Plague tank a litrpg adv.., p.5
Plague Tank: A LitRPG Adventure (Getting Hard Book 2), page 5
“What?” She turned to me, not catching what I said because she was busy examining the house. “What instructor?”
“I was thinking of what to do with my newly-found free time. It feels weird not being busy.” I didn’t want to admit to her the hours I spent playing MCO. She could guess it anyway.
“How about catching up on your friends? Some of them must still be in the city.”
“I’m not sure where to look. We haven’t kept in touch over the years.”
“How about that old PC café near here? The one Jefferson’s family owns?”
I told her that Boady’s family bought it, and his cousin was now running the place. “I got my AU-VR Helm there, actually,” I added.
“Boady’s cousin?” Sawyer said with a raised brow. “Oh, I’d love to see her!”
CHAPTER
SIX
“Mr. Kwiky is still alive?” Sawyer said as we passed by Kiwi-Kwikstop. My youngest sister pointed out all the changes on the street we lived on and was delighted there was something familiar. Only the paint of the ancient convenience store had changed.
“I was also surprised,” I said. “Its location on this corner is great, that’s why it’s still in business.”
Our car turned left, driving down the street to Vanguard Gaming. “Even this area has changed a lot,” Sawyer commented.
“Wait till you see Starling Park up ahead,” I said, referring to the place famous for drug deals back then—that was the circulating rumors among us kids. I didn’t know if that was true or just crazy stories made by bored children; the latter was probably the case. “It’s a touristy spot now.” Sawyer wore a skeptical look. “We can go there if you want.”
“After we meet Boady’s cousin. By the way, have you thanked her for Boady’s help?”
Before my family left Egret City because of financial problems after Pops passed away, Boady offered to buy my character in Nornyr Online. It wasn’t a whale character with premium items and currency. Though free-to-play characters could fetch a reasonable price if they were well-built, followed the meta, and had expensive gear.
Mine wasn’t like that at all.
A tank character had a relatively low price by default because buyers preferred DPSers. To make matters worse, I used an unconventional build and playstyle unfamiliar to most tank players—given my meager resources, I had come up with an anti-meta strategy. The result was an essentially unsellable character despite its achievements and ranking on the leaderboards.
It was like selling a house with a highly personalized design. It’d be tough to find a buyer for it unless extensive renovations were done.
Despite all that, Boady, the local whale of our neighborhood, both in real life and in Nornyr Online, bought it for the price of a high-end DPS account. I knew he did it to help my family without it being an outright handout, which I would’ve refused. And he was a swell guy for doing that.
“Shouldn’t I thank Boady instead? His cousin probably doesn’t even know about it.”
Sawyer shrugged. “Dunno. They’re still family, so you should do something for her.”
“Like what?”
“A gift, maybe?”
“A gift… I think I have the perfect one for her.” I leaned forward in between the front seats of the car. “Jimmy, you have brought the coffee bag from my apartment, right?”
“Yes, sir. It’s in the trunk.”
“A coffee bag?” Sawyer asked with a raised brow.
“It’s very expensive coffee given to me by a business associate as sort of a get-well present when he heard about my accident.”
I didn’t tell her that it was berries pooped out by a jungle cat of some sort—if it was a cat. I had no idea why it was expensive as hell. Briefly browsing through stores online, I found out that it was even more costly than other brands of the same type of coffee. Must have something to do with being sourced from the ‘wild.’ That was what the label mentioned.
“I’m not a coffee connoisseur,” I said. “A cup from a gas station tasted better to me. I was thinking of giving it to you and Mom to try, but I forgot about it in our rush to leave the hotel. Might as well give it to Eclairs as a gift.”
“Eclairs? That’s the name of Boady’s cousin? Sounds cute. And yeah, that’s a nice gift. I don’t drink coffee nowadays. Flushing caffeine from my system.”
“It’s settled then.” Perhaps Eclairs would appreciate such an exotic gift.
