Magic Night, 8th Division. Legar City, Acias Kingdom.
In the slums region, a group of people can be seen in sitting around a table.
"So, can you tell us what happened?" An elderly soft voice said.
This elder one is the current Guild Leader of Magic Night Guild, and the current family Head of the Baltinoir Family.
He was already 50 when the game started, and now, he became one of the four tycoons of the game.
Charles Baltinoir, also known as Metal Charles.
He is one of the players that helped Delva and Co. in killing the 9th Disciple. After that, he retired of the game, and ran the family business.
He earned the name "Metal" as he is always strict, and hard. Anyone who hits him, will be dealt with twice the pain, thrice the suffering, and four times the embarassment.
And now, speaking softly like this, gives everyone a chill to their spine.
"Pietro, speak." The eldest daughter, Cynthia, said as she pointed at the person on the other side of the table.
"Heh. Sister, why don't you ask Carla instead?" Corin, the second child, said as he smirked.
"Oh? So you're going to blame us?"
"Not so, Sister, but is that what you think of doing?"
"Oh my brother, don't think that I'm like you."
"Stop." Charles said as the he knows that the banter will not end.
"Carla, you first. Speak."
Carla jerked, but then she recounted the scenarios that happened, and did not omit a single one, as well as she stopping the mage and Pietro stopping her arrow, until the end when temhey died.
"Blood Poison? This is the first time I've heard of it."
"I'm not lyin-"
"She's not lying, Sir. In fact, we were also afflicted with it." Pietro said hurriedly.
"Let me ask you then, who are you serving?" Charles' eyes became glint as he looked at Pietro.
"Th-Th-The Baltinoir Family, Sir." Pietro answered in a rushed manner.
"And you?" He asked Carla.
"The mighty Baltinoir Family, Sir." She answered with fidelity.
"The Baltinoir, huh." He said as he hugged the two in his arms.
Carla felt safe, while Pietro was a bit nervous, but he accepted it anyway.
BLAM!!
Two heads were slammed to the table.
"You serve the family? Then why did you stop each other? If you stack those defenses together, will the enemy take your lives? Answer me again then, who are you serving?"
He said the last lines as he held the two in their necks.
"Th-Th-The Family, Sir."
They squeezed their breaths to say, and Charles seemed satisfied.
"Don't let this happen again. For now, find the dungeon owner, and recruit him as soon as possible." Charles left without even hearing their response.
He went out of the slum area, and a guy appeared before him.
Although this was a game, he need to instill fear on them.
"Esteemed one, what can I help you today?" The guy asked.
"Find information about Blood Poison. As many as possible, as soon as possible and report it to me."
"Yes, Sir!" The man then left as fast as he appeared.
Charles then walked away.
- - - - -
Legar City, Blood Ore Shop.
Abby rushed towards the waiting Rory. In her arms is an unconscious guy with gray hair. His body is struck with fever and a few convulsions from time to time.
Rory rushed to see the boy, but was surprised that this is the boy he sent Abby to investigate.
They then put him at a bed inside the shop as Abby recounted everything she saw from the get go up to when the dungeon started collapsing, and Zypher being able to kill the two bosses at once.
Yes, Abby survived, but she was too far from the place because of the fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
She dodged Blood Domain once, but got hit by the second one, and was also victimized by the Blood Poison. If Zypher was a bit late in killing the two, she will also be dead from the poison.
"Blood poison huh? I think this kid is extraordinary in a way." Rory said as she checked her catalogue.
For a few more days, Abby investigated Zypher, and his whereabouts when he started, but all leads to her conclusion that this man started the game a few weeks ago.
They arrived at the conclusion that Zypher is a talented player, or a smurf that lost his main account.
(A smurf is a player that gets fucked up in the higher ELO levels, so they create new accounts to fuck up the lower ELO levels.)
If he is a talented player, he can change the gameplay and its progression, whilst if he is a smurf, he can bring destruction to the game.
But then, a sudden shock appeared in both of their faces.
The level of the boy in front of them...
Is Level 1.
- - - - -
Inside his own mind.
Zypher can be said to be "dreaming". But this dreaming, is a bit delicate, as he doesn't know where it is coming from: from his true self, or a part of the game.
{Congratulations, Zypher.}
"Who are you?" He asked as he stood up from a white room.
{I am a part of the *****.}
A bleep came through as the entity said something.
{Ow, I guess some informations are censored, but, well, I can't just give up on you.}
Zypher remained silent as he heard this.
{In any case, I am just one of us, and the others will wake up soon. For now, accept my gift.}
A golden box then shone through and floated towards Zypher.
He touched it and the box opened as soon as possible.
{There's no time, but well, don't be too harsh on my brother. He is just doing his work. Also, I will try my best to equalize everything, from the curses and the blessings, up to the points and other stuff. Just be careful not to have greedy thoughts, or some of us will find you annoying and leave you.}
"What? What are you? My mom?"
(Quite similar, but she's not.)
