Walking back to the wall with the projection, Chester changes the slide showing a list of potions, their effects, and estimated prices.
"The next major task is to dominate the potions market. In Caelus Online supplies like potions, weapons, materials, and such are limited. One of the most lucrative markets is potions. Since they are one-time consumables and can perform a number of roles like healing, mana and stamina replenishment, buffs to temporarily increase stats, xp buffs, and so on. They will be in high demand, especially at the beginning of the game since there will be few alchemists with the ability to make them. Marie, can I leave the job of producing potions to you?"
Jumping up from her seat, Marie exclaims.
"Huh, me? Yes, of course, Chezzi! I will make so many potions you can drown the market with them!"
Putting his hand on his forehead, Chester exasperatedly sighs.
"I forgot all about that nickname you gave me…" Chester unconsciously spoke his thoughts aloud with a tinge of sadness.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Marie questions with a quizzical gaze.
Realising he spoke his thoughts out aloud; Chester quickly clears his throat before replying.
"Huh? Oh! Don't worry about it, anyway, back to what I was saying. I will need Ash to take on the role of gathering the botanical ingredients for potions. Due to the skill he has shown me with a sword, he will easily be able to go to dangerous places to gather the rare ingredients for us."
"Not to mention that I think we all agree the role will fit him quite well." Chester quips with a chuckle.
Seeing a few nods in agreement, Chester moves on to the next slide which depicts a number of ores, their qualities, and their uses.
"Next are precious metals such as mithril and adamantite. We will be needing these in massive quantities, so Ali, can I leave you to work on that with Connor? It will require the guild's manpower to achieve. The in-depth details of the project are in the document."
Handing over the document, Chester looks at Ali who is rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression.
"Rare minerals? Sure, I can get it done."
Pleased with the response, Chester returns to the projection which changes to a rough hand drawn map of the world. The map had rings around various places with details about each location such as monsters and drops in each.
"Good to hear. Ok, next Roxanne, Tyrell, Russel, Ben. Your main focus will be leveling up and becoming proficient in combat, both against players and mobs. There are a large number of items and materials that can only be acquired from enemies, and we will have no shortage of conflicts against other players. As such I have written quite advanced class guides that I think will suit each of you quite well."
Chester moves and hands the 4 their respective documents.
"Alright." Roxanne smiles in agreement while Russel and Ben quietly give a short nod.
"You got it, boss." Tyrell also nods as he accepts the small pack of papers.
Hearing them all give their affirmation; Chester returns to where he was standing.
"In addition, Roxanne, I want you to nurture an intelligence group like you have previously done in the past. Your document has additional information on the best way to implement that."
Giggling behind her hand, Roxanne responds flashing a smile with a hint of menace.
"Oh, it's been a while since I caused some trouble inside a game, this should be fun."
"Glad to hear it, just don't go too crazy alright?" Chester responds with slight amusement just thinking about the chaos Roxanne had caused in the past.
In acknowledgement, Roxanne just winks.
Happily smiling at everyone's responses, Chester once again returns to the projection which is now showing a bullet point list.
"Right, with that everyone knows their jobs, now, I will explain more about the game in general…"
And with that, Chester begins his long explanation which stretches late into the night.
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Two days later the gaming pod is delivered and placed in Chester's room. The pod isblack and pill shaped with a one-way tinted window on the top to allow for the user to see out but to block the sight of those looking in.
The time finally came for Chester to enter the game again, and like his first time he was quite excited. he could feel quite a satisfying feeling knowing that his skills and knowledge are one of the best in the world at this current time.
Back before Chester had died, while he was an average player in terms of his gear and stats, however his skill when it came to PvP was exceptional. He had spent a lot of time early on in the game fighting against players while at a self-imposed disadvantage which later helped him massively when the game changed during the Great Upheaval. Now that Chester had a second chance to start from scratch and his future potential was frightening.
Changing out of his clothes and only putting on some comfortable shorts, Chester gets into the pod. Pressing the power button on the small panel in-front of him, a screen lights up and the inbuilt system rings out.
[Welcome new user. Genetic registration will commence shortly. Please lay down in the position indicated on the screen.]
Making himself comfortable, Chester lays down with his hands by his side holding the indicated handles while waiting for the registration to begin.
[Registration commencing, please keep your hands on the handles and remain still]
[…]
[Registration complete. Would you like to commence login to: Caelus Online?]
Smiling to himself, Chester answers.
"Yes"
[Commencing Login]
After hearing the system's acknowledgment, everything becomes black. Waiting for a few seconds of what felt like drifting in zero gravity, Chester finds himself once again standing on a platform made from clouds floating above an unknown mountain range, the area for character customisation.
Waiting for the guide to appear, Chester inspects himself. As expected, he is wearing a crude common white shirt, black trousers tied with a string, and worn leather boots, the equipment all new players start with.
Noticing that the guide has just appeared, Chester looks up to see a golden-haired woman flapping her large white wings to slow her descent, lightly landing in front of him. She is wearing an ancient Greek style dress that hugs her stunning body, while her golden eyes seem full of energy as she looks at Chester, her gorgeously beautiful face wearing a warm smile.
After a short silence observing the woman, Chester breaks the silence while resting his fist on his chin with a thoughtful expression.
"… you are definitely not the guide."
The lady, letting out a small laugh, hides it behind her hand in an elegant movement.
Continuing on from his comment, Chester resumes speaking.
"I might say an angel, but given the absurdities which brought me to this moment, I would be more inclined to say goddess? Or something to that effect. Would I be correct?"
After hearing Chester's conclusion, the woman starts speaking, her words sounding elegant and refined.
"You would indeed be correct. I am the goddess of luck, Fortuna." Fortuna introduces herself, keenly observing Chester for his reaction.
Nodding in satisfaction, Chester begins to speculate his thoughts aloud.
"So, the Roman goddess of luck huh… interesting. So, this game does indeed have some hidden power behind it, back then there were many theories, but it was gods in the end. So does this mean that Caelus Online is the god's way of looking out for humanity?"
Chester looks back up at Fortuna after asking.
Amazed by Chester's clear lack of surprise, Fortuna calmly tries to hide her reaction.
"Yes, in a way."
Nodding, Chester continues speaking and poses another question.
"I see. Then why was I thrown back in time after getting made into a kebab?"
Perplexed by this question, Fortuna slightly tilts her head while responding.
"Made into a… kebab…? I can't say I know what a kebab is?"
Stifling a slight laugh, Chester smiles smugly while explaining the glory of a Turkish kebab.
"A kebab is basically meat that is cooked on a metal stick. It's quite tasty, I can recommend you a few restaurants if you would like?"
Fortuna hearing Chester's response and finally understanding his joke lets out a laugh.
"I see a type of skewer then, that's quite amusing. I thank you for the offer, but that won't be possible. Maybe in the future perhaps."
Hearing that answer, Chester raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, in the future? Now that's quite an interesting comment."
Gasping while covering her mouth with her hands, Fortuna becomes flustered.
"Oh no, please forget that last part, I will be put on clean-up duty by Minerva if she finds out!"
Chuckling at the goddess's slip-up, Chester gets an idea of the personality of this goddess and decides to throw her a lifeline before teasing her again.
"So… about why I was sent back in time?"
Calming herself down, Fortuna quickly provides an answer to the question, clearly eager to change the topic.
"Oh, yes, well, I can't tell you much about that sadly. Let's just say you were lucky and leave it at that." Fortuna smiles awkwardly while looking away.
Seeing that Fortuna was not willing to say more, Chester asks another question.
"So, what about the people who killed me?"