DensityGodbyToraAKR
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MM - Chapter 62 - WRAINE’S WORLD
🕑 Added 2025-01-17 15:39:47 +0000 UTCRaine snorted at her dramatics, “You're not going to die. Probably.” An infuriated glower broke through her melancholy, the look only earning her a chuckle, “Try to relax. They'll only kill your uncle. Unless you knew about the pistol…”
“I already said I didn’t!” She snapped, “But… what if uncle didn't know either?”
Raine shook his head, “Nope. There's no chance for him. If they don't kill him, I will.”
“Oh.”
Having confirmed she didn’t know, Raine was ready to change topics, “Did you meet up with Mel yet?”
“Yes, she's right here.”
“Okay. Head to the west gate and stay inside Mirror Lake Town. Try not to attract any attention. I'll be there in a few.”
With ZionLine now displaying everyone's real bodies, the two gorgeous girls staying out of trouble was a stretch.
Celeste’s brows rose, “I thought you weren't going to play with us?”
“Plans changed. Bye.” Raine cut the call as he arrived at the next vendor he needed. He bought the man's entire stock of Resiniom Stone for another three thousand gold, then headed to the last vendor. On his way across the commoners district, he stopped at a consumables store and bought them out of several useful items. One cost an entire gold each.
[Return Stone - Common Gray: Teleport to a previously bound settlement after a 10 second delay (Uses: 5) (Cooldown: 12 hours)]
The other items were useful for players of any level, but especially new players.
[Repair Hammer - Common Gray: Repairs 10 durability of any weapon or armor at the expense of 1 maximum durability (Uses: 10) (cannot be used in a combat state)]
[Regeneration Stone - Common Gray: Boosts health gain of regenerative stances by 1000% for 10 minutes (Uses: 5) (cannot be used in a combat state)]
[Rock Climbing Kit - Common Gray: A box containing various tools necessary for safely traversing vertical rock formations. Enhances safe climbing speed by 200% and reduces stamina consumption by 500% for 1 hour]
[Scroll of Travels - Common Gray: Boosts unmounted traveling speed on roadways by 300% for 2 hours]
On his way out, Raine opened his inventory and clicked on his temporary city registration to check Silverlight’s leaderboard—a list displaying the names and levels of the top one hundred players registered to the city. There were only three entries, all of them displaying the same ??? instead of a name. He was at the bottom, marked as level fifteen. There was another person with the same level, and the top entry was already level sixteen.
Not too far behind. Unfortunate that I have to stop leveling for a while. If I want to stay competitive in the long run, I'll need an endless source of gold. Unlike a corpo scion leaning on an existing power base, I have to build everything from scratch.
An individual will always be limited by time and effort, but a flourishing guild is limitless in its earning potential. Those fools at the auction were throwing out thousands of gold already. I'm too far behind in this aspect. Right now, when I have the personal power to beat anyone, is exactly the time to begin gathering my core group. Once I have them, an unstoppable guild will naturally form around them.
The process of creating an official ZionLine guild was far from easy or cheap. The last step was completing an introductory raid. Unfortunately, entering the instance required fifteen players at level fifteen. Since he wasn’t about to bring people he didn’t trust and couldn’t control, that meant taking the time to gather and level them himself.
Talerra’s competition, and the opening of the emporium are both in two days. That should be just enough time.
Jittery with excitement, Raine found and bought out the Blasted Iron Hardware at the third merchant for a thousand gold. He now had everything he needed to construct his own guildhall, and the guilds coming behind him would have a hell of a time replicating the feat. Afterall, the only three vendors in the commoners district who sold the necessary items were now sold out for the next month.
Raine stopped at a storage warehouse. He rented a small unit for five hundred gold—more than large enough to hold his yet to be delivered materials. Player rented storage was about the only truly safe place to hold items in ZionLine. If the city were invaded and the palace destroyed, only then could the invaders break into the warehouses.
He updated his contracts for all three vendors with the delivery location, then entered the nearest auction house. He used his VIP status to quickly acquire a permanent registration with the city for free. After posting most of the consumable items he just bought for sale at a significant mark-up, he was done in Silverlight for now. He activated a Return Stone, selecting Mirror Lake Town from the menu that appeared, and vanished in blue particles of light.
