When Tinker logged back in he was inside Tristan’s office. It seemed the sun was in the process of rising and nobody was inside the office other than him. He opened his quest menu to view how much time was remaining 23.22 hours remaining. Outside the

Alchemy guild he asked the first guard where he might buy a stag or deer. He said most butcheries will have and that there is one no to far from here. Tinker raced over to the building, not sure they will be open he saw light burning and movement inside the windows. The door was locked so he just knocked and yelled for service.

A small fat man opened the door. “Easy now, we are not open for business yet, we are currently slaughtering and repacking the meat.”

“All right I do not really care, I need to buy a grand stag or deer or something very similar to that. You people got any?”

“Yes we do, but that will be 80 gold at least. And you will have to lower your standard from grand to normal. The rich bought all the prize winners a few days ago.”

This was bad news, Tinker did not even have that kind of money yet and they did not have what he needed. “Do you know where I can get what I need for cheaper?”

“Well most of the rich donated the good stuff but a lot bought for themselves. Not sure you will find one cheaper, maybe you should go hunt one or ask a hunter to get one.”

“Sure it seems I am screwed” with that said he walked away. He was not sure where to find a hunter or where to go hunt on his own. Wait a moment, he knew Yuri maybe he could help him or give advice. He opened the party window. Seemed everyone was online. It was only 10 at night in the real world, not time for bed yet.

“Hey Yuri are you there and are you busy” a few seconds passed.

“Yo, I am here. Just finished up some business. What can I do for you?”

“Ok, I got myself in a pickle, I offended a bishop from the church and now I have less than 24 hours to get a grand stag or deer for him”

“Well I don’t have any quests at the moment and I guess I can help you, only if you tell me in detail how you managed to anger the church.”

“Sure, so how do we do this and where do we go hunt one?”

“Wait, you did what to the church” Cuzen interjected.

“Well it happened a few hours ago.”

“Tell the story as you are walking to the south gate, I’ll be there when I can”

So he informed them of how it happened. He used food that was supposed to be for the church and not the poor people and now this bishop needs to save face by letting Tinker get a grand stag for the feast. Yuri seemed to enjoy the story and Cuzen had not much to say about it either.

“Well it makes a bit of sense now, I spoke to another player that was more involved in the hierarchy of the church and he explained that due to this week’s donations from the church the moral and productivity of the people increased by about 10%.”

Tinker was proud that he had a part to play in that, but it is just like fate to reward him with nothing and give him hard quests to do.

At the south gate Yuri was already waiting. They said hello and were off. Yuri explained that they were heading to Tekkor forest about 3 hours walk away, which should give them enough time to hunt the animal they need and return.

During the 3 hour walk Tinker got to know Yuri a whole lot better.

He came to the school at age 12, his father is a Russian business man that owns a bit of everything. He was mainly in the steel business and was one of the biggest providers of steel in Europe and Asia. They owned a few other things as well but the one thing that caught his attention was that they owned a lake, and not just a small lake, one of the biggest in Russia. His mother on the other hand was an English woman that came from a wealthy family. She managed to convince Yuri’s father to move away from the snow plains of death to a warmer place. That is the story of how he left Russia and ended up in England. His younger brother and sister also seem to attend the same school as he does.

The story of how he ended up friends with the others was nothing special. He arrived at the start of the year and in one of the classes they a received a group assignment. Since they were already 3 they only needed a 4th and he was added. Over the weeks they became friends. Now they are great friends. Currently Yuri is also a below average student and runs track for the school. That explained how he seemed to be the best in shape of all of them in the real world.

They kept on talking about many things and then talking about his avatar and skills came up. He wanted to be an elf to be a stronger hunter, but then we would not be able to start in the same location with his friends. So he ended up a human. He also claimed he likes to fight from a distance and prefers a bow, apparently standing in the back and chanting a few words is cheating, but shooting arrows is more manly and satisfying. He had a few different skills, multi shot, power shot, rapid fire and his personal favorite was head shot. Tinker played long enough to figure out that their names explained what they did. Yuri favored agility and dexterity stat and added spare stats in luck. He explained it as following.

“Say there are 3 hunters. A B and C. Hunter A skill is average and he shoots the target 3/5 times. Hunter B is better skilled and shoots the target 4/5 times. Player C skill is also average but he has more luck and also shoots the target 4/5 times. In time player C will also improve in his skill and be the best archer of the 3.”

