Chương 62: Body Bag Key

Meno stood in the dirt hole with one HP, while the last blue sparks from the Sleepwalker crawled across the ceiling and died in the loose crystal dust. Meno opened notifications. [Royal Bounty Contribution Registered] [Claim reward at a Royal Bounty Board.]"No gold," he said, voice still rough.

"I have to visit a board to claim the five thousand." Bradbaron leaned forward from the tunnel.

"What, did you expect the gold to teleport?" Meno ignored him and crouched near the pale cloth residue where the Sleepwalker had dissolved. A single item prompt hovered above the ground, half-buried in loose dirt, its glow deep purple with a bright gold edge. Recipe. High quality. His chest tightened before he even touched it. He picked it up fast, because leaving loot on the ground in front of a merchant felt like testing fate.

[Recipe Acquired: Dreamguard Bulwark] Quality: Epic III Type: Shield Recipe Profession Requirement: Any Blacksmithing Archetype Level 55 Material Trait: Dream, Ward, Vervenzal A shield designed to withstand Sleepwalkers, Dream-touched enemies, and Vervenzal. Meno stared at the requirement. Level fifty-five. His Fluxforge Smith was level thirty and already blocked by Karma.

"Do you guys see this on my stream?" he asked. Bradbaron's head snapped up.

"Yes. Quickly, give it to me. I could sell that for fifty thousand gold before dinner." Chadculator crawled closer with dirt on his face and immediate contempt in his eyes.

"Do not sell it yet. That's a money printer. Wait until guilds are higher level and richer, or learn it yourself." Bradbaron pointed the shovel at him.

"You do not know basic economics. Gold today is worth more than gold tomorrow."

"That is only true if you spend it intelligently," Chadculator said.

"This shield recipe climbs the moment people start dying to Vervenzal." Bradbaron's eyes narrowed.

"You are hiding behind future demand because you do not understand liquidity."

"You are using liquidity as an excuse to sell the best anti-raid shield recipe in Veyrath before the market learns to walk." Meno put the recipe into his inventory while they fought. money printer Brad vs Chad SELL NOW DO NOT SELL learn it lvl55 wall lmao The Titan prompt still waited in his UI. Meno flexed his hands once, because his fingers felt like they had been vibrating inside the capsule for the last three minutes.

"This better not be another design credit. I will seriously file a complaint if it is." He opened the achievement, saw the first line, and instantly closed it. Chat revolted. OPEN IT WHY you monster wall of text robbed Meno did a small fist pump.

"Not design credit." Chat forgave him for half a second, then resumed screaming. He reopened the panel and held up one hand.

"Wall of text alert." Then he began reading through one of the longest notifications he had ever seen, line by line. [Achievement Acquired: Titan IV] You defeated a Threat??? enemy solo before Level 40. You have walked the path of Titans from the beginning. The path of Titans ends here. Further solo achievement paths require world state progression. Meno read it twice, then looked toward the cracked ceiling where the Sleepwalker had been.

"Wow. So that's it for Titan?" He wiped dirt from his cheek with the back of one wrist and immediately regretted touching the spot where the lightning had kept hitting him.

"Makes sense, I guess. At level forty-nine, most question marks probably turn into Lethal threat. The few that stay question marks are raid bosses. Or that Colossus." RIP TITAN mount quest now WORLD STATE = RAID Vervenzal wall confirmed soft cap arc"World state progression means clearing something," Meno said.

"Everything keeps pointing at Vervenzal. VantaRush said the game might turn into faction war after that." Bradbaron, still sitting in dirt, raised a hand.

"If faction war increases demand for equipment, I support it." Chadculator looked at him.

"You are the reason civilization fails." The next line appeared. [Path Capstone Reward Unlocked: Titan Trial Key] Meno's mood improved despite himself.

"Capstone sounds good," he said.

"End of the first stretch. Less excited about the word Trial. Trial usually means combat with puzzles, and I hate puzzles." puzzle needs brain he can't read trial sounds spicy keep going [Titan Trial Key] Unlocks one Titan Trial instance in Templefall Hollow. Meno stared at Templefall Hollow.

