Hubert, the Gnome Merchant 2

[BONUS] Chapter for reaching 50GT! 😁

CHEERS!

----

"Thank you," said Ren, who couldn't contain the grin on his face.

The items he got from Hubert were indeed amazing. But the best of all. It was FREE!

Ren remembered that Hubert's items were mainly in the hundreds of thousands in gil, especially the [Crystal Key] that could open any locks and his status effect [Duds] that have AoE damage. Only Guilds with backing and a lot of money could afford to splurge on those items in a dungeon raid and guild wars.

Hubert mostly sells these kinds of stuff, and he also sells mechanized weapons. He could also add a mecha feature on weapons with the right price and items, of course.

However, Hubert's craftsmanship catered mostly to Elven weapons. After all, he was a Gnome in the Elven territory, selling his wares to the locals.

One of the reasons that Ren wanted a [Sniper] class in their group was because of this. In the future, Isolde could add a mecha feature to her guns to boost her firepower, and her weapons could even acquire a unique skill if he upgrade it to Hubert.

Hubert nodded at Ren's cordial attitude, and he pinched his gentleman's beard with a nod of his head.

Gnomes in COVENANT were an intelligent race but had a grumpy attitude.

The same was also true about Hubert. But since his relationship level with Ren was that of [Friends], his attitude towards him was also amicable. "If you need me, I have a shop under the Millennium Tree passed Erendia Town, inside Maze Forest."

Hubert brought out a map from his vest and gave it to Ren. "Here's half the map of the Maze Forrest so you won't get lost when you search for my store. Since we're friends and all, I'll give you discounts when you buy something in my shop."

Maze Forrest. Exactly its name, it was a Forrest where the majority of beasts and monsters reside. It was a huge content of elves which connected to many of the Elven villages and towns — dungeons and hidden caves and home to many quests.

Maze Forrest was a dangerous area if attempted alone. It's a very confusing Forrest without a map, and one wrong turn would lead to some space entirely different. It even had its own [World Boss].

Animists and Hunters took months to map out this place. It was so vast since it connected all of the Elven places.

Getting half of the map this early on was an excellent boost for Ren, even though it didn't display hidden areas as well as treasures and chests.

Ren didn't recall anything regarding Maze Forest except the [World Boss]. Even how good his brain was, something that vast and confusing was impossible to recall.

But it was fine. He could just work around it in the future.

"That is great, and thank you for the map." It was also the reason why Ren wanted to maintain his [Friend] status with Hubert so he could get discounts from his shop.

After saying goodbye, Hubert immediately trotted towards the exit, couldn't contain his excitement to be free, finally!

As he watched the Gnome retreating, Ren thought about Hubert.

He was a hidden character that could only be saved one time. And once he was saved, his shop [Little Trinket] would be open in Maze Forrest passed the Town of Erendia in the land of the Elves.

Ren could already access Erendia. It was way north of Venezia village. Erendia Town was considered the gate of the land of the Elves.

In order to get to the Maze Forest and others towns and the Kingdom of the Elves, you must go through Erendia first, Maze Forest seconds and traverse the many twists and turns in the confusing Forrest to access other places of the land of the Elves.

Since his INT was already passed +30, Ren could already enter Erendia Town and head towards Maze Forest to buy the Trinkets in Hubert's shop.

Although the downside was the expensive Gil.

Hubert was the only one in the whole COVENANT that sold those [Trinkets] like [Duds], [Bombs], [Keys], and other devices that were useful in battle and raids.

Little Trinket even had its own Save/Teleportation spot for easy access in the future once you found the place.

It was the main reason why Ren wanted to maintain his [Friend] Status with Hubert for the big discount. In reality, it required numerous buying, spending, and crafting to get Hubert's relationship status to [Friends].

This event was a quicker way for Ren to be [Friend] with the genius Gnome and acquire that discount early on, saving him tons of gil in the future.

He had to save and horde as many gils as he could for the upcoming in-game conversion. Because if the in-game currency was established in the game, 1gil = $1, there would be a significant revamp of gil in the game. And the amount of money they get from slaying monsters and beasts and clearing quests would soon be reduced to even the conversation rate.

Another thing, the two Orc that Hubert mentioned were related to the World Quest [Rescue the Dark Elf Prince Zeroth] though Hubert wasn't necessary for triggering it.

However, Ren wanted to acquire the free items and map as well as the relationship boost with Hubert. He was already in this cave, so he might as well.

Ren wasn't stingy. It was just, he wanted to monopolize these items early on. If he was going solo, which would happen, these items were a great help to him.

----

Meanwhile, at the Venezia Village entrance.

Leonel: Ren sure is taking his sweet time.

Isolde: Could it be that those poisons, whatever their name is, got a hold of him?

Ragnar: I don't think so. Those fools are still ranting in the World Chat.

Leonel: Could it be that there's another boss again?

Ragnar: If there is, then we wouldn't have gotten that notification of first blood.

Leonel: oh right.

Leonel scratched his head and changed the topic: I wonder what I will do after this.

Ragnar: I'm going to explore and grind solo.

Isolde: Maybe I will, too, if Ren wouldn't ask about exploring another dungeon.

Leonel: Why solo? Don't you two have friends that you want to play with?

Ragnar and Isolde left the group.