Identifier

An old man was walking along the streets, carelessly looking at the busy people. The sun was setting in the distance and it was time for his daily walk. He was not affected by the hectic behavior of the passers-by who were in a hurry to sell their daily loot. Occasionally, the old man would snap his fingers and magically, a wisp of flame would magically appear between his fingers and fly upwards.

The wisps would fly and dance in the street until they would settle in one of the lamp posts of the street.

Li Wei was calmly making his way towards the Yu Family's inn as he witnessed the old man's actions. "So beautiful! I did not know magic could be used like that!"

"Quite a sight, right?" asked a voice.

Li Wei immediately turned to look at the speaker. It was a short chubby man wearing casual clothes. His IGN was Piece of Cloth.

"You are?" asked Li Wei. He was still on his guard since he had been ambushed at the Verdan Wood earlier.

"Can't you see my name? I am just here to look at this old man, nothing more!" said Piece of Cloth. " I'll get going then! I have things to do!"

Without waiting for Li Wei's answer, Piece of Cloth stepped forward and approached the old man. "What a coincidence to meet again, sir!" exclaimed Piece of Cloth.

The old man did not even acknowledge his presence as he continued making his way to the next lamp post.

"Did you finally change your mind, sir? I know it is a hard decision and five days are not enough! I am willing to wait more you know? This sort of things can be considered fate..." Piece of Cloth continued to walk next to the old man, without caring about the weird looks he was receiving from the other players.

Even Li Wei was finding his attitude very strange. "Who is that old man?" said Li Wei to himself.

The only one unperturbed by Piece of Cloth's behavior was the old man. He only let out an expression of surprise for a moment before resuming with his walk. Very quickly, they walked too far for Li Wei to hear what Piece of Cloth was saying but no matter what, the old man did not even speak a word.

"What a weirdo! That old man must be someone really important but that does not really concern me for now!"

Li Wei hurriedly made his way to the "Joyous House", the inn where the Yu Family decided to set up their headquarters. It was the peak hour where everyone was returning from their hunt and so, many players could be seen entering the inn.

Compared to Algate City, this place looked more peaceful. Even though many players were still rushing to get their items evaluated, the atmosphere was more relaxed and friendlier. Most players knew each other and since many came from the same place and interacted with each other before, there was no tension.

Li Wei easily stood out since he was not displaying the badge of Golden Mansion, the guild of the Yu Family. Nobody was rude to him. They all clearly knew that he belonged to another branch guild of the Fleeting Clouds Sect.

He was standing in the main hall of the inn. In front of Li Wei, four desks were arranged to act as counters. An elder of the Yu Family was sitting behind each desk, evaluating the items brought by the players. Very quickly, it was Li Wei's turn.

"Next!" hearing the voice, Li Wei quickly walked to the free desk.

An elderly woman was sitting there, waiting patiently for Li Wei to take out the items.

"I am here to deliver the ores!" said Li Wei as he took out a piece of ore from his inventory to show the woman.

As she saw the ore, the elder's eyes shone, "Finally! How much did you bring?"

"Not much! 500 pieces in total!" honestly answered Li Wei.

The elder's eyes immediately displayed her disappointment, "Still better than nothing I guess. Initiate the trade, as per the arrangement, you'll get 5000 Contribution Points! Give me your identity crystal!" said the elder.

Li Wei immediately complied and initiated a trade. A trade window appeared as he quickly chose to trade all the ores he had with the elder. The latter scanned the identity crystal before accepting the trade and returning the identity crystal.

"All done! Is there anything else?" asked the elder.

"Just a small question! Is there an identifier or an appraiser here? Or should I ask the NPCs?" asked Li Wei. The reason he wanted to contact an identifier of the guild was simply that there was a discount associated with all the professions if they asked the players of the guild. He did not know how much identifying would cost at the guild but if he could save a few gold, Li Wei would not refuse.

"An identifier? Unfortunately, we do not have any identifier yet! This is a rare profession! Did you find some rare items? If so, we are willing to buy it," said the elder with curiosity.

