Lv. 7 - Preparation [1]

» Windhall Town, Heart Kingdom «

"Seeing you here.. so I can assume you're grounded for now?" said a girl with a beautifully engraved white mask, "Cecil."

"Yeah, Mama doesn't allow me to go out of the house for a month. Also, it's Celyn over here, not Cecil.."

"Alright Celyn, so in the end, you're playing this game just to pass time?"

"Not really… I just have the feeling that I have to play it, somehow. After all, Papa already prepared the equipment before I even asked for it. Besides, in this game I can get a chance to practice archery better," Celyn said in a cheerful tone.

"That's good." Even though her expression was covered by a mask, from her voice alone it could be ascertained that this elf girl was relieved to hear that the recent mishap that happened to her friend wasn't too traumatizing.

"Also, even though I'm in my confinement, that doesn't mean I really don't leave the house at all. Three weeks earlier I was still allowed out if the purpose was to see him. And taking care of him isn't a bad thing either, because technically he's my savior."

"Is that so... make sure you properly thank him."

"I know, even gratitude won't be enough to repay him. But in the end, he's a good person, he's not the type to take advantage of circumstances to get more," said Celyn with a faint smile.

"Cecil, don't tell me... you like him?" When this sentence was spoken by her friend, Cecil briefly stopped her steps and she looked frozen with a dazed expression.

"Yuki!" Cecil whined. "That's not what I meant, it was just an admiration for him! After all, our relationship hasn't gotten that far yet." Cecil continued in her low whining voice accompanied by her expression of uncontrollable embarrassment.

Celyn realized that she and her friend were currently in the middle of a public place, so they had to control their voices as much as possible so as not to attract too much attention.

"Still not yet..." Yuki muttered. Feeling that she should stop teasing Celyn, Yuki decided to change the question "Okay... then I'll just change my question then, what's the name of your savior?"

"Oh, his name? His name is Arka, Arka Fidelis. He's a guy one year older than us."

"Eh?" Yuki's steps suddenly stopped, it could be heard from the tone of her voice that she was quite surprised to hear Cecil's answer.

"What's wrong Yuki?"

"Ahh… it's nothing," replied Yuki in the calmest manner possible, and continued with him grabbing Celyn's hand. "Alright, let's go to the Training Center, want me to take you there?" Yuki continued, and they quickened their pace towards the Training Center.

"Yuki seems a little weird after hearing Arka's name. Or… I'm just imagining things… Ah, I have too many questions… Why is she wearing a mask? She won't even reveal her face to me. It's really hard to understand her, sometimes. Moreover, she has always been a calm and serious person, whether in the real world or in the game."

Leaving a huge question mark at the end of her mind, Celyn still couldn't guess what Yuki might be thinking and feeling.

…

And now returning to Zen's place, he was currently leisurely strolling around the town of Ashround. Four days have passed, and now is the fifth day since the game opened.

In the previous days, Zen was more focused on getting his body used to the game avatar, as well as leveling up. And he also found that leveling in this game was quite difficult.

So far he is still stuck at level 5, and it takes around 1000 exp to get to level 6.

"AHHH!! My equipment! My Zist! Where have they disappeared to?!" A player shouted in the distance.

"Again huh..." Zen muttered.

These days, such sights are not uncommon. Many players complained that when they logged in, some of their belongings, including their Zist, were missing or reduced.

Complaints against the developer cannot be denied. And the developer has also clarified, and this clarification is quite a slap in the face for the players who complain.

The cause of the loss event is not some kind of system error or bug. But because of the features of this game itself. When the player logs out outside the safe zone.

Normally, when a player logs out inside the safe zone, their consciousness and avatar will disappear simultaneously within 5 seconds.

As for outside the safe zone, the time required for the player's consciousness to return is still 5 seconds. However, for an avatar, it will take about 30 seconds. And during that time, avatars were vulnerable to being attacked by nearby monsters, or even fellow players.

"Technically it's their fault for ignoring the warning when logging out outside the safe zone."

Alright, back to the original goal. Right now Zen was planning to visit a Blacksmith's place.

Previously, Zen had prepared the materials he might need from the wolf hunting. He thought, maybe the price of the item he wanted could be cheaper if he prepared the ingredients himself.

Zen's Zist has at least touched 10 silver. Apart from selling materials from the wolves, the rest was Zist given to beginners, which amounted to 3 Silver.

"At least this game isn't stingy with beginners."

Zen really really enjoyed the environment in this game. Medieval atmosphere, many players and NPCs passing by, and taverns littered the side of the road. He could also faintly hear classical music from some of the shops, and that gave him a sense of nostalgia for no reason.

Walk through the alleys between each building. Zen was heading to one of the blacksmith shops that he accidentally found on the map.

This blacksmith's place wasn't too crowded either. Or you could say there were no visitors at all, maybe because the place is in an alley.

» Yort Forge «

"Alright, time to go in..."

When the doorknob was pushed by Zen, the sound of a bell accompanied him as he stepped inside.

"Excuse me... is there anyone?"

No one responded to Zen at all, so he chose to take a quick look at the displays.

