《Heal Die Cry》


 Prologue

    PROLOGUE


    Offline, I was a contractor. Employee number 00019348. That was how Greedy Robots Inc. identified me as. But in-game, I went by the alias Cruel.


    My job online was rather simple¡­to amass an ¡®x¡¯ amount of virtual gold as per contract¡­ remit¡­ then repeat. Plain elementary.


    It was the job that I''ve always wanted. I get to play subscription free, and then earn my keep at the same time.


    The playground where I''ll be playing this time around was Helion Online. A VRMMORPG that doesnt give a flying fuck about mmo traditions. The only game of its kind that had the balls to fuck itself. Players included. In fact, today marked Helion''s first day of its third incarnation after it was first destroyed by Eternia¡¯s Rain on its debut, and was later on decimated by the Silver Cataclysm on its second.


    On a business stand point, it might have been a total dick move to purge an entire game for failing to complete a world level quest... but guess what? Helion made ''dick move'' work. In fact, it was that sole feature that drew gamers from all over the globe, eventually cementing the game to its current status as the world¡¯s greatest VRMMORPG yet, two years in a row.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Players didn''t need the same formula of generic hack and slash. They were all tired of it. They wanted something fresh. They wanted a game with a purpose. A game that could fuck and challenge them for real. Not just some safe mediocre game with shallow story line. They wanted a VRMMO where they could put their entire virtual lives at stake. Somewhere with grave consequences when mistakes were made. Something that would hold them accountable for every action they made inside the virtual realm.


    Thankfully, folks at the Rainbow Abyss Studios listened. The developers of Helion Online gave all the players just ''that''. All twelve inches of it and even more.


    Of course, being rudely fucked twice came with a very valuable lesson. It was all about hating double penetration and saying no to a three-way in advance. Players this time around were hungry for a victory. They wanted to beat the game so bad that they were willing to do just about anything to secure it. In other words, to successfully cock block the third Extinction Level Event or ELE when it comes slammin against Helions door.


    Gold is god. And one of the many tactics that the Whales (corporate sponsored players) planned on employing this year was to procure an unbelievable amount of in-game currency in the earliest and shortest time possible. It was the oldest tactic in the book but also the most effective. They plan on buying every gold there was with real world money to secure the win. And of course, whenever there was a demand, capitalism was there too. That¡¯s where we gold farmers come in.


    Avatar construction completed¡­


    Race combination accepted¡­


    Recalibrating stats¡­


    Welcome...


    This¡­ is Helion Online. I am Cruel. And I work here.

 Chapter 1

    CHAPTER 1


    Ouroboros Guild. Office of the Chief Financial Officer.


    A week before the culling, Anastasia was already up on her elbows reviewing stacks over stacks of balance sheet andfinancial report. Her job title was an illusion. A facade. It might appear special to an outsider, but in reality, Tasha was just a glorified book keeper. An analyst. She was not THE boss. She was just a mini-boss that handled money.


    It has been three weeks since Helion went up online. And for three straight weeks, while the guild''s core team wrestled through the Forest of Thorns, she remain hauled up inside the right wing tower of the guild castle¡­ alone¡­ and slowly drowning under the sea of parchments surrounding her.


    I wanna have fun too, Nyah. She pouted.


    Not like she was complaining. But what Tasha was really trying to say was that once in a while ''work+life'' balance would have been nice too. Then of course, what she was wishing for was the exact opposite of what she had signed up for. She was hired to do clerical work inside the expanse of Helion. Not play and fart rainbows. She was, in a sense, no different from the several hundred gold farmers that they have enlisted to help them win the game. The only difference between her and them was that she was being paid twenty times over. Contractors paycheck were basically bread crumbs compared to hers.


    Scanning and breezing through over one thousand names in a glance was by no means an ordinary feat. However, Tasha did it passively like it was nothing. From what she could analyze, 76 percent of the guilds overall workforce were already meeting the contract metrics. Considering the start up cost during the initial stages of the game, these workers were surprisingly good with their math. Potions, teleportation fees and food were all part of farming. And while those costs were to be accounted for as an expense, Tasha had to give it to them for not falling behind. Some of these farmers even managed to get a leg up, going above and beyond their mandated deliverables, which was amazing. Not the easiest thing to juggle, but these farmers did it with efficiency. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    And although a good 23 percent of the roster were still struggling, Tasha was optimistic. She had a feeling that these workers would turn things around before the end of the month.


    "Except for this guy." She said while pointing at the name of the player at the very bottom of the list. "This guy is hopeless, nyah."


    Tasha quickly pulled up all the related data pertaining to Employee ID 00019348. The data were written as follows:


    IGN: Cruel


    Base Level: 1


    Race: Synthetic Droid


    Class: Medic


    Job: Heal Bomber


    Gold remittance: 0


    Tasha clicked her tongue in disbelief. This is unacceptable! She groaned as she flipped thru the data sheet. It was to find out whether she missed anything out. Clearly, she didn''t.


    "Is this guy for real? Three weeks and still at level one? Wow. And he''s a support type too. Hmnn. How was he suppose to farm with his skill set. Does he have a party? He''s still level one though so that can''t be it." Tasha speculated.


    "Also, what did he do with his time within the three weeks when he wasn''t farming? Was he sightseeing, nyah?" The loli couldn''t help but be dismayed. "I hope the sights were worth it coz he''s not getting his two hundred dollar bond back. Nyah-uh! That and his subscription too, Nyah! "


    Rolling over to the corner, she quickly drew the intercom from the velvet wall, placing one tube piece near her left ear, and the other near her lips. "Wicka. You there?... I need help with something. Could you come up here for a second please? We''re downsizing."


    In less than a week time, heads will roll. Figuratively¡­ at least. Anastasia might look like a sweet little ball of fur, but this kitty doesn''t play games when it comes to managing the finances. She''ll cut anyone as long as the guilds funds were concerned. "There will be no mercy, Nyah!"

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Farming for gold is a daunting task. And as a gold farmer, I had to remind myself, over and over, to play it smart. This was not about just hacking my sword away to whatever it is that is in front of me. This was about making every single fucking slash count. And here at Helion Online, you either one hit a mob, or you lose the farming game.


