Chương 385: Chapter 368

"Do you think we're going to get enough experience points to level up?" Katie asked as they crested another part of the mountainside. All around them, bursts of sulfur and other gases escaped through minute cracks that appeared and disappeared as the entire mountain moved and shifted, trying to contain the awesome power locked beneath it. The entire team was wearing masks, using the party system to communicate. Under their feet the mountain rumbled, and obsidian shards were scattered everywhere.

All around them, small rivers and waterfalls of lava surfaced from recently opened holes before vanishing into others, filling the area with haze as the temperature rose to an uncomfortable level. Well, uncomfortable for most of the team. Dan looked like he was in heaven. Sam shrugged. The gains from those low-level fractures, aside from the loot, were barely noticeable. Per his estimation, the only fracture that would help him level up would be the last one.

Still, that should be enough to gain a few levels and if he was lucky, it would be enough to reach Level 200.

"Who knows?" he said.

"Based on those we just destroyed, I'm not sure…" They stopped at an outcropping and surveyed the area. Despite the hazards surrounding them, it was extremely beautiful. They could see almost half the island, with a rapidly spreading green belt at the edges transitioning into a belt of pure black plains, which in turn transformed into slopes of brown and black dotted with sizzling spots of red, orange, and yellow courtesy of the continuously flowing lava. He really hoped that it would be enough.

The island had seemed like such a good opportunity when Lucy brought it up, but Sam was afraid it had been a false hope. The bar representing his experience points had barely moved after going through five fractures. Katie harrumphed, and they continued their trek until Isabella called out.

"Over there!" she shouted, pointing toward a bright point in the hellscape that formed the side of the volcano. A brightly glowing red crystal, probably ruby, jutted out of the ground in several directions. Inside it, yellow bubbles floated around like those in a lava lamp. Naturally, they surrounded a fracture portal. This one also looked hot, but instead of the searing whites and yellows of the previous portals, this one glowed a much deeper red. A heat sustained over a very long time.

"Wow! Look at that!" Dan called out, rushing over immediately and examining the strange crystals like an eager kid at an ice cream stand who couldn't decide what flavor to ask for. Sam stepped next to him as the rest of the team fanned out in case a monster appeared.

"Some kind of byproduct of the volcano that crystallized over time thanks to pressure and magic," the musclebound wizard explained excitedly.

"It is an extremely potent reagent for fire magic." He hesitantly reached over and ran his finger across the crystal's surface.

"Now I just have to figure out how to harvest it…" Sam tilted his head to the side, trying to sense the crystal with his Mana Sense. To him, it looked as if a phenomenal amount of energy had been crammed into every molecular lattice.

"Let me guess… it explodes extremely easily?" Dan mechanically turned his head and sent him a flat look.

"Yes, but please don't get ideas. One city was enough." Sam raised both his hands, palms facing Dan.

"I wouldn't!" Dan narrowed his eyes and stared at Sam for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to the fascinating crystal.

"I'm still telling Lucy."

"Oh, come on!" Sam huffed in irritation and looked around while Dan seemed to weigh the pros and cons of licking the strange crystal. The area around them was surprisingly free of the viscous gases that had been plaguing them, so he made sure to be extra careful as he approached the fracture portal. Stepping closer, he touched the swirling circle of energy and began reading the text. [You entered a new fracture!] [Fracture: Scoria Curia] [Crystallized volcanic cinder has emerged from underground, creating a strange phenomenon. Investigate it, and search for the cause. See if you can bring back life to this barren island.] [Time Limit: No limit] [Charges: 1/7] The team vanished while Dan had his tongue out and was only a fraction of an inch away from actually licking it. They reappeared at the same spot, just as with the previous fractures, but the environment was completely different.

Sam and his team stood in the middle of a crater that looked as though it had been created by an enormous explosion. The ground was bare and unbelievably smooth. Radiating outward from the spot, tiny red crystals emerged from the earth, all pointing away from the presumed ground zero. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The farther they looked, the bigger the crystals became until they formed a veritable forest of ruby with yellowish bubbles bobbing and floating around inside them.

'Honestly, add a few beanbags and dream catchers, and it would be the dream home for any hippy…' Sam mused while they formed a loose circle and kept their backs to each other. His senses spread wide, but all he could detect was the intense fire-natured mana suffusing the crystals and the quiet, barely restrained heat of the distant volcano.

"Look!" Dan cried out, pointing somewhere into the ruby jungle. One of the crystals began to crack. No. It began to transform from an inanimate object into a monster made of crystals connected by yellow goop as eyes made from the same substance cracked open and stared at them. There were three of those weird eyes, all of them placed at random spots on the monster's body. Then one particular segment split into two, leaving behind a jagged black hole as it roared toward the dark clouds emitted by the volcano.

The cry resonated through the forest, and Sam and his team heard more and more cracks appearing as additional eyes opened and stared at them. His team exchanged excited looks, pulled out their weapons, and summoned their familiars, who appeared equally excited. Lucky emerged from his shadow, transforming into a giant wolf, ready to tear into the enemy. Then, as one, the jungle moved. A crystalline avalanche rushed toward them, and they met it with a war cry of their own.

The rest of the week was spent circling the middle of the volcano and making sure to use up all the charges for each fracture. Turns out crystalline monsters filled with fire were pretty good for experience gains. Plus, Dan was really happy with the loot. Sadly, nobody let Sam handle any of it. As if they were afraid he would take it and use it to create some kind of explosion. Ridiculous!

