《King of the Mountain》9 - Stealing The World
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My first stop will be the Fort Knox gold depository. I reserved a hotel suite in a nearby town and started the first heist of my career. After checking into the hotel and resting until the afternoon, I then rented a car and traveled to the closest deserted area near Fort Knox. 10 minutes after parking and close observation to make sure no one was paying attention I let my Earth magic do the work. I created a cave underneath the surface of the ground and added several small ventilation holes so I would not suffocate. After checking the area one more time I quickly opened up an entrance to the underground cave and entered. I then carefully closed the entrance behind me.
I use my earth magic to tunnel down around 100 meters and then started tunneling towards Fort Knox. About every 50 meters I make a ten to fifteen centimeter in diameter ventilation shaft to the surface and leave an air enchantment next to it that would circulate air. When I first started to practice this technique back in North Carolina I almost killed myself. Nothing dramatic like a collapsed tunnel or anything, but rather I just assumed that the air holes I created would refresh the air. They do allow fresh air in, but the small size means that without an air enchantment next to them to keep it flowing it takes too long to replace the bad air with good. I almost suffocated to death before I realized what was happening. After a lot of experimentation this is the system I came up with.
My earth magic automatically reinforces the walls of my tunnel and my mana sense keeps me moving in the correct direction and helps me avoid any problems like underground pockets of water, well pipes, and anything else that would cause me a problem. Tunneling under Fort Knox using magic is surprisingly easy. I reached the main vaults in under two hours. Now comes the hard part. I have practiced this technique at home and I sure hope it works as well here as it did there.
I carefully drill upwards creating a spiral ramp, with my mana sense at full power, until I am just underneath the foundation of the vaults in Fort Knox. I use my magic to bore two 10 centimeter test holes into the bottom of the vault. This is the tricky part where I may have to retreat. I do not know all of the alarms and other tricks they might have for the vault rooms. I know a regular drill would have a 99% or greater chance of setting something off from the vibrations and destruction it would cause to get through the concrete and metal, but magic is different. With my earth magic manipulation matter just sort of “flows” to where I want it. It is quite strange to watch, but the good part is that no vibrations or violence whatsoever happens to the material, which in turn means that I should not set off any alarms.
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Alright, phase one is complete, and I do not think I set off any alarms. I will wait for 30 minutes before I start phase two just to be extra careful. While I am waiting I cannot help but think about how cool it would be if I could brag about this adventure and my powers to people. I know it would cause more problems and could result in my death, but I am about to rob Fort Knox and no one will ever know. Well I guess after the changeover I can let people know. It is not like there will be a functioning government that would be able to arrest me for prior crimes at that point. But I still have the urge to tell people now just because for once in my life I am doing something so freaking cool, even if it is illegal, and I can’t tell a single person.
Wait time is up, on to phase two. Phase two is much more difficult. I have practiced on bricks and lead blocks, but this will be my first real test run in the real world. What I want to do and have accomplished in practice is hollowing out the bars of gold just leaving a shell of gold while filling them in with stone. Why fill them in, I am afraid that if the weight changes too much a pressure sensor might go off. I do not want anyone to know that there has even been a robbery. People looking for people with new found wealth and spending habits might stumble into my projects and land acquisitions in North Carolina.
I carefully start the process of switching out the gold in the bars above me for stone. I send the stone up one small access tube I drilled and the gold comes down the other. After 30 minutes I take a break and check on my gains. I will also wait another ½ an hour just to make sure the switch has not tripped some alarm. The gold I have liberated is just in a shiny pile next to me. I start cutting it into chunks and placing it into my inventory. After I max out my carrying capacity I exchange it into “Great Game” currency. This is somewhat of a cheat that I discovered. The “Great Game” help section told me that I could exchange currency until the changeover. I have also realized that I am limited in what I can carry in my inventory. However, after several months I realized something. The “Great Game” does not count game currency weight against your inventory limit. That means I can carry 200 kilos of gold bars and max out my inventory or exchange them for “Great Game” gold coins with a small transaction fee paid and basically have the same amount of wealth but no penalty on weight limits.
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This helped me solidify my plans for this wealth redistribution trip. I mean what good is it to steal two tons of gold if you cannot move it or sell it? Sure I lose a little bit in transaction fees from switching it to gold coins, and I lose a little more for switching back into usable currency when I need it, but considering that it wasn’t my money to start with I am making out like a bandit. The half hour rest period is up and no alarms. It looks like my little plan is working.
The rest of the day was quite boring. It was basically just a rinse and repeat operation until I retrieved all of the easily accessible gold on the bottom floor. I am not going to get greedy and try for all of it. That is how people make mistakes and get caught. I finish converting the last of the gold I stole into game currency and start the long walk back to my rental vehicle. All along the way I seal up the tunnel and air ventilation holes behind me. No need to leave evidence that will just confuse people.
That was easier than I thought. I need to be careful about becoming overconfident and screwing up in the future. Now where will I go for my next heist? After I make it back to the hotel I use a little google time to research where I need to be going. It looks like I will be travelling to the Denver and Philadelphia mints, the bullion depository in West Point, N.Y and the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan. That should do it for the United States. I then will travel to London and the world’s largest stash of silver.