***
Raine appeared in the middle of a street on the far side of town. When using a Return Stone, the player was always brought to the nearest available space to his bind point in the relevant settlement. The fact he appeared so far away was a testament to how many people flooded the streets.
Several people bumped into him, or more accurately, ran into him and were sent reeling to the ground. Since his attributes were so much higher than theirs, and he was only standing still, they even received a few points of damage from the collision. Raine didn't mind, knowing they were used to the PVP barriers protecting them.
Each of Raine's steps sent people sprawling amidst shimmering red shields. He waded through a red sea, putting strength and purpose into his stride. The outraged shouts around him were fairly amusing and he wore an easy grin by the time he reached the west gate.
The wall of humanity halted as though the exit were a mystical, uncrossable barrier. In some ways it was true. Out there, only pain, death, and then a quick return to the graveyard awaited. Inside the safety of the walls, one could slowly gather their courage before trying and dying again. He had been just like them once.
Unsurprisingly, neither Mel nor Celeste were in sight. With a sigh, he sent them both the same message, “I'm leaving without you in sixty seconds.”
They came bustling around a corner amidst a flurry of curses. Neither looked exactly like they did in reality, though they weren’t different enough that he couldn’t spot them in the crowd. They didn't recognize him since his avatar’s face looked nothing like him. He crooked a finger and they figured it out quick enough.
[Did he even try in character creation? His face looks like a stone with a coating of wet mud.]
[I wonder if there's a filter I can use to overlay his real face. Better not, would be too distracting.]
They slunk to him, failing to hide guilty expressions behind the candied fruit sticks protruding from their mouths. He sent them invitations to join his party. While they figured out the mental command for accepting, he squinted at their avatars, just as disappointed.
Misunderstanding, Mel rapped the top of her head with a knuckle, “Sorry! They smelled so good!”
“Who cares about that! What happened to your freckles?” Raine huffed, turning away and leaving the town. The moment he stepped beyond the safety of the walls, he went into serious mode, his senses on high alert.
“Told you!” Celeste snarked to a flabbergasted Mel. “Pay up.”
“No way!” Mel fired back, following after Raine, “The first thing he said was that he was leaving in sixty seconds. You pay up!” Her voice was so loud Raine felt a twitch above his right brow. The very few people outside the town turned their way with unbelieving expressions.
Celeste retorted even louder, “Shameless! That was a message. Doesn't count as his first words.”
Raine rubbed his forehead. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the soft moonlight leaking through his lids. His ears were sharp, listening for the slightest hint of danger in the perilous fields while guiding them off the road and away from eavesdroppers. Once they were alone, he stopped and spun around in a blur, causing both girls to flinch.
He pointed to Mel first, “One hundred thousand.” She tilted her head as his finger tracked to Celeste, “Five hundred thousand.”
“What?” They questioned in unison.
“Credits. Transfer. Now. Or I leave you here.”
Celeste sputtered, “F-five hundred thousand?! You're serious, aren't you? And why the hell is hers only a hundred?”
“You want my help and training for nothing? When was the last time you heard of an expert training anyone without a lifetime service agreement… Never. Because it doesn’t happen. Worse, you don't understand the value of anything here, or the sacrifices everyone else has to make for what you almost got for free.”
Stupid little girl. It's not preferential treatment. It's an amount tailored to make each of you take this seriously.
Hearing his voice in their heads just like in the real world caused their jaws to fall open. Raine, thinking their expressions meant they needed another push, kept right on lecturing, “You're treating this world like any other game. Either you learn it's not with your bank accounts, or by having your throats ripped out a few dozen times. We’re on a tight schedule, so I prefer the fast way. Trust me when I say, you do too.”
Triggered by the hated moniker, Celeste fumed internally. [How about you call me that out loud, asshole?! I got your five hundred thousand right here!]
Not daring to actually voice her fury, Celeste only gave Raine a broken smile, one eye twitching. Meanwhile, Mel had doe eyes as she stared up at his tall frame that was even more intimidating than his real body. [I take it all back. He's just as sexy here as he was a few hours ago. If he keeps bossing me around like this, I might die before the monsters get me.]