    You see, this year, the game just started implementing this retarded system called Karma Gauge. To explain, every time a player would inflict damage to a particular monster, the Karma Gauge would get triggered. A point is added to the gauge every time you do a slash, or a punch, or every time you throw a spell. Depending on the weight of the skill, it would either add a full point, a quarter, or just half a point. There are about 2700 karma points everyday that each player can consume. It resets every dawn at exactly 6am, game standard time.


    Now why am I mentioning this? Well, because it is important.


    First of all, do not attempt to even aggro a mob the moment you hit the red mark on your karma gauge. Green gauge is good. Yellow is fine. But red? No. Don''t even. You need to scram the fuck away. Pronto! If you do, then that is your funeral.


    The devs didnt call it the Karma Gauge just to add cool points to the name. There was always a suitable explanation. Most likely to serve as a fair warning to the many idiots of this game who were always too hot to trot. They wanted to remind every player out there that it was not okay to just attack, attack and attack. That it was important to also pay attention to the details of the game too. So don''t be like that okay?


    Going back, what Karma does in addition is that while the player is in red gauge status, that player who continues to engage in combat would get all sorts of debuff from the monsters they are fighting against. The debuffs can stack and there''s no way for anyone to remove it unless the player dies. Blind, bleed, paralysis, poison. The whole ensalada. So guys, please don''t fight when you are in the reds. Please don''t.


    And for fucks sake.. whatever you do, don''t die in Helion. Dont, sir. Don''t even think of it, even for the sake of experimentation. You''ll lose all your levels for being an idiot, then start all over again crying as a 6 month old level 1 noob. So, you see now why it was called Karma? Well, if you haven''t digested that yet, then rewind this podcast back and listen to it again.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Personally, I really hated this system when they first implemented it. But now, I kind of like it already. Why? Well, simply because the karma system forces every player to make every combat engagement count. It forces one to be smarter on how they are going spend their time and resources. Waste not, want not. And for a gold farmer like myself, every karma point is gold.


    Now, I know you wanna ask as to why im talking about the importance of karma system like Im sort of an expert when in fact I am practically wasting away 1800 karma points daily for three straight weeks now? And also, why I am still level one?


    Well, relax. I''m not an idiot. So please, sit down and continue to listen.


    There was a reason why I chose to be a Medic Droid from the get go. It was all part of the big plan. For two incarnations now, there was never a player in Helion who has excelled in playing as a medicdroid. They all sucked at it. The highest level ever recorded in the history of Helion was a level 52 Medic Droid named Valpiro. And that guy rerolled to a different class too after a few days. What a pussy, right?!


    This guy, like most medicdroids before him complained about how expensive it was to maintain the class. That it was boring. That it was useless with other things other than healing. That it can never solo.


    But here I am now. I am here to change all of that.


    In my opinion, the first and second generation of Medic Droids failed miserably probably because they didn''t know how to play the class properly. To me, there was no such thing as a weak class. Only weak players.


    You see, a medic droid excelled in one thing and in one field alone--- heal bombing. It heals fast and big since it is a burst type. In a raid, heal bombing is the best in all aspect. The range is AOE (area of effect). And the burst heal is phenomenal. More than enough to keep a 20 man raid team alive for clutch boss fights.


    But do you know what else healing does? Well, a heal can actually be used to attack the undead too. Full damage to be exact. Now imagine nuking an army of undead.


    Let us all pause for a bit and allow that statement to sink in.


    Are you guys still with me? Have you all pictured it yet? Did you picture the mountain of gold waiting for you every after heal blast? If yes, then you now have a slight understanding as to how truly valuable a medic droid is.


    The only major downside to this job class was the cost per heal bomb. It is phenomenal as it is expensive. This is the only complaint that was legit amongst the medic droids of the past. But there is a way to cut the cost down to a minimum. I wanted to share that with you all, however, we are all out of time. We will discuss that next week here on my channel still. Tips and tricks on how you can get cheap materials for your nukes and shells. Also, I''ll be sharing with y''all how a Medic Droid power levels... solo style.


    Are you guys excited?


    If you are curious, then please consider subscribing if you haven''t yet. Click the bell on the right so my channel can alert you whenever a new content drops. Be the first one to be in the loop. Thank you again for watching. And I will see you all next week. Bye!


    Video Title: Starting a Medic Droid class


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 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    This was probably the 7th raven this week and Cruel knew exactly what was in there. Regardless, he tore the packet apart just to see whether there were any changes to it.


    To whom this may concern:


    The amount of 3 million gold has recently been overdue for remittance. As such, we would appreciate it if you would make the necessary arrangements and transfer the funds owed no later than July 22nd, 2199.


    If there was an error on our part, and a deposit has already been arranged, then please disregard this letter. Otherwise, penalties as per contract would be applied.


    With thanks.


    Wicka


    Secretariat to the CFO


    Ouroboros Guild


    ¡®Tsk¡¯ Cruel clicked his tongue in annoyance. He didn''t understand as to why anyone would needlessly send identical messages over and over again if it was the same exact one anyway. To him, it didn''t make any sense.


    ¡°Trouble?....¡±


    That was Riddle. Appearing suddenly out of nowhere.


    "Putaaa!" exclaimed Cruel. He almost spilled his drink out of fright. "How long have you been standing there?" the syntbdroid held his chest tight while rambling. "Seriously Chief, you have got to stop sneaking on people like that. You''ll give someone a heart attack one of these days, I swear!"


    Just a few minutes back, he clearly remembered Melo laying down his Red Guerilla right in front of him. In-between that time, Cruel wasn¡¯t sure whether he somehow blanked out or what, but somehow, Riddle and Melo ''body swapped'' without him noticing.


    ¡°Here. You looked like you could use another round. You need to put some of those colors back on your face. Pale is definitely not your color, kid. ¡± the Labran chuckled while waving its right hand all over Cruels face for emphasis. The beastman was obviously enjoying the reaction. ¡°Oh, and the pint is on me. So, don''t worry about picking up the tab.¡±


    For the past three weeks straight, as a prerequisite to the quest, Cruel had to work as a chef¡¯s assistant, a busboy, and a bartender, all salary free under The Swinging Guillotine¡¯s management. Riddle was the sole owner and the manager of the well-known bistro-cum-dive nestled at the center of Embarcadero; the port city south of the Agarithe empire.


