《Profit Margin》 Prologue + Chapter One Prologue
-:Confirming unregistered user. Shall we create a new account?:- -:Yes/No:-
It was the feminine voice he had only dreamed about. The last few years had been worth it just to hear her ask him this. Eun Seok almost wept as his fated day arrived. ************ Chapter 1 The banging next door had stopped. He just lay there listening to the sounds of the old building. His tranquillity was shattered as the banging started once more only louder. It was only when his own door exploded inward that he realised why. ''Really need to fix that lock'' he thought as the two collection officers entered his room. "Be a good neighbour and help him pay...." The first began before he trailed off, as one quick glance around the tiny apartment told them it would be pointless to continue. They cast pitying gazes at the emaciated man in his late thirties laying on the floor. His eyes were darkened, his skin was pale and his cheeks were sunken. He had not moved from the spot on the floor where he had fallen after fainting from exhaustion and hunger. The two bruisers in sweat suits backed out the room slowly. As its occupant feebly lifted his head to watch their retreat they bowed and apologized for the door. The last one out left a thousand Won by the door. Saying a quick prayer just in case. The next day a man in a suit sat in the offices of a certain loan company. Beside him sat a large rucksack. He refused to leave and all the normal intimidation did nothing to dissuade him. An older gentleman in a fine suit exited the office and approached him. Anywhere else he could have been mistaken for upper management. The air of authority and the respect he commanded was visible all around. "Come the president will see you now." He was shown into the back office and if the atmosphere outside had been tense then the air in this room was electric. Two rows of gangsters flanked a man who must have been in his early sixties. His greying hair contrasted well with the dark purple ascot and the black suit. Although the outline of his shirt showed the body of an elderly man the eyes with which he was now piercing Eun Seok with were as sharp as any high school punk. While he stood there like a hare caught in head lights the gentleman who came to get him took up his rightful place at the old man''s right side. In one fluid well practiced motion he relight his seniors cigarillo. The rest of the men in the rows stared holes through their visitors skull. Eun Seok was starting to sweat bullets when the old man began speaking. Smoke from the cigarillo wafted upward as he pointed it at his prey. "So what brings you here?" Eun Seok snapped back to reality. As quickly as he could he lowered the rucksack he had been clinging to and began to unpack it. As his hands moved to undo the straps everyone in the room held their breath, several hands disappeared behind their backs. From the bowels of the bag he drew several carrier bags of tupperware. He placed them on the ground and a single letter on the desk in front of the president. He performed a quick Sebae and scurried out of the office before fear completely gripped his mind. Perplexed the president reached forward and took up the envelope as his subordinates secured the packages. As he read its contents the room was filled with a delicious scent. "Dear President of Happy Sunshine Loans. My mother always said I must repay whatever I receive tenfold. Whether it be happiness or sadness. Enclosed is 10,000 won to be returned to your company. Also included is a gift of my mothers'' Banchan please enjoy. With this our ties are severed. Thanks for your charity Eun Seok." The old man chuckled as he motioned to his second. "Yea Hyung-nim." the man to his right lowered to hear the presidents order. "That man has peeked my curiosity. Have him investigated." That night one gang in Seoul wept over the memories of their own mothers cooking, of course this was only after the young members tasted all the side dishes thoroughly for poison. ***************** Before Eun Seok realised it he was back home in his small room. It was still as bare as it had been when the loan sharks burst in but he was no longer the same living corpse as yesterday. He hung up his only suit in the half cupboard. He slide the door closed and looked around the room. It had been a storage cupboard before the current landlords greedy father had remodelled it into the ''student flat'' and while he was in university it had suited his needs just fine. But his mother couldn''t afford both tuition and living expenses so he had had to find part time work. He soon found himself needing to pull more shifts and missing more classes. He had a good head on his shoulders but eventually flunked the coarse due to non attendance. He had thought of returning home then but the thought of his mother struggling to send him to university so far away in the first place made his chest tighten. He had drifted away from his high school friends to focus on studying for entrance exams and now no good company would hire him being a ''dropout''. No way to move forward, nothing to return to. But the small room had not made him a small person. He had built a routine and stuck to it. The neighbours greeted him by his nickname Freeter; it had an unfortunate air of romanticism about it. His mornings were for delivering papers and milk before heading off to work as a day labourer. At nights he would wash dishes or bus tables then see if there were any shifts open at the local convenience store. Only eating small meals between shifts. Saturdays he would search for recyclables and if he was lucky it meant he could have a little drink Sunday if not he used Sunday to sleep and recharge. His heart was still pained when his mothers letters asked ''how work was going''. He would respond with anecdotes about what had happened at his various part time jobs. He viewed them all collectively as ''work'', sometimes juggling five or six small ones at a time. Now however he found the room oppressive. His frugal, high stress life style was grinding him down and he knew staring at the spot he collapsed on that next time he may not be so lucky. Worse still he was unsure if he could make it the month now that half his moms care package was gone. Not to mention the huge dent in his cash flow 10,000 Won had made but he reasoned it was better to nip those sorts of favours in the bud quickly. Lest they spiral out of hand. Picking up the bottle of liquid in the corner he headed for the roof. The block of flats may only have been three storeys tall but it held quite the view of the landscape if one had time to appreciate it. His own south facing window was really just there to let light into the room and so he often found himself on the roof when he was in between jobs. He gazed out over the city as he emptied the contents of the faded tea bottle onto a potted plant. He watched people in the park by the station. His room had no plumbing so the public toilets in the park were the closet. It took incredible muscle control or expert timing to make it especially if the crossing lights were running slow. Luckily he didn''t have the constitution of a salary man; jumping between constipation and diarrhea with bouts of haemorrhoids just to keep things interesting. He turned his attention in the other direction, to the big screen by the department stores. He couldn''t change channels but they had the news and it was free. A familiar ad for Royal Road showed them interviewing a player. The pretty young hostess was doing her best to be cheerful next to the forty year old beast. "I was unemployed and my parents kept screaming at me to get a job so I turned Gaming into my job just to get them off my back. The rush I got when I ended my first item auction got me hooked and 9 months down the line I even have a girlfriend. Met her in game and we''re quite happy. Sorry Ajumma." You could see the rage rising but the young hostess was the personification of professionalism as twisted the head off of his nearest figurine. "Don''t worry this Eonni understands." she replied putting on a cutesy tone. Cold. As. Ice. She signed off towards the camera as the greasy pig in human clothes tried desperately to reattach the dolls head behind her. Lately there had been a growing trend with people make money off of item auctions. Royal Roads army of Dark Gamers were just the latest incarnation of such a trend. Eun Seok thought back to his own fond memories of whiling away his youth in game arcades playing whatever machine would accept his chump change allowance. Of course he had followed Royal Roads closely and the KMC broadcasts of the Legendary God of War: Weed were some of his most watched recordings. He even had a pirated stream of the series saved somewhere. ''Why can''t I be like that'' he lamented as he headed back down. He paused on the stairs as a thought occurred to him, ''Why can''t I?''. ************************** Half of him said it was still preposterous and the other half couldn''t really give a solid argument for it either but there he was sitting in his tiny cubicle pouring over notes he had jotted down the night before. The library computers were free and he mostly used them to search for jobs but today he was researching and compiling something completely different. The screen in front of him flickered as he shifted between tabs to compare the cost of capsules, internet providers and electricity tariffs. He paused long enough to do a few quick sums in his head. It would take around another year and a half to hit the figure he was aiming for. Maybe two just to be safe and that was only if he cancelled several policies and consolidated other savings accounts. Almost twenty years of an ultra frugal life style, supported by the home produce his mother in the country grew, had led to a rather substantial sum sitting in his bank account. It was money without purpose so it had just slowly accumulated into the size it was today but if he hoped to pull off what he was planning it would need to grow a little more. But the oppression of the small room was deeply ingrained in his mind and even as he sat there beaming away to himself, the doubt and fear was creeping in. He clenched his fists and stuffed them into his pockets as the first wave hit him. ''But what if I fail.'' ''All that money wasted.'' ''They knew I''d never amount to anything.'' ''I don''t want to die alone in that room'' They were screaming in his head when he felt something. He unclenched his fist and withdrew the object from his pocket. The stern face drowned out the voices in his head as he stared at the 100 Won piece. He grasped it tightly, closed his eyes and tossed it in the air. "I leave my fate up to you Samdo Sugun Tongjesa-nim" He prayed, moving to catch the coin. He clapped it down on the back of his hand and waited. After what seemed like an eternity he slowly lifted the top hand away. As if a sign from heaven the Admiral greeted him with eyes of steel resolve. Always trust in the divine providence of a coin toss. Starting then Eun Seok worked like a man possessed. He held up to six jobs at once. He scrimped, saved and pinched every penny he could. To survive winter he wore several sets of cloths and to get through summer he worked packing fish. When he wasn''t burning the candle at both ends he was trawling the web for information. Stats; skills; known quests and any Royal Road article he could consume. He watched 1000''s of hours worth of streamed footage and dissected the Hall of Fame lists. *********************** Eun Hye had left her small field when the post had arrived. There was the package from her son. The bold red RETURN TO SENDER label filled her heart with an odd mix of joy and trepidation. As she feared one day she would open the box to find not the usual empty containers but rotting food in unopened packages. It was a mothers worry. This time she found last month''s containers and the usual letter. The tension left her and she breathed a sigh of relief before opening the letter. She was happily reading the answers to her questions and pondered how to respond to his when her heart missed a beat. She scanned her eyes back over the text just to make sure she hadn''t misread it in her old age. ''I have quit my job'' No; there it was as clear as day half way down the page. Panic returned as her mind raced through a thousand scenarios of what had and was happening to her one and only precious son. She was just about to start packing for a journey to comfort him when for the second time that day her heart stopped. ''have decided to start my own business'' What more could a mother do when their child was trying his hardest but beam proudly at the news. *********************** Two and a half years past in the blink of an eye. He had worked a little longer to ensure he had ample time to level before he had to show results. The interest from his savings in his new foreign account should hopefully cover his meagre monthly bills. When he had withdrawn the princely sum of 510 million won($480k) the bankers had cried as it left their clutches but he opened a checking account, where the interest would be deposited, for paying his bills. He stood in front of the capsule that now dominated his small apartment, to get it in they had removed the door itself. On the only part of the wall that was accessible hung a small picture frame. Contained within was the stern face of Yi Sun Shin on a green felt background. He had mounted that fateful coin so as to draw strength and not falter under the Admirals gaze. Below it were two pieces of paper. They were the result of his arduous study into Royal Road. One page was listed as Stats and the other as Skills. Both lists were his targets before he left the starting zone. As he opened the capsule he felt the room shrink. Once inside and settled he turned it on only to be greeted by a familiar face. It was a picture he had set to be shown every time the capsule was turned on or shutting down. His mothers smiling face beaming lovingly at him. In her hand she held a piece of paper that simply said one word: FIGHTING. He had cried when he first opened her care package and found the picture. As soon as he could he had it converted to digital and uploaded to the capsule. The original hung on the back of the front door. She began to fade out as the game began. Being replaced by a full black screen that seemed to swallow the whole of the inside of the capsule. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ****************************** The feminine voice prompted him again and he returned to his senses. "Sorry Goddess of Versailles. Yes create a new account."
-Select the name of your avatar-
He thought for a moment to recall the name he had come up with after agonizing for weeks over it. The name itself was a reflection of the class he sought to play and his goal in the game. "Chaebol"
-:Sorry that name is taken please choose another:-
He was shocked. It only worsened as he tried several permutations but not even ''HandsomeChaebol'' or ''AwesomeChaebol'' were taken.
-:Would you like a name suggested based on race:-
That was the last thing he needed, the systems AI changing the creation sequence just to give him some sort of heavy RP like name. He focused harder and searched through all corners of his mind to find anything suitable. Then it came to him. It was so simple and summed up everything he wanted to convey. "Mandeok."
-:Thank you. Please select your gender:- -: Male/Neutral/Female:-
"Male. " He had no desire to have the unneeded headache of playing as a different gender.
-:Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine:-
He scrolled through the 3D images of the races that appeared in front of him but it was more curiosity than necessity "Dwarf." A scanned image of his current appearance appeared before him and was condensed down into the stocky form of a dwarf.
-:You may alter your appearance:-
He tweaked a few of the slider bars to polish the image before him. Better merging his human form into the dwarven build. "Accept"
-:Thank you. Your account has been activated. Your Stats and Class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. On behalf of Unicorn Corporation please enjoy the fully immersive world:-
He was tearing up, his long struggle to the starting line was almost over. The Empire''s prize money was still up for grabs but he had loftier ambitions.
-:Starting in Iron Hand village, Thor Kingdom due to racial selection:-
"Do I have to?" He had to act quickly before he was forced to leave the initial setup. The disembodied voice of the Goddess of Versailles was silent for a few moments.