It sounded good, but when you think about it, it was flawed, there are so many other factors a person should take in account but Yuri seemed convinced and Tinker left it at that. His nickname came from his original name that was Yurie.

Tinker had to guess if they both stripped down to plain clothes and run as far as they can, Yuri would win. Hunters/rangers and archers needed a lot of stamina to fire arrow’s over and over. In other games Hunters were considered trolls of the battle field. As you run down on them they would retreat and shoot you with arrows. When you disengage they will run after you and shoot you with arrows. When you hide behind objects and other stuff they will circle around and shoot you with arrows. Always arrows, that’s a given when facing them.

They arrived at the forest without taking brakes. The roads were busy and they had been of the main road for about 2 hours now. The forest was huge. He could not see the end in any direction except for the side they just came from. He asked Yuri what he should do and Yuri just told him to do whatever. He would not really be much help in the hunt and should just hang around here. When Yuri gets the stag he will whisper him and they will meet at this spot and leave again. In the grand scheme of things Tinker did not even need to come with but he thought Yuri wanted the company. He glanced over at Yuri 1 last time to see him disappear into the jungle.

Tinker decided to head into the forest kill what he can and harvest what he can. During this time he found a couple of flowers and added them all to the book, they were identified and only 1 could be used in a potion. He shifted his attention to fruits and trees instead. There were many types of berries. Those that looked purple with a faint green spot on were deadly. He focused of harvesting those more than others. He kept at it. More Berries here, plants there. Seemed most were unidentified or had no use in alchemy. He came across a small patch that was cleared and seemed to be in linked to a cave that was mostly hidden. On closer inspection the plant life around the cave seemed to be less dense. Also no birds seemed to be hanging around either. If this was a movie the dramatic music will play and our hero would go in and get trapped. He took his swords and moved to the cave.

He went inside and nothing. He could see a cauldron in a burnt out pile of ash, a bunch of rags that seemed to be a bed was in the corner and a whole lot of bones across from that. He went closer and most of the bones looked like animal remains. So he hoped, he was not an expert in these matters. There seemed to be no further entrances or holes of some kind. It was hard to tell since he had no flash light, torch or magic that could help. He carried a basic flint to start a fire but not a torch, he would have to look into that. Lina that provided light for them every time made him lazy.

He would go outside and look for wood to make a fire inside, so that he can get a better look of what is in there. It took about 5 minutes to gather wood. It seemed there was no dry wood nearby, seemed that whatever lived inside used all the wood that was nearby. On his return he made a fire in the fire place. He tried to move the cauldron but to his shock it had fluid in. Thus he made the fire and just heated whatever was in there. The flames gave light and he saw a hidden chest. With the thought of treasure on his mind he took the small chest and tried to open it, it needed a key or thief with lock pick skill. Saddened he left the small chest next to the fire. He was about to leave when the contents from inside the cauldron started to boil. It was way too fast to be normal so he looked to see what it was. It was dark green, and it gave of a smell of death, it seemed like a witch’s pot, all the signs were there.

He felt like an idiot that he did not pick up on all the clues. He could not help but feel he was in trouble. After he had both swords in his hands he felt safer, until he heard chanting. The hag appeared from out of nowhere. He leapt at her in hopes to interrupt her spell casting but he was too late. Both swords dropped from his hands, he could not pick them up or equip his spares. It was a disarm spell. He had 2 options run or fight. Even though he had no weapons he could still kick and punch. In his mind the hag or witch or whatever that ugly thing was must have low defences and no armour. He shouted and punched for the head, which he missed. He could feel his strength weakening thus he stat morphed strength. He tried to punch again and this time he tried a combo attack. The second punch landed.

Seemed the witch was off balance after that punch so it was wide open. He kept punching the face and body till his fists were covered in blood. He took a moment to look if it was his or the witch. The blood was dark red and looked old thus he knew it was not his. Tinker used his flexibility to kick the witch right in the head with the back of his leather heel. Scot once watched a documentary about a guy that could kick in your scull with only his heel. He did well as he tried to replicate that attack. After his kick he looked at the corpse.

The witch was ugly. She was about 5 foot and had pointy ears and looked like she was a hundred. The loot she dropped was a ring and a key. The ring restored 1% mana, this would be the first of 10 rings he could equip. He used the key to open the chest. Inside he found nearly 30 gold pieces and what seemed to be a blue gem and a wooden statue. The blue gem was not that big but it can be used or soled for something. While the doll on the other hand seemed odd. It looked almost like a small Aztec man with his tongue sticking out and a decapitated head in its hand. Now came the part he did not really want to do. Cutting up a body and adding it to the book.

