Liam pressed his body against the shelf, watching as the gangster rummaged through the storage before urgently moving on. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the man's every movement, gauging his strength.
Noticing how the man showed a strained expression carrying the box, Liam estimated him to be a level three player at most.
Maybe he is one of those three I heard earlier…
With this information Liam made up his mind. He sneaked from one row of shelves to the next and pressed his body against it. A few seconds later footsteps could be heard, coming closer.
Liam tightened his grip on his knife, his breath quickening. Noticing the light tremble of his hand Liam did his best to adjust his mind.
Inwardly Liam questioned why he found himself in a dangerous situation again. Was it this world or was it the consequence of his choices?
Well, most likely both…
A faint smile played on Liam's lips, easing his nerves as the footsteps almost reached him. A moment later a figure turned the corner.
Suddenly everything happened in a flash. Liam appeared behind the man, moving his knife like lightning.
The weapon's handle slammed heavily against the gangster's head. He could barely let out a groan before he fell to the floor.
A chaotic noise sounded as the contents of the box scattered on the floor.
Liam stared at the man's bleeding head in shock, praying that he didn't kill him. He hastily grabbed some suit jacket form a nearby shelf and pressed it against the man's head before falling silent.
Meanwhile the sounds coming from outside grew even more chaotic. Screams and shouts could be heard. Suddenly the door was pushed open with a heavy kick.
"Federation army! Don't resist! If there is someone here, you better come out!"
A deep shout echoed in the room. Liam gelt the relief in heart, answering loudly:
"Here, here. Row 8b. I'm the one who called you."
Liam stared at the rows of shelves when suddenly two burly men wielding swords bigger than their bodies, clad in heavy armor, came into his view.
"Drop you weapon!"
"I'm…"
"DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
The loud voice almost caused the shelves to vibrate. Liam didn't dare to disobey. He threw his knife away, raised his arms and stepped back.
Immediately the two soldiers approached. One of them checked the gangster on the floor, while the other scanned Liam. He nodded after a moment, having seemingly confirmed Liam's identity somehow.
"Liam Varsmith, please stay patient. When our comrades cleared the building, we will get you out."
"Thank you. Can you tell your comrades that a friend of mine should be locked here somewhere? He wears the clothes of a pastor, easy to recognize."
"Alright."
While the soldier sent the message, his partner suddenly let out a taunting whistle.
"Look what all this is? Trying to destroy evidence, eh? One object more illegal than the next!"
The exclamation drew the attention of the first soldier.
"Hm, not only skin masks but even prohibited poison arrows, restricted minerals… quite the collection."
The gangster taken care of by Liam just woke up when he heard this and immediately pretended to fall unconscious again.
Subsequently the army did their job. They rounded out all the workers, clearing the entire warehouse. The pastor was found asleep in a storage room. The entire cargo was scanned, revealing more contraband.
Liam knew that he brought the army a lot of work, but this had nothing to do with him. After giving his testimony, he left together with the pastor, regathering with Trey.
On the way back Liam remembered something, deciding to buy a phone for Trey so they could stay in contact.
When the trio returned to the community, everyone welcomed them happily. Liam finally had time to ask the pastor what happened.
It turned out that the pastor tried to apply to the gangsters' consciousness, preaching for quite some time. But while doing so he coincidentally saw and recognized some restricted minerals.
The gangsters panicked and locked the pastor away, waiting for their boss to give the final verdict.
Luckily Liam arrived before the boss, leading to the current situation.
The community celebrated the pastor's return with their limited means. When the old man heard that Liam tried to organize jobs for everyone, tears threatened to come out of his eyes.
The gathering went on for a couple hours until Liam finally bade everyone goodbye. He made a silent promise to organize the gaming house as fast as possible.
Writing Serena, he learned that his sister was done with her lessons and was now helping out in Merida's clinic.
Not feeling like spending the rest of the afternoon alone on the couch, he decided to visit the dojo.
When Master Baker saw Liam coming in, he immediately stared at him closely. Liam shivered, feeling as if no secret was safe in front of the starlight master's sharp gaze.
"Kid, did you break through?"
"Yes, master. I broke through in a lucky moment."
Immediately Master Baker gritted his teeth snorting angrily:
"Are you stupid? Why didn't you inform me immediately?! Didn't I tell you that it's extremely important to consolidate your foundation after every breakthrough?"
Liam didn't know what to say. At that moment he simply didn't think about it. But feeling his body now, he was sure that the breakthrough assisted by C was extremely thorough and there was no need to be anxious. But how could he say this to the master?
"Kid, when did you break through?"
"Y… yesterday."
"A whole day ago?! You are really beyond saving! Damn, come with me!"
Not giving Liam any chance Master Baker gripped his arm and pulled him into the dojo.
"Since you are late, you have to make it up with hard work. You only have yourself to blame."
Liam shivered, feeling a drop of sweat run down his neck. For the rest of the day he was tortured by the master, forced into the most awkward positions before being stuffed with nutritious food. Rince and repeat.
When he returned home in the evening, every cell of Liam's body hurt. He tried to reduce his movement to a minimum, drawing taunting laughter from Serena.
Even the next day moving was too painful. Liam had a quick breakfast before going back to bed and waiting for the game to start.
Finally, a signal came form his console and Liam could return to Crunaboul.
When Liam's vision returned, he found himself sitting on a barrel on their guild's property. Immediately multiple messages assaulted his mind.
C reminded the players about the changes, causing chaos in the global chat.
"Guild 'Warrior are invincible' looking for members. Applications to me or on our website!"
"Guild 'Nothing beats a good thief' LFM, please write me if you want to carry the torch of thieves' glory!"
"Guild 'Mages No.1' accepting members. You know what to do!"
"Quick, quick, sell your gold guys, before the price drops."
"Damn, what is this exchange rate?! 1:20.000?! Are you crazy?"
"Why is there a limit? Thirty gold per person?! Devs, don't you want to earn money? What is this stupid sh*t?"
"Upstairs, if you don't need your money just mail me some."
"+1"
"+1"
"Gold will never be able to substitute skill! Prove yourself in the first player-arranged tournament, today at the Svebrial Arena!"
"Hey, not to deal you a blow but it looks like using the arena costs money…"
Liam was quickly overwhelmed, turning off the chaotic chat. But this wasn't the end of it.
Looking at the golden ring which had appeared in his hand, Liam couldn't hide his shock as a notification flashed in his vision.
[Bleary Mirage's championship ring
Category: Magic (upgradable)
Effect 1: Can be worn without using an equipment space.
Effect 2: Charisma +10.
Effect 3: Can more easily trigger the recruitment mission of NPCs.
Restriction: Bound to Bleary Mirage
Only a single person is worthy of wearing this ring.]
Liam was filled with disbelief, even blurting out loud:
"This is so OP!"
Others might not understand what this ring signified, but especially the third effect was the dream of every guild.
Guilds had the ability to recruit NPCs which worked for them and gave a bonus during guild wars. But the more potential the NPC, the higher the difficulty of recruiting them.
But with this championship ring one had a huge advantage over other guilds. Staring at the conspicuous object Liam almost didn't want to wear at.
But then a few scenes came to his mind. Every time he had to sent Silver Blade to converse with an NPC because of her high charisma stat.
Liam noticed a faint movement around him, knowing that his friends would log in any second. With a sigh he finally put the ring on.
Staring at the sky with melancholic eyes, Liam had a strange thought.
Can this be considered as me losing to Silver Blade?
However, Liam's attention was soon directed elsewhere as his friends appeared one by one.
"Welcome back!"