Chapter 18

My final few classes of the day were quiet since I didn't share them with any of my new friends. Once I was alone again, I felt exhausted as if I'd used all my brain power in a single go. I almost nodded off in my history class. Only the growling of my stomach kept me awake. In all the chaos of my lunch period, I'd forgotten to eat.

My hunger was the only reason I didn't make an excuse and just return home after school. I sent a message to my parents, telling them I was meeting with friends, and drove myself over to Bryant's Burgers and Brats. Since I arrived first, I ordered myself some food and claimed a circular corner booth so we'd have plenty of room.

I was in the middle of eating a bacon double cheeseburger when everyone started to arrive. Shey and Red showed up first.

"How did you get here so fast?" Shey asked as he slid into the bench seat across from me.

"Drove," I replied between bites.

"You should have mentioned you have a car. Takumi and Harris are taking the bus. Trace took Marshall and Jackson to pick up Reese from home. They'll be here in a few."

"My truck is only big enough for two," Red added as he shoved Shey farther into the booth and slid in next to him.

A few seconds later, a waitress dropped off a trio of milkshakes and an overflowing basket of fries. I raised my eyebrow at the unordered delivery.

"We're regulars," Shey explained. "The chocolate malt is mine, Red gets strawberry, and it looks like you get the vanilla since they don't know your preferences yet. Fries are for everyone, so don't hog 'em."

I nervously eyed the fries and the too-large milkshakes while I tried to add up the cost in my head. I might have had my new bank account to support me, but I didn't want to fritter it away on other people. I didn't give a damn if that made me stingy. The money in my bank account was the difference between working my way through college and being able to actually study in college--assuming I decided to go to college.

Shey laughed, noticing my concerned expression. "I was just joking about the bet. Trace handles the milkshake bill, so don't worry about it."

His words let me relax. "Is his family rich?"

"Not sure," Red said as he stuffed his mouth with fries. "He uses party funds to pay, so honestly—don't worry about it. As long as we meet our quotas or find a kickass piece of equipment to sell, we get free milkshakes during our meeting each week."

"Is that what this is?" I asked. "Your party meets here after school?"

"And here I thought you'd ask what a party is," Sheynan teased.

I shot him a filthy look. "I'm new, not brain dead. Explain to me how party funds can pay for all this."

"Wait for Trace," Shey replied. His words made me grumble under my breath. Was Trace really the only person in the group who could explain it?

As the guys who rode the bus arrived, I quickly learned the answer was yes, only Trace could answer my questions. It wasn't because they didn't understand the process. It was because there was a minimum age requirement of eighteen to convert in-game gold into cash, so only Trace had experience with it. Therefore, everyone agreed he was the best person to give me the details.

It was a relief when he finally joined us. The rest of the guys slid into the booth, squeezing in so Trace could sit across from me. Shey ended up scooting all the way around to my side. I was amazed no one made me scoot in, but I supposed they knew I'd feel more comfortable in an outside seat where I could make an excuse and escape if I felt overwhelmed.

The guy called Reese pulled up a pair of chairs from another table so he could sit at the head of the table and elevate his injured ankle. His clothing was as loud and ostentatious as everyone claimed it would be. I thought I'd go blind from the neon colors.

The guys talked about nonsense things—girls, homework, and stuff on the Net news—until everyone had a milkshake in hand. The sudden silence as the guys sucked on straws seemed to be the cue for Trace to talk.

"Like several MMOs on the market, Aetherscape has a currency exchange," he said, his focus on me. "The only difference is Aetherscape utilizes cryptocurrency as a medium, which is why a lot of people don't use it yet. The coin isn't popular enough to be listed on most of the common exchange apps. As for why they use crypto instead of going straight from gold to cash, there are two things you have to understand. First, in-game money deflates in value the longer a game is running."

I nodded to tell him I was following along. It was only natural for in-game gold to deflate in value. It could be found all over the place and spawned faster than the US government could print bills. The system was good about providing places for players to sink their coins, but it was impossible for them to account for it all.

"The second thing is cryptocurrency works the opposite way. It inflates in value as long as it's used in circulation. That's because there's a finite amount of crytocoins to go around. That balances out the affect of gold-farming on a game because, unlike other forms of currency, cryptocoins can be sold in partial units down to multiple decimal points. That means there will always be an exchange rate where you can get some value for even the smallest denomination of gold. That's something that can't be done by going straight from gold to cash."

"Fair enough. But is that all there is to it? You trade in-game coins for cryptocoins, then sell the crypto for cash? Aren't you just gambling?" I asked. "There's no assurances a big company will invest."

"It's almost guaranteed at this point. The game's infrastructure is too solid. I did some research and found out the game's AI is next-generation stuff. It's even more advanced than it seems. The only reason it hasn't hit the mainstream market yet is that people are still mistaking it for an upgraded version of VR. But that'll probably change soon. Aetherscape is starting to build up steam."

