Chapter 78
Twelve Million Gold?
After we finished the quest, we moved several hundred metres away from the forest troll camp. The place had already smelled worse than a toilet at a festival, and adding thirty mangled troll corpses along with puddles of blood and gore had done nothing to improve matters.
In fact, I was half tempted to send Rel back before we left and have him flamethrower the whole place. The system would probably award us bonus points for community service.
“Right,” I said. “Before we head back to Stonehaven, let’s talk about what just happened. The positives, the negatives, and the what-the-fuck-were-you-thinkings.”
Everybody looked at Kaelis.
He sighed. “I’m deeply sorry for my reckless behaviour,” he said. “It’s just that when I saw that disgusting creature emerge from the tent, something inside me snapped. It was as though a red haze descended over my thoughts, and all I could think about was tearing it limb from limb.”
This sounded like a case for Doctor Pete.
“I see,” I said, nodding knowingly. “In my professional opinion, you have a severe case of unresolved troll-related trauma. It sounds to me as though, rather than working through the issues caused by the trolls beating the ever-loving shit out of you back on Floor Two, you’ve been bottling it all up inside. The problem is that bottles only have a limited capacity. Eventually, they overflow. Or, in your case, explode.”
“I think you might be right, Master,” replied Kaelis. “What do you recommend that I do? If you and Grandmaster Rel had not been here today, there is a very real possibility that I would’ve died. Worse still, my foolishness may have cost Voklum and Allaria their lives as well.”
I reached over and patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. “Admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery,” I said. “I’ll book you in for two sessions a week and we can start working through the unresolved issues that caused you to lose control of yourself.”
“Professional opinion?” said Rel. “I do not think that– You know what? Never mind. Putting aside the small matter of Kaelis’s meltdown, what were your thoughts on the difficulty of the quest?”
“I think it was perhaps a little too difficult,” said Voklum. “While it is important that we choose quests that push our limits, there is a difference between challenge and recklessness. This quest had a three-star difficulty rating and a recommended group size of five. Perhaps the ideal would be a three-star quest with a smaller group size, or a two-star quest with a larger one.”
“Wise words, Voklum,” I said. “When we get back to Stonehaven, you guys should visit the Quest Board and find something appropriate… maybe avoid anything involving trolls for the time being. Rel and I will head to the auction house and start selling all the shit we looted from Lokta’Inif and her crew.” I turned to Rel and grinned. “After that, old buddy, I think it’s time we do a little questing of our own and see what the Tier Five Quest Board has to offer.”
“Before we leave,” said Allaria, “I was wondering if anybody would be willing to sell me their Troll Bone Blade. My bow is very powerful, but the only weapons I have for close combat are the two basic knives I was given by the quartermaster at the Trialist Accommodation Centre. They were good enough when I was fighting low-tier enemies, but they're next to useless now.”
A knife appeared in her hand. It was around the length of my forearm and definitely looked like the sort of weapon that was suited to dual wielding. The handle was wrapped in black leather, but the rest of the weapon had been fashioned from bone. It had a yellowish tinge, like very old paper, and the blade ended in a razor-sharp point. Little jagged teeth ran along its length, and I had a feeling that if someone stabbed you with the knife and then ripped it back out again, you'd have a very bad day.
I opened my inventory and checked the description for the quest reward.
Troll Bone Blade
Equipping the item grants the following bonuses:
+ 3 agility
+ 2 strength
+ Grants the ability: Bleed
Bleed
Successful strikes inflict wounds that resist natural healing, dealing mild damage over time for ten seconds. Additional strikes refresh the duration.
While nothing special, it was leaps and bounds beyond the basic knife provided by the quartermaster.
“Sell it to you?” I asked. “What sort of operation do you think we’re running here? Don’t be silly. You can have mine.”
I withdrew the knife and went to toss it to her. Then I remembered what the description had said about the bleed effect. I handed it over very carefully, handle first.
Allaria rose to her feet and performed some basic sequences. She moved with a lethal grace that was so elegant it was almost like watching a skilled dancer.
A dancer who could disembowel you if you looked at her the wrong way.
She let out a satisfied grunt, then turned to me and smiled. “You’re a very generous man, Peter Brookes,” she said. “Not many people would be willing to give up a quest reward from the Expedition Centre knowing they could exchange it for Expedition Centre Points instead.”
The quest rewards could be exchanged… for Expedition Centre Points?
My mind was suddenly filled with visions of The Pitchfork of Lurus, and I briefly considered snatching the knife back and arguing that no legally binding transfer of ownership had actually taken place.
Alas, I had been raised better than that. Instead, I responded with a modest shrug.
“That’s what good teamwork is all about.”
*
When we arrived back in Stonehaven, Kaelis, Voklum, and Allaria returned to the Expedition Centre, while Rel and I headed to the Trialist Accommodation Centre. We swung by our rooms first to collect the mountain of inventory pouches that held the loot from the battle against Lokta’Inif and crew.
The system didn’t allow inventory pouches to be stored inside other inventory pouches, so I ended up having to fashion a giant sack from my bedsheets just to transport them all.
As we wandered through the corridors towards the auction master’s office, I imagined we looked a little like Santa Claus and Rudolph… if Santa was a dashingly handsome peasant carrying a sack full of loot rather than presents, and Rudolph was a squirrel who, rather than possessing a shiny red nose, could blast people with fire and lightning.
I knocked on the door to the office. A moment later, a familiar voice responded.
“Enter!”
