C21 Trash Guild Master

After the strategies were explained to the guild, Eddie was given a bunch of random armour. He wanted to make some himself but he didn’t have the time. Most of it didn’t fit him and he looked like a nut case. The armour was quite terrible but better than anything he had gotten so far and that he was thankful for. Some it was green and metal, some made out of scales and coloured purple. Mira had given him a pink beanie she bought in the cash shop for when she made videos that offered a defense rating of five. It wasn’t much but still better than nothing.

Heading back inside his trash cave, he noticed that Rose was already inside talking to Frank while stroking Robo.

“Good morning, Eddie,” she said, hopping up and bowing.

“You too, Rose. So, you wanna help me maintain Frank?” Eddie asked.

“Sir, you look ridiculous,” Frank remarked, getting a giggle out of Rose.

“I don’t have time to make armour,” Eddie insisted. “Now c’mon, you need way more of a good cleaning session than Robo.”

And so, Eddie started to teach her about Frank as they oiled his joints. She was very attentive and always asked questions; she was just like him when he was younger. Rose started telling him all the things she had wanted to make but never had the chance.

“You know, Rose, you can use my workshop if you want,” Eddie offered.

“Are you sure, it’s your room too.”

“I mean, when I’m not sleeping, sure. I’ll always keep the door locked so only you can get in. You know, until I can design a better lock.”

Rose started laughing. “I’m sorry.”

Eddie chuckled back. “It’s not a worry. It’s better that you cracked it so early so I can fix it.”

After Frank and Robo were all repaired, Eddie gave her a bunch of scrap metal and told her to try out the things she had always wanted to make. She scurried off into the basin to get working on them. It was nice for Eddie to see someone so passionate into making things as he was- even if she was a bunch of zeros and ones.

“How are you feeling, Sir?” Frank asked.

“Nervous,” Eddie replied. “I’m worried you two will get damaged.”

“Woof, woof,” Robo said.

“Don’t worry, Sir. You know that only our cores matter.”

“Still, Frank, what if they break or I can’t repair them, I don’t even know how to repair cores.”

“Stop worrying, Sir. Whatever happens, happens. We do have some self preservation.”

“Woof, woof.”

Eddie smiled without his teeth. “Give me a hug, c’mon all three of us.”

“Sir, I-”

“WOOF! WOOF!” Robo said loudly, wagging his tail so tremendously fast it was going to cause a rip in the space-time continuum.

“See, Robo wants a big hug.”

“Sir I-”

It was too late, the grips of Eddie’s dirty fingers brought Frank and Robo into a big threeway hug. Eddie sighed a relief full of sentiment. “Did I mention I love you guys, no homo.”

A knock came on the door and the three spread apart like magnets. “Alright, how does my hair look?”

“Spiffing, Sir,” Frank complimented.

Eddie squinted. “Oh yeah I do- spiffing.”

He walked over to the door and opened it. Mira was standing right next to him. “Hey, the Guild Master is here to see you.”

“Sure, where is she?”

A familiar face appeared next to Eddie. She was small, a few inches beneath him. Her skin was light brown and she had an afro that drooped down around the sides of her head. She was cute, very cute, with big hazel eyes and bright white teeth. She looked exactly like his ex-girlfriend. Not just like-

“Akira?” Eddie questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

“Eddie?”

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked hurriedly.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing?”

“Well, I live here.”

“Well… Wait, why aren’t you at work? AND WHY, are you playing a fudging game? Did you get let go?”

Eddie just closed his eyes as he breathed in deeply. “Could you guys leave us alone for a minute?”

Mira awkwardly glanced at her team and smiled at the two. “Yeah, sure, is Frank and Robo coming too?”

“Frank and Robo?” Akira questioned as the two golems appeared to the side of Eddie.

“My apologies,” Frank said as he led Robo out past Akira. The golem gave Eddie a worried look but carried on following Mira and her team. As he said before, he wasn’t a therapist.

