Thaddeus lay in bed listening to the rain fall outside his window. It was a soothing sound. The taping on the window was melodic and put him at ease. The taping also reminded him of something his father used to always say, “Spring showers, bring May’s flowers.” The smallest things could send him reminiscing about his past. He used to hate his parents’ advice, idioms, or cheesy jokes. Now, those were all the memories he had left.
His thoughts inevitably returned to the game. Now that he finished sorting the loot, he checked his notifications. His fighting with the Crimson Outlaws increased his level to 12, his single-handed axe proficiency to 41%, and earned him three skills points. Soren was right, combat really was the best way to increase his gain experience.
Looking over his three skill points into Earth Magic bringing it up to four. Magic really was useful, and he was depending on his two spells more and more. Both [Stone Wall] and [Erosion] had saved his life countless times. He had to laugh at himself when he remembered he chose those spells for architectural purposes. He sent a silent prayer to Demeter thanking her for offering him those spells. He wondered if he completed her quest, would he be offered a chance to purchase a third spell?
But he put that thought out of his mind, he’d cross that bridge when he’d get there. Instead of thinking about Demeter’s quest, Thaddeus checked the crafting forum he created. To his surprise, more than 10,000 were now following his forum. People were asking and answering each other questions on blacksmithing, tanning, carpentry, enchanting, and alchemy. Even Sabrina posted on her alchemy progress and the pitfalls she encountered all the way. Moreover, common armor, weapons, potion, and enchanting blueprints were posted. Open-source blueprints let crafters share tips and tricks to improve the overall outcome for common items. The Crafter Forum was truly a collaborative workspace.
Yet not everything was good news. When he created the forum, one of the rules he set was no recruiting, which the bots enforced. But the guilds had gotten around that rule by purchasing ads through Heaven’s Gate. Scrolling down the forum, Thaddeus counted 10 ads for 10 different guilds, for which he earned zero revenue. It was truly an unjust system.
Closing the forum, his thoughts turned to how his friends were doing, when Dustin called. Dustin never called when they gamed in less it was something important. He preferred to send messages, usually bragging about the latest dungeon he cleared, a high-level mob he cleared, or rare loot. Thaddeus answered the phone wondering what was so important.
“Hey Dustin, what’s the problem,” Thaddeus answered.
“You’re going viral!” Dustin yelled excitedly.
“Huh?” was the only thing Thaddeus could say due to surprise.
“Yeah, someone posted a video of you fighting against those crimson fools! This whole time I thought you were one of those weak crafters, instead, you’re a badass crafter in disguise. Dude, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked enthusiastically.
“What are you talking about?” Thaddeus asked unsure if this was a prank.
“Here, look at this video,” Dustin said sending a link through the chat.
When the video popped open, Thaddeus realized someone posted a video of him fighting the Crimson Outlaws to the forum. To his astonishment, the video was updated to the front page of form news. Over 14 million had watched the video within an hour and over 600,000 comments. The title of the video was [Player Stands His Ground Against Unjust Tolls!].
Thaddeus read the comments. Some were impressed by his fighting skills. Others called him weak for running away instead of killing the leader. Many players idealized him and swore to stand up against the Crimson Outlaws too. The comment section made one thing clear, players were tired of paying tolls just to hunt. There were other videos linked in the comment section showing groups of people attacking the Crimson Outlaws guild members.
“Dude your famous?” Dustin said happily.
“All I’ve done is paint a big bullseye on my back for the Crimson Outlaws,” Thaddeus said.
“What are you talking about, the bigger guilds joined to declare a guild war against those crimson fools. They’re goners,” Dustin prophesied.
More and more videos were posted of players attacking the Crimson Outlaws and other red-tag guilds. Somehow, he inadvertently started a witch hunt. The Mythical Guild went so far as to post bounties on Crimson Outlaw members. Dustin and Thaddeus continued to talk as news of the Crimson Guild’s headquarter was published online. It didn’t take long for guilds to raid their headquarters. So outlaw guildmembers were even doxed online. Truly, the punishment for harnessing and stealing from players was a harsh sentence.
“You’re my hero,” Dustin joked, before hanging up the call.
He ignored Dustin, but Dustin was right about Crimson Outlaws. Thaddeus had underestimated the animosity there was towards the Crimson Outlaw guild. By morning, the Crimson Outlaw guild was all but defunct. With the Crimson Outlaws gone, and the roads clear of tolls, players celebrated. People who missed last night’s news raced to catch up, sending the video of Thaddeus back to the top of the hottest video category.