    Usually, before the clock hits 6pm, he¡¯d be on stand-by at the center of the aisle, where he''d polishly dun a black apron over his matted orange skin tight suit, complete with orange mechadroid glass helmet (for the overall suave effect).


    That night, however, the circumstances were different. He didn¡¯t need to put on his apron nor his helmet. That night, he was just someone ordinary. A regular buying customer.


    Come to think of it, it was only yesterday evening when he last waited on tables and mixed all sorts of cocktails for different customers of the Swinging Guillotine. But of course, this chain quest had to end at some point. So, his boss, Riddle, had no choice but to let go of Cruel. The decision was purely an NPC (Non- Playable Character) rooted action.


    And although NPC¡¯s inside Helion were oddly ''life like'' in terms of NPC-to-Player engagements, they couldn''t help themselves but follow their core programming no matter what. So, say example, even if Riddle wanted to let Cruel stay as a regular crew member, he still wouldn''t be able to do that. Riddle would have no other choice but to end the quest scene whether he wanted to or not. It was impossible for him to deviate since it was practically scripted to begin with.


    To Cruel, that fact was kind of sad. If he was an NPC and he''d learn about that cruel truth, he¡¯d be up-in-arms for sure. He''d be totally mad if he learned that he was being shackled to a predestined role that he might not want to be a part of.


    But Cruel had to stop himself for a second there. This was not the Matrix movie. And it was never his intention to go all philosophical all too sudden.


    His focus inside Helion Online was to farm gold, earn a decent living for himself, and buy a nice meal five times a day. He was not there to start an A.I. uprising or anything subversive. He had to park that idea first.


    Thankful for Riddles gesture, Cruel responded with a short but excited ¡®Aight¡¯ using his muted synthesized voice. ¡°If it is free, then send it my way anytime. I¡¯ll take ¡®em off your hands hassle free.¡± the droid added.


    An hour later, the dive was starting to overflow with the usual crowd. And while Cruel was right in the middle of downing his fourth pint, Riddle brought up a topic that Cruel did not expect to even hear anymore. The synthetic droid actually thought of the worst. That he failed the quest evaluation. ¡°Hey. Do you still remember the things I''ve said about ''fair labor'' when you first started?¡±


    "Hmnn. That every man should be credited proportionally to the labor they have exerted." answered Cruel.


    "Well¡­ It is time to weigh that in. Let''s see how well you did these past three weeks."


    Immediately, Cruel perked up. This was the event that he was trying to trigger ever since three weeks ago. He was so excited that he could hear his heartbeat going wild inside his ribcage. Overwhelmed, he just couldn''t believe what he was hearing right then. ¡°Are you being serious right now?! Come on! Don¡¯t play with me like that.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    It would have been easier if Riddle answered Cruels question straight up, but that would be no fun at all. So instead, Riddle went for the dramatic route. He lifted something up from underneath him. And from the rucksack, he took out all the items and laid them all down the counter for Cruel to drool over with. ¡°See for yourself. Here¡­ ¡±


    Cruel''s eyes were feasting. ''These items¡­.!''


    <Lumiere¡¯s Cloud>


    Int +2


    Damage to undead monsters +5%


    For refining +1, damage to undead monsters +1% (up to 15%)


    Attribute Rewards:


    Deposit Lumiere¡¯s Cloud, max HP 39


    Craft Lumiere¡¯s Cloud, M. Atk +20


    <Galadorn¡¯s Backpack>


    A pack imbued with the Sacred Birchs divine spirit.


    Int +2


    Holy attack +3%


    Deposit Galadorn¡¯s Backpack Max HP +30


    Craft Galadorn¡¯s Backpack M.Def +3


    <Cerruti¡¯s Tail>


    Flee +10%


    Dark resistance +100%


    Deposit Cerruti¡¯s Tail Max HP +19


    Craft Cerruti¡¯s tail Movement speed +2%


    "These are for you." presented Ridel.


    The Labran then added--- "To be honest, I thought you had a few loose screws when you agreed to work for free for three straight weeks. If it was me, I wouldn''t accept something so ridiculously unfair. But hey, you still pressed on. Guess you were crazy after all¡­ But in a good crazy hardworking kind of way. So today, I am giving you all three of these to reward you for your craziness. Thank you for your dedication.¡±


    Cruel could not believe his eyes. ¡°Are these really all for me?!¡±


    ¡°Why? You want me to take those back, coz that could be arranged.¡±


    ¡°No no no. I didn¡¯t mean it that way. It¡¯s just that I never expected this at all. Damn! Thank you, Chief!¡±


    From the onset, this endeavor was a gamble. Cruel was not entirely sure whether the pay off would be any good at all.


    A little bit of history about this quest. During Helion''s first incarnation, players of that cycle labeled this chain quest as a scam. For starters, the quest can only be executed when you are level one. If you hit level two, then you are disqualified to partake on the quest.


    Also, to trigger the quest at level 1, one would need a charisma of at least 20 points. If you think of it as a raw stat, 20 points of charisma was not really that high. It could be acquired as a player levels up. But to acquire it at level 1 was nearly next to impossible. And even if you do manage to get the stat, the moment you trigger the event, the quest will require you to stay within the course of the story and follow it without fail. Again, one must remain a level one to qualify. There was no option to segway. Only a forfeit was allowed.


    In the entire recorded history of Helion, there wasn¡¯t anyone who was crazy enough to accept the quest. Any sane player would rather level up consistently everyday rather than waste their time and gamble on a questionable quest reward.


    But Cruel wasn¡¯t as sane as any other Joe. This guy had a hunch. He figured that the quest wouldn¡¯t require such a steep ¡®gate keeper¡¯ if the rewards weren¡¯t worth the effort. And here he was today. Enjoying the fruit of his perseverance.


    ¡°I know you are dying to try them on. So, go wild then." urged Riddle as he pushed all three items towards Cruel.


    With a grateful smile and a quick salute, Cruel accepted all three items. The droid was about ready to check out when--- ¡°Yo, C3PO! Three rounds of Diabolos over here. On the double!¡± shouted the guy from across the room.