Tinker cut off the head. He would try his luck, maybe he can use the entire head just like that and the book would do the rest. It was big enough for head to fit on an empty page. He cast his spell and closed the book. He reopened it and went to w. He had a few samples of plants that started with w. He kept on browsing till he got to witch. Thank goodness the entire usable items were mentioned. Even the blood was usable to weaken mana regeneration and resistance to magic. The eyes of a witch could be used to increase your fortune for an hour but decreases luck for a day. That maybe had a use. The rest of the head had no value and the book just showed unknown next to the ears. He assumed he would have to figure out what it does some other time. Next he chopped off an arm and added it to the book.

He tried to collect blood in the vials he had but it was messy. Maybe if he had a syringe or something similar he would not be that waste full. Only the nails showed it can be of use as poison. After that came a leg and nothing new was added. Only thing remaining was the torso. Since she was small he could cast the skill on the entire torso. Seemed like only the heart of a witch has a use. It decreased health and increased the mana pool. That left only an arm and a leg. He took only the nails and left the rest. Tinker stopped gathering the blood. There was more on the cave floor than in his vials but he should have enough for a few potions. He would need better equipment for eyes, blood and Freya knows what ells. Before he left he decided to take a sample of the contents of the pot. During all of this the fire nearly burnt out but the green stuff still boiled. Before he put the item in the book he identified the fluid as witch brew. After adding it to the book he looked for its uses and effects. He was not amused as he read the following.

Each witch makes a different brew and depending on its contents the uses will differ. Thus he would have to test this specific batch and see how it goes. Since he had not actually made a potion he could not tell if this was a good or bad brew. He took samples with all of his remaining vials. He emptied out about half of the cauldron. It was time to go back to the forest and go on with his routine. It was well past midday and time for lunch. He was not hungry after cutting up his first corpse but the system told him he needed to eat. He ate bread, just plain old bread, he carried bread to eat with the stew but it has been ages since he just ate plain bread.

“Tinker are you there?”

“Yes, how are things going on your end.”

“Good news or bad news first.”

“Bad news always” Zomger said

“You are bored so you stalking us?”

“No, Lina and I are having lunch and what is a chat without me?”

“True, alright the bad news. I have not found your prize stag, good news is I have killed 11 already, most of them were female or young male. Seems the big daddy is still hiding.”

“It’s ok, we still have a couple of hours left. Would you mind taking all the meat, leather and antlers from them?”

“Do not worry, looted it all. Not the antlers though. Guess I can pick them up on my way back.”

“Thank you man, just how far have you gone into the forest?”

“A mile or 2, found a sort of meadow and got most of them here. Not many predators in these woods, or none that I have seen.

Now in the midday heat they should come here for the water.”

“Had an encounter with a predator. Was not a bear or wolf but a witch. She used disarm on me so I used my fists and feet to beat her up. Also picked up a weird statue which I can’t seem to identify.”

“I’ll have a look at it when you boys get back”

“Ok back to hunting, chat later.”

“Sure, I’ll be here.”

Just like that Tinker was left with nothing to do. He made up his mind to go back to where he would meet up with Yuri and work on his repair. As he walked it felt like he was weaker and that his swords seemed heavy hanging from his sides. He opened the menu and looked at effects currently affecting him. He saw he had 2 curses on him. The one was about 20 minutes from expiring while the other seemed more permanent. The one about to expire lowered his strength and stamina by 40 %. Who knew that curses can be so potent for so long. Tinker figured it was his reward for letting a witch finish casting a spell on him. The other curse decreased all his stats by 10%. He did not feel that effect but he imagined during his first battle he would notice it. He sat against a tree with one weapon in arms reach. He looked at the clock. 14 hours remaining, seemed it all relied on Yuri if they were going to make it.

He was shaken awake, he grabbed for his weapon but Yuri talked him down. “Chill man, you fell asleep. Did not think you will go ape shit when I woke you up.”

Tinker was confused, he had never fallen asleep in game. To make matters worse it was night time. He had no idea what time it was.

“The quest, can we still do it?”

“I don’t know, I got the prize winning stag you wanted, not sure if we still have time to get it back.”

