Backyard Hero

Chapter 11: Commerce

Max smiled, enjoying the feeling of energy and strength that came from absorbing XP. It was a bit like chugging a dozen energy drinks followed by dunking your head into a bucket of ice — an invigorating experience, but once it was over it left you feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Bits of shattered spider littered the crystalized wood of the dungeon floor. Max's eyes immediately began scanning as he looked for intact eyes and limbs. He'd been through this floor nearly a dozen times and had never thought to keep any of the crystal remains.

He'd missed out on a fortune.

Max had originally told Eve to set the orb's auto-loot feature to only alert him of items worth more than fifty dollars, it had seemed a reasonable amount that should limit the number of alerts he received. In the first room of the dungeon, after Max had watched Nina destroy an army of crystal arachnids in a dance of twirling steel and dazzling white, he had been flooded with alerts.

Nearly every crystal shard had been valuable enough to get his attention, thousands of them. Max had continuously raised the value at which he was alerted... two-hundred, five-hundred, and then a thousand dollars, but the alerts kept coming. Max's inventory and pockets were now heavy with crystals that were each worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Nina had given him strange looks after every battle as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. Max had just shrugged as he continued to loot the crystal corpses, occasionally changing out one crystal for one slightly larger.

"I have to ask," Nina said. "What in name of the First Spear are you doing?"

"Getting rich!"

Max tossed a cracked eye behind his back as another took its place in his inventory. Max hadn't felt this excited since the first time he had entered the dungeon — he had to hide his class out in the world, but money? He could have quit that data entry job weeks ago!

"How much," Nina sighed, "is one of those crystals worth? Ten thousand? A hundred? I just gave you an SSD worth several million!"

"Wait, what?"

Max had known the bracelet was valuable, but the amount had seemed abstract. How could he ever sell something that he was given as a gift, no matter how much it was worth? The crystals, on the other hand, could be exchanged for hard currency — though Max would probably have to sell them through an intermediary to avoid questions.

"You're right," Max sighed. "It's not like I'll be able to sell them anyway."

"Just stop, okay? We're wasting time, weren't you the one up at the ass crack of dawn whining about your precious Cathy?"

"It's Samantha," Max crossed his arms. "And she's not precious, but I don't want to see her in danger because of me either."

"Look, Max, I get it. I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but we're both in over our heads. I've got people I want to protect, as well."

She ran her fingers over George's sleeping head, smiling as she looked back at Max. He felt lost for a moment, staring into her eyes. Her face was pale and rather plain, but that smile and the way her eyes shone in the pale light ...

"Let's just forget it and move on, okay?" Nina said, tossing Max a small stone that glowed with faint, blue light.

"What's this?"

"That," Nina paused for effect, "is worth more than everything you've ever owned, ten times over. Consider it my way of saying thanks."

Max frowned but nodded as he stored the item in his inventory. Every time he thought he was starting to like the girl she went and showed off her arrogance. She would smile and nod as if he should be grateful as she casually dismissed the value of everything he was or had ever done.