"Huh? Another one?"
(Go back. We will talk next time.)
And there, he opened his eyes.
- - - - -
Rory ran as soon as she heard from Abby that Zypher has woken up. Due to fatigue, Zypher can be seen laying his head on the wall, groaning in pain.
"Quick, give me a Vitality Potion."
As soon as the Vitality Potion went on his stomach, Zypher's body stopped groaning, and his eyes became clear.
"What happened?" He said as he saw Rory, who is in her old woman mask and Abby in front of him.
"You collapsed after you fought the Phantom's Shadow and the Lesser Vampire." Abby said, testing the water.
"I see." Zypher then clenched his hand as he now has the first step for his goal: to protect Caelestia.
With a curt nod, Abby then went out as Rory signaled her to go out.
"Zypher Miracle. A newbie from almost two weeks ago. Nothing is known about you, except for your new accomplishment on the Blood Bat Cave." Rory said as she pulled a folder with three pages of paper.
"Non-combat Class Blacksmith, but is also as dangerous as a trained assassin. A few names come into mind: Jayn of Magic Night, as well as Nox and Rika, but this is not their territory, unless they want a war against Baltinoir."
Rory then aimed her cane on Zypher and asked:
"Which one are you?"
With malice and bloodlust, Rory can suppress Zypher with level, stats and equipments.
"Woah, easy on the threats, Miss Rory. Also, I'm not them."
He pushed the cane away as he moved towards Rory.
With a cold tone, he met Rory's eyes, and said:
"I am not someone I hate."
With that, Rory's alarm bells went ringing as she looked at the young man.
Zypher then sat down on the bed and looked at the now flabbergasted Rory. The woman came to her senses, and now, looked at the young man with a hint of interest.
"Money grubbing woman, I'm not your gold mine."
"What did you say?"
Zypher sighed under his breath, but Rory seemed to hear what he said.
"Pardon, I must be hallucinating." He said as he tried to brush it off.
"You, kid!" Rory laughed, but know what he meant anyways.
He is now the owner of the Blood Ores. Although a bit unnecessary, but people has their own life and their own reliance to the said ore and mine.
Now that he is the owner, many people will come to him, and he just gave Rory a warning, as well as an advice to take his side.
He may not be her gold mine, but he can be her partner in business, and can rake in profits.
"20%, I'll sponsor you." She said without hesitation.
"80%, sponsor a guild." Zypher said as he took raised eight fingers.
She was surprised at first, but she knew the setbacks of this trade.
First, Rory is the wife of a mining corporation in the real world. She is one of the main sources of ores of the top 4 guilds, but then, if she sponsors one guild, it may have a negative impact on that relationship.
Secondly, the returns are not so good. Blood ores are just uncommon minerals, not rare ones. So, the return is lower in return from the relationships she may sever.
Third is that, it may be an investment, but she's not sure if she can get this sponsorship with return of investment.
"It's alright if you can't give something now, or decide right now. I'll come back when the time comes, and I hope you can give me a clear answer."
Standing up, Zypher patted his clothes as he left the house.
After he left, Rory was left buffering, but then, she went out to talk to the company.
- - - - -
When he went out, Zypher went back to the blacksmith.
Now, he was one step closer to his goal, Delva's eyes.
And the best way to obtain it is to have the three weapons of the underlings of the Nether King.
There is a hierarchy to those weapons as well, but, that's not the important thing.
Those weapons take shape whatever the user wants, so it is easy to hit a single monster 1,000 times at level 1.
Yes, that's the quest to get Weak Point.
That is to hit a monster 1,000 times without killing it or without inducing a critical hit.
The critical hit can be avoided just by avoiding the fatal parts of a monster, and because of his experience, Zypher knows what his next target is, but he has to get the Soul Weapon before it.
That can be gotten, but he has other things to do for now, for example:
[Normal Skill Acquisition Card]
[Can choose from the abilities of the monster killed.]
One is for the Phantom's Shadow, and another is for the Lesser Vampire.
There are ranks in the skills of a monster, namely: Normal, Rare, Epic, Legendary anf Mythical. There are also Hidden Skills and Special Skills, but they can be obtained in other ones.
For example, a slime can have a Normal Special Skill: Devour which can eat anything and gain EXP or anything from it.
[Use card?]
"Yes."
[Picking a skill...]
[You have obtained the Normal Skill: Absorb.]
[Absorb a stat point, a level, an ability or a skill from an enemy. Skill can't be used on a higher level enemy.]
"What the?! Are you saying that this skill is basically useless?"
Yes, they had us the first half. It can be an overpowered skill, but then the next part is the problem.
"I guess it's just my luck." He said as he pulled the other card.
"Don't ask me, just give me another one."
[Initializing...]
[You have received the Normal Special Skill: Shadow Storage.]
[Store anything inside your shadow. The amount of kilogram is dependent on your Power Stat.]
"IS THIS GAME SHITTING ME?!"