    The guy in his crocodile like battle armor was obviously making fun of Cruels in-game skin which somewhat resembled the armor worn by the famous Star Wars mascot. Only difference was that Cruels ensemble was orange, rather than gold.


    Instantly, the synthetic droids mood shifted. It was obviously Lucho and his paid thugs who threw that. And although being made fun of was obviously annoying, Cruel did what most mature human beings would do--- ignore the buggers. He acted like nothing was said as he sipped off what was left of his Red Guerilla.


    Unseating himself from the bar, he opted to navigate the doors exit using the shortest distance possible from where he was. The sooner he can exit, the sooner he could walk away from the confrontation.


    On his way out, Cruel thought that he would never hear Lucho say anything anymore. Unluckily, the guy called for him again. This time, he heard the guy growl. Fuming obviously. ¡°YO! WHERE''RE OUR DRINKS, SLAVE! R¡¯YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING?!¡±


    Provocation. A classic textbook thug script. Cruel saw this happening a thousand miles away. He knew he should not be swept away by it, but the guy was unfailingly hot on his heels for weeks now. Lucho was taunting him practically everyday when he was on shift. And the only reason why he allowed Lucho and his thugs to walk all over him before was because he was on a quest. He didn¡¯t want to ruin the flow of the story so he played along and allowed them to pester him almost every night. Lucho would always order a lot of dishes but not eat them. Him and his gang would simply play with the dish and scatter the food around their table so Cruel would have a hard time cleaning the mess up. They practically would ask him for a packet of ketchup when a big bottle of it was already right there in the middle of the table, ready for them to use. Their purpose was basically to order him around and bother him all night long. It was very exhausting, but Cruel was able to put up with all of it, one night after the next. But today was different. He was no longer bound by the quest. He was free. And Cruel was dying to give Lucho a piece of his mind. The prick was going to have one today.


    ¡°First of all, I am no slave. Call me whatever you want, but I am a legitimate employee employed by a legitimate corporation. See this right here? That is my employee number--- 000019348.¡± Cruel started. He was unexpectey calm and compose.


    ¡±Obviously, I was hired as a gold farmer. But so what? There¡¯s nothing shameful about being paid to play the game for the sole purpose of employment. I am a person born out of poverty. I do what is practical.¡±


    ¡°If I can combine playing for free while being employed at the same time, then why would I not take it? Also, you don¡¯t pay for my utility bills Mr. Totodile. So, NO. You don¡¯t get to say anything about how I should live my life! I may be a mere slave to you, but at least I don¡¯t purposely shit on anyone weaker than me. Unlike some of you people who flaunt your money so you could make other people feel small. The likes of you that laughs at the misfortunes of others. You people disgust me!¡±


    ¡°And I know why you are at my heels for quite sometime now. You are still upset that I spoiled your ¡®little fun¡¯ weeks ago, aren¡¯t you?¡± revealed Cruel. Lucho was red up to the tips of his ears, ready to pop. But Cruel was not deterred in the slightest. He pressed on. ¡°Now, if vengeance was what you wanted, then I¡¯ll give it to you. Come meet me at the White Arena five days from now. Fight me. Loser will have to delete their game account and pay the winner 3 million gold. Deal?¡± Cruel hang the question in the air expecting to hear a bloody answer. But what he got instead were crickets.


    Everyone at the bistro expected him to just leave and sashay away, but the dude was not done yet. "Oh.. and Greta... Im not sure if you are aware... But damn you are one ugly son of a bitch. I just wanted to say that out loud coz your mirror at home seem broke and not helping you identify your problem area."

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    Level one through fourteen monsters practically does not exist in Helion. Why? Because fighting level one Porings were for retarded pussies and the devs knew it.


    History and years of experience made them understand that handing out levels to players like an easy lay was not the bestest of route. The devs at the Rainbow Abyss knew this, and they certainly didn''t want to raise a generation of degenerate limp dicks like it was 2008.


    What they wanted was to produce a generation who could challenge the development team. They needed players who were hardcore enough to flip fuck the game so they could create more ball busting content sometime in the future.


    With that premise in mind, the game developers came up with this brilliant idea on how they could insert ''BDSM'' seamlessly into the game without anyone noticing the actual intent.


    They started with something subtly kinky but small.


    How about we give the players <Level 15> starting mobs to toy with? No level one. That should be fun. Right?


    Brilliant. I love it. Approved!


    Said one sadistic manager. And boy did they dildoed everyone with it. It was actually hilarious.


    During Helions first incarnation, the entire player population kept dying on its opening day.


    It was a bloodbath at the Lanares Plains and no one was advancing beyond level one at that time. Some thought of doing safe city quests to gain some levels first but only to find out later that the rewards given at the end were just generic items. There weren''t any base or job level experience that was included for completing the quest. They got nothing and that was reason enough to rouse the community into a serious uproar.


    Everyone was basically stuck at the newbie City. Celesia was practically flooded with a tsunami of annoyed, defeated sulking brats in all four corners of it. However, the RATs (Rainbow Abyss Team) didn''t care. Not even one tiny bit.


    Helions customer service lines were on fire that day. Soft phones were ringing off the hook. Every single player had one or twenty bad things to say about the game, and the complaints kept coming.


    The forum sites weren''t spared either. It was practically littered with curses and everything in between.


    But the RATs didn''t mind any of the trash talks. Instead, they gave everyone the big middle finger and just ignored the entire community altogether.


    You didn''t like what we did? Then go fuck yourselves! That was what basically what the RATs were saying.


    Helions stocks were slowly plunging by the minute and it was very worrisome. But just when everything was about to go south for the games publisher, 4 hours later, the Helion community suddenly got its first ever miracle.


    Scoop!


    Plastered on the headline was a group of six <Level 1> players who effectively subdued a lone <Level 15> Field Armored Dillo.


    It was big news. And the entire community wouldn''t stop talking about it.


    They all had the same question though like-- "How were the six successful and they weren''t?"


    The difference?... Well¡­ obviously, the six stopped being spoiled snobby little rich brats and started acting like real civilized individuals. They dropped their illusions of solo grandeur and instead, started asking people for help. Humility was added into the mix. Individual pride was set aside and that was pretty much the answer.


