Chapter 46: Chain Reaction
Arthur didn’t even have to scroll. The top post sat pinned, already drowning in more than a million upvotes and comments.
"Currency changed to elemental stones. Worldwide!"
He tapped it open.
Clipped screenshots quickly filled his screen the moment he did.
Anchors in different languages, followed by clips of ministers and government officials all saying the same things: transition of currency, cooperation with the Gwong war tribe, ensuring stability, tribute compliance, immediate effect.
The comments below were a riot.
FadedPaycheck: MY SAVINGS. TWENTY YEARS. What the fuck am I supposed to do, now? Hand my landlord pebbles and tell him, "Here are your elemental stones."?
ElevenRentals: Decades of taxes for ’stability’. This is what we get.
HandToMouth: Tribute is 3k. They gave 3k. Congrats, we don’t die. We don’t live either.
Arthur’s thumb hovered over the screen. More and more comments scrolled into view, some of them even going so far as to directly threaten the government.
PlugWest: I deal in cash. Or rather, I used to. Now they want to make my life worthless? Fine. See if me and my crew are gonna strap on and storm the parliament. If I’m going down, I’m taking those bastards with me.
The replies below that comment exploded.
Mod_1: Reported to authorities. This is not a threat board.
BurnItAll: DO IT! Film it! Hahaha!
StreetPastor: I can meet you. You don’t have to do this. God is the solution, friend.
Arthur’s grip on his phone tightened. As expected, the world was descending into chaos.
Still, not every comment was filled with rage. A few in the mix were almost hopeful, people saying that, at the very least, their survival was guaranteed.
NurseOnBreak: Our clinic’s listed as essential. People will still be treated here. Surely, that matters for something..
PowerPlantGuy: Grid tech here. Transitional stipend means we keep turning the lights on. I know it’s not enough, but it’s not nothing. At least everyone will have electricity.
ReasonableRat: 3k stones = survival floor. We can build from there. We’re not dead yet.
Predictably, these commenters were soon swarmed by replies calling them sheep along with numerous other insults, but the fact remained that they were there.
Arthur kept scrolling. The next post down was steeped in confusion.
[NPCs?] I don’t think they’re NPCs.
He clicked on it. The OP had posted a block of text like a confession.
Ech0_Breez73: I treated day 1 like any MMORPG, talking to as many NPCs as I could, trying to ’find a quest’. Nobody had an exclamation or question mark above their heads but I still tried. I asked the smith for some work and he told me to stop wasting his time and buy something or get out. He didn’t repeat a line; the fucker just glared at me. Then I followed a beetle-looking merchant after close. I asked him if he needed any help and he just gave me a mocking look! Guys... these are not NPCs. These are people. Edit: Asked the auction cat if appraisals were free. She rolled her eyes and made a throat-cut gesture.
The replies below were a chorus of similar stories.
Cloudfall: Dwarf blacksmith told me I breathe too loud. Then laughed when I brought him a goblin spear and asked him to upgrade it. NPC my ass. That bastard is mental.
ScaledBanker: The lizard clerk yawned during my payment. Said he was "on hour nine." I didn’t know NPCs get tired.
BastardCat: Same auction cat called me "inferior species" when I asked if she could translate some of the words for me. 10/10 customer service.
Everyone in the replies seemed to have landed on the same conclusion as the OP. There were no NPCs in Zenith. Those were all sentient beings.
Arthur stared at the post and narrowed his eyes.
Truth was, he’d already suspected as much after dealing with the insectoid shopkeeper, the dwarf, and the staff at the Golden Oak auction house.
None of them acted like NPCs. Granted, the insectoid shopkeeper’s flat demeanor came across as somewhat robotic, but even then, Arthur could tell he wasn’t one.
He shook his head and kept scrolling.
His gaze moved on to the third most upvoted post of the day.
[PSA] We are not in the same tutorial city (stop trying to meet your IRL friends and family)
Arthur barely glanced at it. There was nothing here he didn’t already know; he’d figured out the whole ’different cities’ thing after talking to Leonard, so he skimmed past it and kept going.
[I died] back to level 1. It resets EVERYTHING.
That post made him pause.
The OP hadn’t bothered with formatting. The sheer rawness of his post did the job.
CallMeElderBrother: I was a level 4 when some fuckin goblin snuck up from behind and killed me. I thought I’d only lose a level if I died. But I lost everything! My stones, my items, my levels! Everything! I’m back to Level 1! The guys I was with kept moving, too. I don’t blame them. I just want everyone to know: this isn’t a game. I’m fucked!
The replies split down the middle.
