Afterlife Dream

The next morning at 9 AM, I sat with Lazarus and HellWitch at the Fire Golem Lair entrance cave again and waited for our squadmates to arrive. HinoKun came to drop the 30 Fire Orbs again and wished us good luck before he quickly left.

I handed a Fire Orb to HellWitch and Lazarus each.

"One for you, aaand one for you."

HellWitch took the Fire Orb from me, then she looked at her Fire Orb thoughtfully.

"If everything goes well, this will be our last funded run," HellWitch said to me after a while.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "Unless we fail, hahaha."

That was quite a pity, indeed. I had enjoyed the 1,000,000 gold that I gained from the smooth run the previous day. Lazarus naturally enjoyed it even more, because he was now sporting the Fire Golem Helmet on his head, looking like a true hero.

"Antares, I am just thinking... Do you think it is feasible to start selling the Fire Golem Helmets?" HellWitch asked.

"Huh?"

"You know. We accept payment in advance, then we take them with us to the runs. They get to loot a helmet, and then we get the money. Is it not good?"

It was not only good, but it was also wonderful. With one little flaw.

"I don't think that newbies have that much money, HellWitch. I mean, do you have 30,000,000 gold in your inventory right now? And you are 75 already."

"Fair point," she admitted. "But we are playing while most people are 'living' in this game."

I knew what HellWitch was talking about. There were a lot of people like Cecilia who genuinely enjoyed being in the Afterlife Dream world. They did not care about gaining experience, leveling up, questing, raiding, or even advancing toward a specific goal consistently. Most of them accepted that they were reincarnated into the Afterlife Dream, a heavenlike world without burdens. Sure, the main goal of the game was to collect as many Life Points as possible, but what was the rush? There was none. You could exit the game next month, or next year, or maybe in three years. It did not matter. So they got cozy and started to spend their days in a relaxed manner. They started to "live" in the Afterlife Dream.

"What I am saying is, some people do have money. And while they have the money, they don't have the skills or build or maybe level to contribute much in any raid."

"Also, it is not always about looting a helmet. It is also about exiting the game," Lazarus added.

"Speaking about exiting the game, players can exit the game in any loot raid, right? it does not have to be the Fire Golem raid."

Both HellWitch and Lazarus gave me sour smiles when hearing my answer.

"What, did I say something wrong?"

"To be able to exit the game in a raid run, you need to survive to the end, Antares. You can say that the Fire Golem raid is the easiest of all raids. It is possible to just hide in a safe spot on the map when you don't want to die and wait until the others finish killing before you come to loot the helmet or exit the game. This is not possible in the other raids."

I gulped.

"How difficult is the Queen Spider raid?"

"Let's say that every single player will have to learn to survive on their own instead of relying on others to help them. Everyone will be struggling. Heck, I joined only once when I finished my third job advancement. I died within five minutes. Never again. Not so soon anyway."

I whistled. The last time I checked her out, HellWitch had been working hard to become a decent attacker. As a swordswoman, both her physical defense and HP were good so she should not have died easily. Not in five minutes at least. How difficult must the Queen Spider raid be? My lips curled up in a smile. I could not wait to join.

"Also, most of those who decide to live in this game don't level past 60. They might get past the second job advancement just for the bang, but then they will not continue leveling. They will stay in the game until they are bored, and then they exit the game to be reborn on earth."

"It sounds like a good business plan," I said. "Why don't we discuss this after the raid to see how many people are interested?"

"Ok."

"Sounds good."

The raid took a little longer compared to the previous day, and we lost a few people during the raid. While I could tell that JunHo and Lilianne did not contribute much to the raid on the previous day, Agathea and Timothy were decent raiders. The four people that we recruited to replace them, unfortunately, could not fill their shoes and died when the Fire Golem HP reached 50%. We finished the run with 26 people in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Only one helmet dropped this time, and I happily took it. Before anyone left the Lair map, we asked everyone to please gather in the entrance cave as we had something to propose to them. A good way of making money.

Unfortunately, our proposal was not as appealing to them as we thought.

First of all, five players had been holding back with their leveling plan for this last run to get the money, and they did not intend to hold back anymore. They would rather spend their time in higher-level raids.

Second of all, some people in the squad still had not had their helmets, such as Livina and ZhaoYun. If we now started to sell helmets, then what about our helmless runners? Did they also have to pay or did they get to loot for free? If they got to loot for free, then it was unfair to those who had to work hard raid after raid to earn their helmets.

"You must understand that the only reason why we all join these raids was one for money, and two for JunHo, Lilianne, and HinoKun. We did these runs to compensate Lazarus and Antares for letting our two friends loot before them. If more helmets dropped just now and other people looted them, it would have been fine but it was another story to join a raid to specifically give helmets to other helmless players."

"Wait a second," I tried to mediate. "we can still collect payment of 30,000,000 gold for each helmet. The first helmet will be given to the buyer and the rest can be given to the others. Is that not a good idea?"

"Nope," Leprechaun said decisively. "Generally, running with helmless folks is a big handicap. If you cannot be sure that you will succeed every run, there is no point in selling helmets. You don't get paid for every failed run. If HinoKun did not agree to sponsor these runs whether they fail or succeed, none of us would join," Leprechaun from Dominion pointed out.

The other players with helmets quickly agreed with Leprechaun.

In conclusion, they did not mind joining a raid as long as they got paid, but then they would rather run with those who already had their helmets for a faster and better run.

"Unless the helmless players agree to also pay 30,000,000 gold for every helmet that they loot," a player suggested. This idea quickly gained acceptance among those with helmets.

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Yeah, that is fair."

"Yup, me too..."

"That's right."

"Sorry, I am not planning to buy my helmet," ZhaoYun pointed out coldly. "I would rather earn my helmet. It's not like I have only been standing in the corner in all of our raids. I have also attacked, I have also wasted potions."

"Same," Livina agreed. "We have also contributed to the runs, you guys..."

Some players sneered.

"Say what you want. There is no way to measure the contribution, anyway. Well if there is nothing else, I am out."

"Me too."

"So sorry guys."

They left one by one, leaving the helmless players in disappointment. Eventually, even the helmless players went back. HellWitch, Lazarus, ZhaoYun, Livina, and I stayed behind to talk a little more.

Livina patted ZhaoYun on the shoulder. "We will keep trying."

"You can message me if you ever need a Healer for the run. I will help if I have enough potions to fund the run," I blurted out.

Both of them smiled at me.

"Thanks, Antares, that means a lot."

"I cannot promise," HellWitch said, "but you are free to message me as well. I will see if I can help with anything."

"Me too," Lazarus beamed at them. "just keep in touch."

Livina looked like she was ready to cry.

"Thanks, guys. Thanks, everyone. It really means a lot."

I went back to Lava County and waited to board the train back to Paradise Island. After I got the Fire Golem Helmet, the next step was obvious. I had to reach level 70 and do my Third Job Advancement Test.