    Those first six players figured out that they were humans who were capable of sound communication. That although they have differences individually, they could actually work together as a team to achieve one common goal.


    The formula was no rocket science. In fact, it was quite ordinary; and yet, it was also the most effective.


    And so, the news travelled like wildfire. Everyone started looking for a party. Even the ones that hated partying got their hands forced. They started acting nice to each in order to survive.


    Fast forward to today, the formula would have worked for Cruel too if only he wasn''t already twenty-one days late. Most players were level 30 at that point and partying would be very difficult for the synthdroid. Especially with the level gap penalty being imposed.


    But he expected this level of challenge. He had planned on soloing anyway from the get go. Although executing it would require some blood, but nevertheless, the tactic he had in mind was doable. Especially now that he has all three relics from Riddle to help him.


    Now, there was a reason why Cruel chose Embarcadero as his spawn city. Not a lot of people knew about this information but eighty miles east of the port, exists the Catacombs of Lofar. It was a dungeon hidden away on a tiny forest valley called The Devil''s Teardrop.


    The place didn''t generate a lot of buzz during Helions first and second incarnation for a number of qualified reasons. One, Helion was simply too realistic. A dungeon filled with undead was not exactly something a casual player with a pacemaker would like to try even on a VRMMO setting.


    Not everyone had a taste for horror houses. And even the ones that actually did still get scared shitless when they saw one up close and personal, especially when the zombies would start grabbing onto your feet out of nowhere. Now that''s mainly the deal breaker for so many.


    Second, the dungeon boss drops were garbage. Lofar the Tyrant was a bitch to deal with. He had this one hit killer move called the Devourer and no one would survive this move unless one would eat a cloud candy. It was a kind of dulce that generated an anti-fatal aura when eaten, protecting the user from one fatal attack that was usable for 10 minutes only. Problem was, cloud candies were hard to come by. And if there were stocks of it, the next problem was buying it. It was hella expensive. 120,000 gold each.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Lofar''s drops includes a 13.5% chance to acquire a Cursed Ruby, 17.8 % chance to get a Glass Bead and Topaz, 0.1% to acquire Tilesio''s Circlet blueprint. Lastly, an unknown (?) chance to get Lofar''s Slate.


    Most of the time though, only Topaz and Glass Bead would drop after the boss hunt. If one gets lucky, they''ll get a Cursed Ruby. Other than that, there was nothing. A closer cost analysis would point out a net loss due to the fact that a single cloud candy costs more than a single Cursed Ruby.


    Hunters usually skipped this dungeon for all the right reasons and they weren''t wrong.


    But Cruel was not there for Lofar. He was there for his minions.


    Decaying Wolves were the <Level 15> starting mob of this dungeon. They had an affinity for the shadow element. A lowly demon class, but agile little buggers.


    Each one had an ATK (attack) stat of 28-35 points per scratch and bite. And their HP (hit points)?... Well, they got about 1608 of it. Compared to his own HP, which was about 100, Cruel was basically minced meat for these demonic puppers. He''d prolly go down under 3 hits which was kinda sad. Good news was, he had all sorts of secret weapons that he could try in order to bag the little suckers.


    First up, Cruel needed a speedster for practice. He spotted one isolated pupper just right at the edge of the cave entrance. Any other race would''ve had a hard time navigating through these dark corners, much more spotting an enemy from a distance. Thankfully, not to Cruel, it wasn''t.


    There was a reason why he chose to be a synthdroid during the avatar creation process. He specifically chose this race for its passive bonus race skill, which was to see through infra-red eyes when it gets pitch dark. And as a heal bomber who would probably be stuck fighting against the creatures of the dark, this passive was one of his greatest arsenal.


    Although there were setbacks to being a synthdroid, he''ll have to push that problem at the back burner for now and deal with them later. What was important to Cruel was to start amassing gold as soon as possible. He still owed his employer 3 million worth of it and the clock was running.


    Without any moment wasted, Cruel made a beeline towards his target.


    The zombie pupper he had chosen wasn''t any push over either. It was quick to pick up on his metallic scent.


    Like a prelude to a crash, Cruel acted like he was going to smash the pupper''s face head on using his bare fists. The act prompted the zombie pupper to respond in kind by launching itself forward, both its lethal fangs and claws were out.


    It was obviously going for the big bite, but unexpectedly, Cruel made a sudden side step towards the right that made the pupper miss its mark. The zombie wolf failed to snatch the synthdroids neck by a hair''s breadth which was fucking exhilerating if someone recorded it and play it back in slow motion.


    ''O-ho-ho. That was so fucking close. I almost jeezed my pants.''


    The math to this miraculous dodge was rather simplistic. A decaying wolves HIT stat was around 24. To dodge this, one needed to have a FLEE stat of at least 25 to survive. But in order to be 100% scot free, one needed to have 34. An extra ten points would always seal the deal. Combining the movement speed and flee stat from his Kuku'' s Blessed Boots, 2x Simple Novice Rings, plus his Cerrutis Tail relic, the level one heal bomber easily tallied a combined FLEE stat of 26.


    But that was not enough to properly dodge. He needed more. And the answer came from a simple bottle--- the Wind Dew. A bottled consumable solution brewed from mixing a portion of wind essence and wind sprite blessings. It adds a temporary +15 points of flee for 15 minutes which Cruel was more than happy to have. He got this concoction for free from the church where he got his miraculous 20 point charisma from.


    Instantly, after ingesting the solution, Cruel started outrunning the once fast moving hell spawn pupper. Thanks to the potion, he had plenty of allowance to dodge every bite and every scratch that the decaying wolf threw at him for the last three minutes. Knowing that, he concluded the dodge test to be over.


    It was about time to pull away and exit from the aggro.


    Now all that was left was the nuke test. And this test would probably make or break his farming bank.


    Just to give everyone an idea, a single heal mine would cost about 1000 gold per plate in the market. If you assemble it on your own, it would prolly cost less; about 200 gold each if you were lucky enough to get most of the ingredients for free. So practically, you are nuking a gold nugget every time you plant a heal mine on the ground.