“Come in then,” Eddie said, opening the door wide.

Akira folded her arms as she walked inside, immediately scrunching her nose up at the smell. “Eddie, what are you doing here?”

Eddie sat down, trying to process that Akira, his ex-girlfriend, was standing next to him in a trash dump, in a trash cave, and he looked like a deranged psychopath. “Akira… Yes, I was let go from work… I decided to buy this game.”

Akira moved a piece of food off a stool and sat opposite him. “Why didn’t you tell me, Eddie? I could have helped you at least.”

“You wouldn’t reply anyway,” Eddie said in defeat.

“Yes, Eddie, I would have. Are you the weird trash guy that Mira keeps talking about?”

“No, but I do own all this.”

“Does your dad know?”

“No, he doesn’t, Akira. You never told me you were the guild master of The Wanderers.”

“Yeah, but I told you I wanted to go full time into gaming and you called me an idiot. You spoke just like your dad and now look at you.”

“So what? I wanted to give it a go, you always talked about how fun it was.”

“But you swore to never play a game in your life, I even begged you to on your days off but you just said no.”

Eddie let out a huff. “Do we have to talk about this now? Alright, I’m busy. I’m sorry we had to meet up like this but I have a raid boss to kill.”

“We have a raid boss to kill, Eddie, I just got the quest too. And I’m the Guild Master.”

“I don’t care that you’re the Guild Master, you’re my ex-girlfriend, it’s just wrong.”

“No, Eddie-”

Eddie could feel it coming, the same god damn thing she always went on about.

“You only cared about your fudging job, every single thing you talked about was your job and how good you were at it. You never took me out, you never once took a week off.”

“Because I liked my job!” Eddie shouted. “Is that so bad?”

“No, that’s not bad, what’s bad is that you never cared about what I wanted to do.”

“I took you to Venice like you always wanted,” Eddie argued.

“And then someone went off sick at your job and we flew all the way home a few days into the trip. Yeah, you took me there but you ruined it.”

“I’m sorry that I did that, I tried to be the best boyfriend.”

“You didn’t try at all, Eddie, it was always about you. And that’s why I broke up with you. The one thing that I wanted to do with you was game and now look at you.”

“Hey, I had nothing else to do.”

A knock came on the door.

“What?!!” the two shouted in unison.

Mira, pale-faced, stuck her head in the door. “Uhh, sorry, we’re leaving soon-”

“We’ll be right out!” they shouted together again.

Mira swallowed a boulder and slowly closed the door.

“Can we just do this fudging boss fight and talk afterwards?” Eddie asked.

“Fine, but I want you to explain to me how you ended up in a trash dump, a month after we broke up! And I want to hear you say sorry!”

“Me say sorry? You’re the one standing on my land that I can kick you out of at any point.”

She opened her mouth in protest and tightened her crossed arms. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I’m fair game, Akir,” Eddie said, he was slowly losing his mind. “You want to talk to me like that, you can get out.”

Akira slapped him hard across the face. If real world physics and logic was applied, it would be something that would leave a red mark. But Akira was level 25 and ranked 2,000 in the entire game. That slap was like a punch from a giant and poor Eddie got the full extent of the small Akira’s wrath.

-25 HP (Blunt Force Damage)

You are stunned.

You deserved that.

Holy hell, she just slapped the shit out of you.

You are unconscious.

Severe Permanent Damage and I’m not just talking about the physical type.

You’ll need therapy- multiple sessions.

Why am I doing this, he’s out cold on the ground right now and not reading his notifications. It’s not even funny, it’s just depressing.

…

Author, you want to carry this on?

...

No? What do you mean no?

...

Fine. She started crying, ran out of the room.

Blah, blah, blah and now we go to a small time skip.

Eddie scrunched his eyes and then rubbed them. His fingers then drifted to his temples and rubbed them softly. It was helping but he still had one hell of a headache. Opening his eyes, he was moving above trash. It was blurry, but it definitely was trash.

