Chương 38: Five Million Bounty

Meno opened the armor tab because his brain had run out of ways to avoid the obvious. He had spent every fight and every forge attempt thinking weapon first. Damage first. Chain first. That made sense when every enemy deleted him. In the Common bracket, generic armor had felt like a scam with straps. As far as Meno knew, Veyrath still followed the old armor logic: cloth, leather, mail, plate.

Technically anyone could wear anything, but robes went to casters, leather to fast players, mail to hybrid builds, and plate to people with shield icons and friends. Blacksmithing made plate. Meno selected the first chest pattern he could preview. [Type: Uncommon I Charmsteel Plate Chest] Quality: 0–100% Durability: Low–Maximum Defense: High Action Speed: -5% Magical Effect: Defense He stared at the action speed line.

"No." platebeadgod tank arc -5 isn't that bad wear five pieces coward brinesaint cosplay Meno checked the helm, then pants, then gauntlets, then greaves. Protective metal, a magic defense effect, and a speed penalty, all sitting there like a curse.

"Five pieces is minus twenty-five percent action speed," Meno said.

"That's a boss debuff. That's walking around with a sandworm sitting on your legs." He focused on the Defense line and got no useful explanation. The interface behaved like defense was obvious. It probably reduced all incoming damage by some formula involving armor rating, threat bracket, level, trait matchup, and whatever else the AI felt like punishing. The magical effect probably specialized that defense toward elements, physical hits, or statuses. Probably. He closed the armor tab.

"I would rather die fast with dignity." you already do dignity not found naked speed meta armor is for people who survive mistakes"That's the problem," Meno said.

"Armor only helps after the mistake. Speed prevents the mistake." He checked the auction house for accessories next, more out of spite than hope. Rings. Necklaces. Charms. Anything that might have magic without turning his whole body into a slow-moving dinner bell. Nothing.

"Accessories start at Uncommon or higher," Meno muttered.

"Because magic starts there. And nobody is selling." He backed out of the market and returned to the forge. The next seven Uncommon I daggers came out perfect, one after another, with no drama except the expensive kind. Meno burned the last of his Earth Essences, kept the rune chains in his head, and worked the hammer until the profession bar finally crossed the next threshold. [Blacksmithing Level Up | Level 20] Then he saw the empty essence slot and hated himself.

"Oh, I'm stupid." Chat did not even need context to agree. YES finally rare self-awareness drop what now"One-handed weapons use two of most materials. Two-handers use three." Meno opened the Uncommon I sword and greatsword recipes, confirming the numbers with a sour twist in his mouth.

"But the magical ingredient slot only uses one. One essence whether I make a dagger, sword, or two-hander." The forge kept ringing around him, other players working their stations while he stood there stunlocked. Earth Essence had been the cheapest Uncommon I magical ingredient and still cost twenty-five gold. At higher brackets, that bottleneck would only tighten. Daggers were safe failures, and safe failures were inefficient.

"Great," he said.

"I optimized for being scared." optimize courage next two hander arc big sword wife gift don't say wife he said wife Meno ignored the last line hard enough to make his jaw ache. He considered donating the perfect daggers to the crown supply just to test karma. Common I had given one each. Common II gave two. Common III gave three. Uncommon I might give four, maybe five, maybe ten if the system was feeling generous for magical gear. A hundred-gold weapon for ten karma at best.

After the material massacre, he had barely a thousand gold left. He did not know what high karma did, and buying useless points at current market prices was self-sabotage with a halo.

"No," he said.

"I'm selling these. I'm allowed to make money sometimes." rip hero arc karma whale denied actually sane? Before listing anything, he looked at the two ruined Uncommon I daggers on the bench. Both were Poor. Warped charmsteel. Failed Earth binding. Too ugly for the auction house and too expensive to throw away without feeling it. Meno lifted one toward the stream.

"First two people to reach the forge get the failed daggers. Free souvenir. One per person." The street outside the public forge exploded in footsteps. A woman burst through the forge entrance two seconds later, nearly clipping the doorframe with one shoulder. At first, Meno thought the character model had loaded wrong. Then she straightened, and no, that was just her. She wore fitted leather armor over an avatar built like someone had taken every muscle slider and slammed it to the right.

