Jake then took advantage of the opportunity when the whole village was gathered to beg for more Jackpot and Lottery Cards. Sadly, only Mihangyl, who was not part of his faction, held such a Card. He did, however, retrieve a nice stack of Lottery Cards.
However, from the crowd’s cautious attitude, he quickly noticed that not everyone was honest. He therefore had to clarify his intentions, which was actually the least he could do.
"If you didn’t miss the brief Purgatory shutdown, you probably saw the station walls reappear for a short ti." Will finished calmly. "That was us. We caused the equivalent of a power outage when we diverted all the Fluid generated by that Fluid Artifact. To replicate this feat in a sustainable way, we will need much more Fluid than that. For those who participate, you will be compensated in proportion to the profit generated. So this is not an extortion, but an investnt."
Will said no more, and Jake didn’t see fit to add his two cents either. As for the more or less 600 natives in the Village, Jake had no solid way to convince them.
Although it was indeed possible to establish Pseudo-Contracts using their Fluid Cards, apart from a few simpletons, no one was fooled. If the Fluid Artifact was really deactivated permanently, then the runes enforcing these Contracts would no longer have any hold on them.
His real target was the nearly 150 Players who had joined his faction. On the one hand a Contract could be established through the Oracle System, but more importantly even if they died prem.a.t.u.r.ely Jake would still be required to pay them once back on B842.
In the end, less than a quarter agreed to contribute their Fluid, 37 Players and 112 natives. Seeing this, Jake and Will’s expression hardened. With another eye contact, the businessman crossed off a second batch of nas, many more this ti than the last.
Much of their selfish behavior could be attributed to the Corruption’s influence, but even the worst sociopath should have a functioning brain. If they were lucid enough to seek refuge with him, then their refusal to cooperate was inexcusable.
Fortunately, Mihangyl proved to be more promising than his uptight Wood Archmage deanor suggested. He gladly gave up his Jackpot Card, but his condition was that he would not take his eyes off his investnt.
That is, Jake. This ant that from now on he would have to deal with Mihangyl and Fire Knight Ralnor tagging along until his plan ca to fruition.
In and of itself, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ralnor was in a foul mood, overco by his d.e.s.i.r.e to kill, but Mihangyl was remarkably serene. Perhaps his Nature Magic had so techniques for placating the mind when faced with those sorts of nefarious influences.
Jake then went to visit Peter Brady, who was still between life and death. There he found Kewanee and Svara, who were doing their best to take care of this difficult patient.
Kewanee’s Healing Potions had stabilized his wounds, but did not seem to be able to cure him. The third conviction in the Pit was clearly not of the sa ilk as the previous two sentences.
Kewanee felt she could save him by brewing a more potent Healing Potion, but to do so she would have to upgrade her Witch Role and obtain rare herbs that could only be obtained by drawing the right Treasure Card. There was no ti for that.
Even in front of them, the dying drug addict with only a right t.h.i.g.h and a charred torso left didn’t seem to really care about his condition.
"CZT-3... C...T-3..." The Player spluttered in his restless sleep, his eyes flaring open suddenly, but sohow still unfocused.
Jake raised a questioning eyebrow at Kewanee, who was tending to the dying man, and she shrugged exasperatedly.
"It’s an artificial neurotrope found in the Titan Pearl’s pharmacopoeia..." She explained as she sponged Peter’s forehead. "It causes a euphoric trance that is hard to imagine in addition to completely inhibiting pain. It’s normally used to relieve terminally ill victims of radiation. That’s why he kept pestering Daryl. When he died, Peter got the last few doses but instead of rationing it he used it all at once..."
The two sisters who were silently listening to the conversation were stumped.
"With his Body Stats and the Myrtharian Body Passive shouldn’t it be impossible to drug us?" Esya exclaid in wonder.
Kewanee let out a long, exhausted sigh, but didn’t find the courage to respond. It was Will, as a good soul, who took it upon himself to elaborate. He knew all the important items in this Ordeal, whether it was the food on the Titan Pearl or the Cards in this Monster Ga.
"If it was for humans, it shouldn’t affect him all that much. But this is a world where most professional soldiers are Fluid Wielders... Their tabolism and recovery is much faster than normal people and this drug is designed to work even on Fluid Adepts. With his current stats his withdrawal should take about 2 days."
