Buying Supplies

The blacksmith didn't have any armguards in store we need to put a request and either pay 600 copper for it or collect the material and pay the blacksmith 100 copper to forge it for us.

We didn't buy any armor for James's in the blacksmith and opt to visit leather shop next to it. We don't have much money left so we can't equip each person from head to toe. We decided to prioritize to equip James and Alice as they are the one who will face the enemy up front.

Most armors in the blacksmith shop require you to have high str and its also quite heavy. Alice's armor is considered one of the lighter one the blacksmith store offer. As James weight limit is very limited due to how heavy his shield is; He chooses to opt for leather.

The leather shops are less crowded compared to the blacksmith but there's business seems to be good since they got an influx of customer. James picks leather padded armor and trouser to match the armor and pay 750 copper for it. After the shopping spree, we ended up with 1 silver and 400 coppers left to buy supply and potions.

Seeing how fast we spent our money we really need a good source of income. We put that in our mind but we still need to go to buy some supply. We know from Kana that hunting monster can land you a pretty good amount of money. There's a quest board in front of townhall that sometimes will pay you to hunt a specific monster; And on top of that, you can sell the material you get from killing the said monster.

We spent another silver buying all kind of potions that we need to ensure our safety and went straight to the town hall. We bought 10 lesser HP potions for 50 copper each, 4 lesser MP potion for 75 each and 2 lesser antidotes for 100 coopers each.

The town hall is even more crowded than the blacksmith, people walking here and there try to dig more information from others either native or not. There are couple groups looking for extra members to help them do some chores. Because of my condition, it's kinda hard for me to waltz through the sea of people so James and Kana are the ones that will walk to see what quest available on the board.

I and Alice are waiting near a small butcher stall while Kana and James went on their way. Bored with nothing to do, Alice decided to continue to train her transformation skill. I didn't have my instrument with me so I just play with Luna on the side. Luna slithers here and there around my hand, head, and shoulder; Weirdly enough she's not a sleepy head like when she is in the real world.

"That's a unique soul pet you got there, little buddy. What is her species if I may ask?"

Suddenly I hear a hoarse voice from behind. I turn my head towards the voice and I see a big blurry butcher sitting in his stall with nothing to do. Usually, the people in this village wouldn't talk to you unless you're the one who approaches first; So this is a new development.

"Yeah, I got her from my first skill. And as she is a puppet rather than soul pet so I have no idea what is her species. What do you sell here, good sir?" I asked trying to break the ice.

"Oh, that one rare skill you got there, son. As for what I do; I buy monster carcasses and harvest them for their meat and material. But mostly I sell my services for others and help them harvest their trophy."

"You get paid to harvest monster material for others? Why do people do that? Can you do it by yourself?"

"Hey, harvesting material is an art. If some amateur does a sloppy job the material would be damaged and can't be used. That's why people usually bring the monster carcasses and ask me to do it. How can you make a good quality product when the material is damaged?"

I chat with the old man who later introduces himself as Theodore but he asks me to call him Old Theo or Mr. Theo for short. Kana and James got back from their scouting mission and I introduce them to Mr. Theo before I say goodbye to him and went on our way.

"What quest is available for us to do?" I asked James and Kana

"Mostly collecting quest. Either collecting rare herbs or material from a monster like wolf fangs or boar tusk. There's no subjugation mission available at the moment." James said

"Did you pick a quest already? How does questing works in this world? Is it free for all or first come first serve?"

"Free for all; The first one to bring the said item to the townhall get the money. Most quests said to bring as many as you can so we don't have to worry about competing for the same quest as others." Kana chip in

"So which monster we're going to hunt???" Alice asks impatiently

"I think it's better for us to hunt easier monster like a horned rabbit first. We don't know how dangerous the monster could be. There's also Earth Chives around where the rabbit usually spotted so we can also do that. That way we can benefit from 2 quests at once." Kana said

"How do you know where that Earth Chives grow near spotted rabbit? Also, how do Earth Chives looks like? Is it just normal chives but people around here called it Earth Chives?"

"Earth Chives is one of the ingredients to make lesser HP potion. It looks similar to normal chives but the base of the plant is brown rather than the usual yellow-green. So we need to look closely or we will miss it. There's a small map in townhall and it shows the most common quest location."Kana explain

"I think that place would be super crowded as many students would think the same. Isn't better to go to less crowded places?" James putting forward his opinion.

"For now, I think following the crowd is a better option as we don't know the danger yet. We can't be too reckless as we can't progress for at least 3 days if we died here. We would be left behind by the time we go back here. Plus we haven't fully geared yet so I don't think trying to hunt some high-level monster is a good idea."