Chapter 64: First Stop - Kano Country

A few days later.

The air over the morning sea was humid, with a cool and comfortable temperature.

Adrian piloted his small boat away from Otefi Island, following the navigation map to Kano Country.

Several days had passed since the start of the open beta, and the excitement on the official game forum continued to grow.

By now, the forum had been divided into sections based on geographic regions, making it faster to collect information.

Adrian had been closely monitoring the West Blue player section recently.

Through his constant observation in the forum, he learned that in addition to Kano Country and the other two closed beta locations, there were several more player landing points in the West Blue during the open beta period, and the other three outer seas were about the same number.

The best time to approach players is at the beginning of the game.

If you approach them too early, they won't have accumulated enough experience to make it worth your while. On the other hand, if you approach them too late, they will have already acquired other skills on their own.

But now is the perfect time.

The outline of Kano Country's port emerged on the distant horizon, with ships constantly arriving and departing. Adrian quickly noticed a group of bright white IDs darting around, appearing very busy.

The players wandering about resembled wallets just waiting to be picked up.

Even if they were a little empty, they were still better than nothing.

Quantity is what matters.

As soon as Adrian stepped onto the dock, several players approached him, discreetly casting a scout.

[?? - Unknown] (Yellow Name)

[Level: Unknown]

[Attributes: Unknown]

[Danger Level: Extremely Lethal]

"Oh no! Another high-level NPC!"

"Usually, players start out in the beginner village. Why are there so many high-level NPCs in the Kano Country?"

"This guy... he looks familiar, somehow."

"Holy shit! It's Big Trouble!" Finally, one player recognized Adrian.

The other players around him were immediately alerted. "Big Trouble" was one of the high-level NPCs exposed during the game's beta testing period. In his serious state, he almost instantly killed another "Extremely Lethal danger level" NPC. As a result, he was affectionately nicknamed "Big Trouble" by the beta players.

As the open beta period began, the reputation of 'Big Trouble' quietly spread among the players.

Word of Big Trouble's arrival in Kano Country spread, drawing more and more players to gather here.

Many still recall that a few days ago, the arrogant forum user 'One-Step Quick Man Cao Renqi' learned the [Step Forward Slash] skill from 'Big Trouble'!

Adrian cleared his throat and said with a touch of formality, "Hello, I could use some assistance at the moment."

Following that, Adrian unveiled the tasks he had prepared in advance.

Over the nearly one-year transition from closed beta to open beta, Adrian's level has surpassed 40, and he has earned the legendary titles [White Ghost] and [Evil Swordsman]. The amount of rewards for the tasks he can publish has also increased significantly.

Give players tasks - players complete tasks, gain experience - Adrian then reaps.

Sheepskin on both the system and the players at the same time, this is called a win-win situation.

I win twice!

[A Deadly (?) Quest]: You meet a mysterious NPC who seems to have a job for you. Do you accept the quest?

The quest requires you to collect some strange-looking fruits. There are no specific requirements for the type, as long as they are strange enough.

Although the taste is a bit unique, the quest reward is much more generous than other jobs at the dock, so players immediately accept the quest.

Not long after, players who completed the quest returned with a pile of strange-looking fruits. They submitted the quest and look at the steadily increasing experience points with happy expressions.

Adrian checks the fruits briefly, and unsurprisingly, there is no harvest.

It is clear that this quest was just to test the players' luck, to see if anyone could find a 'Devil Fruit'!

For players at this stage, Devil Fruits were unheard of; they had no idea what they were looking for.

However, Adrian didn't really expect any players to turn in Devil Fruits. This quest was originally just to build a relationship with the players and serve as an excuse to open the store later.

Seeing that the number of players gathered around him had reached a certain level, Adrian took out a map and pointed to a deserted stretch of beach on it. "I'll be staying here for a few days," he said. "If you need anything, I can provide you with weapons or other assistance."

As he spoke, he opened a window to sell items to all players

Adrian had only set up a few types of weapons and items, including a nautical map, a compass, a regular long sword, a flintlock pistol, and a large amount of ammunition. These were all essential items for living and fighting on the high seas, and they were all paid for in Beli.

After all, he had to recoup the funds for the Shelby Company somehow.

"I can't believe 'Big Trouble' is also moonlighting as a mysterious merchant!"

"I really want to buy a pistol and ammunition. With that, I can finally go on legitimate monster hunts. Why waste my time selling fish at the docks?"

The open beta players had experienced the same pain as the closed beta players. When they first arrived in the game, all of their six-dimensional attributes were at only 1 point. They couldn't level up by fighting monsters, so they could only do simple daily quests.

Even though they were already so humble, the people of Kano Country still looked down on them for being too slow to react, too weak, and lacking in endurance.

How could they be lacking in endurance?

But with only 1 point of stamina, it is indeed lacking.

In this world of One Piece, they can purchase firearms.

However, even with a gun, they will not be able to use it effectively without proper shooting skills.

One player, who had just purchased a flintlock pistol, tried to fire it, but the recoil caused his hand to shake, and the bullet flew straight up into the air.

Adrian then posted a second panel: the skill learning panel. However, there are certain requirements for learning skills, and they cannot be purchased directly.

Adrian set the purchase conditions for skills to be 5 points of affinity and 2,000 experience points, which is twice the amount required during the beta test.

Players immediately discovered the newly opened skill store panel.

"Holy shit! A mysterious merchant who is also a career counselor? Big Trouble is too strong!"

"There are so many skills! Basic shooting, basic combat, basic navigation..."

"Skill learning has an affinity requirement. How do we increase affinity? Should we keep giving Adrian those ugly fruits?"

"I figured it out! For every 5,000 Beli spent, affinity increases by 1... Hmm, maybe we can just send Big Trouble money... and it actually works?"

"I never thought that one day I would spend so much money on a man!"

"But I've already learned the skills, and I still can't get a profession…"

Finally, it's here!

Adrian showed a penguin smile and hung up the third panel. In addition to the basic professional knowledge, there were also several self-created skills. The professional knowledge would be automatically consumed after learning, and the corresponding secondary profession would be obtained at the same time.

{I don't know how a penguin smile, so don't ask me.}

The third panel store also had a goodwill requirement, and each skill on average required 10,000 experience and 10,000 berries.

Imagine, if you don't spend money, will you become stronger?

Imagine, if you don't spend much, how much stronger will you become?