-:Select a City and Kingdom you want to start in. Penalty''s may be applied due to choice of location:-
A dwarf starting in an Elvin city would surely be frowned upon given the rich lore surrounding the two races animosity but a human settlement may be possible. "How about the Citadel of Serabourg in the Rosenheim kingdom?" ''Good phrase it as a question, get the system engaged so it doesn''t take it as a definitive choice. Probe the possibilities as much as possible.'' he thought.
-: Penalty applied for selection of non racial Kingdom. Reputation among the dwarfs set to neutral:- Friendly --> Neutral
The dwarfs of Thor Kingdom were known to be unfriendly to all but merchants and craftsmen of other races who could prove themselves.
-:Welcome to Royal Road. The first step on your journey of high adventure beings now:-
**flash** ************************** A flash of light washed over him, forcing his eyes closed. When he opened them again he found himself in the middle of a large town. Players and NPC''s alike were swarming about. No matter how many hours of game footage he had watched nothing could have truly prepared him for the full effect of the sight, sounds and smells he be held. He took a deep breath and walked calmly over to the beginners boards. Or at least he tried to. The differences between his body and his new dwarven form made what should have been a simple few steps look like a great challenge. For one his eye line had changed. By no means was he regularly considered tall but now he found himself staring squarely at the waists of most people around him. His stocky dwarf build was half as tall and twice as broad as he usually was. The short arms ended in stubby fingers and he wondered how any race with such sausage hands could be considered Master Craftsmen in fields that required high levels of dexterity. Worse still was that when he tried to walk his legs didn''t move the way he felt they should. This threw of the gait of his stride resulting in a very awkward pace. His steps felt too long or too short for the motion he wanted. He slide stiff kneed the last few feet to the signs. They contained maps of the city and the basic control commands. He opened the system menu and disabled the "Night-Life" and "Pleasures" features. ''No unnecessary distracts. They can always be enabled later.....for this and that'' he chuckled to himself as his face contorted in a perverse grin. Luckily his new full dwarven beard hid his shamefulness from passers-by. But several female avatars who accidently caught his eye shivered. Next he checked his Stats and Skills. The first showed his Strength, Agility, Vitality, Wisdom and Intelligence were at base 10 while Charisma and Luck were at base 5. His Avatar currently had full health, mana and stamina. The level of satiety was high. His basic clothing and lack of a weapon meant he had no defence and no offence. The rest of the window showed his lack of Magical Resistance, Fame, Title and Profession. The other contained a single skill; Handicraft at level 1 (0.0% EXP) and nothing else. The golden bonus of the dwarven race. Every decision he had made regarding his new career path had revolved around this key fact. He closed the windows and headed towards the city gates. By the time he arrived he was feeling more comfortable about moving around in the new body, if only he could get the braids in his beard under control. They swung wildly whenever he moved. The guards at the gate noticed the dwarf approaching and lowered their pikes to bar his exit. "Sorry you can''t leave the confines of the city yet." "..." he stared blankly at them "If you went out there and something happened it would be our heads that would roll. See the city sites, grow a little stronger. Then you can come and go as you please. Ok!" New players were locked in their origin cities for four in-game weeks, a month to get accustomed to life in Royal Road. Thankfully this was only a one week period in real time. Mandeok was well aware of this iron rule. "That''s fine sir." he responded kindly. The tone didn''t match the face of the heavy bearded dwarf. "I just came to peek out through the gates. Is it ok as long as I go no further than here?" He glanced down at a point in front of his feet. Both gate guards nodded, uncrossed their pikes and went back to standing sentinel. He squinted through the gate at the fields beyond the citadel walls. He could just make out rabbits hopping around enjoying the midday sun. Further on an orange blur darted across the grass and there in the distance the canopy of a tree line was barely visible above the horizon. With his objective complete he thanked the guards, about faced and walked leisurely back towards the heart of the Citadel. He found a nice bench in a sunny spot near the main square and plopped himself down, it was low enough that he didn''t have to endure the embarrassment of climbing up to sit on it. Though his legs dangled just off the ground. He logged out. Upon exiting the capsule he took two more pages from a folder on the floor and pinned them under those on the wall. He used a pen to then amend a line on the first sheet. Chaebal was scored out and Mandeok scrawled in its place. He opened the cupboard and crawled into his new sleeping space. ******************* When he logged back in a few hours later the hustle and bustle of the street was still as heavy as he''d left it. He checked his inventory: 10 rye beard; 1 canteen[full]. Before heading in the direction of the nearest shop. ****************** Four weeks couldn''t have past faster for Mandeok and while other players may have looked at his lack of growth as a negative thing, he was quite pleased with himself. You try not growing in game where repeating an action enough could create a skill or stat from said action. Or add to the stats he already had. Especially as un-classed players had a cap on how many skills they could have. No this was truly some sort of dark miracle and he knew it. He had spent those four weeks building the foundations of his contact list. Heading in to every shop just to make small talk or greeting those he passed in the street with a smile. His only mission in that time was to ingrain his existence upon the population of the Citadel. In other words raise intimacy with the whole city from stranger to acquaintance. He was now in front of the gate post waiting. The countdown to his release had started and any second the lock down would be over. He fidgeted like a child at the starting line of a school race.
-: Congratulations. A month has passed and you are now free to leave the city:-
''Not a moment too soon'' he thought as he relaxed and walked towards the guards. "Oh leaving the city....well good luck!" they looked him up and down, a little worried by his level but they couldn''t stop him from leaving so they prayed he''d just return in one piece. The dwarf was quiet. Then he calmly took off his beginners cloths and folded them neatly into his inventory. He took a deep breath and strode boldly through the city gates. The guards were stunned and players out in the fields stopped what they were doing to point at the bare dwarf striding confidently out of the City. ''Now the real thing begins'' Mandeok reassured himself. He had also spent a portion of each day during those four weeks in coming to the gate to peer at the outside. The reason for this was simple. It was reconnaissance for when he would be out there himself. He dropped to all fours and crept toward an unsuspecting rabbit that was happily munching a weed just beyond the gates. It looked up startled as it felt such blood thirst in the air. A moment later it put its head back down as it was confident the killing intent was not directed at it. The weed it was chewing on however shivered. Every fibre of its being was screaming to run away. If it could have talked it would have begged the fiend rabbit who was devouring it to help it escape. Mandeok pounced. The rabbit leapt back as the body of the dwarf flew toward it. It skipped a few paces away before turning back to see that the strange person was not after its fur, meat or EXP; unlike all the others in the field. The half eaten weed was not so lucky. The stubby dwarven fingers ripped and grabbed at its body, tearing it from the soil.
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Chapter Two Chapter 2 He held it aloft in triumph, like he had just taken the head of an enemy general, then skipped back to the city. The people watching him could not comprehend what had happened. Even the usually stone faced guards stood slack jawed as he passed them humming merrily and holding his prize with both hand in front of him. He ran straight to the quiet spot he had found before and sat down. A quick check of his stats and inventory and he was prepared. He closed his eyes and stuffed the dirt covered weed straight into his mouth. Little clods of dirt got caught in his beard and a milky liquid trickled out of his mouth when he started chewing it up. Swallowing the pasty mass took some effort but with a few gulps of water it went down. He glanced at his stats window. Nothing happened. For a few seconds he waited patiently. Still nothing. Health, mana, stamina all good. All still fine. SAFE. Mandeok stood up, drank some more water and sighed. His first test had been a mixed bag. He had hoped for something but anything was better than insta-death. All in all a good trail run. After ten minutes he closed stats and returned to the inventory window. His four weeks of inactivity had left him with four rye beards. These would definitely decrease quickly now he had decided to become active. He hoped his experiment would bear fruit before he reached a critical junction. Once more the naked dwarf charged the field beyond the gate. This time he pounced on every weed, plant or berry he could find. One piece of his rye bread had managed to sustain him until his inventory was full of plant matter. This time opting for a more secluded spot he headed further in towards the forest. Carefully picking his way around any stray foxes or large rabbits until he made it to the tree line. He climbed the first tree he could and sat in its spreading boughs. Thanks to his smaller body he could quite comfortably sit in the natural hollow created by the spreading branches however this tree had to have branches lower to the ground so that he could at least get up into it. This would be his new base. Far from maddening crowds or help but close enough to his assets to be of use. He doubted foxes or wolves could climb the tree and from what he remembered from his web research bears generally hunted deeper in the forest. Safe in the knowledge he might not be ambushed by the local fauna he turned his attention back to the local flora. He removed from his pack several handfuls of plants and separated them into piles based on leaf shape. Like the first time he opened the stats window, ensured they were optimum, then plunged a handful of the same plant types into his mouth. The result this time was instantaneous. A window popped up with a warning and even as he read it his health began to decrease slowly.
-:You have been poisoned by . -1 HPs:-
It wasn''t a very serious toxin but for a guy with only a hundred hit points, losing one every second could quickly prove fatal. He did the only thing he could do in the situation. He grabbed a handful of a different herb and shoved it in his gob
-: Poisoning worsened by . -3HPs:-
The reverse of what he wanted. He looked desperately at the untried piles that remained. He moved left to right grabbing and devouring handful of unknown plants. His health stopped at 2/100 as he saw the message he wanted.
-: Poisoning cured by :-
Now there was one pile left untested. In his right he held what he considered the antidote herb and in his left the strange new plant. Right to revive, left for dead. ''Well here goes'' Mandeok thought to himself in his tree perch.
-:Ate satiety rose:-
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. It had taken 98 points of health and nearly all his stamina but finally he felt he had found a speck of light in the darkness that was his in-game world and that speck of light was an edible herb and a medicinal herb. As night feel players that passed a certain part of the forest on their way back to town could have sworn that the trees had been weeping. Tears of joy rolled down Mandeoks face. He now knew what had to be done. A little bit of rye bread and some rest to recover health before he was ready for phase two. This involved mixing all the piles of poisonous leafs into one. Two big handfuls followed by two big gulps and they were gone. Even as he swallowed he was reaching for the medicinal herbs
-:You have been seriously poisoned. -30HPs:-
An delay could spell doom as he downed the antidote leaves. His health had fallen to 10 points. He repeated this process as often as he could and by morning his bag was empty of plants and berries. His face had a slight greenish tinge to it as he gingerly climbed out of the tree. He dropped to the forest floor and tentatively peered around. He was still close enough that if he needed to he could be back up the tree by the time any attacker reached its trunk. The forest this morning was still and he emerged from it to be greeted by dew covered fields, morning mists just lifting and the sun was trying to make an effort to start the day. He popped a couple of breakfast leaves into his mouth as he strode off into the misty fields to gather more plants. The ones he had eaten yesterday that had lowered his hunger had the look of dandelions. This time instead of rabidly pulling the plant apart he made a study of it. The clump he found had several plants at different stages of growth. He pulled the unopened buds off, sipped up the petals of open flowers, nibbled leaves and stalks. Satiety rose slightly. When the plant was gone he used those thick fingers to dig into the soil and pull up the tap root. It was long and thin, slightly dirty with small roots spreading out from the main body but still looked edible. It would take several more hours until he had again filled his bag again with several different plant types and their constituent parts. He had even tied off the legs of his beginners pants and stuffed them with as much berries as he could just to carry a bit more. Then it was back to the tree fort. Just to restate. In Royal Road character skills are gained in several ways; ? through repetition of an action ? through acquisition of a skill book or from an NPC ? through class guilds or as certain quest rewards. This was exactly what Eun Seok was aiming for. Although Royal Road had a huge number of skills there were only several ways of learning them. It stood to reason that while one player learned it one way another may acquire it through another means as long as the skills criteria was met. This time his face turned blue as the paralyze set in, its convulsions made his breathing short. Gasping for air he hoped to ride it out. Eventually feeling returned enough to his right side to move a little. ************************* Two weeks into his play of Royal Road he died for the first time. His pack empty he was heading back to the Citadel to replenish his water supply when he came across some mushrooms. He had previously tried a poisonous looking yellow and black spotted one. That caused no ill effects. so when he saw these innocuous small brown ones growing from a stump he felt no apprehension of picking and eating them then and there.
