Jace let out a frustrated breath. “I’m not sure. But he’s a really good programmer and hacker. He created that insertion hack and it went unfound for years. Who knows what else he might have put into the game. He could have some item that changes our spawn point to the middle of a volcano for all I know. We’d endless respawn in molten lava.”
Both of the women gave looks of horror. With their sensory levels at maximum, such a thing would be an endless torment of pain until it eventually drove them mad like Big Cheese. Either that, or force them to stay in spirit mode forever.
“How could a person do that to another person?” Mika asked.
“The same way he could rob people of their life savings and stick them in bodies of monsters to be killed over and over,” Jace responded. He thought back to Damian’s words in the castle. He’d actually enjoyed the prospect of causing Jace trouble and watching him squirm.
“Fine,” Diana conceded. “I believe you. Best not to risk it. What about support?”
Jace sighed. “I gave them the information and they said they’d contact me but now I don’t know. I’ve changed my name since then. They may not be able to reach me. Or, they may still be investigating.”
“Still?” Mika asked. “Why so long?”
“Because,” he told her. “I accused an employee of doing something that should be impossible. They’re going to want to verify it before they do anything. He obfuscated the code, so it might take them a week just or more to figure out what’s going on.”
Mika’s face fell. “It’s been almost two weeks.”
“I know,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about that. We may need to contact them again, in Nynymmost.”
“Are you serious?” Diana looked at him like he was crazy. “After everything we went to before? Now we have to do that again? And how will we afford a title to look around the Nymmy Moist place?”
Mika chuckled at her mispronunciation. “Nymmy moist!”
“It won’t be easy,” he told them. “The gnomes don’t have a monarchy, if I remember correctly. They have a parliamentary form of government, where the prime minister is elected. And I don’t think players can be members of parliament.”
Mika looked confused. “So, does that mean no titles?”
“There’s still some sort of titles,” he said. “But I think they’re union or guild based.”
“Oh dear,” Diana rolled her eyes. “Unions! Guilds?! What are they? The freemasons?”
“So, if we join a union, we can get into the parliament building and look around?” Mika asked.
“I’m not sure,” he confessed. “I never really did much with the good faction. I only remember bits of what I read on the forums.”
“Union? Does that mean the titles are cheaper?” Mika asked hopefully.
Jace shook his head. “No, the name of the title may be different, but its standard across all of the countries and all of the factions. If they weren’t, people would just go to the cheapest faction and buy their title there.”
“I would,” Diana admitted. “Why pay more for the same thing.”
“So, what do we do?” Mika asked.
“If we want to get into parliament, we have to buy a title,” he replied and looked at each of them. “Which means we need to go after the rest of the treasure.”
Chapter 26
After their breakfast, they found the shipwright and paid him the money for the repairs. He said it would be done by the end of the day. Considering how much he was paying for the repairs, he thought the repairs would be so extensive that they might take days or even a week. Not for the first time, he wondered if many of the costs were manipulated by the developers to keep players from accumulating gold.
He checked in with Colette and let her know the bill was paid and that he would return to the ship at dusk. Then he led them back to the krustacian area.
“Are we sure we want to spend all day killing crab people?” Diana asked, clearly not happy with the prospect. He wasn’t surprised. Other than healing there was very little she could do against them with their resistances. This was one case where magic was at a severe disadvantage.
“You know,” he told the older woman. “We could buy you a flail. You could at least do some damage with it in between healing spells.”
Diana looked aghast. “No thank you! I’d really prefer to be as far away as possible from them.”
Jace considered her options. They hadn’t been able to find a more powerful wand, and even if they had the krustacian’s shell would simply allow it to shrug off the magical damage. A melee weapon didn’t seem to be her style.
“You could switch to fighter,” he suggested.
“You can get a katana like me!” Mika added.
“Tempting dear one, but I thought I just said I didn’t want to get close to them,” she said to both of them.
“I know. But fighter’s get all weapon skills, except for wands and staffs. You could use a crossbow and stay nice and far away.”
“A crossbow?” Diana looked thoughtful. “That might work.”
“Plus,” he told her. “You get access to plate armor, which would give you more protection.”
“Plate armor?” she looked at him dubiously.
“It’s got the highest armor rating,” he grinned.
“Like the knights of the roundtable? I have a perfect body and you want me to hide it inside a suit of armor?” she asked incredulously.
Jace smirked. “It’s a fantasy game. They have more...ah.. Feminine versions.”
“Oh really?” Diana raised an eyebrow. “And what about me leveling up priest?”
“We still need you to do that,” he told her. “But these are level 25 monsters and you’ll level up fighter quickly. Once you get a level above priest, you can switch back. It’s one of the perks of being human.”
Diana looked thoughtful. “My staff did nothing before. It would be nice to have a backup weapon. And better armor - as long as it’s not too… concealing.”
“What do you want to do?” Jace asked her. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like he was telling her what to do.
“I think,” she said wistfully, “that I’ll change classes. Using a crossbow sounds more interesting than just waiting around for you to need a heal.”
Mika clapped and Jace smiled. “That sounds good.”
