"Oh my gosh, I didn't think you'd actually join," Megan said, her voice becoming a pitch higher with excitement. She fanned herself with her hands. It was such a heavy contrast to her fearsome Mardurkyon face that I almost laughed out loud. "Wow, I didn't think I'd get this far. Now I know what guys asking me out feel like. You should meet with us later for planning and stuff."

"I'll be glad to," I said. "I hope you'll help me get strong in time for the event. I don't want to be a burden."

"Of course, we will help you. Me, probably not so much. I can only give you some Artas and food. Kezo though would have plenty of tips for you. Maybe he has hand-me-down gears too. Nitana and I are really pretty useless. We just do any quest willy-nilly, mostly enjoying our time here in the mountains. Maybe we'll be the burden."

This might be a challenge, I thought as I added her as a friend. She told me she'd message me if our other party mates were online.

Two weeks was plenty of time to become stronger. But would I be strong enough that this party—probably the weakest group that'd participate in the Great Hunt—wouldn't be bullied by the stronger or even the whale teams?

Time for a miracle...that miracle's name is Herald Stone.

[ Received: 8,000,000 Artas ]

"Another splendid deal, partner." Chimichangaroo offered me his hand, which I politely shook.

"I'm sorry I also couldn't farm three thousand each of the fangs and fur," I told him. "The drop rates were already abysmal so I transferred to the Snowy Swinelings." I sold him only two thousand five hundred pieces each of the other two materials to make it a round number; the leftovers I'd put up on auction later.

"No big deal, partner," he said. "My focus is leveling my Dreamweaving Ocadule. Trinket crafting is just a secondary project to me. And thanks to the thousands of Mirdabon fur you supplied, my most priced Ocadule is progressing at a fast pace. Soon, I'll be able to weave stronger types of robes."

Which you'll then auction for massive profits, I thought with a mental smirk. With his Relic Quality Dreamweaving Ocadule, his crafted robes would certainly be in demand and fetch high prices. Once he started selling, he'd easily recoup the Artas he spent buying materials from me. "How many pieces of Swineling fur do you want to buy in the future?"

"I can't tell yet," he replied, scratching the bottom of his tusk. "First, I have to see how much Gli I’ll gain using the materials I had just bought from you."

"I was just thinking of how many Swinelings fur I should farm," I said. "It'd be great if I have a number to aim for." The real reason was that I wanted an assured contract from Chimi before he no longer needed me.

Mirdabon fur was his priority. Now that I had run out of them, it was uncertain until when he'd continue purchasing Swineling fur from me. His Ocadule might unlock a new type of fabric to weave that wouldn't need Swineling fur. If that happened I'd be stuck with excess loot worth less than if I farmed at the Scholar's Lodge or some other place.

Before our meeting, I killed a few Craborelings to gauge their drop rate. Then I compared my possible earnings from Craboreling loot, using the offers at the auction house, with what I'd earn from Chimichangaroo. The Snowy Swinelings won only because of Chimi's high offer, and not by much.

But if I used the market prices for Swineling loot, they'd lose because their meat was dirt cheap—I deduced there weren't many good recipes requiring that ingredient. I'll have to learn a cooking Ocadule so that the meat won't go to waste.

"A number you say?" Chimi closed all of his four eyes to think. "How about two thousand? Let us see after that how much I'd still need."

"If it's fine with you, maybe we can already have a Contract for it?" I nonchalantly said. "My week might be a tad hectic and I'm not sure when we'd be able to meet once I finish farming your order. It's also less of a hassle for you since we no longer have to meet. I mean, you really don't have to take something as minor as trading with me out of your time."

"Hmmm...you're right there, partner," he said after a couple of seconds of considering it. "I'll make a Contract for future delivery."

I celebrated in my head. For bulk orders, it was only prudent to secure the contract first before making the product—that was how it was in my business. And that was how I should do it in MCO. Eventually, Chimi would no longer need anything from me and I didn't want to be stuck with "undervalued" inventory.

After I accepted the Contract, Chimi deposited the two million Arts in the system. Once I had gathered the required items, I'd also deposit them into the system and the funds would be released to me. I had a time limit of a week to complete it, which was more than enough to farm the Swinelings.

"See you around, partner!" Chimi said, giving me his signature salute. "I have some work to attend to." And he logged out.

I checked my messages because I saw a notification from Megan earlier.