-:You have eaten and died. -100 Health:- -:You are died. You cannot log back in for 24 hours, please be careful next time:-
Turned out they were super toxic. He exited the capsule. "Calm down Eun Seok. We planned for this eventuality." he consoled himself as he paced the open floor space in his shoe box room. "One copper add one copper becomes one silver. One silver add one silver becomes one gold. One gold add one gold becomes a fortune. Build it up slowly at your own pace." He was right there was no need to rush. Dying early was exactly the reason he had not done any training in the first in-game month. Death in RR meant a loss of level experience, skill experience and even possible stat points. But as the lowest of the low, unskilled, no stats level 1 the penalty imposed would be almost negligible. He had read that stats couldn''t be lower than their base; skills below level 1 (0.0%) or level 1 due to game balancing issues. Some could say he had found an exploit but he saw it as just playing smart. With his mind calm he looked at the clock to readjust to regular time, he found it was only a little after six in the morning. In the last twenty years of his frugal lifestyle he had trained....broken his body to function on the minimal level necessary. He ate a decent breakfast and left to find anyone that would hire a day labourer, if not it was a day of collecting recyclables. It had been his years of day labouring that had kept his body in relative shape. He wasn''t buff or above averagely strong but the manual work kept his muscles at least from atrophying. He was in luck and one of his previous bosses needed an extra set of hands for a job. The day went well and when it ended Eun Seok took himself back home and ate another decent sized meal before he headed to bed. His body maybe a broken machine but it still needed down time to repair itself. ************************* A little before six the next day he slipped into the capsule, turned it on and just waited. When the familiar face of his mother faded to black it was replaced by a small timer box. He watched it run down and as it hit 00:00:00 he found himself suddenly back within the confines of the citadel of Serabourg. He opened his stats screen.
Status
Character nameMandeok
Health100Mana100
AlignmentNeutralProfessionNone
TitleNone
Level1
Vitality10Strength10
Agility10Intelligence10
Wisdom10Charisma5
Luck5Fame0
Offense0Defence0
Magical resistance
none
He laughed manically at the strength of the truly weak. Of course this magic time wouldn''t last forever. It would be over as soon as anything rose above its base value. With his expl....smart game play technique confirmed Mandeok returned to gathering plants. It took him two more full days to regain the time he had lost. After he put another unknown plant into his mouth several windows popped up.
-:Through trail, error and a lot of perseverance you have learn to identify several plants and herbs:- -:New skill: herbology:- -:New skill: Identification:-
-: By pushing your body to its limits, you are likely to use less stamina from an action. Your prohibited from disturbing points to the following:- -:New stat: endurance:- -:New stat: poison resistance:- -:Level Up: Handicraft(beginner lvl 2(0.0%)) :-
Mandeok was satisfied as he walked back toward the city gates. One month doing nothing followed by another month eating as many random plants as he could find. ''Slowly build a stable foundation'' Things were coming together, now he had what he wanted it was on to Phase 3. Time to throw away the one thing he had been so happy about only a few days ago. He crossed the threshold of the gate and took out the beginners cloths from his bag, thank god they hadn''t dropped when he died or the guards may not have let him back in. They threw worried looks as the tangle bearded dwarf passed them and made his way further into the city. *************************** Little did he know that rumours had spread of the "Wild Man of Serabourg". A few players had even uploaded footage of him running naked and pouncing daisy''s. It had already garnered several million views and a stream of comments from players. "total newbie" "freaking dwarf" "xD''d so hard my I fell off my chair" **************************** The training hall was abuzz once again. The cacophony of wood striking wood assaulted Mandeoks ears as he stepped through the entrance hall. He was greeted by a man wearing a slightly grubby dodok. A simple yellow threaded pattern was embroidered on both the man''s top and belt. "Welcome to the training hall. I am a disciple of Geomchi378; Barrowman. My master has gone with the other Masters to fight in the war along the borders of Kallamore. He has left the dojang and the training of new recruits to myself and the Training Hall Instructor." The large man said eyeing up the curious dwarf in front of him. He hadn''t moved but Barrowman saw a small smile on his face. "Take your time to look around new player. The training weapons in the racks by the wall are for everyone to use so don''t worry about them breaking. Just get used to their weight and how they feel." Barrowman beamed. The dwarf nodded in agreement. The wall racks and mounted stands were adorned with every form of sword Eun Seok had ever seen. Had he been any other player he may have lost his mind trying to either pick a weapon or use them all. But he wasn''t any other player he was Mandeok and he had had a plan since before his capsule arrived. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. With a bag full of edible plants he choose a simple wooden staff from one of the stands and approached the dummy in a far corner. It then occurred to him he actually had no idea how to strike his new foe with it. While pondering this he took off his top and threw it into the corner. He was like a statue just staring at the thing for almost an hour before Barrowman appeared beside him. "Problem friend?" "How do I actually wield this?" The part time instructor scratched his head for a moment before he answered. "Sorry, I''m actually a knight so I don''t know much about that. The instructor is busy coaching some others so I''ll whisper my master and see if he can help." The veteran player stood in silence for a while before turning back to the dwarf. "He says he''ll ask his master. Sorry again. Anything else just come find me." With that he left. Eun seok knew that staves were mainly used by magic wielders or niche martial artists. It wasn''t such a stretch that he couldn''t find anyone with any knowledge in the lowest level areas. He held it in the middle and raised it like a sword over his head, so as to bring it down on the unsuspecting head of the dummy. It was an awkward motion due to the other end of the staff getting in the way of his swing. After the fifth time he rammed himself in the thigh with the staff end did he try something else. By changing the way it was gripped he now held the long smooth pole like one may a kayak paddle. This grip was as awkward as the first as it only allowed him to strike with a motion that reminded him of trying to row through the air. ********************* More videos appeared online. "Return of the Wild Man: Wild man Vs Lord of Dummy''s" It contained a few minute clip of a shirtless dwarf paddling in front of a training dummy with a determined look on his face. After several attempts, as he inched forward, he struck the dummy. Its health barely lost 1%. Commenter''s linked it back to the first video and others linked it away to similar videos of people fighting foes with brooms and such. ********************* His stamina and endurance had increased but he was still struggling with how to strike with the staff. He thrust it forward with a mid-point grip. The staff was stopped suddenly before it reached the dummy. Before he could react it was ripped from his hand. Stunned he turned to see where it had gone. There stood an older gentleman dressed in a similar dobok to Barrowman but with a pair of chima baji. Ahn Hyundo or Geomchi as he was known in Royal Road chuckled slightly at the ease with which he had disarmed the dwarf. His disciples'' disciple had asked a question interesting enough to prompt the elder master to drop by the training hall. Truthfully he had little mastery over the Grandfather or the King of weapons, his strength lay in pursing the True Path of the Sword. Of which he had done ever since he was old enough to grip one. Of course in all his studies of the sword he had invariably come up against strong opponents who favoured such styles and had picked up a thing or two from such encounters. He was at that point reminded of the story of Li Shuwen; a man considered a God of the Spear. Looking at it simply one could say that spears and staffs had similar origins. Of course the differences in length would mean differences in how they were wielded. A spear being anywhere between 9 and 21 feet while the staff only reached around 7 feet in length. Geomchi took a stance to the side of the dummy, gripping the staff about a third of the way up. ''Was it something like this'' he thought as he shuffled his feet to widen his stance and turning to face the training doll. "Watch I''ll only do this once" he said breathing out deeply and beginning a series of simple movements. He spun the staff left, then right and then thrust it forward. The dwarf was shocked as the blunt end of the staff struck the dummy''s head. Geomchi pulled the staff back relaxing his stance slightly. The dummy''s head fell off. A small circular hole evident in the centre of its face. "Be afraid not of one with many techniques but instead of one who purses only one" Geomchi said as he handed the dwarf back his staff. The sound of clapping erupted around the training hall and Mandeok realised all the other practitioners in the hall had been silently watching. The Training Hall Instructor barked orders at them to return to their practice before he and Geomchi both headed for the door; deep in discussion about the way of the warrior. One of their favourite subjects. ''Truly an interesting experience. I wonder how far he will be able to go with it'' Geomchi wondered as he headed in the direction he had left his party. It was not a path he had tread on but Ahn Hyundo help immense respect for anyone who diligently pursued martial arts. After he had left Mandeok now had a better idea of how he should be wielding the lump of wood he had stubbornly settled on to be his partner through the physical training. With his grip now set a third of the way up he began again this time with renewed vigour. Another month of in game time had passed by the time he had finished the first half of his phase three plan. Strength, agility and vitality had increased by 40 points. Mandeok grinned as he gazed at the legendary bounty of the training hall. But that wasn''t all his rigorous training had increased his endurance and granted him three new skills. The first had appeared when he improved his proficiency with the wooden staff
-:New Skill: Staff Mastery (beginner level 1 (0.0%)):-
The second he gained after weeks of relentlessly beating the dummy. It had been so monotonous he had slipped into a delusional state. So delusional was he that he could swear that every time he missed the damn dummy smirked at him. His anger boiled over, he tightened his grip and mercilessly beat the dummy''s head. Crushing its face.
-:New skill created: Brutal Smash(beginner level 1(0.0%)):-
It was only this pop up that jolted him from his fury. Luckily it did or he may not have noticed how dangerously low his stamina was. He could no longer afford to die so easily. He crammed a few herbs into his mouth to suck on as he contemplated his new skill. ''If this is unfocused rage then there must be a more focused way'' After considering how to go about acquiring a skill like that he began striking at the joints of the dummy with the staffs end. No longer using its length to crush his foe. Thankfully after a few hours of this he noticed he still received stat points so this wouldn''t adversely affect his training. A few hours later he gained what he wanted
-:New skill created: Precise Strike(beginner level 1 (0.0%)):-
This had given him everything and more that he could have taken from the training hall and now it was time to move on to the second half of Phase 3. After refilling his canteen and selling what little medicinal herbs he had for as much as he could, ensuring he had enough herbs to last at least another month, he headed across the square taking him in the opposite direction from the Training Hall. He stood in front of another large building that was famous in Serabourg: the Library. He had come across the secret of the Training Hall after reading an article on a fan blog. It occurred to him that this seemed very sloppy. In terms of game balance this would give physical combat classes a huge advantage not just in later game but right from the start. To solve these balancing issues there must be a ''Training Hall'' for spell caster classes. He had found his answer in the form of the Library. Most new players only used it for a part time job or quest research. To others the multitude of books would give them a head ache but to Eun Seok who grew up in the country with no TV on his grandparents'' farm. Books were the only thing he had. It started when he was a child and his mother would tell him tales of far off lands and high adventure. Then when he could he would spend hours reading the few books his grandparents had When he had finished them he had despaired only to start school which opened the door to more books and a world of knowledge. His mothers stories of dashing heroes were replaced by historic events. So fantasy was overtaken by logic and fiction by fact. His childhood love of books was buried under his teenage need to study. When he entered the Library he was hit by the musty smell of old books and quite busyness in which its staff rushed around. Literature in Royal Road was extensive. The Goddess of Versailess, the A.I governing the world, had created all of the books that had existed before the Players arrived. After their arrival Players had only added to the vast quantity of written word. Bards wrote new works daily, NPC scholars collected player events into history books and others drew up new maps and reference books whenever a new discovery was made. The sheer volume of biographies; historical texts; satire; romance; mystery; horror; travel; religion; science; art; cookbooks; copies of diaries and journals was staggering. The sign by the desk showed the libraries layout. Three floors restricted by player level and each level divided into ten rings. A pass to the first ring of the first floor was 1 copper. With each ring the cost increased by ten. The pass would last until a player exited the building. A full pass to all rings on the third floor would set a level 300 player back 200 gold. He approached the desk and put down one single copper coin. The Adventurer behind it look bored as she slide the pass across and scooped the coin into a box marked donations. "Please enjoy your visit and respect the people around you." That single coin may have been an investment but it had decreased his lean budget by 10%. He took the pass and hovered a moment. "Do you require any extra help in the library?" A simple enough question but it was something along these lines that may open all kinds of quests from the NPC''s. The girl at the desk stared at him with deep eyes. "Sorry I just work here let me go get the Head Librarian he should be able to answer that. At the moment he''s lost in his current studies so just go read something and I''ll tell him to find you. If he hasn''t found you by the time you''re ready to leave just ask again at the front desk." She was definitely wondering why anyone would willingly want to work here. She herself was only here to try to get access to several volumes of a particular book that she required to progress a quest and working here was the only way to increase the intimacy with the Head Librarian. It was just so tedious that she had almost quit several times. In front of her now stood a bearded dwarf who now wanted to work here. She couldn''t believe it as most players worked other jobs just to afford the fee to access the books they needed or were interested in. ''Is it a quest? I can''t let him hog the old man''s time'' greed set in. Normally she would not have been so petty but the time limit on her own quest was fast approaching and she couldn''t have another player quest-blocking her. She was still thinking this as the dwarf disappeared into the stacks. He picked a few books to begin with; Reference, biography, history and travel journals from the A section. He read them cover to cover before he returned them and took another set. When the words began to swim on the page he took a leaf and continued. He was just about to reach for another stack of books when he noticed a shadow over his shoulder. He turned to see a very studious looking older gentleman with grey hair. The old man''s dark navy smoking jacket caught his eye, it matched well with the navy smoking cap set at a jaunty angle atop his head. He wore a set of legless half moon lenses perched at the end of his beak like nose. The Head Librarian had come out of his room for no other reason than that the damn girl at the counter had forgotten his tea. Again. "Damn Adventurers always expecting preferential treatment" he clucked as he made his way to the front desk to reprimand her. He was stopped by an odd sight. A small dark haired man with a straggly beard was sat at one of the reading desks. To his right was two books and on his left a larger pile. Adding the one in his hand the old curator counted thirty volumes. "I trust you will be putting those back in their correct places." A catch twenty two. It was those same adventures who didn''t return books properly that gave other adventures the chance to work in the library. "Yes I''ve got these two to go then I''ll put them back."Mandeok answered. The old man was shocked. "You''ve read all these." He asked rapping his finger on the stack of books. The figure at the desk said nothing until he had reached a convenient place in his current volume. "Yes. Please excuse me but I really must finish this." Mandeok replied with a slight strain in his voice. The curator was aghast, " I am the head librarian. if you don''t abide by the rules I have set you will be removed and banned from the premises." Mandeok felt this man would follow through on his threat so begrudgingly put back the volumes he had finished with back on the shelves they had come from. All the while under the hawk like gaze of the old man. The old man approached the shelves and ran his hand across the worn books. "Interesting" mused the wizen Librarian. "You shall report to me tomorrow or I shall ban you from the library, do you understand?" the old man was quick to snatch at any opportunity that presented itself. "What.....ah, yes I understand sir." Mandeok was speechless. ''Does this old stone head think I''ll let him ruin my plans but if I get banned I won''t recover.'' Since the arrival of Adventurers several shops and buildings had kept odd times. Those born on the Continent of Versailes worked standard hours and hired adventures to ensure their stores were always manned. The Training Hall and the Library were examples of these. What the old Head had failed to account for was the fact that Mandeok had no desire to leave. Leaving meant he had to pay for another pass. Something he would never do. The old librarian left the man at the table in peace, happy in the knowledge he may have found something new to alleviated his boredom. Finally alone the dwarf returned the final volumes he had before taking out another few stacks of carefully selected books. He passed the night quietly reading in his quiet corner of the library''s lower first ring. The staff at the front desk had changed twice by the time he returned to it. He was just about to ask for the Head when a bony hand grasped his shoulder. The curator lead him to his own office. Books and scrolls were scattered around the ancient wooden desk. The old man took a seat in the high backed chair at the other side of the desk, of course he had to pick his way through the delicately balanced piles on the floor. There was no chair opposite. Mandeok wondered if this was deliberate as he stood across from the pensive figure. "How long do you plan to use the Library?" It was a loaded question but Mandeok had no reason to lie. "I''d say around a month" "Good, good. For the duration you will work under me. I shall not pay you but if you are smart you will realise the job is its own reward." A window popped up in front of the dwarf.
