Chapter 140 - Contact from Walter

"I don't have time to work on the Rifle crossbow," thought Balthazar as he made his way to the engineering association. "It is best if I make some suggestions and log out. It is best if I still contact Winston and ask him of his experience. I don't believe that he will deny me that information," thought Balthazar.

Rudra was already waiting for him at the reception of the engineering association. The reception had quite a lower number of players compared to forging association. Balthazar expected it as he had always known that engineering which required knowledge in multiple secondary professions is harder than others and had much less players interest or good at it. Though the creations of engineers had a lot of uses, it wasn't an easy occupation and was dangerous.

Alchemists and Forgers don't have to be worried of blowing up trying to make creations at lower levels, unlike engineers who could blow themselves up to death creating bombs and the like. Dynamites were the simpler explosives and thus had less power, but later it would become harder. Moreover, most engineers were requested to make explosives and blowing up in vita-nova makes one feel they have really experienced it. They occupation requires them to have a moderate amount of sensitivity to properly build tools so they can't put their senses down completely and work. The worst part was not dying after an explosion but staying alive which cause them to feel all the burns and pain till they were healed.

"Come on, let me have a look at the new designs," said Rudra as he noticed Shadow enter the ground floor of the engineering association.

"You are almost drooling," said Balthazar as he passed on a bunch of designs to Rudra.

"Dude, it has been quite overwhelming today. We have managed to do things that even Super guilds would find hard to do," said Rudra.

"So, what other thing did you manage to do. Any new engineering tools?" asked Balthazar.

"Managed to mind a few tools, but they were mostly simple ones. Scopes, caltrops, new kind of bombs, smoke bombs. They are technical weapons and not much useful against most monsters but could be used well in dungeons," said Rudra.

"Caltrops, I expected," thought Balthazar. "Where did you find smoke bombs design. I doubt you got smoke bombs from the Colosseum," asked Balthazar.

"Ya. We didn't get it from the Colosseum. We have a famous engineer join the guild courtesy of Merlin. Already joined the guild as engineer, but he insisted to be left alone for his quests and didn't want to even share the workload of the other engineers of the guild and produce the common goods required," said Rudra.

"Seems to me like he wants to be an independent player," said Balthazar. All the requests of the player were consistent with the desires of one who wanted to be an independent player who only sold their goods. "Why are you even entertaining him?" Shadow asked Rudra.

"It is mostly because of Merlin. He vouched for him and told that we would get decent goods for providing him raw materials. The man also had a quite high success rate and production speed," said Rudra.

"Looks like an expert. What is his name?"

"He uses the name Earthly Researcher. He is apparently also good at other secondary professions and does most quests alone. Merlin came to know him because he was related to Grenadier Mage," said Rudra. It was clear from Rudra's tone and manner of speech that he wanted Balthazar to look into and if possible, get him to sign a contract with the guild.

"Can't promise you anything, but will check him out," replied Balthazar. It was clear to him that the player in question was quite confident of his abilities and so was Merlin. So, he didn't dare to give any assurances.

"I am going to another planet on work tomorrow. So, probably won't be able to stay in contact for some time. It is test of sorts from my family," said Balthazar.

"They suspect you for something? You need any help?" asked Rudra. He didn't know of the tradition of the Blyth family and thought that his friend was in some kind of problem.

"Hahaha. No. It is just a tradition, something like a coming of age ceremony or test to check if we are strong enough to handle a few things. Mostly a pre-requisite of sorts for most positions in the family," said Balthazar amused by his friend's thoughts and grateful for his concern. He explained the situation to him and that he was participating for helping out Robert to become an elder.

"Damn! You have a lot of work. You sure are gutsy to be playing with such issues."

"Ya, I will meet you after dinner in the game," said Balthazar and he logged out. He had a meal just four hours ago in real life and didn't really feel hungry. So, he decided to contact Winston first.

"Ah! My grandson calls me in time for dinner? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" said Winston as soon as he took the video call. Though his words were pleasant they oozed out sarcasm as he clearly knew the reason Balthazar called him.

"Ya. I get that I don't call you much," said Balthazar. "I was hoping to meet with you though."

"You could have put in a message about it."

"I was working on my business. You know that I was asked to have a personal source of revenue," replied Balthazar.

"In the gaming industry, please. I doubt you know anything about games," said Winston. "You were a very studious engineer and finished your college early to apply for a job at the force. When did you even get time for games?"

"In college. You don't spend all your time in college reading."

"Ok. At least tell me you earned a decent amount the past few days. I consider it a decent income if you are actually working," said Winston grinning. He felt that his grandson was going along a wrong path with the game. It is fine if he just owned a gaming workshop, but he believed it to be a complete waste of time to be spending time there personally.

"I earned about 2 hundred thousand credits on my first day. Apart from that I have much more in virtual game coins which I can't convert to actual credits right now nor do I intend to. I don't have the exact numbers but can contact my manager Rudra to give it to you," said Balthazar.

"Two hundred thousand? That's it?" asked Winston in a derisive way.

"Hey! How much did you managed to get on the first of a completely new business which isn't related to your actual occupation? I am pretty sure that I could get more if I decided to set up a security provision group, but I can't do it as long as I am a member of the armed forces," said Balthazar.

"Hmph! We can talk about it later, then. Come to my office. We can have dinner here," said Winston ending his call. He was still unconvinced, but he knew that this wasn't the way to get his grandson to give it up.