Tinker looked. They had 4 hours left, if the leave now and don’t run into trouble he can make it. He grabbed his items and started to walk. Yuri just kept up the pace. On the way back they did not run into trouble and just before the capital he could feel he needed those 10% in stats back. Yuri gave him half of the meat, half the leather and all the antlers along with his prized piece. He managed to kill another 7 before he got the big daddy as he called it.

Along the way back they did not talk much, they traded cooking recipes. Yuri also liked to make jerky of the meat they got. With the right amount of salt and few other herbs, he can just leave them in his inventory, no need to hang them up or wait, the game will do the rest. Both their supplies were low and they would buy again when they both arrive back at the city. Seemed like Yuri did not want gold for helping out Tinker, now that they were in a party they would do things for each other, share in the spoils and secrets. The concept was not new for Tinker but he would only help out close friends or guild members. When new players in other games asked for help he would be of the last to help them, he only liked doing something if he gained a lot from it. He would have to get use to this new dynamic.

As they arrived at the city it was early morning. It was still dark and Tinker had about 39 minutes to give in the Grand stag. He decided to go to the temple where he made the food. Yuri tagged along, he claimed he wanted to be there when things go bad or they claim that the stag he shot was not grand. The chefs were already cooking the temple meals when he arrived. A messenger left to go get the bishop.

The time was slowly running out but he kept his cool. The bishop arrived. He was tall and skinny and looked like a likeable person. That was until he spoke. “So you are the trouble maker that used our best supplies, well do you have it?”

“Sure”, he removed the Grand Stag and put it on the table. It was a magnificent beast, It had 1 hole in its head where the arrow hit it.

“Yes this will do nicely. Think it’s the biggest one I have seen to date. We are done, considered yourself cleansed after wronging the church.” Tinker thought he wronged the bishop but that seemed to be a minor detail now.

*Quest completed. No reward given. It was not all bad, he at least got some experience and was close to the next level.

“Excuse me, I am cursed, can you remove it for me?”

“One moment.’’ He stood and chanted a few words. “You are cursed, an interesting curse by a witch to whomever killed her. I can help you but I have not the time, go to the main entrance and make a large donation, the other priests will heal you.”

Tinker took it back, this was not a nice guy, and in fact he was a total tool. They left right after the bishop did.

Yuri was the first to speak,” Dam right that is the biggest stag he had seen, took me a better part of a day.”

“Thank you again, going to get this curse removed and log out.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, the others are also logged off and we all need our sleep in the real world.”

Yuri evaporated into nothing and Tinker was alone. He went to the main entrance and was asked for a donation. He informed them of his situation and they asked for 15 gold. He did not want to give away too much so he asked can he give 5 gold and a deer as a donation. They accepted and set to work. 5 minutes later he could feel his strength returning and opened his menu to look at his status window. The curse was gone and he was a free man once more. Time to log off and sleep.

He awoke at 7 in the morning. He noticed that the others would log in just before 9 and play most of the day till late in the night. Sometimes they would log off in the afternoon to go to town or do whatever is they do in their private time. Scot on the other hand had nowhere to go or any social obligations. He decided it has been so long since he sat at a table and had a proper meal. He slipped into the kitchen and found oats he could make. Normally the servants or Cliffton makes the food, but he found the confidence to make things after playing Royal Roads. His confidence increased from zero to a lot. Cooking in the game and real world was pretty much the same, if you can get over the fact you can take an entire cow from your inventory. Or that you can keep meat and it won’t go bad. He followed the instructions on the box and was done in no time. He coated the entire bowl of his with honey. Breakfast for champions. He got juice and went to his room.

He logged into the Dark gamers union to do some research. What he read was that the other high level players were nearly double their level. Some guilds were starting to get forts and places for themselves. It would seem Unicorn did not just want people to quest in the world, but also be part of it. Get land, maybe later control a city or something similar. He was not sure, the reports only told that the strongest guilds were starting to gain positions of leadership. He tried to read more on alchemy but no dark gamer seemed to be interested in alchemy. A new post said that there was some in game money to be had from those players that farmed healing plants.