“Of course,” the older woman said, “you know this means more shopping.”
Diana switched to classes and dropped back down to level 1 fighter. Then they marched back to the black market and Diana spent nearly an hour looking through then items until she found the skimpiest plate mail top he remembered seeing. It was really nothing more than a chain bikini and plate cups over the breasts. In the real world, the only defensive properties it might have would be to distract her opponent.
She also found a bow that seemed to be made to hunt krustacians.
Penetrating Bow of Penelope
Type: Two-Handed Sword
Level: 10
Damage: 15 + 3 (Sharp)
Wt: 4 lbs
Special: Penetrates 5 Defense
Description: Crafted by a master bowyer for his daughter who wished to be an adventurer, the bow was sold by a thief and sole survivor of her group's excursion into the Deeping Dark.
“Do I need to buy arrows?” she asked.
“No,” Jace shook his head. “They changed that really early in the game, when so many people complained about having to carry around so many arrows. Whatever quiver comes with the bow will have an unlimited supply.”
“That’s handy,” she commented, as she tried the bow. “I’m like Isolde.”
Jace and Mika gave her puzzled looks.
“I weep for today’s youth,” she said dramatically. “Isolde was a Irish princess and legend has it, a bit of a warrior princess. She had an affair with a English knight named Tristan. It’s what the Arthurian legends were probably modeled after. Isolde and Tristan were Guinevere and Lancelot.”
<
br /> “You learn something new every day.” Jace smiled at her and the older woman rolled her eyes.
“How do I look?” she asked, when she had her new plate armor on.
“Less like a princess and more like a Valkyrie,” he told her.
She nodded appreciatively. “I can accept that. If only I had a flying horse.”
“There are Pegasus in the world,” he told her. “You can even buy one as a mount, but they’re insanely expensive. They’re like the top end Italian sports cars of the game.”
“Maybe I’ll get me one, one day,” she mused.
Jace shot her a disbelieving look.
“What?!” she said. “Did you forget? We have an eternity to save up for it.”
He considered her words. Jace hadn’t really thought of it like that. For the longest time, he thought he was still alive. Alive but in a coma. He’d wake up, live out the rest of his life and then die and be inserted into the game. He was used to measuring things in human years.
Now, he was in the game permanently. A rogue brain backup. Assuming that he wasn’t deleted by WorldCog, he would have all eternity to save up money. It might take him a hundred years, but he could eventually become rich enough to be a Duke or Count and maybe even buy a Pegasus or Griffin mount. But that was a long way off.
They returned to the crab people and began pulling again. This time, with her new bow, Diana was able to do as much damage as Mika. The older woman seemed to enjoy herself much more as a warrior-priest.
They fought the krustacians all morning, gaining experience at a fantastic rate. When they finally took a break and went back to town to eat some lunch, Diana had already earned level 7 in fighter.
“I think I need to switch back to priest when I hit level 17,” Mika said as they waited for their lunch to be delivered. “I don’t want to hit level 18 before Diana catches up. If I do, she will not gain experience when I am in the group.”
“Wow,” Jace said. “I didn’t realize you were gaining so quickly.”
Mika nodded. “I think we would have been okay, but now with Diana leveling up fighter, I fear I will outpace her soon.”
“I’m sorry,” Diana said in a pained voice. “I realize you’d have to switch classes again.”
“It’s okay.” Mika smiled and patted Diana’s hand. “We are a team. I do not mind. Plus, it will be good if I can get better healing spells too. Last time we fought a big boss, it took both of us to keep Jace up!”
“That is the bad thing about switching classes,” he said to no one in particular. “We’ll need to be cognizant of our levels going forward. It’s getting to a point where switching will cause these sorts of problems. One of us will end up getting three levels above the other, then we won’t be able to group and get experience.”
“Too bad we’re not in a big city,” Diana said. “I could do quests to get caught up.”
Jace nodded. “True. Maybe once we get Nynymmost, you can do some quests to make up for lost experience.”
“If we don’t find Damian waiting for us,” Diana said wryly.
“If we don’t find Damian waiting for us,” Jace sighed. “Or Charlena is somehow bringing him to us.”
“Do you really think so?” Mika asked.
“Damian’s a snake,” he told them. “I wouldn’t put it past him to introduce himself as someone who can help or an old friend of mine or something just to have her lead him to us.”
“He sounds very slimy,” Diana observed.
“Oh, he is,” Jace said. “In hindsight, I should have seen it, but he was a coworker and…”
“And you’re the type of person who tries to see the best in people,” Diana finished.
Jace blushed. “Damian used to call me naive, but I really do want to believe that people are basically good.”
Diane looked him over. “I think I was called cynical by more than one of my husbands, but I’ve met a lot of unsavory characters in my days. And the more success you have, the more unsavory characters you meet. But I did meet some good people too. And those are the people you have to cherish.”
“What you say is very true,” Mika agreed. “I have met many people who have tried to take advantage of me. But I have also met many kind people. There are both. It is yinyang.”
