Fantasy Realm – Infinite Worlds Adventure

“No way, really?” Tereza and Alex ask at the same time, both blushing as they realize how in sync they are in moments like these.

Ben looks at them with a smug expression, his smile widening. “Yeah, you sweet lovebirds. Hagrid goes on supply trips every few weeks—twice a month, according to him. We went with him today. There’s a side quest available if you ask him if you can help with anything. Give it a try in two weeks, and you might succeed. If you do well, he’ll offer to sell you a license for daily visits afterward. That’ll allow you, as foreign wizards, to visit Diagon Alley. He’ll also give you some Floo Powder to use at the publicly available Three Broomsticks Inn. As you know, Floo Powder teleports you instantly to your destination, so this is basically a portal straight into the heart of the British wizarding community. The license costs 500 Contribution Points and is only available after you’ve helped him on his shopping trip and proven you’re trustworthy.”

Rishi glances at Alex and gives him a subtle but meaningful nod, clearly pleased with this piece of information.

“Okay, that’s definitely a huge opportunity. A deal’s a deal!” Alex says, pulling out the map of the forest with the Centaur tribe’s location marked on it.

He points to the spot and explains, “Deep within the forest, located here, far from the Acromantula nest, is the camp of the Centaurs. There, you can exchange your [Gem of Corruption] and the special [Essence of Corruption], which often drops in this world. The tokens you get can be used to trade for valuable items. Since we’ve already interacted with them, they should welcome you as long as you don’t provoke them. One last question: do you want to exchange one more piece of intel? You can offer us anything you find interesting about the Realm in general.”

Ben nods, remembering the location of the camp, his expression eager. “Sure, what’ve you got?”

Alex leans in, his tone serious. “There’s a higher form of Essence called a Quintessence. It’s worth 100 times as much as a normal Essence. If you manage to get your hands on a [Quintessence of Corruption], you can exchange it for a different token. Every single reward for that token is at least Deep Blue in quality, and there are even some Purple-quality items. But you’ll most likely need to obtain Purple Chests to have a shot at getting them.”

Ben’s eyes light up at the prospect, and he turns to Richard. “Richard, tell them something of equal value.”

Richard adjusts his glasses, his tone scholarly but enthusiastic. “How about this? Only we know this outside the Main Realm—I bet! Do you know about Item Ranks? It’ll probably be explained once you enter the Main Realm, but we found out earlier thanks to a special item one of us got. You can rank up any item you own. The cost is FC, along with other items of the same type and rarity—or a ton of lower-rarity items. Ever wonder why items are so expensive? You only need one set of equipment, right? Why do White and Green quality items matter in the long term? Besides dismantling, they can be used to rank up your favorite gear! This isn’t about Upgrade Tokens, which raise an item’s Quality and can only be used on unranked items. Anyway, you’ll hear about this eventually, but the value of my info is that you can start stockpiling specific gear now if you have items you want to upgrade. It’s a long-term mission, my friends.”

Rishi remains calm and composed, but Alex can see the gears turning in his head, processing the new information.

“Thank you, Richard. You’re a very fair guy,” Alex says, shaking his hand.

“Anyway, we’ve had a long day. We’ll talk to you soon, and maybe we can do this again,” Ben offers, standing up to leave.

Alex immediately accepts. “Sure, thank you. We’ll stay in touch!”

“Bye-bye, and thanks,” Tereza says, opening the door for them with a smile and closing it once they’re gone.

As soon as the door shuts, Rishi turns to the others, his expression unreadable but his tone serious. “It’s time for a discussion.”

“What’s wrong, Rishi? They didn’t seem like they were lying. Did we get bamboozled or tricked?” Alex asks, a hint of worry creeping into his voice.

“No, Alex. They told the truth. In fact, I managed to see a lot. I’m also 95% sure they’re not the traitors. However, I feel we need to have a serious discussion about our group. I don’t think we can go on like this,” Rishi says, his expression uncharacteristically troubled.

Tereza suddenly looks at Rishi with shock. “What’s wrong? I think our teamwork is great! What are you saying?!”

“I agree, Rishi. What’s the issue?” Alex asks, his worry deepening.

