Chapter 80 - Some Fishing, and Private Talk

Arthur was ranked first on the level leaderboard, with Point Blank right below him. They had entered the dungeon at similar levels, but he had made more progress.

Point Blank was so thrilled to see her name at the top of the dungeon completion list that it took her a moment to notice the level ranking too.

"We’re at the top! Damn."

She started laughing in a weird way, as if something funny had just crossed her mind.

"Imagine the look on Tower’s, Suzy’s, and especially Shadow Cloak’s faces when they log in tomorrow," Point Blank said, grinning again. "We have to keep this pace up and not lose our ranking."

"Agreed. But let’s head back to the elven settlement and log out there," Arthur suggested as he walked toward the portal leading out of the dungeon.

"Why? Logging out here is the same thing, isn’t it?"

She was right. Everyone else had logged out inside the dungeon, and it made no difference in the end. There was no benefit to logging out in the elven settlement.

Arthur, however, wanted to use the little time he had left in the game to do something else.

"It’s just prettier there," he said, pulling a random excuse out of thin air. "I’d rather log in to a nice view than wake up in here. Besides, it’s not like it’s far."

Point Blank thought it over for a few seconds before following him. Arthur was already on his way, so she just went with the flow.

When they stepped outside, the guards were still there, protecting the dungeon and making sure no player got close enough to enter. The group of players Arthur had noticed before going in was still sitting near a tree, waiting for them to come out. And besides them, there were 2 other groups.

After reading the global announcements the game had posted, everyone there knew Arthur had cleared the dungeon, and they wanted a shot at it too. But the guards weren’t letting anyone through.

"Cinder!" one of the players shouted the moment he saw Arthur. "Let us into the dungeon too. You’re monopolizing it? You think that’s fair?"

Without a doubt, every single one of them was recording, ready to post it online so everyone could see how Arthur would react. But what could he do? Give in to their demands and throw away the advantage he’d earned? Not a chance.

Maybe those players were confusing a few things. Arthur was well known. He was a skilled player that people looked up to in a lot of ways. But a guy who’d give up his own gains to help others? When had he ever shown that?

He looked straight at the player, already knowing he was being recorded.

"Yes, I’m monopolizing this dungeon for 14 days. That was my reward for gathering an army to help the elves," Arthur said, completely serious. "And none of you left empty-handed either, right? Remember that."

Arthur took the horn out of his inventory and summoned his pegasus, Cloud Chaser. He and Point Blank climbed on and flew toward the elven settlement, which wasn’t far from there.

"Was that a good idea to say? Won’t they get mad at you?"

"I don’t think so, but what if they do? Let them. I’m not giving up my benefits just to make them happy. Tomorrow we’re exploring the dungeon again, and fuck them."

It wasn’t like the players who took part in the battle had gotten nothing. They all received EXP, items, and even reputation with the elves, which was really hard to come by. Nobody had any right to complain, because they only got those things since Arthur had called them to the quest.

Once they reached the elven settlement, Arthur unsummoned Cloud Chaser. Point Blank walked to the bridge in the middle of the settlement and rested her elbows on the railing, listening to the crickets and the frogs.

"I only have about 20 minutes left, so I’m heading out soon. Talk tomorrow, Cinder."

Then she did something Arthur wasn’t expecting. Point Blank walked up to him and hugged him, her body pressed right against his. Arthur wasn’t someone who got embarrassed easily, but having a woman as beautiful, and sweet-smelling, as Point Blank that close was hard on him.

The second she let go, Point Blank logged out. She didn’t even look at Arthur, as if she was so embarrassed that all she wanted was to get out of the game as fast as possible.

Arthur took a deep breath and enjoyed the place for a few moments before leaving the settlement and heading to the lake, which wasn’t far from there.

It was impressive to have a lake in the middle of a forest like that, but there it was. Arthur knew there were plenty of different fish in that lake, and fishing was exactly what he wanted to do.

He walked calmly through the forest, and as soon as he got close to the lake, he set up his camp as fast as he could. A camp was necessary to log out safely outside of safe zones.

’Tomorrow I’ll fish a bit.’

Arthur logged out. Back in the real world, he slowly got up from the bed, feeling his body a little sore from lying down for so long. It was already night, and his stomach was growling, practically hurting from hunger.

He ordered something to eat. Japanese food. With the money he was making from the videos he posted on the game’s forum, his financial situation was pretty good, though he still needed a lot of cash to help his family. This was only the beginning.

The bodyguards he’d hired seemed happy with the job, and they were already living in an apartment in the same building as him.

Arthur didn’t talk to them much. He just wanted to eat and rest, getting ready for the next day, when he’d have to face the dungeon again.

The next morning, he got a notification on his phone. It was a message from Point Blank.

She didn’t have his number or his real information, of course, but his account was logged in on his phone. The game had an app that let you check some information about your character outside the game, and also access the forum.

Since Point Blank was his friend inside the game, she could send him a message directly through that app.

"The guys got back to me and said they’ll log in at 1 PM, but I think I’ll get on earlier. What are you planning to do? Wanna do another dungeon run with me?"

Arthur had other plans in mind. His life wasn’t only about killing monsters, it was about leveling up his crafting and gathering professions, of course. After all, his biggest gains came from producing the best items and making the most of the passives he had for each profession.

"I’m thinking of fishing a bit at the lake near the elven settlement. And also gathering some ore from a mine. Wanna come?"

He had no idea whether she’d accept or not, and surprisingly, Point Blank said yes.

"Sure. I have fishing gear too. I’ll go fish with you."

Now that was a good friend. Plenty of players only cared about killing monsters, doing quests, and leveling up. But relaxing and fishing for a while? Not everyone would be down for that, and Point Blank was willing.

After a hearty breakfast, Arthur logged in. He was back at his camp by the edge of the lake.

He walked up to the shore, set down a chair he had in his inventory, and started fishing. Point Blank arrived about 10 minutes later. She’d had to walk, so it took her a bit longer.

She took out her own chair and sat next to him, fishing alongside him. Yuki took advantage of being near the lake to play in the water, swimming from one side to the other.

"Swim to the other side of the lake!" Arthur yelled at him. "You’re going to scare off my fish."

"What are the benefits of fishing? I saw that I can pick 1 crafting profession and 2 gathering ones, and fishing and cooking are open to everyone. I still don’t know what to pick."

"Since you’re my friend, I don’t think you need to worry too much about the crafting professions for now. You can focus more on gathering, cooking, and fishing," Arthur said.

If Point Blank focused on those, maybe she could even get him a few resources in exchange for crafting items for her. That would be really useful.

But at the same time, Arthur wanted her to focus on whatever she enjoyed doing.

"As for fishing, you can catch rare items with it, improve your breath underwater to access secret areas, not to mention the chance of finding treasure maps to sail around," Arthur explained, not holding back on the details. "Sailing unlocks around level 30."

Sailing was an important part of the game. Even though all the starting kingdoms were on solid ground, meaning there wasn’t much need to sail, there were still plenty of islands and other continents beyond the starting ones.

Many of those places weren’t exactly ’civilized’ and were more like monster-infested wastelands, but that was exactly what players wanted: places full of monsters to kill and EXP to farm.

Anyway, the two of them had only been fishing for 10 minutes before a group of players showed up to talk to them.

One of those players was the leader of the assassins’ guild...

"I believe my message reached you?" he asked, hands clasped behind his back. "I wanted to talk to you in private."

Arthur had been avoiding talking to him, though not on purpose. He’d just been too busy with other things. Apparently, he wouldn’t be able to avoid him any longer.