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take your time and expertise lightly. I was so excited you came to play with us that I let myself forget how hard the tutorial was. Here,” Mel dutifully sent Raine the requested credits.
He gave her a serious nod, noting the three wolves stalking through the high brush. They closed in to surround them, drawing nearer with stealthy steps. Celeste looked between the chaste Mel and steadfast Raine with a complicated frown. He locked eyes with her, waiting patiently.
She's having a shit night after the news of her uncle. I get that, but it's going to get a hell of a lot worse when that wolf tackles her and starts eating. If she’s this stubborn right from the get go, so be it. I've little use for someone who isn't ready to do whatever it takes to become stronger.
Celeste's frown turned to a stretched out groan as she desperately fought her instincts to turn and defend herself. Maybe she could play it off as having heard the beast and not his thoughts, but she couldn't take that chance. With frantically darting fingers, she accessed her account and transferred the funds.
The second the transfer came through, Raine shuffle-stepped between them and snatched the wolves from the air mid-leap. They yelped in protest as his grip painfully dug into their flesh. The third beast paused mid-step, one foot off the ground as Raine released the smallest trickle of bloodlust he could.
Thick killing intent, manifested as an expanding pulse of red energy, swept outward causing PVP shields to flicker around Mel and Celeste. Unprotected and in point blank range, the two wolves Raine was holding pissed themselves and the third dashed away at top speed.
Damn. My control sucks.
“What was that?!” Celeste asked with gleaming eyes, turning around at what Raine could only consider a glacial pace.
While I’m showing them the basics, I’ll work on controlling my bloodlust. Now that I’ve fought a Noble, that damn witch will almost certainly pit me against an army of them. If I can’t control it before then, I won’t last long.
Raine ignored Celeste’s question, holding out the urinating beasts, “First lesson. Everywhere is dangerous, especially towns and cities. Until level five, you'll be protected from other players so it'll be easier to forget the threat they pose. Mark my words, you will die to a dagger in the back more than once, no matter how vigilant you are. Out here, death lurks behind every bush so it's easier to remember to stay on guard.”
Mel swallowed hard, while Celeste nodded as though his words were only natural. He shook the first wolf in her direction, “You're up. It'll go for your torso and hands to get you on your back. If you fall, you're dead.”
Raine left the party, leaving Mel as the leader. With two wolves the same size as her less than a meter away, her voice was a cracky mess, “Why aren't you in the group anymore?”
“My level is too high, you won't get any SP.”
“Huh?” Celeste frowned.
“Party members share SP and AT based on the highest level member. Since I’m more than two levels above these puppies, you wouldn’t get anything. Same goes for if I damaged them, or buffed you,” Raine turned one of the creatures around and stared it in the eyes, “Run, and you die before you take one step. Kill her, and I'll let you go.”
“No way it understood that,” Celeste shook her head in denial, right up until Raine tossed the beast to the ground and it turned on her with bared fangs.
Impressively, she dropped into a defensive crouch and managed to hop to the side when it lunged. She spun to face it, drawing her equipped staff from thin air. The next pounce was met with a crack to the side of its head. Combined with her experienced step to the side, she easily avoided it.
They had two more similar exchanges before she remembered she had a skill. The next time it tried to bite her hand, her weapon whipped around and its tip flared bright orange with a released Blast. The wolf howled, falling to its side and thrashing with a burnt face. Celeste was all over it, smacking it repeatedly until it died.
Between her intense focus on killing it, and using Blast at the moment of contact with her staff, she overcame the skill’s aiming mechanism. Intentional, instinct, or luck? While impressive, she’s full of openings.
Huffing, Celeste turned back to them with a smile that faltered upon seeing Raine holding two wolves again.
“Second lesson. Remain aware of your surroundings at all times,” he waved the new addition in her direction, “Snatched this one out of the air right before it was about to tackle you from behind. You're welcome. Try again. Keep your eyes open this time.”
Celeste fought five more wolves in a row. She was sweating and huffing, about to beg for a break, when Raine pinned Mel with a hard stare. She didn’t need to be told and drew a dagger, lowering into a terrible imitation of Celeste’s ready stance.
“Have you picked a skill yet?” Raine questioned.
She nodded, gathering her courage like he’d told her to earlier that night, “D-don’t help me. I need to learn. Even if it hurts.”
