**

In the Free market of Prontera, the prices of weapons and armors have tripled in price. The reason for the extreme spike of price on armors and weapons is because of the event called War of Emperium. Many of the merchant class adventurer through out Midgard have greatly benefited from selling their stocks of equipment days before the actual event. Towns and Cities throughout Midgard that have castles owned by clans have been busy preparing for the highly anticipated event.

Albert on the other hand tried to prepare for the event himself. But the prices of armors everywhere was too expensive and Albert refused to pay for triple the price. Since he couldn't do anything about buying any new armors for Lily and himself, Albert decided to go back to his world so that he could get a print out of the list of monster cards and their magical effects on equipment. Albert believed that since he's much too poor to afford any armors being currently sold, it's much better to take advantage of something that others couldn't.

After going back into Midgard, something terrible happened. At the moment, Albert is in a devastating predicament. Other than being unable to buy any equipment that he needs for the War of Emperium, this horrible occurrence that has happened caused him to feel frightened and he doesn't know what to do.

"This can't be happen! Why won't it work!"

Albert whisper screamed as he sat inside the small compartment with the door closed in the basement behind the Item Shop. Ever since he came to this world he has never had a problem going back and forth from this world into his own and now all of a sudden he can't seem to return back to his room. After coming back from his room to retrieve the papers of the list of monster cards and their effects that he had printed out from his computer, he had forgotten something and wanted to go back and get it. When Albert tried to go back to his world, the door didn't work. No matter how many times he tried, the door didn't allow him to return to his world.

Lily had been sitting on the wooden paneled floor of the basement, waiting for Albert to come out of the door in front of her. It's been an over an hour and she was becoming worried.

"I'm stuck!!" Albert screamed loudly from inside the compartment.

"Albert? Are you ok?"

"It won't work!"

"What won't work?"

"The door."

Lily stood up and walked over the door. She then grabbed the door's knob and twisted then pulled the door open.

"Seem to work fine to me."

When the door opened, Lily saw that Albert is on the ground sitting with his arms around his legs looking panicked.

"Albert what's wrong?"

Albert looked at Lily and began thinking about his situation. At the moment he's living in the world of swords and magic which is pretty awesome in Albert's opinion.

"Living in this world isn't so bad."

He then began thinking about the important things that he needs to do. The first thing on his to do list when he arrived to this world was to go out on numerous adventures. Then when he met Lily, she asked him to help her find her origin, which became second in Albert's to do list. Now, Albert has another important task at hand. He now needs to find a way back home and since the elves are known to have been the creators of the world's magic system, they might know a way to send him back home. And now Albert's quest is intertwined with Lily's request.

If he could find the elves, they might be able to assist him to return to his own world. But for now, he has to make the best of what he has.

"Albert? Are you okay?" Lily's brow furrowed as she stared at Albert who looks flustered while sitting on the ground.

Albert's expression slowly changed after thinking about his predicament for a moment. In his mind, he began to asses the situation that he's in. Albert knows that panicking about a situation that he can't solve right away, will only make him feel emotionally unstable and distracted. Which would cause him to make poor decisions that may cause him the life of the people around him or more importantly it may cause him to make mistakes which could cause him his own life. Albert decided that it's best to focus at what's at hand and at the same time try to fix his situation along the way.

"Besides who get's a chance to live in the world of swords and magic?" Albert grinned.

Albert decided to consider his situation like winning a life time supply of ice cream. He then took a deep breath then exhaled.

"I'm okay." Albert lightly smiled at Lily and stood up.

After standing up, he picked up the papers scattered all over the ground.

"What are those?" Lily tilted her head out of curiosity.

"The information on these papers will make us the most powerful adventurers through out Midgard." Albert grinned.

"Really?! How?" Lily's eyes widened at Albert's reply.

"There papers contain the information of my master's life long work on monster cards. With these papers, we'll know the magical effects of each monster cards."

