Ch 20: Only I should be allowed to scam people.

As he grinded mobs in the forest, Noah thought about what he knew of the timeline, and how his own actions might have impacted it. The incident with the Moonlit Black Cats, leading to the guild's destruction, would happen… somewhere above floor twenty, if he remembered correctly, and only Kirito was involved. It would probably still happen. Noah had no interest in Sachi, the girl belonging to that guild, and didn't intend to make her his slave just because she was worth more Yang Points than a random girl. She just wasn't his type.

The thing with Silica happened at some point where the 47th floor would be available to the players. So, not for a while. If Lilith arranged for him to get the starting event that would result in saving her from a bunch of robbers, Noah would obediently go save her. But he wouldn't make her his slave, as she was just too young. Noah might acknowledge himself as a ruthless scum, but preying on someone who would be fifteen years old, at most, was a hard no.

Lisbeth's encounter with Kirito would trigger another event, but that was also far into the future, and didn't impact the player's conquest of the game. At worst, he would have to deal with the lv74 boss, the Gleam Eyes, by himself. But if Noah couldn't deal with it, he would have no chances at all against the lv75 boss, Skull Breaker. Or whatever its name was.

Argo didn't trigger any special event, as far as he remembered.

As for Asuna…

"Shit!" Noah cursed suddenly.

There was one particular incident, narrated only in the author's expanded story and not the original novel, that would 'start' when Kirito and Asuna would seek a blacksmith to upgrade her rapier, and it happened on this very floor!

Noah searched his memories about it. He knew how it started, but not how it ended. The person at the center of the incident was a blacksmith called Nezha, who had been somehow coerced by the rest of his guild, the Brave Legends, into scamming his customers.

When a customer entrusted a valuable and partially upgraded weapon to Nazha for enhancement, like for example the Anneal Blade, Nezha used the most eye-catching moment of the process, where the customer would be distracted by the colorful special effects, to secretly switch the weapon by one of the same type, whose enhancements had been less successful, and whose attempts had run out.

Trying to upgrade a weapon that had no attempt left would invariably lead to the weapon being destroyed, and Nezha would pretend he had just been unlucky, betting on the players not knowing the exact game mechanics involved. At the end of his day, Nezha would then give his accomplices the weapons he had stolen, to be resold at a high price. And the guild would use the money to upgrade their own weapons.

This scheme wouldn't last forever, and the players would eventually understand that they had been scammed, but the half-dozen members of Brave Legends believed that by that point, their superior equipment would make them untouchable, and they would basically rule over the players. Or something crazy like that. The whole reasoning didn't really stand up to scrutiny, as no amount of equipment would save them from an angry mob, but that was when Plot Armor reared its ugly head again.

As he kept killing monsters, Noah considered his options. The nasty part of him wanted to confront them in the forest and goad them into trying to silence him, so he could consign them into an early release from the game. But he would have to let himself be injured by them first, to claim self-defense and avoid the green icon above his head turning red, permanently. Entering cities would be difficult if the NPCs and humans considered him a player killer. And that was assuming he could catch them separately, as fighting a half-dozen players at once would be reckless.

With a sigh, Noah rejected that option. It had significant risks and zero benefit for him, aside from the personal satisfaction of punishing villains. Instead, he decided to attack their reputation.

When the sun rose over the horizon, Noah teleported to his home. Asuna was already awake, and Noah could hear her taking a shower.

As he waited for her to finish, Noah opened his Yin-Yang store to drool over the goods, as he sometimes did to remotivate himself after a session of self-torture. He had managed to accumulate 1712 Yin Points, and he intended to use them to start covering one of his greatest vulnerabilities.

"Lesser Cure. Cure normal diseases, common abnormal states, toxins, and low-level curses. Cost: 1200 Yin Points."

Noah paid the required amount for it. It represented over a thousand injuries that Noah had suffered, and a not-insignificant amount of pain, but it was well worth the expense. Sooner or later, he would have to face murderers from the Laughing Coffins guild, and those guys exploited the paralysis status a lot. The skill now appeared in the game's interface.

“Lesser Cure. 1000/1000. Unique skill. Cure natural diseases and neutralize toxins. Cancel Poison, Paralysis and Blind. Immunity to new abnormal states for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 300 seconds.”

Just like the Lesser Healing skill, it had a cooldown in the game, but not in real life. It was likely a compensation for the fact that it was 'free' In the game, while using it in real life would be a drain on his mind, and would lead to a loss of consciousness if he overused it.

Feeling better now that he had another good skill in his arsenal, Noah sent an invitation to chat to Argo.

"Morning, Argo. How are you doing?"

"…Morning, No-chan. Ya just woke me. I was having a good dream, too. It better be worth it!"