Jimmy stopped the car by Vanguard Gaming. “We’re here, sir.”
“Thank you, Jimmy.” I held the door open for my sister because I was such a great brother.
“I remembered when you gave Mum that money,” Sawyer said as she alighted from the car, referring to the money from Boady.
I chuckled at the memory. “Right, right. She wouldn’t believe where I got it.” At first, I told Mum a made-up story that it was my savings from doing chores for the neighbors. The two of us knew that was a load of crap because I’d spend anything earned on renting a PC at Vanguard Gaming.
Eventually, I was forced to explain Boady’s involvement. I didn’t want to tell the truth because she wouldn’t believe it. And she didn’t.
It took a lot of convincing, and I even called Mason and Jefferson to help me explain until Mum accepted it. Accepted, not believed. I had an inkling that, to this day, Mum still thought I got the money from selling drugs or some other illegal activity.
“Woah, this place looks awesome now,” Sawyer said, wide-eyed at the new look of Vanguard Gaming. She waved at a holographic advertisement for MCO, running her hand through the floating head of a roaring dragon. “Definitely looks a thousand times better compared to when I used to come here to fetch you because Mum’s angry you’re late going home.” She laughed as she sauntered over to the WeeCees on display.
I asked an employee if we could speak to Eclairs. He pointed me to the right side of the store.
That section, about a third of the floor space, was separated from the rest of the shop by a tinted glass wall. On the other side were people in bed pods wearing AU-VR Helms. Vanguard Gaming was renting out PCs in the past. In keeping with the times, it was now AU-VR Helms.
It was hard to tell through the dark glass, but a person who might be Eclairs was helping someone get on the pods and wear his helm.
“We’ll just wait by the counter,” I told the employee.
A bunch of kids ran into the store—three boys and a girl—excitedly yelling.
It made me snort when I saw they had Mother Core Online shirts. My heart was filled with delight noticing that the youngest kid wore an oversized shirt with a Mardukryon face on it. They loudly bickered about the best character to pick.
An employee told them to quiet down and wait because Eclairs was busy.
Expectedly, the kids, being kids, continued with their hilarious arguments. It was entertaining enough that Sawyer stopped window shopping to observe them. She smirked, nudging her head toward the kids as if to say I was like that before.
Suddenly, a boy blurted out the most offensive thing I’d heard in my life to the smallest kid. “Mardukryons suck!”
“No-no, they don’t.” The tiny kid was almost crying. “Bro-brother told me—”
“They’re just stuck on a mountain,” said Lizard Boy, the first kid. He had a reptilian monster on his shirt, so it’s a fitting nomenclature.
“Their players are weak,” another boy chimed in—Troll Kid, also because of his shirt.
I couldn’t believe I was hearing even more insulting words from the younger generation. Didn’t he know that I, Herald Stone, was a Mardukryon player? How could he not know such an important fact?
“No! Not weak,” said the most awesomest kid, the future of our country. “Mardukryons are cool!”
“Cut that out.” The girl stepped in front of him.
“He should just go back home,” Troll Kid said. “You know they won’t allow you to play.”
They continued their back and forth, and the most awesomest kid defended Mardukryons because they looked cool. It wasn’t a strong argument, but I wasn’t expecting much from someone his age.
I discerned from listening—funny that I was eavesdropping on children—that the small kid’s older brother, a Mardukryon player, was part of this group but was helping at their parents’ store the next block over and couldn’t join then.
“Come on, you guys.” The employee was back and told them that units were now available for them to use. Troll Kid and Lizard Boy went to the right side of the store, leaving the girl and the most awesomest kid alone.
The girl told him, “Go back to your store. We’re going to play now,” before rushing to join her friends.
The most awesomest kid didn’t follow her instructions. He stood still, shoulders slumped. Then he sighed and stretched the front of his shirt, looking down at the Mardukryon picture.
“Hey, kid,” I said, approaching him.
He looked at me and said, “Mommy told me not to talk to strangers.”