"That's amazing! But what do we do now? Since we couldn't buy any equipment for us, are we still going to help with the Poring clan?"

"Of course! Their our clan's allies. First let's go to the Item Shop."

Albert placed the papers that contains the information about the monster cards inside his dimensional storage ring. Afterwards the two headed for the Item Shop.

"Hey Amy!"

"Hello Albert! Hello Lily! How can I help you with today?"

"I was wondering a lot of people here would come by and sell monster cards right?"

"That's true. Why do you ask?"

"What do you do with those cards?"

"Well . . I put them in some binders. Sometimes rich citizens would come and buy them as gifts for their loved ones, but it's been a long time since any of them has been bought."

"So you're willing to sell them?"

"Of course! Wait one moment please."

Amy went to the back of the shop. Moments later, she back carrying five stacks of binders.

"Oof! I keep the monster cards in these binders. Feel free to browse and pick which ones you'd like to buy." Amy placed the binders on the counter.

"Thanks!" Albert moved up to the counter and began looking through the binder's pages. As he turned the pages, he saw a lot useful monster cards, but at moment he decided to search for particular monster cards that would be difficult to find. Monster cards are dropped by slain monsters. They are very rare and it is said that only one out of one thousand monsters drop a monster card.

In the game 'Deaths of the Gods', monster cards are used to enhance any slotted equipment, which gives the wearer of the equipment the effect of the the monster card. Albert realized that no one throughout this world knows about enhancing their equipment with monster cards and with that knowledge, Albert decided to take advantage of this world's lack of knowledge of the monster cards.

While Albert began looking through the binders, he turned his attention towards Amy.

"Amy how much would each cards cost?"

"Well you can buy them at the same price that you bought Roan's cards." Amy lightly smiled.

"What?! But their just cards."

"Well you bought Roan's cards for one silver each. I think it would be fair to buy my cards for one silver each."

"Che! Fine."

Even though Amy thinks that she's getting a good bargain for selling each cards for one silver coin each, she actually being cheated by Albert. If this world knew about the value of monster cards, then most of the cards that Albert is buying for one silver would cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

Albert began taking out cards that are of valuable in his eyes. He couldn't stop him self from grinning as he looked at the valuable cards. Albert's eyes gleamed as he stared at the cards that he placed on the side.

"I can't believe that there's three Ghostring cards in here! There's even two Maya Purple Cards and a Mistress Card!"

Albert couldn't hold his excitement. Its as if he was going to start foaming out of the mouth as he continued to take out valuable cards from the binders. After hours of browsing through the binders Albert showed the cards that he had picked out from them to Amy.

"These are the cards that I would like to buy."

"Wow that's a lot cards. Are you going to start a monster card collection hobby or something?"

"Hehe, something like that." Albert scratch his head.

"Would like to buy a binder for these card?"

"Oh! Can I?! How much?"

"Its only five silver and it has fifty pages just like these binders."

"I'll take two please."

"Okay. Well with the two hundred and ninety cards with the two binders, the price of your purchase will be three gold coins."

Albert took out three gold coins from his dimensional storage ring and placed it on the counter.

"Thank you. Here are your items."

"Thank you!"

"You know for someone who wants to start a card collecting hobby you bought a lot of cards that are the same."

"Hehe. I think they look good that's why I bought them." Albert lied. The only reason why he bought the cards is because of their usefulness and some of the cards that he bought are very rare.

"Thank you again!"

"Come back again when you want to buy more cards."

"I will!"

Albert and Lily exited from the Item shop.

"Where we going now Albert?"

"Well the sun is about to set, lets go back to the Blacksmith shop."

The two headed towards the Blacksmith shop. When they entered the shop, there was only one customer in line waiting for Athos. Since it would hinder Athos from working on his customer's request if he bothered him now, Albert decided to sit and wait until Athos is finished with the remaining customer.

