by A P Gore
Tastes very sweet.
What the heck? Contaminated water that could increase the potency of other contamination? What a strange thing!
Something clicked in Jon’s mind as he glanced at the twenty bottles of Corrupt Blood he had collected in his inventory.
Corrupt Blood
Reduces life by 1% every two days.
Reduce darkness resistance by 20%.
Target has 10% chance to explode and spread the corrupt blood when life drops below 10%.
Glancing at the duo chatting far away from him, Jon filled one empty bottle with half corrupt blood and then added the contaminated water from the lake into it.
The clean water swirled around the blood and then swallowed it in one go like a whale swallowing small fishes. The next moment, no trace of blood or red color remained inside the bottle, like it never existed.
Why?
It looked so fresh that Jon itched to taste it. Instead, he cast Intrinsic Vision.
False Contaminated Corrupt Blood
Hard to detect with a common perception skill.
90% chance for the debuff warning to not occur after consumption.
Tastes sweet.
Reduces life by 2% every two days.
Reduces darkness resistance by 40%.
Target has 20% chance to explode and spread the corrupt blood when its life drops below 10%.
Woohoo! It doubled the effect of the corrupt blood, and added that hard-to-detect property. Godly. There was no other word for it.
A devilish thought triggered inside Jon’s head as he stared at the water. Maybe there was a chance to take care of the whole group.
Quickly, he emptied five spirit potions in the water and filled them with half corrupt blood and half contaminated water.
No, this was too little. What if he didn’t get his hands on this water again?
He emptied 10 more spirit potions and collected more water from the lake. If someone had seen him waste spirit potions like this, they would definitely receive a shock. Each bottle cost one gold in the market, and Jon wasted it like he grew it in his backyard. Actually, he’d received them for free, so why would he care?
“Sir, do you need empty bottles?” Alexis walked to him, creases all over his forehead.
“Do you have a few? The water here is so refreshing, I’d like to collect it.”
Alexis bent at the water’s edge and touched it. Maybe he even cast perception, but he seemed to not find anything peculiar about the water. His forehead remained creased after a few moments of inspection.
“Sir, what’s so special about this water? I find nothing particular,” Alexis said.
Jon shrugged, displaying annoyance. “That’s a secret for light mages, but even the taste is good enough to collect it.” Jon collected some water in his water skin and gulped it in one go. He didn’t receive a warning or anything. The water settled inside his stomach and provided him with the refreshing feeling of a cool breeze flowing through his whole body, and it tasted like honey. The lack of warning must be the effect of the water, it just increased the strength of other pollutants and did nothing on its own.
Alexis watched Jon drink the water, then tried it himself, and soon enough his face smoothed in ecstasy. “Sir, you’re right. Even if I don’t know the value of it, I can definitely feel its refreshing taste. Thanks for enlightening me with your wisdom.”
Jon sneered inside his mind. This boot-licking fellow was annoying. That Marcus was better than this fellow. At least Marcus didn’t try to hide his displeasure in front of Jon.
“Please use these bottles don’t waste your precious spirit potions.” Alexis handed him a few large bottles, enough to store five hundred gallons of water.
Grinning, Jon accepted it without thanks. Alexis’s goodwill came with a condition of cooperation and the future prospect of joining his guild. Did that fool think Jon wouldn’t know it? And why would he decline any resource he got from the guild? Soon enough, they would be trying to kill each other.
That thought put more pressure on him. Somehow, he needed to level up. Glancing at his EXP bar, he saw he needed four thousand more to level up.
After collecting the water, and drinking it to their hearts’ content, the trio resumed the last leg of the journey. Of course, Jon had cast Vine of Light on himself when no one was looking. The impurities added by the water healed up in no time with his healing spell.
After an hour of riding, they finally reached their destination, the Dungeon of Arthia.