"It's nothing like that. I will simply look for an NPC then," said Li Wei.

"Do as you wish! Next!" declared the elder. She did not wait for Li Wei to leave as she already asked the next player to step forward.

Li Wei did not mind this behaviour. The queue of players was quite long and if they continued at this pace, they would probably have to spend a few hours before the last player is able to trade his items.

He quickly left the inn and wandered around the town. Li Wei was looking for a specific emblem which represented identifiers. This profession was quite rare since it was not very useful; it would only allow people to examine and find the attributes of objects. This required some knowledge of all the other professions. It was quite difficult to have knowledge of several other professions but that was not the sole reason why identifiers were rare. The main reason was simply that the profession was not as lucrative as the others. Daily objects did not really require identifying; only rare treasures would require identifications but how often were treasures found? In Li Wei's case, it might be useful to check if the potion does not have any side effects since he did not fully trust the Messenger.

The emblem of identifiers was a magnifying glass with a small question mark printed on the glass. During all his time playing the game, Li Wei saw this emblem only twice on the main street of Algate City. Associations also normally had identifiers, but their services were usually costly. Moreover, the identifiers would often try to make the players sell their items to the association and so, it was safer to go to the shops.

After a few minutes, Li Wei still did not find any signs of a magnifying glass. He saw all kind of other emblems except the one he was looking for.

"mmm... Is there no identifier here? Looks like I'll end up going at the warrior association," said Li Wei to himself.

The streets were still booming with players and NPCs; just like Algate City, Verdan Town was also quite lively during the evening and the shops would only close past 8 o'clock. Li Wei still had one hour to hopefully find the shop, or he would have to go to the association.

An hour quickly went by and Li Wei could not help but feel defeated. He spent the whole hour walking around the town but failed to find an identifier. He did not limit himself to the main street and went to adjacent alleys and even less popular streets. But no matter where he looked, he did not find the emblem.

"Sigh... Let's just go to the Warrior Association then... It's going to be a bit costly but at least it is going to be safe."

At that moment, Li Wei suddenly heard a voice coming from the side. "Ah! Since you've finished your daily round! We should quickly head back!"

Li Wei found this voice strangely familiar and when he looked over, he immediately recognized the speaker. It was the same person that spoke to him earlier, Piece of Cloth. Next to him, the old man was as expressionless as ever.

"It is time for me to go home but not for you. I already said I will not take any disciple! Please stop trying, people are giving me weird looks," said the old man before completely ignoring the chubby man and walking away.

However, Piece of Cloth did not seem to mind the cold shoulder. He simply shouted: "I will come again tomorrow! I hope you will change your mind!" He looked at the frail figure of the old man silently walk down the alley before sighing.

Li Wei was watching this scene, not understanding the motives of Piece of Cloth. "Why do you harm yourself like that? What is so interesting about this old man?" asked Li Wei.

Piece of Cloth jumped in fright as he heard the voice behind him, "Ahh! It's you." He quickly recovered before explaining, "This old man is the key to completing my quest! But he is so stubborn! Well, the quest would be too easy if he directly accepted!"

Intrigued, Li Wei asked, "A quest? What quest is that?"

"I cannot tell you! This is a special quest and if someone else completes it before me then I would have wasted a lot of time for nothing," answered Piece of Cloth. He was not particularly on guard against Li Wei, but it was better to be safe.

"Sure! Good luck with your quest then. There are surely other NPCs you can speak to," said Li Wei.

"It's not that simple! Identifiers are rare in this town and none of those of the associations would agree because of their contract," exclaimed Piece of Cloth.

Li Wei already lost interest in holding a conversation with the chubby man but when he heard the word "identifier", his mind jolted awake. "An identifier? You mean that the old man is an identifier?" exclaimed Li Wei.

Piece of Cloth looked at him with a weird expression. "Why are you reacting like that?"

