Having repaired his equipment, Bob headed back to the Player Arrival Area, planning to look over the equipment available at the Gear Vendor. His order of priority for upgrades was to get a link with two channels, then a more powerful remote reactor. Being able to put out two turrets and a shield would make for an excellent defensive situation, which he wanted for his unofficial request tomorrow. Two of each would be even better. Bob would mimic the strategy of his distant kin, the dragon turtles, and become an impenetrable fortress that obliterated all foes who wandered near.

After all, it was the strategy of the classic adventurer group. While he couldn’t fully substitute for a proper front-line fighter, he could have his shields act as obstacles and choke points. His turrets would act as the primary damage dealers, and with the abilities he would unlock later on, he would act as the healer for his little solo group. Not that he had any delusions of going solo throughout the game, of course. After all, he was limited to being a puny, frail human. However, if he had to do something alone, he would at least stand a fighting chance. In the worst case scenario, he’d lose some equipment and suffer from the death penalty for a while.

The walk back was even more stimulating to the senses. The streets were even more crowded, the metallic carriages stopping off at the raised roadside to disgorge more flashily garbed NPCs. While many of them still toyed with the little rectangular devices, some of them were now directly interacting with each other, and consuming drinks from ornate containers that glowed and glittered. As he walked, he picked up one such discarded container.

It was a bit larger than his fist, and its surface was smooth, and chilly to the touch, but it didn’t suck heat away from his fingers like a cold piece of metal would. Some of his own equipment had that same feeling to its surfaces, though he had not yet learned the name for that material. The material was clear, revealing a few dregs of brightly colored liquid, which was lit by lines of light encased within the container material itself, along with glittery shards of something else. On one side of the container, the lines spelled out ‘Glow Shot.’

It was interesting, but nothing more than a momentary distraction. He discarded the object in a nearby bin that was already close to overflowing with the very same containers.

He enjoyed the sights and sounds of the otherworldly city as he walked, and was mildly disappointed once he arrived at his destination. Well, he could always gawk at the sights another time.

He walked into the large warehouse, as filled with players in the default blue and white as when he first arrived, and headed to the counter for the Gear Vendor. The person behind the counter was different this time, a male who was about Bob’s size. The young man didn’t even look up from the device in his hand, and just intoned “Touch the counter, say ‘Store.’”

Bob opened the Gear Vendor screen, to look at what options he had. By focusing on the entries in the list, he found that it would give him an expanded set of information about the item. The first item he checked was highest on his priority list.

HeiShan Link - Dual Channel - IFF Upgrade

This Link, manufactured by HeiShan Technologies, comes with two Tier 1 channel transceivers and an IFF upgrade. Compatible with all USO-33.797-f compliant devices and USO-24.912-g compliant remote reactors.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Cost: 200 Credits

Cost with trade-in: 160 Credits

Bob focused on the option mentioning trade-in, and received a pop up explaining that he could trade in his currently equipped link for a discount. Quite reasonable, Bob thought, unaware that his Basic Link would easily sell for more than twice what he would receive as a discount.

With a healthy sum of 190 credits remaining, he checked out his options for Remote Reactor upgrades. There was a plethora of options, ranging from 1 KW models to 500 KW. Bob didn’t need a vast increase in power, just a bit of extra room to work with, and really, that’s all his budget would support, anyways. He ended up selecting a 2.6 KW model, manufactured by Unlimited Power Ltd., that would come out to 135 credits after trade-in.

With just 55 credits left from his evening’s activities, he picked up another spare set of Basic Portable Shield and Basic Turret for 50 credits, then spent the rest of his credits on ammo. He would have liked to pick up better turrets, but he would need to wait until he had more funds, or get a schematic to build one himself.

Bob turned to look at the gathered players, and considered gathering some of them into a group to tackle more requests. But how to do that? FarShot and ShadowRunner had been the ones to approach him earlier. He could try their approach, but was it the proper etiquette? The two of them did seem to be rather sheltered, and may have very well breached whatever social rules normally governed adventurers, not that he would know. They had seemed rather unsure of themselves when they approached him. Perhaps it would be best to wait until tomorrow, and work with them again? Yes, that would be best. Let ShadowRunner do the recruiting. Really, it would be rude of him to go and find new group members to work with at this point, right? Surely. While Bob could undoubtedly do a better job, he’d already accepted ShadowRunner as a member of his group, and it would be unseemly to go behind his back. That’s what a human would think, right?

Social anxiety? What’s that? Certainly nothing a dragon would feel, even if he were deigning to pass himself off as a puny human.

For now, it might be best to just log off for a bit, and wait for the morning.

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Kragathor shook his head uncertainly, mildly disoriented by the transition from his in-game puny human form to one of majesty and grandeur beyond comparison.

Kragathor regarded the Virmo crystal. This object was indeed worthy of his personal collection, as well as its counterpart, the Server. However, since he’d already used this one, he should have a pristine and unused one to place with the other three. Tapping into the power of his dungeon, Kragathor fashioned a piece of quartz from raw mana, creating an exactly perfect replica of the crystal floating on the pedestal before him.

A few minutes of concentration later, and he’d copied most of the enchantments over, precisely as they were at the time he’d analyzed them, barring the one which linked the Virmo crystal to the server. With a moderate effort of will, he forced the connection, pushing past the minor resistance he encountered. He analyzed and inspected the newly created Virmo crystal. It was a perfect copy in every way.

Which gave him an idea. Kragathor stowed the newly forged Virmo crystal within its rightful place in his personal collection.

Once he was finished, he created two more copies, each as perfect and identical as the last. His party already had three members. Now he just needed two more to fill the gaps. The team already had a ranged damage dealer, a defensive support, and a stealthy support, so all that was needed was a healer and a front line defensive fighter — or in Ciro terms, a Medic and a Bulwark.

Kragathor turned his attention to one of the crystal panes with which he monitored his dungeon, and began searching through his contracted minions using the Administrative Datachest, looking for two individuals that would fit his needed criteria. He could always rely on Shifty and his crew of Doppelgangers, but Kragathor had already imposed enough on that particular minion. Although, maybe Kragathor could borrow a few of Shifty’s subordinates during their down time to train whoever he chose so that they would be able to fit in and pretend to be humans. Surely, that wouldn’t be too much of an imposition.