Contrary to Jon’s imagination, it was a huge castle painted in black. It had ten floors filled with hundreds of windows on the front wall. All the windows were closed, yet they couldn’t stop the sinister aura that radiated from the things lurking behind those windows.
Hundreds of footsteps attracted their attention, and when they turned, they found a cloud of dust marching toward them. As the cloud moved closer, Jon spotted hundreds of players walking leisurely toward the castle. Only a few players had mounts like horses or large spiders. Most of them walked. With the strength of a thousand players, the group had an imposing aura that could induce fear in any weak player’s heart.
Though Jon wasn’t weak, it still intimidated him.
“Sir, that’s the joint team of Death March and Zeolite guild, and the majestic looking man in white armor, holding the trident, is the team leader, Rob.” Alexis filled in the information as Jon’s eyes moved around the group.
Jon swallowed hard. How was he going to deal with these players? When he came here, he had plans to kill them all.
Was he overestimating himself?
Chapter 51
The hot sun beat down on Maggie’s head as she read the notification.
Promotion to Vice-lord. Was it real?
Totally unexpected.
But why? Why would he trust her so much?
Once again, she glanced at their chat and swallowed her tears. If she couldn’t trust the chat message, she had to trust the notification that came after the message. She was now the Vice-lord of the village and could do most of the things Lord Jon could do.
But why? Why was he so benevolent toward her?
First, he’d offered her the advanced blueprint without waiting for her to complete her end of the deal. Then he’d saved her from the dreaded execution, and the guards told her Lord Jon had pushed himself too far to cure them. When things went bad, he stayed there like a mountain and sent her away so no harm would come to her. In those few moments, she had spotted care in his eyes. A deep caring for her.
With that though, Maggie’s heart quivered. He did everything despite gaining nothing in return, and who but her knew how hard it was for him after that dreaded curse he received.
Wiping her tears away, she controlled her emotions.
If that wasn’t enough, he now trusted her with everything he had.
Did he trust her this much?
Accessing her new menu, she glanced at the village’s treasury. Twelve thousand gold. Her breath choked inside her throat. Her legs trembled. She’d never seen so much money before. If she wanted, she could run away with that money and no one could stop her. No one. She hadn’t signed a contract with the lord to not take out the money. It was hers to use.
But would she?
No, she couldn’t betray his trust. But why did he trust her so much?
Maggie sighed, a sigh of frustration. She hated him for trusting her this much. This blind trust made it impossible to betray him or even leave him.
Why was he so different from others? Others, she could disregard with a thought. They were all leeches, wanting her either for her body or her skills, but this man was different. Not a single time had he stared at her with lust, nor had he demanded anything from her. Instead, he offered her everything he had. Either he was naïve or a fool. But then there was a third possibility too. Maybe he trusted her with his heart.
Did he?
Determination flowed through her veins. All her doubts about Lord Jon van
ished from her mind. It was like a high tide washing the shore clean of waste.
He had trusted her, and she would do her best to protect his village from the invaders. No, their village. She was the vice-lord now.
Jumping on the top of a tower, she glared at the ten players that had put a tent below a tree. Lord Jon said they wouldn’t attack, and that reinforcements would be here, but she couldn’t bank on that. Instead, she would turn this village into a fortress. With her sixty years of experience, she had everything that this level 1 village needed to protect itself from one hundred or even two hundred level 30-35 players.
Grinning, she called the basic workers to her side and selected three places around the village to set up the Demolishing Towers. It was a tier 2 Rare building she had found from the tomb she’d raided a few days back, but with her class bonuses she could build it in the tier 1 village.
Now the only issue was BP. Each Demolishing Tower required 500 BP, and the village only had 1070 in total. With the current rate and the lord’s skills, it would take four days to gain 500 more.
Whatever. She would build two towers and defend one side herself if it came to it.
Even if she fell, she wouldn’t let the village fall.