ProofOfDeath: It happened to me too. I woke up at the spawn plaza, and I was Level 1 again. I hate this fuckin game. It’s so damn hard!
IronEmperor: Join guild "Iron Dawn." We’ll protect your grind (10% tax).
Moderator: Stop recruiting in emergency threads!
This post all but confirmed Arthur’s suspicions. He wasn’t sure if dying would only cost a person a single level, but he’d already decided to operate under the assumption that the worst case was the one to plan for... and lo and behold.
What really caught Arthur’s attention however, wasn’t the post itself but one of the comments, the one left by a guy called MathBrain. It made him wonder.
MathBrain: If you lose all your elemental stones when you die, then saving them for the tribute at the end of the month isn’t that safe, is it? Is there a safe bank somewhere?
Clearly, dying meant losing all your elemental stones along with the rest of your items... unless you had a storage bag to keep them in, according to the dwarf. But what would happen if you transferred everything to someone else before logging into the game? What would happen if Arthur gave Luke all thirteen hundred of his elemental stones through a bracelet transfer? Would his pouches suddenly go empty?
"Most likely," he guessed.
But then he wouldn’t have to worry about losing them in the game, right?
...Still, what would happen if Luke decided to log into the game? Would all those stones drop out of the sky in front of him? Arthur wasn’t sure how the game handled it. For now, though, he set his coffee cup down and pushed the distracting thoughts aside.
Then he searched for what mattered next.
Elemental affinity.
A dozen posts popped up in the search results.
He clicked on the first one.
[INFO] Elemental Affinity Ranks (compiled, ongoing).
The Original Poster had laid it out like a ladder, explaining things and adding their own thoughts in the process.
Minor affinity: The lowest level possible. It allows one to learn the weakest skills of an element for their respective class, as long as they have at least a minor affinity for it. Still garbage though. You should focus on elements you have at least a ’Lesser’ affinity for. Ignore this one.
Lesser affinity: Baseline threshold. Most basic skills of each class require at least this level of affinity.
Greater affinity: Not much information yet.
Major: Not much information yet.
Supreme: rumor only. Treat it as story bait until verified.
Below, the comments exploded again.
PicsOrGTFO: Why is Major higher than Greater? Who’s the one to decide this OP? You?
Heals4Real: Haaa... idiot!
EconomistIRL: This guy is probably mad his affinity is only Greater. Not everyone can have a Major affinity, you know.
PicsOrGTFO: I have a Major affinity with your mom.
Arthur let out a breath.
As he kept scrolling, he stumbled on a few more posts from the night before, some almost identical to that first person looking to buy elemental stones for dollars.
He clicked it out of curiosity.
[BUYING] Stones for CASH: $100 per stone, instant pay.
LiquidCashKing: Paying $100 USD per elemental stone. Instant bank transfer or USDT. Meeting in public space. Bracelet-to-bracelet transfer. Bulk sales welcome.
The replies below were predictable and wild.
ScamCop: Bro. Money is dead. What are you buying with cash, nostalgia?
RichKid: It’s still good for property. Landlords haven’t switched yet. You can take advantage to pay rent before they do.
StreetSmart: It’s a wash. No one is accepting cash anymore. Face it.
ConspiracyGuy: He knew the government thing. Of course he did. Enjoy laundering fiat into stones, Mr. Senator’s Nephew.
Moderator: Reminder: trade IRL at your own risk. We do not arbitrate.
Arthur shook his head, put down his phone, and got back to his French toast.
On the TV, the anchorwoman moved on to a panel of experts. Words bubbled below: "temporary," "phased," "support," as those so-called experts speculated on the effect the government’s program would have on the economy in the days to come, all while praising the state for its swift action to help its citizens. Luke sipped his coffee and watched in silence.
Arthur stood up, rinsed his cup, and set it in the rack before washing the last breadcrumbs off his plate.
Out the window, the day sounded eerily peaceful.
Of course, he didn’t even need to step outside to know the whole shopping district had turned into a graveyard.
He picked up his phone again and stared at the dark screen for a moment. Leonard should be getting close to level 5 by now, right? He thought it over, then decided to send him a quick message.
[Hey! If you head to the mountain behind the forest, make sure your party’s strong enough to handle it. You’ll need at least a level 5 Warrior to deal with the Iron Boars there. Also, be extra careful of the Rock Serpents. They blend into the environment.]
He read it once, nodded, and hit send.
It wasn’t like there was much else to say. The monsters on that mountain weren’t especially smart. If anything, both the Iron Boars and the Rock Serpents were dumber than the goblins and didn’t move in groups.
But in terms of durability, speed, and strength... they were on another level.
Then... Arthur rolled his shoulders and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 9:30 already.