However, no matter how much people celebrated the end of the Crimson Guild, Thaddeus knew better. If the Crimson Outlaws were defunct, then he would have received a notification that the bounty and the blood feud were removed.
Thaddeus put that behind him, washed his face in the lukewarm basin of water, and walked downstairs. When he got downstairs, he noticed, the dining area was almost empty. He found a table in the back and sat down.
“You missed the town folks. Unlike you city folk, we get up early around here,” Mary said with a bright cheery smile, bringing him a plate of toast, fried eggs, bacon, and a tankard of milk
Thaddeus ate and then had a second serving. The food was delicious, and the bacon was crispy. He needed to eat, he had a long trip ahead of him. He had two day trip to Pine Grove. And then it was another five days until he reached Woodhaerst. Three of those days he would hop from town to town. But the last two days he’d have to actually have to stay awake.
After finishing his breakfast, he thanked Mary for the meal. Paid her for the second portion. And went to the barn to check on the horses. When he arrived, he saw Carl and Betsy happily munching away on hay. Walking the horse out of the stalls, he hitched them up the wagon. He also checked the wagon bed to make sure nothing had disappeared last night. When he finished his inventory, he slowly guided Betsy and Carl out of the barn. When the horses were finally clear of the barn, he hopped in the driver’s seat and drove them out of town. Outside of town, he noticed there wasn’t a single outlaw. The only thing outside were players happily killing mobs and leveling up.
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Two days later he arrived in Pine Grove in the middle of a storm. It had been raining for the past three days. Sometimes it was a light drizzle, other times a dangerous lightning storm. Traveling by portals was really the best to travel the warping meant he stay out of the rain.
When arrived at Pine Grove, he realized how was similar it was to Pinewood. It seemed to save time the developers used the same base format for every town and city. Which at least brought familiarity for the players, if you’ve been to one you’ve been to them all. While cities in-game served as an important administrative function for NPCs, for guilds cities were a source of income. Guild wars over cities were a common source of conflict in MMORPGs. And depending on the guild’s management, the city might flourish or crumble.
Once he was past the city guards, Thaddeus found his way around the city pretty quickly. His first stop was brief. He needed to check in with Pine Grove Crafter’s Guild, per guild policy. Thankfully the procedure was simple, he only had to show his card to the receptionist and touch the holographic display orb. When she saw both matched, she filled out a form which he signed and he was done.
Next on the list, was the Merchant’s Guild. He decided to come here because the clerk at City Hall and Owen both mentioned checking in at the nearest Merchant’s Guild. When he walked into the Merchant’ Guild he realized how different the Crafter and Merchant Guilds were. Unlike the Crafter’s Guild which displayed murals, fine architecture, well crafter furniture; the Merchant’s Guild displayed opulence. Everywhere Thaddeus looked he saw gold trimmings, marble floors, porcelain vases, and expensive artwork. Gold was everywhere.
As he approached the receptionist, she looked at him sternly and dismissively. She reminded him of a strict teacher he had in grade school. The receptionists between the two guilds acted differently, at the Crafter’s Guild the receptionist was warm and inviting. Yet that didn’t stop him from approaching the front counter.
“Yes, said the receptionist,” said in a tone that sounded like an annoyance.
“I wish to see a representative. I need to confirm my trader,” Thaddeus announced.
“One moment. But, if you want to change traders, I can offer you suggestions for a price,” she sneered greedily, before taking down his name.
“I’m fine,” Thaddeus said taking a seat.
An hour later, an overly obese, finely dressed man, with blonde hair and a cleanly shaven face called out his name and escorted him to his office. He introduced himself as Baronet Simon von Boleyn. It was Thaddeus’ first time meeting an Arcadian noble and shook the man’s hand not knowing if that was the proper etiquette.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Brown?” he said, using Thaddeus’ fictitious father’s surname.
“Please call me Thaddeus. I purchased a land claim from Pinewood City Hall for a homestead five-days ride from here. I was told, I needed to check in here and confirm my trader. I believe his name is Cassian,” Thaddeus said, unsure of the procedure.
“Wait! That’s the dragon’s territory. You have a deed to build a settlement on the border of the dragon’s territory quick let me see it?” Baronet von Boleyn asked slamming his hands down on the stable and standing up in astonishment.