"Great. To access the reward, I have to go to the highest-level zone." He rubbed his forehead.

"You are definitely not meant to attempt this right away." The next block unfolded. You must enter with one invited player no lower than your level. Trial difficulty is determined by the highest-level participant present. The invited player must not possess any Titan achievement. Meno froze.

"What?" Chat froze with him, then instantly chose violence. Oxide? take Brine Moonwake is heal take Jaxxon body bag required rip reward"I have to take someone else as a body bag?" Meno said.

"Or is this because it's impossible without a healer? This is nonsense. The AI had to make room for people who missed Titan achievements, and somehow that became my problem." He opened the line again, like rereading it might make it less stupid.

"I can't even take Aurelia because she has Titan I already. Who the hell am I supposed to take?" DIVORCE wife disqualified chat play tiny violin wii wii wiiii vi vi viiiii nii nii niiii The next block answered in the least comforting possible way. The invited player has not earned Titan Trial protection. If the invited player dies, their character is deleted. If you die, the trial fails and the key is consumed. Meno stopped breathing for one clean second.

"You cannot be serious." Bradbaron leaned in.

"Deleted?"

"Character deleted," Meno said.

"Totally gone. If I die, trial fails and the key is consumed. If they die, they get erased. Also they can't be lower level than me, which means they're already near the top of the ladder." delete BrineSaint DELETE BRINE Jaxxon sacrifice Honeygrave trial Oxide content permadeath????

"Nobody sane is going for this," Meno said. Chadculator's mouth twisted.

"You are assuming sane people are the target." The final reward line appeared. Completion unlocks Titan Subclass selection for both participants. Subclasses are character specializations earned through achievements. Meno read that one slowly.

"Okay. I have no idea what this means exactly." He tapped the line.

"Secondary class? Achievement subclass? Titan-flavored version of either one? That is huge." Chat agreed so hard the overlay shook. SUBCLASS TITAN SUBCLASS SECOND CLASS META permadeath worth? yes NO"I wonder if raid clear gives a different one," Meno said.

"Or high negative Karma from PvP. Royal Knight subclass? Merchant Parasite subclass?" Bradbaron looked offended.

"Merchant is a respected path." Chadculator snorted. The last block appeared. Failure consumes the trial attempt. This reward is account-bound. It cannot be traded, sold, dropped, or looted.

"One try," Meno said.

"Like the design credit, no trading." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He narrowed his eyes at the wording.

"It does not say I can't sell access," Meno said, "but I assume the AI would still complain if I turned a Titan subclass into an auction slot. If it's only gold and no permanent item transfer, maybe it's legal. Maybe it's bait. I am not testing that while Feltforge probably has my name pinned to a board somewhere." Chat started offering money anyway. 50K ACCESS 100K ACCESS TAKE ME I AM LEVEL 12 I HAVE NO FEAR SELL SLOT"Not selling," Meno said.

"First, the person has to be at least my level, and I just hit forty-two. Second, you would die to the first monster. And third, completing it alone might be impossible even if my character doesn't get deleted. Losing a Titan subclass would be awful." He closed the achievement panel before the offers got dumber.

"It has to be someone actually good." Bradbaron laughed once.

"Good luck with that one." Chadculator started counting on his fingers.

"A top guild player would go for it, but you've done an excellent job making those people hate you. That leaves BrineSaint, who hates risk; JaxxonVale, who you recently insulted on stream; Honeygrave; OxideChoir; and VantaRush." Meno stared at the dirt wall.

"Great. Fantastic." He rolled his shoulders, then winced because his arms remembered the fight.

"I still have to catch up in levels. I'm not entering my own Titan trial as party luggage. Better to focus on hitting sixty as fast as possible."

"If you hit the soft cap," Chadculator said, "you exclude even more people." Meno opened his mouth, then closed it.

"Okay," he said.