"Ah! He still has time. He has enough money if he wants for now or even if anything happens to me, he still has John's inheritances to get through temporarily," thought Winston as he decided to concentrate on the matter at hand.

"He is really confident about that game, isn't he," said Arthur as he was sitting opposite Winston and heard everything.

"Ya. I don't understand this sudden interest in games."

"You know he never had a proper chance to try out what he wanted. His parents' death might have changed his priorities and didn't give him a proper chance to explore his interests the usual way most kids do," said Arthur.

"I never thought of that. He had always been a bit mature and calm about most things," said Winston as he also thought about it.

"Let him try it out. It is nothing big, if he successful, it is another source of money, else he would sooner or later realize that he isn't suited for it. It is not like he is pouring a lot of money to sustain it right? Whatever money he put in, he got it more than that when he won the challenge with Max," said Arthur. "He has made a profit off it, whichever way I look at it. I believe you can let him off for a year at least."

"Yes. I guess so," said Winston. Arthur's reasoning had convinced him more than his own thoughts. "I guess I was too close to it to realize that he had done a reasonable work at it."

The buzzer at his door had rung and he could see that Balthazar had already reached the office while they were talking about him. "Well, let us keep the talk limited to only the trial tomorrow, not Walter's message or anything else."

Currently, most the family and the members of table of Ouroboros were preparing for action. Walter had managed to contact them with the information that they best prepare for a fight. Rupert had managed to get some information about Asuragana ShouryaPrasad who currently is in liaison with the knights of the old republic and is governing the actions of Nirbaadh pirates at the top.

Walter just told them that they had to be prepared for action as Rupert suspects that he might be coming to meet Asuragana Ranapratap and Dharmapratap. So, it was considered a very good chance to capture and probably even get some information about the knights' bases, etc. Even Evelyn Price and Harvey Price were informed, and they had a bunch of trusted high-ranking military personnel on alert.

Walter was also informed about the situation with Robert and Balthazar to which he simply requested someone to be on the same planet observing them from a distance in case any unexpected forces attack. Other than that, he didn't talk anything about them. Arthur was one of the elders of the table of Ouroboros who was closer to both Winston and Walter and was co-ordinating their efforts.

"Ah! Come in, Balthazar," said Winston opening the door. "So, what brings you here?"

"I wanted to.." started Balthazar but then noticed that Arthur was seated in the room. "If you guys are busy, we can reschedule."

"Oh! We were just chatting. Come in," said Arthur. "I wanted to talk to you too. How are you doing?" he asked as he got off his chair and pulled Balthazar in.

"I am fine, Arthur. I just wanted to catch up with Winston over dinner," said Balthazar looking at Arthur awkwardly. He couldn't say that he wanted to know his grandfathers experience or that he was asking for tips as that would be unethical as the person had to learn about these themselves and not ask people who had already gone through it. So, he chose to deceive with the dinner excuse as Winston had already invited him for it and hoped that Arthur would leave him alone with his grandfather.

"Good! Winston has just invited me for dinner too. Let us talk. How is your new organization faring? The Dreamz Cyber Space? right?" asked Arthur seating himself back.

"It is actually going pretty good. The new somnium tech has brought a bunch of new customers. It requires high speeds compared to the common home connections for a good experience in gaming. So, it is actually going better than I expected."

"Heard that you also have set up a gaming workshop? How is that?" queried Arthur.

As Balthazar started to explain about it a small alarm rang at Winston's desk. Winston quickly check it and his expression became much more serious. It was an alarm from Walter. It was a rare alarm that would be sent to Winston in case the other was in mortal danger.

"Bel. Arthur know why you are here. He intends to help. Arthur will contact you via those new headgear while you are on your plane. I can't tell you mine as I am the Patriarch and some idiots might try to subjugate me if they find out," said Winston in a serious tone. "Get out. Have dinner at the hall."

Arthur also looked confused and concerned at the alarm and the sudden change in Winston's mood As Balthazar went out of the room, he immediately went beside Walter to check what message he got. He was shocked on looking at the alert. It was sent to all parties currently involved in the mission including the Price siblings and even members of the armed forces.

He found it hard to believe that Walter with all his experience had been in such a situation. He believed it impossible without the other party being tipped off by someone of their actions. Yet, it seemed unlikely as Walter wouldn't select the alert that informed everyone. But the most confusing and alarming thing was not the alert but the message that accompanied it.

"STAY CLEAR FROM THE UNHINDERED. EXTREME DANGER."

Apart from that, Winston also received a small mail indicating him to send someone to him at a safe location. Apart from that, Walter requested the person to be sent to be his predecessor, Daniel who headed the table of Ouroboros before Walter. Daniel stays most of the time in seclusion counting his last few days. Asking him to meet was completely unexpected as that would imply a secret that couldn't even be told to Winston and even Walter isn't sure how to act on it.

"What the f.u.c.k happened? Why Daniel thought?" thought Winston but he quickly contacted the old man and informed him.

"I don't know what happened, but I think we best keep our calm and do as he suggests. I will inform the others that I have sent reinforcements for Walter at a safe place and they needn't worry for his safety," said Winston as he started to compose a mail for the others.

"Tell them that he is still injured and will inform the others about what happened. If he called for Daniel, it is definitely something that we can't let the others know. We need to give them time for a story," said Arthur. "I hope that the knights are not planning anything crazy again."