Those are the easy ones. After that I need to access mines for gems and other precious metals at the source. There are several other reserves around the world, but they are not in areas where I could pass off my tourism easily or where there is enough precious metals to make it worthwhile. After London I think I will head to Africa to hit up some precious metal mines in South Africa and some gemstone mines in some of the relatively safer African countries. I need to be smart about this. I have limited time to accomplish my goals and I still want to play tourist a little bit as I travel around the world. It would be tragic to get to greedy and get shot in some third world hell hole, just because I wanted a little bit more.
Where else? Madagascar and Sri Lanka for sapphires, Myanmar for rubies, Colombia for emeralds, and Australia for a large variety of metals and precious gemstones. I think I will stop in several touristy areas along the way and if I find something or someone I want or need for my new kingdom I will buy it or offer them a job. Ok, this plan sounds like it should work.
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Old Riding Author Lunatic Asylum
Just off the A19, in the dark, incomprehensible lands known as Yorkshire, there lies a town. A town where shadow-silent alleys glint with the secret hunger of knives. Where blood soaks the chipboard window shutters of forsaken terraces stretching off into the night. Where the smog-choked air rattles with the depraved laughter echoing out from clubs that can only generously be described as post-apocalyptic. Well, that’s Middlesbrough. But down the A19 a bit (an impossibly long way down, actually) there lies another town: Raughnen, in the ancient, forgotten Old Riding. It is an equal match in muggery and thuggery alike. It also has magic spells and pointy wizard hats. And now, across the miles and across all sensibilities, a pretty nasty power (a magic one) calls out for its pretty nasty counterpart (a decidedly unmagic one): a proper sound Boro lad. Nothing good can come of it. This is a collection of one novella and four connected short stories: I. A Yorkshire Summoning II. Old Riding Day Trip (the novella) III. Heaven is a Parmo IV. Death on the 66 V. Death on the 257 In total, this comprises 34 chapters totalling around 35,000 words, so try not to worry. It will be over relatively quickly. There are three more short stories with more tenuous links to the core collection: Rush, Paper Round and Scenario 79: Sausage Fingers, all of which can be found in my collection Short Records of Misadventure. Reading these may allow you to make more sense of certain parts of the story, if any sense is to be made at all. NOTE: There are instances of prejudice and discrimination within these stories, including elements of sexism and ageism, which are purely the thoughts and actions of the characters involved and which certainly do not reflect my own views on these matters. ANOTHER NOTE; A WARNING, PERHAPS: This can get a bit weird. In less than 150 pages, we have four viewpoints, first and third person narratives, and a completely disjointed plot with lots of gaps, dead ends and no real resolution. Also ZERO lunatic asylums. It's all a bit odd. If that sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, which it most likely isn't, it might be best to move on now.
8 190Second Chances
Given a chance for reincarnation and tasked by the System, I picked the Sidhe for this second life. A world of Seelie, Unseelie, Kelpie, Redcaps, and Slaugh. The Gods of the Tuantha de Danann forced into sleep, the people forced to remain locked on their home planet. In this latest Book, Teigh Mac de Beleros y Cyronax has saved his people from stagnation and ruin. His denouncement of Olympus and Asgard before the Universal Senate has allowed the Sidhe to break the ties that constrained them, and the chains that kept them rooted to their home world. But the Sidhe and the Tuatha de Danann are unique across all multi-verses and all Pantheons. They have the unique ability to travel anywhere and anywhen. But this ability comes at a cost. The Tuatha de Danann do not have incarnations seeded across each Universe. There is only one Tuatha de Danann, and when Athena and Loki come to Teigh with the tales of a plot that will destroy not only the Tuatha de Danann but the multi-verse, he removes his crown to once more face off against Zeus and Odin and save his people. Second Chances has been taken down for editing and a major rewrite...
8 138The Choices We Make
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8 80To Be Cursed
Scourcers wouldn't be scourcers without chi. The Zagrans wouldn't be Zagrans without scourcers. And Karma, well she wouldn't be Karma without without her father. After King Karmic proposes that he sends his youngest daughter, Karma's kid sister, off to assassinate the Zagran prince, Karma can't keep herself from stepping up. She uses this moment not only to save her sister from certain death, but to gain an understanding of the creatures that everyone keeps calling beasts. She has six weeks to kill the prince, six weeks to explore things unknown, six weeks to figure out why King Karmic really wants the Zagran lands.
8 223Flatlander
A sell-sword struggles to find meaning in a world filled with pain, violence, and loss. Noble Houses rule from Hoverstones that loom over the Flatlands and the Highlands; they act in their own interests, playing politics and more. Tribesmen roam free, a true terror to all they prey upon. Elves scour the lands for objects of great power. And there are rumors of dragons, reemerging at the beckon call of new masters.... Written in a style similar to Game of Thrones, though different and unique, Flatlander is a serial novel filled with uncertainty, peril, and, for the bold, fortune. Enjoy!
8 167Bloody Angel
A youth, who died to a heart disease gets reincarnated in a world of Immortals. However, his reincarnation dosen't end up being as good as he imagined. Being born with a special bodily constitution, gets him shunned from the clan. Living a tough life on his own, with no one to rely on, except for his Yeti, he climbs the lowest levels to the top. Follow him and his Yeti on his yourney on becoming an Immortal himself.*Contains cursing and complete prick attitudes later on.*If you find typos, let mek now so i can fix them.I may rewrite the previous chapters as the story goes along to make it more in line with the later chapters. Think of it like this, I just had a better idea how to progress the story.
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