SWNOVELXO Chapter 41: Star Gazer
[
[Step one: Reach Bone Island.]
[Step two: Find the pirate hideout.]
[Step three: Bring the trident back to Lomen Village]
[Optional: Kill 20 Pirates]
[Hint: Don't underestimate the captain.]
[
[Evaluation: SSS]
[Receive 400EXP]
[Receive 2 gold coins]
[Choose one item reward]
[Receive: Recipe: Basic bait for coastal fish]
[The old man's life shall not end today!]
Everyone read the notifications with glee. At the end a choice between three green-magic items was provided, based on the player's class.
Liam found it difficult to decide, as two of them were quite useful. But ultimately, he longed to upgrade his weapon, not satisfied with falling far behind Quickstep in damage.
[Heirim's Crimson Sword
Category: Magic
Level requirement: 5
Attack Damage: 11-14
Attack Speed: 0,7
Effect 1: Every attack has a 5% chance to add one stack of bleed onto the target.
Effect 2: Deal an additional 3%(PDMG) damage against bleeding targets.
The proud work of Heirim, blacksmith at Lomen Village.]
Onriel said goodbye, returning to her hut as well, leaving the party to discuss happily.
"I got new boots!"
"This quest was so generous! Let's try talking to Onriel again."
"Don't harass the young maiden, friend, she implored us to visit after a while!"
"A pity."
At this moment Liam addressed the others.
"Ok guys, it's getting late. I'm off."
"But the server is still online for another half an hour?"
"Yeah, but there isn't much left to do."
Cyclone pouted, looking at Liam.
"Are we playing tomorrow, expert?"
"Sure."
"Then what are we doing?"
"I don't care."
"Can we… try the dungeon?", asked Balm tentatively, the sparkle in her eyes betraying her desire.
Next to her Cyclone nodded heavily as well. The two girls were eager to gather achievements.
In the future when they opened their guild and showed off their achievements, strong players would beg to be accepted.
Liam was surprised that those two were the most eager. But the other party members appeared interested as well.
"Sure, we can try. But first we should do some preparations. Maybe advance by a level and search for a healing spell."
"Oh, will the dungeon be difficult?"
"Probably."
As the questions gradually stopped, Liam was ready to go. However, Cyclone held him back once more, urging him to explain everything about fishing in the game.
Only after a few minutes was he able shake of the blond woman and finally log off.
Liam took a deep breath, moving his numb body, as he found himself back in the martial dojo.
"Another day passed…"
The young man spent a few minutes to calm down, relaxing his brain.
Afterwards he returned home swiftly, happy to meet Serena again.
The siblings and Merida shared a hearty meal, discussing yesterday's chaos.
"I'm glad no one came to make trouble in the clinic today.", stated Merida.
"But there were sooo many patients!", exclaimed Serena, lowering her voice as she continued:
"Some were even brought by the army!"
"Oh, some of the criminals from yesterday?"
"Yes. Many of them were just normal citizens, but with the console on they suddenly went crazy!
I don't understand them. Now the army took their consoles away. Who knows if they can ever return to Crunaboul. They lost so much!"
Liam eyed his little sister, finding a hint of longing in her eyes.
"You know about Crunaboul?"
"Ahh, just a little…"
Merida rolled her eyes.
"Your sister has spent every free minute reading about the game. I doubt if even some players know as much as her."
"Ah…"
Serena's ears reddened, revealing her embarrassment. Liam couldn't help but pet her head, smiling at his cute sister.
"Would you like to play as well? You are barely within the age limit."
"Oh, no, no!"
Serena waved her hands in denial, but her eyes clearly told otherwise.
Merida let out a sigh.
"I have already looked into it, but consoles are difficult to get at the moment. Let's talk again in a few days."
Liam turned his head in shock.
"No! Merida, you don't have to buy a console! I will take care of it!"
"You? From what money? Just obediently pay rent for you and your sister."
Liam felt touched, not quite sure why Merida was willing to do so much for them. Could she really be this lonely?
But whatever it was, Liam didn't want to push her generosity too far.