"How much crypto have you saved so far?" I asked.

"A little over fifty thousand. We've all agreed we won't sell the bulk of it until the value jumps to more than five thousand per cryptocoin."

My eyes widened in surprise as I did the math. If he was right and the value skyrocketed that much, they'd all become millionaires, even after they split it. I couldn't imagine how much effort they'd put in to accumulate so much.

Shey snorted and commented, "I don't know what just went through your head, but it's not what you think. We started playing the first week the game released and Trace converted a bunch of our gold as soon as the cryptocoin was announced. Back then, the exchange rate was a lot better. He straight-up bought crypto, too."

"One dollar bought a thousand cryptocoins when it first released," Trace confirmed. "These guys were willing to trust me with their gold and chipped in a few dollars each, so we got a lot."

"Free money," Marshall piped in. "It didn't cost anything except a little time to make the gold we had, so why wouldn't we give it to you? Personally, my family wants to kiss your feet since you're treating us every week. It gets me out of the house and satisfies my sweet-tooth at the same time."

"I'd buy us more than milkshakes and fries if I could," Trace replied sheepishly. "We're basically working as a gold-farming crew, so I have to put some cash aside to pay taxes each time I trade our crypto for cash. If I didn't, we really would be breaking the law. And my dad is working to help me get everything set up to make it an official company, otherwise we'll get in trouble with the IRS. But—if everything continues at the current pace, I should be able to start giving everyone regular paychecks by the time we graduate. It won't be much, but it should be enough to help out with college expenses."

"Wait," Takumi interjected. "Does this mean we have jobs?"

Trace shook his head in the negative. "I have to finish getting the company set up before we can say that. The plan is for everyone here to have equal shares since all of you have been investing your gold. When I make the big trade, I'll split half the profits between everyone and reinvest the other half into the company."

The guys erupted, ecstatic over the news they might get an actual paycheck from playing a game they thought they'd been playing for fun. Most of them could hardly believe it and Marshall seemed to be on the edge of tears over the announcement. From what I overheard Takumi murmuring to him, I picked up that Marshall's family wasn't particularly secure on the financial front.

"Can I join?" I asked quietly. It sounded as if Trace knew what he was talking about and, since I was already playing anyway, I didn't see how it could hurt me. At most, I'd lose some ancient coins. I wasn't willing to invest actual cash into the project.

Trace hesitated, then asked, "What are your plans? Do you want to teleport to us and join in dungeon raids or will you stay solo?"

"I'd like to stay solo," I replied, suddenly feeling as if I was being interviewed. "There isn't any competition where I'm at, so I can send you about fifteen thousand ancient coins."

A few of the guys made noises and acted like I'd said something inexplicable. Afraid I'd missed my chance by giving them a low-ball number, I quickly added, "I can send more if that's not enough. I didn't get a chance to empty my inventory last night before I logged off. I have a bunch of resources that should sell for a good amount."

"Slow down," Reese interrupted from the head of the table. "No one is freaking out because it's not enough, but because it's too much. I thought you were a newbie. How did you get your hands on so many ancient coins?"

"Lobster, crab, and now oyster farming," I said, shrinking in on myself when I noticed everyone staring at me. "It's not hard. I have three aquariums for each of them in my inventory, plus another two to make pet food. It takes twelve hours for them to breed and reach full growth. Then I just have to process them to get meat and materials to make Atlantean ingots. Vendors never refuse meat and ingots, so I can get about five thousand ancient coins a day from that alone—sometimes more."

Reese licked his lips and asked, "You can make Atlantean ingots?"

"Can't everyone? The processing methods aren't hard to find."

"How much have you been selling for?" Shey asked, leaning closer to me with an intense expression.

"It depends on the resource. I know it's a few hundred for a stack of ingots. Stacks of crystal shards and pearls go for five times as much."

Everyone around the table groaned and Marshall laughed. "Definitely a noob!" he exclaimed.

"Jay," Trace said in a pained tone. "Atlantean ingots might be common to you, but they're a high-grade material on land because only a few people know how to make them. A single ingot is worth almost five hundred gold coins. A pearl is only worth ten, maybe twenty gold, depending on the grade."

"But I can't sell on land," I complained. "I still have to cross two more maps to reach Atlantis."

"I'll mail you a return scroll for our base in the Holy Capital," Trace promised. "Shey and I can show you the auction house, the coin exchange where you can trade ancient coins for gold, and—if you still want to join our party—we can set it up so you can instantly consign your goods at our virtual shop without needing to return to town. As long as you consign a stack of Atlantean goods a day, we'll consider that your quota. Just do us a favor and stop selling to NPCs!"