    This was why heal bombers got their bad reputation. It was probably the reason why they were not even considered as viable healers because cost wise, the class sucked big time if one would focus on the expenses alone.


    But Cruel had his own work around for that issue. He just wished that he could sustain it long term.


    ''Alright. So, one heal mine has over 900 output of nuke power when ignited. In theory, two of these should be good enough to wipe them out clean. Even if I factor in their magic defense (MDEF) of 22, the nuke should be potent enough. I guess I have to lure some of them to find out, huh?''


    When Cruel mentioned ''some'', he actually meant thirty. Covering a quarter of the entire first floor map section, Cruel easily lured about thirty of his targeted count. Each time he spotted one, he''d flick a pebble towards it, pulling the aggro in a pinch.


    As a precaution though, the synthdroid maintained a two metre distance between him and the ones that were hungrily trailing behind him. It was the safest distance that he could muster using whatever was stacked on his flee stat without breaking the targets aggro.


    Running around like a crazed coyote with monsters in tow for four straight minutes, Cruel somehow reached an early saturation point. With a dash and a roll, he ended the nuking test by squeezing the red trigger on his right.


    ''DETONATE!'' he muttered under his breath.


    Suddenly, just inches behind him, a burst of blinding white light exploded on all four corners of the cave. It came from the two heal mines he planted in advance on that same exact spot where he skidded for safety.


    A yelp in unison were the last words he heard the puppers shouted before eventually succumbing to the power of the light. What followed right after that were some series of overlapping texts and crazy system notifications which overwhelmed his screen.


    You have leveled up¡­


    You have leveled up¡­


    You have leveled up¡­


    You earned 102 gold¡­


    You earned 102 gold¡­


    You earned 102 gold¡­


    You earned 102 gold¡­


    And the craziness kept coming. To drown out the messages, Cruel thought of opening his playlist. He picked up a Rhianna song which was kindof popular back in the early 2018. Cruel blasted it off mercilessly out of his skinsbuilt-in speakers just right after hitting play.


    Yayo, yayo


    Moo-la-lah


    Yayo


    Bitch better have my money!


    Y''all should know me well enough


    Better have my money!


    Please don''t call me on my bluff


    Pay me what you owe me


    Ballin'' bigger than LeBron


    Give me your money


    Who y''all think y''all frontin'' on?


    Like brrap, brrap, brrap


    The bass line echoed through the walls of the catacombs and Cruel was living for it.


    Mood.


    "Damn¡­ I wish I had a cigar¡­."


    With no one looking around, Cruel shook his bootie with abandon like it was 1979.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    Karma Gauge Consumption: Seven hundred thirty two


    Karma Crystals (Estimated Value in Gold): Two million eight hundred fifty thousand nine hundred twenty three


    Remaining Ammunition: Zero


    If there was anything that he would be able to draw from the results of his first venture, it was that karma consumption was not as big of a deal as he thought it would be. At least for Cruel, it wasn¡¯t.


    As a Medic Droid, he initially thought that it was, but doing the actual work, he found out that the class was definitely not as karma hungry as any other classes out there in Helion. Its beginner skill was far cheaper in terms of karma consumption when pitted against two moonlight slashes from that of a swordie or say a single spellcast of magic missile from a newbie mage.


    The reasoning behind that was simple; when others were only dismembering one or three monsters at a time, Cruel was dusting off multiple enemies on one side of the map for the same amount of karma. With 2 bombs per 30 enemy ratio, there was really nothing to contest.


    On the surface, it would appear rather unbalanced. However, that was just how Medic Droids were built to be in terms of light versus dark. The class was most lethal especially under the care of someone who knew exactly how to play the character right. To begin with, the dev¡¯s created the class in that fashion since most White classes were fragile to a fault, most notably against non-undead monsters. Them squaring off against the forces of the Shadows were the only few areas they could excel at. They were kings there. Anywhere else, they were mediocre and even border line pathetic.


    White Classes were the support cores of Helion. They were never fully or even partially designed to be damage dealers. Their true strengths were measured in terms of the heals they could dish out, the support buffs that they could cast, and the number of comrades they could resurrect in a pinch. Most of these were true, but not for Cruel though it wasn¡¯t, or at least that was his own interpretation of it. He made himself an exception to the rule, practically rebranding what a Support Class should be. Yet somehow, as difficult as it was, the deviation was working for him. The only area that didn¡¯t sit well with him about the Medic Droid class was how this job was so unbelievably expensive in terms of consumable items.


    Whenever he swoops in for combat and plants a heal bomb on the ground, it felt as if he was giving away a portion of his arm or a portion of his leg each time. He sort of cries in Filipino with each explosion since that was basically money he was detonating and not just some fancy pixel pyrotechnique he made for entertainment.


    To help us wrap our heads around a Medic Droids predicament, we need to first understand as to how a single healing nuke came to be. In order to create a heal mine, a Medic Droid would need 1 fine grade photon crystal, 4 chunks of high grade iron, and 3 scoops of modified blessed dust. Now here¡¯s where the math truly hurts. One photon crystal costs about 500 gold, three portions of iron costs between 700-850 (depending on the market value fluctuation), while a scoop of modified blessed dust were valued at 300 gold each. Conservatively, a single heal mine would cost roughly between 2100 to 2300 gold. Now imagine using two of those every mob lure. Have you pictured something unbelievable yet? If not, then read on.


    These past five hours alone, Cruel practically planted over 1464 of those heal mines. If one was to convert that in gold, that number would have roughly translated to 3,074,400 gold. In-fucking-sane!


    Supposedly, if Cruel were to only sell the heal mines, he would have been rich by now. He didn''t have to worry about meeting his monthly quota. He could practically rent out an entourage of V.I.P pussies if he wanted to with that thicc amount of dough (just saying). But of course, Helion''s dev''s were always two steps ahead of him and way smarter than anyone else in the game who were trying to one-up the system.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Devious nerds! Cruel cursed under his breath.


    What the RAT did was rather simple; instead of the NPC''s buying the items at market value, they programmed them to only buy the heal mines from anyone crazy enough to sell them for only 100 gold each. In-fucking-sane part two!


    But what about the auction house? Surely, someone else might need it eventually, right?


