Elemental Warriors Online

Advice

Ben had slept all day; through Sunday morning all the way into the afternoon. Without the state of the art pod, which of course cost a fortune, Ben had to play like every other ordinary person and log out when he gets tired. His first day of playing EWO online had been so filled with excitement that seeing the helmet sitting there, left him with an itch he won’t be able to scratch unless he logged back in.

But he had his own adventure’s to handle in the real world. Ben checked his account balance on a whim and was surprised to see one thousand extra dollars sitting there.

He checked his log and discovered the axe he had put up for auction had been sold. Apparently the original price set by the system had been 300. But three huge guilds had entered into a bidding war. Ben did not care who won it though, as long as they paid, all was right with him.

Ben left his room, which of course was in a repurposed ward in the hospital. He used to share this place with the older orphans, but they had all left to go seek their fortune. He was the only one left now, the silence like always was still there.

Once upon a time this ward had been filled with laughter of a bunch of children who knew they had nothing but each other, and tried to make the best of what they had and the love they had for each other. A lot of them also had their hearts broken, he was no exception to that, others had their bones broken, courtesy of his Grandfather Nana and his then unnecessary training regime.

It was once full of life. Now it was just dull.

“If you keep staring at the wall you will become a part of it.” A voice snapped Ben out of his revelry.

“You are not supposed to be out of bed old man, are you really that hungry for death?” Ben asked back with a mocking tone.

It was a testament to his abilities that Ben was able to duck the bathroom slippers that were thrown at his head. Nana might be old and sick, but that man still had an aim as true as an Olympic champion archer.

“Ahh, I don’t know where I have gone wrong Michael, Taiye. Tell me how the hell am I supposed to deal with this brat who has no respect for me. I think I should just keel over and die, am sure this lousy son of yours will enjoy it Michael.”

Ben was twitching. He had to stifle the urge to fling that bathroom slipper right where it came from. Nana knew he had hit a sore spot, just toss those two names and he could get Ben to do anything. It was also infinitely worse when Nana gave his stupid performance in front of other people always making Ben look like a delinquent.

“That’s a low blow old man.” Ben muttered to him.

Nana rolled his wheel chair to where Ben was standing and said to him.

“Nothing is permitted and everything is allowed”

“Great more bullshit assassin ninja fortune cookie Nonsense.”

“You think its nonsense, so why is it plastered on the wall right beside your bed. Hmmm?”

Ben could not actually give an answer to that.

“My words should no longer surprise you Ben. You are seriously off your game. These war of words we are always having is a lesson, learn from it. As far as war or a fight is concerned you must use everything to your advantage, even your opponents own family.

But always remember its not always the actions you take that help you win a war, but the bonds that you make. So now young Man, what is this thing I heard about you and Austin squandering the funds for the orphanage and hospital to play a game.

And you better hope you have a good answer for me, or I promise you I would beat your stupid ass four ways to Monday. In fact I will make sure you never have children, with such character they would starve to death the moment they are born.”

Ben felt a cold sweat break out and roll down the nape of his neck. Nana was not supposed to know about this, the only way this old bastard could find out is if Kamiya told him. But she would be punished as much as the rest people so it was guaranteed she would keep her mouth shut. Which leaves one option available.

“You dirty old Man, you bugged the Hospital again!” Ben exclaimed in shock.

“That is not the point of the matter, and stop changing the subject. Think you can pull one over this old timer, hahaha! you need fifty more years to attempt that. Of course I will already be dead so I don’t think it matters.”

Ben knew there was no way he could get anything out of his Grandfather like that. Not to mention the old man’s shameless tendencies were an eternal source of shame to Ben. Every time Nana was caught by someone or Ben tried to expose him, somehow he always ended up being blamed for it.

So Ben would rather not open that can of worms. With that out of the way, Ben spent the next hour telling his grandfather about his adventures in Eko city. Nana instantly fell in love with Rose from only just a description and he felt that Monkey the Blue Hawk was more suited to be his grandson than Ben. That can’t be helped however, they were both the most mischievous persons/animals he had ever met. But when the discussion changed to what Ben planned to do next, Jiraiya flipped.

“Are you stupid in the Head, why would you want to leave so soon.”

“But I need to go outside the city to increase my levels, complete quest and get more equipment to raise money for your surgery. One thousand is a lot of money but it can’t do much.” Ben explained.

“That’s beside the point boy, this city is untainted by any other players influence. You need to build a network, most preferably a spy network. Even if you have to leave, you would be able to come back and blend in. Not to mention you might be able to influence some things in the city. You could become the Falcone, or this city very own yakuza boss.”

Ben felt like slapping his Grandfather. This was the capital city, it would be hard enough to keep such activities undetected, but a spy network takes time to build. A lot of time. He opened his mouth to explain but Nana cut him off by throwing his slippers again. But Ben would not be deterred, as he bent down and continued speaking.

“first off who the f**k is Falcone, and yakuza? Seriously.” Ben asked with an irritated look on his face.

“I know what you’re thinking. But it would be quite easy to open a network. At least a small one for now. There should be slums and orphanages in the city. First of all try your hardest to befriend those with the worst situations possible, but don’t get them too desperate, if such people think things are going slow they would betray you.

You need children most of all, they could get into places you would not expect them to be. Find a residence in the slums, a big one if you will and renovate it. The best way to raise money and gold for such an investment is to become a blacksmith. Both players and NPCS will buy your equipment, and with all your bonuses you will get a reputation in no time.

You say your Dragon rider friend has to spend two months in the city, then have him become your bodyguard. Your explanation of his character has made him out to be gullible but someone with a firm resolve and an upright mind. Tell him everything you hope to achieve, your ambitions for power, and how you want to save my life.

But remember to lie to him. Not too much though, you have to give him a reason to be loyal to you. So in this case, help the poor, the needy. Change their situation. This will not be a loss but an investment, because in the long run you would have gained yourself a couple of laborers. Focus on you blacksmithing during the day, if possible have that Kabiru with you at all times and deepen your bond. The best kind of manipulation is no manipulation, remember that boy.”

“I don’t get it.” Ben said with a dead pan expression.

“for God sake what are they teaching you kids these days. If you want someone to do something for you, something that you know the person would not normally do. Of course you know that if you coerce or lie to this person you would end up impacting your relationship.

No lie is fool proff, and frankly speaking lies have a mind of their own, lies are secrets and they don’t want to be kept hidden. Somehow, someway, someday they would definitely be out in the open and exposed for all of the world to see.

Instead you present your problem in such a way that this person would want to do this for you of his or her own free will. Its Manipulation with one of the purest human qualities. Humility. Or honesty which ever one counts at the time.

Your manner of presenting the truth can always change things even when the odds are stacked in your favor. Now tell me the password to that hidden file in your computer. I am much too old to bother myself with hacking it, but if you make me hack in, I will send it to all the computer’s in the hospital and make sure they know it came from you.”

Nana had the most innocent smile his old wrinkled face could provide. To Ben however that was the face of the devil himself. He knew exactly what was in that folder, but the threat was very much real. Ben already had enough of his reputation in the gutter due to his grandfathers machinations. He rather not add another red mark in his ledger.

“its…….”