Might as Well - Chapter 393 (Patreon)

Sam’s sleeves fell over his forearm, hiding his new bracelet as he entered the common areas and headed for the supply office. He didn’t want to give anyone even a hint of what he was planning.

They probably wouldn’t realize what the device on his forearm was, as it was a wholly new creation, but it was still noticeable. Pictures of him were everywhere on the internet, and there were whole forums dedicated to breaking down every piece of equipment he ever wore. Some, for unfathomable reasons, did this for cosplay purposes, but most people did it to see if they could replicate his rapid rise in power.

The hope was that if they found out which equipment was so busted that it allowed him to do all the weird and fanatical things he did, then they could also become as strong as he was.

It was vastly entertaining reading those threads…

Still, that didn’t stop people from trying to copy his whole get-up. Hell, there was even an industry of making copies of his equipment and selling them to idiots and noobs. Naturally, they were only visually identical, as most of his equipment was pretty bespoke.

Entering the supply hall, he was quickly ushered by the workers there into a private room, where one of the high-ranking NPCs would help him fill his bag with all the tools he needed for the next adventure. The hall itself was filled with guild members standing in long, snaking lines, waiting to step in front of the counter and make a request, where either NPCs waited with customer-service smiles welded to their faces, or a few players who had chosen to work like this in the guild.

To his knowledge, it was mostly done when they needed to for quests or skills, but nobody liked doing it. So their smiles were forced, and exhaustion radiated from their eyes. Lucy even set the payment for these jobs higher than most, but even then, nobody really wanted to do them.

‘I wonder why…’ he thought wryly.

The private room was a small perk kept for the high-ranking guild members, though general members could also make use of it by paying guild contribution points. Otherwise, they would have to stand in line in the supply hall. Naturally, as the guild leader, he received the highest level of service.

Soon, the table in the middle of the room was groaning under the weight of all the potion bottles, containing liquids that healed, refilled his mana and stamina, mixed with a wide spectrum of antidotes, resistance potions, speed and defense potions, and a few odds and ends Sam thought would come in handy.

Next to the potions were several piles of different clothing, generic armor, and weapons in case he needed more disguises that required no mana to upkeep.

There was also a pile of refined materials he could use for his rune craft, mostly small plates, but he had requested cubes, tubes, and a few other geometric shapes.

He had… ideas…

Then came the rations, including casks of water, just in case his character got stuck somewhere and he needed to keep his satiety up. At least a year’s worth of food was included, plus several bags of seeds, fertilizer, and gardening tools, just in case he needed them. Sam doubted it, but his inventory had the space, and he would look right foolish if he actually needed them but didn’t have them.

Then came the fun stuff.

Explosives.

A whole batch of explosives, all ready to be unleashed on unsuspecting foes.

With a grin, he put them carefully into his inventory, then looked around as the sweating quartermaster stared at the staggering amount of material and products that vanished. Sam suspected that the NPC did some math and realized that something big was going to go down if the guild master was gathering this many things.

Sam raised a finger to his lips and smiled mischievously. “Shhhh!”

The NPC saluted sharply while the sweating intensified.

Still smiling, Sam backed out of the room and, with his incredible speed, vanished into the depths of the building.

Sam approached Lucy’s floor.

Before, she only had an office, and outside were her secretaries and assistants, but now she, the company, and the guild had grown so much that an entire floor was dedicated to her in the Ferabor headquarters.

The entire floor’s job was to take in information from all corners of their territory, make sure it was correct, then prioritize it and funnel it to Lucy, who would make the executive decisions. Granted, not all of them were there for this purpose. Sam knew there were at least a few plants, trained by Tim, to keep an eye on the people and maintain communication with the secretive part of the guild.

All in all, it was a quiet pandemonium.

They were all so focused on their tasks that only the few “maids” “cleaning” around the offices noticed him. Sam felt them gently scanning him, and he simply unveiled his mana, making sure they recognized it. Their training was truly excellent, as Sam only saw their eyes widen before returning to their “cleaning” tasks.

Sam threw open the double doors leading to Lucy’s public inner sanctum, stopped in the doorway, and posed.

“Never fear, because I’m here!”

His head was held high, and his hands were on his hips.

For a long moment, the entire hall fell silent as everyone looked at him, before a spinning paperweight emblazoned with the guild’s logo flew past his head, which he moved out of the way of at the last moment. It hit the wall opposite the doors and fell to the floor with a thunk that echoed around the hall.

“Get in here, you idiot!” came the call from inside.

Sam let out a laugh and stepped fully inside, pulling the doors closed behind him. Behind him, he could hear the whispering and general gossiping already starting.

‘Tim is probably going to catch a few spies…’ he mused.

Inside, he spent a moment looking around, taking in the soft couches and cupboards with glass doors displaying all sorts of things, like samples of potion bottles and prototypes of important artifacts. The walls were covered with art made by those who chose to become magical artists in the game instead of dedicating their time to crafting or fighting.

Sam knew that a few of those paintings on the wall had several golems sealed inside them that could be released in case of an intruder. He didn’t have a full list, but from what he remembered, one of the plants was actually a fake plant made by one of the artists focusing on hyperrealism that could come alive and capture enemies with vines.

And in the middle of all that was his girlfriend, sitting behind a large curved desk, several blue screens projected from devices designed by Liz, while she was typing on a keyboard or writing something down.

She looked at him, scowled, then her expression smoothed out into a gentle smile.

