Might as Well

Sam had maybe a second or two to blink and think about his next action. The ground under him was paved and covered with who-knows how many layers of stone and what-not. The assassins were up on the buildings, so they probably prepared for him going airborne. However, urban environments had something that nature usually lacked.

Dingy little alleyways.

And one was very near him.

Smiling slightly, he used his enhanced speed to jump toward the alley while simultaneously leaving behind a clone of himself, clad in his newly created super-solid shadow armor, looking as if ‘he’ was ready to tank the incoming conflagration.

He had maybe a second to watch as the inferno consumed the spot where his clone stood, plus the good part of a food cart left behind by one of the fleeing people before he heard a voice behind him.

“Did you think we would allow you to flee?” The voice was very proud sounding and dripped with smugness.

His own mana sense told him that it was only one person who instantly launched himself at him, weapon dripping with poison and malaise. Only to be tackled from the side by an enthusiastic Lucky.

There was a crash, much cursing, then a simple crunch, and the mana presence vanished while Lucky simply jumped into the nearest shadow.

“Good boy…” he murmured before refocusing on the situation.

He looked at the blazing inferno out in the open and made a quick decision. Looking up, he searched for points on the building he could use, then with expedient movement began to scale it.

Arriving at the roof of the building, he laid low, melding into the shadows generated by chimneys and other odds and ends.

Once again, he watched as the hellfire scorching the street slowed down, and then began to sputter before vanishing fully, leaving behind soot and destruction.

Casting his mana sense wide, he could sense a bubble of magic surrounding the area, with several dozen indistinct mana signatures running around, converging and separating in the area, like some macabre dance to silent music.

The group responsible for the fire also seemed to be regrouping, the mana around them beginning to sizzle with even more heat.

As he watched the situation, Sam had a choice to make.

Show them who is the boss, or…

Make it funny.

It took him a second to make a decision.

He sent a quick message to Tim, then began to focus.

Slowly, but surely, clones began to appear around him. And as soon as a clone made of shadows appeared, they took his form and began to run away, blending into the shadows, following his murmured directions.

Which were pretty simple: Run around and avoid people.

As the last clone ran off, he took a deep breath and began to alter the illusion attached to his solid shadow armor while pulling all his mana into his body to make sure to prevent any sensors or artifacts from finding him.

Then, using his sneaking skills he began skulking in the shadows, avoiding all the people running around like chickens trying to nail one of his clones, heading directly to the boundary of the bubble of magic that seemed to be keeping people, and most importantly, backup and the guilds away.

Reaching it, he hunkered down a little and started to examine the magical creation.

It was simple but powerful. He could see it was supported by several artifacts placed around the area equidistant from each other. It was a magical shield that could be bought from several places.

The upside was it was very reliable and sturdy.

The downside?

The places that sold it had to keep a list of customers by law. So, if somebody used it for nefarious purposes, then they could be caught very fast. Naturally, this created a secondary gray-slash-black market where people could buy it without getting their name on a list. However, that also came with some caveats.

Black markets didn’t sell the best or most reliable ones…

Though, to Sam’s senses, eyes, and knowledge, this bubble of magic that was in front of him looked like the ones he saw in the equipment storage back at the company. They bought several just in case, and he took some time to examine them for any insight into their development.

And once more, he simply reached down with his hand, touched the roughly paved ground, and began channeling mana into it.

He watched as the stone began to shift, creating a small hole right under the ward.

Sam climbed down then with a small hop he was out of the ‘danger zone’, the hole filling up behind him after a small flex of his mana.

Then he straightened his jacket, looked around, and began walking away.

A few seconds later, a figure joined him.

“Go and sell the fact that the ward doesn’t go underground to anyone willing to buy it. After today somebody will figure it out…”

Tim nodded. “Favor?”

Sam thought about it for a second. “Sure, if it is worth it. Any info about the group?”

His in-house assassin (and standard anime harem hero) seemed to mull over things before answering.

“Didn’t have much time, but I found at least three groups who allied with each other to get as much money from the hits put out on you. However, they visibly didn’t really agree on the plan. They just planned to kill you and then… duke it out, I guess.”

“And you managed to figure this out this fast?”

“They discussed all this on an open forum. I have alerts for your name, so I watched the planning from the start.”

Sam sometimes was thankful that people on the internet didn’t change between dimensions. It made his life much easier.

“So, this was some kind of probing attack from a bigger group?”

Tim nodded in agreement. “Most likely. Did you use any new skills?”

He just grinned mischievously.

They reconvened in Lucy’s office after Sam dropped off his loot and drugs he gained during his short journey and Tim did some of his mysterious things.

Lucy was sitting behind her desk. Tim was leaning against the wall – dramatically, half his face covered by shadows – Claire, in her maid outfit, sitting primly in a chair with occasional glances at Tim, was representing Isabella and Katie. Finally, Adam was trying to fit into one of the plush armchairs with his giant body.

“So, we all heard that you managed to reach Level 101. Anything we need to know?” Lucy asked without any preamble as the raven on her shoulder glared at Sam. Instantly, all eyes were on him.