Since respawning times differed nobody knew where to go farm the same plants twice. It appeared that monsters in an area or dungeon would respawn after a while in the same place or location. Plants on the other hand would respawn in the general vicinity and not the precise place like monsters. Also the respawn time differed. The wolves and rabbits people hunted in the start would be back within the hour. While some dungeons would be empty for days before monsters reappeared. Scot just assumed they had people or algorithms that decided who or what needed spawning. This was before they found out a State of the art AI monitored and respawned monsters depending on the rate they were being hunted and the amount of people that wanted to kill them. Later Scot would also conclude that when he was killing monsters outside the city during the starting days of Royal Roads, they had to venture far out and look hard for wolves to kill.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Over a few months they changed this that starting players could just run out of a city and not look far to kill creatures that never seemed to get less. Thus starting to play a game like this at the start had its ups and downs. Balance issues and ones that were just mentioned focus more on making it easier for starting players to level. The hardcore gamers were rewarded in their own way, and it was due to these players that the first castle and towns came under player control. In the start it seemed like it would be great, that since the town was run by a player he would help and provide all the services other players needed. In a way things got better, but over night it all came about the money. Sam the merchant was right, just like the real world it would come down to money. With money you can buy whatever you needed, including power.

That however was not his concern for today, he had to get back to doing all the quests to become Tristan’s student. This C level quest had better be worth it.

Back in the Capital he reappeared on the steps to the church. He wondered what would happen if you log out on a mountain side while standing on a rock. While you are logged out a massive storm moves the rock away. Do you appear in mid air, or on the ground safely. If you are to appear on the ground, is at the same height as where you started or at the bottom where the rock would have been moved. It was probably not important either way, but these are but a few things on his mind when he plays. He checked to see if any others in the party were online. Seemed Zomger and Cuzen were. He asked what is on the agenda. Most of them had finished their quests.

Cuzen announced that they got a level 50 group quest. When all are online they are going to get supplies and head to the Dungeon. Tinker wanted to go on with his quest and hear what next task waits in 303 for him. On the other hand he is part of a party now and doing a level 50 quest would help his levels. All of them had climbed a level or 2 during their weeks in the capitol except for him. He thought to himself he might as well go hear what the task is and accept it when they get back. Apparently the Searing Gorge was a few hours walk from the capital and was a huge dungeon. It had 3 scouted levels, if there was a 4th it was hidden or not talked about yet. Level 1 had monsters between 10 and 40. Level 2 monsters went up from 40 to 65 and level 3 was 65 to 100. That is what they said or could dig up, how accurate the information was they would figure out as they get there. The dungeon had many different types of monsters but the 1 monster type that was on each level and synonymous with the dungeon were spiders.

Tinker arrived at room 303, knocked and there was no answer. He tried again and still nothing. It was morning and there should be a person here. After the 3rd time knocking he tried to open the door but it was locked. He did not know what to do now, thus he went over to Tristan in 305. Tristan was busy as per usual with paper work but stopped what he was doing to talk to Tinker. His familiarity with Tristan had increased each time after he done quests for him.

“Good morning, I have a problem and I need your help.”

“Morning, what is it today. Find a plant which you don’t know what to do with?”

“Well yes, I went to Tekkor forest and got a few new plant samples which are unidentified. And my vials are all used up, and why is the door to room 303 locked?”

“Sounds like you have many problems. First you need to ingest the plants that you have not identified to see if they have any effect. Second I have many more vials, what did you collect that used all your vials? Lastly you should go look in the basement to find the owner of room 303.”

“Alright I will do that, I collected witch brew. Found her pot in a cave and accidently boiled the brew. I took about half of it until I ran out of vials. Why is he in the basement?”

“Give me 5 of those vials, it has been a while since I worked with something unique as witch brew. I could tell you, but better you go see for yourself I don’t want to spoil your surprise.”

Tinker handed over the 5 vials without question. Tristan had really been helpful and in return Tristan handed him empty vials from his own pouch. They said their goodbye and he was off to the basement. He did not know the Alchemy guild had a basement but he just accepted it and moved on. He knocked and no answer, knocked again and still no answer came. Thus he just opened the door and entered.

Inside was what he expected, crates and shelves with supplies, few chairs and tables. But this was just close to the door. Further in he could see tables and glass containers that contained living animals. Snakes, spiders and insects, there were more than a few animals. The basement was dark so he could now see all the way in, what he could see was light further in. He advanced into the basement and started to make his way to the light source. More animals in glass containers and steel cages were seen. They all seemed calm and some even looked at him and went back to doing nothing. As he approached the light he saw a man with an open glass case next to him on the table. He spoke up.

“Hi there, are you the person from room 303?”

The person did not reply, he looked around at Tinker and then went back to work. Tinker saw what looked like a big centipede lying on the table as he came closer. It seemed like the centipede was cut open and lying on its back. Tinker was not sure what to do so he just stood and watched. The person removed what seem to be a sack of some sorts.