“Hey…”

“Hello…” he returned, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Mana-Chip. He flicked it toward her, his increased stats turning the chip into a projectile.

Lucy’s hand snapped up and caught the small piece of metal and crystal amalgamation without any issues.

While she was not a combat-oriented player, the game system of Magic Unbound made sure that even those who didn’t like fighting could level up, so she was around his level, purely from the amount of politicking and administration she did.

It was a profoundly awesome accomplishment.

Hell, Sam knew for a fact that Lucy, with her high level and high positions, was one of the most famous players among women and paperwork-inclined players. He didn’t remember anyone having such fame in the memories he had inherited, so it was nice to see her become a celebrity in her own right.

Lucy raised the chip in front of her eye and read the description before looking it over. Then she looked up at Sam. “What fresh hell do you want to unleash with this?”

“Me?” he asked, pointing at himself.

“Sam,” she simply said, and he just chuckled.

“Work with Liz to make it impossible to counterfeit it,” he simply said. “Boom, we have our own currency.”

Lucy’s eyes widened as she looked between the chip and Sam. They spent a few seconds just staring at each other as Lucy processed the request. Sam was really proud of this one. He had the idea while filling the ones that he had handed over to Tim. They looked like coins, so he had thought it would be fun to pay with them…

Lucy palmed the mana-chip. “I need to know how much it costs to make one, and then I need to consult with an actual economist on how to implement it.”

“High-value currency to use when large amounts of gold need to be moved?” Sam offered.

Lucy nodded. “Could work.” She pocketed it and raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” Sam replied, standing in front of her desk. “I’m heading out. Tim is set up with a distraction. I’m going to check out the arrow.”

“Which one are you starting with?” she asked, a bit worriedly.

“I mean, the tip of the arrow is probably the most protected one,” Sam said. “So I’m going for the last one in the line. It will give us information about the others, plus whatever I can find…”

“What if they attack while you’re away?” she asked, already making notes.

“I think it is time we unleash our people.”

“Start with the raiding?”

“Yeah. Adam knows the important targets, so start slowly raiding them,” Sam agreed. “Plus, the clashes with the enemy would satiate those who were clamoring for more fights and have been criticizing our pacifism.”

Lucy considered it and then nodded again. “No problem. Consider it done.”

They spent half an hour confirming details, setting up a few more contingencies in case things happened that they hadn’t expected. Which would be impressive, because Sam already had a bunch of contingencies based simply on things he had read in his previous life, including a third party coming in and buying up the most powerful players, him being sent into a coma via a botched assassination, or actual magical events that could happen in the game.

The guild had plans for zombie outbreaks, dragon rampages, several types of monster breaks, pandemics, invasions of mole people, and so much more…

It was one of his favorite activities. Just sitting on his couch and coming up with outlandish scenarios that could happen and figuring out how to counter them.

Then Sam said his goodbyes, hugged his girlfriend, and left via one of the hidden corridors behind a painting of Lucky.

He activated his impressive bracer, which immediately began to siphon away his mana, erasing his presence completely. Pairing that with his disguises, he left the town without anybody the wiser.

Outside, he ran without Lucky in a random direction, just in case his enemies were watching for the wolf’s mana signature. Then, when his bracer was almost full, he stopped, sat down, and pulled out the materials he had requisitioned.

He turned on the faucet on the bracer, letting the stored mana slowly escape, and used his superior mana control to take hold of his own mana and infuse it into the plates of metal he was quickly and methodically carving runes into.

No need to explosively disperse the mana absorbed by his new toy.

It was much better used constructively.

When the mana ran dry and his bracer was empty again, he put away the many plates he had created, summoned the excited Lucky, jumped on his back, and they were off toward their target.

The town of Ferabor, behind them, quietly started the massive war machine that had been put together over the months, gears slowly beginning to grind as orders went out, equipment was distributed, and team leaders were summoned for their orders.

Thanks to Tim’s tireless work and Lucky’s speed, it didn’t take much time to arrive at his destination. He would occasionally take bio breaks, but otherwise, it was an uneventful journey cutting through both the Emerald Kingdom and then through the Blood Army territory. Thankfully, Tim’s scouts had mapped several secure and hidden routes that avoided all major bases.

And even if he had to sneak by some Blood Army installation, he just activated the bracer, and that was it. Afterwards, he would use the gathered mana to craft more runic creations or simply channel the mana into those creations.

By the time he reached the valley where the ritual was supposed to be, he had several massively empowered runic plates, both offensive and defensive.

Stopping at the spot Tim had marked, Sam got off Lucky, and the two of them began to sneak closer and closer to the edge of the outcropping. They were hidden by a copse of trees and bushes, overlooking the entrance to the valley, where a small town stood, visibly not dissimilar to the many other towns dotted around the area.

But to Sam’s eyes, blood magic simply wafted off the area, suffusing everything and anything. Which made it the perfect security measure. Anything not tainted with the same magic would be instantly labeled as suspicious.

There was no giant magical detection net, as those were expensive to maintain and very conspicuous if you knew what you were looking for.

Lowkey was the theme here…

Sam spent almost an entire hour observing the so-far nameless town, watching as the people living there simply went through their lives, before his highly attuned magical senses picked up a mass of mana slowly moving toward it.

Moving into a different vantage point, he spotted a caravan.

Based on how much the carts bounced on the road, he knew they were empty.

Which meant they were here to pick something up.

But also meant reduced scrutiny and distracted guards.

He grinned.

He patted Lucky’s head. “Time to be sneaky, my friend…”

“Wuff…”