He nodded. “Yes. I’m already putting together a document about it and my experience. So expect it within a day or two.”

Lucy looked equal parts relieved and excited. “We’re keeping it a secret?”

Sam nodded. “For now. After the biggest guilds reach the threshold, we can release parts of it.”

“Why just parts of it?” Adam asked curiously.

“Because, if my theory is right, you need extremely good mana control, or some highly specialized help, maybe even rituals to achieve what I did…”

Immediately, he was the center of several suspicious stares.

Lucy just sighed. “Seriously, Sam…”

Following that, silence enveloped the room as Sam wondered what the others were thinking before he cleared his throat.

“Any news from the world?”

Adam was the first one to speak. “We have been getting inquiries about people trying to purchase shares in the guild.”

Sam and Lucy scoffed at the same time while her raven let out a caw of derision.

“Over my dead body!” she exclaimed. “They have been trying that with me since the beginning.”

“Anything that you can’t handle?” he asked Adam as Lucy continued to grumble about pushy salespeople.

Adam shook his head. “No. I’ve dealt with these kinds of people in other games.”

“Still… Tim, take a look and make sure nobody tries anything stupid,” Sam spoke, glancing at the leaning assassin, who simply nodded.

“Sure…”

“Anything else?” Sam asked.

Adam thought about it a little before speaking. “Guarding the corpse is slowly being taken over by the government, so we don’t have to deal with people trying to steal things. The mining equipment is almost ready and from what I heard from the representatives they are planning to mine the corpse hard and fast.”

“What about the fortress? Any issue with Lara?”

This time, Lucy was the one who spoke up. “All according to plans. Some people were sniffing around, but so far, the guild has been able to thwart them.”

“Money? Resources?”

She gave him a thumbs up. “We are good, Sam. Practically rolling in gold.”

“Heavenly Forest still going strong, eh?”

“That’s an understatement. With the expanded services, food, and drinks we are raking in so much money…”

“The branch in the capitol?”

“Almost ready to open.”

“Cool.”

Before they could continue, Tim stopped leaning and spoke up.

“Before you start talking business, I want to mention something.”

The satisfied smile on Lucy’s face vanished and was replaced by a serious look.

Sam motioned toward the middle of the room. “Go ahead, Tim!”

He stepped forward into the light – Sam ignored Claire biting her lip for a moment – and began talking.

“I have been collecting information and I heard that in the south a lot of guilds have started consolidating powers and groups.”

“One of the bigger ones started swallowing the smaller ones?” Adam asked.

Tim shook his head. “No. That’s why the information is important. One of the smaller guilds managed to force several other guilds to submit to them and then went on to conquer other, bigger guilds.”

“Let me guess… They are moving northward?” Lucy interjected with a knowing look.

Tim nodded. “Yes. From what I have found and gathered from contracts, the guilds were around or in a desert and they want more fertile grounds.”

Sam had to wonder. He changed a lot of things with his actions. The butterfly had long since flapped their wings and the storm had already swept over the world of Magic Unbound, but this news was familiar for some reason.

“What is the name of the guild?”

Tim’s answer came instantly. “Blood Brothers.”

Sam had to fight incredibly hard so that his reaction didn’t give anything away. Even then, he could see that the others saw that he reacted somewhat.

“Saaam… Do you know something?” Lucy asked with an accusing tone while she was running her fingers through her raven’s feathers to the pleasure of the corvid.

Adam was also staring at him while Claire was glancing around the room.

He took a moment to consolidate his thoughts, choosing his words very carefully.

“Any information about their preferred tactics, skills, or spells?”

Tim frowned and opened a screen to read something.

“From what I found; they seem to prefer to use…blood-based spells. Pretty useful in a desert where water is rare and you need a cheap liquid.”

Sam nodded; his theory was confirmed. He looked into Lucy’s eyes and began to talk.

“You know how I told you to avoid the Life of Blood skill?”

Her eyes widened as Adam let out a small gasp.

“You really think?”

“It’s basically blood magic. Used by people who are not masters of blood magic. It was always a theory based on what I figured out about magic in this game…”

“Er, I have it,” Adam stated as he was clearly scrolling through his screens.

“Me too,” added Tim quietly.

Sam just smiled. “Don’t worry, there is a ritual I can set up for you that will remove the skill. You will lose some experience points, maybe even levels, but the end result will be worth it.”

Lucy instantly changed into business mode.

“Can we sell the ritual?”

“Sadly, the price of reagents would be too much for most people. Not to mention some of them are pretty rare…”

As the group descended into talking about who would be offered the option to take the ritual to get rid of the Life of Blood spell, and how to get more information about these blood magic users his thoughts wandered to the event that happened in an alternate reality.

The whole desert invasion was a small footnote of the entire cataclysmic event. One of the brothers’ patsies decided to go ahead and start a crusade with their ‘incredible’ skills, which in turn would accelerate the brothers’ plans as they kept pushing all sorts of blood-magic related spells for those who weren’t masters of blood-magic while setting up future battlefields.

Apparently, the time has come for the blood to surge and flood the world…

He couldn’t wait!