Oh fuck.
More than a little hesitantly, I pushed the door open. Auroria was standing beside a large desk. She glanced up from whatever she had been working on, and her eyes immediately darkened when she saw me.
Subconsciously, I reached up to rub the cheek that had recently been introduced to Auroria’s claws.
“Erm,” I said, offering her an awkward smile. “Hi, Auroria… long time no see.”
She glared at me for a few moments longer, then sighed. “Peter Brookes. Squire Rel. What can I help you with?”
“Ah, well,” I said. “We’re looking for the auction master… have we come to the wrong place?”
“No, you’re in the right place,” she replied. “Gaelin, the auction master who would usually be working today, was given the day off to attend his daughter’s graduation ceremony. No one else was available to cover, so I was called in.”
Given the day off to attend his daughter’s graduation ceremony? It took my brain a few moments to process the absurd normality of her statement. After six months of monsters, magic, and quests, it felt almost surreal to be reminded that ordinary people were still out there living ordinary lives.
Honestly?
I think I preferred the monsters, magic, and quests.
I walked over to the desk and dropped the sack from slightly higher than was strictly necessary, creating a satisfying thud for dramatic effect.
“We have some stuff we’d like to sell.”
Auroria untied the bedsheets, her eyes widening slightly when she saw the sheer number of inventory pouches.
“Are these all full?” she asked.
“Most of them are,” replied Rel. “We spent some time attempting to organise them based on their value.”
She nodded, then picked up one inventory pouch after another, briefly pausing to examine their contents. With a casual gesture, a holographic tablet appeared beside her and floated above the desk.
“I recognise many of these items,” she said, never taking her eyes off her work. “Are these the spoils from your battle against Lokta’Inif?”
She was noticeably less frosty when she spoke to Rel, which made me realise that her annoyance was directed entirely at me. It was time to deploy a little bit of the famous Peter Brookes charm and win her back over.
“Yep,” I said before Rel could respond. “So… do you come here often?”
Rel sighed.
It was a sigh that contained equal parts contempt, disappointment, and pity.
Auroria paused and turned to look at me, the inventory pouch in her hand momentarily forgotten. “Do I…” she said. “… come here often? What do you mean by ‘here’? The Expedition Centre? The Auction Office?”
I felt my face starting to grow warm.
“Sorry,” I said. “What I meant to say was... I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I have yours instead?”
She stared at me blankly. “What is a phone number?”
“Just stop talking, Pete,” said Rel.
I took his advice.
The next thirty minutes passed in awkward silence as Auroria continued cataloguing the contents of the pouches.
“Okay,” she said finally. “I’ve ran all of the items through the system and can make some offers based on the current market rates. First, if you would like to sell the items directly to us, we can offer you–” She paused to glance at her holographic tablet. “–12,358,123 gold.”
Rel and I swore simultaneously.
We’d known the items would be worth a decent chunk of money, but that was far more than either of us had expected.
“We would also be happy to help you list the items on the auction house,” continued Auroria, “but the normal conditions would apply. You would need to pay a commission and wait for the items to sell. It’s likely that doing so would result in a higher return, but that is a question of whether you believe the additional profit is worth the inconvenience.”
She paused for a few moments while Rel and I performed a very enthusiastic celebratory dance around the room.
“There is one more option available to you,” she said once we had finally settled down. “Many of these items originated as rewards from Expedition Centre quests. As such, they may also be exchanged for Expedition Centre Points.”
“We can trade in other people’s quest rewards?” I asked.
“Indeed,” replied Auroria. “Ownership is irrelevant. The only requirement is that the item originated as a reward from an Expedition Centre quest.”
Now that presented us with quite the dilemma. If we took the gold and combined it with our already very considerable wealth, we’d probably have enough to secure top-ten spots on the acquired wealth leaderboard for everyone in our group.
On the other hand, the Expedition Centre Points opened the door to some incredible items. The sort of items that could dramatically increase our chances of qualifying through the more satisfying method of being absurdly powerful.
“Let’s talk numbers,” said Rel. “You said that ‘many of these items’ qualify. If we were to trade all of them in for Expedition Centre Points, how many would we receive?”
Auroria glanced back at the tablet and made a few gestures, causing the display to change.
“Trading them all in would net you 16,465 Expedition Centre Points,” she said. “If you then sold the remaining ineligible items directly to us, you would receive a further 2,148,438 gold.”
I let out a long, low whistle.
We’d be giving up more than ten million gold if we chose to trade the items for points.
But we’d also receive over 3,000 points each. That would likely shave a month off the time it would take me to earn enough to buy everything on my shopping list. It would also give Kaelis, Voklum, and Allaria the opportunity to purchase unique items of their own – something that would likely be impossible for Trialists of their current strength.
I looked down at Rel to find him staring back at me.
Over the months, we’d developed a sort of telepathic bond of brotherhood. With a single glance, I could tell he was thinking exactly the same thing as me.
The choice was obvious.
We were already absurdly rich, and gold was relatively easy to come by. On the other hand, the unique items available for Expedition Centre Points were anything but. They were genuinely powerful items that would likely see us through the rest of the Trial and into the competition itself.
“We’ll take the points,” I said. “Can you divide them equally between me, Rel, Kaelis, Voklum, and Allaria?”
“Very well,” said Auroria. “I will ensure the appropriate number of points are credited to your accounts.”
By the time we left, she was nowhere near as stand-offish as she had been.
You’ve still got it, Petey Boy. You’ve still got it.