-:The Gofer: You are to work as a Part-time Assistant Librarian at the beck and call of the Head Librarian. Difficulty: F. Duration(Set by Employer): 4 weeks:- -:Accept: Yes / No:-
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A.N.-{Sorry for lack of boxes}- A.N -{grinding my Blue Box Mastery and Chapter Synergy skills}- Chapter Three Chapter 3 Mandeok was still slightly miffed that the old man had threatened to bar him from the Library but there was something in the way he had phrased it that triggered Eun Seoks instinct. NPC''s only gave quests to Players that had proven themselves to them. For a man he had only met once to suddenly give him an offer such as this; something was up. ''Have I just grasped the snakes tail.'' Unfortunately he had to think of the consequences. Royal Road allowed only three quests to be accepted at once and if this became a chain quest he could be in trouble after he had completed laying the foundations of his character but then again. He accepted. "A wise decision. You may go. I will have word sent to you when I have a need for you." He was dismissed with a flick of the bony wrist as the old man turned back to the papers on his desk. The dwarf nodded his head and returned to the books. He went to start on the B''s. His days were now divided between reading his way through the tomes alphabetically and the occasional errand for the Curator. Generally it was fetch and carry. The old man sought some volume or one volume had to be returned to the shelves. The trouble came when he had to return a particular book on the Legends of Northern Sur. This book needed to be put back on the shelves of the third ring. His pass wouldn''t even allow him into the second ring and a new one was a 20 copper fee he didn''t have. He was contemplating this problem when the woman from the desk at the entrance to the second ring acknowledged his presence. "Forgive me but I''m on an errand for Head Librarian can you let me past so I may return this volume to its proper place." In this world you have to ask in the right way and use the right words when engaging in conversation with NPC''s or anyone for that matter. He had learned in his time in the Library that those who worked here went around methodically checking that there was a place for everything and everything was in its place. "Pass please." The mousey woman was following proper procedure but he knew the result as he put the pass down on the table in front of her. "Sorry, I can''t let you pass." In these matters it was necessary to be a little forceful as long as you weren''t rude about it. "Are you sure there''s nothing I can do to get in. I really must complete this errand for the Curator." He pushed the issue and waited as she furrowed her brow. The response was what he had hoped for. "Well there is something and if you''re on an errand for Lord Saint-Hilaire then I suppose you should be able to help me." She pushed her spectacles up her nose. A devious glint flashed in her eyes.
-:Quest: Young apprentice Librarian Emma needs you to retrieve the materials she needs to repair the manuscript she ruined. Difficulty: E. The Quest will automatically be failed if the Head Librarian finds out.:- -:Accept: Yes/No:-
''Damn two out of three slots taken but I can''t progress the first without completing this.'' "I''ll do it. Don''t worry discretion is my middle name." "Thank you here is a list of what I need. I can''t let you pass till this is done though, sorry." Mandeok smiled politely as he accepted the note she passed to him but behind the mask of calm he wore he was screaming in frustration ''NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!'' Such a task would mean going outside which would mean paying for another pass. He was still grumbling about having to leave his books, the damage it would do to is budget and the time it would potentially set time behind when the player from the first day approached him. She had still been in two minds about this intruder until she saw him being used as the old man''s whipping boy. She had been working the library long enough to see how fickle he could be. Just because she was glad he wasn''t interfering with her quest didn''t mean she wasn''t still curious to know exactly what he was doing. Quests were not always the same even if given by the same person. It all depended on the attitude of the player. "Something I can help you with?" she asked with a cat like smile on her face. Mandeok could see through her thinly veiled contempt but he had no idea where to start, which shop to visit for the items or their current market price. "Actually I''m looking for these." he replied handing the list he had received from Emma to the girl. She scanned through the list. "Restoration materials eh, I''ve got all of this on me at the moment." He tried to keep a poker face but his widening eyes betrayed him to her. "But if I give them to you what''s in it for me. Hmm?" her cat grin spread wider. His face dropped and his silence spoke volumes. "I mean you could pay me back for them but then I don''t need the money" she had thrown him a lifeline. "What do you need then." he took her bait. She took a few well measured moments to consider her answer. "I have my own quest, I may need some help for it. So when the time comes for it I''ll count on you. Deal."
-: Jazmina has sent you a Friend request. Accept Yes/No:-
She sent him a quick friend request that he begrudgingly accepted. If he didn''t he doubted she would lend him the items he needed. What Mandeok didn''t know was that Magic users like her learned how to bind and restore books because there main source of new spells came from old tomes. They searched for them in every dungeon or ancient place on the Continent and as such they were sometimes damaged by the time they were found. She gave him enough of what he needed and he hurried off back to the second rings entrance. He handed them over to the Apprentice after checking around to make sure they were alone. She smiled brightly and quickly squirreled them away into the draw of the desk. He heard a ding as the quest was completed and breathed a sigh of relief. "When I''m on duty you can access the second ring." she smiled sweetly at him before burying her face in a book. He nodded and passed through the entrance to the second ring. With no time to look around he headed straight for the third ring entrance. His goal so close at hand. His hopes were dashed by a beady eyed young man seated on a stool by a high desk, the dwarf could barely see above. ''Freaking dwarf height'' "I have a book that must be returned to the shelves in there would you let me pass to complete my errand for the Head Librarian?" Two beady eyes stared through him and the raspy voice replied "Deposits in this tray." Mandeok had a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. "Are you sure there''s nothing I could do to get in and return the book?" "Deposits in this tray." This time the man actually tapped it with the tip of his quill. Several more attempts got the same response. The only thing that changed was the level of irritation the clerk was showing each time he had to repeat himself. Mandeok saw this going nowhere and placed the book in the tray. Deflated he headed back, stopping only long enough in the second ring to grab a few books that looked interesting but even they couldn''t lift him from the despair he felt. ''Went through all of that just to be denied.'' it was maddening. No quest failure notification appearing was at least a small comfort. He returned to finishing off his light reading project. It was a few hours before it dawned on him what a golden opportunity he had been given. Saint-Hilaires words replayed themselves in his mind. "........ if you are smart you will realise the job is its own reward." He had been a fool. To damn short sighted to see the bigger picture of the quest. He now had access to the second ring, during Emma''s shift only but it was still more than he could afford presently. It was a few days before his next job for the Head was given. By then he had devoured his select genres all the way up to T. A rather large tome on political policy called The Treaty of Tullen was giving him some trouble. It was the overly complex language and many clauses that were the source of his aggravation. His diversion from this problem came in the form of the raspy voiced guardian of the third circle. Now that he was out from behind his desk Mandeok realised just how small he was. His back was hunched and his hair was immaculately swept from one side to the other but apart from that he was a fairly forgettable person. "You come with me. Lord Saint-Hilaire has assigned you to me. As such you will assist cataloguing the collection to speed up my audit." The quest description changed to the description of the next link in the chain. Difficulty didn''t change but that meant very little. He frog marched Mandeok to the third ring and handed him a clip board full of book titles. "Find the book. Mark it off. Finish the page. Bring it to me. I''ll note it in my ledger as you go to complete the next page." With that Mandeok was shooed into the forbidden realm of the third ring. No time limit was attached to this part of the quest so he spent his time cataloguing the third ring, cherry picking a few things from the second ring and finishing the reading from the first ring. The third ring audit took up the rest of his time but the source books he had access to made his wisdom and intelligence rise by 40 points each. A second volume of a book on the history of Versailes nomadic tribes gave him the insight he needed to unravel the legal jargon in the Treaty that had stumped him. Untangling its convoluted wording had boosted his stats, giving him the last push he needed to reach his ambition. He also learned that the Head Librarian Lord Saint-Hilaire had been a notable scholar in his youth and in his formative years had served as tutor for at least two Princes. Now in his retirement he tended the Library he had donated his lifetime to expanding. So with the audit finished and the quest updated he wasn''t surprised to find he had to return to the Old man. "Your time with us is almost up. I see that you have been assisting where necessary." he motioned to a book on his desk, its cover was worn and looked hastily mended. "I have but one final errand for you. Our archive has become infested. If left unchecked we risk losing some of our most valuable pieces. You will take care of it." The quest description changed again. This time though the difficultly also rose to an E rank quest rating.