“Are you real?” the man asked. This was turning into a weird situation very fast.

“Yes I am real.”

“Well an illusion would claim the same, prove it.”

“How must I do that?”

“Not my problem.” The man said while reattaching the scales of the centipede using magic of some kind.

‘’Fine ill cut myself to prove it’’. He removed one of his swords and cut himself. To his surprise he did not bleed and instead lost health. The other person was not impressed.

“I am an outlander, look I have a skill menu and a few other things.”

The man slowly came over to him and poked him on the shoulder. Then his hands lit up and Tinker felt a great calm come over him.

“Alright, since I can cast calm on you, you seem to be real. So what brings you down to my work shop?”

Tinker thought that this person was a total loon and it will be best not to upset him. He told him about the book and what he needed the master to do. The master went back to his table and put the sack into what seemed to be a jar with fluids.

“Do you know what I do here at the guild?”

“No idea, you make potions with pieces from the stuff around us.”

“Close enough, I focus more on the entomology aspect of alchemy with added interests from arachnoids, reptiles and the odd amphibian.”

That sounded like bugs, spiders, lizards and frogs. There might be other things but he did not know his biology that well.

“Alright what task do you have for me to do?’’

“You probably do not know of any rare bugs or something similar you can go and get samples of for me?”

“Not really, don’t you need more samples of things you have already?”

“Well most of my samples are low, since my apprentice died I do not really get new samples. How about this, you go and get me samples I need?”

“I can do that, what samples did you have in mind?”

“I do not mind, as long as you collect many. For example any dungeon, cave or swap will do.”

“Me and my friends are heading down to the Searing Gorge, heard there are a lot of spiders living in the dungeon.”

“Yes as I recall 5 distinct spider species live there. That place has an interesting ecosystem. Other then spiders there are goblins that eat spiders and get eaten in return. There are also rats that eat the spider eggs or get eaten by the goblins or spiders. I have no idea what happens on the 3rd floor but what I heard it has more spiders. I think the Boss monster on each level spawns at least 2 different sub spiders to perform different tasks in the colony”

Tinker never really thought about it that way. He just thought there are monsters that needed killing and not the whole circle of life thing. Maybe he can go to the dungeon and do that quest and then come back with the items for the quest he will receive.

“Did you know that the venom of spiders can be sorted into 2 different types. First is the one that adventures like you prefer, the poison to paralyze your victim by attacking the nervous system, handy to have in combat situation or the odd sneak attack. The other is the worse of the 2.

It attacks the cells and kills you by eating you up from the inside. Unless you are skilled in healing or have the antidote you die slowly. Depending on the amount you get in the system, it takes anything from a few hours to days. So when you are far from a town or healer you are done for. Guess you haven’t seen necrotic flesh peal of your body?”

This dude was a sadist and a loon, all rolled into one.

“About 300 venom sacks will do” That did not sound too bad, until he added of each.

Collect Spider Venom Sacks

Collect 300 venom sacks of each of the 2 types available.

Difficulty level: E

Quest requirements: Must be sent by Gettafix the master of room 303

Reward: He would use the scroll for your Alchemy book

Failure will result in the getting of a new quest in a different location.

“I accept, is there other additional information I should know about?”

“Good good, I think another of my apprentices died there a few years back, be careful.”

That was freaky to say the least. The faster he is done with this guy the better. He decided to go to Tristan to hear what was Gettafix’s problem.

Tristan was watering his Ninroot with his mist spell. He waited for Tristan to finish while staring at his work table. Nothing other than a tea pot was boiling. All the other equipment was just lying there. Thinking back Tinker has not once seen any of the Alchemists he helped make one potion. He assumed there is something he does not know or maybe Tristan will reveal the hidden dark arts when he becomes his student.

“What did you think of Gettafix?” Tristan said with a mischievous smile.

“I think he is weird and crazy. The first thing he asked me if I was real and the whole basement is creepy in a way. Why does he work down there anyway.”

“He is peculiar to say the least. It’s because of all the animals he keeps. He stays down there because the darkness helps them to stay more relaxed. Combine that with his Calm spell the animals seem to not mind. He does some interesting work down there. At this week’s meeting he told us he was doing tests with a centipede that releases Illusion vapor when it dies. He said it has something to do with it keeping away predators while the other of its kind eats on the dead centipede.”