"I am too tired to think this through. I seriously need sleep. I'll save the class upgrade for tomorrow, chat." NO class now coward OPEN IT WE WAITED weapon master trauma"Can't go into another Weapon Master situation with my brain mush," Meno said.

"That's how people pick Iron Stand." The chat became a second war. Bradbaron stood and brushed dirt from his robe.

"Yes, let's get out of here. This place is very unpleasant." Meno opened a merchant contract trade with him before they moved. [Merchant Contract Transfer] [Uncommon III Great Axe x2] [Uncommon II Charmsteel Rune Spire x1] Bradbaron inspected the items, then accepted. Meno kept the three daggers, one great axe, and his gear. The extra plate chest had already proved useful. Armor swapping had no visible penalty, unlike weapon swapping, which felt ripe for abuse.

Players were absolutely going to swap into full plate for a hit, then back to leather for action speed, and call it advanced defensive play. Meno checked his inventory out of habit. He still had room, somehow. There had to be a limit eventually, maybe by item slots, maybe by weight, maybe by the AI deciding carrying an armory was embarrassing. He had not hit it yet, which only made the abuse more tempting.

"You can get these repaired yourself, right?" Meno asked.

"I don't want to deal with it." Bradbaron smiled.

"Sure. I will pay the NPC and charge your portion of the profits." Meno turned his head slowly.

"You can do that? The contract doesn't say you can charge me anything."

"Repair falls under material cost. Common sense."

"Amazing." Bradbaron's smile widened.

"You are welcome." Meno pointed at him.

"Also ask around the guilds. I am willing to trade the Dreamguard recipe, but I do not want gold. I want finished items. Epic III minimum."

"I doubt anyone can make those yet," Bradbaron said.

"Then we wait." Chadculator nodded once.

"That is finally a correct decision." Bradbaron looked betrayed. They waited until Meno's HP regenerated to full before trying to leave Crystalstep Basin. That caution did nothing for the other two. They had barely left the tunnel area when an Echo Elemental assembled between two blue crystals ahead, plates ringing into place around a hollow core. Meno saw it first, but Chadculator took one more step than he should have. The elemental turned toward him.

"Down!" Meno shouted. The elemental punched the ground. Chadculator and Bradbaron both tried to jump behind a blue crystal at the same time. The sound hit the crystal, passed through it as a violent ringing wave, and struck them on the other side. Both bodies crumpled instantly. Chat had been waiting for a corpse and received two. DOUBLE KILL sound ignores cover SHOVEL DOWN merchant deleted? not deleted wrong trial Meno stared at the two empty spots.

He was not in a party with them, which meant he had no clean marker for their respawns, and neither of them was streaming. Meno opened whispers while backing away from the Echo Elemental's patrol path. PrayerBeadGod: You still in the zone or outskirts? Chadculator: Still in zone. No idea where. Looks the same. Crystal tree at shrine. Meno looked at the basin. What followed was fifteen minutes of the least satisfying rescue route of his career.

Meno ran through Crystalstep dodging Leyline Wisps, Mantises, and Harmonists while trying to identify a crystal tree in a zone made almost entirely of things that could be called crystal trees by people under stress. Basin Harmonists tapped their tuning-fork staffs against ridges, and the rising notes clipped him twice with a slow that made his steps feel packed in wet clay. He waited both out behind low crystal clusters because fighting Lethal enemies after saying he needed sleep would have been a cry for help.

A pack of Prism Spiders appeared as he landed from False Wings. They unfolded from invisibility around him, thin legs catching light in broken bands. Sleepless Grip pulsed before the first disorient could lock in. [Disorient] [Sleepless Script: Status Effect Blocked]"Good glove," Meno muttered, and ran. He found the shrine on the wrong side of the zone, marked by a pale crystal tree with branches shaped like frozen lightning. Chadculator stood beside it with his shovel and a face full of hate.

"I am down to eighty-five gold." broke Chad math debt skill issue Bradbaron stood nearby, robes clean again after respawn and expression arranged too carefully.

