Fortune Favors (QQ) Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Numerous screens assault me from possibly my most valuable- to the system- deal so far. Half a million dollars in a single trade.

My trade with the college was overall worth more, but then again... I sold four items there.

The main issue here... is that this is giving me a fucking headache. 'Let's just do it in segments of five, then.'

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 125,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 150,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 175,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 200,000 dollars! You have earned a 'Skill Token' (General) (Novice) x10

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 225,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality. ​

Huh. A bunch of items... and ten 'Novice' skill tokens? Is the system telling me to basically become a jack of all trades? Meh. Fuck that. I'll dump all those hours into my domain skill... getting that to be as powerful as possible would probably be wise.

Generating items.

Items Generated:
Stainless Steel lockpicking set
Monopoly Dragon Ball Super
Iphone 6
Bag of Holding Type 3 ​

My eyes instantly lock onto the rectangular technological device now sitting nearby.

"Yooooo!" I gasp as I quickly walk over and look over it. 'this is awesome!'

I press the power button, a grin crossing my face as it lights up.

It has battery! I was fully expecting to be shipped a dead phone.

"…'

It is asking for a password? Uhhh... I don't fucking- oh. Thank you scanning power. Zero Zero Zero... one... literally the second thing I would try.

It opens revealing a frankly barren list of apps... I mean, duh. There's no fucking signal in Gensokyo! Plus this phone looks to be completely new!

I wonder if it would have signal in Sword Art Online...

I shake my head and turn it off, deciding to conserve power for now.

Let's continue then.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 250,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 275,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 300,000 dollars! You have earned a 'Perk Unlock Token'. ​

I pause at that.

'perk... unlock token? Wait? Does this let me unlock a special perk for a skill of my choosing?!'

Domain.

Use 'Perk Unlock Token' on Domain Expansion? ​

'yes.'

Aura of Influence: you can make magical effects within the area of your domain cost 20% less or more to upkeep. ​

Huh...

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 350,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 400,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 450,000 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 500,000 dollars! You have been granted a random high quality item. ​

'hn?'

Generating Items. ​

Items generated:
Toriko Cookbook
Meteorite Ore (ten pounds)
Pallet of Kraft Mac and Cheese (Year Supply)
Barrel of Gunpowder
Zap Apple

Generating high quality- ​

'wait. I smell smoke.'

I turn around, spying a large smoldering hunk of molten rock sitting on the table... right next to the gunpowder.

My eyes widen as I hold out a hand, surrounding it in an illusion, spraying the table with a weakened wave of frost to make sure the fire is completely out.

I glare at the molten ore, a frown on my face. "Alright, you piece of shit. Let's see how tough you act when I have you beaten into shape by my blacksmith.

I open a door into Sword Art and walk into the room.

It's noticeably pretty dark, about eight Pm if I am remembering correctly. Roughly the time the shop closes for the day.

During the first week or two, we were open at all times, but Lisbeth is a bit of a pushover with a whole self-sacrifice thing going on, so she ended up staying up far longer than she should every time a new person came to the shop and asked her to make them something.

My ear twitches slightly as I tilt my head. I can't hear her beating the anvil right now, so she must be in her own room.

I turn, leaving my impromptu alchemy lab, then go right across the hall.

I gently knock my knuckles on the door.

There's no response for a moment, but eventually it clicks open as a brown haired girl with dark circles under her eyes appears, she lets out a quiet yawn, a small smile appearing on her face as she sees me. "Oh. Hello Argo."

Her eyes stray to the ore I have placed in an illusionary bubble, widening slightly. "Wait... what is that?"

"Meteor Ore. Thus, a gift for you."

Her eyes widen slightly, her smile growing rapidly. "Oh! That's awesome! Should we go down to the forge and see if I can make anything out of it?"

"I sort of doubt that you can at the moment. It's checking all the boxes for 'magical ore' and we haven't even gotten to Steel yet." I announce.

Her shoulders slump slightly. "Okay..."

"Anyways. I'm unlikely to be able to get anymore of this any time soon, so we should make this last. I'll give it to you, but be careful with it. It nearly burnt me.

"I'll wear metal gauntlets with some insulation when I want to work with it." She nods with a bright smile.

"Okay... uh... can you put it in your inventory?"

She tilts her head, then reaches out slowly, her hand passing through the illusionary barrier that parts around her hand.

Her fingers brush the ore causing her to draw her hand back with a hiss, a window opens before her as she looks over it slowly.

With a button push, the ore disappears.

She looks around briefly before nodding once. "It requires a smelting skill of at least one hundred and eighty to refine it into ingots. I'm still a little bit behind at level sixty-seven, buuuut I should get there eventually!"

