Chapter Seventy-Seven

As Edward logged back into the game the next day, Leila did so from just across the hall. They teleported back into the dungeon at the same time and found Markus waiting for them on the ground. He was leaning against the wall with his cloak wrapped around his body. The man was shivering in the cold because he had no source of heat.

To fix that problem, Leila lifted her palm and summoned a small orange flame. Markus sighed in relief before standing up to nod to them.

"Hey, guys," Markus said as he let his cloak fall to his sides. As Edward turned to his friend, he stepped forward and looked around the hallway. As Markus watched him, he chuckled, "Brandon's not here yet. He might be late by a few minutes again."

"I see," Edward nodded. He looked back to Markus, "It's good that I've managed to catch you on your own. I needed to talk to you about something."

"What?" Markus asked. Edward directed Markus to sit back against the wall and joined him. Then, until Brandon logged in, Edward told Markus about everything that happened since he met Mrs. Snow.

He told Markus about the accident in Sweden and the technology the Stranger left behind for Desert Industries to replicate. Markus took the news of Avalon being a parallel world rather well. Perhaps he already felt that that was the truth after seeing Ikarus on Earth. Afterward, Edward told him about accepting Mrs. Snow's offer, getting a new apartment, and even missing work because he didn't need to go anymore.

"So that's why. Everybody at the office thinks you quit," Markus said.

"I guess I did. I just didn't realize it until now," Edward told him, "Mrs. Snow wants to meet you, too. You may not have a Blood Origin like I do, but your abilities and some of your stats have still transferred over to your body on Earth. If you help her, she'll help you. Your friends, family, and anybody else you consider important will be kept safe by Desert Industries."

"How?"

"Do you want to ask her? You'll have to meet her, eventually. You're included in that list she'll protect because of my interests," Edward suggested. Markus took a moment to think about it but eventually looked back to Edward.

"Alright. I'll send you a call after we log off today," Markus told him, "I'm not saying I'll accept her offer, but I'll at least hear her out."

"That's good," Edward smiled. A few minutes later, Brandon finally logged back in. A massive smile was on his face and his eyes were wide with joy.

"I passed my test!" He cheered as he turned to Edward, "I have no idea how, but I passed the test I was late for!"

"What did you get?" Edward asked.

"75%, which is only enough to barely pass, but still! I don't even know how, either. Man, this is so lucky! I think I would pass a multiple-choice test after randomly guessing all the questions. There's what, a one in several million chance of that happening?" Brandon smiled.

'His luck stat isn't high enough to warrant suspicion, but still high enough to help him out in the real world. Still, though, that's an insanely powerful result from randomly guessing on every question. Perhaps it's been boosted because his test didn't have anything to do with magic? Convenient,' Edward thought to himself. He smiled, then began to make his way to his feet. He looked at Brandon and took a deep breath.

"Brandon, we need to meet up," He said as he approached. He put his hand on Brandon's shoulder and sighed, "In reality."

"Uh, okay?" Brandon chuckled. The excitement from passing his test was still running rampant in his system, but Edward was glad Brandon had cooled down enough to listen to him.

"As soon as you can, it's important," Edward said. Brandon turned to Edward, confused. Then, an expression of dread and worry appeared on his face. He put his shoulders on Edward's arms and looked Edward in the eye.

"Is mom okay?" Brandon asked.

"Mom's fine. Dad's fine. Amy's fine. Nobody is in any trouble," Edward nodded, "The family is fine. I just needed to talk to you about something different. I want to meet up."

"Sure, but where? If it's important, I can get on a plane headed back home tomorrow if I need to," Brandon smiled.

"Good. Just tell me when you get off the plane," Edward nodded, "We'll meet up somewhere in the city. I don't want you to tell mom you're back, either. She might freak out."

"Sure, sure. As far as the family is concerned, I'll still be at university— studying hard," Brandon smiled. He patted Edward's shoulder before stepping away and removing the map from his bag. As Brandon unfurled it, he looked back at Edward and smiled, "I am curious, though. Nobody is injured? The news you have to break isn't bad, in any way? Do I have to bring tissues?"

"Maybe. I can't tell yet," Edward replied. Brandon grew more curious but didn't ask further.

"Whatever. Let's worry about that later."

As they walked to the Boss room, Edward heard Brandon ask a question from the back of the group.

"About this map: Does this fill in information no matter where we go?" Brandon asked.

"It's called a Dungeon Map," Edward answered, "It'll work in any dungeon we enter."

"But it won't work on the surface? That's a shame," Brandon sighed, "Something like this would've been a huge help if we could keep it."

"Well, I'm sure we'd be able to find a surface map," Markus reassured him, "We just have to keep looking around for one. Edward, how much did the Dungeon map cost you?"

"Three silvers," Edward smiled.

The currency system in Avalon Online was very simple. There were a total of 4 different kinds of coins. From lowest value to highest, there was Copper, Silver, Gold, and then Platinum. Each coin was worth ten of the previous coin. Ten Copper made one Silver, ten Silver made one Gold, and so on. Most of the peasant class used only coppers, as they were paid in coppers. An average meal would cost Edward one copper, so Edward assumed it was close to the value of five US dollars. That meant one Silver was worth $50, One Gold was worth $500, and one Platinum was worth $5,000.

Each player, Edward included, was only given five Copper when they first began the game. Edward got the rest from robbing the corpses of Dan Butler's gang. As Edward told them this, Leila laughed while Markus sighed.

"This PVP system is no joke," He said, "If you die, you might lose all of your equipment."

"Yeah, it takes an entire five minutes for your body to despawn. Anything that's still on your body after that point, you keep," Brandon laughed, "It's safe to fight monsters, considering they won't loot your body after you die, but PVP becomes a huge gamble because of that risk."

"We won't have to worry about that, though," Edward smiled, "It'll be a long time before we'll be bested in PVP. I guarantee you."