“I guess so,” Jace agreed. “But someone like Damian. Someone who would steal from people and condemn them to an eternity of pain inside a monster. People like him really skew the results.”
The girls nodded and the barmaid returned with their food. Luna had fish, of course. Mika had ordered pancakes and french toast, while Diana ordered some type of fruit tart. Jace went with his old standby, fish and chips.
Afterwards, they returned to the crab people and farmed them until sunset. Throughout the entire day, they never got a single piece of loot. Nor did any sort of boss spawn. When they finally made their way back to the ship, Diana had just made level 10 in fighter. Mika was level 17 in rogue and just shy of level 10 in priest. Jace was level 14 in Swashbuckler.
Climbing aboard the ship, which looked ready to sail, he heard Colette yell down to him from behind the wheel. “Just in time captain. Repairs are done and we can sail with the tide.”
“Lay in a course for Nynymmost and engage!” he said. When, when he saw the blank looks on everyone’s faces, he tried, “Make it so, number one.” The sailors and even his companions just looked around at each other and at him. Jace sighed and yelled out. “Aye! Set sail!”
Chapter 27
Colette informed them that the voyage to Nynymmost was supposed to take two days, provided the weather held and they had no unexpected visitors. Jace agreed wholeheartedly. To the first mate, and unexpected visitors, might be the ninjen, pirates or some other sea menace. For him, the only real unexpected visitor he was worried about was Damian.
He still wasn’t sure exactly what Damian might be able to do, but he wouldn’t put anything past him. The man had obviously been adding things to the game for years. If he could modify the insertion routine, who knew what else he could have modified. He hoped WorldCog would get off their collective butts and figure out what was going on and who was behind it. All without deleting him, of course.
“We also picked up some more crew,” Colette told him, after they had finished talking about the voyage to the gnomish capital.
Jace suddenly had visions of Damian sneaking onboard as one of the crew. Or the fact that the last captain had died at the hands of one of his crew. He ordered the first mate to assemble the new crew after they were out of the harbor so he could inspect them.
“And captain,” Colette winked at him. “Part of the repairs was fixing up the captain’s cabin. It’s all yours.”
“Oh really?” Diana chimed in. “No more living below deck?”
“Aye.” The first mate smiled at the older woman. “They fixed it up with new furnishings and everything.”
“Thanks,” he told Colette and then looked at the girls. “Shall we go check it out?”
“Absolutely,” Diana replied, and Mika nodded excitedly. The three of them, and Luna, went down to the door that led to the original captain’s cabin and opened it.
The room inside now looked much like the cabin Jace had broken into to steal the tiara from Drakkar. The furnishings looked almost identical and Jace guessed this must be the default state of the room. When they’d repaired the ship, the crew, using game logic, had restored it back to its default state.
The window he’d smashed had been repaired, and the desk replaced with what appeared to be an exact, if much cleaner, replica of the one he’d seen before. To the side of the room were the bookcases he’d remembered seeing. They were again stocked with books, though he doubted there were any valuable books among them.
To the opposite side was the captain’s bed. It wasn’t as large as the bed had been downstairs. If he had to guess, Jace would guess that the one downstairs had been a king size bed and this was a queen size. It could probably fit three people, but it
would be cramped. Not that any of them needed sleep. And virtual sex seemed off the table. At least, he thought it was.
Luna padded over to the bed and sniffed. Seeming satisfied, the huge cat hopped up onto it and began kneading it.
“Size!” he reminded her.
His familiar glared at him for a long moment. Then, the big cat shrunk back down to her normal size and continued kneading the bed. After a few moments, his familiar walked around in a circle before settling down on the bed and putting her head on her paws.
“Luna likes the new room,” Mika said, giggling at the cat.
“I can’t say I blame her,” Diana whistled. “It’s smaller, but cozier. Much nicer than that one below deck.”
“There are chairs too!” Mika pointed out the leather bound chairs. The one behind the desk, the captain’s chair, looked especially comfortable. Mika walked over to the nearest chair, turned it around and fell back into it. She smiled contentedly. “I like this chair.”
Mika turned the chair so she was facing Jace. “You told Colette to go to Nynymmost. I thought we were getting more treasure.”
The luxurious room forgotten, Jace walked over and sat down on the bed and began stroking Luna. The cat opened one eye to look at him and then closed her eyes and allowed him to stroke her and give her chin scratches.
“That’s still the plan,” he told them. “But we need to go meet Charlena.”
Jace saw a brief shadow cross Mika’s face, but it was gone almost immediately. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why? Why not get the treasure first?”
“Because,” he replied, “we need to get there and find her before Damian does. And if somehow she’s gotten mixed up with him, we need to extricate her from the situation.”
“And how are we supposed to do that, dear one?” Diana asked. She walked over to the chair next to Mika and collapsed into it. She wiggled around for a few seconds and then looked at Mika. “You’re right. These are comfy.”
Mika beamed.
Diana turned back to Jace. “I mean, you make this guy out to be the boogeyman, baba yaga, some unstoppable force. If that’s true, how can we get her away from him?”
Veil Online - Book 3: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 17
