Gearing Up

When the town of Broken Hill materialized around Manco, it was noon. After a quick meal, he looked for a high vantage point to get the lay of the land.

Broken Hill was a significantly more prosperous place than Mistwoods Village. Like the village, it was first founded as one of the outposts to defend against monster rampages coming from the Death Forest.

Its location was picked by an Elven general for its strategic values. The Aegis River, running from the north to the south, was a natural barrier against monsters trying to travel east toward the capital. Only a few swimming or flying monsters were a threat. Land-based monsters generally had to cross the heavily defended bridge to get further inland, making it trivial to protect the place.

Initially, the town was populated only by soldiers, slaves and a handful of traders, civilians, adventurers and mercenaries.

It didn't take long for people to discover a variety of resources in close proximity to the place. The Aegis river provided a wide variety of fish. The mountains to the south had large deposits of iron as well as precious metals. The forest close to the Sighing Swamp, albeit dangerous, was a source of rare woods and other highly sought-after crafting ingredients.

When caravaneers caught wind of the availability of resources, trading caravans became more and more frequent. More people were either brought to the village or came on their own accord. Within a few years, the tiny outpost became a bustling town.

The town's main exports were gold and silver, rare species of wood taken from the northern forest near the Sighing Swamp, and monster parts taken from, well, everywhere.

Currently, Broken Hill had almost a thousand people. Around four hundred among those were soldiers and mercenaries. Another four hundred were miners, fishermen, and hunters. There were a few dozen traders, merchants, and craftsmen, and the rest were people of other trades.

At the middle of the settlement was a town square that was also the main market. Surrounding the town square were the four medium-sized buildings. The first was the town center. Next to it was the church with a small side building acting as an infirmary. The last building housed the the sheriff's office, barrack and training area.

Most similar businesses were gathered in their own quarters. There were a craftsman quarter, a tavern district, a dock district, a housing quarters. Scattered here and there among the districts were the brothels and gambling houses.

Standing atop the church's bell tower, Manco marked down the main districts, shops, and merchants, then considered his next move.

He had about ten hours before the group of six was back in the game. At the moment, he was operating under the assumption that they were Beta Testers. The bad news was that they were probably more competent than the average players. The good news was that they were in possession of Beta Gears, which would be a great help for him down the road, whether he chose to keep them or auction them off.

On top of his to-do list was upgrading his equipment and learning any techniques or spells that were up for grabs. Then he also had to familiarize himself a little with the surrounding environments. That group had been here for more than a week, they had home field advantage. It wouldn't do to blindly charge in without a plan.

'I'll probably have to tail them for a while, see what they're up to,' he thought. If it was a straight up fight, he would probably lose. To even the odds, he had to find the opportunity to catch them by surprise.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

A shrill voice interrupted his thoughts. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight, he looked down and saw a woman in clerical garb.

"It's dangerous! You shouldn't be up there!"

"It's okay. I'm coming down!"

Using Marshland to soften the dirt, Manco jumped down onto the ground. Scraping mud off his boots, he apologized to the woman and greeted her.

As it turned out, she was an elf named Iridia, the town's head cleric and chief healer. After some pleasant chatter and a generous donation to the church, Manco added a few new spells to his list.

〔Item received: Holy Cross (Sacred Oak)〕

〔Item received: Holy Water vial x 3〕

〔Spell learned: Detoxify 〕

〔Spell learned: Detect Undead〕

〔Spell learned: Spheres of Light〕

〔Spell learned: Healing Touch〕

〔Spell learned: Cure Light Wounds〕

〔Spell learned: Cure Poison〕

〔Mastery improved: First Aid〕

〔Level: 7.15 ► 15.30〕

Then the topic turned to 'Can I help you?' and he received a few quests.

〔Quest accepted: Witch's Presence〕

〔Rumors have it that a dangerous witch was sighted somewhere in the Sighing Swamp. Investigate… 〕

〔Quest accepted: Desecrated Ground〕

〔A variety of undead creatures had been attacking the town from the southern forest, which was consecrated only a few months ago… 〕

〔Quest accepted: Holy Wood〕

〔The church's supply of Sacred Oak, with which to make crosses and other holy objects, has almost run out… 〕

…

Bidding goodbye to the elven cleric, Manco approached the two-story mansion next to the church. The ground floor was used as the barrack and training area, while the first floor had the sheriff's office and main armory.

The guard at the massive front was polite but unfriendly and tight-lipped. He didn't reveal anything useful and only directed Manco to the bulletin board nearby. Checking the board, he found a few missing person requests and a couple of bounties for animals and herbal plants.

After adding them to his quest list, he began making his way to the market. A brief glance at the stalls identified plenty of items that were of use to him. However, he did not buy any.

In most communities, players were often drawn to the main market, as it was more convenient and allowed them access to a wide variety of goods and services at the standard price. However, more observant players would notice that the sellers of these items were often not the ones who made them.

The craftsmen often busied themselves producing the goods in their shops in the craftsman's quarter. Many didn't even have a market stall, and those that did often left the task of selling to family members or associates. It was almost always cheaper to buy the items straight from the makers themselves instead of from the market.

