Alex spends the next few days in a relaxed manner.
Gaming for half a day, visiting his parents and other relatives for a few hours, taking Jewel and sometimes the others as well to various parks, restaurants, and other places, as well as showing them more of the real world in general. Overall, he has a lot of fun and can finally relax.
Despite visiting the markets, various stores, and private trading meets inside the Realm, Alex doesn't find anything that catches his eye. However, at the same time, no one from the Seekers contacts or bothers him, leaving him in a continuously good mood.
Finally, after six days, he, along with Jewel, who refuses to separate from him, meets up with Rishi in the Realm, the two of them meeting in a private room on the ground floor of the Player Tower.
Despite not seeing him for a while, Rishi looks exactly the same—confident, relaxed, and overall like a person who is fully in control and more than aware of it. His appearance is, as always, perfectly spotless. Wearing perfectly fitting designer clothes, he looks like a modern business tycoon. Because of his appearance, there is an obvious stark contrast to Alex, who always wears casual clothes and also decides to leave on his armor and weapons as well, appearing like an armored mercenary or rogue knight, especially because of the large spider on his head. It doesn't help that she's glaring at anyone who looks at her or Alex the wrong way, switching from Zetsu to Gyo whenever she pleases, causing more than one player to stumble and actually fall onto the ground from the sudden shock.
To Alex's immense relief, such behavior is not counted as an attack, making that behavior strange and rude, but not illegal.
"It's nice to see you again," Alex says, shaking Rishi's hand upon meeting him.
"You as well; you look quite formidable. Your Aura is growing stronger and stronger; how fearsome," he says, smiling, appearing like the incarnation of kindness and politeness.
Man... you really have to be careful about the nice ones. Smiling during the day, laughing maniacally during the night while writing names in his notebook. Probably also eating potato chips...
Princess Jewel thinks that people shouldn't eat those nasty chips.
... what?
Princess Jewel thinks only the juiciest, freshest chicken qualifies as a worthy snack.
"Nasty chips... are you Gollum now?" Alex wonders, a hint of nostalgia washing over him.
"As usual, you two seem to be having a lot of fun. You are quite the team, aren't you?" Rishi asks, making Alex realize that Jewel, once again, successfully distracted him with her banter.
"..."
❤️
"Well... I hope you are fine as well and... focused on the Realm... and not on other things... and stuff," Alex responds vaguely, yet with an intention that couldn't be clearer.
"Precision," Rishi replies. "A good surgeon does not hold back and cuts with the utmost decisiveness and precision. Not a cut too much, not a cut too little. With unwavering confidence and intent as required, yet also with as much care and responsibility as possible."
"..."
Princess Jewel is not amused. Manipulator Rishi should rethink his approach.
Hey... for once I agree with you. Maybe there is hope for you after all...
Who cares about Peasant business in the first place? It's a waste of Princess Jewel's precious time—time she could spend eating chicken.
"Haha, indeed, Jewel, it's barely worth talking about," Rishi replies with a gentle smile.
"..."
Hopeless spider....
Shaking his head, Alex decides to change the topic. "So... I have the birb for you. Jewel, if you even mention eating it or otherwise hurting it, I'll get angry."
Not even a little bite, Soulmate? Princess Jewel will hold back....
"NO!" Alex replies firmly, immediately denying her request.
Grabbing the [Cage of Hattori (Pet)] from his inventory, he opens a trade screen and tries to initiate a trade with Rishi.
However, Rishi declines the trade, smiling softly.
"This isn't quite how this works, Alex. We haven't talked about terms," he notes calmly.
"Look... I trust you, and you can pay me later... I'm not exactly short on FC, hehe. I'm rich as fuck. I can finally say I can wipe my ass with FC," Alex says, sounding deeply satisfied, drunk on money.
"Thanks to my wealth, I can honestly say right now that life is money, and money is life! As long as you have money, or in my case FC, you've already won the game of life. That's all there is to it. No need to philosophize. That's really all it is. Too bad those poor peasant players will never understand. Like, there's more to life than money. To work? To Live? Hahahaha, what kind of excuses will those crazy poor bastards say next?" Alex jokes, his mood at the absolute peak, having profited to such an immense degree.
"However, what differentiates me is that I'll remember my friends and remain careful. I'll celebrate my wealth but won't get carried away... still, I can give away a pigeon to a friend!" Alex says, smiling at him.
Rishi smiles briefly, but clearly disagrees. "You may say all those silly things, but I know you are stingy and quite careful with money, which is a great thing. The only exceptions are your friends and comrades, with whom you are always generous to an alarming degree. You manage your FC carefully—it's a fact, as it's deeply rooted in your nature. However... just because we are friends doesn't mean you can hand out things for free. As much as I like you and trust you, on principle, I refuse to accept handouts. That would put me in the same position as a certain bat, which I firmly want to avoid..." Rishi says, and for the first time there is a faint trace of ambiguity in his voice.
"... It makes sense to get acquainted with your new partner sooner rather than later, don't you think?" Alex asks. "Principles are fine, but this is about survival and our future. Pride shouldn't come before rationality. A loan is not a gift."
"Indeed, I agree," Rishi agrees. "However, let's just discuss the price, so I can acquire it right away. A Light Gold Quality item. Despite the pet being only a Blue-ranked pet, the item itself is classified quite differently."
"Yes... because usually you need special skills to tame or obtain pets. These items are the exception, because they allow players with non-Pet builds, like us, to obtain one as well. So despite being only a somewhat rare pet, with Blue Quality the item is still of Gold Quality," Alex explains, speaking with confidence. "It's perfectly logical, wouldn't you agree? The same was the case for Jewel's egg... even if her Quality had been lower, her egg would have been at least Light Gold Quality. A pet is a huge advantage... you know what Jewel is capable of. I also got almost killed by a fucking Pikachu last mission, I tell you; pets make all the difference. If you don't have one, you're essentially neglecting one part of the System, which is a fatal flaw you can't accept."