-: Serabourg''s historic Library houses an extensive collection of rare works. Most are too damaged to be displayed and some are just too dangerous. These works are kept in the archive in the bowels of the Library. Lately an infestation of Silverfish has lead to the further damaging of several irreplaceable tomes :-
"I''ve spent my time among the annals of this library and will need some time to prepare." Mandeok started. He was silenced by a single raised finger from across the desk. "Indeed one should be prepared but know this the more time you take, the more knowledge we lose and as a result the less any potential reward shall be." With that it was over. Mandeok left the office with a twisted feeling in his stomach. He had no idea what sort of level or volume these Silverfish would be at or whether there would be any conditions attached to the quest. The one thing he was sure of was that he needed to top up his supplies and find a weapon. Both of which would only be accomplished by leaving the library and incurring the re-entry fee. ''A decent weapon for no more than 8 copper'' It would be tough as most low level staffs were geared toward magic users. Giving small increase to intelligence or wisdom and although he had more of both than a player his level he still had no known spells to exhaust his mana pool on. In the end he left to gather herbs hopping that a solution would present itself in time. At least he could sell the surplus to increase his budget, if only slightly. It would take more time then he thought he had to raise any level of meaningful capital. While he was out in the fields he received a message. It was the first Whisper he had gotten since he started the game and the unexpected way it appeared made him jump. Imagine how you would feel if your peaceful day flower picking was suddenly interrupted by a voice in your head asking if you were there. -: Dwarf you still close to Serabourg? -:Hello...who is this? -:Seki who do you think! -:Jazmina-ssi? Is that you. How have you been. So this is what a PM is like interesting. -:Aigoo this fool of course it''s me. Now answer the question are you still in Serabourg? Players true personalities came out over PM''s as NPC''s couldn''t hear them. If they could many would be shocked at the two faced-ness of players they thought were honourable people. -:..yes, why? -:Good time to repay that favour. She was talking about the supplies she had lent him. Other players may have denied it or just ignored her but Eun Seok had been raised to always return tenfold what he received. His current financial woes meant he couldn''t pay her back but it sounded like she had another use for him. -: Meet me in the Library and I will explain what I need you to do. With that she ended the conversation. An unusual silence filled Mandeoks head before it was replaced by the familiar sounds of his own thoughts. ***************************** Jazmina was waiting impatiently by the front desk. True she had not told him what time to meet but she expected him to be sharp about it. Her frustration only grow when he entered the building. The same straggly bearded dwarf in beginner clothes he had been when she first met him. The only difference now being the large branch he carried with him. She sighed but all she expected of him was to be bait for her own ends. ***************************** He stood near her giving his new weapon a few practice swings. It wasn''t balanced like the one in the training hall but it would do and if it broke he would wield what was left like a mace. If that shattered he would lay into his foe with his thick dwarven arms and his stout dwarven legs. The only contact in his friend list stood a few feet away from him. She was wearing a robe and a wide brimmed hat of crimson and black. By her dress he guessed she must be a mage of some variety. When she adjusted her hat he saw her hair was swept up into a crown braid. Sensing her companions stares she took out a simple wooden staff about a two feet in length, half the size of Mandeoks current weapon, with a single jewel at the top. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "You''ll help me while I look for something in the archives. Right lets go." Without even giving him time to answer she turned and headed through a door and down some stairs behind the front desk. All he could do was follow her. It didn''t really matter he was heading to the archives anyway and with another person, clearing the silverfish might be easier. They descended for a while, the current stair case spiralling down into the darkness, lit only by jewels in the wall placed every few turns. The light they emitted was eerily pale and it bathed the stairs and walls in a sickly white. They came to an old wooden door at the bottom of the stair case. Its impressive frame was reinforced by heavy iron hinges that made it look even sturdier. Mandeok suddenly realised they had no way to open it but Jazmina merely reached out her hand and gave it a push. The force behind her delicate hand wasn''t enough to open it but it did move enough to imply it wasn''t locked. When mandeok brought all his dwarven strength to bare against it the ancient door creaked open in surrender. The light from the jewels in the hall cut a semi circle in the darkness of the room beyond the door. As soon as they stepped through the door closed behind them. The darkness flooded back in. To reclaim the territory it had lost with the coming of the Adventures. They stood in the stillness before someone clicked their tongue and a small ball of flame illuminated the two. Jazmina looked more annoyed then when she had been standing back at the desk but Mandeok couldn''t fathom why. At least he knew she now had a possible fire spell. His thoughts were distracted by a rustling. She sensed it to as she moved their new torch toward the direction of the sound. Two antenna wiggled into view followed by the head of their owner. A sort of silvery armour covered the body of the thing as it scuttled further into view. Mandeok did the only thing he could. "Identify" A second or two passed before a box of text appeared before, as though the system was thinking whether or not to allow it. It was just the very basic information because of the low level of the skill he''d used. Frankly he was just glad it had worked first time. If not he would have wasted 30 mana, a disadvantage he didn''t want before the fight even began.
-: Identification: Silverfish. A pest that has grown to sizeable proportions by consuming texts that were magical in nature. Along with size it has gained a fair resistance to magical energies :-
''So my first enemy is a insect mutated by magic, interesting'' Mandeok thought as he tried to consider how to go about defeating this foe. Jazmina on the other hand was not one for thinking, she was aiming to be a mage specialising in fire magic and had the Real World personality to match. Quick tempered she preferred to shoot fire balls at any problem till it either went away or she burned down the surroundings. In fact the only reason she, a level 20 player, had to endure working at the Library was so she could either acquire or gain access to a scroll containing information about a powerful Pyromancer''s Lair. It would be a blessing for any mage but a true goldmine for any aspiring pyromancers like herself. So when the first enemy appeared, and while her meat shield did nothing, she calmly outstretched her arm and charged her spell. Small flames licked her palm The thick fingers of the dwarf grabbed the delicate wrist of his companion. The first thing he thought as he looked her square in the face really showed his age ''Tch! This is why kids nowadays are no good. No common sense and no patience.'' She was struggling against his grip and he could feel the heat from the flames she was creating. "First it has some magical resistance; second we don''t know how many there are and thirdly if you miss you might set this whole place on fire." Cold undeniable logic cooled her passion for battle. With the heat dissipating from her hand he released her wrist from the vice like grip. He put a firm hand on her shoulder and slowly began to back up towards the door. The ball of flame they used as a light source floated with them. They felt their backs bump against the solid frame of the door. A small box appeared.
-:Numbers of monsters left: 1023. Books lost:0:-
The ball of fire meanwhile had floated near something hanging on the wall. It fizzled from the emanating heat before bursting into flame. Setting off a chain of torches igniting themselves all around the room. The two Adventures stood wide eyed. Before them wriggled maybe twenty of the foot long silver insects. Their antennas probing the air as they sensed a change in their environ. The fiery mage let out a very girly squeal upon seeing the horde of creepy crawlies. Disorientated by light and now attracted to the sound the silverfish in the room advanced toward them. Mandeok appraised the situation. The room was actually quiet large, its curved walls reminded him of the library floors above. An open passage way at the far end meant it was safe to assume the layout could be similar. His weapon may have just been picked up from the forest floor but it would serve his purpose well. One end, the part that had once been attached to the tree, was thicker than the other. He could quiet happily use < > with that end while < > with the other. The closest couple had reached them by now. In front was the first one they had encountered. The mage was meant for more long range engagement so he would be of more use here until they could gain some ground and put some distance between them and their foes. The front runner leap at them. Its tiny legs flailed in the air as it searched for a surface to cling to. Its rows of teeth oscillating in its small mouth, bared towards them menacingly. Had it eyes fully adjusted to the new light levels it may have noticed the blurred staff end flying towards it. Mandeok batted it away with a flick of his branch. "Have a taste of my Namu Mangchi." He twirled it in front of him like a propeller before sweeping it to the right and left. The ends of the branch tracing figure eights in the air like he had done at the Training Hall when he wasn''t striking the dummy. Enjoying the feeling it had made when it connected with the silverfish he was surprised when a box popped up.
-: New Skill: Staff Ward(Beginner level 1 (0.0%)):-
A defensive move that benefited from his staff mastery. Was he truly favoured by the Gods. No. It was just the last of the results of his training showing through. It hadn''t been easy defending against the dummy''s nonexistent attacks but it had given him the time to get used to the motion. It was the sweetest fruit that had blossomed from his four weeks of blood and sweat. Another two made a lunge. He twirled the staff and cried "staff ward." sending the insects flying back 10 feet. They landed on their backs and curled into defensive balls. They rolled over and righted themselves, advancing once more on their target, now a little more angry from the assault. Jazmina had recovered enough upon seeing her companion knocking back the first wave to gather enough mana. Channelling what she had into her staff, the end of which began to glow white hot, small tendrils of smoke wafted from it. < > was not part of her usual spell rotation but it cost comparatively little mana and could cause further damage. The drawback being it required close range to use. Another silverfish drew close and the dwarf raised the staff above him. He brought the thick end down onto its head. The brutal smash was not as effective as he hoped. The insects thick silvery armour absorbed most of the impact. Not enough to stave off the stun effect however. She watched Mandeok draw the staff back to a ready position and the silverfish stagger a little. She struck before it could recover. The room was filled with a stench like burning plastic and the screech of the insect. As the walls and shelves quivered with the sound the antenna of all other silverfish straightened. They were now aggro''ed to the squishy mage. If Mandeok and Jazmina had formed a party when they entered the archives then he would have seen the massive chunk of damage her attack had done. It may not have killed it but the burn status it inflicted had chipped away what remained of its health. Their first kill. The melted carcass of the silverfish faded to grey smoke. If they had been a party Mandeok may have got some of the experience from that kill but as they weren''t he didn''t. The experience she gained from it was not to bad considering the level difference but at least now she knew they were weak to fire. "Tank for me with that stun and knock back thing." Mandeok had the Health and Mana to take more than a few hits from these bugs. So it wasn''t such a bad idea. He nodded in acceptance and took a step forward, stationing himself between the aggravated bugs and his fragile mage. They moved forward tentatively, Mandeok swept them away and Jazmina branded those that were stunned by his powerful blows. She raked in most of the EXP but he picked up a few points here and there. The first ring was cleared after around 500 bugs became grey smoke. The few items they dropped were scraps of paper. Jazmina didn''t care about collecting them so he was free to scoop them up as he saw fit. She had her eyes on the bigger prize while he thought ''a bird in the hand.'' The layout of the archive was similar to the floors above all be it more maze like. Rows and aisles of books shelves that twisted and winded around the room could come to dead ends or loop back on themselves. They spent more time than they really needed down there because they got lost so frequently. With every ring they cleared the number of silverfish per ring decreased but the level they were at went up. Mandeoks herbs meant they didn''t need to return to the surface at all and so just blindly pressed on into the crumbling bookcases.
-:Numbers of monsters left: 3. Books lost:20:-
They had reached the ninth ring. Mandeok had no idea how the lost book count would affect the outcome but he had attacked any silverfish he saw happily munching on a book. Neither of them had shared their respective quests and they still hadn''t formed a party. By the occasional happy look on her face he could tell she had either levelled up or her skills and spells had. They had scouted the ring and determined that it only had two silverfish. Unlike the other rings there was a solid stone wall at its centre with a great door. It held no handle nor hinges and looked immovable. There were no gaps around the edge that one might expect from warping with age. They examined every inch of it but could find no way of opening it. Jazmina reasoned that the door wouldn''t be opened until they defeated the enemies in the room. Seeing nothing wrong with the statement he agreed. So they found themselves in the corridor of the silverfish to the right of the door. If the walled off 10th ring had been a clock the door would be 12 and both silverfish were located in similar dead ends at 3 and 9. The maze connected the two straight through the 6 o''clock position. This latest foe registered their presence as soon as they entered its corridor but it didn''t move from its spot. They tried to taunt it to them. The thing refused to budge so Mandeok shuffled towards it. It moved quicker than he was prepared for and a single swipe of its three pronged tail shaved off 5% of his health. He leapt back to evade any follow up but nothing came. The silverfish just went back to sitting in the dark at the end of its corridor. They took a moment to let their meat shield heal and headed off to the others lair. It was the same thing. Again they couldn''t provoke it to them and he lost chunks of health every time it defended the space it was in. Eventually they managed to overwhelm one of them and whittle it down to its last few points of life when the unthinkable happened. It glowed with a silvery aura and gained a buff. They watched in horror as its health climbed slowly back to around 90%. Unable to continue they fled with what remained of their lives. "I think that was a <>." the mage said after they had rested enough to think straight. Mandeok just looked at her "It allows you to channel health into a team mate. There is a dungeon out West with a similar boss fight mechanic. I vaguely remember the video of the Guild fight." "So.....what''s that mean for us?" he queried She pouted as she formulated a plan "We need to kill them at the same time. Do you think you can do that, take one without my help?" The last part felt a bit insulting but Mandeok held his tongue and just nodded. Before standing up, checking the durability on his wooden staff and heading for the silverfish in the North. When she had reached the one in the Southern part of the maze she sent him a quick whisper to begin. He stood at the boundary of the lair with his weapon drawn. After her message he moved forward inch by inch. Sliding his feet slowly so as not to disturb his stance. The silverfish reared at his approach. Lashing out with its tail when he got within range. Mandeok was prepared. He had enough mana to confidently use his three staff techniques for almost a half hour but knew that in Royal Road you could attack without using mana or weapon skills. The weapons themselves functioned much the same as they would in the real world. So he decided to save his skills for when he was in a pinch. He parried the tails by side stepping and using the staff end to alter their direction. Every few parries he would launch a < > at the things legs trying to knock it off balance if even for a few seconds. When that succeeded he would raise the staff and unleash a punishing < > to any part of the insect that was in reach. Rinse and repeat.
