Chapter7-Class Change Request, A Pleasant Surprise!

"Um... Johnny, I don't quite understand. Is this 'chant essence' a special item?"

"It is relatively rare right now, but it'll be in high demand later. Every time you cast a spell, you'll consume chant essence. Don't worry, Monster Cave has plenty."

"That's good. So, when are we setting out, Johnny?"

"No rush. The mission has a twelve-hour window, plenty of time. A wandering merchant will arrive shortly. We can pick up some useful things."

"Great! I hope they have some nice clothes..." Lily mumbled to herself, slipping the parchment scroll into her bag before obediently following John.

Not long after, at the entrance to Adra Village, an unfamiliar figure appeared as expected, pushing a small cart and hawking an array of items.

Most of the items weren't exactly valuable; just a few trips to Calia and participation in some dungeons would yield the same trinkets. But that's just John's experience talking—others were still quite eager about it.

"Lily, let's go take a look."

"Sure!"

As a girl, Lily had a natural fondness for shopping. Even though there weren't many items for sale, her curiosity was piqued.

"Boss, do you have any mystery boxes?"

John stepped forward with big strides, pushing his way through the crowd, and said in a low voice, "I'm very interested in mystery boxes."

"Of course, my friend. How many mystery boxes would you like?"

"Let's talk price first. How much do you want for them?"

"Well... one hundred silver coins each. Fair price, no tricks! There are some good things in these mystery boxes!"

"Every wandering merchant says that."

John rolled his eyes but still took out two hundred silver coins and placed them on the stall.

"Bring out the mystery boxes. I'll pick two."

"Certainly! Here they are. Feel free to choose!"

Looking at the differently sized boxes, John felt a bit overwhelmed.

Indeed, with his high LUCK, John could more easily find treasures in mystery boxes than others, but it didn't work every time.

Two hundred silver coins was all that John had to his name at this point!

"If I remember correctly, the first batch of mystery boxes from the wandering merchants could yield the game's earliest exquisite-tier item..."

During the early stages of the game, an exquisite-tier item could cause quite the stir among players!

"...I'll take these two."

John picked up a box in each hand and held them in his palms. After the wandering merchant counted the silver coins, he turned and squeezed through the crowd.

Lily didn't spend any money, though. She was always a little miser, more excited about saving money than spending it.

"Johnny, did you finish shopping so quickly? What did you buy?"

"I don't know yet."

John shook his head, took Lily to a corner, and smashed one of the mystery boxes with force.

Unsurprisingly, it was just an iron dagger worth less than five silver coins, trash among trash, and John had bought it at twenty times the price.

"One more chance..."

Despite having opened countless mystery boxes in his previous life, John had never been as nervous as he was at this moment.

With a crisp sound, the mystery box was smashed open again by John, and a finely crafted ring lay quietly among the box's fragments.

"Got it!"

John's eyes lit up. After picking up the ring and examining it, he grew more delighted.

"The exquisite-tier [Essence Ring] can store chant essence. This solves the shortage of chant essence in the early stages. Lily, you keep it," John said, tossing it to Lily.

"A ring? You're... giving it to me?"

Lily was stunned for a moment. Her face blushed slightly, and she gently bit her lip, looking rather troubled.

"Johnny, I... I'm still young. Isn't it a bit early?"

"Too early for what? This item will be very useful to you. Besides, you misunderstood, Lily. This will help you a lot. I didn't mean anything else."

Well, giving a ring out of the blue might indeed seem odd for a girl who hasn't fully matured yet, and John hadn't thought much about it.

"Just take it. We're heading to the Monster Cave now."

"Understood."

...

John had studied it carefully; the objectives of the class change request were well designed.

For instance, John intended to become an Alchemist, so his objective was alchemical materials, while Lily needed chant essence, which is crucial for all Priests and Mages.

Even if one becomes an elemental mage in the future, without chant essence, they'd be no better than a regular person.

Perhaps this was how the game balanced the strength between different classes.

The thief, with extremely high [Agility], has fewer offensive means and needs to change class a second time to address this limitation.

The warrior is balanced, but the ceiling is too low later on, making it a class whose limits are easily visible.

The knight excels in abundant [Stamina], becoming an impenetrable wall with the help of heavy armor. However, speed is significantly restricted as a result.

There's also the archer, the alchemist, and others. All classes have their pros and cons, and no class is absolutely perfect.

Amidst these swirling thoughts, John and Lily arrived at the Monster Cave, a place one must pass through to leave Adra Village. From the outside, it looked like an unremarkable cave.

But John knew well that this seemingly unimpressive cave hid secrets that would excite the entire server well into the mid-game.

"Nervous?"

"A little bit..."

Lily nodded, gripping her bone dagger tightly, and mustered up the courage to say, "But we'll definitely succeed, right?"

"We will."

Lighting the torches they had prepared in advance, John entered the cave, and the dim orange-yellow light illuminated the stone walls around them. The ground was smooth from the constant passage of players.

"Be careful, watch your step."

"Got it."

Maybe it was the cramped environment that made Lily inexplicably nervous, holding her dagger with one hand and gently tugging John's sleeve with the other as they ventured further into the Monster Cave.

"Ah! Something just jumped past!"

Catching a glimpse of a shadow flashing by, Lily screamed and tightly closed her eyes, hugging John from behind. John quickly became alert and looked in the direction Lily was pointing.

"It's just a swamp toad, mildly poisonous. If you get paralyzed, it could be troublesome. Let's not provoke it, let's move on," John said as he caught a glimpse of a pool shimmering with a faint glow, his eyes lighting up.

"There it is, the Tear of Cave! The chant essence should be nearby, let's gather it first."

"Johnny, Johnny, is that a figure up ahead? Could it be another player?"

"Up ahead?"

John was puzzled by the question and turned to look, furrowing his brows. Running into other players in a dungeon wasn't a good sign, especially those "red-named players" who preyed on others for fun.

But the shadow cast on the stone wall looked unusually thin, and players, after leveling up, couldn't be that skinny.

"It's not another player. It's probably a cave goblin."

"A goblin? You mean like the ones from anime, those goblins?"

"I think I understand what you mean. Yes, those goblins."

Upon hearing this, Lily's face turned pale, and she nervously crossed her arms over her chest.

John couldn't help but find her reaction strange.

"What kind of response is that?"

"Johnny, will they... drag me away?"

John pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

"What have you been watching? Don't worry, what you're imagining won't happen. They'd more likely kill you and feast on your flesh."

"That's a relief. I thought, I thought..."

Lily blushed, trailing off shyly, looking rather cute.

"Watch less of that kind of anime," John said, patting Lily's head.