Game Alive - Chapter 5 Conflict Of Interest Pt2
Kage looked heartbroken as he thought about the current mess, he was out of gold and thus could not by anymore of the Player’s armor.
‘I’m supposed to be the one selling. . .’ thought Kage as he looked at the Players still shouting about selling their old gear.
Kage could easily go ahead and buy more in game currency but he had gone this route as a way to make money, with this in mind he was trying to think of a solution but the shouts of these players were making it hard to concentrate and he began to fall into a terrible mood.
“Silence” roared Kage as his eyes became sharp as he glared down at the players who had been shouting causing them to fall silent.
for visiting.
“Everyone here exit the shop for a few minutes. . .” stated Kage his voice becoming a bit gravelly as he spoke.
He didn’t normally shout due to his profession in real life and thus his vocal chords felt a bit of irritation from the sudden shout causing the change in his voice.
“But my armor” started a player when Kage suddenly turned a savage look towards him.
Kage was trying to make a solution by placing the gear he had already bought on the displays but it seemed the people here had mistaken him for some pushover.
“You are acting pretty tough for a damn merchant class, just buy our gear and be a good little shop keeper” spoke another which had some of the more brutish players within the crowd agreeing.
Kage heard this and he dropped all pretenses of his Merchant persona as he picked up a pen at the side testing it’s weight for a second.
Seeing this that same player who had spoken in a thuggish way laughed.
“What are you going to do with that” laughed the player, it was clear to him and those other players gathered that Kage was plotting violence but what could a player do with a writing utensil.
Suddenly his question was answered when that pen flew from Kage’s hand and pierced his throat causing his eyes to widen when the screen flashed and a message for a critical appeared before him. The thuggish player suddenly became a grey orb of light and vanished from the shop while Kage received his own message.
[Skill created: Merchant’s Arrow]
Kage wasn’t paying attention to the awe struck crowd as he looked at the skill, it was an interesting description to say the least.
[Merchant’s Arrow: The merchant is a profession and class incapable of using conventional weapons, however when push comes to shove a pen will stab as easily as a knife and pierce as easily as an arrow.]
Dmg: 15-25, has a chance of instant death of target if aimed properly.
Kage was a bit impressed by this but didn’t show it beyond a smile.
“Leave for a few moments while I organize my shop” stated Kage again seeing as he had the attention of the crowd.
The players assembled however were still in a daze until they saw Kage brandishing more writing utensils, this seemed to click things into place as they dashed for the door causing some players to be trampled in the process.
As soon as the last of the players had exited the shop Kage shut the door and began setting the displays with the gear he had just purchased.
However while Kage was busy reorganizing his merchandise the programmers for Reimagined were in an uproar over the creation of a new skill, it was a feature of the game that the developers had hoped to see in action but it was just too soon but if they had to be honest it was because they were against Kage from the beginning.
They didn’t like the fact that Elm had allowed this oddity to continue the game, it was just unfair for the rest of the players if someone had such a great start. However they didn’t pay attention to the safety measures that Elm had put in place to keep this from happening, to them Kage was like a cheat.
“Where does someone like this guy even come from” raged a developer who replayed the pen getting lodged in the Players neck.
“Can we pull up his subscription information” asked another hoping to see what the deal was with Kage.
“It will take some time but even so only the CEO can look at the detailed information of a player” stated another causing the programmers within the room to start another round of obscenities.
While they continued their conversation Kage had finished setting up the displays for the gear he had bought.
“Alright you may enter once again, I have set up some of the gear that I have bought for a discount price. With this said I would ask those of you hoping to buy equipment to come in first and see if I have anything you are interested in before I begin buying gear again” explained Kage seeming to be in a better mood after the brief intermission.
The players paid special attention to his words after coming to the unanimous decision that this was no common merchant, they silently walked in as they looked at the gear on display and some even became overjoyed at finding gear they were going to buy from the smithy for sale at a much cheaper price.
Soon Kage was ringing up customers and quickly started making back his money while once again buying gear from the players.
[ Mission: Merchant’s troubles completed]
[You have successfully turned a profit and the city’s economy has seen a negligible ripple in it’s economy. Your prestige has increased minimally and the people may mention you to travelers]
Kage read the Mission details and his face had turned to that of someone who had swallowed a lemon as lines appeared on his forehead.
‘All that just for this? Is this a joke, do the developers really intend to force people to struggle so early in the game?’ thought Kage as he silently repeated the words of the Developers who were speaking of him currently.
Kage however quickly returned to business and was seeing his revenue gradually increase as time went by until he finally shut his doors much to the disappointment of the players who hoped to enter the quaint little shop.
‘I should log out for now and take a shower, I can’t remember if I did so earlier’ thought Kage with a sigh, he felt exhausted by the day’s events and disappointed by his mission’s reward.
‘Prestige? Minimal at that, I’m literally the first player to set up a shop in this dump and that’s what I get??? It’s bullshit’ thought Kage as he logged off but unknown to him the Developers complaining about the youth had reached the ears of the CEO, he would be holding a press conference as Reimagined would be shutting down it’s servers for a few days and relaunching.
At the press conference the CEO made his second public appearance.
“Mr. Tullani, what is the cause of this shut down” asked a reporter as she looked to the aged man, he almost seemed ancient with the way his body was aged.
“It has come to my attention we may need to change a few features of the game due to a certain player who has completely taken advantage of the Class assignment feature.” answered Tullani before welcoming the next question.
“What do you mean someone took advantage of the class Assignment Feature” asked the second reporter.
“I am sure you have heard the term ‘All men are not made equal’, well this player is simply too extraordinary. If the game were to proceed as intended then he would easily reign at the top no matter what path he chooses to take.” explained Tullani as he turned to the next reporter.
“Sir, Reimagined has only just launched. Could this be a bug of some sort that allowed the player in question to manipulate the Class Assignment feature” asked the third reporter.
“It is no bug, this player is just truly exceptional which reflects on his aptitude in reality. There is no way to take advantage of the Class Assignment feature unless you are just as ridiculously capable as this person. So in short we will be changing some aspects of the game to maintain the balance despite previous measure we have taken to prevent such a one sided advantage. That will be all the questions for this conference, I must return and oversee the overhaul of the system” stated Tullani as he walked away from the crowd though his eyes gleamed with approval as he thought of the individual he spoke of.
‘I sincerely look forward to how well you perform in my grand finale’ thought Tullani with a chuckle.