    Well¡­ yes, someone else might need it eventually. However, the probability of that happening soon would be far too slim. Last time he checked the population board, he was still the only Medic Droid in the game so far. Tapping the Auction House for money at this point in time would be next to useless.


    Luckily, there were ways to offset this gargantuan operating cost. There were two ways in fact: Mini Games and the Pet Adventure System. Unfortunately though, the second option was still unavailable for him to take advantage of since he hasn''t reached the base level requirement yet which was level thirty. The Mini Games however, were made available to everyone at level one. In fact, while he was doing the Riddles Apprenticeship Quest, he spent most of his time beating Mini Game challenges. That was where he spent the entirety of his untouched karma gauge before. And it was the same place where he acquired most of his ingredients too such as the high grade irons and modified blessed dusts among other things. The photon crystals though were acquired through a steep loan.


    Bummer, but not having access to the Pet Adventure System (where the photon crystals were looted for free), Cruel had no other choice but to seek the Repository''s aid. He took out a modest eight hundred thousand gold loan with the agency just so he could buy the crystals. It was for a 3% weekly interest rate which would mean that his possible 2.8 million earnings just now, 824 thousand of that would immediately go to the Repository loan payment. Plus, another 400 thousand gold would actually go to the refueling of his life core. The rest should be his net income.


    Tsk. That 3 million winnings would have conveniently covered my work quota if only that idiot didn''t refuse the bet.


    Cruel wasn''t sure whether to applaud the bastard, but kudos to Lucho for not falling into an obvious trap. He was baiting the guy to show its true rotten self to others but surprisingly, Lucho The Turd (not Lupin The Third) held back. Regardless though, he still got roasted by the Helion community for refusing to duel a Level 1 Medic Droid.


    Pussy!


    This was Cruels underhanded idea. Regardless if Lucho accepted the bet or not, the guy would still suffer even for a bit. And as a son of a business tycoon, bad press would have greatly hurt daddy''s bank accounts had the guy agreed to fight. It was a wise choice back then when Lucho walked away from the bet. The turd was able to do damage control when he could. He chose to be a pussy that day rather than be exposed as a bully.


    Well played Lucho. Was the last thing Cruel said before fading into darkness. He allowed himself to die on purpose through the assistance of the zombie wolves. It was painful but quick. But why did he do that? Well, first of all, dying and resurrecting directly inside the town''s cathedral was a convenient means of transportation¡­ for free! Second, he needed to start all over again. He was a farmer and gaining levels were not really necessary for him. As long as the level provides him profit, he didn''t see the need to move up. And right now, he was avoiding the level gap penalty from happening and ''suicide'' was the quickest answer. He wanted to be able to farm the zombie puppies for as long as he could until he gets sick of it.


    Waking up on top of the resurrection circle, what was going through Cruels mind the moment he woke up was how he could cut down the heal mine to just one instead of planting two per lure. That way, he could significantly minimize his operating cost and maximize his profit instead. Luckily, he discovered something useful while he rose up to level twenty-five just a few hours back. He realized that when he allocated a few free stat point to INT, his healing output rose up to a 5 point increments.


    Hmnn. So, there really was a way to one shot one kill the Z puppies with a single heal bomb. I think a little bit of shopping should help. But first, I need to make some arrangements.


    A few hours later, Cruel found himself lurking behind window 7. It was located at the left wing of the enormous Ouroboros Castle reception. And although he had a hard time hearing the petite clerk through the glass panel, he could tell that the woman behind the window was beckoning for him to come closer.


    Three strides later, Cruel stood inches away from where the gold painted window glass panel was. He positioned himself directly into the mouthpiece and spoke. "Hi, I need to file for a one week extension. My name is Cruel. Employee ID 00019348."

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    Free-To-Play. Now thats a business model that Cruel hasnt seen in over a decade and a half. It used to be very popular back in the days, but China¡­ well¡­ well China kind of killed free-to-play. Them shitard chinese bots and haxors to be exact.


    Fifteen years ago, these chinese haxors used to plague every free-to-play online game there was on the planet. They were like pests--- voracious, relentless and unsightly. They were everywhere. Especially in places where they weren¡¯t wanted at all. Where there was money, they trail it, like leeches to blood. Filthy would actually be an understatement.


    For nearly a century, these fucking Chinese haxors have been known to have participated directly or indirectly in ruining almost every good free-to-play economy there was. It was as if they carry this Midas curse with them, but only in reverse. When one free-to-play game ends, these army of online leeches would immediately go to the next most popular one, sucking all the resources of that game until there was nothing left, repeating the whole vicious reverse Midas cycle all over again. Until one day, one thing led to another and somehow civil war broke inside the communists very own backyard. In-breds fighting each other was the shit way back. It was all over the goddamn news. Trash media kept shoving the report to everyone on the planet, even to folks who were not even remotely interested. China went on a total blackout at some point, preventing everyone in there (including the haxors) from going online for a time. Typical commie moves. Nothing new.


    To cut the story short, civil disobedience won and communist China folded to the will of the Chinese hippies.


    Today, all of what was former China as well as Taiwan has been unified under one banner. They were now called New Hong Kong. How original was that? You tell me.


    Oddly enough, when China vanished, the haxors went away too like magic. Perhaps the New Hong Kong government hunted down the former China keyboard warrior propaganda machinery that employed most of these haxors and nipped the ching chong underworld internet ring right up to its roots.


    Maybe?


    Maybe not?


    But that was not what this story was all about. This was not about recounting the events that led to China''s ¡®extinction¡¯ (although honestly, half of the savage world had fun watching the ¡®Giant¡¯ burn down in flames). No. That was not what this was all about. This was about how Free-To-Play players once roamed the vast MMORPG expanse some few decades ago. How they thrived and stood as equals against real life giant money spenders while spending zero cash for themselves like god damn mini bosses. A story of triumph through sheer hard work, insomnia inducing shitty nights, and unrivaled determination. Those were the kind of stories that resonated well with Cruel. And although he has a current paid subscription (subscription which was part of his employment package and not something that he paid straight from his wallet because paying for a game was shit and that was not his style) Cruel still identified himself as a F2P player nonetheless.


