MM - Chapter 151 - THE BUILDING STORM

Finding the vomicida hive without tracking skills leaned too far into the luck category for Raine’s tastes. His plan was simple to the point of being crude: head in whichever direction the majority of the beasts were coming from. He sprinted northwest—where the three ambushed him from before. After carefully traversing the Ruptured Chaparral for an hour, he set up a new field of nets, repeating a similar version of the mite-gathering strategy from before.

The airspace in this section of the woods was teeming with relatively harmless, oversized fireflies. Their wings created a heavy background buzz strong enough to vibrate Raine’s bones. On the bright side, they lit up the darkening night. When ignited, the volatile mixture of poisonous gases responsible for creating the glowing bulbs on their backs were quite deadly. So long as he didn’t provoke them, they wouldn’t dive and explode on his head.

Meanwhile, Big Bird nested in the dark canopy high above, stealthy as a shadow. For four hours, he observed where the new vomicidas came from; again, it was northwest. Up to 15 legs and down to 20 hours, Raine set out again. A pleasant surprise appeared after rounding the second tree. Illuminated by a trio of fireflies, he spotted a gaping cavity halfway up the tree. Raine wasted no time. Giving the bugs a wide berth, he Lunged repeatedly until landing inside the building-sized hole.

Six mites hopped up on mite steroids swiveled his direction, hissing in warning. They were easily three times larger than their regular cousins and looked capable of scattering a battalion of equally leveled front-liners. The extra set of glowing eyes on their bulbous heads added an eerie vibe that had no effect on Rain, especially not with the Lustrous Blue treasure chest beckoning from just beyond them. The bloodlust that exploded from his skin was significantly more threatening than their hissing.

[Golathean Mite (Elite): (Level 37) (HP ?????/?????)]

[Negative affliction applied (Enfeared): Enemy attributes reduced by 20% (Duration 7.33 seconds)]

The beasts cowered as a freshly-leveled Cassidy’s Comet appeared in Raine’s grasp. “PuriPuri Rainbow Release!”

Streamers of violet energy burst from the wooden floor, wrapping around the beasts and burning deep into their hard shells. The mites were lifted high before being slammed down hard enough to crack the ancient wood. Hissing and the crunches of hard shells snapping were punctuated by helpless screeches. [-194,416] [Critical hit! -388,799] There were no survivors.

[Obtained 230,400 Superiority (900% bonus for defeating an Elite 8 levels above you)]

[Obtained 40% Attunement (900% bonus for defeating an Elite 8 levels above you)]

Now level 29, Raine received less Superiority per kill than when he first arrived in the forest. His progress wasn’t slow by any metric, but needing 150 million for level 30 certainly made it feel sluggish. Raine approached the chest after ensuring there were no traps. In short order, shimmering azure light spread through the cavity, bringing with it an exhilarating rush of anticipation for what lay inside.

There were three items, two of which caused Raine’s eyes to drool. He snatched them up without reading, knowing precious items when he saw them. There was no warning, no click of a triggered trap, or crackling of snapping wood. Nonetheless, Raine's instincts screamed danger. His health plummeted by 40% as 100 points of Discipline were crammed into his limbs. Kicking off, the wood floor collapsed behind as Raine blasted from the cavity at full speed. He shot into the air at the exact moment that the cavern collapsed under the weight of the gargantuan tree above it. The whole construct dropped ten meters, filling the woods with a horrendous racket of shattering wood. The tree tilted yet managed not to fall as its high branches caught on their neighbors.

Had Raine hesitated even a second, millions of tons of wood would have crushed him to paste in an instant. The forest quaked as one of its ancient symbols of fertility quivered. The little light produced by the fireflies vanished as they fled. Then, all was deathly still.

Raine was perched on the opposite tree’s bark, waiting for the commotion to draw one of the zone’s real predators. When nothing showed up after a few minutes, he allowed his muscles to unclench and dropped to the ground to review his spoils.

[Summoning Scroll (Horde of Chaparral): (Lustrous Blue - LVL variable) Summons a horde from the depths of the Ruptured Chaparral to fight under your command for 15 minutes (Warning: Do not activate this summon alone)]

[Abenaki Powder: (Lustrous Blue) This powder is prized for its effectiveness at reinforcing the hulls of vessels during the final phase of shipbuilding]

[Pauldron of Travail (Shoulder - Scale): (Blacksmithing Design - Adept) (Lustrous Blue - LVL 35) This design contains the requisite knowledge to craft the Pauldrons of Travail—scaled armor offering deluxe resiliency within its weight class]

Raine’s hand trembled as he withdrew and held the most valuable of the three. While the summoning scroll was indeed amazing, and the pauldrons excellent for their level, the powder was something truly special. It was single-use, but that wasn’t important.