Nodding to himself, he made a note to return later and made his way to the craftsman's quarter.

At this time of day, most people were out of town working, so there were few customers. The noisiest places in the craftsman's quarter were the smithies.

Shopping around for a bit, Manco found a decent dagger.

〘 War Dagger 〙(Common) ☆★

> Type: Dagger (One-handed)

> Requirement: STR 8

> Damage: 14-22

> Weight: 0.95 kg

> Durability: 35/35

Stopping at the armorer's, he inspected the goods. The leather body armors were inferior to his own, while heavier ones would impede his movement and interfere with spell casting. Ignoring the body armor, he bought a helmet and a pair of pauldrons.

〘 Leather Helmet 〙(Common) ☆

Type: Armor - Slot: Head - Material: Leather

Armor: Head (6)

Resistances: Stabbing (10%) Slashing (15%) Crushing (5%)

Description: A mass-produced leather helmet.

Weight: 0.3 kg

Durability: 30/30

—.—

〘 Leather pauldrons 〙(Common) ☆

Type: Armor - Slot: Shoulders - Material: Leather

Armor: Shoulders (6), Left Arm (3), Right Arm (3)

Resistances: Stabbing (10%) Slashing (10%) Crushing (2%)

Description: Mass produced shoulder guards.

Weight: 1.5 kg

Durability: 35/35

—.—

There were many crossbows on sale and quite a few of them were an improvement over his Belzhorian Heavy Crossbow. However, instead of shelling out for a new one, he visited a bowyer with a request to upgrade his current weapon.

"Hmm… I can replace the bow and the string, but I doubt it'll help much," the bowyer shook his head after inspecting the weapon.

"Use this for the string," Manco replied, putting a pack of improved sinew on the table.

"Huh, not bad!" The old man said as he tested the sinew, "Which creature does this come from?"

"Panthers."

"Not bad, not bad…" the man nodded, "I'll get it done in half an hour."

True to his word, the bowyer handed the improved weapon back to Manco thirty minutes later.

〘 Belzhorian Heavy Crossbow 〙(Common) ☆☆

Type: Crossbow (Two-handed)

Requirement: STR 20

Damage: 38-50. Range: 45m. Ammunition: Crossbow bolts.

Description: A heavy crossbow made for the Belzhorian army's mid-range troops. It has been upgraded with strings made out of improved sinew and a bow from yew wood. The resulting weapon has longer range and does more damage at the cost of higher Strength requirement.

Weight: 4.5 kg

Durability: 35/35

—.—

The upgrade improved range by 10 meters and maximum damage by 10 and demanded an additional 2 strength. Satisfied, he paid the bowyer.

"Thank you, young man," the old man beamed as he pocketed the gold coins, "Tell you what, if you have any more of those sinew, I'll buy 'em at a good price."

"I'll keep that in mind," Manco replied, "Do you happen to know where one can learn spells?"

"Ah, you're a spell caster? Usually, I'd point you to the cottage up that hill, that's where old Rakoran stays. But no one's seen him lately. Now your best bets are probably that elf woman, Iridia, you can find her at the church. Or Nine-fingered Nina at the alchemist shop."

Thanking the bowyer, Manco left the shop.

Under the summer heat beating down the dusty road, Manco approached the alchemist's shop. It was a tiny house bearing a wooden sign that read "Nina's Potions & Concoctions" crammed between a closed tavern and a tanning house.

Upon opening the door, he was greeted by a gust of warm air carrying a confusing mixture of scents. He could identify a few of the ingredients, but the rest escaped his memory.

"Get out! Shut the door!" A muffled voice drifted out from the back room.

Ignoring the warning, he quickly stepped inside and close the door behind him.

The moment his foot stepped down on the floorboard, he heard a 'click' and felt something heavy rushing at him from the left.

Acting on instinct, he ducked.

The heavy object brushed the hair on the top of his head and collided with the wall on his right with a loud "WHAM!"

Then he heard a creaking noise above. Looking up, he saw what looked like an oversized anvil being released by a mechanism.

Without thinking, he rolled to the left just in time to dodge the anvil, which was so heavy it practically felt right through the floor.

*Click!* *Click!* *Snap!*

Several ominous sounds let him know he just triggered a bunch of other traps.

Rolling back, he dived down the hole made by the anvil, curled himself up and waited.

He heard countless whistling noises as hundreds of projectiles were being launched all over the room. Then the "thud, thud, thud" like raindrops of them colliding with the walls. Then it was silent.

"Not my fault! I told you to get out!" the muffled voice from the back room spoke up.

"If you don't want visitors, why not put a sign at the door?" Manco shouted back.

"You're still alive?" The voice asked with incredulity.

"No. You're talking to my ghost!" he said sarcastically.

He heard a chuckle, then the voice commanded.

"Leave! Tell that idiot Farquaad I'm not selling anything to him!"

"Who's Farquaad?"

"You're not with him? What do you want then?"

"I just want to learn a few spells!"

"Spell, huh?" the voice replied, less tense this time: "Hang on. I'll deactivate the traps… Alright, I'm coming out!"