"I know you will." I compliment as I hold out a hand. "Here, you burnt your hand, let me heal you."

She is surrounded by a golden glow for a moment as she looks over her reddened finger as it rapidly regains color. "Thank you Argo, this much is good."

"You worked hard today." I smile at the girl. "You deserve a good rest, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Oh, no. You didn't! I was still awake. I was just eating." She exclaims.

"Oh, well I'm glad I didn't wake you up. Have a nice night, Lisbeth."

"You t-too, Argo!" She replies.

I turn and walk back into my alchemy room, then back into Touhou.

"Alright. Crisis avoided. Let's see what else I got here. Burny ore, a cookbook..."

I spy said cookbook sitting on the floor nearby, I reach down and pick it up, rapping my knuckles on the cover. "Ooh. Hardback. Fancy."

I open it and begin skimming through the cookbook.

'Hard Crab Cakes with Jaguar Butter Garlip Sauce?'

"…"

Oh. This isn't like a... 'make the food from the show' sort of thing... it's a legitimate Toriko branded cookbook... from, like... in the toriko universe...

That means it is sort of absolutely fucking worthless to me.

Good pictures though. I wonder if Yuuka would like these sorts of plants... 'Garlip' is a strange fusion between a Tulip and, well, Garlic, but there are most certainly other plants as well I could likely grab for her... if I connected to that world, at the very least.

I look to the large pallet of little boxes surrounded in plastic wrap.

"Ah... right... I got some Mac and Cheese as well, didn't I?" I mutter to myself as I approach the pallet.

I tilt my head. "Ugh. It's Kraft. Why couldn't it have been Velveeta shells and cheese instead? A much better mac and cheese in my opinion."

Regardless, I could probably make use of it...

'I could be all 'come one, come all, try a taste of the outside world~' oooh I do like the sound of that... that would probably draw in the customers.'

Next, a barrel of gunpowder...

I mean. I might be able to give it to the College of Winterhold. Tell them how guns work and what it's made of... Saltpeter, Charcoal, Sulfur, right? Or at least for a basic form... black powder.

And for my final normal item- what the fuck is that?

I stare blankly at an... apple? Sitting on the nearby counter.

It looks- absolutely valuable.

It is a literal rainbow of colors, and I don't mean like... holographic or prismatic, I mean line of red. Line of orange. Line of yellow line of green, line of blue. That sort of rainbow. An actual rainbow.

The stem also seems shaped like a lightning bolt as well.

"…"

With a flash a door appears behind me.

I walk back into my alchemical lab. "Yui."

With a small crackle, the girl appears beside me, she gives me a confused look, glancing from me to the apple.

"How long would it take to grow this? Also, what is this?" I question the girl.

Zap apple:
An extremely rare variant of an apple that was brought here from far away lands, it is highly sweet and has a sparky little tang.
Reduces Hunger by 25
Increases all stats by 3 for 30 minutes. ​

"…"

"And this is... good?" I question quietly.

"This, is the best cooking recipe currently known to the highest level chef in Aincrad." Yui announces, a second screen appearing in front of me.

Fried Duck:
Strips of duck which has been seasoned, battered, then fried, it's quite the hearty meal.
Reduces Hunger by 85
Increases Strength, Agility, Dexterity, and Vitality by 1 for 10 Minutes.
You regenerate 5 Health every Minute for 60 Minutes ​

Ah...

An unprepared ingredient grants a buff that far surpasses an entire meal... I see...

"Shit." I hum, looking over the apple with new appreciation. I knew it was worth quite a lot, but this really does put it into perspective.

"Can this be grown?" I question.

"Yes." The girl nods once. "However, it's likely you will only see one every week or so if you use the farm plots available on floor five."

"Speaking of farm plots... may I purchase one?" I idly comment as I walk past the black haired Ai girl.

she stares for a long moment, then tilts her head. "Technically, another server has gotten to the next floor... so realistically I should be able to unlock this floor for you."

"I'm an Npc... why can't I just purchase places from higher floors?" I ask.

She opens her mouth then closes it abruptly. "Fair enough. What locations would you like to purchase?"

"May I have a list of farming locations?" I ask.

A large window appears, causing me to let out a low hum as I begin skimming the options. "I see... least expensive to most expensive, if you would."

The screen shimmers showing much more reasonable prices.

"Ah, thank you Yui." I smile as my eyes trail across the screen, letting out a quiet hiss as I wince at the prices.

Floor five has five available plots of land, a month rental is worth five thousand dollars... or I could purchase the land for fifty thousand.

The next plots open would be ten on floor eleven. About sixteen thousand per month... or one hundred and sixty thousand to just simply buy it.

