Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons Part3

Berat peeled his eyes open and observed the shady interaction that was continuing to unfold in front of him for several minutes now.

He knew that he had been gravely mistaken. This person wasn't a fool at all. Rather he seemed to be aware of a specific loophole and Berat wanted to know how he could also make use of it.

He waited and watched and waited and watched and eventually the person stopped.

Berat was about to step forward and strike up a conversation when unexpectedly he heard the old woman say something weird.

"Thank you so much, young hero. Because of you, I will not be requiring wolf pelts for another decade."

"What the heck?" Berat ended up shouting out loud. He didn't know for sure but it looked like this particular beginner's quest would no longer be available.

However, no one paid attention to his panic mode. Liam had already started walking away and the old granny hummed contently before tossing out the pelts in front of her, the one that he had brought over.

[Ding. Quest failed. This quest is no longer available. Your reputation in the town drops by 10]

"What the fuck? Are you serious right now!!!" Berat was furious. He looked at the old woman humming happily and felt very frustrated. "Grandma, you… you don't want any more wolf pelts?"

"No, I don't need. Are you here to buy something? If not, don't crowd around the shop. Shoo!"

Ah shit! Berat knew that he was getting this treatment because of the reputation effects, but he couldn't help it and asked the old woman again.

"Granny, how come you didn't check the wares from that young man? I heard a lot of people were selling bad pelts these days!" He swallowed the bitterness in his mouth and spat out the words, pointing to Liam's disappearing figure.

"Mmm. You are right. Young men these days are unscrupulous and always try to take advantage of an old woman like me, but no need to doubt that young hero."

"He had the strong stench of wolves all over him. I knew right away that he had a lot of pelts to give me. May heavens bless that kind hero."

Berat's lips twitched hearing the granny even praise Liam and he then silently walked away. He didn't ask her any more questions as he could roughly guess how the whole thing happened.

The trick to trigger this quest was to probably come to the old woman's shop already having several stacks of wolf pelts. These could even be purchased and not necessarily looted as he had personally witnessed the other party purchasing pelts in bulk.

This was probably why the old woman sensed the stench of wolf on him and treated him differently. Either way, it was now useless for him as the quest itself was no longer available, at least for the day.

Berat, however, did not know if this was just a fluke or if it had been something that was planned and thought out in advance.

He wanted to think that it was the former but such coincidences were too few and he would be crazy to believe that.

This person was probably highly brilliant enough to figure out this loophole or he was a beta tester or someone with more information about the game.

Considering the way that VIPs, actors, and socialites are treated these days, he wouldn't be totally surprised if the other party knew a bit of inside information that wouldn't affect the game on the whole.

"I should definitely talk to this person at least!" Berat became curious and hurried out of the granny's shop to look for Liam and follow him for a while.

He was unable to use this particular loophole but he wondered if there were other fast leveling easter eggs hidden in the town.

This could be a complete waste of time but his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to do it anyway.

"Damn, what level is that guy at now?"

"He at least leveled up four times with just that repeatable quest from the granny and even if he was Level 3 or Level 4 before that, he should be around 10 now."

"Damn, if there are any leaderboards for this game, I bet his name would go upon them!"

Liam's speed was relatively high and so Berat found it difficult to keep up with him. But luckily for him, Liam did not walk for long and soon stopped again at the Trade building in the town.

"What is this guy up to now?"

Berat hadn't yet explored this particular one so he quickly followed Liam in and he heard him talk to the woman at the counter.

"I would like to book a crafting room for four hours."

Several silver coins appeared on the counter and then the woman stood up to personally show Liam to one of the rooms inside.

"Dafuq? Crafting rooms? Don't tell me! He already has recipes?" Berat blankly stared at the guy, but he couldn't follow him any longer.

"Do you need something, adventurer?" Another woman at the counter asked him and Berat shook his head wryly.

He walked out of the trade building empty-handed, but suddenly a small idea popped into his brain. "I should go to the town alchemist and talk to him and see if there is another loophole quest there."

"If nothing works out, I can always come back here after four hours."