KANG! KANG! KANG!
The rhythmic hammering could be heard from Bor's workshop. He was currently logged in to Morendat, one of the more popular VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game).
Once, such RPG games were reserved to geeks and the like, but with everyone being online, they became like Social media platforms.
Unlike the restrictions imposed in Polaris, games such as Morendat allowed people to became whatever they wanted. They could create avatars with a myriad of races such as the undead, orcs, elves, druids and even humans.
It was a fully immersive game, and since its inception, the leading players, all God-level players, were at level 430. Bor had a young account, barely etching it at level 122.
His was a functional account. He barely went out to fight with monsters and other immersive functions. He was a weapons smith, and right now, he was fashioning a Sword for a level 234 player.
Given he could make such highly advanced Equipment, Bor had earned a name for himself, making his account one of the more prestigious accounts among mid-level players like him.
His weapons were always dependable and quite fancy, which served to bring him a tidy sum of profit. However, just like alchemists, array masters and formation masters, his profession was a money hole. As much as good money was coming in, so was the expenditure.
Smiths like Bor needed blueprints, raw materials, forging equipment, and time. Even then, it all boiled down to the skill of the forger and the quality of the blueprint, as well as the level of the smith.
Hence, even a smith like him had to pay attention to his levels, since if his clientele were far ahead of him, he wouldn't be able to make equipment to match his clients needs. He was working on shaping a unique looking scimitar, and he had followed the steps in the blueprint well.
He had obtained the contract from some high level guild member of some first rate guild, and those always paid well. In fact, he had been invited repeatedly to join some guilds, but he always favored doing his own thing. Being an employee under a guild could sometimes prove to be a restraint, despite all the benefits.
Bor was keeping himself busy as he waited to hear from Susanne. She had gone to her money man to get some things sorted out. After all was done, she would show up at his virtual shop to give him the details.
One of the advantages of Morendat was that the level of encryption in the conversations and recorded video feeds was top notch. Also, unless with a court order, law enforcement agencies could not violate a player's right. Of course, though there were means of encrypting communication and encoding, they were nowhere near as advanced as the stickman page, which was preferred for top level discussions.
Bor finished his forging work, set up the magical matrix that would need to work on the scimitar to give it those extra skills that gamers die for. It was a process that would take 24 hours In Game time, which was 6 hours IRL.
Bored out of his mind, Bor decided to call his friends and go for a good old fashioned adventuring, after all, that was what gaming was all about. He could also boost his levels and check out his new equipment. It had been a while since he had had a chance to.
Just as he was about to start making calls, a beautiful young elf maid walked into his shop. She had an ethereal feel to her, making Bor know that she was more than a hundred levels above him. If she wanted, she could insta-kill him, but given that she was in his shop, she'd end up losing a lot more than he would.
"I am looking for a good forger, someone who can do somethings discreetly," the elf said when Bor came up to serve her.
"What do you want made, and why discreet?"
"I have a blueprint I obtained a while ago. Its potentially a game-breaking item, but to make it, I need capable forgers. I am also a forger, but the sub-class it not so well developed. So how about we forge it together."
"What is it, what are the terms?" Bor was getting interested.
"Before I can even show you, we will need to sign a Polaris Non-disclosure agreement, what do you say?"
"If its as good as you say it is, I would expect nothing less." Bor answered as he inspected the maiden. While many of the aesthetics couldn't tell someone who the person was, even in the AI, one could still read the body language of the avatars. Right now, the she-elf looked anxious and serious, signs that what she had was the real deal.
Bor pulled out a Standard Confidentiality Agreement from the servers and offered the elf to read the terms. He knew them by heart since this was not the first time he had had to make such an order.
Perhaps this is why he did not choose to go the guild way. He liked these walk-ins who would come with the most outrageous blueprints which were so complex at times and others just plain unbuildable. Bor would work hard on them until they were finished products. If he was in a guild, he would be stuck making standard armor for the guildies and barely have enough time to explore.
The elf was done reading the document, and having found nothing out of the ordinary, she signed it. The two then went on to haggle over the price of building, the materials and all that, before Bor pulled out a contract that automatically recorded the agreed-upon terms.
"This is just a piece of the equipment we need to build. Study it well and contact me when you can begin production. I need at least twelve of them by the weekend. The raw materials will be delivered tomorrow. Any problems, just speak up." The elf, named Britz Shot, bid Bor farewell.
Bor didn't need to take her contact info. Since he was a contractor, he could get in touch with her avatar and leave a message.
His face fell as he studied the blueprint. While the equipment needed was just at level 200, this had to be the most complex blueprint he had seen. To think that twelve of these were needed, and that too by the weekend? Could he handle it?
Bor was never one to give up on a challenge before he'd even tried it, so mustering up whatever strength he had, he started seriously studying. He almost missed the call by Susanne, despite having waited for it all day.