Raine didn't insult her by offering further suggestions and tossed the terrified wolf in her direction. It thrashed onto its feet, clawed paws raking the dirt loudly.
Mel's body was a shaking mess of nerves when it jumped. She tried to dodge but got clipped hard in the hip. The force of the blow spun her around. Her feet argued over which was supposed to touch the ground next, and her nose won the argument, smashing hard into the ground. The wolf was on her in a second. Her hands came up defensively and sharp teeth dug into her forearm. She screamed, the visceral pain of splitting and tearing muscles too much for her.
Raine's brows ticked higher when Mel's scream turned from one of fear, into hatred. Her other arm, still miraculously holding her dagger, slammed down on the wolf's shoulder in frantic, furious stabs. The beast growled, twisting and yanking its head so hard her body skittered across the dirt.
She didn't stop her frantic stabbing but the damage was too one-sided. She was going to die long before the wolf. Celeste took a step forward but Raine's hand stopped her. He shook his head, senses trained on the wolves stalking closer, attracted by the commotion.
She'll have plenty of time to get over the death and learn from her mistakes on the road.
Guided by his voice—thoughts loud inside her head—Mel noticed her health flashing in the red. A sheen of green energy passed over her body and her health jumped up by a quarter. With five more desperate stabs, the wolf collapsed. Mel lay on the ground next to it, her breaths labored as she cradled her savaged arm.
Interesting. She didn’t take Mend in the past. At least, not that I know of. I wonder why the change.
[Obviously, because of you!] Both girls internally screamed their matching thoughts.
Shrugging off the mystery, Raine extended a hand and pulled Mel to her feet, “You can recover while we walk.” With a more controlled pulse of bloodlust that no longer triggered his allies’ PVP shields, he sent the approaching wolves scurrying, “Scram!”
Mel flinched, still wobbly on her feet. Hearing their scraggling paws, her eyes darted about in fear of having to relive the traumatic fight.
Raine urged her forward until they were back on the road, “Next lesson: Discipline.” They frowned, not understanding. “It's your primary energy pool for physical actions. Think of it like controlled, micro-bursts of adrenaline. It can empower basic attacks, and more importantly, speed up the movement of individual body parts.”
Raine demonstrated with a few hops, alternating use of his Discipline. When she saw how much faster he became, Celeste's jaw fell open and furious thunderclouds gathered around her head. Not repeating her earlier mistake, she hissed quietly, “Why didn't you tell us this before making us fight?!”
Raine snorted, “You would have died trying to pull it off. If you think it's so easy, try it for yourself.”
She scowled, doing just that and of course failing to activate the boost. After the fifth time, her lips were so tight as to be nonexistent, “Were you trying to trick—”
Her question faltered when Mel tried for the first time, hopping to the side much faster than a normal person should be able to move.
“Good job, Mel. That's the way,” Raine praised and a huge portion of her earlier dread vanished behind an exultant smile.
Growling, Celeste grew serious. Her mouth clicked shut and she jumped left and right repeatedly. Ignoring her, Raine led them back to the road, “One of the most important uses of Discipline, and the easiest way to learn it, is traveling. Focus on your feet. Feel them connecting with the road, and push.”
Celeste took a break from her rabbit impersonation to try, failing again. Mel once more got it on the first attempt, zipping ahead of them by several meters. Realizing she was alone and vulnerable, she ran back as fast as she could, unable to replicate the feat. With the patience earned from training thousands in the use of Discipline, Raine launched into an explanation of the subtleties required to sync the body and mind.
Comments
Syll
Ya kno.. not for nothing but we havent heard about her uncle dying. Ch 130 and nada.
Gregory Schmitt
When describing the rock climbing kit, it says that it "reduces stamina consumption by 500%". Do you mean 50%? 500% would create a negative value no?
tiefug
Raine launched into an explanation of the subtitles - > subtleties I think that's what you meant?
guillaume nguyen
Not the best, but not the worst either. At least they didn't freeze, and they managed to kill their opponent without help.
JTP
Ami hearing me wrong gave birth to this title. Had it spinning around for a while until it found a perfect home. Can also thank her for the hilarious art. She really spruced it up with the flames. I die laughing.