The end boss was a giant crystalline monster of unidentifiable shape and nature with one of those amber crystals embedded into it, its eye rapidly blinking at them. For the first six runs, they left the amber crystal alone and only shattered it on the last run. They came away with a metric ton of fire crystals and other crystalline reagents, along with a very interesting crystal skill book. It was instantly earmarked for Liz, and afterward they went back to hunting.

Meanwhile, in the real world, things were happening. Every time Sam walked outside, he could still hear people discussing Roserun and the explosions. Almost every time he turned on the TV and checked channels covering gaming news, there was inevitably at least one segment about it. They talked about the economic consequences, the political aftermath, or simply speculated about the nature of the explosion.

Of course, they also covered the fights happening around the crater where the city used to be as people fought for the right to mine rosenite. Whenever he visited the forums, he saw posts claiming somebody had figured out the explosives and was trying to sell them to the masses, while others clamored for Future Unknown to ban Solar or demanded he share the secret with them. Shadowland was even worse. His inbox was full of people asking if he could get his hands on the explosive, or at least a recipe.

One day, however, while resting after an all-day farming session, Sam had an idea. Instead of closing the site, he started typing. [In the process of acquiring the recipes. Expect a paid post any day. ETA: 2-4 weeks.] Sam hit enter and watched as the people on the shadowy site swarmed the post. He never posted like that, so people were freaking out. [Anonymous #232: Seriously? Like… they never post. This must be something big!] [Anonymous #952: Dope! Any hints? Like what kind of crafting do we need for that? Need to know to prepare.] [Anonymous #22145: Probably all of them. Something like that must be a cross-profession stuff…] [Anonymous #66643: I don't care how much it costs. Buying the moment it goes live.] [Anonymous #98565: Hype! Hype! Hype!] Sam sat back with his arms crossed and smiled.

"Why not make some extra money…" he muttered.

"What did you say?" Lucy asked from the other side of the sofa, looking up from her own work. Seeing Sam's suspicious smile, her eyes narrowed.

"What did you do?" Sam pointed at himself.

"Me? What makes you think I did something?" She carefully put down her device, stood up, and walked to his side. Then she stood there, towering over him and looking down.

"Sam."

"Lucy," he replied, looking up.

"Did you do something that would create more work for me?" she asked in a whisper-like tone that promised death if the answer was yes. Sam glanced at the still-scrolling post as more and more people commented and smiled.

"Nope!" Lucy eyed him for a long moment before letting out a huff and turning around, only to plop down next to him. She reached out with one hand.

"Give me that stupid laptop…" He smiled and handed it over, and the two of them huddled together while Lucy scrolled through the comments.

"Crude, but effective…" she commented.

"We can doctor the prepared material for this one."

"That was my thought too…" he replied while pointing at a few overly aggressive comments.

"We can even try seeding a few errors just to sell the ruse better."

"Hmmm…"

"Maybe I 'only' managed to get my hand on an earlier version…" She nodded, opened his messenger, and began typing a message to Liz.

"I'll have Liz whip up a few nice surprises for our customers…" He grinned and bumped his shoulder against hers.

"I like the way you think…" Then there was the dark side of what he had done in Roserun. It didn't take long for reports to emerge that several gaming workshops had collapsed in the aftermath, causing many people to lose their jobs. There were rumors of people fighting and blaming each other for everything. Sam saw several posts from people promising to hunt him down and exact revenge, both in-game and in the real world.

For the real-world threats, they simply hired a private security service and had them go to town on the messages. The in-game ones were forwarded to Tim, who sent his burgeoning assassination guild after those people. Naturally, there were those who demanded compensation for their losses, threatening or, in some cases, actually suing the company behind Magic Unbound.

Of course, those suits went nowhere, as Sam's actions weren't against the Terms and Services or the result of cheating, no matter how many people claimed otherwise. Was it scummy? Yes. Did he use knowledge from the future? Also yes. Did the Terms and Services say anywhere that a player couldn't use information obtained through time and dimensional travel to their advantage? A big fat no. Still, those lawsuits made for good headlines, so for a few days, they dominated the news cycle.

Sam tried to ignore all of that, but sometimes it was hard. He knew his actions would have consequences, and he thought he had been prepared for them, but seeing the deluge of news, posts, messages, and everything else was exhausting. Yes, it was a game, but over the last few months it had transformed into something woven into everyday life. He had destroyed people's livelihoods. Granted, most of those people were scammers, PKers, generally unpleasant individuals, or players belonging to his enemies' faction.

Sadly, this was one of those genies that couldn't be put back into the bottle. Sam stood by his window, leaning against the frame while looking out at the city wreathed in neon, and let out a sigh. He wondered how many of those people had been in Roserun. How many lives had been negatively affected by his actions? Sam didn't know, and at this point, he was rather afraid to find out. Still, as he stood there looking out over the city, he made a silent vow to do something that would make life better for people.

No matter what he did, Magic Unbound would become intertwined with life on this planet, and his actions would affect more and more people. He needed to figure out a way to give something back… Sam remained there for a long time until his phone buzzed and began ringing with an alarm. He pulled it out and silenced it. Stretching, he turned away from the window and headed for his gaming room.

"Time to play…"