Not all origin towns were landlocked like those in the Tri-glades. For millions of players, their start in ZionLine was being surrounded on all sides by impossibly vast oceans. To those players, levels and gear were vastly less valuable than boosts to their naval power.

As a lifelong landlubber, Raine wasn’t familiar with every item that enhanced ships. Still, he knew which ones were valuable within the Silvergate kingdom and where to farm them. Only two powders that he knew of reinforced ship hulls, both of which sold for over 5,000 gold a vial in coastal towns. They were also Lustrous Blue. The catch: both were found in zones above level 100.

In the past, the superguilds that monopolized exports of those two powders became wealthy enough to draw the eyes of even the nearby empires and were embroiled in unending wars to protect their precious commodities.

Since the Abenaki Powder appeared in a chest within the Ruptured Chaparral, it was part of the zone’s loot table, meaning it could be farmed here. If Astra Infernum grew strong enough to monopolize the zone and brought in even a hundred vials of powder per month, their profits would be unmatched for years to come.

Raine’s toes curled, driving the tips of his boots into the soil as goosebumps trickled up his arms. A lascivious grin spread across his lips. Suddenly, the Ruptured Chaparral had become a treasure trove of potential.

Looks like I’ll be coming back here often, and since I’m the first forerunner here, there should be extra chests just waiting to be claimed. In that case, there’s no reason to be in such a rush to find these damn bugs. Chests are almost always guarded. If I find the right one, I won't have to hunt them down.

With a mental tug, Big Bird swooped low, and Raine Lunged to his back. Together, they flew through the trees with eyes peeled; the hunt for treasure was on.

Mayor Killian Chance

- Mayor’s Office, Carter City Hall -

If one thing was made crystal clear in the last 24 hours, it was that Expert KongRu was trying to get them all killed. His little 'event' had spiraled out of control; fanatics were parading through the streets, heralding this as some revolution against the powers that be. Already, the Carter City Corpus was overwhelmed with maintaining a semblance of order, and more crazies were pouring into the city with every hour.

Selling the tickets had seemed like a great idea when Killian first heard it. The profits were undeniable. Even if only a few tickets sold, it would earn the city a nice bonus to clean up the aftermath of this fiasco, and maybe there would be enough left over to repair some roads overdue for renovation.

If Expert KongRu’s master was overseeing the event, then there was nothing to fear. Except no master made themselves known. Then, all twenty thousand tickets sold in a day, netting a total of four hundred million credits, causing Killian’s mental health to take a nose-dive. That was forty percent of the city’s entire annual budget. Word spread through wealthy channels in a heartbeat. Now, the whole nation was watching. And still, no master swooped in to unload the responsibility onto more reliable shoulders.

Killian’s head was in his hands. He sat at his prized mahogany desk in a chair that used to feel relaxing and comfortable. Beyond his tightly closed eyelids sat a physical letter delivered hours ago. Such an archaic thing didn’t belong in the current era and was only used by the oldest, most stubborn factions. Any entity with the power to stay relevant while remaining deeply entrenched in the past was one beyond a lowly mayor’s ability to contend with.

Killian never should have had to read the damnable thing. It should have been passed along to a master. The directives dictated through the Coalition's letter were clear: shut down the event at any cost. Meanwhile, Expert KongRu’s nonchalant refusal to tow the line only tightened the noose around both their necks. Killian wasn’t suicidal. Upon receiving the letter, he’d done exactly what they demanded; at least, he tried to. Unfortunately, the damnable link used for the ticket sales was through ZionLine. He’d reached out to their customer service about refunding the tickets and received precisely zero response.

The letter also detailed when the Coalition of Master’s representatives would arrive to ensure their orders were followed. Ten minutes. Killian Chance had ten minutes left to live. His fingers dug into his scalp as the same thoughts cycled through his skull for the thousandth time.

The kid has a mental ability at an extremely young age, and the martial skills to go with it. His master can’t be anyone simple. But I don’t even have a name to give them. They’re going to kill me.

A knock at the door had Killian shooting to his feet. His chair clattered to the floor, the sound distant to his ears: they were early. He swallowed hard as the door slid open, revealing a beautiful young woman. Behind her, his secretary wore a deep cringe, hands clasped tightly beneath her chin. Killian’s confused exclamation came out as a squeak, “Miss Luu Rahn?! What are you doing here?”

