Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (phonics readers .txt) 📕

“I disagree,” Leo said and all three of us turned to face him.

“What do ye mean, elf?” Rory asked and I could tell he was holding his temper back.

“I didn’t do it for the money,” he said. “I did it to help my friend. You can split the loot two ways.”

“Mighty grand of ye, elf. I ain’t one to say no to such noble gestures.”

“Out of the question,” I said and brought my hand up to halt this ridiculousness. “First you spent eight hundred thousand dollars on a quest item to help me communicate with Louie, and now you want to just give away millions? This is not going to happen. I’m not going to let this hover over our friendship forever.”

Friendship. How foreign the word sounded coming from my mouth. I hadn’t used it for ages. But how else could I describe caring for anyone other than Louie?

“It won’t hover over our friendship.” Leo reiterated my words, emphasizing the final one. “I want something in return.”

“Name it,” I said, willing to grant him whatever he wished for.

“I want you to level up,” he explained. “And when you’re level 19, I want you, Louie, and myself to upgrade our classes together.”

“You don’t need to wait for me.”

“I’ve been level 19 for quite a few years already, but being the first spellcaster in the family, you know… it’s daunting. Everyone’s expecting great things and I don’t know if—”

“I’ll do it.” I cut him off. I could understand that he was asking for help. It takes a very brave man to admit they need help. And an even braver one to ask for it. “We’ll reach level 19 as soon as we can and we’ll do the leveling up quest together. Right, Louie?”

“I’m already a level ahead of you, noob.”

“This is what I get for having a gamer dog,” I said and Leo laughed while Rory simply smiled, no doubt confused by the reference.

“Well, now that this obstacle is removed, do you plan to continue living in Newark, Mr. Rage?

“Hell no,” I said without thinking and realized how this must have sounded. “I mean, no disrespect, Rory, but it’s kinda small.”

“It’s just a place to sleep, so it’s fine for me,” he replied, oblivious to the fact that his room barely qualified even for sleeping.

“I think I’d like one of the apartments your family owns,” I said and looked at Louie. “The one overlooking the park?”

Louie’s ears immediately perked up and he fell on his belly, tail-up. “What park? Which one? The big one? With the squirrels?”

“Central park, I think—” was all I managed to say before he exploded into barks and ran rapid turns around himself, chasing his tail with excitement.

“It’s the best place in the whole world. We’re gonna have so much fun. Louie Thunder, the chaser of squirrels and lover of bacon.”

“Yer dog’s lost it, half-Celt.”

“That’s a significant upgrade,” Leo noted. “But I’m confident you can afford the rent. I’ll talk to my family and bring you the keys tomorrow.”

It was more than a significant upgrade. It was the dream apartment of everyone who’d ever lived in New York: A penthouse on the west side of Central Park. If the real-estate jocks on YouTube could be trusted, the apartment would cost more than fifteen million dollars in the Cosmos. I had no idea how much the glyphs and wards would add to that value in the Apocosmos, but I was confident that even with my newly earned millions, I still wouldn’t be able to afford to buy it.

Renting it, however, was another matter. This would be a good change—a fresh start for both Louie and myself. It didn’t mean we would forget our history in the old apartment. We would never forget. But we needed to move on. For the sake of both of us. And we could use a bit of pampering, quite a lot in this case.

“Can’t wait to fire up those crafting engines again,” Rory said.

“I think we’ll need to look into people to recharge your mana, good dwarf,” I said. “Demand is rising, right?”

“Damn right it is. It’s about time ye listened to me.”

“So you guys are going full in?” asked Leo. “Will I be reading about the new arrow moguls of New York in the Apocosmos Times soon?”

“First, we completely take over the arrow market in New York,” I began, laying out the plan that had already started forming in my mind. “I’m…” I glanced at the dwarf who was enjoying his pipe. “We’re still far from the goals we’ve set. I was thinking of raising the price of steel arrows just a bit above bone arrows. That way we’ll sell both types while I look for new openings.”

“Lad, even with people recharging me, I don’t know how I’d be able to produce that many arrows. After a certain point, there just won’t be enough time.”

“Well I don’t know how long it takes you to craft a batch,” I said, and I leaned forward to make my point more forcefully, “because you won’t fucking let me in your workshop.”

“Crafting is sacred. Ye’d only be a bother in there. Trust me when I say we’ll soon need someone to recharge me. And even with multiple mana rechargers, I won’t be able to craft for the whole state.”

“Then we need to figure something out. It’s a shame to leave money on the table, especially when most of the neighboring states are as lucrative as New York, even when you consider transfer costs.”

“Wow,” said Leo with a smile. “Look at you, Alex. Moving up in the world.”

“Other states?” Rory’s expression was a mixture of frustration and excitement. “We’d need more crafters then.”

“You know some, don’t you?”

“Lad, I’ve told you I won’t contact them,” Rory replied, which prompted a quizzical look from Leo.

“What about your apprentice? Would she be interested?”

“She loves crafting, aye. But she just upgraded her class and I know she wants to keep leveling up and crafting stronger items.”

“Then