"That is tragic," Bradbaron said. Meno looked between them.

"We go north. Map shows a road toward Redreed near Templefall's edge." They took the northern road. Templefall Hollow stayed to their right in the distance, and even from outside the boundary it made the land look damaged. Grey ground spread beyond the zone line, broken by jutting stone spires that seemed carved by something with no interest in people. Farther in, strips of road twisted upward into the sky, and floating rocks drifted with giant pale leeches clinging to their undersides. Bradbaron slowed.

"I definitely want to check that one out."

"No," Meno said.

"Focus on your level. You are not entering that place before fifty." Bradbaron did not look away from the floating ruins. Meno kept walking.

"Also, I recommend picking some kind of support class upgrade at thirty. If you are buying your levels, you might as well become useful later, not just a walking purse." Chadculator glanced at Bradbaron's tag.

"He is a fire mage. Doubt he gets one."

"Maybe he can force it," Meno said.

"Go around feeding consumables to people. Find low-HP players in starter zones and pour regeneration potions into their mouths." Chadculator frowned.

"That sounds ridiculous." Bradbaron went strangely quiet. Meno looked at him and wondered if he had landed a real hit by accident, which was inconvenient because he had meant the insult to be practical. They reached Redreed Frontier without another death, then cut south toward Southreach across dry grass and wagon roads. The low-level zone should have been safe. Meno only caught the shimmer because Chadculator's shadow moved wrong. Karmabeast appeared behind him out of invisibility and drove a blade into his back.

Meno's body moved before his mind finished the name. A thrown dagger snapped past Meno and buried itself in the ground behind him. A chain burst from the hilt, hooked his side, and yanked him backward as green poison clouded the space around him. Sleepless Grip did nothing. Apparently, getting dragged like cargo was not a status effect. His new gear shrugged off the damage, but that was beside the point because he wasn't the target. Karmabeast used the pull to shadowstep behind Bradbaron.

Green venom flashed off the rogue's daggers. Bradbaron's hands ignited, but he stood frozen, startled and too slow. Chadculator shook out of the stun and lunged toward him. Meno could not use Panic Pump into Hundredfold. They were not in a party, and the cleave would happily turn a rescue into a friendly-fire disaster.

"Move!" Meno shouted. Bradbaron died before the word helped. Karmabeast vanished. Meno landed a heartbeat later and stabbed the empty air he left behind. KARMA BRAD DOWN PK CLIP he killed the merchant revenge He spoke to stream because he knew the rogue was listening.

"That was extremely lame, man. He is level twenty. Can you get more desperate for clips?" He swapped to the plate chest just in case. At level forty-two, with Sleepless Grip and the new daggers, Karmabeast did not scare him at all. Half the rogue's kit was poison, and Deepwater plus the glove made poison almost irrelevant. If Karmabeast fought him straight, Meno would cut him down. The problem was Bradbaron had died in three seconds. Mages were fragile when they panicked.

If they did not know what to do under a rogue opener, they became a wallet with hit points. Meno shook his head and opened the map.

"At least we're in a ten-to-twenty zone. He should respawn at Redreed Station." Chadculator walked beside him, face tight with irritation. Meno looked over.

"What does your class do? Support or DPS?"

"Field Drillmaster," Chadculator said.

"Warrior-type DPS with group utility. Weakpoint Drill puts marks on monsters. Hit the mark, get extra damage, status effects, or debuffs like bleed, depending on the color. The whole group benefits, but I benefit more. I also have a shout skill that gives party buffs based on the last mark I hit before using it."

"That seems useful."

"It is okay," Chadculator said.

"People dislike it because constant shouting is annoying and the marks mainly help melee DPS. Casters and archers get less value. Ranged is more popular because people find fighting monsters up close in VR scary." Meno frowned.

"Scary? The word ranged is bait. Good ranged players fight difficult stuff in melee range anyway." Chadculator turned his head.

"Why do you say that?"

"The farther you stand, the less you control," Meno said.

