Rewards

It wasn't long before the boards in the ceiling lifted away and a generic human face, identical to those in the crowd below, dropped out with a maniacal grin.

"Hello all!" Clearly this voice belonged to a young girl and with such a soft and pleasant sound she must be quite stunning in real life.

However, changing an avatar's appearance was only unlocked at lvl 10 and until then this lack of beauty would be the nightmare of every skirt-chasing male.

The female players hated it too, but most were fine with the extra time to slowly plan out the ideal appearance, after all haste makes waste.

While Twisted was dazed by the angelic voice, Broken couldn't care about anything besides the potential loot. "What have you found?"

Milk threw down an axe, which he easily caught and took a look, before handing it over to Twisted.

< Old Tim's Axe >

< A strong axe infused with many years of an expert woodchopper's experience. The perfect combination of a sharp blade and a flexible shaft. >

< Firewood Splitting: +1 >

< Restrictions: None >

"Anything else?" Broken asked. The axe wasn't very useful to them, it didn't give additional attack damage so using it as a weapon wouldn't be any different than using bare fists. Any attack would fully depend fully on the character stats.

However a +3 is pretty decent in the early stages, if they could sell it to a player in the Farmers Union it would be worth quite a bit.

The next thing Milk threw down was an old dusty book. The cover had long faded away And the pages seemed to be stuck together. Even opening the cover was impossible and the pages began to tear when forced.

However the following notification gave a clear explanation for this.

< Farmers Union Handbook >

< Contains the rules and regulations of the Farmers Union >

< Basic Animal Husbandry: +2 >

< Basic Crop Rotation: +2 >

< Seed Germination: +10% >

< Restrictions: Member of the Farmers Union >

It was the first time in this game that either Twisted or Broken had seen an item with an association restriction rather than stat restrictions. And considering the boosts they give, he was starting to wonder if this would be a good association to join. After all it was possible to join multiple associations as long as they were compatible.

Sadly neither Broken or anyone else in the guild had the intention of becoming a farmer. Their guild was only for swordsmen and was purely combat oriented. Exceptions could be made for occupations such as blacksmiths and leather workers due to the guilds need for armour and weapons to be repaired and maintained. Having these craftsmen would be very time and cost effective, further strengthening the guild.

Other skills wouldn't be restricted, it's just that the guild would not give support or invest in such things.

Joining knight or mercenary association was more in-line with the guild's goals and expectations. To increase the guilds reputation and influence they will put effort to rank up the members within these associations.

As long as they don't conflict, it is possible to join multiple Associations. They tend to be gatherings of like-minded people who wish to interact with similar people or experts in their field. It can be craft or occupation based, such as the Merchant Alliance and the Gathering of Street Painters. Which are both famous associations that can be found in every town and city.

They have a loose and relaxed internal structure and give lots of freedom to members and minimal requirements. The Merchants desire profits and the Painters beautiful streets, they both help train and support weaker members, and a hierarchy is created based on skill and capability.

Where as Bloodlust, the feared Assassin's association and many knight Orders have extremely strict regulations and requirements on their members, things such as failing to keep association secrets and not behaving with chivalry befitting a knight can be punishable with imprisonment, torture or execution.

Control over members of theses kinds of associations are very strict, once joined refusing a superiors order or leaving the association might not be possible. However simultaneously joining other associations is still allowed and may even be encouraged.

This is different to Guilds as a player can only join one guild at a time. Guilds exist mainly to defeat other guilds. Allowing groups of players to compete with each other over resources, territory and reputation. The specifics of the guild depend on the guild leader it may be run like an disciplined elite army, a motley group of friends or anything in between. But they are unified by group benefits, competitiveness and sometimes friendship.

NPCs are the same as players and can create or join both guilds and associations. Npc guilds tend to be rather small and weak, while the associations are well established in the world often spanning over hundreds of cities in various countries.

The Farmers Union is one such association however usually individual members are weak and powerless, combined they control all the raw products for almost every industry and causing a shortage in any raw plant or animal product would do serious damage to the economy of a city or country. As long as they stand together there is enormous strength in numbers.

However, a new member would have little say or power within such an association and the requirement of slowly growing produce is neither suitable or convenient for anyone in Twisted's guild. Hence they could only sell to others and hope for some decent money.

The next thing Milk threw down was another book. Unlike the first it could be opened, however, the pages were covered in strange runic patterns that could not be identified. The notification also did not help.

<???>

<???>

< Restrictions: Blessed Summoner, Magic 180 >

Without any information it was hard to tell how valuable the book could be. And the restrictions limited how many people it could be useful to. Ignoring whatever a Blessed Summoner is, no player had even reached 10 points in magic let alone 180.

"That's all there is." Milk's voice echoed out from the ceiling as she jumped down. "What now?"

Gween and Broken looked towards Twisted who shrugged.

"There's a horse in the paddock outside. Let's see if we can tame it."

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