Resolve flashed across her face as she pulled an Insta-Build Scroll out of her Bag of Holding. It was a Unique one-time use spell that could build one building to eighty percent completion in one go, however she only had one. It was her last resort to make money. If sold, it would fetch at least four thousand gold in the market, and it would be a waste to use it on a level 2 building, but here she was ready to do that for her lord. What use would it be if the town was razed by lecherous players? And Lord Jon had lots of money. In less than a month, he had twelve thousand gold in the treasury, so why would he lack money in the future?
Suddenly, her decision to stay with Lord Jon seemed to be the best decision she had made in recent years. Emotionally and financially.
Chapter 52
The man in white armor and matching trousers stepped forward, holding a trident in his hand. Arms wrapped in steel gauntlets reflected the bright sunlight. A weird fashion choice, if someone asked Jon. In front of the black castle, he looked like a clown.
“Mr. Jeremy.” Rob’s deep voice greeted Jon. “Pleasure meeting you.” He had an extra-long face, two cunning black eyes, and small hands.
Jon shook his hand. “Mr. Rob.”
“Let’s have a toast of introduction, and then we can discuss our cooperation.” Rob pulled his hand back and slipped it inside his pants and scratched his ass.
“Sounds good,” Jon said, ignoring Rob’s indecent act.
Rob searched for a clean patch of grass and then pulled a wooden table and two chairs out of thin air and placed them on the grass. What kind of Bag of Holding did he have that could store a table and chairs? Jon wanted one too.
Two wine glasses and a red wine bottle appeared on the table. “Mr. Jeremy, please enjoy the finest wine of Chinari. We’ve recently acquired Excellent quality weed crop to produce this wine. It increases random attributes when consumed.”
Excellent quality weed crop? Did he gain a competitor?
“Do you know who produced this weed crop?” Jon asked, a little surprised.
Rob punched his left hand. “That’s a secret I don’t have access to. I only heard a rumor that he is a bald man with yellow teeth and goes by name Weedman. He’s so aloof and elusive that he conceals his aura to level 20 and only sells this crop to a well-known seller in the slums.”
Jon nearly spat out the wine he had just sipped. “Weedman?” Wasn’t that Grimish’s fake name? Wow! Grimish had really gained fame in the town.
Rob’s eyebrows shot to the sky. “What? do you know him?”
Jon raised his hand in the air and shook his head. The bile in his throat didn’t let him speak. This was crazy. It was Grimish—a level 20 un-classed player—and people were calling him Weedman? “No, but I like the name. If you ever have time to meet him, please give him my regards.” What a scam.
“How does it taste?”
“Nice.” Jon raised his glass and sipped more.
“Boss, Mr. Jeremy found a lake around here, and the water tastes as good as this wine.”
System: Congratulations on completing a Demolition Tower.
Jon glanced at the notification, but his attention jumped back to Rob.
“Is that so?” Rob asked, squinting.
“Would you like to taste it?” Jon asked, wondering if he should serve the false corrupt blood instead. That would be an awesome move.
“Mr. Jeremy,” Alexis said. “No need to share your precious stash. I’ve also collected some myself.” He pulled a similar bottle out of his bag, along with many cups.
“Ahh.” Reaching out, Jon mixed a little of the lake water in Rob’s wine glass.
Rob rolled his eyes at Alexis, but he drank the water, anyway. Soon his eyes filled with a distinct glitter and he nodded at Alexis. “Alexis, good work procuring this. This really tastes good.”
Jon’s lips curled into an indistinguishably wicked smile. Rob just drank a catalyst for his corrupt blood. If Jon somehow put a drop of corrupt blood in Rob’s body, there would be no coming back until he found a soul-healing mage.
“Mr. Jeremy.” Rob wiped his lips and then scratched his butt.
Ugh, why the heck did he do that? Thank God, he did it after shaking hands with Jon.
“Let’s discuss the terms of our agreement, so we can dive inside the dungeon. My boys have been waiting for this moment for so long.”
Jon nodded.