“It’s fine. I’m not a pedophile kidnapper.” Which was something a kidnapper would say.
“What’s a pedo—”
“I’m not a stranger.” I paused. “Okay, I am. That’s good advice not to talk to strangers, so follow what your mommy says. I’m just going to tell you that Mardukryons are cool. And Mardukryons are going to leave their mountain. Trust me.”
“Really, mister?” His face lit up, completely forgetting his mother’s advice. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m going to make it happen,” I said, full of confidence in the inevitable future.
“Huh? How?”
“Oh, Bill. You’re here again?” Eclairs came over in a huff. “I told you many times you’re too young to play here. Where’s your brother?” She called over another employee to escort the kid back to his family. She turned to me. “Hi there, Mr. Customer,” she said with her hands on her hips. “I didn’t know you’re good with kids.”
“Of course,” I replied. Inspiring young minds is what I do, was what I wanted to say. Instead, I said, “I was also playing games when I was a kid.”
“Same as Derrick,” she said, calling Boady by his real name. “I just want to ban kids here, but he wouldn’t let me. Actually, I want to stop renting VR units because it’s not bringing in much money. But I have only a small ownership share… anyway, Mr. Customer. What brings you here?”
“Have you ever tried coffee from a cat’s butt?”
“Really nice getting to know you, Sawyer.” Eclairs waved as we left Vanguard Gaming.
“I’ll try to visit again before I leave Egret,” my sister replied, following me out the door. “And I’ll add you on Missive!”
“Do try out that coffee,” I said with a smile.
Eclairs gave me a look that was a mix between a suspicious frown and a politely grateful smile. She might be half-assuming the coffee bag was a prank when I kept calling it cat’s butt coffee instead of kopi luwak, its actual name.
“I’ll surely do,” she said with a conflicted grin. I stopped myself from instinctively flinching at her eyes which were both uncanny and mesmerizing. “If this is bad, you’ll have to treat me to coffee sometime.”
“What?” I was about to close the store’s door.
She shook her head and gestured for me to go on.
Eclairs and Sawyer’s first encounter was magnitudes different from mine. They immediately hit it off as if they were long-time friends. No trace of the brashness of Eclairs. Perhaps it was because Sawyer looked quite timid, even if she wasn’t. Or it could be that Eclairs woke up on the wrong side of the bed the day we first met.
While the two of them reminisced about the old days of Egret, especially when our little corner of the city was… not as pleasant as it was now, and also about Boady’s literal massive transformation, I spied on my sister’s reaction. It was only for a brief moment, but she noticeably balked upon meeting Eclairs’ eyes.
I wasn’t crazy when I thought something was wrong with Eclairs’ eyes—not physically wrong, but there was a chilling aspect about their look.
“She’s nice, isn’t she?” Sawyer said, giving me a sidelong glance. I knew she’d bring this up to ruin our peaceful car ride back to their hotel. My sister turned to me with a mischievous smirk. “Very pretty too. I can’t believe Boady—or Derrick. My gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t know Boady’s real name all this time.”
“I didn’t know either until Eclairs told me,” I said, trying to shift the topic. “And I was always with—”
“Anyway,” Sawyer loudly interjected, “it’s settled that we both can’t believe not knowing Boady’s real name. I couldn’t believe more that he has such a beautiful cousin. Her eyes are adorable, aren’t they?”
“They are?” Was I mistaken that my sister was uncomfortable with Eclairs’ eyes? Maybe I had a weird perception of things.
“Definitely,” Sawyer said, eagerly nodding. “Gray. Such a rare color for eyes. Another thing—I also can’t believe you haven’t made a move on her.”
“Move?” I played dumb. “What move?”
“Oh, come on. You know…” Sawyer grinned. She didn’t push it further because that would violate the unspoken treaty between us siblings not to pry into each other’s personal life. She settled with, “Just saying that you have free time now… so use that free time.”
I nodded. My sister was right. I should use my time correctly.