Noah grinned at seeing the nickname Argo had given him. She only gave nicknames to the people close to her.

"A good dream, eh? Was I part of it?"

"Maybe, maybe not… I'll leave ya guessing. So, to what do I own the pleasure? Did ya miss me so much you want to have some more fun with me?"

"Hum… I must admit I'm very tempted, but I will let you decide the time and date for the next session, since I'm not certain you're still up for it, after meeting Asuna. And I do not want to appear clingy or take you for granted."

"…I am still up for it. You can expect next time to be within the next few days, if you're available. And feel free to ask me when you want to do it. Your Big Sis likes to feel wanted."

"That's great, Argo, my dear. But back to business. How much would it cost me to have you check one thing for me in Urbus, and if you can confirm it, deliver a specific accusation as publicly as possible, preferably without exposing yourself? It's about a small guild's criminal activity, and they will likely try to retaliate if they link the accusation back to you or me."

"…It will cost you a lot. I know a way to spread information anonymously, but I can't use it often. This better be solid info. I won't defame people if I'm not convinced that they're guilty. What is it?"

"I want you to keep an eye on a blacksmith named 'Nezha’ and see if he ends up destroying the weapons of some of his customers. A little bird told me that he is scamming people by switching their weapons with similar items that have failed their enhancements and ran out of attempts. Nezha destroy the weapons in an apparent failed enhancing attempt, and the costumer unaware that weapons can't be destroyed that way leave empty-handed. The stolen weapons are then resold by his guild, Brave Legends, and they use the money to upgrade their gear. Their leader, Orlando, has some really nice equipment for someone who only started a month ago. Their ultimate goal is to gain an edge over the other front-liners and lord over the whole player population. I do not need to tell you that their objective, as well as front-line players being deprived of their best weapons, are both very detrimental to our goal of beating the game."

"That's… very specific. And I can see how that scam would be possible. With a vendor carpet able to store items meant to be traded, the substitution would barely take a second… Who is your little bird, and how reliable is your informant?"

"That's a secret. But if you hear that Nezha really destroys his customers' best weapons, that will be a solid confirmation, will it not? A normal enhancement failure doesn't destroy the weapon. If you can confirm it, I want as many players as possible to be aware of that scam, and of who is behind Nezha. Also, they should learn about the way to counter this."

"… You mean using the 'Materialize all items' option?"

"Exactly."

Somewhere in the interface of each player, deliberately placed deep within a sub-menu, was a button named 'Materialize all items'. Using it would dump the entirety of the items within the item storage at the player's feet. Including all weapons and armors that were considered as the player's possession within the last hour. It was a safety button to avoid penalizing players too hard, as monsters with the ability to disarm or rob the players of their weapons would start appearing from the 5th floor upward. This button prevented players from losing what could be weeks or even months of investment, while it remained impractical enough to not be abused in the middle of a fight.

"…I'll do it. I can't really ignore this, really. Those guys will not just delay us, they will get people killed. I'll charge you 5k Cor per day to stake out that guy. Then another 20k Cor if I have to use my method to spread the information."

"I'll have the money ready. Thanks, Argo. And be careful. Give up immediately if they notice you hanging around, and we'll find another way to deal with them…"

"I'll start on it this morning. Bye, No-chan."

"Bye."

Noah closed his interface, thinking about other things he might do against Brave Legends. If Argo confirmed the scam was ongoing, he could set up shop in Urbus and attract customers away from Nezha, by offering lower prices, or only making the customers pay for the materials. It would delay his own grind, but would ultimately be worth it.

He should also contact Lisbeth to inform her, as she also was a blacksmith and might help him outcompete Nezha. It would also be a good opportunity to hang out more with her. Since Argo had decided to keep being involved with him, her descent into slavery was now only a matter of time.

The shower had stopped for a few minutes, now, and Noah approached the bathroom. He found Asuna already dressed in her adventurer’s outfit, fixing her hairs in front of the mirror.

"Good morning, beautiful."

She turned to him and smiled sweetly, her hands still busy doing her braids.

"Good morning, Master. I'll be ready in a moment."

Noah waited until she was done, gently smiling, then beckoned her closer. As she obediently walked to him, he hugged her tightly and kissed her.

"We'll have an intense farming session today. Are you ready?" He said as he broke the kiss.

"Yes, Master." She nodded with determination.

Noah removed the collar from her neck and put it in his item storage. Taking the teleportation crystal in hand, he sent them both outside.

Since they had chosen a spot fairly distant from Urbus and it was still early, so no one saw them appear. As they started killing monsters, Noah considered telling her about the scam, but he would have a hard time explaining how he knew about this. He finally decided not to and focused on getting stronger.