“He is awake,” Viktor said, blowing cigarette smoke in his face.

Eddie coughed as he was put down by Frank who helped steady him.

“Are you ok, Sir?”

Eddie stumbled a little but before he could get his bearings of where he was.

“Dad?”

Denzel started laughing. “She really slapped the ship out of you.”

Viktor grabbed Eddie’s cheeks and moved his head around while looking into his eyes. “He will come to his senses soon.”

“Ugghhhhhh,” Eddie groaned as he clutched his head. “Where am I?”

“Hell,” Viktor replied.

“I feel it.”

“Sir, we are on the way to the raid boss in Goblin’s Gulch,” Frank kindly explained.

“Raid boss? What’s a raid boss?”

“I LIKE NICKELBACK! NO, SCREW IT, I LOVE NICKELBACK AND I’M NOT AFRAID IF PEOPLE LOOK DOWN ON ME!”

That woke Eddie up, he suddenly jolted himself and looked around. “Oh, I’m here.”

“We are getting behind the group. Eddie, lean on me,” Viktor offered.

Viktor threw Eddie’s arm around his shoulder and the two walked while Eddie remembered everything that happened. He didn’t think he deserved a slap but going through the conversation it became apparent- he did.

“Hey, Eddie,” Denzel asked as they walked behind a group. “You ok, man?”

“Yeah, fine. Where urm- is she?”

“You ain’t gotta worry about that for now,” Denzal said. “But damn man, you and Akira were together?”

Eddie looked down to the floor. “Yeah, we uh- split up a month ago. I got released from my job a couple weeks after and here I am, loving life.”

“I thought you were weird, you know. The kind that visits the cheap brothels on the side of the highway when you are feeling lonely.” Viktor said without remorse. “But Akira, the Guild Master, she is a hot chicken. You are like a 4.5 and she's at least a 9.”

“Yeah, thanks, Viktor,” Eddie said, getting off and walking on his own.

“We heard that slap from the basin,” Denzel explained. “She didn’t realise she'd... You know, almost killed you.”

“I deserved it anyway,” Eddie admitted.

“It was like POW, you know?” Viktor stated.

Eddie just ignored him. “Where are we right now?” he asked, changing the conversation.

“It’s a new area we’re walking through, check it out.”

Eddie did, also bringing up his map. They were in between Bookworm’s Booky and Goblin’s Gulch. As Eddie looked around, he noticed huge pools of bubbling black liquid. It had the consistency of oil yet the temper of acid. There were strange structures made out of trash that looked oddly like palm trees. He also saw some large bodies moving the bubbling pools of acid that he would not like to find what they were.

“It’s kinda like-”

“A beach,” Denzel finished. “Exactly like a beach. Kinda funny actually.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said as he started thinking of a name.

“Sir,” Frank said, knowing full well he was going to name it something awful.

“What? I was just thinking about it.”

“I already have a name, Sir,” Frank offered. “Acid Oasis.”

Eddie pouted while cocking his head to the side. “That’s not actually bad. Yeah, Acid Oasis it is.”

You have discovered and named an area Acid Oasis!

+20 EXP

They continued walking towards Goblin’s Gulch and Eddie started to think about Akira. Of the billions of players to bump into, he bumped into her. The chance was so astronomically small it felt like someone had played a part in it. He didn’t hate her, disliked her is a better way to put his feelings towards her. She looked just like how she did when she left him. Viktor was right about the looks thing, he was a 4.5 and she was a 9. He never knew why Akira liked him so much, he was rich but she never asked him for money once.

“Are you ok, Sir?”

“Fine, Frank, I’ll get over it. I’m a strong independent man.”

“Woof, woof,” Robo said, nudging his metal head into Eddie’s leg. He returned a few good pets to the metal boy.

“Who’s a good boy, Robo, yes you are.”

“FLICK THE BOWLING BALL TO SLURP MY USELESS EGO!”

“What’d he say?” Eddie asked.