Bill, the little boy wearing the Mardukryon T-shirt, was relying on me to free the Mardukryons from the mountains and show everyone how cool they were. I was sure he wasn’t the only kid in this world who yearned for the same.
The younger generation was looking up to me, Herald Stone, not to fail them.
And I’m not going to.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
“Alrighty then! This is a dead end for now.” I sighed, climbing out of Healer Gula’s shop. After returning to the virtual world of Hierakon, I tried again to convince her to reveal the way to her sister.
Gula wouldn’t budge. She insisted that Bawu shouldn’t meet someone who knew of the ‘lost arts.’ I gave up after several more rejections.
It reminded me of when Mehubanarath kicked me out of his hidden base in the Golden Forest, and I tried to break back inside. At that time, a quest popped up to tell me how to get into the Big M’s good graces. There was no such prompt now.
Did this mean there was no way to meet Potion Brewer Bawu? Was this path closed off forever?
I refused to accept that. There has to be a way!
Persuading Mehubanarath to let me enter Kurghal Village likewise didn’t have a quest attached to it. The quest notification appeared only after I convinced him I could keep my Ancestral Flame pure even if I mingled with other Mardukryons.
It might be the same situation here.
With no clue how to proceed, I shifted to my other pending side quests to continue leveling up. The mundanity of collecting various items or completing tasks for the NPCs could inspire a new idea.
Quests gave plenty of Essences—experience points—but only a pittance of Gli for Cidule and Ocadule leveling. Increasing my player level was my main goal, so I wasn’t focused on Gli. Questing usually beats mindlessly whacking at monsters, and I’d get other rewards too. But even then, Mardukryons were incredibly slow in leveling compared to most races.
About a couple of hours and many quests later, I progressed to doing assignments for the various Lodges in the village.
The Merchants’ Lodge asked me to help with deliveries, securing supplies, and collecting past-due debts from their customers. Thankfully, the NPC customers paid up when asked. I wasn’t sure what would happen if they refused.
Was I obligated to beat them up? Herald Stone the Loan Shark?
The Weavers wanted me to help them harvest flowers for dyeing clothes. It wasn’t a collection quest but an escort assignment—a welcome change. Four apprentice Weavers plucked clean the bushes near the western gate of the village while a smattering of [Lvl 11 Baby Frost Macaque] bothered them.
Those crazy monkeys were agile and fast, but I caught them by planting Totems that used [Enraging Call]. Given that my Totems were only level one—my Totem Juggling strategy didn’t need them leveled—the screeching baby monkeys brought them down in seconds.
No problem. I resummoned my Totems in front of the Weaver apprentices gathering flowers to draw the monsters away from them. In a way, this was also Totem Juggling. There was no need to kill the mobs. More would take their place, as I’d found out when the first went down.
[ Quest Completed: Shooing Away the Pesky Ones! ]
[ Increased: Healing Touch Level to 3 ]
I also assisted the Masons’ Lodge in constructing a new house—not the construction itself, which needed specialized Ocadules, but with the collection of rocks and other materials. I returned to the quarry to collect rocks and then went to the caves to hunt a special kind of worm that oozed slime that could be used as adhesive.
“And that’s twenty,” I said after my [Greater Pyro Shell] exploded, killing a [Lvl. 12 Borpillar].
More of the hybrid mushroom-caterpillar creatures crawled out of cracks in the walls. They threateningly clicked their scissor-like mandibles at me.
“Ladies and Gentleborpillars,” I said with a flourished bow, waving my torch goodbye before turning around. “Your lives are no longer forfeit. You are free to go, for I have finished collecting your slimes.”
They scuttled across the floor to attack me, but I left a Totem to hold them as I galloped away back to the Masons.
[ Quest Completed: One Rock Over Another! ]
[ Increased: Player Level to 15! ]
[ Increased: Ancestral Constitution Level to 4 ]
“Plenty of progress today,” I said with a satisfied smile.
“Good job, youngling!” said the Mardukryon NPC.