“What the hell, Killian? I’ve been waiting an hour, and you’re not even in a meeting?!” Celeste glared back at the secretary, who scurried out of sight.

“You have? No, that doesn’t matter,” Killian shook his head fiercely, rounding the desk, “You can’t be here. You need to leave now!” Knowing the girl’s temper, he tried to keep the frustration from his tone and knew he had failed when her eyes narrowed and her posture turned even more belligerent.

Celeste stalked his way, martial prowess oozing from every inch of her. “The list of people who get to tell me what to do has two names on it, neither of them yours.” Killian put the desk between them, sweat sprouting from his neck. When her hand came down on the wood, the crack made him flinch as bad as when she entered his office. “I don’t give a shit why you want me gone. All I came to do was deliver this, and you made me wait an hour. Unbelievable.” Celeste’s glare was razor sharp, perfectly communicating that there would be consequences.

When she turned to go, Killian’s eyes fell to where she’d struck the table, finding a small metal emblem left behind. He stuttered, unable to follow the rapidly unfolding events, “W-what?”

Celeste didn’t look back, “I have no idea either. All he said was that if you want to survive tomorrow, make sure to keep it on you.”

An unfamiliar voice, deep and rumbling, suddenly sounded from only meters away, causing both Killian and Celeste to spin toward the room’s corner. “What an interesting design. Where did the mysterious Expert KongRu, or his supposed master, find such a convincing counterfeit?” The unknown middle-aged man was tall and powerfully built. White robes that hallmarked the Coalition of Masters flowed around him as though caught in a soft breeze.

How neither noticed him sitting in the corner of the room was unimportant. Both Celeste and Killian’s eyes were drawn to the metal emblem he spun over the back of his knuckles. Celeste glanced at the table, finding the item she was tasked to deliver missing. In the fraction of a second she took to look down, the man had crossed the room and was now standing directly in front of her.

Trained instincts kicked in. Celeste hopped back, fists raised in a mobility-centered high stance. The master chuckled, smirking with his hands clasped behind his back. The smile on his lips quickly faded when his question remained unanswered, “My name is Master Jedidiah of the Coalition of Masters. My questions carry the official weight of the coalition. I did not come here to play games with children. I will ask once more, and I expect an answer; where did Expert KongRu find this medallion?”

“Fuck you,” Celeste snarled, guard still up.

“That, my dear, was the wrong answer.” Master Jedidiah took a step forward, shaking his head sadly, and the office’s doors slammed closed, seemingly of their own volition.

Damian Tafell

- Phoenix Clan, Western Territories -

Despite the aches from his beating, Damian's day was turning out much better than it had any right to be. One of his agents managed to raise their reputation enough to find information on the materials needed for the cursed suits of armor. He'd immediately tasked Rising Endlessly with assaulting the zone in full force. Already, they had gathered enough for half the sets he needed to get Elder Snow off his back.

Meanwhile, the integration of his million new recruits was off to a perfect start. Two of the elders backing him managed to tweak the personnel files during distribution, scoring him an extra ten thousand outer disciples that were supposed to go to Talerra. His forces would out-level hers in no time, securing a decisive advantage in the next round of the ‘competition.’

Even more exciting was the twenty billion credits that came with his shiny new recruits. The gold stolen by Alaric was now little more than a drop in the bucket. That didn't mean the criminal was forgiven. An extra fifty million credits had already been distributed toward ensuring the man was found and his entire family put to death.

When a call came in from Origin of Sin—tasked with seeing to Alaric's end, Damian answered with a chipper tone, “More good news, I assume?”

A man cloaked in shadows nodded, “Indeed. We've identified two of the three with an eighty percent probability. As for the third, there are too many differences between our suspects and the information we have on the target to be sure.”

Damian chuckled maliciously, all too happy to provide the obvious solution, “Not a problem. Kill every suspect you have; I'm sure you'll get lucky eventually.”

The assassin hesitated, looking to the side, then refocused on Damian, “It's going to cost extra.”

Damian waved off the concern, “That's fine, so long as every gruesome detail is recorded, you'll get your credits. Now, what about the extra surprise I ordered?”

“Everything is prepared for tomorrow. Carter City will pay the price for crossing the Tafells.”

Damian burst into giggles, appreciating the man's melodramatics, “Good. That's precisely what I wanted to hear.”

Damian ended the call, practically skipping down the hallway. Yes. Today was turning into a much better day than it had any right to be. And tomorrow, tomorrow would be so much sweeter.