Second World Online

The heat from the melting furnace caressed my face, driving away the cold night air of Silvergrass Village that seeped through the gaps in the wooden walls. Inside the back room of the "Waterwheel" shop, I stood in front of the forging anvil, a heat-resistant leather apron wrapping my gray cloak, and my silver hair neatly tied back.

Tonight, I was not making structure-destroying bombs on the level of a Breaching Charge, or poison masterpieces on the level of Empress's Malice. Those items were too lethal, too disruptive to the game's balance if they ever fell into the hands of the Knights of the Round's enemies.

However, as a craftsman, ignoring the moment of market panic ahead of the Territorial War (Castle Siege) was a grave sin in basic economics. I needed a commercial product. Something strong enough to shatter Guild formations, cheap enough for mass production, yet lacking absolute penetration power against high-class armor.

My eyes fixed on the pile of Refined Copper Ingots and the sacks of High-Grade Gunpowder supplied by Arthur. Beside them still remained barrels of toxic peat soil and sulfur that I had harvested from the outskirts of Murkwater Swamp the other day.

"Copper is very easy to shape and cast," I muttered, taking several copper bars and placing them into the melting crucible. "It isn't as hard as steel, so the penetrating power of its fragments won't be able to destroy Epic shields. Perfect for mid-tier anti-personnel weapons."

I took a specially designed iron mold shaped like an apple-sized sphere. On the inside of the mold, I had carved cross-shaped fragmentation grooves so that when it exploded, the copper shell would break into hundreds of sharp, symmetrical projectiles.

I poured the molten copper into the mold. After it cooled and hardened, I opened the mold, producing a hollow copper casing. Through a small hole at the top, I inserted a mixture of gunpowder and swamp sulfur that I had carefully formulated with precise alchemical ratios. Finally, I sealed it with a short fuse and airtight resin.

Ting! [System: Synthesis successful! You have created [Sulfuric Shrapnel Bomb] (Rare)!]

[Sulfuric Shrapnel Bomb - Rarity: Rare]

Type: Consumable / Throwing Weapon.

Description: A commercial shrapnel bomb designed to break infantry formations. Its copper shell spews hundreds of sharp fragments upon detonation. Explosion Radius: 10 Meters. Damage: 1,200 Fire/Piercing Damage. Special Effect (Noxious Cloud): Residual sulfur combustion creates a toxic smoke that inflicts [Blind] for 3 seconds and 50 Poison Damage per second for 5 seconds on anyone within the blast area. Created by: Syl.

I smiled in satisfaction as I read the description. Damage of 1,200 points would not kill a Level 30-ish Tanker or Warrior in a single attack, but the three-second Blind effect and ten-meter radius were a nightmare for large-scale party coordination.

Without wasting time, I switched to mass-production mode. My hands moved mechanically, a muscle routine I knew by heart. Melting, casting, filling, and sealing. The crafting system in Second World Online demanded real physical action, making my entire body sweat, yet my experience points (EXP) for the Advanced Alchemist and Advanced Blacksmith professions continued to climb steadily.

About three hours passed in the game world. On my worktable now sat neatly arranged one hundred and fifty [Sulfuric Shrapnel Bombs] reflecting copper light under the crystal lamp.

Just as I sat down to rest my avatar's back, an extremely grand and ear-splitting war trumpet sound suddenly echoed from the sky. The sound was so loud that my wooden table trembled.

Not only in Silvergrass Village the sound resonated across the entire continent.

Instantly, the system interface that was usually transparent blue changed into a glowing reddish-gold color. Giant text appeared floating in the air, visible to every player logged into the server at that second.

[GLOBAL SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT: THE ERA OF CONQUEST HAS ARRIVED!]

[The winds of war blow across the continent. Three ancient fortresses have risen from their long slumber: Sunspire Castle in the north, Ironhold Castle on the central plains, and Mistveil Castle in the southern swamps.]

[The first Castle Siege Event will begin exactly 72 HOURS from now!]

[Guild registration for the assault is now open! Seize the Castle Core and become the ruler of the territory! The winner will gain the rights to territorial tax collection, access to exclusive mines, and the title [Lord of the Realm]!]