Thaddeus nodded and handed him the deed.
“Mr. Brown you’re a very brave man and a fool, just like Cassian. But I’ll add you to his route. Please prepare a comfortable place for him to stay. He’ll be using your hamlet as a rest stop for now on or until the dragon burns it to ash,” said Baronet von Boleyn.
Then he described Cassian’s route, as well as gave Thaddeus a list of goods and their average wholesale price over the past three months. Finally, he informed Thaddeus, traders such as Cassian only get a little wiggle room to purchase goods. If he wanted to sell or trade his goods, he was trading not with Cassian but with the Arcadian Merchant’s guild. The more he spoke the more it sounded like the Merchant’s Guild was a cabal that set price ceilings. Clearly, the Merchant’s Guild moto was to set force people to sell cheap so they could sell high.
At least Owen was nice, and he was right about Cassian being his trader, and seeing him once a month. He was currently in the Rhine Theocracy, but he was expected to pass through Thaddeus’ territory at the end of every month.
After he finished checking in at the Merchants’ Guild, he left to visit the bank. He was carrying a lot of coins on him at the moment and didn’t like the feeling of carrying so much money. If he lost to the Crimson Outlaws, he would have lost more than 22 gold and 50 silver. No, he needed a safe place to store his money when he needed it. He got the directions to bank for a resident on the street and made his way there.
When he arrived at the bank, he was disappointed to find the bank was corporatized. He was standing outside the Chase Bank. At some point, JP Morgan and Chase Company bought the ownership rights to Arcadian banks. He wondered if Sotheby’s had bought the auction houses yet. He knew this was bound to happen, he just didn’t think it happen soon. He expected that even more corporations would enter Heaven’s Gate as no one wanted to miss out on the cash cow that was Heaven’s Gates. Lines between virtual and reality would blur even more in the future.
When he walked inside, the bank seemed normal. There were three teller windows and a table filled with deposit and withdrawal slips. The tellers were busy seeing NPC customers already at the counter. Weirdly the tellers were players, and the customers were NPCs, in the past, normally, it was the reversed.
When it was his turn, Thaddeus went to the counter and greeted the bank teller whose name was Cynthia.
“Welcome Adventurer, how can I be of service?” she asked kindly.
“I’d like to open an account?” Thaddeus replied.
“I can help you with that. Just put your hand on this stone and we can populate your account,” she replied.
Thaddeus was getting used to putting his hand on this orb which display his stat holographically.
“Thank you, sir. Which account would you like to open savings, checking, or investment account? Please know the investment account is subject to risk and may result in a loss of funds,” she said offering the disclaimer. “To celebrate our grand opening in the game, this week only bank will match deposits if you open an investment bank with us.”
Thaddeus put his 26 gold in the investment account and 80 silvers in his savings account. He decided to keep the remaining copper and silver coins. Since he didn’t plan to return to Pine Grove for a long while, he planned to bury the rest of the money when he got to his homestead for safekeeping.
“Oh, you are quite successful. It’s only the second week of the game and you have so much money already. Due to the amount, you deposited amount, I need authorization from the manager please wait,” she said apologizing.
A few minutes later, a refined man wearing expensive clothing and a single gold ring, came up and smiled excessively at him. He was a man who would look at home in the Merchant’s Guild. He looked at Thaddeus greedily and said, “Welcome, may I presume you’re the Black Wing Guild Master? Any deposits above 25 gold are eligible for our VIP concierge service.”
“I’m not a guild leader, I’m just a traveling crafter,” Thaddeus explained, watching the man try to hide his disappointment.
“Oh, yes, I see now, your class is Artisan. You must be capable to have earned so much money in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, you are still available to receive the VIP personalized wealth management services as long as the account remains above 25 gold for 90 days,” the manager advised.
“Okay, I’ll accept,” Thaddeus said nonchalantly.
“Very good, sir that brings your investment account to 56 gold and your savings to 80 gold. We’ll also deposit another 20 silvers in your savings account after 40 days if your account maintains a balance of 50 coppers. Now do you already have an account with us outside the game?” she asked like she was reading a prompt.
“No.”
“If you like we can connect your in-game account to an account in real life,” she offered.
“I’ll pass.”
“In the future, if you change your mind let us know?” She said waiving him goodbye.
Thaddeus didn’t even look back, he made his way to the Ugly Duckling Inn, which catered to crafters. He ate dinner and logged out for the evening.