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Chapter Four Chapter 4 It didn''t always go so smoothly and the Silverfish struck back with its own weapons at any sign of hesitation or weakness created by a failed attack. Their death match wore on for fifteen minutes solid. As it approached the 20th minute a silvery light enveloped the creature and its health rapidly dropped. A sign that at the other end Jazmina had taken her own prey to critical levels. The light faded when Mandeok struck the cracking carapace of the insect. Only for it to be surrounded in another silvery aura a moment later. It had now reached critical condition and sought to siphon back any health it had just given its counterpart. When the aura abruptly ended Mandeok knew that the other was dead. He tightened his grip on the staff and hammered the crack riddled carapace with a final < >. At the same time the Silverfish, in an act of desperation, lashed out and dealt him a deep gash across the chest. Mandeok slumped to the floor exhausted while his opponent disappeared in a puff of grey smoke. As his breathing steadied he noticed his EXP bar had risen to around 40% and as he was forcing more herbs into his mouth he felt a low rumble. He looked up to see the back wall of the dead end drop down to reveal a secret entrance to the walled off tenth ring. With what little strength he had left he crawled to the opening and peered in. There across the room at the other side from his was another opening. In it stood the mage, the small clouds of soot rising behind her implied she had ended up roasting her prey from the boundary line. As he stared they locked eyes and he smiled weakly. She broke his gaze and stared at something else in the room. What attracted her attention was situated in the middle of the room. A single podium on which the half eaten remnants of a once great book rested. Coiled around the base of the podium was a silverfish at least twice the size of those they had fought before. All Eun Seok knew was that he had one last foe to kill and that Mandeok would take some time to recover from the last fight. Before he could even move the floor gained an orange tint and a wall of flame erupted in front of him barring his entrance into the room. Through the flame he could see Jazmina with her staff raised chanting. "FLAME PILLAR!!!" She cried, followed by the whoosh of flame as a great column of fire engulfed the central podium. The shrieking wail of the last silverfish filled the room before she to melted to her death under the extreme temperatures. Mandeok was shocked but through the flame wall he watched as the mage search the corpse and tried to take what remained of the book on the podium. When it wouldn''t budge she turned and left a little disappointed. As soon as she was clear of the room the flame wall receded and mandeok made his way cautiously into the room. He neared the podium to inspect the remnants of the blackened bug. Suddenly the scorched carapace cracked and a silvery light broken through. "It''s not dead!!" Screamed Mandeok as he brutally smashed at the weakened moulting state of the Silverfish. It took repeated strikes to depleted what little he had recovered of his mana and truly finish the vile pest off. He knew because this time instead of a half melted corpse it disappeared in a flash of grey smoke. He picked up the few silvery scales it dropped and looked to the podium. As soon as he neared it the paper scraps he had collected on his dungeon crawl began to glow. He took them from his pack and they immediately escaped his grasp. Encircling the charred book on the podium. With a blinding flash and the electric tingle of Ancient magic the book was restored. It rested on the podium as though nothing had ever happened. Mandeok reach out a finger to touch it and as he did so windows appeared.
-:You have completed the archive extermination. Number of books lost: 20 :- -:You have restored the Memoir:- -:Memoir: the accumulated knowledge of past librarians. With each death a new chapter is added, a new story is written:-
He returned to the Curators office. The old man was seated at his desk pouring over yellowed scrolls when he entered. "Good your back did you manage to complete my little task?" Saying nothing he put the silvery scales on the table. "I see. That other one was already here. I sent her to do the same thing as you. She returned and was rewarded with what she desired. I told her nothing more then what she asked of me and I will do the same for you." the crafty old man chuckled to himself. "Now name your reward and if it is with in my power, and I believe you merit it, it shall be yours. Speak." Mandeok paused and contemplated his answer. A reward that best represented the effort he had put into the quest. "I would like free-access to all rings on the first level. I have still many books to read in the first three rings and have not even set foot in the fourth yet." Now it was time for the old man to consider his response. He lent back in the chair, his shoulders relaxed and his brow un-knitted. "You have a thirst for knowledge I have not seen in a long while. I offer you a choice." He opened a small drawer somewhere on his side of the desk and placed a single item on the unrolled scroll he had been reading. It resembled a thin leather bookmark with a metallic strip of copper sewn onto its length. "You may have this which will grant your wish or you may Apprentice yourself under me and study as a Scholar. In time I feel your desire for knowledge could unlock a great many of our Worlds mysteries. What say you."
-: Class change: Scholar. Do you want to convert to the Scholar class. Yes / No:-
"I''m sorry Lord Saint-Hilaire I have gained so much from this Sanctuary of Knowledge but my destiny lies elsewhere. I will make my mark on this world of that you can be sure and I will know that I did it using the knowledge I gained in these hallowed halls." He refused the class change and picked up the leather marker. "Pity. Well knowledge is the answer I give you; while wisdom is the answer you find yourself." "One last piece of advice then. If you donate money or knowledge to the Library and spend enough Public Service Points, you may be able to upgrade that to silver and gold, when the time comes. Either way I wish you luck. Good day." With that he buried his head in a new book. Mandeok left him to his reading. His EXP bar now sat at 90% and with his phase three training completed he headed to the one place he had been avoiding. **************************** The simple sign that hung above the door hide the wealth that the interior exuded rather well. The Merchants Guild; Serabourg chapter. It was situated a little off the main square right next to the exchange and the Intelligence Guild. They say that knowledge is power but they also say that money is power or looking at it another way knowledge equals wealth. The reverse would also be true; wealth equals knowledge. These two Guilds had a mutually beneficial relationship that few other Guilds enjoyed. Mandeok sauntered in through the door and right up to the counter of the merchants guild. "How do I become a merchant?" he inquired The portly man behind the counter looked the bedraggled dwarf up and down. He rubbed his fat hands together and put on the sickly sweet smile of a door to door salesman. "Dear Sir it could not be more simple. I would require you to run an errand for me but before that I must see if you are qualified. The exam will cost one gold. If you fail you may re-sit it for one gold. Every subsequent failure after that then the prices rises one gold per retry." "I see I will return when I can afford to take the exam." he said accepting the quest. With that the dwarf left. His new goal firmly fixed in his mind: Earn 1 gold no matter what. ***************************** For low level players in the first four weeks of their in-game experience they are prohibited from going beyond the city walls. As such most tried to earn enough money for some decent starting equipment through various jobs within the city. Jobs differ from quests in that you could pick up more than three but jobs could lead to quests so doing so wasn''t advisable. Mandeok didn''t care he had juggled part time jobs before and these would be no different. He went to every store and work place in town to inquire about the prospect of work. By the end of the first day he had a rough concept of how to stagger his employment hours. By the end of the first week he was dividing his in game time between; washing dishes; running errands; couriering packages; trimming hedges; sweeping hair; bussing tables; mucking stables; polishing arms; sharpening swords; gathering wood and whatever else he could find. He did the bare minimum asked of him by his employer. Anymore and they would ask him to undertake some task. Any quest could lead to a chain quest and tie up his precious slots for an undetermined amount of time. Of course he couldn''t out right refuse lest he lose what little intimacy he had cultivated with his employer. Whenever the topic came up it was always the same response. "Sorry Owner-nim but I have to assist ....." or words to that effect. The quests they gave were simple supply and delivery ones so by mid week Mandeok had learned to spot markers that would indicate the possibility of one appearing, you couldn''t very well keep sending workers out to pick up four bags of flour every half hour. Luckily for him there was always at least two to three other Players working at the time who would gladly fulfil the request. By week two he had worked part time in half the city. He appeared at the back door of one of the restaurants in the lower parts of Serabourg. It wasn''t long before someone came out to throw away the rubbish. From the shadows Mandeok made his presence known. *cough cough* "Excuse me sir do you have any need of an extra set of hands? I work quickly and don''t mind hard work." The man disappeared inside and a few moments later a man who must have been the owner appeared. He was dressed in the standard chefs uniform but the scarred and calloused hands spoke volumes of a man who had dedicated his life to honing his craft. "I can pay you just 5 coppers to wash the dishes and only for tonight?" "Sir how about..." as Mandeok spoke he saw the owners face redden and contort with anger, his thoughts were clearly plastered on his quickly furrowing brow. ''He came begging for a job and now he tries to negotiate his wage. I should show him my cleaver and send him on his way'' "....2 coppers and I''ll take the balance in scraps from the kitchen?" Mandeok continued fearlessly. He had returned from the den of a loan shark what did he have to fear from another man wielding kitchen knives. The rage left the chefs face. "One nights work. 2 copper and I''ll send you on your way with a bag of leftovers. Deal?" Mandeok agreed and followed the mountain of a man back into the warm kitchen. He could hear the clamour from the front of the restaurant as patrons; Players and Non-Players alike, filed in and out. He was given a dish towel and an apron and shown to his station by the big sink. The dishes had already started to pile up but he began immediately. With a steady pace he kept the flow of clean and dirty dishes moving. From the corner of his eye he saw aspiring players learning cooking and veteran NPCs waging war against the dinner rush. There were lulls in the kitchen when food was cooking or no new orders came through but he just stood at his stations rinsing, washing, drying and carefully stacking. At the end of the night the owner approached him. In one hand he held two coppers and in the other a small bag of leftovers. "Come back tomorrow and see if your needed." he gruffly said thrusting the bag and wage towards the wet dwarf, his beard tip was soaked from the constant dunking it had received, who gratefully accepted it and left. He headed towards his next job. During the third week he had covered most of the city in his job hunt and had struck deals with those he was currently working with. They would supplement his wage with off cuts of cloth; leftover food; metal filings; old fish; scraps of paper and even hair. Of course he still tried to receive at least half the salary they offered. They would still get his full commitment to work and its quality was always satisfactory enough that when he proposed his odd conditions they had no reason to decline, so long as the standard didn''t slip. A full day''s work for half the wages and a little trash could they be more blessed. It was in the fourth week that he received a system message while he was helping the owner of a small tailoring shop carry bolts of silk.
-:Title earned: You have earned the title Part-timer. Townsfolk find you a diligent hard worker but they may not always pay your wage in coin. Fame increased by 10: +10 fame:-
As soon as he earned that the bags of junk they gave him to make up the rest of his wage increased. It seemed the little fame from the strange title prompted the increase in his wage. Still it took him another four weeks to save enough coin to make 1 gold. The man behind the bars of the exchange window smiled warmly as he saw the young man approach. "Welcome back you looking for more work?" "No sorry not at the moment. If you don''t mind could you convert these into gold." The last word caused the players in the exchange to prick up their ears. Greedy eyes narrowed in the direction of the man at the counter as he emptied into the collection plate a small mountain of copper coins. It overflowed and needed two more plates just to hold it all. "Alright let''s just see then shall we." the old man said as he rolled up his sleeves. First he counted out stacks of 100 and converted them into 1 silver piece. When all stacks of a hundred had been made from the copper pile he turned to the silver pile and counted it in to stacks of a hundred. When he had one full stack he changed it for a single gold piece. All in all the change Mandeok had dumped on the poor man amounted to a little short of two gold. This was of course after the exchange had deduced its transaction fee. Having worked there previously Mandeoks rate was lowered slightly. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Wasting no time he scooped his money into his bags and headed for the door. Unscrupulous shadows followed him, hoping to ambush him should he leave the safety of the city gates. Unfortunately for them he didn''t. He headed straight across the road and into the Merchants Guild. He thought of going straight to the counter but instead pulled up a stool in the open area of the Guild Hall. He sat there for a few hours watching and listening. In that time several human Players came and got their quest to become Merchants and each time it was the same. Either the Owner or the Guild Master needed 300 rabbits pelts urgently and with that they would pass the player a single gold coin. They were even given a generous three day time limit. After the fifth time he had seen enough. Mandeok strode up to the counter and placed a single gold coin before the merchant. "I''ve come to take the merchants exam please." "Ah yes one moment please." The man behind the counter was a little entranced by the coins lustre to start with but he quickly recovered and proceeded to pull out a rather large file from under the desk. "I had this prepared the moment you left the last time." Mandeok swallowed hard. If this thing was the test it would surely be like sitting SATs; the bar exam; the exam to get a medical license and a pop quiz from MENSA all rolled into one. Where opening the test was part of the test. "I had the Intelligence guild use their contacts in the Rogues guild to keep tabs on you and this is the dossier of their findings." All Mandeok gathered from that was that his activities over the past few weeks had become some sort of Player quest for those of the Rogue profession. "The results are quite surprising but nothing here indicates you acquired your wealth through more unsavoury means. " "Since I''ve seen all the effort you''ve put in, I think you have the talent to become a merchant. Very industrious. You may lack a little of the greed for money that drives most merchant but that may not be such a bad thing. Only time will tell." He closed the file "One copper please." ''This filcher even now he''s trying to squeeze more money from me.'' Mandeoks mind shouted curses at the fat man but his face betrayed none of that, instead he calmly reached into his pockets and put a single copper piece down on the counter. The merchant snatched it up. "Sign here and here." He produced a scroll of paper that read Guild Charter which Mandeok signed where indicated. "And these are yours." the fat man slid two items across the counter towards the dwarf. The first was a single gold coin and the second was a single copper coin that a hole had been punched through. A strap of leather had been a fixed to it to make it into a crude bracelet. When he touched it a window appeared
-: Class change: Merchant. Do you want to convert to the Merchant class. Yes / No:-
This time when the class change box appeared in pressed yes without a second thought.
