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Reluctantly I did what he'd suggested. At least this way I might find out if I'd been a total idiot trusting the Vets or if I could actually rely on them. Just in case, I sent a word to Taali describing the situation. That way, at least there would be some trace left in case I disappeared from my hotel room.
With that, I parted from Eric and his secret-service friend. They teleported to their castle while I took cover in my room from a new wave of tobacco lovers.
I had virtually no cigarettes left—about thirty or so. I gave half to the bartender telling him to distribute them however he saw fit. Then I a
Finally, everybody faded away. I collapsed on the bed. I still had to check out the auction and see the auto buy results. They were good. I now had three hundred doses of pollen and enough of the other ingredients for a thousand cigarettes. I could have bought more but I had set my prices low hoping to profit from their Buy Now! offers.
My glance happened on the top sales section. It was raging with buyers discussing the offer of the first—according to the description—cigarette in the digital world. The bids had reached a thousand gold and apparently weren't going to stop at that. My i
I rolled up my sleeves and set about working, casting occasional glances at the offending auction. Three hours later I realized I hated the crafting process body and soul (or whatever perma players had). Time to hand over the license before it did me in. I dreaded the prospect of spending the next two hundred years rolling cigarettes in my room. God forbid.
Finally, I sat back, admiring the results. A long ribbon of finished cigarettes snaked across the table. Two hundred fifty.
Now: Life of a Masochist, part two. I formed auction lots selling them one at a time, adding one lot every half an hour. Starting price: one gold. They were welcome to bid it up as much as they wanted.
I didn't expect Taali. She had some unfinished business in real life. So I had to spend the night on my own. Very soon I should maybe start thinking about moving up a floor. I needed more space if Taali really wanted to move in with me. Also, it was a status thing. I sent my Mom a surprise MMS describing my visit to the vets' castle and adding a few pics of nice views, prizes and the awards ceremony. Undoubtedly, Mom would want to know who the Elfa was that was clinging to her so
The financial question seemed to be coming under control. The tournament had helped a lot, of course, both in gold and in items. But the main source of our future wellbeing had to be the sale of cigarettes and cigarette licenses. Which justified a drink. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the vial I'd stashed away for a rainy day.
Unknown Skill Elixir
Item class: Epic
Contains a random skill. In order to learn the skill, drink the vial's contents.
Instead of a rock bottom, the initial financial abyss had now ended with a gigantic trampoline. I wasn't broke which meant I had to drink it. I was facing an eternity where even a useless skill like creating illusions or setting off fireworks could prove useful one day.
I clasped the vial, and the stopper popped open. In a spray of colorful sparks, a pleasant fragrance filled the room. Well, here's to the future!
Congratulations! You've learned a unique skill: Splitting
Cast Time: 0
Mana Expenditure: 0
By using this skill, you can split your summoned pet into a certain number of controlled creatures (the number corresponding to the Skill's current level). Their levels will equal that of the initial creature divided by the number of new pets. The split creature's maximum level ca
Bah. Didn't understand one word of it. I read through the message again. Aha, now I started to get it. If I summoned a level 50 pet, I could split him into two level 25 ones. Oh well. As far as I was concerned, the basic skill was less that useless. Could I improve on it, maybe?
I studied the menu. They had to have two upgrade options. One was increasing the number of the creatures. And the other… Now the other was quite different. For every point invested, the little splinters grew two levels. In theory, if I added twelve points now, I'd have two level 50 pets. That was just too good. Shame I only had one point to spare. Also, my leveling up would increase the gap so I'd end up investing half my talents into this skill just to keep the pets in the top range.
All that deduction had given me a headache. I had to sit down with a calculator and look into it properly. Tomorrow, maybe. I needed to sleep on it.
I spent the morning reading the news. Predictably, the arrival of the cigarettes had made the headlines. At least my name hadn't come up anywhere. Either they'd failed to figure me out or decided not to expose me for the time being. They all spoke about an anonymous player who'd managed to sidestep the tobacco ban, hypothesizing when exactly the Admins would close his little shop. Experts advised buying up cigarette lots and sitting on them, predicting prices would soar when cigarettes once again became rarities. This was advice I could really appreciate. Had I known the name of the expert, I'd have sent him some money for his piece of mind. Actually, could it be Dan trying to sell part of the samples I'd given him? I wouldn't put it past him. This kind of scheme was right up his alley.
Having said that… I opened the auction and checked the previous night's auto buy results. The insiders must have noticed the rise in demand for pollen; both the offer and the prices had grown overnight as the market was finding a new balance. I had a stock of over two thousand doses and even more of secondary ingredients. I could now go easy on buying. The auto buy had diligently dispensed with all of the seven hundred gold I'd entrusted it with, and was now flashing its little light reminding me to top up the balance. I did as it requested, then reset it to concentrate on pollen.
The prices for cigarette lots kept soaring out of all proportion. The current auctions had them in the region of five hundred-plus apiece. The auto buy account was flooded with private messages. Some expressed their disbelief; others threatened; a few naive players asked me to share the recipe. A news reporter hassled me for a private interview. That could prove useful a bit later once I'd closed the license deal: then I'd have to take steps to remove the target from my back.
I wrote him back asking about suitable interview dates and other details. If I could play for time for a bit, I could hopefully come out of the closet by then.