of 5 to 6 people there and back.”
Everything went social as everyone mingled. I went over to Terry and gave him the +5 magic ring I had made. I thanked him again for the gloves. I took orders for the ten rings I had to make. Gwyn and Carrie were setting up to help people with small quests they knew about to get some important skills.
I eventually walked away and around the village. I was happy to see 18 catwomen and 3 elves practicing with bows. I was itching to go on a raid but with 5 new players I was worried. Tomorrow when they got back from gearing up. I walked to Harrash on the beach. His new fishing boat was almost complete. It was an exact replica of his original. I praised the ship and Harrash just mumbled about a misfitted plank. Celina found me and brought me food. Kilinith walked up to me and told me how pleased she was, she gave me a bag with some emeralds. I thanked her for moving the stone back to the village. We talked about the village and plans for the future. The goblins must be dealt with first.
I walked and watched the cats playing, the waves rolling the beach, people working and smiling. It was a great feeling. I cast my improved summon earth and made a low earth works. I wasn’t going to invest 450,000 magic today but it was a start.
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I went back to Celina to get some magic potions, not for the wall but for enchanting. She has 3 cases of the potions ready for me. I asked her to make me some fortify magic potions for me as well. I also told her to practice her enchanting.
I sat down at my outdoor work bench and got to work on the rings for the guild mates.
Earth Magic: Stone 6 +1 Constitution
That was right. I was really close to leveling stone magic. Now Earth was at 3 and Earth: Stone at 6. Meaning I needed another level in Earth!
I opened the bag of new emeralds from Kilinith. There were only eight of them but they were larger and looked more impressive. I decided to make a magic amulet next and was surprised by the result. Greater Emerald Ying-Yang Amulet, +5 magic, +1 channeling, +2% magic pool. Those emeralds were tier 2. Excellent. I would save them until I had the +6 magic spell.
I put the new amulet on and bound it. The old amulet would go to Gaia when she returned.
I had about three hours of game time left. I was not going to stay late. I needed to catch up on sleep.
I used the lesser emeralds and made twenty ying-yang emerald +5 constitution rings.
Artistry: Sculpture 4 +1 Charisma, sculptured objects are higher quality
The sun had just down and I wanted to sell these twenty rings for cash. I went to Bluewater and posted them for $500 each. With all the new gamers I was sure they would sell. I was not disappointed as they quickly started disappearing. Nice! I would be $9,000 richer in a few hours. I made four +5 magic rings and went and posted them for $1,000 each. And, by damn, those sold too! Another $3,600. The sun was breaking in the game meaning it was my logout time. I went to my room at the Union Hall and logged out.
I got out of the Cocoon and I was torn. I could enchant all day in game and make $30,000 or more. A ridiculous sum but as more enchanters leveled and competed on the market the profits would go down. It was also extremely boring.
Flicka followed me to the fridge. A small casserole was in the fridge. I ate it cold and Gina came down stairs as I finished. Flicka got the bowl to clean. “Morning I said to her. How is work?” I said.
“OK. I got 50 hours this week and thanks to staying here I got caught up on my bills.” She smiled but looked tired. “How is your game going?”
“Good. I made $12,000 yesterday so it was productive.” I just wanted to point out is was more than a game, not brag but she dropped into the chair next to me in shock.
“You mean in game currency? Not real money though.” She asked curiously.
“No it is real money. People are paying ridiculous sums for items I make in game. I had the advantage of leveling up before the game release and focused on enchanting.” I replied.
“What, a single day? $12,000? That is incredible. I made $800 for 50 hours of slaving away in the kitchen this week.” She started thinking. I saw an opportunity.
“If you want I will buy a Cocoon for you to use and you can play. I will show you the ropes. My guess is you can make $700 easily in a week if you focus on enchanting.” She was thinking. I opened up the general price list of items on a game wiki. +1 items were only going for $1 or $2. The price for a +2 item was around $5. It took about 10 minutes to create an item. “Looking at prices you can make between $24 and $30 an hour from day one. Tell you what I will set you. You give me half of your income until you pay off my investment and then you pay me 20% after that?” Gina’s mind was turning.
“When can I start?” she finally said. Looking me straight in the eye.
“Let me see.” I pulled up Cocoon sales and went to see if any were for sale nearby. A retailor 100 miles away had two left in stock. I thumbed the call button and 5 minutes later I had talked to the salesman and paid for it over the phone. I also ordered a copy of the game and the VR suit since Gina didn’t have the implant. The total bill was $43,000. “Ok let me shower and get some clothes on and we will take my truck to go pick it up. Fortunately I have 4 ports on my T5 wall jack. So we will just have to plug it in when we get it inside. There should be space right next to mine if we move the chair in the corner.
As I was in the shower Gina stepped in naked. My mind was in shock for a second but my body was not and it responded. She moved into me under the water and kissed me. I returned it and the shower lasted an hour. When we finally left Gina was giddy in the truck. Flicka was in the window wondering where the hell I was going without her.
Gina seemed relaxed and happy as we drove. I too felt stress free and happy. We joked and talked about unimportant things. When we arrived at the retailer my relationship with Gina was stronger and just felt ‘right’. I had no guilt of taking advantage of her, or perhaps she had taken advantage of me?
It took an hour for Gina to get her fitted VR suit. While that was happening the Cocoon crate was loaded. It weight 348 pounds. I bought 2 furniture dollies at the hardware store next door. I could back the truck up to the front porch and from there it would be easy to get it inside.
Gina joined me in the truck with her new VR suit and the game cartridge under her arm. She hopped up excitedly next to me in the cab. She was so young and vibrant, being around her made me happy. On the drive back I told her about character creation and what to do. After she got her appearance the way she wanted it she was to put all her stat points into magic. Her skills were to be the same as I had selected except instead of herbalism she should select enchant: imbue for level 2. I told her to start in Bluewater Bay in Hyraenfel. I told her about Grant and the stones and how to make ying-yang rings. I would meet her in game and would connect her with Katrina at the Union Hall. I told her where Dolan was and that she would need magic potions. I explained the exchange and the auction house to her. She would have to auction every fourth ring or so to have enough coin to keep going. I would give her some starter gold when we met up in game.
We got back to my cabin. Flicka was jumping at the door to get outside. I backed the truck up to the porch and then let her out. It was a lot of work for Gina and me to get the Cocoon inside, unpacked and plugged in. We were sweating and she looked lovely. She went to the truck and got the game cartridge and her VR suit. Gina came in and powered the Cocoon and slide the cartridge in. The display on the Cocoon said 45 minutes to complete install. Gina looked disappointed that she had to wait.