According to the little bit of information Yui has added to this list, it's about twice as efficient as the ones on floor five.

"Another question... would it be possible for myself to say for instance... give a quest to a player to go grocery shopping for me, then send them through a portal to a higher floor?"

"I would personally not recommend it. The creator of the game would be able to spot them far easier than a mere NPC. However, it is possible for you to roam on those floors undetected... however the system does not supply you with monster drops... nor allow you to purchase items directly from shops."

"What i can and cant do is really fucking unclear. i can have property. but can't buy things from the store. collect things from quests, yet no monster drops." I frown.

"anyways, It was just a hope." I shrug. "Not entirely sure what floor four players could do on floor eleven anyways."

I only have around five hundred thousand cor on hand... and most of that I was planning on saving for that enchanting table.

Floor twenty eight. Rental price of one hundred and twenty thousand, purchasing price of over a million... efficiency plus six hundred percent. Well outside of my purchasing power at the moment.

"Fuck it. I'm going to invest in property now. This apple here is probably an incredible alchemy ingredient. Give me one of the farm plots on floor eleven."

"Very well." The girl nods as a brief glow comes from my pipe.

There goes sixteen ebony septims.

Ah well.

I hold out a hand, conjuring a door in front of me, one leading towards a grassy field. I let out a low hum as I look around, spying a barn in the distance and a small farm house.

Yui walks through the gate behind me, gazing across the unplowed field.

In the far distance a wooden fence seems to section off what is and isn't my land.

I hold out the rainbow apple. "Yui. Work your magic."

"Affirmative." She nods once as the apple floats from my hand. It glows brightly then disappears.

Suddenly with a deep crackle of electricity, numerous trees sprout across the field. Their bark is dark and gnarled, blackish grey leaves sprout from the branches. Grey circular fruits dot the trees causing me to pause and let out a perturbed hum.

A few of them seem to change in color, becoming red, another becomes half red and half orange. A third is red, orange, and yellow.

"Ah. So they gain more colors the closer they are to ripening... interesting."

"Your first fruit will be grown in two days." The girl supplies.

"Hm... alright. I'll be back then. Thank you, Yui." I hum as I turn... and walk back into Touhou.

"This doorway thing is fucking useful." I whisper under my breath, my ear twitches as I tilt my head to the side 'now, what else was I doing- oh! Right. The final reward.'

I gaze around my surroundings suspiciously, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

I spy a sheathed sword laying across the floor, and it isn't any weapon from Sword Art Online, that's for sure, merely looking at it I can feel the large waves of mana practically leaking off of it.

A magical sword of some sort.

I walk over picking up the blade, I gaze over its sheathe which is black in color, a leather strap with a buckle on it meant for strapping it to either someone's belt or back.

Nearing the hilt of the blade are two little circles that are slightly crossed.

I slowly remove the blade from the hilt, gazing over it with an intrigued expression.

it is fairly boring looking, all things considered. When you think 'magic weapon' you'd think the blade would like... be a unique color or something. Like green, blue, red, or orange, or, if not, it'd have something special about it, like glowing magical runes traveling down the side, or an elaborate hilt. Maybe a couple gems in the handguard or pommel, but... no. This sword is a little bland.

Steel colored blade, a golden hand guard in a simple slightly forwards facing T shape, making it technically a Y if you really squinted at it and snapped the blade off. Next would be the handle which appears to be made of wood that is in a slight oval shape, with the pommel being silvery in color.

The only thing that I could call 'unique' about this blade would be the symbols just above the handguard, it looks to be parts of three golden rings intertwined... sort of like a three-way Venn diagram.

"What the heck are y-" I cut off abruptly.

"Oh... oh shit." I whisper. "Excalibur..."

The sword seems to thrum with power at its name being called. It certainly has more inherent power than those swords Savos showed me back at the college of Winterhold.

Not by much, mind you, but its still not a insignificant amount. I'd say about... fifty percent.

Which is genuinely impressive, as he said those weapons were quite advanced. Not quite the peak that current age mages are capable of enchanting, but relatively close.

The main issue is... I'm not really skilled with enchantment, so I don't really know what this sword does. Nor does my general appraisal ability give me any real hints at its true power, buuuut I do know that at least in the world of touhou... it's a slightly below average weapon.

Its worth is definitely nearing a billion Yen, at least.

"Now... if only I could use it." I scoff with narrowed eyes.

This sword seems to have taken issue with the fact that I'm not human.

It's not lashing out at me, thankfully. But it is being quite the problem child in my hand.

As I move it right, gently dragging it through the air, my hand shakes, the blade seeming to struggle.