While they waited, Albert decided that this was the perfect time for him to allocate his free statistical attribute points. At the moment Albert is level twenty five. Ever since he leveled up from Prontera Culvert, he hasn't allocated any of the seventy five statistical attribute points that he gained from leveling up.

"Status screen."

Albert's character screen appeared in front of him and he began by allocating twenty points to his Strength attribute. After he had finished allocating twenty points into his Strength attribute, Albert suddenly felt a change in his body. His skin had suddenly become tighter and his entire body felt as if they've become toned. Thick veins in his arms and the back of his hand started to appear.

After adding some points into his Strength attribute, he then added twenty points each to his Dexterity and Agility attribute.

Instantly Albert felt the changes through out his body after adding the points into his Dexterity and Agility attribute. Albert felt as if his entire body has become lighter all of a sudden and he felt as if he can move around with ease. With the remaining fifteen points, Albert added them to his Vitality attribute.

After adding the remaining fifteen points into his Vitality attribute, Albert noticed a change in his skin. His skin began to look healthier and smoother.

Moments after Albert had fully distributed his free attribute points, Athos had already finished with his last customer for the evening. Athos waved at Albert and Lily.

"Ah! clan leader! Lily! Sorry about what happened this morning. Customers during the days before the War of Emperium usually are really angst. It's because the event is very competitive and every adventurer who is a member of a clan participating the event is eager to earn prestige for their clan."

"It's understandable. That's why we left after dropping off the patch. I'm guessing you wont be able to join us for War of Emperium?"

"Join you? Oh I thought since we're still a new clan, you would decide to not participate. Plus during the War of Emperium many adventurers rush to my shop just to have their equipment fixed. It's the best time to make a lot of coins."

"Oh . . I see. . . That's fine. I should have notified you sooner, I guess we'll participate in the next War of Emperium. After all there are only three of us in the clan, I doubt we'll be able to conquer a castle. By the way, do you happen to have any armors for sale?"

"For sale?"

"Yes for sale. I've been trying to buy armors all day but everything in the free market is so expensive and I refuse to pay for more than the normal price."

"What exactly do you need clan leader?"

"Well Lily and I were invited to defend an ally's castle. We need armor so that we can fight with protection."

"But you're both Acolytes, why would you fight?"

"We're Battle Acolytes Athos and we need armors so we can prevent being injured in vital areas."

"Oh . . . well since I won't be to help the clan, I can create an armor for the both you. But It won't be done until tomorrow evening."

"It's fine we'll come back tomorrow evening. Oh. By the way, can I have my weapon back?"

"Ah! Of course. I've studied it as much as possible. It is truly a craftsmanship beyond masterpiece. Please wait one moment."

Athos quickly ran to the back of the shop and then returned carrying the baseball bat elegantly.

"Here you are clan leader."

"Thank you Athos. We'll be leaving then, since you must be tired."

"Hohoho don't underestimate the stamina of a dwarf! But once you leave I will start on the armors that have you request."

"Thank you again. Well then we'll be on our way."

Albert and Lily left the Blacksmith Shop and headed for the Inn. Once the two left, Athos started on the armors that Albert had requested.

**

East of Payon forest, a group of suspicious adventurers quickly moved in the cover of the dark. The group continued their way into one of the castles of Payon Town.

"Is this the place?" said one of the suspicious adventurer.

"I think it is! The clan leader wants to take this castle also?"

"Of course! Our leader is a prodigal genius!"

"Yes. Yes. By the end of the War of Emperium everyone will know who we are!"

"Yes! Overlord clan will own one castle in each of Midgard's main cities and town!"

"I can't wait on the surprise faces of these fools once we take their castle!"

"Hahaha! It will be marvelous."

"Quick lets finish our job. We need to draw a map of the inside so by tomorrow everyone will know where to hide."

The group of suspicious adventures scattered and headed inside to complete their task of creating a descriptive map of the interior of the castle in front of them.

**

The next day in the Inn inside Albert's room, Albert started to insert various monster cards into his weapon and armors.

