9 Gold
Back at his temporary new residence.
Jack entered his VR capsule and entered the game. VR capsules were so expensive not just due to the fact that highjacked the connection between your brain and spine and connected directly with your brain, but also due to the fact that using the capsules was essentially the same as sleeping. It was like you were in a vividly detailed dream where you would only control yourself, while the entire world was in someone else's hand.
Therefore, the previous morning, there was no need for Jack to sleep.
[Logging in]
[Logged in]
[Welcome, Erebus, to the world of Tether]
After waking up in his bed, Jack immediately left his room and went to the vault, discovering that all his money was already gone, meaning it had worked. Well, until the bug was fixed in a few days, he might as well do this as many times as possible. However, before any of that, Jack needed to cover his face. After all, he needed to hide his identity, as his in-game avatar's face was is real-life face.
Therefore, back to the woods outside Raven city went Jack, completely naked as before.
[You have killed Lv 4 Ravelin] x 2
[You have gained 80 Experience]
[You have gained Ravelin Crown feather x 2]
[You have levelled up]
[You have gained 5 Unassigned Stat Points]
Until he reached Lv 10, it would only take 100 Experience points to level up. However, the moment he reached Lv 10, it would drastically become harder to level up, requiring 1,000 experience to do so. Therefore, Jack would first rush through the first 10 before focusing on anything else.
Now, with another 10 experience points, Jack put them all into Intelligence and Mana respectively, before continuing his hunt for a whole hour. The reason it took so long was due to the pathetically low spawn rate of the Ravelins at the edge of the frost. However, Jack did not wish to enter the deeper parts of the forest, especially without having the proper equipment, as well as better weapons.
[You have killed Lv 4 Ravelin] x 3
[You have gained 120 Experience]
[You have gained Ravelin Crown feather x 3]
[You have levelled up]
[You have gained 5 Unassigned Stat Points]
And after levelling up, he continued to grind away for another hour until he levelled up again.
[You have killed Lv 4 Ravelin] x 2
[You have gained 80 Experience]
[You have gained Ravelin Crown feather x 2]
[You have levelled up]
[You have gained 5 Unassigned Stat Points]
Coincidentally, one of his two spears also broke, which caused Jack to finally return to Raven city, where he first sold the newly collected 7 crown feathers for 42 gold. Currently, the price for a crown feather was incredibly high, however, as more and more players flooded in, the supply of this dropped item would greatly increase, while demand remained the same, resulting in a sharp fall in prices.
With time, of course, players would begin to understand the uses of their secondary classes like Alchemists, who would slowly begin buying such loot, raising the demand once more, and bringing up the prices slightly.
With his 42 gold in hand, Jack went to the blacksmith in search of something to cover his face.
"Welcome! What can I help you with?"
"A mask"
"Hmm… Well, we do have a few masks, however, all of them are rather expensive."
"How much?"
"The cheapest one would increase your damage by 20% up to 100 damage, and cost 5000 gold. While the most ex-"
"Uhm… Excuse me. I am just a refugee from the war with no money, land, or family. I don't think I can afford those items." Jack replied with the signature player query, which in case the NPC has a quest which can substitute money, they would generally give to the player. Of course, if you had enough charisma, NPCs would just present you with the quests before you even talk to them. But Jack did not need that.
"Well, you could help me out a bit. In exchange, I can give you the location of a place with all kinds of masks, and many other items as well."
"What can I do for you?"
All of a sudden, the roles reversed as Jack was the one offering services while the blacksmith became the employer, a rather odd turn of events within just a few seconds.
"You see that?" The blacksmith with a short stubble pointed at a small pile of various coloured metals.
"Sort out all the different materials."
[Quest: Sort pile of materials]
[Task: Sort them]
[Reward: Location of where you can find masks and other items]
[Time limit: 1 hour]
[Failure Penalty: Worsen reputation with Raven city chief blacksmith]
"Alright." Jack immediately accepted the quest and got to work. First, he sorted them by colour, and then texture between the colours. Of course, there would be some he missed, however, he was not a blacksmith and would not possibly know the differences. After doing his best for nearly 45 minutes, Jack called the blacksmith over.
"Not bad for a skinny newbie. Go, the location is the underground basement of the Raven city inn. Also, when you are free, come over for a chat."
[You have gained the location you required, and has been entered into your mini-map]
[You have created a favourable impression on NPC Raven City Chief Blacksmith. He has invited you for a talk whenever you are free.]
"Thank you."
With that, Jack speeded back to the inn, where he did not pay for anything nor deposit his gold, but instead went straight towards the stairs which led downstairs. What a coincidence, the very place he was looking for was right under his bed the whole time…
"Who are you?"
"The chief blacksmith told me to come here" Jack replied, and the burly-looking bodyguard allowed him to pass and walk down the stairs, at the end of which was a small hall, with 15-20 small stats, as well as a single incredibly large and almost shop-like store.
Jack walked along some of these stalls and noticed they were selling really cheap stuff which would normally cost 2 gold, for 5 gold. But within that mix were also items which were sold for the same price, but actually cost up to 20 gold!
After taking a round of the stalls, Jack entered the large shop and walked around until he found what he was looking for. If he was back in the future where player-run businesses were more prevalent, he would have pretended to not notice it at first before asking about a few more items until finally coming to a rest with that time he wanted, and buying it at a lower price. If he directly voiced or even showed his intent to purchase it, the player owner would have immediately doubled or even tripled the price.
Thankfully, this was an NPC shop, and therefore it was all cool.
"How much for this?" Jack asked.
"100 gold. Any item you pick from my shop will cost exactly 100 gold. Some of the items will actually cost as much as 10,000 gold coins might be present right next to you! Of course, there are also those that only cost a few gold. So good luck."
Jack could not inspect the goods, but with just one look Jack knew what this item was.
"Alright. I currently do not have enough. Is there something I can do to pay off-"
"-No."
"Then can I leave a deposit so that you will not sell it to anyone else?"
"No."
"You…" Frustrated, Jack left the underground market and went to the ground floor of the inn before storing 11 gold in the vault once again. This way, when it came time to reward him, he would get not just 100 but 200 gold.
