Simple plans of desperate men

After a few seconds, Lily replied 'He has a deal for you.'

The deal was rather simple.

Chen Li had more 2nd tier crystals and he wanted to sell them to me.

25 2nd tier crystals for 2000 white coins.

Was the deal a fair one?

Not really.

Would I take his deal.

Definitely. Because I'm desperate. And it's extremely hard to find 2nd tier crystals.

'Tell him that I only have about 800 white coins right now. And that I should be able to collect the rest by tomorrow.' I said to Lily.

'Very well. I've sent a message in your name.' She said.

'Hmm…' I looked at the road thoughtfully. 'Lily. How do you think this guy has so many 2nd tier crystals?'

'No idea.' She replied nonchalantly.

'I mean there were about 40 something 2nd tier abnormals in the town back there as well. But they're very hard to kill. How do you think this guy does it. What's his secret?' I asked with a frown.

'Maybe he's just powerful. Like… extremely powerful.'

'I don't know. Maybe. That 'High Human' title of his does sound much more powerful than my 'Enhanced Human.'' I said 'Do you think that he's already at the next level.'

'Isn't that obvious. Why else would he sell all those 2nd tier crystals to others instead of consuming them himself.' She said in a chiding tone.

'Yeah well… I guess you were right when you said that he must be extremely powerful. And considering his 3rd timer status, he must be extremely skilled as well.'

'That is true. But why are you stating the obvious. What's your point.' Lily asked forcefully.

'I… ' I hesitated for a moment before saying 'I guess I'm a bit more motivated to become more powerful now.'

'How so?' she asked.

'Well… he might seem like a decent person when he's online but what if he's not a good person. What if we meet one day and he wants to harm my family.'

'He lives in China Ashok. I don't think you would ever meet him in your whole life.'

'No. That's not what I mean.' I shook my head as I tried to convey my point across to her 'I'm just using him as a symbol here. A symbol for people who are much more powerful than me and that might want to hurt my family.'

'I don't ever want to get in the position where I come across some extremely powerful bad guy. I still remember how helpless I felt when I came across the 3rd tier abnormal. I don't want to feel like that ever again.'

Lily stayed silent for a long while before she said 'What do you plan to do then?'

'Well, I want to buy those 25 2nd tier crystals before anything else.' I said with a smile when I heard a 'Bing' sound in my head.

'Is it Chen Li?' I asked.

'Yes. He sent a reply.'

'What does it read?' I asked.

'I'll read it for you. It says:- I've sent a similar deal to a few more people. You're free to take your time, but if someone else buy it before you then don't blame me.'

'Is that so.' I said with a frown and then checked my wealth once again.

Wealth:-

14 white coins, 102 crystals (1st tier), 4 crystals (2nd tier)

If I sold all of my 1st tier crystals then I would be left with 830 white coins. That's still 1170 white coins away from the target.

'Collecting some many white coins in a short amount of time is gonna be hard.' I said with a frown.

'Maybe that Chen Li guy was lying and you're his only customer.' Lily suggested.

'Or maybe there are many more like me who want to buy the 2nd tier crystals as well.' I retorted with a bit more anger in my voice then I had intended. 'We don't know the truth so we'll work by assuming the worst case scenario.'

'Then what do you plan to do. It's not like staying here and thinking about it hard enough will cause crystals to rain down upon you.' She bit back sarcastically.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and said 'You are right.'

Lily went silent for a few moments before she came back once again 'Say that again.'

'I'm not saying that again.' I refused immediately.

'Why not. It's just three words. How hard can it be.'

'I'm not saying that again and that's the end of discussion.' I said 'The main point is that I can't sit around here and expect the crystals to rain down upon me. I need to do something about it. Take some kind of action'

'And that 'some kind of action' will be…'

'Well… there are a few things that I could try to do, but I'm going to go with the simplest of them.'

'And what would that be?' she asked curiously.

I took out my sword and started running in the middle of the road. 'Travel fast and kill everything that crosses my path.'

'That's your plan?' she asked 'Be fast? Seriously?'

'Well… I did say that my plan was simple.' I said sheepishly.

'Simple but… Running instead of walking. Can this even be described as a plan?' she asked incredulously.

'Well… It is. To me. Now be quiet and let me focus.' I said as I killed a mutant squirrel and took out it's core while running.

I was sure it's core would not sell for more than 3 white coins and it does seem a bit silly to go after such small creatures. But hey! A desperate man is desperate alright.

So I continued to run along the road at a fast pace until I was suddenly hit by a warm and attractive aura and lost all my senses at once.