Wizard Of Cosmos

16 - Black Steel Guild

‘That feeling….’

After resting for an hour, Jason got up from his cabin. 

‘I risked my life.’

He couldn’t shake off the disappointing feeling. Honestly, he knew he just underestimated the strength of the boar, and he definitely overestimated himself. If he received that injury in real life, he would be a cripple without the help of a Life Wizard. 

He already knew Dawn couldn’t do anything against the boar. Even he couldn’t penetrate its skin. If not a wizard, only a master-level warrior with an aura could harm it easily. The only other way to kill it with ease was to target its vital points. That was what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t powerful enough. 

‘How did I forget the rules of hunting?’

In the first five years of his life on Yuriel, wild game was exclusive to nobles and higher powers. It was exactly due to the difficulty of hunting. The animals they bred in captivity were somewhat smaller and less ferocious. In fact, he was just thinking of himself as the Master Swordsman he once was.

‘If I continue like this, things won’t be good.’

This was the same mentality that would get many players killed in five more years.

‘Sigh. I have to get stronger.’

He opened the forum to see the situation of the players in the game.

…

‘Hm?’

Jason frowned, looking at the trending topics.

He was expecting to see discussions about combat, skills, the quality of the game and other things, but the number one topic already stomped him.

- No levels, no XP, no skill points, no quests… WTF

‘This isn’t what I expected.’

Jason realised none of the top topics was about anything good about The Endless. He clicked on the topic to see what was happening. 

- The infamous Endless has no levelling or experience system. No player tags, no currency to exchange, and not even set quests. There is nothing. How are we supposed to play? There is not even starting gear. Are we supposed to go and die?

He could tell the topic was from a raging player named ‘Joker465’. Of course, if someone looked at The Endless as a game, all these missing points were a weakness. However, there were no such things in real life. 

He was already elated with the massive advantage of getting healed for free after a penalty time. It was better than paying for a Life Wizard and way better than actually trying to find one. Unlike the main four elements, Life and Death-type wizards were rare. These two types were known as High Magic.

He looked through the number of replies with similar experiences and dissatisfaction. He realised some of these people might be just trying to fan the flames, but many players looked as if they were genuinely frustrated. 

He saw some players replying with happiness for not having a currency exchange system. To them, this was a way to take down the pay-to-win players. 

He closed the topic and focused on the second most trending topic. Which was already a post requesting to trade currency for real-life money. He didn’t even waste any time looking at the post. 

He only had thirteen silver coins left and he needed them for in-game expenses. Even if not, he had to pay Ashley Steel using in-game currency. If that wasn’t enough, he knew transferring currency wouldn’t be easy. 

First, they had no way to get the money they earn in-game to their gaming accounts. Second, he knew the process of transferring money through Yuriel. It could only be done in big cities and only in some small towns. 

‘There might be one in Forestedge, but I have to look.’

There was a possibility to find a small branch of a Chamber of Commerce in the Forestedge. If so, he could transfer money through them, if not, the other way would be the Adventurers Guild. However, the transfer fee would be higher. As for a method through Blackmarket channels… He wasn’t rich enough to use them.

‘I am pretty sure the Blackmarket would be paying attention to the players even before legitimate channels.’

The next most trending topic was something he kind of expected to see, but definitely not like this.

- I stub my toe and can’t walk

The topic looked like a joke but the first thing anyone would see was a picture of a bloody finger with a broken fingernail when they entered the topic. 

The player had taken a picture of his bloody finger to post in the forum. 

However, the replies were much worse than the starting topic. Many players had already suffered injuries and replies were filed with similar incidents. 

‘Sigh. Is my estimation wrong? Were there more players than two hundred thousand?’

He looked at the next topic.

- I got killed by a wolf and I need therapy

‘As expected… But I don’t remember hearing anyone getting mental shock because of this game.’

He was about to open this one when he saw the next topic. Since he felt a bit amused, he decided to check on it.

- Hot! Anyone can get naked

I Am Your Father: How do they replicate our bodies so accurately?

Rattler: Bro @I Am Your Father, did you realise how small it is?

I Am Your Father: @Rattler F**c you

Cobra89: Damn it! I removed my clothes for a test and an NCP woman started chasing me with a broom all over the town. I ran everywhere naked. I wanna kill myself.

Systembug: Damn! Was it you? I saw you running.

Slow runner: Can we have s*x in the game?

Pig God: I found a brothel. Someone, lend me some money. I will share my experience 

The replies turned out even more hilarious but Jason stopped wasting his time on this. 

- The only thing I didn’t bring to the game was my poor eyesight. Developer! Just put that in, too. Then I can be nearsighted, also.

- I am dying of hunger. Someone help me!

- Stray dog bit me and now I am having a fever! Just kill me

He saw several more topics on the sufferings of the players. On the other hand, very few topics on the quality of The Endless and the important facts like skill tree and stuff. 

- Hot! The place you spawned will give you free food for three meals. Go get it!

‘Well, this is interesting.’

It was the only topic that caught his interest so far.

He checked on it and realised there was an actual service to deliver food to the players from their spawn point. It started at lunchtime. He found this to be valuable, but he almost missed this topic with all the chaos in the forum. 

‘This is just the English channel. How chaotic are the other channels?’

He felt The Endless wasn’t starting the way he thought it would be. Rather, this would take days or even weeks to settle down. Unless the developers gave an explanation, things could turn worse. 

He suddenly got distracted by the ringtone of his phone.

‘Ashley?’

He identified the number that contacted him last night.

“Hello!”

“Jason. Can you come to our studio right now? This is an emergency.”

“Huh? Already?”

The game just started and they were calling for help.

“Yes, our players are already having issues with the game. Honestly, some are even considering dropping The Endless already.”

“Sigh. Alright! I will come.”

He had a doubt if he would be able to make any difference in their opinion, but he did make a promise. 

“Great! I will send you a car!”

“No need. Is it inside your skyscraper?”

“Yes.”

“I will be there in an hour.”

“Alright. Just give my card to the front desk. They will send you to the studio.”

“Sure.”

He disconnected the call, thinking about the things he was planning to do for the day. 

‘It looks like I have to deal with Black Steel guild before anything.’