Broad shoulders, thick arms, powerful thighs, tall enough that Meno's neck noticed. Plenty of players used real faces or half-real bodies for immersion, and Meno had pressed "use real appearance" without even reading the creator properly. This woman either had the strongest commitment to fantasy imaginable, or she was a bodybuilder in real life. Meno inspected her. [Tildapump | Class: Flicker Knife — Level 17 | Ability: Vanish Step] A giant rogue. Tildapump raised one huge hand.

"Uh, hey!" Meno held the failed dagger out with more caution than the situation deserved.

"Hey." The trade prompt appeared when she took it. [Trade Request: Gift Item] Confirm transfer? [Y/N] Meno pressed yes. Tildapump beamed down at the dagger.

"Thanks! This is way better than my old one. Can I have the other one too? I dual wield."

"No," Meno said.

"One per person." Her smile vanished.

"I need the other one."

"And I need a functioning life. We are both disappointed." Tildapump pointed one enormous finger at him.

"You will regret this." Then she stormed out like she'd just been denied half a sandwich. He looked back at chat.

"Chat weapon donations are canceled." NOOOOO TILDA ROBBED give big rogue second knife you fear strong women donation scam"I fear everyone," Meno said.

"That's survival instinct." He took the remaining Poor dagger to the trainer. The blacksmith turned it over in his hands. He did not throw it onto the junk pile this time. He checked the failed rune line, the warped edge, and the dull charmsteel, then tossed it into a different bin near the back of the counter. The pile there held ugly but intact weapons waiting for better hands. Meno waited. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Nothing?" The trainer looked at him.

"Salvage."

"That's all?"

"Would you like praise for bad metal?" Meno placed one perfect Uncommon I dagger on the counter. The trainer inspected it with both hands, thumb moving along the edge, eyes tracking the bound rune line. His expression did not warm, because warmth had apparently been patched out of blacksmith trainers, but the judgment crease in his forehead eased a little.

"Acceptable."

"High praise. I'm moved." [Blacksmithing Instruction Available] Uncommon II Crafting Patterns Cost: 80 gold Meno stared.

"Where's my reputable discount?"

"That is the discounted price." Meno paid. [Gold Spent: 80] [Balance: 924 gold, 10 silver] The new patterns opened, and Meno barely got to regret them before the sky itself decided to advertise. [World Notice] Royal Bounty Boards have appeared in every capital. Emergency bounties issued by the Four Kingdoms. Visit the main square to view available contracts. Players dropped hammers, abandoned half-finished crafts, and ran for the doors. Chat surged so hard Meno almost muted it on instinct.

bounty board go go go free gold kings finally paying rent Meno ran. Westmarket's main square opened wide around a tiered stone fountain, its water spilling into a broad basin. Stone streets fed in from every direction, each one packed with players moving like someone had announced free legendary gear. In front of the fountain stood a new board. The board stood taller than a man, dark wood edged in gold, Westmarket's royal seal glowing at the top.

Four smaller kingdom symbols sat beneath it: red, yellow, silver, and blue. Apparently, the Four Kingdoms only agreed on things when the world started dreaming itself to death. Meno shoved close enough to read. [Royal Emergency Bounty Board] [Repeatable Bounty: Sleepwalker Suppression] Reward Pool: 5, 000 gold per confirmed Sleepwalker kill Gold divided by recorded contribution among participants.

[Royal Bounty: Vervenzal, the Banished God] First Kill Only Reward Pool: 5, 000, 000 gold Gold divided by recorded contribution among participants. Meno read the first bounty twice. Five thousand sounded large until the math walked in with dirty shoes. A Sleepwalker had been question marks to BrineSaint at Level 36. It had turned a normal sandworm into a nightmare boss, nearly deleted the rank-one player, and vanished after failing to die.

A five-man party clearing one would split around a thousand gold each, assuming contribution stayed clean and nobody brought extra bodies. A thousand gold was ten perfect Uncommon I daggers at emergency prices. One million was ten thousand daggers, offered for killing something probably designed around Level 50 pressure.

"The king is cheap," Meno said. 5k is huge bro got dragon toe rich and forgot poverty you have 900g shut up 5mill bounty though"The five million isn't real," Meno said.

"That's announcement money. A number guild officers can point at before Vervenzal bankrupts them on consumables." A player beside him muttered, "You opened it." Meno did not turn.