•Copper Sword•

Sword | Common

Lv. 3

_____

P.Atk: 10-15

Atk. Speed: 1/sec

+1 STR

•Silver Dagger•

Dagger | Common

Lv. 5

_____

P. Atk: 30-45

Atk. Speed: 1.5/sec

+3 DEX

"Hmm... so this is the standard of common weapons," Zen muttered.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

From the source of the voice, a quite short old man with a pair of protective glasses and a thick white beard appeared.

•???•

{Owner of Yort Forge}

"Dwarfs, huh..." Zen thought when he saw that person's appearance. "Old man, is this shop yours?"

"Yeah, are you looking for something here?"

Zen stepped closer to the Dwarf while taking something from his inventory.

"I have some materials here, can you make me a light armor?" Zen while showing a large bag containing the materials he collected.

The old man unceremoniously took the bag Zen was holding. One by one he checked the items directly, looked very carefully, and checked the quality of the items that Zen brought.

"Not bad." With that brief comment, the Dwarf put down the bag and took something out of his pocket. A clear crystal ball as big as his hand.

"Quickly take this!" the Dwarf orders.

"A-alright." Zen himself didn't know what it meant, but he did it anyway.

When the crystal is in Zen's hand, it begins to adjust in size to Zen's grip. And the color of the crystal turned white.

Zen was even more curious, he tried to see the information of the item with his power as a player.

•Measurement Crystal - [D]•

Note: A common magic tool that is often used by Armor or Clothing crafters to measure a person's body.

"W-wow, how practical."

"Quickly return the crystal!"

"Ah, here it is."

"For a young human, you have a decent build."

"Ahaha... thank you," replied Zen with a light laugh.

"Hm... come back in two or three hours. I'll make sure your armor is finished," said the Dwarf after looking thoughtful for a moment.

Zen nodded in agreement and walked away from there, after making the down payment.

"Oh yes, old man how should I address you?"

"My name is Troy, but call it whatever you want."

•Troy•

{Owner of Yort Forge}

"I'm Zen, then see you, Old Troy."

"Zen huh... interesting boy."

….

"Alright, the armor problem is over. Now, time to buy the potions."

On his way Zen stopped at several shops he met, to save money he decided to buy bread as food.

The taste really can't be compared to real ordinary bread. But Zen doesn't care, as long as his avatar's hunger bar is full. Likewise for the thirst bar.

For water, Zen is not too worried, in the forest there is also a river where as long as the system says the water is safe then there is no problem taking it with a bottle.

"Finally found."

It didn't take long, this time Zen, who was used to maps, was able to find the place he wanted to go more quickly.

» Round Herb's Hall «

Unlike Troy's place, this medicine place was near the city center and had a fairly large size. Maybe that's why it's called the herbal hall.

When Zen entered there were many other players around him scattered everywhere. They were seen picking out the potions that were displayed on the storage racks scattered throughout the room.

There are also many other items on the shelves, it seems that apart from selling potions and medicinal plants, this place also sells magic items.

Zen also approached the receptionist, there was an adult man with cat ears, there was no doubt he was a Beastkin.

"Dwarves.. and now Beastkins, they're quite common as it turns out," Zen muttered from a distance.

"Hello sir, my name is Rudy, can I help you?" said the gentle cat man.

"I'd like to buy Tier I 10 HP potions and 10 MP potions. How much would they cost?"

"The unit price of a tier I HP and MP potion is 30 coppers, so your total purchase is 6 silver."

Zen was a little surprised to hear the price, from what he knew from the rumors of some players, the price for HP and MP level I should only be 15 copper.

"Thirty coppers? Is that true?"

"Yes sir, lately the price of herbs has increased. It's due to the increase in the monster population and the presence of goblin nests in the forest, so gathering plants has also become more difficult."

"Wait, how about I exchange it for this?" Zen took out something from his inventory, it was Vein Leaf and Azure Shaft. Both are the basic ingredients for making HP and MP potions.

Zen actually picked it up on a whim while in the woods, and hoped it would be of use. And he didn't think it would be this soon.

"Mister, are you willing to sell it to us?" asked Rudy excitedly.

"Like I said, just exchange it for a suitable potion."

"Yes sir ...."

Zen didn't expect that the reaction from the cat man named Rudy would be like this, he was in a hurry and looked quite happy when Zen took out the herbal ingredients.

"Okay sir, I have checked. For 40 pieces of Vein Leaf, I will exchange for 20 HP Potion I. Then 30 sticks of Azure Shaft will be exchanged for 15 MP Potion I."

•HP potion I•

Effect: Restores 10% HP.

•MP potion I•

Effect: Restores 5% MP.

"Okay thank you."

Zen unceremoniously put them all in his inventory and stepped outside, but before that.

"Sir what is your name?"

"Zen, just call it like that," said Zen with a slight turn.

"Then thank you for the transaction, and good luck on the way, Mr. Zen. Then, don't hesitate to visit back here, sir," said Rudy with a slight bow.

[ Closeness to Rudy +10% ]

"Hoo ... something like this also exists huh," Zen muttered. "Sure, I'll be back," Zen continued as he waved and walked to the exit.