Clipping his copper badge on, Sam teleported to the Guild headquarters and joined the long line of people weaving in and out of it. Upon entering, his badge shone with a green light and he was allowed through. Wondering what would have happened if that hadn't been the case, Sam looked back as he heard a sharp buzzing noise. A man with a golden badge on his chest was surrounded with red light and frozen in place. He attempted to get free of his confines, but two guards reached him soon enough. The man snarled and then winked out of existence, leaving the Interweb. No wonder he had been singled out immediately, as Sam could not see a single person with a gold badge anywhere. Sam assumed that Gold was a much higher rank than his own, and that to fake it was a serious offense.
After the hubbub had died down, Sam made his way towards a large board in the middle of the library where the mission requests were kept. Unfortunately, all of them were out of his own universe, and therefore inaccessible. Tantalos had really screwed everyone over by preventing access to the other universes. Still, there were thousands of requests, and surely one of them had something useful. Finally, Sam spotted something that did not require any sort of interuniversal travel.
Daily job request #4576
Material request
100 grams of purified iron
100 grams of purified copper
1 F Rank beast hide of mammalian origin
Reward:100,000 Credits
It was a fairly straightforward task, although Sam had no idea why someone would need purified metal. The addition of the beast hide indicated that the person looking for these items was a crafter, perhaps one who was not suited to battle and therefore needed others to gather their resources for them. Sam saw another person taking one of the requests off the board and he did the same with his. The piece of paper glowed green as he did so, and Sam felt it send a chime of energy into his badge. A glowing timer appeared above the piece of paper, counting down from 24 hours.
Sam quickly exited the Interweb, finding that the piece of paper was gone, but the ghostly imprint of the quest was still available on his badge. With a smile, Sam got to his feet and left his house. Jeffrey was waiting outside, with Rax in tow, and the man grinned when he saw Sam.
“There you are! Rax wanted to have a little bit of the old times again. What do you say about the three of us going on a little expedition?” Jeffrey asked.
“Well, I would have said yes anyway, but as it happens, I just gained a quest from the Adventurers’ Guild. Why don’t we complete that? It has a time limit, so I need to get it done sooner rather than later.”
“You joined the Guild? How? Oh, the Interweb. I’m surprised that they accepted you. Usually they won’t accept applicants from within the Interweb unless they are quite spectacular.” Jeffrey laughed a moment. “What am I talking about? It was you! Of course you got the membership. Well, what is the mission then?”
“We need a hundred grams of purified iron, and hundred grams of purified copper and an F Rank monster hide of mammalian origin.”
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“Some crafter no doubt. The metal can be acquired from George, but the monster hide will take a bit longer. How about we go for the hide first?”
Rax yipped happily at the words and bounded towards Jeffrey, who narrowly dodged.
“Rax!”
The herpetopede cringed slightly as he realized what he had done.
“Sorry, Jeffrey. I forgot that I’m so much larger now. It might be good for battle, but it sure makes interacting with others annoying.”
Sam smiled a little bit as he imagined Rax bowling over Jeffrey in an attempt to lick him.
"Come here, Rax. You can do that to me.” Sam said, pointing at the herpetopede. Rax nodded happily and ran for Sam, leaping at the last minute. Sam reached out and grabbed the beast and let him lick him with his forked tongue. Rax made noises of pleasure as Sam scratched the back of his neck, and then withdrew a few seconds later. It was hard to equate Rax, a bruiser of a beast that easily weighed two tons, with the small creature that he had used to be, but they were still mentally the same. For all intents and purposes, Rax was less than a few months old, and although his intelligence was that of an adult human, he had the emotional intelligence of a child.
With that over, they were ready to leave. Sam, Jeffrey and Rax strode down the main road, heading for the gate. For the first time in a while, they had time just to themselves. Eduardo and the others may have been close friends and allies, but Jeffrey and Rax had been the first people that Sam had bonded with since the System had arrived. Despite the fact that Jeffrey and Rax were not necessarily the strongest members of the faction had no bearing on the fact that they were Sam’s closest friends. As the years stretched into decades, and the veil of eternity started to drop down on a cultivator, there were only two things that kept them motivated. The promise of further power, and their friends.
A few minutes later, they were out of the main area of the city, and in the agricultural district. A few farmers looked up as they passed but quickly averted their eyes as they saw who it was. It took them ten minutes moving at a brisk jog to reach the gates, and the sentry on duty quickly opened them, saluting the trio as they passed. Sam saluted the woman back, and then took a deep breath of the air, which was only marred by the stench of death in the air. Instead, he coughed lightly, and then grinned ruefully. Death followed him everywhere, it seemed.
Rax and Jeffrey did not even flinch at the sight of the thousands of corpses. Sam was scared to think of what sort of battles Jeffrey had seen in the past. The man was gazing off into the distance slightly, a weak smile on his face.
“You know, I used to think that the sight of carnage would always be sickening to me, but it's amazing how quickly life in the Multiverse changes that. I went from a spoiled noble to a veteran just like that,” Jeffrey said, snapping his fingers, “when I completed my first military tour of the surrounding planets. Every noble in the Multiverse has to complete at least one military tour, seeing as they are being raised to assume a position of power later on. In a world where rulership is based on power, that is a necessity.”
“So your life wasn't just parades and pampering then, was it? You project an air of lecherous indolence, but you really are a battle hardened warrior.”
“Anyone who makes it past G Rank is. I am no different. We all find ways to cope with our inner demons, and my way is through relentless cop-”
“No, I don’t want to hear the end of that sentence,” Sam said, grimacing at the images running through his head. His enhanced intelligence made it so that the images that his mind could come up with were very vivid indeed.
“Why are you so prudish, Sam? Was your world really so closeted before the System came? In my experience, your women are eager to engage, if you are attractive enough.”
“You were living in a shack when I met you. I cannot believe that any woman would even come near you,” Sam said, laughing.
“The internet is one of the best inventions that your people ever invented. With enough money, anything is possible. Anything at all…” Jeffrey trailed off, sighing wistfully.
Sam kept walking, as it seemed that Jeffrey was finished speaking. In any case, he no longer wished to speak about such matters. Being around Jeffrey was an invitation to course behavior in any case, and Sam did not wish for any more.