"And you're welcome for portal access." The square kept filling. Players shouted bounty plans, guild tags formed clusters, and casuals asked whether Sleepwalkers could spawn in starter zones. Someone near the fountain loudly claimed they had seen one outside Rillpost, which was either a lie, a mistake, or the start of a problem Meno did not want to own. Then chat shifted. AURELIA LIVE SHE RANDOMED GO WATCH LOOK AT HIS FACE Meno looked away from the board and said nothing.

oh he mad mad silent debuff open stream coward His hand twitched toward the ban menu before he stopped it. If he banned one person, they would smell blood. They would say the word ten thousand times, clip the reaction, make edits, and start a counter for how fast they got him to break. Chat was not a crowd. Chat was a many-headed boss with no loot table and perfect memory for weakness. Meno walked back toward the auction house.

"Market first." The auction hall had gotten worse after the bounty notice. Players packed every terminal, hunting for Sleepwalker counters, resistance gear, cheap consumables, and anything with Dream-Burned in the name. Meno found a station and listed the eight perfect Uncommon I daggers. The price had shifted again. The cheapest perfect Uncommon I dagger sat at 125 gold now, because emergency capitalism had discovered fear.

Meno undercut hard, setting each at 120 gold buyout to sell before the market changed its mind. Still profit. He barely stepped out of the auction hall before the notices landed. [Auction Complete] Uncommon I Charmsteel Dagger x8 sold. Proceeds: 960 gold. [Balance: 1, 884 gold, 10 silver] Meno stopped.

"That was too fast." He turned around and reopened the auction interface. Search: Uncommon I dagger. Lowest price: 99 gold bid, 149 gold buyout. Same Earthen Edge. Same eight daggers. Someone had bought his entire batch and relisted every piece before his brain finished enjoying income.

"I hate auction snipers." From across the hall, a voice called, "Thanks for the gold, Prayerbeadman." A bald player in his twenties stood near another terminal, relaxed in the way only safe people enjoyed being punchable. He wore red-trimmed caster clothes and a smile that made Meno's hand move toward a weapon he no longer had. [Bradbaron | Class: Fire Adept — Level 20 | Ability: Ignition Point] Bradbaron jogged closer, still grinning.

"My chat handle is WifeLawyer, by the way." NO WAY THE DIAGNOSIS GUY PK HIM CITY SAFE ZONE MVP Bradbaron the goat ban him ban him ban him Meno's thumb hovered over the moderation panel. He could ban him. He should ban him. The man was toxic, annoying, and had just turned his daggers into a flip margin while calling him Prayerbeadman in public. He also had been the insult that snapped Meno into focus and produced the first perfect Uncommon craft. Meno closed the moderation panel.

Bradbaron's smile widened, confident now after narrowly avoiding becoming content debris.

"Good choice," Bradbaron said.

"Leave," Meno said.

"Strong community management. Very warm." Bradbaron wandered off, and Meno returned to the auction terminal because he had forgotten the only reason he had money again. Uncommon II required a new magical ingredient tier, and if he waited, the prices would probably keep rising. He searched Uncommon II magical ingredients and felt his shoulders sink at the cheapest result. [Uncommon II Water Essence] — 100 gold The most expensive visible listing sat near the bottom of the page.

[Uncommon II Gale Pearl] — 240 gold Four times the Uncommon I floor. Every tier multiplied the pain because better monsters dropped better materials, better players kept them private, and the public market existed mainly to punish people.

"No more daggers," Meno said.

"Absolutely no more daggers." His previous mistake still sat there. He had seventy of most support materials, but the bottleneck was magic. Bars mattered. Fuel mattered. Grips and pins mattered. Essence decided whether the attempt existed at all. He bought five Water Essences. [Gold Spent: 500] [Balance: 1, 384 gold, 10 silver] Five attempts. That was all he could justify without turning the rest of his gold into forge smoke. Technically, the forge could pay him back for a while. Perfect Uncommon gear sold.

The market was hungry, and he had hands good enough to feed it. Standing in a city printing gold also meant BrineSaint farmed without him. Kestrel gained levels. JaxxonVale kept moving. Back at the forge, Meno selected the Uncommon II Charmsteel Sword pattern. A one-handed sword used two Charmsteel Bars, two Infused Grip Wraps, two Infused Binding Pins, two Charm Forge Fuels, and one Water Essence. One hundred seventy gold in materials for one attempt. The physical steps did not scare him anymore.

