Chapter 39: Hugh's Vault Part One

Hugh pulled out his book and woke it, ignoring Doc and the others as Frankie filled the sudden gap in conversation. The entry for page 63 wasn't unlocked yet, but it was a simple matter of running through all the pages of section three until it did.

When he reached the page, it had a list of all the Legendary items he'd stored over the years, their original stats, their Thrive transfer stats, as well as a big red button labeled 'Summon Vault Door'. Naturally, Hugh pressed the button. A warning screen filled the page, letting him know he could only summon the Vault Door twice a day. Since the day was almost over, Hugh felt it was no loss to confirm a use simply to check it out.

A heavy grinding noise punctuated with clanking filled the room as the top of his vault door appeared in the middle of the floor a few feet in front of him. With each clank, another foot of the thick bronze bank door rose up into view. He'd customized it with a limited edition steampunk skin, so it had hundreds of rotating gears, unnecessary piping, unnecessary pressure gauges, and six bronzed Kraken arms wrapped around the surface to hold it closed.

Once the door ended its ascent with a final, leaden clank, Hugh opened it by prying the Kraken arms off in the correct sequence. Gears spun once he had the last one off, and the main Vault door was pulled out of view to the left, leaving behind only the arms and the door's frame.

Beyond the frame, a long stone hallway stretched out in front of him. A red carpeted runner cut down the center, giving him access to the mountain of neatly organized treasures, armored mannequins, weapons racks, and bookshelves lining the walls. Hugh needed only a glance to confirm it was indeed his Vault—the image spread out in front of him was exactly how he'd arranged his GameNet Vault using the 'Castle Armory' skin when he last logged into it, even down to the holy light emanating from the six cathedral windows.

"Holy shit," Frankie murmured, staring past Hugh into the Vault.

"Yeah," Hugh said in pride. "That's what a gamer's trophy room looks like. If I'd known I could access this sooner, I could have given you something better than starter gear to dress in. Hold on a second. If I remember right..." Hugh looked down at his Book, reading through his Vault Inventory in search of a particular coat. He didn't think he'd traded it, but— No, it was still there. Now he simply needed to remember where the hell he stored it.

The Vault's plush red carpeting felt soft under his feet when he dared to walk inside. It felt strange to actually touch some of the items he's spent so many years hoarding. Until now, none of them had ever been more than pixels on his screen. Hugh actually felt tears building in his eyes as he ran a finger across the breastplate of his complete set of ExionXX Celestial Armor and he knew he was getting emotional when he tested the grip on his Iridium Light Buster Sword. He left both in place, though, doing his best to focus on the item he wanted to give Frankie.

The Meister Maybe lab coat was neatly folded on a shelf toward the back of the hall where he put the stuff that didn't offer any visual appeal. In the original game where he'd gotten it, it gave him access to Meister Maybe's entire laboratory. Here in Thrive, according to his list, it was Tech offering a ten percent boost to the success rate of medical procedures.

After a moment of thought and another quick perusal of his Vault Inventory, Hugh not only grabbed the lab coat, but picked his way over to the shelf of scrolls where he sought out two particular Legendaries. The first was the Alchemists Compendium of Miracles containing the recipe for Imortalis in the original game. In Thrive, it offered the schematic for Species Transfiguration: Vampire.

The other scroll he chose was the chant for Phoenix Summoning, which did exactly what it sounded like regardless of whether it was used in the original game or Thrive. He wasn't certain, but his instincts told him a spell creature of light mixed with a spell for vampires would create something new—perhaps a daywalker.

Hugh scanned all three, adding them to his Book so he could have Dex spawn replacements in the future, then carried them out to Frankie.

"Here, Doc," he said, shoving them into Frankie's arms. "Consider these a down payment on our contract. If you equip the scrolls on your Magic page, you'll get the ability to change player's species to Vampire and you'll get the ability to summon a pet Phoenix. The two spells should also combine to give you a third spell, although I don't know what. If you equip the lab coat using the Tech page, you'll get a ten percent boost to your success rate when performing medical procedures. I'm assuming these were the kinds of things you were wanting me to scout for you?"

"Y-Yes!" Frankie stuttered in amazement. "But why would you—"

"I scanned them first, so I still have the ability to dupe copies for myself. Navigators can spawn ten times a day from scans, although they won't dupe the same item infinitely. These are the only ones you're getting, so don't lose them. Hell, make sure you scan them first in case you do lose them. You can either make a backup copy for yourself or have your own Navigator spawn a copy for a friend. I'd only give them to people you trust, though. All three of these are super-rare items you could probably sell for a mint once the game's economy picks up. If you put your NPCs to work studying them, they can even produce less powerful copies for the rest of your Medical group."

"I don't know what to say," Frankie replied, seemingly breathless over Hugh's generosity.

Hugh grinned. "I'd say I earned a bonus. How does free cosmetic surgery for life sound? I wouldn't mind trying out being a Vampire once you get the Achievements you'll need to actually use the Species Transfiguration spell. Cyborgs don't sound really appealing, but I'd eventually like to try out Fae and Lich once I find those spells for you. Maybe a few other things, too. I've only scratched the surface of this game so far. I'm sure there's things out there I haven't even thought about."

"Deal!" Frankie blurted, jumping on the offer.