It was not really dinner talk but the man liked his bugs. Tinker informed Tristan of his mission to the dungeon with all the spiders in them and also asked what to do about antidotes.

“Well best is to take a few antidotes and maybe a have a potion or 2 that increases resistance when you know you are about to be surrounded. Other than that most healers can deal with most poisons.”

“Alright, I am not too worried. It is just that our group has no full time healer. We have a shaman that rotates between casting curses and healing. Do not think he has cleanse or spells like that.”

“Not to worry, I have 10 antidotes for you here and 1 potion to increase your resistance by 10% if you find a boss or a mean group of spiders.”

“What tools or equipment would you recommend for getting fluids and the like?”

“Hmm, can you be more specific?”

“I had trouble to harvest witch blood after I killed the witch.”

“I see, there are 3 ways you can go about doing this. First is the method I use. I use my water magic and channel the fluids I need into vials. Next is to use a syringe. To get the most out of a specimen is to hang them up when they are still alive and cut major arteries. The blood would pump out on its own, you will just have to contain them. When they are dead it still works but not that effective.”

Tinker had no cravings to hang up corpses and bleed them dry. That what he can get with a syringe would be fine for now.

Tristan in the mean time head over to one of his chests. He came back with a syringe and tubes. He also gave a small kit that had needles and other parts that allowed a person to extend tubes or make 3 come together. With this tool kit he would be able to pierce a vein and bleed someone dry.

He said his thanks and left the room. He opened the party chat to see if he had missed anything. Only if somebody talks he could hear them in the party chat unless he muted it. He had not needed to do it, the others seemed to only talk party matters in the chat, or his latest theory was that maybe they did not talk a lot in the party chat so that when they walked hours on quests they could catch up. He looked at the text and saw Cuzen changed the daily message of the day to “Get all your supplies for 2 weeks max, we doing lvl 50 quest as soon as possible today.”

He had to stop by a store that sold cooking supplies, he had more than a few spices left. He needed salt and a few others for future use and to make jerky with half of the venison he had. The price of meat was high compared to other items like vegetables. He stocked up on those as well, carrots, onions and all the other items he would need for a stew. The sale was in bulk so he had to pay a lot and would probably not have to buy any for the next 3 months at least. He spent just over half of the money he had, but it was a good investment. He did not need any leather supplies and was still well stocked on cloth for bandages.

He sent a message to ask when and where they are to assemble. The reply was short and to the point. “Now, at the warriors guild and we leaving as soon as Lina gets online.”

He trotted over to the warrior’s guild. The place was very busy, it was about as busy as the market places in the peak hours. What made this more impressive was the amount of people in shining armour, new players and hardened players alike. All around people walked and marched with purpose. It took him a while to scout out his party across the guild sitting in an inn by the window. Seemed they enjoyed that. They chose to sit in doors at a window and never outside or at any other place. He would have to ask why they did that. What was interesting is that they were not alone. The big warrior that approached him at the training hall was sitting there. Mug in one hand and seemed to be telling a story. Tinker stepped up and greeted the man. He forgot his name but he introduced himself again.

“How goes it? Gambit at your service.”

“Just fine, and the name is Tinker.”

“Yes I remember you, the basic training coming along?”

“Slowly but yes.”

Cuzen spoke up. “Gambit and I here had a talk after he snuck up on me at the training hall when you were not there Tinker. We talked about a few things but mainly about us joining their guild. I will tell you all the details on the road. We have a 2 hour walk ahead of us.”

At that moment Lina came online and made her presence known. “Guys how late am I and where are you.”

“Not that late, come to the warriors guild and get the quest here. You and Tinker both still need to get it.” Some quests could be shared and others had to be received in person.

“Sorry about that Gambit, just our last member.’’

“No problem, you guys are an interesting party to say the least. With no priest, shaman or druid that is a dedicated healer I wonder how you guys will do in the future.”

“Guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. Maybe our plan is to kill enemies with our insane high damage before they can do damage to us.”

“Hahaha indeed. It is still hard to really figure out what is the best in this game. Those that are doing well are keeping to themselves and unlike other games you can’t see levels of other players unless they unblock it.”

“So how do you guys raid then?”

“Well I was telling them the story of when we cleared level 2 of the Searing Gorge about 2 months ago. First time we were 13.

Took about 4 days, my runs after that were different as I helped other guys of the guild. All in all I would say it should take about a week. Longer than that means you are doing it wrong. Sure I understand people need to sleep in the real world but I mean if it takes longer than a week of hunting. Not a week of playing. Understand?”