Without waiting for an answer, Li Wei turned and rushed into the direction the old man took. The old man already disappeared in one of the side alleys and Li Wei could only hope to be lucky enough to stumble upon him again. The old man did not walk very quickly before; there was a high chance he was still in the surroundings.

Li Wei rushed down the street and took a few turns. Just after taking a turn, Li Wei finally caught sight of the old man opening a wooden house's door. But before Li Wei could approach and call him, the old man already disappeared inside.

The wooden house easily stood out of the surroundings; most houses were built with bricks and rocks and were generally grey in color. The wooden house had a mystical air around it, partly due to the material it was made of but also because there was strangely no dust just in front of it. There was like a clear demarcation around that house which repeled the dust, dirt, and fallen leaves.

The house was not particularly welcoming but that did not stop Li Wei from quickly approaching and knocking at the door. As Li Wei knocked on the wooden door, he quickly noticed that a faint mark was drawn on the wooden wall; it was not very visible due to the bad lighting, but the design looked like a magnifying glass. This boosted Li Wei's confidence.

He waited for a moment in the darkness of the alley. Li Wei was now in the residential district of Verdan Town and although the lively sound of the shops of the nearby streets could be heard, this street was still and quiet.

Before long, the door was opened, revealing the old man who still had his expressionless face. "Yes?"

"Hello sir, I am looking for an identifier," politely said Li Wei.

"Oh? It's already 20:05. Isn't it a bit too late to come here, young man?" asked the old man.

Li Wei suddenly realized that the time was really not very appropriate to ask for an identification. Even the shops of the main street would usually close at 20:00 but now, he was knocking at the door of what looked like the old man's house. He did not know what to say for a moment, but the old man quickly said:

"How did you know that I was an identifier? People already forgot about me after all this time."

"Piece of Cloth told me about this. I saw the scene where you refused to take him as a disciple and then I talked to him for a bit," honestly answered Li Wei.

"That guy... He is quite annoying but also has some potential. Come in," said the old man. He quickly moved aside, allowing Li Wei to see the inside of the mystical house.

The inside was not actually grandiose. There were a simple wooden table and a couple of chairs. The room was sparsely decorated with a few strange items hanging on the wall. The room was clearly just an office; stairs were found in the corner of the room, leading to the habitable part of the house.

"Take out the items. I'll do this quickly," said the old man.

Li Wei nodded and quickly took out the five stats increasing potions. "I got them through special circumstances and would just like to confirm that these potions do not have anything suspicious like hidden effects."

"Special circumstances?" murmured the old man. His eyes flashed for a moment before nodding, "2 gold per potion!"

"No problem," said Li Wei. This was indeed a fair price. To examine grade 2 potions, the Warrior Association would deduct contribution points equivalent to 3 gold. A one gold difference did not seem significant, but it was to be noted that contribution points were considered more valuable than gold since they could only be obtained by performing tasks and exchanging items at the association while gold could be obtained through various other means.

He quickly took out 10 gold and placed them on the table. Following that, the old man briefly opened and smelled each bottle. For the first time, the man's face actually twitched for a moment before returning to normal. "They are all perfectly normal. They will each improve one of your attributes by one," said the old man.

Li Wei let out a sigh of relief. The Messenger was truly not trying to hurt him. He quickly picked the potions and placed them in his inventory; he could not wait to drink them.

"Is there anything else?" asked the old man.

"No. That was it. Thank you very much for your help," answered Li Wei. He was feeling guilty for troubling the old man at such a late hour.

"In that case, please," said the old man as he stood up and walked to the door. He quickly opened it and indicated to Li Wei that it was time to leave.

The latter complied without hesitation and went outside. The street was still as deserted as before, after all, he did not even spend five minutes in the old man's house.

Behind him, the old man looked at Li Wei's lonely silhouette before slowly closed the door. "Bear in mind young man. Darkness exists everywhere... Sometimes, it hides in the least expected places!"

A shiver ran down Li Wei's spine as he heard the old man's voice. He quickly turned to look behind but all he saw was the wooden door closing. Suddenly, the alley he was in did not seem as safe as before.