Might as Well

Riding the falling monster was an experience. Sam wasn’t sure he would like a repeat, but in the end, he just huddled down and used his own magic to fix his position to the back of the monster as it crashed onto the great masses, more than likely wiping out a great percentage.

Bombardment would destroy the rest of the guilds and the successful completion of the Blooming Lotus plan.

Which naturally meant that he had to get the hell out of the epicenter as fast as possible.

Looking around, he took in the situation.

There were still people streaming in, probably after the titan’s loot and to pick up the things people dropped. Their speed didn’t even slow down when the giant monster impacted the area where the poor quarry used to be.

The lure of the loot and whatever other possibilities they imagined were just too much.

Not that it mattered.

The guild alchemists worked extra hard just for this, and Sam wanted to see how it looked when everything went off at the same time. Designing an explosive that would hurt people and leave the infrastructure alone was hard, but a little ‘discovery’ thanks to the library at Nowhere and a small jaunt into the swamps was enough to solve the issue.

Designing the explosive was the easy part. The counteragent was much harder as Sam knew the moment they used it; others would move heaven and earth to figure out how they did it and how to use it for themselves. He had no illusion about the integrity of the guild crafters. If somebody offered them enough money, they would sell anything the buyer wanted.

Tim would distribute fake recipes to those who could be sort of trusted, but even their prodigious security expert couldn’t find every person who would sell them out.

Sam shook himself, stretched a little, and looked over the cliff where most of the guild people were gathering, occasionally striking down a brave enemy who decided to try their luck against them.

Noting the direction, he turned around and started sprinting in the opposite direction, slightly off course. Nobody would expect him to do that, after all…

From there it was a hop, skip, and jump – and the judicious use of his speed and hiding skills – before he was safely out of the explosion zone, safely wedged between several rocks and covered by his shields. He left only a small slit to peek through, as he really wanted to see the explosion.

Over the chat, he could see the countdown while the area surreptitiously was flooded with combustible gas manufactured to specification by the guild alchemists.

Three…

Two…

One…

Then the sky was illuminated by the blooming explosions as petals of fire flowered over the entire quarry. There was some yelling and cries for help, but that just allowed the people stationed by the guild around the battlefield to find those who survived the initial explosions and kill them with some targeted violence.

He quickly called Adam.

“How is it looking, chief?” he asked with a grin.

Adam just nodded with a small smile. “Blooming Lotus was a success. Pity our enemies will be watching for it…”

“Don’t worry. There are more ways to skin a cat…” he reassured the other man. “Losses?”

Adam waved his hand around. “I don’t have the concrete numbers, but nobody is looking unhappy.”

“Good. Then the next task is to take samples from the monster and see what we can do with it. Have Lara handle that. You need to set up protection for this area. I’m somewhat confident that people will come back for revenge…”

“You think?”

“Hehe… anything else?”

“We have a lot of threatening messages from the people we just killed.”

“And?”

“Do you have a template reply for that?”

“Ask Lucy, I’m sure she has one…”

“Thanks!”

The line went silent and Sam was left alone. He stayed in his place, as he was pretty sure that several scouts and assassins of other guilds were still skulking about, hoping to nab something important. He wasn’t so naïve to think that nobody noticed his exit from the top of the titan.

Instead, he decided to go through his gains.

[You destroyed the Core Dimension of the Spider Totem of a forgotten group of worshippers!]

[You gained the title, Titan Killer!]

[Titan Killer: Increased reputation among warriors and 5% extra damage to titans.]

[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up!]

[You’re now Level 99!]

[Gained 14 unassigned attribute points!]

[Thanks to your ability to trick your opponents into and out of battle, you gained 3 WIS!]

[Because you focused on your speed, you gained 2 AGI!]

[You have been forged in battle, time and time again, you gained 1 STR and 1 END!]

Happily, he took the new points and quickly assigned them. Five went to Dexterity, four to Strength, three to Agility, and finally, the remaining two went to Wisdom.

Then came the skills.

[Mana Manipulation is now Level 82!]

[Mana Surge is now Level 2!]

[Mana Scales is now Level 115!]

[Solid Spell Foundation is now Level 4!]

[Mana Construct is now Level 79!]

[You gained the subskill, Complexity!]

[Complexity: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) The complexity of your creations doesn’t detract from it. Usually, mana cost would rise when the complexity of your creation increases. For every level of this skill this increase in mana cost becomes less and less.]

[Light Ball IV is now Level 4!]

[Clean VI is now Level 7!]

[Clean Aura is now Level 2!]

[Carving is now Level 5!]

[Air Purification is now Level 4!]

A very respectable growth, but most of his basic skills were locked down, waiting for that nice evolution at Level 101. Sam planned to get a few more to that level for even better results when he reached that level.

[Wind Mana Manipulation is now Level 91!]

[Greater Wind Affinity is now Level 79!]

[You gained the subskill, Shredding Wind!]

[Shredding Wind: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Your wind is as deadly as your intent. Increased damage with wind spells and skills.]

[Wind Sense is now Level 3!]

[Battle Meditation is now Level 78!]

[You gained the subskill, Steady Mind!]