-: Congratulations you have chosen your class. All stats increased by 20 points. +20 all stats:- -: New skill: Trade (Merchant class skill):- -: New skill: Barter (Merchant class skill):-
The merchant then gave him his very first Ledger; for recording accounts and purchases. A truly invaluable tool for the merchant profession. The last thing Mandeok did before logging out for the night was make an investment in his new profession. He bought as many merchant bags as he could for one gold. ***************************** An elderly gentleman in a dark suit sat in the branches main office. He had lost interest in the conversation and was staring out the window when his eyes caught a strange sight. "Manager, who is that man over there." he used the polished black cane to gesture beyond the glass. "President-nim you don''t expect me to know every...oh actually I do know that gentleman." the bank manager replied having followed the canes length to its target currently at the tellers window. "Mr. Eun Seok-nim. He had a substantial account with us but closed it out a little while ago. He only operates a small checking account currently." "Ohoho." the President of Happy Sunshine Loans had only stopped in by the more legitimate face of his company to hear how business was going. The fact Eun Seok had been in there checking his interest had come through and was enough to cover his expenses was just convenient timing. "Manager I want all information you have on that client." "Yes President-nim, right away." ***************************** Eun seok knew that he had now taken his first steps on the long and difficult road of commerce. He stood in front of Admiral Yi reviewing the growing number of articles on the wall. He had filled in and updated them every time he logged out. He read them over before he logged in just to firmly set the sessions goal in mind. Right now he had ticked off several bullets points. On the page called starting goals he''d marked off; Gained maximum stats through training hall Gained maximum stats through library Gained endurance stat And next to it on a page titled "What kills a Merchant" he had ticked off the sentence; Poison Other points on this page included; Wild Beasts/Monsters, PLAYERS, Hired Mercenaries, the Weather, MORE PLAYERS and Bleeding. The other things he had gained during his training had been written down on his ''Character'' page. On the line marked class he had written MERCHANT followed by the date and level he had obtained it at. Happy at the progress he had made he slipped into the capsule and with a flash was back in Serabourg. Like always the streets were full of people calling for items, trades and parties. Mandeok just walked past them all having only a few specific places he needed to be. Thanks to acquiring his class he had now unlocked the skill cap, it was a limit set on the amount of skills a player without a class could learn; a pitiful ten. While he still had a couple slots open it was less worrying now that the limiter had been removed. With all the jobs he had done over the city he had a fair idea of the best places to acquire the rest of the skills he desired. The trick now would be meeting any prerequisite stats or skill levels. His overall level itself was level 1 around 97%. It had been a struggle just to keep it this low but somehow he had prevailed until he received his chosen class. He entered the restaurant, one of the many he had worked in before but by far the most superior, and found the owner. As usual the man was busy in the kitchen tossing rice above a roaring flame. "Back again eh kid, well dishes are in the back." "Do you have anything else that needs done as well." "Potatoes are in the back to, ask those already there if you don''t know how to peel them." came the gruff reply as the flames grasped at the great pan. After washing the few dishes that were piled up he headed to the back. In the storeroom he found two other players hard at work peeling great sacks of spuds. "Knife. Stool, see." came a weathered voice from a weathered face. The old man sitting behind the door handed him a small peeler and pointed him to a corner stool. Mandeok sat down and grabbed the first potatoes from the sack. His first attempts were dreadful, deep gashes and hacks in the poor tuber. So much so that the old man leapt off his chair when he reached for another from the sack. "No lad like this. See." with measured strokes he passed the blade across the surface of Mandeoks botched attempt. In a short time he had salvaged enough to still use it. "Gentle, delicately. See." and with that he handed back the knife as he toddled back to his post. On the second one Mandeok took his time. His dwarf hands firmly grasped the peeler as it shaved off layers of tough skin. The other apprentices had long finished by the time he was half way done but he was rewarded for his patience none the less
-:Level Up: Handicraft (Beginner level: 2(00.0%)):-
He had been very conscious of it slowly creeping up every time he picked herbs in the fields and doing the dishes. Now it was coming into its own. The rewards were quick to show themselves as the next sack took half the time. And by the third one he could almost keep up with the other two players. The old man in the corner just nodded silently at the young dwarf''s progress. After a week of dishes and potatoes one of his companion peelers asked about learning cooking. It was apparently what they had come to learn. ''Great minds'' thought Mandeok as he watched the head chefs reply. "Any Apprentices who wish to learn Cooking front and centre." bellowed the owner. The other two joined the third in a line in front of the Master of the Kitchen. He held a presence like a Commander inspecting the troops. He grabbed a plate from somewhere and held it under their noses. "This is our signature dish. I got the recipe during my days as a mercenary from a Foreigner like yourselves." On the plate was a round of breaded batter. When the chef cut into it and the most wonderful smell of hot curry spices filled the room. Overflowing the senses of the three would-be trainees. He set the dish down on a counter next to the group. "Your job is to recreate that dish. Take your time now to study its textures, scents and flavors. Then when you''re ready to try tell me and I''ll have one of our regulars over see you. If you fail you leave MY kitchen."
-:Accept Quest: Yes/ No:-
The three obviously had similar ideas as they each tried to <> it. The first grinned confidently and asked to begin preparing it. The Owner and the rest of the staff smirked but allowed it. Just like that there were two. Once again they must have been on similar wavelengths as both reached for a half to taste. It had a very delicate flavour that surprised Eun Seok, he had expected it to be spicier but like this he felt he could eat two or three in one sitting. Their tasting over they returned to the potatoes. They were never rejoined by the first player. A few days later the second got up and left to attempt the challenge. Mandeok and he had used every spare moment they had had since taking up the quest to observe the other chefs and examine the ingredients and spices on hand in the kitchen. Mandeoks Herbology soon hit Beginner level 3, as he used it on every vegetable he could, and his Handicraft wasn''t far behind. ''Just make curry bread. The quest is far too simple or was it designed to cause you to over think the solution.'' Unknown to Mandeok, who contemplated the problem one potato at a time in the darkened storeroom, the first player had failed. He had ignored the ingredients provided and instead made the sauce from scratch before sealing it in dough, he also made, rolling it in bread crumbs and frying it. His mistake was adding rice instead of potato to the roux. The second fared a little better. He combined the ingredients provided so at least the roux was correct. However when they bit into it the spiciness was overpowering. All that remained was Mandeok, still peeling potatoes. Another couple of days passed before he emerged from the store room in a Sadako like fashion. The chef''s would have forgotten he was there if not for the fresh mounds of peeled spuds that appeared daily. "Head Chef-nim I think I''m ready to take your test." he tried to sound confident but in his mind all he could think was ''if I don''t I may go mad before I''ve found an answer.'' He was escorted to a work station with a few ingredients already on it. "Here''s the basics but you can add anything else you like to it and prepare it in any order you choose. I''ll leave you under the care of our Roundsman. You can start when you like. If you make a mistake you may make another as long as you have enough ingredients and the test ends when you present me with one your happy with." With that the Lord of the Kitchen left Mandeok alone with the weary looking Roundsman. In front of him was a medium sized ball of dough; a pot of roux; a large plate of bread crumbs and a couple of spice racks. He tried to recall the mellowness of the curry he had tasted before he tested the curry roux. small chucks of potato and other vegetables were visible in the thick sauce. The first thing that hit him was the spiciness of the roux. As fire belched froth from his mouth he desperately tried to drink some milk. Not at all like the flavour he remembered. Next he took small spoonful''s of the sauce and poured them on to little dishes. To these he added a little of the spices. These samples were then tasted but none matched the delicate flavour. The Roundsman silently watched him testing combinations of spices. He remembered his own trail at the hands of the Head Chef and winced. Mandeok had now moved on to other possibilities. He searched high and low with a little of the roux''s spiciness on his lips he tried different vegetables to reduce the burning. When he licked his lips it had lessened a little but was still present. He looked at the thing in his hand. His skills told him it was a Wild Onion. He had actually eaten many of them during his time in the fields, long before they knew what they were. He took a bigger bite but that didn''t mellow the flavour any further. ''One piece of the puzzle?''
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Chapter Five Chapter 5 He now was more focused in his hunt of the kitchen. It paid off. A single jar of something labelled as Pickled Wild Onions lay at the back of the storehouse. He made three new sample dishes and asked his supervisor if he could use a knife. To the first he strained in some of the juice from the jar, to the second he added long strips of the pickled wild onion and to the third he mixed in diced onion pieces. The adjudicator was pleasantly surprised by the deftness with which he handled the small knife he had given him to use. With that he tasted the three dishes. Moving from right to left they decreased in spiciness and almost attained the same level of delicacy as the restaurants signature dish. It was do or die time now. He diced what remained of the pickled wild onion; threw it in the roux pot and began to gently heat it. While it simmered he set about shaping the dough. He tore off a fist size piece and rolled it into a ball. Slowly he pushed his thick dwarven finger into the centre before widening the hole into a deep bowl shape. To this he ladled a small portion of the sauce mix and sealed it by closing the dough around it. He held it in his hands applying just enough pressure to not let any escape. He set it down in the bread crumbs and began to roll it around. Once it had an even coating Mandeok set about heating the oil in the pan. It took a few minutes to reach a proper heat, as indicated by a head nod from the observer, before he could fry the ball. He flattened it a little before he placed it in the oil. It fizzed and spluttered magnificently before becoming a lovely deep brown colour, a step before too burnt. All that remained was to take it out; put it on a plate and present it for evaluation. The Head Chef looked at the brown mound on the plate. ''No points for style'' he thought ''but the proof is in the pudding as they say.'' He pierced it with a fork and lifted the whole thing off the plate. He had yet to confer with the invigilator so he was testing the coating and the dough''s consistency. It held together even as he raised it higher above the plate towards his mouth. A single great gnashing of teeth and the curry sauce bled onto the plate below. A huge bite mark had reduced the dish by a half. The Head Chef passed it round his mouth a couple of times before swallowing it. He turned to the Roundsman and they began talking in hushed tones. Mandeok would have just waited but he had an uncontrollable desire to know how his dish tasted. As though reading his mind the old man that had watched over them in the store room pushed the plate towards him with a smile. ''You don''t have to tell me twice'' The sauce oozed out of the bite mark as another was inflict on its opposite side. Its creator savoured the flavour. It was delicate but not as delicate as the first dish had been. That by no means meant it was bad and he enjoyed it even more because for the last week he had done nothing but think of curry. Lost in his flavour heaven he didn''t see the Head Chef turn back to level the verdict. A less then subtle clearing of the throat brought him back from a land where the clouds were yellow and smelled like spices. "You pass; barely. Your technique is appalling but you did manage to grasp the recipe. If not in the right proportions." "I leave your training to my father as I have more than enough keeping this lot in line. Now back to work before the evening rush you lazy dogs." Mandeok stared blankly at the old man as a single word echoed in his head, ''Father''. Without a word the old man raised a hand in greeting "Yo." His next shift at the restaurant started out the same but after he had finished several sacks the old man pulled him to one side. There was a chopping board and two knives. The old man picked up one and began preparing the potatoes. He sliced and diced them in every which way imaginable. His frail hands were firm and steady as they moved gracefully through the motions. At the end he placed a potato in front of Mandeok and gestured to the second knife. "Understand, easy. See?" *************************** Since he had left home to attend university in Seoul Eun Seok had not done much cooking for himself. He had always been thankful for his mothers monthly care packages and now the man who could barely boil water let alone cook an egg was julienne and brunoise cutting vegetables. After he would be forced to spend hours cutting leaf herbs en chiffonade. Made even easier when he graduated to using the mezzaluna. The jittery old man was beating his houchou sabaki into the patient dwarf one vegetable at a time. When his handicraft hit level 3 he received notification that he could now learn tailoring and blacksmithing as well as another window
-:New skill: Cooking. Do you wish to learn Cooking? -:Accept: Yes / No:-