[Prepare your weapons. Forge your armor. History is not written by those who hide!]

I stared at the golden text that slowly faded in the air. The moment the giants had been waiting for had finally arrived. Three days. They only had three days to prepare logistics, strategy, and alliances.

"Three days… panic must be sweeping through the headquarters of the Three Great Guilds right now," I muttered, a capitalist grin forming on my lips.

I opened the system panel and accessed the [Auction House] feature.

The front page of the auction was completely chaotic. Prices for iron materials, healing potions, and magic scrolls had skyrocketed to three times their previous value within seconds of the announcement. Demand was through the roof, while supply had thinned drastically because every Guild had begun stockpiling.

"Let's add a little gasoline to this panic fire," I chuckled.

I uploaded one hundred Sulfuric Shrapnel Bombs into the auction listings. I divided them into ten stacks, each containing ten bombs.

Instead of using the bidding system, I set an outrageously high Buyout Price: 50 Gold Coins per stack. That meant one small apple-sized bomb was priced at 5 Gold Coins. A price guaranteed to make ordinary players cry of starvation for a month.

I set the seller name as: [Anonymous Crafter].

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

I pressed the upload button.

First second. Silence.

Fifth second.

Ting! [Your auction (Sulfuric Shrapnel Bomb x10) has been bought out by an anonymous player! +50 Gold!]

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

System notifications bombarded my ears without mercy. In less than one minute, all one hundred bombs I had uploaded were sold out without a single one remaining. My balance screen spun like a casino slot machine that had just hit the jackpot.

[Your Current Total Balance: 975 Gold Coins, 40 Silver, 10 Copper.]

Almost one thousand gold coins. Liquid wealth of this size was probably only possessed by the treasuries of giant Guilds. And now, all of it rested sweetly in the pocket of an albino Elf girl hiding in a beginner village. I even still had fifty bombs left in my bag to give to Arthur as a logistics bonus.

On the public forum whose screen was scrolling rapidly in the corner of my vision, players began to hysteria.

[Warrior_X]: HOLY SHIT! Who just bought up those bombs?! The price was 50 Gold and it sold in one second?!

[Mage_Lover]: The stats on that bomb are insane! 10-meter area with Blind effect?! If thrown into a crowd about to breach a gate, the formation will be completely destroyed!

[Guild_Intel]: That must be the work of the Mad Alchemist from before! Only he knows how to make mechanical bombs at this stage! Ouroboros and Black Wolf must have bought them to catch up on area DPS!

I laughed softly at their panic. Just as I was about to turn off the interface screen and go to sleep, a warning blinked in the center of my screen.

[External System Warning (Chronos Tech Med-Bay): Your daily optimal synchronization time is about to end. To maintain brainwave stability and motor nerve function, you will be forcibly logged out in 3 minutes.]

"Ah… reality is calling," I sighed softly.

I cleaned my worktable, made sure the melting furnace was extinguished, then lay my avatar's body down on the straw bed in the corner of the room. I closed my eyes, allowing the system to sever my consciousness from this fantasy continent that stood on the brink of a great war.

The hydraulic hiss of the medical capsule sounded as soft as a breeze. The polymer glass lid slowly opened. The cold sensation of medical gel on my back and the sterile smell of antiseptic immediately reminded me that I had returned to my real body, the fragile body of Rian, imprisoned by leukemia.

I blinked several times, adjusting my eyes to the morning sunlight filtering through my room window. The digital clock on the wall showed 07:15 a.m.

"Good morning, troublemaker," a soft yet teasing voice greeted from beside the capsule.

I turned. Mira was already standing there. Her provocative sportswear from yesterday morning had been replaced by a neat and conservative black-and-white maid uniform. Her hair was tied in an elegant bun. In her hands, she held a medical tablet connected to my capsule.

"Morning, Mira," I replied in a hoarse voice. I tried to raise my hand to remove the sensor cables from my temple, and to my surprise, my arm felt a little lighter than usual. The movement was not as stiff.

Mira swiftly helped me remove the remaining sensors, a bright smile decorating her beautiful face. "You slept very soundly after logging out early this morning. And there's good news today, Rian. Very good."