In his Hiking boots he inserted a monster card dropped by a monster called Verit. According to the papers that has the information about the cards and their magical properties, the monster card dropped from Verits adds eight percent of both Health and Mana when it is inserted to the wearer's footwear. Since there are three slots in Albert's Hiking boots, he decided to insert three Verit cards in the boots.

With the three monster cards inserted in his boots, I raises Albert's maximum Health and Mana up by twenty four percent each. Afterwards Albert grabbed his baseball helmet and inserted a Maya Purple card. The Maya Purple card doesn't give Albert any additional statistical attributes but it does something that can be considered annoying to certain adventurer class.

The Maya Purple card when inserted into a headgear, enables the wearer to detect hidden enemies. This effect will give Albert an advantage over hidden enemies. Afterwards, Albert grabbed the weapon that was returned to him by Athos and he inserted four Hydra cards.

Hydra monster cards adds a unique enhancement on weapons. The enhancement is that it increases damage on Demi-Humans by twenty five percent. Since Albert's baseball bat has four slots, Albert inserted four Hydra card into his weapon. Giving his baseball bat one hundred percent increase of damage on Demi-humans.

The reason why Albert added the enhancement of the Hydra cards in his weapons is because Demi-Humans are considered to be any member of human like race. This means that weather the foe is elf, dwarven, beastkin, gnome, orc or any hybrid of the human like family, his weapon will cause one hundred percent more damage than it originally can. The humans in this world are also categorized as demi-humans as well and since Albert is just an ordinary human from earth its safe to say that he won't be affected by the card's if ever someone would use the effects of the cards on him.

"This is probably too over powered." Albert grinned right after he inserted the four Hydra cards in his baseball bat.

After tending to his weapon and armors, Albert did the same for Lily's equipment. Then later in the evening, Albert went to the Blacksmith Shop to pick up the armors that Athos would make for them.

Once he entered the shop Athos joyously greeted him.

"Ah! Clan leader! The armors are done! I think they are both my best work yet!"

Athos grabbed something from the ground and presented it to Albert. This one is for you.

Albert's eyes widened when he saw the armor that Athos had made for him. Other than it being so unique it was already refined and engraved.

"This is incredible! No Incredible isn't a word to describe this armor! Athos thank you!"

"Hohoho This is also an apology since I cannot join you to help our allies."

"Black Mithril Armor. Where would do get Black Mithril from?"

"Ah I had some to spare from when I visited home. Black Mithril is quite expensive it cost about one hundred thousand gold coin for one ingot bar. But one Black Mithril bar was enough to create this armor. Also this one is for Lily."

"Another Black Mithril Armor! This is insane are telling me both of these cost two hundred thousand gold coins?"

"Hohoho! The ingot alone cost one hundred thousand gold coins. But after it is created into a crafted armor, its price would be ten fold of the ingot bar."

"I-I can't afford this Athos. I'm poor. . ."

Athos smiled at Albert.

"Consider it gifts clan leader."

Albert didn't know what to say. Here he is being given gifts that cost over one million gold coins and he was speechless.

"I don't know what to say Athos, but thank you."

"Hohoho! You are welcome clan leader! The you must go now. Lily must be waiting for you."

"Ah yes! I'll take my leave. Athos I'll be sure gain lots of prestige points for our clan!"

Albert exited the the Blacksmith Shop and returned to the Inn so that he could give Lily the armor that Athos had made for her.

**

Meanwhile in an unknown location somewhere in Midgard, a man covered in scars sat comfortably on a chair while drinking a bottle of rum which he held in his hand. While the man on the chair stared at the two moons in the sky, a person suddenly appeared from behind him.

"Clan leader the arrangements are done. We are ready and prepared to introduce ourselves through out Midgard."

"Good. Be sure that everything goes to plan or else I will be very disappointed."

"As you command clan leader. Glory to Overlord!"

The man bowed down then disappeared.

**