Chapter 855
Anton, his father, and his sister spent the entire day grinding inside the world of Diablo II. Progress was slow because they were extremely careful while leveling their characters. They did not want to incur the penalty of being unable to access the Multiplayer option of Anton's Diablo System due to character deaths.
A death at the end of a session would not matter much since they only met once a month, and a twenty-four-hour ban would have little impact in the long run. However, if it happened in the middle of a gameplay session, it would be highly inconvenient.
The list of items Anton had given Anders and Anna was comprehensive, so they needed to finish leveling with enough time remaining to discuss character builds that relied heavily on those items.
Anton had prepared several pages of Diablo II character guides from well-known Diablo II websites for both Sorceress and Paladin builds centered around runewords and set items. He also showed them gameplay videos of Sorceress and Paladin characters that followed the various builds from popular video-streaming platforms.
The entire process lasted several hours, and their meeting did not end until around four o'clock the following morning. The long hours did not bother Anton. In fact, he enjoyed every minute of it. It was a chance to bond with his father and sister over his favorite game. Besides, he had nothing particularly important to do aboard the ship.
He even asked Anders and Anna if they wanted to meet again after a few days instead of waiting until the end of the month, and they readily agreed.
They wanted to hunt for the gear listed by Anton, and once they acquired the necessary items, they planned to reset their characters and restructure their skills around those builds.
Anton could understand why his father and sister were so enamored with the characters he had given them. Those characters made them enormously powerful. He suspected that both Anders and Anna could already be considered stronger than ordinary Archmage-rank wizards. They might even be capable of contending with Supreme Rank wizards.
If they ever found themselves unable to defeat a Supreme Rank opponent, they could simply escape using the Teleport skill from their Sorcerer class and then use a portal scroll. That was assuming their enemy lacked a means of creating a spatial lock capable of blocking teleportation, portals, or dimensional gates.
In truth, Anton had never encountered a wizard capable of using a spell or skill that directly blocked spatial abilities during any battle he had participated in. He had once established a dimensional lock while assisting Team Gorvin during a cleanup mission, but that had been accomplished through a specialized magical item that was both complicated and time-consuming to set up.
After their session ended, Anton exited the game and finally went to sleep. When he woke up again, it was already noon.
He had forgotten to activate the Pearl of the Ocean before sleeping, so he had slept for a full seven hours. Normally, with the pearl's assistance, even complete exhaustion required no more than three hours of sleep for him to feel fully rested.
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Anton freshened up and left his room to have lunch at the Revere. However, he was startled to find Paul and Eric waiting outside his door. Apparently, they had been there since early that morning. The only reason the guards had not chased them away was that both young men were already recognized as his guests.
"Why didn't you knock?" Anton asked as the three of them headed toward the Revere. "I could have let you into my room so you could wait inside."
"We didn't want to disturb your rest," Paul replied.
"What were you doing anyway?" Eric asked tactlessly.
Paul shot him a glare, but Anton could tell that he was equally curious.
Anton knew that his absence had made the two anxious. He was effectively their ticket into the expensive establishments of the Nobles Section. Without him, they would have been forced to spend their time either with their families or with the other young people wandering around the Bottom and Middle Sections.
"I had to perform a sort of magic ritual related to my bloodline magic, and it took a couple of days to complete," Anton said without elaborating further.
Paul and Eric were both wearing one of the fine suits they had purchased from a tailor in the Nobles Section. Anton, however, did not bother dressing up. He was still wearing casual clothing similar to what any young man in any city might wear. The only noticeable difference was the quality of the fabric.
He was not concerned about receiving any form of discrimination because of his clothing. The punishment he had given the restaurant host had already spread throughout the ship, and every merchant in the Nobles Section knew exactly what he looked like.
In fact, they should have already known his appearance. A ship such as the Melinda typically distributed information packets containing pictures of wizards who deserved special respect because of the power they wielded. Anton was a well-known Supreme Rank wizard who had participated in the war against the Undead Coalition. Those who needed to know were also aware that his family supplied portal scrolls.
The fact that Ormunda spent a considerable amount of resources every month to have portal scrolls transported from the ship to the city further highlighted Anton's importance to the ship's upper management.
The primary reason other wizards had not approached him directly was that it had become common knowledge that Anton intended to join one of the magical organizations in Izmorta. He had openly discussed his intentions, even mentioning them to the captain of the Melinda.
That meant Anton would soon become affiliated with the mysterious mages of Izmorta, who were renowned primarily for their power—assuming they accepted him.
As a result, the wizards of Ormunda and New Drennor had instead focused on cultivating good relationships with Anna and Anders. At the very least, the wizards of the Gale Continent were confident that both Anders and Anna intended to remain there. Anders' frequent travel between Rendindura and the Gale Continent through the portals did not matter to the wizards of Ormunda. In their eyes, Anders was still one of their own.
The fact that Anton's family was known as the Portal Scroll Family meant that they could travel virtually anywhere they wished and be welcomed. The only thing that reassured the local wizarding powers was that the family's home, Rose Manor, remained in Ormunda.
Anton had also learned from Raymond that the wizards of the Gale Continent were confident they could eventually replicate Portal Scroll magic. In fact, they had already managed to reproduce it.
The problem was the enormous amount of resources required to create a single portal rune capable of mimicking one of Anton's Portal Scrolls. Since Anton was contractually obligated to supply portal scrolls for at least another year, they would have ample opportunity to study them. Sooner or later, they were expected to reduce the resource cost enough to create a practical imitation.
While eating, Paul and Eric updated Anton on their progress in memorizing the spellbooks he had given them. The spellbooks effectively served as payment, meaning Anton would not need to pay the two young men for the next two months in their roles as his companions and guides aboard the Melinda.
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