NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Candyman
Lucan entered a room to find two men of varying ages seated across from him, one was a player. The older man in his 50's was the player; he had a dangerous look in his eye while he inspected Lucan. The NPC was around Lucan's age and had his nose buried in papers.
"Take a seat." The NPC said without looking up. Lucan did what he was told. Both gave off an enormous pressure. Lucan guessed they were over level 140. "The Council of Examiners and I are impressed with your success. We would like to welcome you as a Mithril ranked member." The young man said while looking up from the papers for the first time.
He had a kind smile that made Lucan want to pal around with him and be his friend. But this was the Assassin's Guild, and these were some of the higher ups. The young man was extremely deadly.
"Umm, great. Where can I buy gear?"
"Hold on, before we get to that, we have to finish your registration." Said the young man, taking the piece of parchment Lucan set on the table. "As a Mithril ranked member you will have to complete 1 Mithril ranked contract, or 3 Gold contracts every year to maintain your rank. Failure to do so will result in a rank change to Gold. There is nothing required to stay at gold. You will receive a discount equivalent to your rank in the guild store and as a Mithril ranked member you will receive a Cloak of Deception. If you drop rank, you aren't required to return the cloak, you earned it."
"Okay, great." Lucan said, happy for a free piece of gear.
"As a Mithril ranked member the Guild may request you complete a particular job, but it is only a request. As a member you will go by your codename that the Council has chosen." The young man handed Lucan the piece of parchment after it was stamped and signed. "This is yours, and the only proof that Lucan Quilldrake is a member of the Assassin's Guild. From hence forth you will 'Candyman'. In the main hall you can receive information on where our safehouses are and contact points to find work. We also have a great information broker. They will find out what you want to know, for a price."
"Candyman. Really?" Lucan asked.
The silent older man opened his mouth. "You are an arms dealer, it fits. Stop whining. You will make the other Mithril members look bad."
"Ha, ha, Poison Master is right, it is a very fitting codename. Poison Master is the only other Traveler to become a Mithril member in this country. I will leave you two to get acquainted. Oh, and you can pick up your clock from the Guild store." The young man said, standing up.
After he left Poison Master spoke. "Don't even think of taking my place as number 1 player here. I can admit you will be strong in the future, but I will never stop striving for greatness. I am the mountain you will never overcome!" The player shouted, while slamming his fists on the table.
'Ever since I became a Hand of Raze I only meet weridos. Nevertheless…'
"Then we are rivals!" Lucan shouted while slamming down his own fists. "It's just a matter of time till I climb the unconquerable. Ha, ha, ha." Lucan let out a warlock cackle.
"Fine, so be it." Poison Master said while staring daggers at Lucan. "The first move is MINE!" He shouted. "Let me buy power."
Lucan was taken aback for a moment but then stuck out his hand. "You pay up front and have no obligations to me."
[You have gained an acolyte.]
Poison shook his hand. "Ha, ha, ha, how will you overcome our combined strength. You will never succeed."
Lucan stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair. "When I earn some gold, I am going to buy so much poison from you! You will be amazed by my prowess and bow down to the true number 1!" Lucan shouted back at Poison Master.
"HA, ha, ha, ha… Your pathetic attempts make laugh. Now watch as I maintain my place." Poison Master said while getting up and walking out into the main hall. "Candyman, you will never out do my determination!" The older man shouted while running up the stairs to the village.
The entire main hall looked to Lucan as he walked out of the assessment room. He turned to Silent Night. "They let me in." He said giving her a thumbs up. "Which line is for the Guild store?"
"That's great. So is Candyman your codename?"
Lucan nodded while entering the line she pointed to.
"We could hear yelling in the assessment room but couldn't understand what was being said. Why were you arguing with Poison Master? You shouldn't make an enemy of him, he is the only Mithril ranked player."
"Was, he 'was' the only Mithril ranked player. Now we are rivals, but he has a head start on me and now he is even my acolyte. It will be hard to catch up, but it is a goal. And he seemed to be having fun. Strange guy though."
"What… you… Mitril…."
"Do you still look down on me?" Lucan asked in a pretend annoyed tone.
"What, me? Psh, I have always know you were capable. But you should let me be in your party when you do Mithril contracts."
"Yeah, we will see."
"Ah, come on."
Soon enough it was Lucan's turn.
"Aw hell, what is this shit? Why can't I use money? No one mentioned contribution points."
"Yes, depending on the difficulty of the contracts you complete you will be reward contribution points that can be spent in the Guild store." The NPC said from behind the counter.
Lucan took his cloak and left the counter while grumbling. "Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I didn't think of it." Silent Night said with red cheeks.
Lucan took a look at his new cloak.
[Cloak of Deception]
[Rare Heirloom Item]
[Cloak of Deception can transform into a likeness of any cloak you have seen.]
[+10% Stealth]
[+10% Defense]
[Durability 100/100]
Heirloom items were normally great because they dealt in percent, meaning they would always be good, regardless of level. But Lucan required his armor to generate his defense stat. +10% of 1 is still just 1
It was a very well-made cloak that was a tie-dye swirl of color. Lucan put on the cloak and looked at Silent's. His turned black like hers.
"Lucan, do you want to join a party with me? We can take one of the Mithril contracts, you can gain some levels and contribution points."
"No way, I am not joining your party." Lucan said abruptly.
Silent Night frowned for a moment, until she received an invitation to join Lucan's party. If he was going to be in a party, he would be party leader.
"You're a werido." Silent said while laughing.
Lucan went to stand in another line, to look at the available contracts with Silent Night.
"Umm hey…" Bloodfist said while walking over. "We heard you are taking a Mithril contract, first congratulations, and second, we would be happy to help if you need 3 more, level of the contract doesn't matter to us." Bloodfist said, motioning to his two drinking buddies.
Before Lucan could say no, Silent sent him a whisper, a private voice message through the friends list.
"Bloodfist and his friends have a good reputation and have worked with NPC mithril members on multiple contracts. They tend to hang around here waiting for the big scores. They will be good additions."
"Alright, let me take a look at the contracts and if I need help, I will let you know."
Bloodfist gave a satisfied nod and returned to his seat.
"Do you think their levels are higher than you?" Lucan asked.
"Definitely."
"Hmm, okay." Lucan said while browsing the contracts available to him.
After riffling through a few he found one with a reward that intrigued him. A magic researchers prototype wand was stolen and being sold by a dangerous group of bandits. Recommend level was 60, with help it shouldn't be too hard.
Silent Night followed Lucan over to Bloodfist's table. "It so happens that we could use some help if you are interested." Lucan said while sharing the details of the contract.
"Sure, but you have to do a five way split on contribution points and coins. We aren't concerned with dropped materials and gear."
"That is fine, but I have my own condition. For the duration of the contract, you must become my acolyte. You can abandon the class afterwards if you want."
The group murmured to themselves before Bloodfist spoke. "We accept."
Lucan hit the pact magic button three times.
[You have gained 3 acolytes]
"If you abandon the class later you will still retain any purchases you made. Let's meet at the Avalon transfer portal in 1 hour. I need to restock my supplies and get some real gear until I can afford the stuff here. You all now have the ability to telepathically communicate with me, there is no excuse to show up late without saying something."
Lucan turned and left, heading up the stairs with Silent night.