Chapter 6 Blood Money

  He walked through the city gates, waving a hand to Lenny, and another to the other guards. Once inside, he disappeared behind a back alley. He kept the dead mans clothes on, and put the cart back into his inventory. The potion had a few minutes left, but he doubt anyone would truly notice or care.

  Axel was planning on renting a small warehouse of sorts in Bandits Hideaway. The name of the slums gave a good explanation of what he was trying to do. He wanted to set up an organisation of sorts. And with the keen Jasmine offering her help, he was going to set up a thieving ring.

  He didn’t plan on making an criminal organisation, but the ideas he had in mind were spelling the word out simply. But before he went looking for a nice place to rent, he wanted to explore the main areas of the city first.

  Every city had a trade terminal, something which could be accessed by the players only. They were good on the surface, as they allowed trading between players for good loot and the like, but they were taxed heavily, and their price was inflated. It was meant to encourage players to buy and sell with the NPCs to not crash the market. The strategy worked.

  Axel wanted to find the trade terminal. He headed over to a nearby NPC and asked them. According to his map, it was near the gates into the noble quarter. He had passed by it before. Moreover, the NPC told him that it was where the main market. Axel found that hard to believe, since the market they were in was enormous.

  Regardless of the information, he headed towards the location. He followed the main road to the city gates and took a sharp left turn. He walked down an open road with an archway above. It led directly into a large square; there were rows and rows of stalls surrounding a glowing blue stone in the centre. It looked majestic.

  It was the trade terminal, and players were already surrounding it. He walked up to it like the rest, and a small screen popped in front of him.

  He opened up the sell market. He expected to see some crude tier potions listed at the top, and maybe cheap herbal ingredients. But instead, he saw different pieces of armour of a full set.

  Axel was intrigued as to why they were selling for so much. At the start of most games, crafting materials sold for the most. He couldn’t for the life of him think why loot from a boss was. He noticed a player kitted out in the armour. It was a badass looking armour set he had to admit. It was made from thick grey leather with bones stretched around it. He walked up to him and asked him.

  “It’s for the collection bonus. You then sell it afterwards,” the played replied. “It will cost you abit with the tax, but the experience is insane.”

  “Alright, thanks.”

  Axel turned around, with plans already in his mind. If he reached enough money, then he could easily buy the entire stock, to then hike up the prices. It would take him a while, but the pay off would amazing. Sure, the tax would hurt, but if he increased it by 30%, it would still be a 25% profit.

  That plan was in the future for now. Curiously, he browsed through the menu, and found the collectibles tab. He winced as it brought back memories. He wanted to grind his heart out to collect all of them, but he knew he couldn’t. It hurt him to his core. He squashed the gut wrenching feelings down, and clicked on the tab. He scrolled past hundreds of them until he found the orc armour set. Sure enough, the player was right.

  Now Axel himself was tempted. The experience alone could put him into the level 10 area. He was hoping that the gold received would be increase by his greed stat. Axel counted out 81 gold and 7 silver in his wallet. He went back into the trade terminal, and counted out how much it would cost him for the full set. There was 5 pieces in total, and it would cost him 11 gold for the entire set. If he bought it, then sold it back, he would only lose roughly 7 silver with the sell tax on top; plus, hopefully, the greed stat will increase the reward gain.

  Seven silver for what seemed like ten levels was great. Not only would he then increase his greed levels with the stat, but also gain skill levels. The skills could help gain more money then. It seemed to be perfect. He kept wondering what the catch was. He had an eagle eye for them, but he couldn’t see it. In investment terms, it was a win-win situation; an S tier scenario. However, the nothing in life was just good, and Axel knew from experience.

  Pushing through the paranoia, he bought them. He instant bought the cheapest ones. He put them on, and a notification flashed.

  {You have collected the Bone Orc Armour}

  {Rewards}

  33,000 Experience

  9 Gold (9Gx1.12=10.8)

  Axel forgot he had levelled the greed up. The trade off was only going to cost him 3 silver instead.

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 5}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 6}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 7}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 8}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 9}

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 10}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  {Congratulations! You have levelled up. You are now level 11}

  +1 Attribute Point

  +1 Skill Point

  Along with the other two skill attribute points he received from selling the bread and drink. He put a total of 9 into the greed stat.

  “The Hoarder just bought something from me!” someone exclaimed.

  “What? He quit ages ago.”

  “Yeah, it can’t be him.”

  “No no no, look, that’s his username. T-H-3, H-O-A-R-D-3-R. The Hoarder. Thee Legendary Hoarder.”

  “Oh shit, you’re right.”

  Axel quickly removed the orc armour set and stuff it into his inventory. He quickly listed it up for sale a copper less than the lowest price. He lost 5 copper, but at least he got rid of it quickly. “There’s always a fucking catch,” he grumbled in a whisper.

  “Holy shit! The Hoarder is back!”

  Discretely, while discussion was booming among the traders, he quickly disappeared into an alleyway. He was hoping to keep himself in the shadows as he was not his younger self. He wouldn’t walk around and say hello to every like he used to do.

  He vanished into an alleyway to go over his character sheet.

  Level 11 in the first day of playing was good. His coin increase rate had shot up to 1.21x, and he also had 12 more attribute skill points to distribute. He brought back up the menu to take a look at the available skills.

  He brought all of them up, including the skills he just unlocked.

  It was the base spell for the loot goblin race. It would be useful if he was fighting, but he wasn’t. He looked at the others.

  “Pretty fucking dark,” Axel stated. “Sounds cool.”

  “Will be helpful.”

  “Holy shit,” Axel coughed, “this is it. This is the skill. YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! This is it! The ultimate skill! I have it!” he bellowed out in a dark alley. He threw his arms in glee. The plan in his mind was already set in stone, now all he had to was put it into action. He continued his celebration; pumping his arms in the air victoriously. He couldn’t care, he could do it, he could save his family. Although the skill was good, the plan to use it required coin, lots of coin. He needed to set it up at all costs.

  He unlocked the skill, but still had four more points. He looked at the skill he hadn’t seen yet.

  Axel looked up at the moody sky above him; the sun was turning the sky orange. “Eh, fuck it, why not. And I’ll take the tax for thee skill.”

  All of a sudden, a red symbol appeared beneath his feet. Runes encased it, and mist emerged from it. It flashed brightly, then turned into blood and seeped into the ground.

  {You have acquired the Blood Money Sacrifice (Active)}

  {Will and say the sacrifice to begin- Be Warned}

  Axel mentally and physically prepared himself for the other skills and spells to come in. The sky was suddenly coated in darkness; like Erebus himself had cast a spell. It was suddenly sucked out of the sky, and into his eyes. He tried to close his eyes, but that only hurt more. Eventually, the darkness stopped. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times. Everything looked brighter. He expected it be like night vision goggles, but the shadows already casted on the buildings looked like light. He was seeing light and darkness at the same time.

  {You have acquired the Dark Seer Skill (Passive)}

  {You are now able to see in the dark}

  “Freaky,” he noted, looking around.

  Coins exploded around his feet, and started to circle him. Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed them.

  “NO!” a males voice shouted out. “My taxes!”

  Axel genuinely laughed for once. He was also happy that the last one didn’t require him to be brutally assaulted. The coins soon turned to dust, and so did the ones he had collected.

  {You have acquired the Tax For Thee But Not For Me Skill (Active)}

  {Once per day for a limited time, you do not have to pay taxes}

  “Brilliant,” he said. “Right. Now time to pay the estate agents a visit.”