New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

\'Why would anyone come after my life? I don\'t remember pissing anyone off aside from Damien. And I haven\'t heard of him in too long for it to matter.\'

Alex interrupted her thoughts, his killing intent suddenly washing over her, even though it wasn\'t directed at her.

"Then I\'ll kill him before he can do anything to her. He\'ll wish he had never been born."

Even David felt a chill run down his spine at the words.

"Chill out, dude. There is a reason I want to go there first. The dungeon break they get is the worst one the world experienced in my timeline. They had a dragon\'s lair open up. But Mercadores Da Morte beat the boss, closed the dungeon, and saved their country.

"That alone came with its load of powerful items. But it isn\'t the real problem. They make gear with the dragon\'s remains and more than one piece. Their guild leader then becomes one of the world\'s largest threats because of this gear."

"His entire guild wound up being one of the best-equipped guilds in the world, and they are using it for nefarious deeds. In my timeline, Kary joins the alliance sent to stop them from creeping up into North America, where they want to send everyone to their graves.

"But she would be no match against a fully dragon-geared monk. He counters her in every aspect. Immune to fire damage; Close-range expert; Super resistant to magical damage. And the worst part is that he never fights alone."

Alex\'s mood grew worse by the second, hearing how much of a dirtbag this guy was.

"What are we waiting for to end his pathetic life?" Alex asked, his nails digging into his palms.

"Seriously, calm down, Alex. We can\'t head in there willy-nilly, either. This man was never heard of before the veil broke. It\'s not like we know who he is. We can\'t just go to Brazil and start roaming until we find them…"

Alex clicked his tongue.

"I assume you have a plan?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Both Alex and Kary almost heard the smirk form on his face.

"Of course I do. I\'m pissed that I have to push it forward by months, but it\'s still feasible. But it\'ll take a lot of funds to pull off. And a group of people who are willing to be away from home for a while."

"If we know your plan, it\'ll be easier to convince the people we know, David. Spit it out," Kary spat.

"Jeez. You are both so on edge… It\'s just a threat to your life; get over it. It\'s not like it\'ll happen, now that you know. Anyway, let\'s get back to our main issue. I\'m not sure Jack will agree to fund us or lend us what we need.

"And aside from him, the only other person I can think of that could have us the material we need, well, Alex, I\'m not sure you can convince either. Especially since you will most likely be bringing his daughter with us…"

"Richard? What does he have that we would need that Jack wouldn\'t be willing to help us with? I\'m pretty sure Jack has more money than Richard."

"Money isn\'t the issue, is it?" Kary interrupted. Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn

"Bingo," David replied.

"Our issue lies not only in hardware that is near-impossible to get without connections but also a free pass to anywhere. And, Although Jack is loaded, I doubt he can get all of that so easily. He would need to pull in favours, which costs more than money."

Alex was starting to get a bad feeling about the direction the conversation was taking.

"What is your plan, David?" he asked.

"My plan is simple. Since we are locked out of New Eden, then our only option is to power up on this side of the veil. That will require us to go around the world and hunt down any anomaly on which we can get our hands.

"This will allow us to get gear, train our people to fight with the genuine risk of death, and get mana crystals. I can\'t stress enough how those are important for our future development. The more we get before the demons breach into our world, the higher our chances of survival."

"And why would we need hardware that isn\'t easily accessible? Buying a plane and hiring a pilot are hardly out of our capabilities. Why can\'t we do most of this ourselves?" Kary asked, unsure why they would bother Jack or Richard with their plan.

"We need something fast, big enough to carry us and our gear, and something that doesn\'t catch too much attention with authorities.

"Plus, the pilot we would have to hire would need to be confident enough to land that enormous aircraft anywhere, including places without dedicated airports. Do you know how much something like that costs?"

Kary started doing mental math while Alex frowned deeper and deeper.

"Wait, you want us to travel the world without going through customs and legal avenues? Wouldn\'t that land us in trouble?" Alex asked.

"Why do you think Richard\'s pass to anywhere would be beneficial to us, dumbass?" David replied tauntingly.

"This isn\'t something we can pull off with our own means. Even if we had all the funds to get our shit together, we wouldn\'t have the logistical pull we need to do it. This wouldn\'t be just a onetime thing. It would be an operation.

"Something that would have us gone for weeks, possibly months, depending on how things turn out."

Kary finished her mental math and looked troubled.

"By my calculations, this would be a multi-million dollar endeavour. Close to reaching the nine digits… The plane that we would need alone would cost us all our earnings. And I\'m not even sure we can access our guild funds anymore, given the servers are disconnected…"

David scoffed again.

"You can forget anything from New Eden until they reconnect our worlds. Nothing is coming through. It\'s staying in there unless you can pull it directly through the veil."

Alex sighed in relief upon hearing this. It meant he still had access to his companions, even Genie. But the problem was still a big one.

They never kept that much gold on them. And since they hadn\'t traded it in before getting booted out, it was still all over there.

They were practically broke…

\'What caused this?\' he wondered.