“Which means that, unlike me, you don’t have money in real life. You probably don’t even have a job,” Lucas continued. “Don’t be worried. You can be honest with me.” He took another shiny gold coin out of his purse and held it out in his hand. “You did me a favor by letting me kill you back there. You clearly could have won if you fought back properly, so it’s only right I return the favor.” He hoped that, by throwing out a small compliment, it would help soothe the man’s wounded ego.

Nick ground his teeth. “You think you can buy me off just ‘cause I'm poor? Just ‘cause I don't have spare money to drop into games, you think you're better than me?”

Lucas looked down at his coin purse, withdrew a fourth gold coin, and then dropped all four back into the purse and out of sight. “You know what? You're right. This was rude and insensitive. I'll just give you the staff you want and be on my way.” Nick was either going to be as pliable or as durable as steel, and Lucas figured that it was about a fifty-fifty shot at the moment as to which way it would go. He had seen people go both ways in similar situations, so he decided to pull in his proverbial fishing line by threatening to take away the money and see if the fish had taken the bait.

“Wait!” Nick cried, sticking out a hand. “You might not be able to buy me, but you do owe me. I didn’t just lose that staff. I lost time and experience too.”

Lucas shook his head, doing his best not to smile as he reached into his bag and pulled out a magic staff. He felt much better now that he was armed. Given the distance between them, Lucas had full confidence that he would be able to kite away from Nick before the man was ever able to close the gap. Given how much damage the early-game spells did, there was no way he would lose an engagement with someone swinging a sword.

“You're right.” Lucas charged a spell and then stopped just before it completed to make sure Nick could see that he now had the upper hand. “I do owe you.”

“Hey, easy there!” Nick called cautiously. “I just want what's mine, and then I'll be on my way.”

Lucas sneered as he reached into his coin purse and took out three gold coins. It wasn't much in terms of in-game currency. In fact, outside of the beginner zone, it wouldn't even buy a single night’s stay at some of the nicer hotels, much less proper gear. Regardless, Nick’s eyes lit up, and he let out a sigh of relief when he caught the coins.

“Thanks, now I'm getting out of here bef—”

“Wait.” Lucas raised a hand, stopping Nick. “Don't leave just yet. I need something from you first.”