"So you want advice on how to grow closer to Luck?” Caleb asked, his brow raised so high that he felt his head hurt from doing it. “Yup.” Flama affirmed “And why would you think I have an answer to this problem?” “I don’t really know, but you're the only person I can go to about this. Of all my friends, I’m only comfortable about talking about this with you. If it's with the other guild members, I think I’ll die of embarrassment.”“I see, but I do want to warn you that my knowledge on the matter of a boy's heart is limited.” “Why’s that?” Slapping his forehead in frustration, Caleb didn’t know where to even start. He wondered if Flama was trying to tease him or if this was a serious conversation for the sake of the guild’s future. In either case in his head, this was now his problem. “Alright, forget I asked. So why do you think you aren’t getting along with him all that well? You had an argument with him today but what’s new. You’ve done that before during the negotiation fo
Meanwhile, while Luck was working away in his house making potions, Flama and Caleb had taken the chance to go out and enjoy the game to the fullest. It had been a long time since the two of them ever went on an adventure together. They could count the times they did in the last year on one finger. They, of course, had periods of time where they could go off and do their own thing, but it was hard for them to coordinate a period of time when they were both available to hangout. Taking a whiff of the sweet sea breeze, Flama felt the stress of her duties fly off from her shoulders. Doing much the same, Caleb looked at the ocean’s horizons with a fond gaze. “Man! It's been a while since I’ve seen the sea.” Flama said, stretching her arms to help wake her body up. “Same here.” Caleb added. “But, Flama? Doesn’t your family own a beach house somewhere outside of the city?” While nodding, she explained. “My family has been pushing me to take over the family business lately. Because of
Thrown off guard, Caleb had to put both his hands on his shield’s handle to refocus and steady his posture. While he had lost his main mode of attack, he still had a job to do. Taking the hits, Caleb saw his health go steady down. Only 2 beasts remained thanks to Flama's quick actions but the beast's hits were still heavy and damaging. Their size was mainly the cause of his trouble but Caleb felt that they hit faster and stronger than the usual forest wolves. *roar* One of the beasts howled in anger, which sent an unusual and unseen shock wave through the air. Unaware of its presence, Caleb unintentionally took it on thinking that it was just the beast’s angry musings. Wanting to take a step forward to reposition himself into a better stance, Caleb found himself grunting with effort to even move a muscle. Surprised, he tried to call out but even talking seemed to be hard since his mouth felt as if it was cramping up. ‘Damnit, what the hell is this!’ He thought, concerned whil
While hiding among the bush, Flama and Caleb continued to observe what they believe to be a newly discovered creature in the game. With the recent world announcements, changes to the world environment were only a matter of time. With how long it had been since Luck’s triggering of the recent world announcements, this was of no surprise to either Flama or Caleb. In fact, they used this opportunity to its fullest. Using their in-game cameras programmed within the interfaces of their huds, Flama and Caleb began noting down as many details as they could. “Be sure to get as much intel.” Caleb said softly. “We’ll need to share this with our allies to prepare for any other, more drastic changes to the game.” Flama sighed, a bit sour at the mention of more work to be done, but sucked it up. “Alright, just be sure to not get caught. I wasn’t expecting to fight a horde of monsters, so I only packed a few potions.” Agreeing, Caleb moved as quietly as he could to get closer. In-game informa
While Flama and Caleb were away, having their adventure, Luck was flicking through his inventory. Taking stock of what Flama had provided for him, per her agreement for his help. After using the morning to get all his tools in order, Luck finally had a working potion making set up in his workshop in the back. It involved a cauldron, mixing beakers, a large mortar and pestle, and a variety of both old medieval apothecary tools and 19th century chemistry tools, like glass beakers and pipettes. While he lacked the more sophisticated tools like a microscope or a centrifuge, the manual tools would serve their purpose. Crafting in the game of Level 0 truly mimicked real life. Constant testing was needed to create a usable product and with Luck’s ambitions he would need more than what his exchange shop could provide. While the interface’s tutorial said that it could provide anything and everything, this was limited on both the current age of expansion and the amount of RP he had saved.
[Thank you for exchanging 1 mithril ore, 10,000 RP has been added to your balance.] Wanting to see if the mithril ore could be exchanged for resource points in his exchange shop, Luck inserted a single unit of the precious ore. “10 times more!” Luck shouted, amazed that this singular unit of ore was worth the equivalent to 10 medium magic crystals, but this got Luck thinking. He reviewed what he had seen with his [Eye of the Creator] class skill and noted the phrase of “emanating power” from the item's description. If his knowledge of the future was right, which he was very much certain of, mithril ore was categorized by the player community to be a magic related ore. Foretold and used in past fantasy mediums and books, it became a staple in most online games and literature. While this history lesson was a bore to Luck, it did give him insightful information. He began to understand that his exchange shop allowed for the transference of magic energy from physical objects into usa
Getting up from her chair, Flama had stopped Luck in his tracks after getting his attention. She approached, making him feel a bit intimidated due to the slight height difference she had on him, while only a few inches, it was enough to make Luck feel somewhat uncomfortable. Keeping a straight face, he let her approach as she then leant down a bit to make direct eye contact with him, unintentionally showing off her outfit. From Luck’s view point, he saw the glint of Flama’s twin blades behind her back. In truth, Flama was trying to show off her beauty. At her current age, she was at her peak, and while she might have taken a few liberties in changing her in-game character’s appearance with cash shop items, her peers in real life touted her as being a young Madonna of the current generation. With her long fire-like hair cascading down the sides of her face, she pulled the stray locks away in a somewhat inviting manner. “So, I realize that you don’t seem to have your own gaming pod
Returning the next morning, Luck logged into the game and found Flama and Caleb waiting for him downstairs in the reception area of his workshop.“Morning!” Flama greeted, sharpening her twin blades in glee. Luck smiled wryly at the sight.“S-Same to you, did anything happen while I was away?”“Not much!” Flama shrugged and pointed to one of the windows. “We kept an eye on the place during the night, but nothing interesting happened. We didn’t see a player or monster in sight.”“That’s a relief.” Luck sighed. After his discussion with Flama yesterday, both he and her had come to an agreement about how to move forward from their discovery of the nearby orc encampment. He had tasked the two with safeguarding his workshop while he was away during the night, while some players would see this as being overprotective, this was not the case with Luck and Flama.They both understood how the game mechanics of Level 0 worked with monsters. With an orc encampment so close, Flama could understan