Before I could ask, my room door opened. Doctor Karin entered the room in her oversized white coat, holding a clipboard. Her usually stern and serious face looked much more relaxed this morning.

"Morning, Rian. I see you're already awake," Doctor Karin greeted as she walked over to the monitor screen beside my capsule. She pressed several buttons, bringing up a green wave graph.

"Morning, Doc. What good news did Mira mean?" I asked, helped by Mira to sit leaning against the edge of the capsule.

Doctor Karin looked at me with sparkling eyes behind her glasses. "The results of the blood test I took yesterday afternoon just came out. Your white blood cell count… they aren't just stable, Rian. They're starting to return to the normal threshold. The cancer cells show no signs of active replication. This is the most significant Rapid Remission phase I've ever seen in my entire career."

I was stunned. My heart pounded hard. "Meaning…?"

"Meaning that your intensive chemotherapy and the nerve stimulation from this VR capsule are providing a healing synergy beyond conventional medical logic," Doctor Karin explained with a wide smile. "If this graph remains stable for the next two months, we can begin muscle mass recovery therapy. You may never need that wheelchair again."

Hearing that, my emotional defenses collapsed. I stared at my thin, pale hands, then looked at Mira, who now stood beside me with teary eyes holding back emotion.

Mira didn't care about professional ethics in front of the doctor; she immediately hugged my head, burying my face against her stomach, and cried softly. My hand reflexively wrapped around her waist, returning the hug with the remaining strength I had.

Hope. Something that for years had felt like a false lie was now truly in my grasp.

"Thank you, Doc. Thank you for everything," I whispered hoarsely from within Mira's embrace.

"Thank your own will to live, Rian," Doctor Karin patted my shoulder gently. "I'll leave you two to celebrate. I have to report this to Mr. Alexander and Mrs. Elena. They're going to be overjoyed."

After Doctor Karin left, Mira released her hug, wiped her tears, and immediately guided me into the wheelchair for breakfast. The atmosphere in my room that morning felt extraordinarily warm and filled with light laughter, a stark contrast to the tense days before.

However, that morning's peace was interrupted by the ringing of my personal phone on the nightstand. The screen displayed the caller's name: Arthur.

Mira handed it to me. I swiped the screen and held it to my ear.

"Hello, Art? Unusual for you to call this early," I greeted.

"RIAN! YOU'RE INSANE!" Arthur's baritone voice exploded from the phone speaker, forcing me to pull the device slightly away from my ear. "You really can't let the server's economic market stay quiet for even a single day, can you?!"

I laughed lightly, already able to guess the direction of the conversation. "Good morning to you too, Guild Master. I assume you've already seen the auction results from five this morning?"

"Seen it?! I nearly choked on my real coffee when I read the report from my Guild treasurer!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly. "One hundred Sulfuric Shrapnel Bombs sold in fifty seconds! Do you know who bought fifty percent of those bombs? Ouroboros! Their squad that just got massacred last night must have reported to their Guild Master, and they immediately panicked and bought up the area weapons!"

"Glad to hear it," I said casually, taking a bite of boiled egg from Mira. "They've contributed five hundred gold coins to my personal treasury. Besides, I designed that bomb purely to kill infantry, not to breach walls. That copper shell won't be able to penetrate Castle walls."

"That's the most genius point, Rian!" Arthur laughed loudly on the other end. "Ouroboros now feels confident because they have a hundred area-destruction bombs. They think they're holding the ace card to breach the defensive gates! They don't know that the Breaching Charge sticky bombs you made, the ones that can melt pure steel gates, are only in my hands!"

"So, have you decided your target for the Castle Siege the day after tomorrow?" I asked, my tone turning serious.

"Yes. Ironhold Castle on the central plains," Arthur answered firmly, his leadership aura piercing through the phone connection. "It's a strategic fortress with the strongest defenses. Ouroboros and Black Wolf are definitely eyeing it as well. The battle there will become the largest bloodbath on this server."

I smiled faintly, gazing at the blue sky outside my room window. Hope for my life in the real world had just returned, and in the virtual world, the stage to destroy my friend's enemies had been prepared to perfection.