Delayed Transfer

Mark went to the door to let Enleed in. 

“Hi.  I’m looking for Mark and Sam?” 

“Enleed!  This is me Mark.  Sam and Armina are already inside.”

“What! I can hardly recognize you!  You’re so thin!  A few months ago on our last get together, you were like 250 pounds.”

“Thank you.  Come in, come in.  We’ve been waiting for you.”

“So how many came?”

“It’s just you, me , Sam and Armina.”

“So few?  I thought there will be a lot of us here like the last time.  This is a nice house by the way.  Whose is it?”

“It’s mine.  Last time was a gaming convention and not all the people there were our guild mates.  If I remember correctly there were only like six of us there.”

“Yeah you’re right, there were just six of us.  Are you loaded?  This is a really nice house!”  Enleed exclaimed.

“I’m doing okay.”  Mark invited Armina and the rest to the dining room so they could start the get together celebration.

Once they were seated,  Sam proposed a toast about guild mates meeting happily and about the recent success of Mark.  Armina and Enleed congratulated Mark for becoming fit and everybody cheered and started digging in with comments that the food was great.  When they were done eating, they went to the living room to have a chat there.

“Okay, now tell us why you really invited me and Enleed here?  The both you obviously have a scheme in mind.”  Armina said to Mark and Sam while holding a can of soda.

Mark and Sam looked at each other then Sam started talking.

“What will the two of you do if  somebody invited you do a real life dungeon?  Of course you will gain strength just like in the games but you actually will be risking your lives.” 

Armina stared at him as if he was deranged but then pondered for a moment before answering. 

“Theoretically, if something like that really happens,  I will do it and I think most hardcore gamers will agree with me.  We are playing games because we wanted to be a part of a magical adventure that will let us grow stronger.”  Mark saw Enleed nodding, agreeing with Armina.

Mark and Sam looked at each other again while the other two stared at them.  Sam then continued.

“We have a dungeon and we’re inviting you, Armina as our archer and you Enleed as the wizard.”

Armina snorted.  “Did you smoke crack.  You’re crazy.”

“Of course we can prove it.  I’ve already explored the dungeon up to the 10th floor.  Where do you think I got the money to purchase this house?  I found an item that let me heal all diseases and I healed one rich guy’s wife and he paid me a lot of  money for it.” Mark said to Armina

Enleed stood up excitedly.

“I wanna see it!”

Mark then said to Armina and Enleed that they will feel something like an invitation and that they need to have an intent of accepting it.  When Mark saw Armina and Enleed’s name on the Party tab.  He invited them to the basement.

When they saw the glowing portal, Armina’s eyes grew bigger and Enleed actually jumped and down excitedly.

“As I have said, I already explored the portal up to level 10 and defeated the boss there by myself.  I received items that we can use to form a standard raiding team and we can start from the beginning of the dungeon to the lowest floor we can get which is the 50th floor.”  Mark invited them back to the living room to continue talking.

In the living room, Mark served some snacks and beer then continued talking.  He put the magic iron bow, magic iron staff, magic iron scepter and the magic iron sword in the table once he pretended that he took it from his bedroom.

“These are the items that I managed to get after defeating the boss.  These have skills that the users can use.  Unfortunately, we don’t have something like a gaming interface and we can only use the items instinctively.  I’m different because I received a unique soul bound amulet that has the skill Identify that lets me identify items and their parameters.  My amulet also had two other skills.  They were called Bush Golems and Dryad’s Circle. “

Mark paused for a bit and drank some soda.

“Bush Golems let me summon plant golems and my role will be the summoner. The Dryad’s Circle allows me to cast a mini forest with a dryad that heals and cure disease and yes the news that you saw people with cancer receiving cure was me and the government is already investigating so please keep this to yourselves.  The Dryad’s Circle can only be used once a week so it’s for desperate times only.”

Mark then proceeded to explain to them the skills attached to the rest of the items. 

“It’s a great trust you placed on us.  How can you be sure that we will not betray you and sell you to the government or rich private citizen?”  Armina asked.

“The dungeon is limited.  Once it was activated which was more than a week ago, it will only last for a year so I can hardly keep it to myself without maximizing the benefit that it can give.  And as you’ve said earlier, as a gamer, it’s our dream to be a part of a magical adventure.  At first I tried to do it by myself and I was successful but the thrill of sharing that adventure with a team is vastly different from doing it alone.”

Armina was silent for around five minutes, thinking deeply and Enleed was looking at her.

“I have decided.  I will join you.”  Armina said with Enleed shouting that he would too.

Sam shouted and said now their party is formed.

“We are missing a healer that will use the scepter.  Our plan is to sell the role to one of my rich clients, Donald Dren, for two million dollars and we four will split it.  This is for you to have funds so you can quit your job if you want to and we can focus on dungeon diving.  The items that we will get from the monsters will be taken by whoever needs it but if Donald was the one who needs it, he will need to pay for it and then we will split the earnings again.  Do you agree with that?”  Mark asked Armina and Enleed.

“Isn’t that dangerous involving someone like him?”  Armina asked.

“I cured his wife of cancer and I made a deal him before.  I know we’re being hasty but with something like this, there will always be risks. I don’t want to live my life being afraid anymore.  Whatever comes will come and we will deal with it."  Mark said firmly.