[Steady Mind: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Your mind is as steady as your stance. Increased resistance against attacks on your mind and it is harder to break you out of meditation.]

[Clear Mind is now Level 4!]

Sam was very happy with that. Skills and spells protecting the mind were rare to come by, and after Level 101 there would be a gamut of monsters, both bestial and humanoid, that would delight in using magic that beguiled the mind.

Plus, as time goes by, even players would get better at it. He didn’t want to fall into one of the famous mirror mazes or endless labyrinths created by crazies with the express purpose of trapping people in them.

[Spirit Link is now Level 93!]

[Spirit Enhancement is now Level 3!]

[Spirit Protection is now Level 36!]

[Bleedover is now Level 3!]

[Shadow of the Dragon is now Level 22!]

[Greater Shadow Affinity is now Level 65!]

[Dark Vision is now Level 2!]

[The Way of the Forerunner is now Level 30!]

[You gained the subskill, Underhanded Strike!]

[Underhanded Strike: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) When your strike comes from nowhere, unnoticed by your enemy, the first strike is guaranteed a 25% increased critical chance!]

[Earth Resistance is now Level 49!]

[Lightning Resistance is now Level 29!]

[Adaptive Coordination is now Level 49!]

[Combinatorics is now Level 4!]

Altogether very respectable, but nothing out of this world. The biggest thing that happened was that he reached Level 99, which catapulted him into the list of people participating in the Race to the Top event.

‘Well, more assassins won’t change much…’ he mused. ‘Might as well win the event if I’m so near…’

He could already imagine how the forums were going bonkers with him jumping so far ahead so fast…

Sam then quickly went through Lucky’s status screen, made sure nothing untoward happened, and then opened his inventory while rubbing his hands together.

“Here comes the best part!” he whispered under his breath.

He took out the items from his inventory and slowly sorted them out. First were the scrolls. Three of them, to be precise.

After a safety check – he didn’t want to chance another glitter bomb – he unfurled the first one.

It was an area of effect ritual to increase the efficiency of farming. His Grimoire flashed into existence and the ritual was copied into it. He just closed the scroll and made a note to pass it to Lara. The second scroll was also a ritual, helpfully recorded by his Grimoire. This one was used to fuse together beings. Understandable, based on what he learned in the pocket dimension. Still, he couldn’t help but grin, as this would be perfect (with a few alterations) for his plans. It seemed rituals were the loot of the day, as the third scroll also featured one. Used to maintain air quality in caves. Sam copied this down too, then set it aside for Lara.

The rest of the items were sorted into two groups. The first one was just a random assortment of ritual materials as if they had fallen out of the arachne’s bag, almost all of them usable by the three rituals he got. He picked out a few of them that would be useful for some rituals he planned to enact, and the rest went into a box with Lara’s name on it.

It was very funny in the sense that these materials didn’t really garner a second glance from him, but for the average Joe, if sold, these would provide enough money to live for a few months comfortably.

The last group, while the smallest, was the most interesting to him.

There were only two items there.

One perfectly spherical egg colored off-white, reminiscent of old spiderwebs.

[Spider Egg: Chance to hatch something from it. Probably a spider, but who knows?]

Sam carefully picked it up and observed it with his mana. It was alive in a sense but in stasis. A good dose of mana injected could wake it up. Or destroy it…

“I wonder if Lara wants a familiar?” he murmured as he carefully placed the egg in a box that had some cushioning in it. “Or maybe Tim?”

Then the last item. It was a dagger the length of his hand with fingers outstretched. The blade was jagged and rust colored and it had a very simple grip with a very small ruby as the pommel.

[Ritual Dagger: Very ritual-y. Enhances the effect of rituals when it is used. May give blood poisoning.]

Exactly what he needed. Well, not really. There were countless other implements that he could have used but now he didn’t need to bother to hunt them down. Saves on time and all that jazz…

He spent a few minutes looking over the dagger trying to use his Clean spell to clean the rust off, but apparently, it had become an integral part of the item, thus it refused to be removed.

‘Alright… be that way. I just need to watch for blood poisoning.’

It took a few hours until even the most dedicated assassins, scouts, rogues, general busybodies, and lost people had decided to go home. This allowed him to leave his hiding place and head back to the ruins where the rest of the team awaited him.

The entire area was buzzing with activity. With the arrival of the entire guild, almost all available space was filled with resting people. Most of them would be sent away to do whatever, but the quarry would require an increased guard regiment, so some of them would stay.

He walked amongst them after he emerged from the mountainous area and couldn’t help but notice that all of them were looking weirdly at him. Some waved or saluted and he heard hundreds of greetings thrown at him, but nobody approached him or even called out to him for a talk.

‘Very weird…’

But that was soon forgotten as he neared the building where Lara set up her headquarters. After confirming his identity at the door, he was led inside, where he was met with the relieved gazes of his friends.

Katie and Isabella were standing at the opposite end of the room, not looking at each other. Dan was leaning against the desk and talking with a smiling Lara while Clarissa was in a conversation with Adam. Tim was sitting on a chair and going through documents, his cloak covering him from head to toe.

Closing the door behind him, he called out before anybody could speak.

“Hands up if you have Arachnophobia!”