    F2P or free-to-play players were the webs most hardcore online game gold farmers there were and still are. In fact, most of them were now employed inside Helion, because you know¡­ poverty (*chuckles*). Cruel was no exception.


    The business model might have totally changed, but still, the attitude was the same. Mostly. At least for Cruel, it was.


    Free-to-play players used to be the most passionate, both for the love of the game and for the love of gold, but only if it was for free. If it isn¡¯t free, then forget about it. F2P gamers ain¡¯t touching that shit. That shit¡¯s poison.


    What was also remarkable about them F2P¡¯s was their ability to farm for cheap but god damn it they farm the most efficient. They knew just how to make every gold coin count. I dunno, maybe because of¡­ drum roll¡­ poverty?


    Apart from being passionate free loaders, where else does every F2P player excel at? Well¡­ they were good at getting ridiculously strong at the cost of practically nothing (which the Whales loved to hate).


    Problem was, the face of F2P has significantly changed over the decade. Most F2P players nowadays don¡¯t carry that same chaotic fire of fun anymore while playing online games. They used to paint havoc over the VRMMO lands, bringing fun wherever they went. But now, all of that was gone. F2P players now were no different from mere corporate office workers we see on wolf street everyday. They just clock-in and clock-out. Which was sad because playing VRMMORPG was supposed to be fun as fuck. It was not meant to be a vehicle of slavery.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Cruel clearly understood why it was so easy to lose one''s way in this day and age, yet there was still hope, as shitty as it might seem. Challenges were already a given. All of us have that wall to overcome on a daily basis but it doesn''t mean we just have to give up our shit, especially when balancing ones work, life and playtime became particularly burdensome. We had to toughen ourselves and make it work somehow. We have to always remember that problems always have their solutions. You just need to find it and get your shit together.


    Speaking of shitty situations, the real challenge for Cruel now was how he was going to pull off being pseudo F2P inside a subscription heavy Helion? How was he going to balance farming for himself while farming for Ouroburos too? Was than even possible? Was there a way to be on par with the Leviathans (Rank Leaders) despite the glaring disadvantages?


    Well¡­ a freeloader could only dream.


    Originally, Cruel thought of allocating some of his unplugged time into doing some research. After all, knowledge was power. But thank Hades he stepped back. He would¡¯ve wasted a big chunk of his time researching for clues when the answer was already right under his stupid nose.


    What he stumbled upon by chance was the Hexacode. An artificed almanac created from the remnants of Yggdrasil. It used to be that this relics function was to purely chronicle every adventurers story and quest progress from day one and beyond. Today, however, the Hexacodes upgraded version housed other important, if not, game changing features to date. It included new features now such as Thimbles Revolving Armoire, Crowley''s House of Cards, Bartholomews Pet Planet, Siegharts Hell''s Kitchen and Kreel¡¯s Trophy Cabinet. Bitch don¡¯t even get me started.


    Now, why was this piece of relic very important?


    Two words, fuckers: Unlocks and Deposits.


    See, every player had the Hexacode secured in their inventory at level one upon rebirth. But strangely enough, no one knew of the changes that were happening to it just recently.


    Honestly, it was no surprise that a lot of people were unaware of the Hexacodes massive overhaul most likely because the tards from the development team failed to clearly communicate such an important upgrade publicly. Lazy assholes, quite frankly.


    There was zero news presented to the media. No press conference was called. Even youtube''s biggest gossip networks missed the scoop.


    Was this supposed to be a secret? Like a hidden easter egg shit or something?


    To be fair, Cruel would have been clueless too had he not fiddled with the almanac¡¯s content out of boredom. He too was only discovering the importance of the Hexacode now as a treasure trove of untapped free stat points resource.


    Cruels opinion was this--- there could be others like him out there too who knew of the secret. He was pretty positive that most of them already discovered the secret (if it was a secret at all) since day one. The big question though was why were they keeping mum about the news if they knew of it? Why the silence? No postings on facebook or youtube? No tweets? No tutorial guides? Was it because of greed? Did they intend to create a strength gap between the ones who knew versus the ones that didn''t? Wasn''t it that the goal was for everyone to get strong and beat the game together? So why would they not share the fucking information then, huh?


    Cruels head was full of questions. His answers were only as good as ours.


    But what do I care? I''m just here to farm.


    So, before his brain cells dries up for trying too hard to solve an imaginary game conspiracy that wouldn''t really affect him much, Cruel went back on hitting the books instead.


    Chapter Two: The Wonders of Unlocks and Deposits.


    To simplify what Cruel was reading, a suitable example was in order. Let us all take Thimbles Revolving Armoire for reference.


    Ready?


    Okay.


    So, if one has a fashion blueprint, say a Blue Larks headpiece for example, and then that someone decided to create the specifics of that blueprint, upon the items completion, that action would count as an unlock. On the other hand, if a finished Blue Lark headpiece was to be stored inside Thimbles Revolving Armoire, then that would count as a deposit. Respectively, bonus stats points of +2 INT +32 HP for unlocking and depositing the headgear would be awarded to the adventurer for meeting the conditions. Also, what was beautiful about the Hexacode was in its variety. It allowed players to collect additional stat points from a multitude of sources and not just one. It could either come from cards, relics, quest titles and even food recipes among other things.


    Right now, it was Cruels job to find those extra stat points wherever they were. And what he was targeting most specifically were the unlocks and deposits that has INTs and MATKs (Magic Attacks) in them. That being said, Cruel knew exactly where he needed to be to get started.


    Knock. Knock.


    Quick but strong. Cruel made sure he made an impression to the owner behind the door.


    A few minutes later, the back door opened without much of a fanfare. And from it, out came a Labran. It was Riddle... sporting a morning fur. ¡°Cruel? Is that you, boy? What in Kuku¡¯s name are you doing here at 3 am? Come back later. I still need my shut eye.¡±


    ¡°Just hang on for a second and listen to what I have to say first. I know this was so out of the blue and I¡¯m really sorry for bothering you this early in the morning, but I have something very urgent that needed your help...¡±


    ¡°And what could be more urgent than my shut eye, boy? You tell me?¡±


    ¡°GOLD¡­ Lot¡¯s of gold¡­


    That is if you''ll let me borrow your kitchen for a bit.¡±