It doesn't see me as worthy to wield it. I am a creature of darkness. Inhuman. And it, is something that should have allowed humanity to fight back against things such as myself.

I sheathe the blade and with a wave of my hand it is wrapped in illusionary bands and is floated across the room.

I lay it gently atop the table as I walk over and take a seat, looking down at the legendary blade of king Arthur as I ponder just what to do with it.

--Linebreak--

Pov: Elsewhere.

A man sits alone, an expanse of stars surrounding him on all side, just before him, several holographic screens hang in the air, playing numerous scenes.

The first of the screens, has two figures weave between the legs of a massive stone construct that has veins of red crisscrossing its body.

The first, a teen in dark armor, a large broadsword in hand as he slashes through the rock, leaving behind another red line as the golem smashes its fist into the floor.

"Shiro!"

A small girl, rushes forwards, two daggers in hand, she rapidly swipes her weapons across the forearm of the golem, dozens of hits strike the golem, then with one final slash, her blades glow blue, she whirls around, her weapons leaving trails in the air, as the skill ends, she activates another, perfectly timing it so she doesn't have to worry about any form of cooldown.

She leaps back, hurling her weapons forward, the knives sinking into the rocky body of the fifth floor boss, 'Fuscus the Vacant Colossus', her throwing skill apparently having the added benefit of hurling her backwards, just out of range of a large punch downwards from the golem.

At this moment in time, the other person grabs tightly onto the greatsword in his hands, the blade igniting with red light, then slashes it through the leg of the golem yet again.

With that, the last little portion of the golem's health drains.

The man lets out a long self loathing sigh. "These two are ruining this game."

In just over a month, they have already cleared five floors. Just the two of them.

If he doesn't put a stop to them, they will clear the game far before anyone else.

Most servers have barely even reached the second floor labyrinth. There has been only two servers which have ascended to the third floor. These two... and a server which has gained access to a bunch of reasonably powerful items- are the only two who have gotten to the third and fourth floors.

Luckily, that other server slowed down. As he can see by glancing towards another screen before him.

Their weapons are no longer carrying them. They are now being far more careful in their preparations. Grinding for skills and experience. It's likely they won't even attempt the labyrinth for another week... but, if that's the case, it's likely that these two will be nearing the sixth floor boss. Hell, they might already be finished with it and moving onto floor seven, as the floor six boss is technically weaker than the fifth floor's.

The fifth floor boss is the first of many filters that will sort the true players from the rest.

It is followed by the tenth, twenty fifth, fiftieth, and seventy fifth floor bosses.

Anyways, back to his current issue.

Sora and Shiro Nai... two siblings who have an intellect on par with- if not surpassing some of the greatest geniuses of the modern era. Shut ins who rarely- If ever- leave their domicile, both collectively having top ranked position in dozens of popular modern MMORPGS. Capable of outplaying most hackers casually.

They are becoming a real thorn in his side. He can see it now. If they keep up this pace, they'll reach floor one hundred while the rest of the players are barely on floor seventy.

That just won't do. So, he has to find a way to stop them.

Killing them? no. That won't do. Not only would it feel cheap for him to cheat in such a way... besides, the human race would be losing two incredible intellects which could bring the entire species to new heights.

Another option would be to reset them to level one.

Not subtle enough. People will lose hope, thinking to themselves. 'if he stopped them because they are too good at his own game, what's the point in even trying?'

He turns slowly, looking over anything he has been able to gather about the two.

The girl has severe separation anxiety...

That... could be useful. He just needs to split them up. He doubts even with how skilled they are, that they could single handedly defeat a boss.

The main issue lies with making absolutely sure that the two don't meet back up.

The next time servers combine would be floor ten, where five of the current servers combine into groups of about one million people each.

After which point, they all get funneled into one server at floor twenty-five.

At least, when he splits them up like that, he'll be given more than enough time to figure out how to solve this issue in a more permanent manner.

They're about to teleport... so if he's going to do anything, it must be now!

With a slight edit of the console, the two siblings are shunted throughout the servers, the boy, continuing in his own server, and the girl being moved to the current second place server... albeit being placed on the sixth floor.

The second place server has a head start in comparison to the remainder of the servers, so they'll likely get to floor ten probably the fastest now that he has split apart the two person party of 'Blank'.

He looks to his screens.

"Sora?" He hears a quiet voice question. "S-Sora?"

A white haired girl begins abruptly sobbing. "BIG BROTHER!"

Oh wow... she is a mess. Maybe he should loosen Yui's restrictions a bit on her alone.

This separation will lose its purpose if she ends up leaping off Aincrad like one of the fifty thousand other players who were too cowardly to take part in his glorious creation.