“I’ll be honest with you guys - I’m all in for creating those fakes because it sounds incredibly fun. My issue is, how are you going to get the right materials quickly enough? Keep in mind, this is crafting without a recipe.”

Jian Lin quickly went online on his phone and searched for a zoomed-in photo of the piece. He held it out for Liu Jia to look at.

“The necklace is basically the empty frame and three distinct jewels. The form should be easy to replicate?”

“I can replicate the form, but I’m not sure how to replicate that colour.” Liu Jia’s eyes narrowed with concentration. The small jewel was a basic pear cut, making it look like a teardrop. Considering this was a classic cut for jewels, it was nothing new.

But the colour was indeed an issue - Haven didn’t have jewels that had this kind of almost see-through, pale but exceptionally clear blue.

“Although”, Liu Jia suddenly said, smirking, “although. No one says it has to look the same after taking it down. I know someone who can teach me a trick or two.”

The woman took out her own phone and exchanged messages with someone at lightning speed. It was amazing how quickly she could type despite her long fingernails. She read the conversation out loud for the two men, but they just felt their faces twitch at the sudden avalanche of technical terms.

Summing up, there was a very simple way to grow coloured crystals by playing around with chemical reactions.

“Would that produce the same colour?”

“Of course-” Liu Jia paused. “-not. I don’t even know if I have those exact chemicals inside the game. No, what we are gonna do is playing around with light.”

Xi Yang looked hurt. What was all the complicated stuff then for?!

(Because Liu Jia now felt like growing crystals in reality, that was what it was for.)

This time, she showed them a video instead - something her friend had sent her. “If you put a clear crystal with certain cuts in front of different colours, it will look like the crystal itself is coloured. No surprise here, right? I’ve sent her the original picture. Look, she’s quite close to replicating it already.”

The hands in the video were placing differently coloured plates behind a clear, pear-shaped crystal. It did look quite close to the original.

“She says she will contact me once she’s got the exact colour right. Then I can find a way to get that colour inside the game, and we just put the fake crystal up along with a piece of coloured paper behind it. Boom, looks real.”

“We can cheat even better if we use sunset or nighttime to exchange it. During those times, people will have a harder time telling that it’s not the exact same as before.”

“I’ll have to find out how to prepare everything necessary. I’ll contact you guys in-game about it? After all, I can’t do this for free.” The celebrity winked and Xi Yang lifted his thumb up.

“We will pay of course. The materials too.”

“And I want to hear the story afterwards.”

“That’s the smallest problem!”

With the first steps of preparation done, Xi Yang felt much better. They waited until Liu Jia was gone before he got up, preparing to return to his own apartment.

“And now we need Ithiel”, Xi Yang said out loud without expecting a response.

The only one who could convince another NPC to create a quest to cheat the players was probably that guy. Hopefully it would work out.

And maybe, if they were lucky, he’d have an idea how to exchange the real and the fake as well.

 

***

 

Ithiel was close to crying again when he heard about Ice’s idea. The crybaby threw himself into the other’s arms, mumbling muffled thanks. Even Bloody didn’t get jealous at that.

Rather, he wanted a photo. It was a cute scene.

Next to Bloody, Dead Rabbit was glaring down his older brother. He knew that the guy hadn’t returned last night, so obviously he felt that his idol had been sullied by this perverted wolf. That stupid older brother of his deserved a chastity belt!!!

“I can try convincing my teacher to speak up”, Ithiel sniffled, taking a handkerchief that Huntsman was handing him. After crying yesterday and almost today, his eyes were swollen and red. “I think he might help. But how does it work, with giving a quest?”

“Great question! We have no idea.” Bloody shrugged, but his upturned ears showed that he was quite relaxed. “It’s likely going to work the moment they have the intention of handing over a task to someone and having a reward and punishment in mind. We could give it a try first.”

“Even though Ithiel’s teacher won’t know he’s an NPC? Will he play along?” Dead Rabbit stayed a bit critical.