“For all the mage/utility equipment, you get first dib except darkness type items. In return, you will provide us protection from darkness type damage.”
Jon tapped on the transparent glass filled with wine. “I can’t protect against everything. There are limits to my power.”
Rob chuckled. “Of course. I won’t ask you to raise the dead but heal whenever you can. If you can’t, then so be it. I won’t lie. I don’t have high expectations from my team, but with your addition I hope I can preserve one hundred players till the end. That’s enough to take down the Easy difficulty boss.”
“Makes sense.” But the question was, would even that many players reach the final room? He would make sure they didn’t.
“Mr. Jeremy.” Rob leaned forward. “What do you think about future cooperation?”
Finally, the bee had come out of the hive. “What kind of future co-operation?” Jon slanted his brows.
“Are you affiliated with some super-guild?”
Jon shook his head.
A smile crept across Rob’s long face. “Good. Then you must have heard about the new expansion. In the next two months, the town will be flooded with foreign players. As you’re already here, that means you’re already ahead of millions of other players.”
Jon nodded. He was curious on this subject.
“I know a super guild might offer you more money, but my guild can provide you better advantages. Like guild shares and guild players...” His gaze jumped to a lady player standing nearby.
Disgusting moron. Jon wanted to empty his wine glass on Rob’s head. Was he trying to buy him with a woman?
Dream on.
Jon smirked. “Mr. Rob. Let’s discuss this after the raid. I’m sure once you see my prowess your view will change.”
Rob’s shoulders relaxed. “If you insist, my friend. Then let’s do that.” Rob scratched his butt again, then extended his hand to pick up a snack item from the plate.
Jon suddenly felt like dipping his hand in disinfectant for at least an hour and vomiting all the snake he had eaten from the same plate. What the heck was that bastard doing? Scratching his ass and infecting the food?
He ought to die. Or he should cut off Rob’s hands and tie them to his ass.
“Then let’s toast with everyone here for a successful cooperation. Let the wine and the tasty spring water flow like a river.” Jon pulled two big bot
tles filled with false contaminated water along with two similar bottles filled with wine. They were for his village mates, a gift from the Mayor, but today he would use them for another purpose. Quickly, he mixed the false contaminated water with the wine.
Rob glanced at the wine bottle in his hand and then at the spring water bottle Jon pulled out.
“Don’t worry, this will only improve the taste of the wine.” Jon chuckled, feeling proud for his scheme. Once the false water entered their systems, he would just have to contaminate them with the corrupt blood. A plan formed inside Jon’s mind. A devilish plan.
Chapter 53
Glass after glass, people drank the wine mixed with the false contaminated water. Glass after glass, Jon’s grin grew wider. People were fools when it came to alcohol, no matter where they were. In the game or in reality. Even after thousands of years of human history, it didn’t change.
The grin on Jon’s face turned thicker as the last batch of players sipped the wine.
Rob sat across the table, observing Jon’s actions, but Jon didn’t let a single sign of animosity slip on his face. Why would he?
“If you are done, Mr. Jeremy, let me invite you to the team.”
A danger bell rang in Jon’s mind, and his heart slammed against his rib cage. Addition to the team? Wouldn’t it expose his name to Rob?
Damn! How could he miss such a trivial thing?
“Mr. Jona—” Rob began.
Glancing up in surprise, Jon saw a smug smile on Rob’s stupid face. Jon’s fingers clenched around his glass of wine tightly.
“Did you really think you could fool me?”
“How did you...”
Rob smirked, a disgusting smirk. If he could, Jon would smack Rob’s head on the table in front of him and wipe that smug smile off his face.
Rob chuckled. “I knew it from the moment Alexis told me about you. My men have been tailing you from the moment you walked out of the mayor’s guest house.”
Damn! Now what? They would kill him. Wait... that wouldn’t be too bad. He would respawn in his own town. Nothing would be better than that. But how could he make them kill him straight away? Explode his clone as well?