[Megantress: Are you free? Kezo and Nitana are online.]

[Herald Stone: I'm free in about five minutes.]

I didn't want to appear too eager to meet them. In my current state, it was undeniable I was the weakest link in their party. This was like forming teams during P.E. in elementary—I was like the last kid any Mardukryon group would pick. But that didn't mean I was simply going to be subservient to them. This was a variation of the power play tactic of being intentionally late to a meeting, but less assholish.

'Assholish'? Is that a word? It should be.

[Megantress: We're at the entrance of the tunnels north side of the village.]

[Herald Stone: I'll be there soon.]

"Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive," I chanted to myself.

Since I was going to join their party, they'd naturally want to check my gears. Half of my mind wanted to spend all the money that I had—currently a bit over fifteen million Artas—to upgrade my equipment so I wouldn't look too pathetic and clueless. I was only level twelve, so they wouldn't expect much. But they also wouldn't expect someone who appeared to have gotten all his equipment from a scrapyard—which was sort of true since what I wore were items scavenged by Hermit Crabores.

However, I wasn't applying for their party; they invited me. I shouldn't be conscious of their impressions. Rather, it would be to my benefit if I appeared weak and pitiful. Megan and her party were desperate for members so they'd be inclined to help me get stronger even if only to bolster their numbers.

"I have plenty of time to prepare for the Great Hunt," I said to myself. I whipped myself four times to max my [Ancestral Constitution] and opened my stats page.

Name: Herald Stone | Lvl 12 Exp: 3.8%

Base: Mardukryon

Health: 1,626/1,626

Energy: 165/165

Ancestral Shroud: 875/1,010

ATTRIBUTES:

Might....................27

Vigor...................109

Spirit.....................15

Sense...................15

Next, I cast [Greater Pyro Shell] and spammed [Healing Touch] until I generated three [Rejuvenation Charge]. I could have a maximum of four charges up at the same time, but it would be only for a second. Consistently, I'd have only three. I'd need to lower the cooldown of [Healing Touch] or find another skill that generated charges to get a stable four.

A green number ‘480’ appeared after I cast my level two [Healing Touch] with three charges. That same amount healed me again over ten seconds, effectively becoming regeneration despite not showing up on my secondary attributes pages.

Speaking of secondary attributes, I examined them. With three [Rejuvenation Charge] they appeared as:

OFFENSE

Combat Rating.....................78

Physical Dmg.......................96

Physical Dmg Inc..............13.1%

Magical Dmg........................78

Magical Dmg. Inc..............9.5%

Critical Hit Dmg................130%

RETRIBUTION

Physical Damage.................80

DEFENSE

Constitution Rating.............355

Armor...............................1,553

Fire Resistance..................35%

HEALTH / ENERGY / AS

Health per Sec..............196.67

Energy per Sec.................0.78

Healing Increase.................9%

Healing Received................9%

AS per Sec.....................33.75

Given my fairly decent Ancestral Shroud and ginormous Armor stat, the life of my shell was… “Where’s a fucking calculator?” I mumbled as I fiddled around my WeeCee.

563! Not too bad, but there was plenty of room for improvement when I would eventually upgrade my gears.

I had no knowledge of how strong other Mardukryons were at my level, but I was confident that I was tankier than most of them despite my crappy gear—thank you, Mehubanarath, for the [Greater Pyro Shell].

I was probably tankier than some higher-leveled DPS characters as well. And that was the important thing. Even if I was the weakest one in our party, at the least I shouldn't die.

If we failed in our mission, the blame falls on those who died...a patented way of shifting blame to other party members.

It turned out that Kezo's full name was 'Kezodilla', and I instantly decided to like this guy. He was a swordsman with two large scimitars strapped on his back. In addition, he had a round buckler hanging down his left flank. If I had to guess, I'd say he was a DPS build who switched gears to be the tank of the group because they didn't have anyone else.

Nitana was certainly not a tank. She wore a jumble of differently-designed clothes like Megan. The staff she carried told me she was also a caster like her friend.

Our party was composed of two casual magic DPS players, one serious DPS player who had to double as a tank, and The Great Herald Stone. The line-up is amazing, I thought sarcastically. We'd be lucky to get scraps during the Great Hunt.

"Howdy there, Herald!" Kezo called out when he saw me approaching. "Are you ready for some boss hunting practice?"

Eh? Practice? Boss hunting?