"Up close, you read windups, bait turns, slip through blind spots, and keep damage clean. Bad ranged players kite. Good ranged players orbit." Chadculator stared at him.

"Dude," Chadculator said, "you asked me if you could hit something with a bow. I'm not even sure you know what ranged means."

"Thanks for reminding me I still need to test it," Meno said.

"If bow-smacking works, I want to know how high I can build Chain before it breaks, and whether Compound Swing's multiplier transfers to the arrow afterward. The buff says damage, not melee damage." Chadculator's expression hardened.

"If that works, I am visiting Feltforge personally to get you nerfed." Meno smiled for the first time since the Sleepwalker hole. They found Bradbaron at Redreed Station's shrine, standing beside a Zubra catapult sign that read WESTBOUND CALIBRATION COMPLETE.

"You good?" Meno asked. Bradbaron smiled too quickly.

"Yes. I don't care. It's just five gold." Meno heard the words. He did not believe them. Bradbaron's eyes stayed a little too fixed, and his hands kept opening and closing near his robe sleeves. Five gold meant nothing to him. Being helpless in front of a rogue had cost something else.

"Okay," Meno said. The trio reached Southreach without further ambushes. Meno stopped near the outer ring gate, turned to Chadculator and Bradbaron, and finally let his shoulders drop.

"Thanks for the dig assist. I have to sleep." Bradbaron's smile settled into something more real.

"It was an interesting experience." Chadculator pointed his shovel at Meno.

"Do not bother me with manual labor again."

"No promises." Bradbaron snapped his fingers.

"By the way, I am hosting my birthday party soon. You are both invited. Bring a plus one." Meno immediately began rejecting it. Bradbaron lifted one finger.

"Before you decline, I am also in Vernova, so you have no excuse."

"I have plenty," Meno said.

"How old are you?"

"This will be my forty-first birthday." Chat lost its entire mind. WIFELAWYER IS 41 DADBARON mid twenties avatar scam birthday arc plus one Aurelia Meno stared at him.

"What the hell? Your in-game appearance is mid-twenties. Aren't you a bit old to troll my chat under WifeLawyer?" Bradbaron looked genuinely offended.

"Who doesn't want to be young? And just because I'm forty-one does not mean I stopped liking fun. People much older than me do the same things." Chadculator shrugged.

"I'm from Talnat. Small city about an hour from Vernova." Bradbaron brightened.

"That's close enough. I'll send you both details later."

"Do not," Meno said.

"I will." Bradbaron waved and logged out. Meno turned to Chadculator with fresh suspicion.

"You are not eighty years old, right?"

"What?" Chadculator snapped.

"Of course not. I am twenty-eight."

"Wait," Meno said.

"You are actually older than me by a year. How is that possible? You named yourself Chadculator." Chadculator looked at him like the answer had been waiting all day.

"And you named yourself PrayerBeadGod." Meno opened his mouth, then nodded once.

"Fair." He logged out before chat could make the age discourse worse. [Logout Initiated] The room camera replaced Veyrath. Meno climbed out of the Soma-X7 slowly, damp-haired again from old sweat and new lightning stress, then leaned toward the stream setup while his real legs complained that the hole had been fake only in the ways that did not help.

"Class upgrade tomorrow," he said.

"About eight hours?" He checked his phone. Saturday, 1: 00 PM. Meno stared at the time.

"Wait. Is this already Day Six of launch?" Chat answered with several incompatible timelines. He tried to remember whether Veyrath had launched Monday or Tuesday and got only fragments: the first stream, Lost Temple, Aurelia's visit, Oxide, Glassdry, the world tour, the hole. The days had blurred into XP bars.

"That's embarrassing," he said. launch brain sleep eat class tomorrow nine hours Meno rubbed his face carefully, avoiding the places the lightning had made his skin feel fake.

"I'll be back in about nine hours," he said.

"Bye." He ended the stream before chat could convince him that nine hours was enough time to choose a king, marry Aurelia, delete BrineSaint, and test bow melee.