He nodded. If that means Gambit did the level 50 quest 2 months ago he had to be a high level. The urge to ask for his level was very tempting, but asking peoples level that you just met was considered rude.

“Yes my story, so we found the boss chamber. It seemed normal. The Queen was at the back of the large room. There were small spiders on either side of her. The webs were mostly on the edge with the minor webs leading to the Queen. Our plan was simple. We would charge down the middle. We assumed that once we attacked the minor webs they would know we are there and attack in return. I was to lead a few warriors and attack the left, the other melee classes would attack the spiders on the right. Our paladin with the shield would tank the boss. The mages and hunters would attack the sides that needed them most. The 2 priests were just standing around and doing what they do.”

He was not a natural story teller but he tried to include all in his story. Even the healers who would never become famous since everybody only cared about the person that does the most damage.

“So our attack started. The second we cut the first web they saw us and made ready to counter attack. The queen then climbed up to the sealing. She stayed there and after we killed about half of the spiders she started releasing poison clouds. As long as you moved out of them fast you receive minimal damage. Our tank was bored, he had to wait for the queen to come down and thus he did not want to engage the spider lings. When the last spider ling fell to my blade the queen made a high pitch sound.

She came down and started to fight. She was at least 9 feet tall and her legs were hairy and covered in webs. We had a good rotation going and took her health down about half way, until spider reinforcements arrived. They were not many but we had to dedicate people to kill them. Things were going well until the queen jumped high in the air and sprayed poison gas in the entire chamber. As she came down for the final attack it took one attack to kill her. It seems that cloud was her final parting gift to us. We looted fast and the healers were complaining that the poison did not do a lot of damage but the spells to remove it did not work. With all the loot gathered we tried to double back in the same route we came and go to the town as fast as we could. We did not have antidotes on us since we had healers to remove poison effects. That is how all of us died except 1 healer and our 1 assassin. The healer kept himself alive till he got to the town and the other person carried an antidote. After that it became just another item we recommend for all guild members to carry with them at all times.”

Nice story and good advice Tinker thought. “Do you guys have antidotes for our trip?”

“Yep, Zomger has Cleanse spell and Yuri that found this quest for us also heard about the antidotes. You will just have to get a few before we leave or at the town close to the dungeon.

“No need, I have my own I got a while back, a person told me I might need it. That reminds me, check out his sculpture.” He removed the little man and put it on the table. The others looked and did not seem that impressed with it.

“What does it do?”

“I don’t know, I tried using identify on it, but it keeps failing. In normal situations I will not be bothered with it, but it did drop from a witch.”

“Yes it does make it worth looking at. When Lina gets here she can identify it and you guys can go get the quest inside.”

“Sure, I just can’t accept the quest. My log is full.”

“With what, what is more important than this?”

“Well I have a quest to go help a person back in my starting town when the time is right. Guess that means when enough time has passed or I get a high level he will need me. My second quest is a C rank to become a student of an alchemy master.” That got their attention. Even Gambit was surprised with the news. “My last quest is to collect venom sacks in Searing Gorge Dungeon.”

“Seemed like you guys have it all planed out. I will most likely see you guys when you get back, unless you screw up than all I can say is see you on the flip side.”

He walked out and wore a black cape which Tinker now only noticed for the first time had a big sword in silver and a small scale in gold on it. Lina arrived soon after that. They gave her the sculpture to identify.

Oguumi statue of ritual sacrifice

Durability: 9/10

A sculpture made to represent the extinct tribe ritual sacrifices

Active effect is to increase Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells by 5% in strength for all party and raid members.

Requirement: Must be of a class that uses Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells

Only 1 statue effect can be active at a time. Unless other statues of the same series are discovered.

The Oguumi were a primal and primitive tribe that believed in human sacrifice. It is said that after many sacrifices there Dark Lord answered them and demanded them to increase their sacrifices. So they did and received many blessings from their Dark Lord that allowed them to stack a multiple amount spells and abilities that are not normally possible.

“Well this is pretty impressive, I wonder if there are more in world.”

“I can’t use it, you want it Zomger?”

“Of course, 5% increase in Curses will help a lot.”

“I read somewhere that Mages or Wizards will unlock the hex spell, how true that was I do not know.”

“Any who, go in the warriors guild and get the quest, we can talk more on the way.”

With that they were off to the Searing Gorge