Heat band, centerline, turn, spine, edge, tang, quench, temper, grip, pin, grind. Compared to a stealth rogue stabbing his spine or a Sleepwalker folding BrineSaint into black fire, forge prompts were nice. People struggling with the basic steps had probably never fought a boss while maintaining a chain. Then the runes appeared, seven of them, while the ghost voice whispered too fast and too evenly, each syllable similar enough to interfere with the last. Soh. Nah. Ruh. Mah. Wah. Vel. Thun.

Meno captured the first five in his head and lost the two new ones like water through a cracked cup.

"Oh, come on." The forge did not pause for his complaint. The physical work went clean. Perfect heat. Perfect fuel. Perfect flattening. Perfect shape. The sword blank extended under the hammer, longer and heavier than a dagger, but still obedient. Water Essence sank into the groove along the blade with a blue-green shimmer, spreading through the charmsteel like tidewater under ice. The first five runes went right. The sixth appeared, and Meno's brain offered nothing useful.

"Vel?" [Bad] The magic lurched sideways through the blade. The hammer bind came anyway, and he struck angry [Bad]. The seventh rune flashed.

"Thun." [Bad] The hammer strike smeared the final line through the water effect [Bad]. He finished the sword with his teeth clenched. Quench. Temper. Cool. Grip. Pin. Edge. The blade still came out beautiful compared to his old trash, with a pale blue line running along the charmsteel and a clean enough balance to make his empty weapon slot ache.

[Pattern Complete] Type: Uncommon II Charmsteel Sword Quality: 88% — Fine Durability: High Tidal Edge: Deals 15% increased damage against Fire-aspected and Dust-aspected enemies. His Blacksmithing bar moved, then stopped. [Blacksmithing Level 20: 66%] Fifteen perfect on the extra damage got him no perfect bonus experience. One hundred seventy gold of materials had turned into a weapon the public market refused to acknowledge because it was only Fine instead of flawless. Meno held the sword in both hands.

"Still not bad." fine sword is still good use it equip it?? better than nothing sell to player It was better than anything he had owned by a disgusting margin. Uncommon II. High durability. Tidal Edge. A real sword, finally. Also the kind of thing he should sell because he needed the gold to reach the sword he actually wanted to make.

"Anyone want this for two hundred gold?" Meno asked. I have 2g 10 silver and friendship will trade apple 12g serious can pay exposure 5g and wife advice"Why is my chat broke?" Meno said. A voice came from the forge entrance.

"I'll take it for one seventy-five." Meno's shoulders tightened before he turned and found Bradbaron outside the forge, hands raised like he was approaching a feral animal with a business plan.

"Get lost," Meno said.

"My man, profit is profit."

"You are the last person I want to sell to."

"That's emotion talking." Bradbaron pointed at the sword.

"Guilds don't need Fine. Average players can't afford Fine. Auction house won't list Fine. You can make another one, and I will have to work to move it because I can't just press relist. It's a good transaction. I gotta get paid too."

"One-eighty minimum or leave." Bradbaron grinned.

"Let's do it." Meno had not traded for gold directly before. Bradbaron initiated it, and a window opened between them. Meno placed the sword on his side of the trade. Bradbaron entered the gold amount, and his half lit green. [Trade Offer] You give: Uncommon II Charmsteel Sword You receive: 180 gold Confirm? [Y/N] Meno confirmed. [Trade Complete] [Balance: 1, 564 gold, 10 silver] scammed worth 250 easy Brad won Meno won? spreadsheet diff Bradbaron took the sword and gave it an appreciative little swing.

"If you mess up more crafts, call me. I'll take them all off your hands."

"There won't be any more mistakes."

"Sure, man." Meno turned back toward the forge. Bradbaron said, "Did you see wife stream, by the way?" Meno stopped moving. The forge sounded louder for a second. Hammer strikes. Bellows. Quench hiss. Players talking, laughing, failing. All of it pressed in around the space Bradbaron had just opened. Meno did not turn around.

"Shut up." Bradbaron, being Bradbaron, continued.

"She randomed some awful class called Heavy Striker. Two-handed weapons only. It's a hold-and-charge, stand-in-place, giga-slow attack class. Worst possible thing for our princess." Meno's hand tightened.

"She's stuck messing with boars," Bradbaron said, too brightly.

"No skills yet. She is so bad. Maybe you should craft her a weapon. Just saying."

"I am very close to putting you on ignore." Bradbaron lifted both hands again, still smiling.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I just thought you should know." Meno did not want to know. Now he did.