“I see,” he replied a second later. “It’s really good that you’ve taken an interest in trading. The money isn’t really worth it at lower levels if you go XPing regularly, but there’s a lot of money to be made at higher levels. I’ve gotta warn you about one thing though, Alex. You shouldn’t neglect your training, even if you’re only really interested in trading.”
“I went for a run today and I plan to start working out at the gym again once I get accustomed to how this works,” I said, not realizing until after that Leo couldn’t possibly know that I had skipped the gym twice in a row.
“I don’t mean your usual training. I mean training your class. Items put on the marketplace by anonymous sellers or low-level ones have a much worse conversion rate than those from reputable or stronger ones. Levels mean power and trust.”
What he said made absolute sense, though I did wonder whether some part of it might have been exaggerated in an effort to make me more sociable by society’s standards. Training would probably mean going farming, undertaking quests, and forming parties with other people. All the things I wanted to avoid.
“Anyway, I know you’re too headstrong to listen to advice, so I won’t push you too much. You can come by my place with your DEM tablet any time and I’ll give you my consent for the crafting program.”
“Great. Thanks, Leo. I’ll be there in less than an hour.”
“Sure, I’ll be home then. Thanks for the heads-up.”
I said my goodbye and started changing clothes for my visit to the DiFiore building in Little Italy. Louie was a bit confused that we were going to leave the house again so soon after an exhausting run. I actually had to pick him up and put him on his leash since he refused to get out of his bed. Once we left our building, however, he livened up at the sight of two black Dobermans passing on the other side of the street.
Louie was as fluffy and cute as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi could be, and always played nice with other dogs in the park when he was free to run. That was Dr. Jekyll-Louie though. Whenever he was on a leash, his Mr. Hyde personality emerged. Knowing he had me both protecting him and holding him back, he would bark at and try to attack every big dog he laid eyes upon. The bigger the better. And in this case, he must have felt like a great warrior indeed, growling and barking insults at two muscular Dobermans without seeming frightened in the least.
I pulled on his harness as if it would somehow convince him to stop, and put him in the backpack I utilized as a dog carrier as we made our way to the subway. A couple of stops later, we emerged at Broadway-Lafayette Street station and headed toward the multi-story building owned by Leo’s family. The concierge must have recognized me before I even entered the building as he was already talking to Leo on the phone when I reached him.
“Welcome, Mr. MacFie,” the old man said as he stood up from his desk in all of his red-attired glory. “Master Leonardo is waiting for you on the twenty-third floor.”
Name : Hierethon Ta’anduil
Race : ???
Class : ???
Level : ???
The only thing available at my level was his name and I guessed that, if he had wanted to, even this might have been hidden from me. I could understand why someone would hide their class and level, especially if his duties included being the building’s security—though his age suggested that wasn’t likely—but why would he have to hide his race? He looked like any other human. There were so many things I still didn’t know about this new ancient world.
“Thank you,” I replied and walked over to the elevator.
It was funny how much this building looked like it belonged to the New York in old movies. I bet it must have been worth a fortune today, but if Leo’s whole extremely extended family was part of the Apocosmos, it would likely be peanuts for them. I pressed the button for Leo’s floor and when the elevator arrived, the door opened directly into his apartment. The only other time I’d visited him in this building was on one of the upper floors where I’d met about fifty members of his family, including his parents, his two sisters, and a flock of cousins. This was the first time I had seen his own apartment.
It was the wet dream of every nerd on planet Earth. The walls were populated by a ridiculous amount of screens, while a multitude of nerdy paraphernalia was on display on the high bookcases around the room. Most notably, there was a gauntlet that resembled Sauron’s hand—complete with the one ring, an exact replica of Sephiroth’s absurdly long Masamune, and a beautifully ornate Hylian Shield.
“I love what you did with your hair,” Leo joked. Instead of his usual jeans and T-shirt, he was wearing bright neon-blue robes. His hair was not the unruly mess I was used to seeing but instead was slicked back and he was notably missing his glasses. It was as if he had transformed into a different person.
“Don’t act like yours is much better,” I retorted.
“Oh, but it is. It took me a while to nail this whole look,” he said as he fell on his knees to pet Louie. “Category is: high-fantasy half-elf mage realness.”
I didn’t say anything about his choices. It was a side of Leo I had never seen, so naturally—as with anything new—I hated it. However, I had a reason for being there, and it included him doing me a favor.
“You can let Louie free here,” he said. “He can go wherever he wants.”
“So about the consent for the crafting program?” I said as I let Louie’s