"Don't worry, Merida. I will find a way soon."
"If you say so. But don't you dare do something dangerous!"
***
Meanwhile in Silva's lavish bedroom. The young woman was sitting cross-legged on her bed, absentmindedly scrolling through the tablet before her.
To the side Cynthia was sprawled on an inviting, comfortable armchair, her blond hair almost hanging to the ground. She stared at her best friend, swaying her head.
"Silva?"
"Siiilvaa?"
Silva reacted, looking at Cynthia blankly.
"Yeah?"
"What's up with you today? You even died in the game!"
"Ah I'm… I don't know."
"Come one, you can tell your bestest friend!"
Silva sighed, gazing at the ceiling.
"We had a family dinner yesterday."
"Ouh, with that uncle of yours? Did he make things difficult for you again?"
"No, that's not it. Yesterday we had a videocall with great-grandfather. He talked about the succession…
…He placed a lot of importance on Fate of Crunaboul."
"Hey, isn't this great? We should be among the top players!"
"Right… but do you remember the player from the server announcement today?"
"Sure. Star… Gazer?"
"Yes. That's my cousin."
"Weah, that sly dumbass!", Cynthia showed obvious disgust on her face thinking about the man.
"Yes. With such an announcement under his belt, he has taken the first step."
"Pff, he was only a few seconds faster! This shows nothing!"
"I don't know…"
Silver Blade was clearly distressed, concerning Cynthia. The young woman pondered before coming up with an idea.
"It that guys can get server announcements, we definitely can too! We already proved it once, let's just repeat our feat!"
"The first dungeon? I thought about it as well, but I don't know if we can do it."
"Have some faith! We have an expert on the team!"
"I don't know. It somehow feels wrong. I feel like I'm using Mirage and the others for my gains."
"Easy! Just separate personal relationship and business! You can hire the party in the name of your company."
Silver Blade blinked her eyes, looking at Cyclone strangely.
"I didn't think you could come up with such an idea."
"Hey! What do you mean?"
The room fell silent for a few seconds.
"Ok maybe I didn't come up with it. Companies have been doing this for years in other games."
"Oh? And how would you know this clearly?"
"Ehm maybe… I have been playing before."
Cynthia smiled awkwardly as she explained herself to her best friend.
It turned out that before Cynthia's family moved to Flava Star two years ago, she was an avid gamer.
But because gaming on Falva Star, located at the edge of the federation, wasn't big, and because her family didn't like it, Cynthia did her best to hide her past and adapt to local customs.
But a year ago when she turned eighteen the young woman couldn't hold back anymore and met with other gamer friends she secretly got to know online.
Silva had some conflicting emotions but was glad that Cynthia trusted her enough to 'come clean'.
***
Elsewhere on Falva Star, in a city called Five Lake City. Next to one of the serena natural lakes was a large complex, the city's college.
Within one of the dorms four youths sat together, happily munching on surprisingly healthy instant meals.
One rather corpulent young man, a pile of boxes stacked on the table before him, talked happily about his time in Fate of Crunaboul.
"I tell you, this pirate captain was so fierce! We almost f*cked up, but luckily Mirage had a poison with him.
"Is this mirage really this good?"
"Yeah, he always looks confident, as if nothing in the game could stump him."
"Wow."
One of the young men, of smaller stature but with impressive muscles below his tank top, looked enviously at the fatty.
"Damn. Are you going to the dungeon tomorrow?"
"Of course! Just wait for the announcement!"
"Hey, Dom, do you think you can talk to your party and take me along?"
"Well, I don't know how many people we need. I can try."
Suddenly a tall man sitting next to the chubby Dom spoke up.
"Kel can have my spot."
"What?!"
Dom stared at shock at his friend, who was Sun's Knight in the game.
"Yeah, I don't feel like I can keep up. I might rather concentrate on my studies."
"But didn't we all agree that we want to make a living through games? Why do you want to study now?"
"Well, it's just not that easy. I'd rather take the stable route. And it's not like I will stop gaming entirely."
"Well, ok…"