“He asked you to try drinking the acid,” Viktor said.

“Why would I drink acid?” Eddie questioned with a chuckle. “Wait, was that an insult?”

“No. You said that normal potions don’t work on you, Bear’s saying that poison might be your ‘potion’.”

“Huh, I guess I could try.”

“Sir, we are far away from the home, if you were to die it would set you quite far back.”

“It’s fine, Frank. I’m feeling a little suicidal anyway.”

“Your funeral, Sir.”

“I hope you all attend.”

Eddie stopped to dig around him and pulled out a broken whiskey glass. He scooped up a bit of the bubbly acid and studied it.

{Acidic Grotchbeltch}

Grade: Crude

Description: A thick bubbly liquid that is a base for poisonous concoctions.

“You’re right,” Eddie said to Bear.

There were some odd fleshy bits inside and the rare metal scrap but Eddie had eaten far worse. It smelled like chocolate with a hint of liquorice. He slurped a bit of it from the glass. Denzel and Viktor almost threw up in their mouths as they watched him swish it around in his mouth.

“It takes like baileys,” Eddie noted. “Hmm, nice aftertaste.”

“I need a minute,” Denzel said as he turned away.

You have ingested Acidic Grotchbeltch.

+1 HP/s for 10 seconds.

+1 MP/s for 10 seconds

+2 SP/s for 10 seconds

“Sir, the guild is leaving us behind.”

“Right, right. Ooooohh, I feel funny.”

“It is probably the couple dozen diseases you just caught,” Viktor remarked.

Eddie got back up, feeling very energized. “I feel like I’m on drugs,” he said as he started walking with a bounce in his step. It was nice to know that he could use the acidic grotchbeltch for a boost. He didn’t have any glass vials on him since they were a rare find in the trash dump. He made a mental note to come back.

“You are,” Denzel said.

“This is amazing, I should take drugs more often.”

The raid party then continued onwards to Goblin’s Gulch. Mira was with Akira and the front while Denzel, Viktor and Bear had decided to stay with Eddie since they felt awful for him. Akira was known in the guild to be a no nonsense person, to wrong her would mean a terrible time gaming.

As they approached, Brody got onto a large metal pipe and started barking orders. “We’re luring them all in at once. My group will take most of the damage. Mira will be taking ranged attackers to an advantage point with the healers. AOEs focus on the backlines and none of us should get a scratch on us.”

Eddie’s hand shook as it tried to tightly grip his woggle staff.

“Yo, dude,” Denzel said. “Good luck.”

“What’s going on?” Eddie asked.

“We need to lure out all the monsters so we don’t get split up and waste time. It just makes it easier travelling through.”

Eddie nodded his small understanding. “So I’m with Mira, what about Frank and Robo?”

“They can stay with us, it won’t be too bad. I’ll look out for them.”

Eddie swallowed. “Sure, sure. Alright, Frank take Robo and join Denzel.”

“Of course, Sir, will you be alright?”

“Emotionally? No. I won’t die if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Ok, Sir. Come, Robo.”

Eddie headed over to Mira’s group where he noticed Akira. She was wearing a helmet that covered her eyes.

“Hey, Eddie,” she said quietly. “You ok?”

Eddie breathed out as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll be fine. Just tell me what to do.”

“Alright, so when Brody gives the signal. He’s going to light an incense and monsters will start coming. They’re low level but there will be a lot, especially since it’s golems. They might come in waves or spread out but be prepared for everything and follow what I say.”

It was kind of like the military. He learned strategies and tactics, this was similar.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Eddie sight tightening into pose.

Mira let out a small chuckle. “And I’m sorry about what happened. If I’d known Akira was your ex-girlfriend I wouldn’t of-”

“Mira, let’s just get this done.”

Mira led her team to a high mound that was once an entire building. It was now in shambles and it gave a great vantage point over the soon to be battlefield. They had a full 360 degree vision of all around them.

Eddie breathed out a calming breath, he was ready.