“I think it won’t be a problem. I’ll just say it’s weird Foreigner stuff.”

The weird Foreigner stuff was indeed weird, so none of them could argue with that.

“What about the exchange?”  Huntsman hadn’t moved away from the window even when handing Ithiel the handkerchief. He was observing the players wandering around, trying to gauge if someone looked like they were about to make a move. He lacked Bloody’s experience in those matters, so all he could do was be prepared to call for everyone in case he saw a player acting odd.

“I can reach it from my room, but no one can see me do it. If we have to find a way to distract everyone’s attention, I can do the exchange. Are you going to hide the real gem in that hidden space of yours?”

“Judging from the fact that Woodcutter is running around wearing the necklace, I have a feeling we can’t”, Ice shot him down.

If the piece was inside a player’s inventory, there’d be no way of getting it. There also wasn’t a true owner like when you stole something. It was likely that the item simply couldn’t be placed into the inventory.

“Short note, we should try to find a way to get Woodcutter’s parts back to their true guards someday”, Bloody threw in.

Everyone agreed with that.

Afterwards, although Ithiel was technically the librarian and thus one of the biggest targets of the people outside, they still made their way over to visit the elf’s teacher. It was convenient that Ithiel had never gone out and that no one knew him as an NPC - people only recognized him as the guy who walked around with Bloody and the Emperor-look-alike.

Ithiel stuck his head through the door, peeking inside. “Uncle?”

Just like the previous day, an old elf was sitting in the same spot. He smiled at Ithiel, but it was obvious that half his attention was on the other people that could be seen through the crack in the door. “Good morning.”

The little elf beamed, showing his white teeth. “Uncle, I want to take some Foreigners to talk to Teacher. Is that okay?”

“If you vouch for them”, the old elf said slowly.

“I will!” The librarian quickly nodded his head.

“Then you can give it a try.”

Ithiel pulled the door shut again. He tried to put on a serious expression as he looked at the party of players. “Okay! I don’t know if Teacher will see us, but if he does, make sure to be polite! And don’t talk unless he asks you to!”

Ice was the most familiar with elven customs and wasn’t surprised. If humans paid that kind of respect to royalty, then elves paid it to anyone above a certain age. It just told him that Ithiel’s teacher must be someone with a lot of years on his back, which did make him quite curious.

Everyone else nodded to confirm that they understood.

They stepped inside, greeting the old elf - who decisively ignored them - with quiet words before making their way up the stairs.

For Ithiel, his way of greeting his teacher was the same as always. He ran forward as soon as the elf opened his eyes, sitting down in front of him while looking up with huge, watery eyes. He was the very image of a puppy asking for pats.

“Teacher!”

“Yes.”

“Teacher, I brought the Foreigners I’m travelling with. We are here to consult you about something, can we?”

“Come in”, the teacher said to no one in particular.

Ice stepped in first, making sure to keep his steps as quiet as possible so as not to disturb the elf.

Bloody mouthed “introduce” at him but Ice shook his head. The teacher likely didn’t care to know, so forcing their names on him would be considered rude. It was like saying, you have to know who I am, whether you want to or not.

“Tell me what’s bothering you, child”, the teacher hummed in a slow tone.

Ithiel rattled down everything they had discussed - it was a bit of a mess, with him correcting his own words and adjusting whenever he used game terms that his teacher wouldn’t understand.

“I’m old. I wouldn’t go out to ask these people for a request, but you can ask your uncle if he’s willing”, the teacher replied after several minutes of silence. “I don’t know what good it will do, but a favor this simple is no problem.”

The librarian held the gnarled hand in front of him and Ithiel hugged it close. This man was his teacher, but also his family. “Teacher, do you have any idea on how to exchange the real piece? We don’t know how to do it! Even once is complicated, but twice-”

The hand pulled back and lightly hit Ithiel’s head. The librarian winced when he saw his teacher’s eyebrow rise. Everyone else watched curiously how Ithiel sat up straighter, like a kid at school.