"I fully agree," Rishi says, smiling. "I simply want to negotiate from a position of clarity. Since we agree on principle, we can proceed."
"Okay?" Alex wonders.
Is he trying to scam me or what? Sure sounds like it, though I doubt he'd do that, especially since I wanted to give him the pigeon right away.
Princess Jewel will easily see through his pathetic attempt at trickery. Soulmate doesn't need to worry.
"I've recently obtained quite a few rare items through various sources. One item in particular allowed me to summon a random trader, taking into account the worlds I've visited. It turns out that, for me, the trader was a little gnome from Azeroth. He visits me during random intervals with a few items he intends to sell to me. If I invest a lot of FC, his items for the next visit improve a little—if I buy nothing, the quality will decline. I've wasted a lot of FC to push the merchant to the limit and then liquidated everything at a loss to afford the one and only powerful item the greedy gnome offered me."
That sounds kinda sketchy, but also cool.
"What I am trying to say is that I already suspected that a situation such as this would occur," he goes on. "Let's just say... your Aura informed me not too long ago. So I planned ahead and intend to offer this item for trade. Please take a look—I expect a positive reply."
The fuck? It's my decision! Don't think I'll just agree because of your shitty predictions or vague foresight. If the item is not exactly what I want, I won't waste my FC, since I'd also need to rank up the item. I said I'd give it to you and you can pay me later, but not with random crap. I refuse to invest in a temporary or mediocre item. I might be a pretty lax guy, but in terms of equipment, I only entrust my life to things I deem worthy. Especially since I now have the funds to improve whatever I want.
"Let's see then..." Alex says, keeping any anger or disapproval off his face as he calmly opens his system screen and takes a look at the item information Rishi is sharing with him.
[Skullflame Shield]
World: World of Warcraft
Quality: Gold
Type: Shield (Teardrop shield—variation)
Requires Stats: STR - 15, PHY - 15
Required Skills: Shield Proficiency lvl 5, Basic Endurance lvl 5, Basic Close Combat Prowess lvl 5
Durability: 240/240
Damage: 10-15 + 5 Fire Damage
Effect: Increases Fire & Shadow (Dark) Resistance by 10%.
Effect: Life Drain - Grants a small chance (9%) to drain 35 HP from the attacker. The damage dealt is counted as Shadow (Dark) damage.
Effect: Hellfire Blast - Grants a very small chance (3%) to deal 75 to 125 Fire damage to all targets around you. This attack may ignite or burn your enemies.
Note: Enchanted with forbidden magic, this shield is fueled by both shadow and fire magic. It will harm its attacker with its spikes and flames, or if fate is not on their side, engulf them in a dark or fiery nightmare.
Note: Just one look at the shield fills most enemies with a sense of dread and hopelessness, making them realize that their attack might backfire in a cruel way.
Alex stares at the item in shock, his mouth wide open, moving on its own as he not only takes in the stats, but also the appearance of the item. The shield itself is vaguely shaped like a typical teardrop, starting out thick and getting somewhat thinner towards the bottom. However, it has sharp spikes at the top, and the shield is metallic red, with a menacing skull in the middle, fire constantly spewing out of its mouth, making it look anything but ordinary. As he stares at it, his skin crawls, as the shield looks like it belongs to the devil himself, immediately warning him against striking it.
I... know this shield... how could I not? It's one of the most famous shields in the original game. A world drop, maybe the second most expensive one if I remember correctly. It's nostalgic—it's not as good gameplay-wise as the high-end raid shields, but this isn't how the system works anyway.
Its stats are almost exactly as they were in-game... 10% resistances... identical damage numbers of the effects. Wow... heh, WoW indeed.
More importantly... the effects are luck-based...! With my LUK, these things might pop off like crazy. This is insane... the weakness of this shield was its pathetically low activation chances... 3% and 1% respectively, but they have been changed to 9% and 3%... which is a huge improvement. Granted, this is not WoW where a tank gets hit hundreds of times during a fight, but still. Add to that my LUK, and things should get crazy. 1 LUK increased the chance of my good old revolver triggering by 1%. That means... I'm at an insane 39/33% activation chance. Can it be?! That's... crazy... unless there exists some kind of diminishing effect. I need to study it more carefully. However, while this item might be mediocre for anyone else, or maybe even outright bad, because of its lack of stats and reliable effects, for me, it's clearly insane.
Not only that, but this shield has also changed... no, improved. It has a damage number?! I mean, yes, it makes sense... the skull and the spikes look dangerous as fuck, but my old [Shield of Pluto] didn't have that effect, damage wasn't mentioned, and I still dealt damage when I smacked people over the head. With the additional damage stat, my shield will hurt like hell... literally.
I hate to be like this, but... how can I not accept this? This shield is perfect for me... Rishi must have known this. He knows my strengths. This item is honestly worse than the average Purple shield for the majority of players. It requires Shield Proficiency lvl 5, a Blue-Quality skill, but that isn't an issue, as my Royal Alexandrian Swordsmanship is both a sword and shield skill. Since it's Gold Quality, I can equip and use this shield to its full effect. In fact, my skill increases both its damage, speed, and accuracy, along with my block chance, sturdiness, and defense with shields.
Soulmate...
Soulmate...!
Soulmate needs to accept the deal. Princess Jewel can eat roasted chicken any time she wants with this shield. Since Soulmate wears it on his back, Princess Jewel can roast chickens on the go! What luxury, what comfort, what decadence. This is the best item Princess Jewel has ever seen. ❤️
"... shut up with your chicken already!" Alex complains.
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