“Do you even need to ask?” Rishi replies, his tone heavy with self-doubt. “Your approach turned out to be spectacularly successful, while I was doubting your decision, only going along with you because I didn’t want conflict and had no real reason to disagree. Do you realize the value we just got out of this? One less team to worry about, Diagon Alley, Weapon Ranks, stocking up items! If it were up to me, we would’ve missed out on all of this, just because I was afraid of our information being taken for free. This was an insane miscalculation. My decisions have been off lately. Until now, I’ve been mostly useless! I’ve been more or less dictating how things should be, and you two just went along with it. Obviously, that was a huge mistake. I don’t even want to think about the opportunities we’ve already missed. You should lead our group from now on!”

Alex laughs a little, trying to lighten the mood. “Are you serious? First of all, I was just guessing. Second, it was probably my LUK stat that made my decision the correct one. But more importantly, this self-doubt and your entire illogical rant just now—that’s so not you. I can’t believe even you’re having these moments.”

Rishi opens his mouth to respond, but Alex stands up, sits next to him on the couch, and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I sure as hell didn’t expect that from you. First of all, I hate the concept of a leader, we are doing fine with you making most decisions, with me and Tereza jumping in when we feel we can help. Sure, someone has to call the shots so we act in unison, especially during battles. But this self-doubt about your decision-making… do you think you owe us something? Are we just following you because we expect you to lead us to success? We’re a team! We all bring different things to the group!”

Tereza chimes in, her tone firm but supportive. “Yeah, stop it with your arrogance. We trust you with most decisions because you’re pretty smart, but don’t think we can only rely on you. It’s a team for a reason! We all offer our unique strengths. If we just followed your lead, we wouldn’t be a good group at all. We all need to contribute what we can. Alex isn’t great at planning and forgets things sometimes, and his naivety can be dangerous—at least until recently. My instability, craziness, depression, and fears have also hurt the group the most! Do you really think people like us demand perfection? Even if you’re wrong from time to time, we trust you regardless. The only thing you need to apologize for is not trusting us, seeing us as profiteers who are only allying with you for your skills.”

“Yeah, Rishi, seriously, this isn’t you,” Alex adds. “Now, forget these silly doubts, and let’s go on like usual. You’re the brain of the group, I’m the reflex, and Tereza is the… uh… mount of the group!”

Alex feels Tereza suddenly standing behind the couch. She bends down until her face is right next to his ear, her voice sickly sweet but laced with a hint of menace. “Don’t think I’ve lost my bite just because of what happened earlier, darling…”

Scary… but this time, I feel it’s more of an act. Hehe.

Rishi looks at them, deeply touched for what might be the first time ever. “Your words aren’t needed; your brilliant colors are telling me all I need to know. Thank you. It’s indeed not like me to have these self-doubts. But expect me to take this opportunity to reflect and come back with even better decision-making in the future!”

“That’s more like it!” Alex says with a smile, and Tereza mirrors his expression.

“Now that Rishi has regained his smugness, I think it’s time for his [Mobile Skill Station]. I’ve made a decision,” Tereza declares proudly.

Alex looks at Tereza and nods. “Me too. I’ll be unlearning and learning a new skill as well. We’ll share the cost and the benefits of the skill station,” he says, his expression determined.

“I’d like to offer to let you use it for free… but I hate to say it…” Rishi begins, his tone apologetic.

“We know you’re broke. You spent your last FC to buy the thing in the first place. You shouldering the cost and letting us use it is more than enough!” Alex says, transferring 5,000 FC to Rishi. Tereza quickly does the same.

“Are you sure you have enough to completely upgrade both skills and unlearn what you don’t need?” Alex asks Tereza, his tone concerned.

Tereza decisively answers, leaving no room for doubt! “Yeah, I should have just enough. I was saving up for good equipment, but my plans changed. I’ll invest it all into skills and use the rewards from our future hunts to exchange for the Blue-quality gear the Centaur tribe has to offer, along with a few interesting pieces Hagrid has. After we present him with the Acromantula corpses, we should earn a fortune in Contribution Points. I’m sad I’ll lose access to my beloved daggers—strictly speaking, I can still use them, but less proficiently. But I’m aiming higher! Who needs a Blue-ranked skill, huh? I’ll get something better!”

How can she abandon her beloved daggers? Really? She loves those things! I mean, she’s right—she can always rebuy the skill or aim for something better, but the amount of FC she’s losing… Well, I admire her decisiveness. She can just use her AGI to enhance her bite ability, which is more deadly than any dagger attack. I should actually learn from her! No need to hesitate! I need to be at my strongest NOW. There are no retries!

“Let’s begin!” Alex says decisively, pulling out his [Skillbook: Imbuement Archery].