"But he’s been in this state for more than two days, right?" Drastan objected dismissively.
Svara opened her mouth as if to say sothing, but hesitated at the last mont, not quite sure how to bring it up. It was Kyle who gave the black warrior the answer he was seeking.
"Aaarrrrrhh!"
A heartbreaking yelp of pain assaulted their eardrums. Peter Brady opened his eyes wide while breaking out into a sweat, a hurt and resentful expression straining his features. Gritting his teeth, his gaze fell on his t.h.i.g.h stump, into which a sword was now embedded to the hilt.
"Stop faking it." Kyle said rcilessly. Then he slowly withdrew his blade.
The Myrtharian Nerds now facepald with embarrassnt, then Jake snorted softly,
"Bury him under the sun and light a fire. If he asks for drugs again, have him eat a rock."
Peter Brady’s indignant eyes almost popped out of his face as Kyle and Tim grabbed the "log" and took it sowhere else. Kewanee and Svara stared at him in abhorrence, while Mihangyl distinctly muttered "friggin barbarians" but made no move to interfere.
Of course Jake wasn’t trying to kill him. Although Peter did not have the Accelerated Healing skill, he was part of their faction and therefore was enjoying all the perks provided, including the Myrtharian Body passive. Even if his limbs didn’t grow back, keeping him warm underground should be enough to keep him alive until the Ordeal was over.
"Gu-Guys! I-I’m feeling much better!" After a few minutes, Peter’s overstressed, pleading scream resounded abruptly from outside.
When Jake and the others went out to take a look with amused smiles, Peter’s charred-looking skin had returned to its normal state, while tiny, babyish, still-pink feet and hands were growing grotesquely from his stumps like ugly swellings.
Kyle and Tim had long since dumped him into the " grave " they had dug for him and were about to fill in the hole when this miracle happened right before their very eyes.
If this astounded and entertained the bystanders of this event, Kewanee’s and Svara’s facial muscles, which had been wasting their ti tending to him, twitched with anger.
"Peter!" The two won shouted with bloodshot eyes.
Striding briskly toward the grave, Svara extended an open hand toward Kyle as if to grab sothing and ordered aggressively,
"Hand the shovel."
Peter was in for a rough ti.
As the druggie was buried alive by the two young won while squealing like a pig being slaughtered, the sun finally set and the people returned to their hos.
All those who wished to were gathered together in his Castle, while Jake and so of the Players gathered inconspicuously in a small wooden hut outside. In addition to his regular faction mbers, Carmin, Drastan, Kewanee, Svara, Peter, Hephais, Mihangyl, Ralnor, Wilde, Kurchin, Shulyov, Valentin, Yamabe, Pavao and Ostrexora were also present.
Peter had given up begging for his dose of CZT-3 and was now showing a ghastly face, regularly casting horrified glances at the two young won. He was now sporting a disgusting pair of arms and legs comparable to those of an 8 year old child. If the result was as disturbing as it was ridiculous, at least he was able to move.
"As soon as it starts, we’ll get to work." Jake finished the briefing and probed the faces of everyone present, especially Peter as well as Wilde and his n, who seed in a hurry to leave.
With everyone agreeing to the plan, Kyle nudged Wilde, who nodded in kind. From his backpack, he pulled out several sets of identical Boots and Capes. Will also placed a wooden crate on the table, which contained identical garnts. In the end, there was enough to outfit 10 people.
"With this, you have what you need to activate 10 Traveler Role Cards. I wish you luck." Wilde ragged, knowing full well that without the Legendary Card that went with it, these clothes would remain completely useless.
This Card was extrely rare, but not nearly as scarce as the Jackpots Cards... Jake wasn’t the only one who had managed to get one. Regardless, it was still a difficult Role to acquire. Ten was the number of such Cards they had managed to assemble for tonight’s secret mission.
Ultimately, it was decided that Carmin, Hephais, Mihangyl, Ralnor, Enya, Esya, Peter, Kyle and Tim would accompany Jake. Because Ostrexora could roam freely at night as an Alpha Monster, she would also join in.
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