Orc Wars 2 : Lazarus

Chapter 17 - Self-Made Weapon

Nadine was annoyed. She had sent Lazarus an official message regarding his breach of contract. He had missed his compulsory four hours yesterday. The Gatekeeper had replied her and she did not like his answer.

She scowled at her screen where the thread was still displayed.

Simtrixx : Please be informed that you have breached your contract with Simtrixx as you have missed your contractual gaming hours yesterday. Therefore, you will be penalised accordingly. Your next compulsory gaming hours will not be paid by the company.

Lazarus : Okay.

Simtrixx : Please consider this a warning. If you miss another session and cause the company loss of gaming footage, the penalty will be more severe.

Lazarus : I've already given Simtrixx more than enough 'usable footage' recently. Yesterday's incident will not happen again but if it does, I will give you advance notice. Thank you.

Simtrixx : Please do not let it happen again. Legal charges can and will be brought against you if it does.

Lazarus : Please take note that in the Gatekeeper's contract there is a stipulated clause for 'days off'. Read through it again if you are not sure. We can bring that up in court if need be. Also, as the company will not be paying for my next session, I will 'play' accordingly. Not sure if it will be 'usable footage' for you guys. Normal play may or may not resume after that. Laters.

What did he mean by that? She had only wanted to ensure that he continued with the exciting Orb Trials. Pressure him a little to keep him going. They had already started the 'Gatekeeper's Contest' to draw in more players and sales. They needed him to continue doing them, even if he did not complete the trials, he would provide Simtrixx with his attempts.

Nadine felt irritated by Lazarus's tone in his emails to her. He was not intimidated by her and she didn't like it.

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"He is running dungeons?" Nadine asked incredulously. She had planned a whole new campaign based on Lazarus' Four Trials. He was guarding one Orb so that didn't count. He had succeeded in completing two, Isis's and Valentine's. Simtrixx had edited and released promotional videos. Orc Wars' already strong popularity surged to new heights, demand for the game went through the roof.

Simtrixx was also trying to find out Lazarus' sudden initiative to get through the Portal. They had not counted on a Gatekeeper wanting to go through. After all, they were the survivors and saviours of the land. Wouldn't they want a bit of peace now? They had a job to do. They were supposed to guard the Portal not want to go through it!

"Yes. He needs to level up to go through the Portal. Even if he had all five Orbs, he would not be able to pass through if he has not levelled up to Level 80," Zen explained.

"His level dropped," Nadine said, a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice.

"He died quite a few times in the second Trial. The Thief's quest was tricky. He lost 1.25 million XP points."

Nadine didn't reply. They were watching Lazarus and Valentine going into the level 30 dungeon a third time. He would still gain XP and Items but still it was such a waste of time running the same dungeon over and over. Her thoughts strayed to his email ... 'I will 'play' accordingly. Not sure if it will be 'usable footage'. The nerve of him! She ground her teeth in frustration.

Lazarus had to level up 6 levels before he was eligible to go through the Portal. Was he going to level before attempting the Berserker's Trial? What if he died again? He would lose more XP. She couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. On one hand, she wanted him to do the other Gatekeeper's Trials for the wonderful and powerful visual he provided, but on the other hand, she did not want him to level up too quickly ... the orc realm was not ready for active play.

Nadine would have to change her strategy. She had to think of a way to continue the frenzy for Orc Wars and stall Lazarus. But how? Season Two was still months away. Selection hadn't even started.

The Director frowned, tapping her fingers on her table whilst contemplating the assassin's displayed profile.

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After three dungeon runs, Valentine had to go off. No problem, he would log off too. Lazarus disappeared from the map as Jace logged-out. He wanted to experiment on something. Now that he had obtained some dungeon materials, he could start.

Jace pulled out the weapons editor which he had downloaded earlier. He opened his Inventory and took out a simple crude low level bow. A basic Level One bow. He smiled nostalgically. His first weapon, the one he had to make in Season One's reality show, before he had earned enough gold to buy weapons. Making the weapon had been a hidden quest. Completing it had earned him some Experience points. Many of the Players had not made one. They had either preferred to complete quests to earn enough gold for weapons or had not been aware of the hidden quest.

It really was too simple. He had only used it to hunt some game for the NPCs in his city in the beginning. When he had started upgrading the farms to produce more food, there was no need for him to hunt anymore. He had concentrated on the other aspects of the Game after stabilising his city.

Willow and twine. That was what it was made of. Deftly he undid the twine and carefully added the minatour's horns to the tips of the willow making solid nocks. The brass ring he melted and made an arrow rest. He reattached the twine. Next were the mangy pelts which the minatour's minions had dropped. He used the editor to shape the pelts and applied it to the grip of the bow.

Save.

Lazarus, Self-made bow Level Two.

The bow had upgraded. it was a start, Accuracy and range had improved by 2 per cent. Durability had also increased. He wondered if his plan would work. No harm in having a backup plan.

He logged out of the editor and into Orc Wars on his computer. He had attached his ipad. Lazarus came online and exchanged the cursed saber he was still holding to the self-made bow. Then he ported to the forest near his city. He was going hunting.

The Assassin's Health regeneration immediately slowed down when he stowed away the saber.

Lazarus entered the rich forest. It was teaming with wildlife, some he recognised and some he didn't. Simtrixx's creative team had designed some weird creatures. Edible? He didn't know. In less than ten minutes, Lazarus had shot two green wild fowls and an odd looking rabbit. Not too bad. Of course it couldn't be compared to his favourite level 50 darklight bow at the moment.

He nodded in satisfaction. It was a good start. He would need higher level materials if he was to fulfil his long term goal. After all, one should always have a plan B in case plan A didn't work or took too long to accomplish.

He didn't know how long Lazarus would last in his condition after he went through the Portal. He might find the cure immediately if he was lucky but if it took too long ... he didn't really want to think about it.