Once he accepted his formal training in the culinary arts was over. Now began the long road to becoming a Master Chef. He was escorted from the storehouse, through the kitchen and upstairs to the private living quarters of the owner and his family. There was a small well stocked kitchen just off the sitting area. It was in front of this stove that Mandeok got to grips with actual cooking. Here his introduction to boiling, frying and temperature control began. Barbecuing; the most base of all. Slabs of meat sizzling over open flame. It didn''t matter if he burned it as the flavour was only enhanced by the char-grill coating. It was primal. Coming from an age where mans control over fire had just begun. From these humble beginnings fire was tempered with metal and roasting gave more control over cooking. Chunks of meat or whole beasts rotated slowly on a spit. Before strips were thrown in a pan and fried, more technique gave way to saut¨¦ing and stir frying. After dry heat came wet. Fire and water met and under the Old Masters watchful eye he boiled; blanched; braised; coddled; infused; poached; simmered; smothered; steamed; steeped and stewed his way through over a hundred dishes. The lessons didn''t stop even after the old man doused the flames. Smoking; with the addition of salt-curing and drying could preserve foods for months even without a preservation spell but that wasn''t the only thing they used smoking for. They treated cheese, fruits and vegetables. Making a tea with a particularly strong aroma. As a token lesson the old man even showed the preparation of a smoked beer. When he sampled it Mandeok could almost taste the smoke in the malted barley. The old man clinked his glass to his latest Apprentice. "I''ve taught you all I can. You should go out and find new flavours. Easy see." The old man shot him a toothy grin before going back to sipping his beer. That first night as a fully fledged Cook Mandeok spent sampling what remained of the leftovers he had been paid with. Some of the fish had gone off but thanks to his hard gained poison resistance he felt no adverse affects. He identified and ate scraps of over thirty dishes. His now trained palette could detect the subtle key changes in flavour. The tones of the dishes gave way to the techniques that may have been used in its creation. His knowledge of the dishes was still too shallow to determine the ingredients used and in what proportion. When he exited the capsule, after spending a couple hours in-game just eating, he was left with a powerful desire to eat something. He also had a desire to test out how far his knowledge could be exchanged between in-game and reality. Many forum posts seemed to indicate that players who took crafting professions that they had a knowledge of from real life found that their skills improved after applying them in-game. He dipped into his meagre monthly expenses and headed out to his nearest Gogigui. He stopped on the street in front of the small grill-bar. ''What if I get sick'' It was a thought that had crawled into his mind as he was thinking of what he was going to cook and how. ''My understanding of the culinary arts is still to naive. If its undercooked and makes me sick then I''ll have to miss at minimum one day.'' While he mopped around his cupboard apartment he would miss four days worth of in-game experiences. It was valuable time that he doubted he could make up for later on. The risk was too great in his mind. He had just found purpose and direction in his life if he lost the momentum he would no doubt tumble back into his old routine. He headed home to eat some leftovers and sleep. *********************************** Jazmina grumbled as she moved across the blistering sands. After she had received her reward from that snake of a curator she had followed its message and hidden clues far from Serabourg. It took her past Baran village and over the Lavias/Ulken mountain ranges. Into the Desert of Tranquillity. To pleasant a name for the current hell she was in. By day the sun beat down mercilessly draining her of sweat, stamina and rational thought, Tranquil because the punishing heat stripped her of all else. She had then, using Real World logic, tried to travel only at night. SUICIDE! The strong desert creatures of the day became demon beasts of monstrous proportions when the night effect of +30% was added to them. Forced to walk in the daytime she hoped she could survive long enough to reach either her hidden destination or one of the scattered desert dwellings. Her heavy cloak gone in favour of a more practical one even if it lowered her meagre defence. The only good thing about the miles and miles of sand and sun was that she gained a small buff. In Royal Road some places were like that. The spells of ice mages got stronger in colder climates but here, thanks to her high affinity with fire magic, she found her own spells more powerful. The down side being that beasts of the desert also had a moderate to high resistance to fire. ''At least I beat that damn Dwraf.'' It was the only thought that kept her going. She hadn''t formed a party with him on purpose, making sure to land all the killing blows just to steal all the EXP and in the Boss fight she had even barred his way into the room completely. True the pre boss fight had caused the destruction of around a hundred books but she hadn''t cared. ''He must have been completely screwed.'' she chuckled as she inched her way through the sand supporting herself on her staff. Thoughts welled up of all the times he had defended and protected her but she forced them aside and focused on his shocked face. He had looked half dead crawling toward the door before she erected her Flame Wall. Another pang of guilt that she suppressed. She stumbled and half rolled half slide to the bottom of the dune she had been traversing. She was picking herself up when several jet black shapes rose from the sand around her; Heavy Armoured Scorpions. Their claws clacked in expectance and their cruelly curved bard tail flicked in preparation. Beads of poison formed at the tip just waiting for the moment to strike. Jazmina was already in a foul mood and this didn''t help. Without a second thought she threw a fireball. The normal ball of flame now felt like a small sun as she gathered it in her outstretch palm. When it hit the hard armour of the closest scorpion it merely bounced off leaving only a slight scorch mark on the durable carapace. They advanced menacingly lashing their tails. She swore very loudly and resigned herself to use one of her most powerful spell. It required a little more preparation then the enemy would allow. They would be in range to leap at her soon. ''Sweeping Flame.'' A gout of flame flowed left to right following her moving staff hand. The wave of flame pushed the oncoming enemy back. It gave her a few more precious seconds, just enough time to channel her mana intensive spell. ''Plasma Lance.'' ******************************** Hundreds of miles away a small figure sat in front of the gates of Serabourg castle. He had been there for several hours hunched over a small fire. Occasionally he grabbed handfuls of wood from the dwindling piles around him and sacrificed them on his pyre. A couple of pots simmered away as he used the frying pan to beat back the flames. He was using all the techniques of cooking he had learned to see if he couldn''t enhance the effects he gained from the herbs he usually gathered. Saut¨¦ed stems; leaf salads; tubers mashed or fried. He brought all the techniques he''d learned to bare against these wild greens. Unfortunately after hours of cooking he could only enhance the taste slightly. Cooking wild greens only had a limited effect on raising his Cooking skills level. It had crept up painfully slowly till around 75% then stopped. Level 1 (75%) was the extent of cooking just wild greens. To raise it any higher he would have to expand the variety of ingredients he used. With predatorily eyes to gazed at the helpless bunnies frolicking in the field behind him. ''I wonder what rabbit meat would taste like?'' He swallowed his saliva and tightened his grip on Namu Mangchi before rushing the nearest rabbit. Drooling like a man who hadn''t eaten in weeks he brought the thickest end down on the poor creature. The wood reverberated in his hands and shattered into pieces. The rabbit stumbled around in a dazed condition as its attacker looked at the pile of wood chips at his feet. His crude weapon had served him well while clearing the archive but if he had bothered to check he would have seen that it was down to a single point of durability. That last < > had been enough to wipe away that final point. While he was assessing any useable chunks his prey came round. It was now hopping mad and made a pounce for its would be attacker. A tiny ball of teeth, feet and fury. Both fought like they were possessed. At times the rabbit would have the upper hand before a well placed dwarven fist or kick would tip the balance. Only for a swift rabbit punch to reverse it once more. Their struggle continued for a good couple of hours before, both bloody and exhausted, Mandeok caught it with a jab as it made a final desperate lunge. As the small cuddly bunny sought to sink its buck teeth into the soft area of the dwarf''s throat. He disappeared in a flash of gray smoke and Mandeok collapsed to the ground breathless.
-: Class Restriction:- -: You receive no experience from Hunting :- -: You receive no experience from the completion of Non Class specific quests :-
************************************* Another video appeared online. It would become the third in the series of the Wildman shorts. This time players wet themselves over the absurd fight between the Wildman of Sereabourg and a bunny rabbit. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Most players upon leaving their chosen cities after the first four weeks had hunted rabbits so they all understood its capabilities. Normally new players partied up and dispatched rabbits in a few hits before moving on to things that would prove a bit more of a challenge like foxes and wolves. Most were surprised by the apparent aggression of this particular rabbit. Biting and gouging in the mud and blood of the field the dwarf finally conquered his foe. ************************************** Mandeok sat recovering and looked out across the field. He watched other players hunting and the almost constant flow of people in and out of the castle ground. Enviously he watched as those who had chosen professions from the combat series deftly dealt with rabbits, foxes and wolves. Even if they were only wearing low grade armour. Compared to Mandeoks rags the difference in protection was overwhelming. He sat there cursing his competitors and his weak class when a single thought occurred o him. Like a ray of light it cut through the black aura that surrounded him. ''To a merchant they aren''t competition they are customers.'' With this burst of enlightenment Mandeok gathered himself up and headed back to town to sell what he''d gathered and try to find a weapon that would make his life and death struggles against the local vermin a little easier. Off the main street was a small shop. A tiny bell chimed as he opened the weathered door. The shop keeper looked up as the dwarf weaved his way through the shelves of bottles and herbs. There were several Alchemy stores in Serabourg but this was the only Apothecary. Potions and poisons the ''Serpents Gall'' had it all and he had been slowly building his relationship with the owner by selling his herbs exclusively to this store. "Well, well. I was just about to stress out over this order and who should appear but one of my preferred suppliers." Although the elf behind the counter looked middle aged Mandeok knew that they''re natural longevity could be misleading. The increase in his handicraft and herbology had lead to an increase in the quality of the herbs he picked. Maybe it was because of this that the owner seemed to have more faith in him than usual. "I''ve been granted a commission to supply an expeditionary force with some healing potions. Of course it isn''t just me the other shops have similar orders. It''s a big force." he continued. For a shop owner gaining this kind of commission was a huge opportunity that they couldn''t miss. Mandeoks instincts pricked up. This conversation was becoming very interesting. "Lately your products quality has increased or maybe because your quality''s increased I feel I can leave this to you. I need these herbs in these quantities. Can you do it?" with that he handed the dwarf a simple list of ingredients. Mandeok poured over the list. Most of the items were easy enough to gather from the fields outside the citadel. The difficult part of it would be gathering the quantities that would be required. "I should be able to." He accepted the quest window as soon as it popped up. He didn''t even need to think about whether or not it would be a waste of a quest slot. The only new information the window gave was a time limit of a week. "Alright. Pierre deal with the rest of the business while I make a start on our rush orders." From behind him a figure silently appeared. He was dressed in clothes that didn''t go with the rest of the store. The mismatched set marked him as a Player, the clothes and the way he had appeared seemed to indicate proficiency in a rogue profession. He gave a nod to indicate that their business could begin and Mandeok unloaded his herbs onto the countertop. Pierre sorted them into piles of similar plants and then divided those piles by quality. Mandeok took out his accounts ledger as Pierre tallied up some figures in his head. "Usual price so total 2 gold 10." Mandeok double checked the figure he had calculated. The price was a little more than he had thought but that just went to show the power of his class. He nodded, picking up the fee that was offered he turned to leave when a call from the back stopped him. "Mandeok a moment if you please." He stepped through the door behind the counter and entered another world. The back of the store had a glass roof and was more like a greenhouse. Great bushels of exotic herbs grew in pots under shafts of golden sunlight. The elf was bent over a table at the far side trimming some leaves from a particularly large plant. Without moving to acknowledge the dwarf he pointed to a shelf near the door. On it were several tomes and a lot of dust. "Blue book third from the right. It might help you fill my order." Mandeok stretched out his hand to reach for it. He had to stand on his tip toes to just reach the books base. As soon as his finger tips brushed its aged spine a message appeared.
-: You have obtained skill book: Medical Botany:-
He was shocked. A skill book was a very rare item and he had just been handed one for free. The last words stuck in his craw. Nothing in Royal Road came for free. If the cost wasn''t obvious it would definitely be paid later. It obviously showed on his face as the elf followed up with. "Consider it any investment. Just take it in good faith and get out of here. My herbs won''t pick themselves." Mandeok didn''t need to be told twice. He plucked the volume from the shelf and raced out into the street. He took a deep breath and cracked its spine. As he walked back to the main gate he read it cover to cover. He had to read it twice before the skill prompt appeared.
-:Learn skill: Medical Botany:- -:Yes / No:-
He accepted and the book disappeared. Unlike his herbology; medical botany was a more specific skill. Herbology gave information about the plant and suggested some of its uses while medical botany only identified medical herbs but gave detailed techniques to extract and process them. Taken with his Cooking he could now utilise 75% of what he harvested. That would grow to 100% with the addition of the Alchemy skill. Once more he entered the fields to hunt his favoured prey: inanimate objects. ***************************** When he returned he found the shop locked and the storefront darkened. He banged on the door with his solid dwarven fist until a weary eyed Pierre begrudgingly opened the door a crack. "Sorry we''re not open." "I''ve got the order." The man''s eyes seemed to have trouble focusing. A cry came from inside "If that''s Mandeok then damn it Pierre let him in!" The calm atmosphere of the Apothecary was gone. Plumes of colourful smoke billowed out of the back room. When Pierre led him through they were confronted by the elf angrily driving a nail into a wooden figurine on the wall. The owner was mumbling black words under his breath but stopped long enough to engage his supplier. "Down to business. Pierre see to it." before he refocused all his energy on the effigy. The merchant pilled high the items he had been requested to gather. The rogue mechanically began sorting and categorising them. It was a silence only men could make; were nothing needed to be said. Mandeok was the first to break it as another yelp of pain came from the back room. "What''s happened to make the Owner so upset?" A harmless question but one that made the weary rogue sigh and look even more dejected. As though those words had increased the burden he was carrying. "One of our other employees finished his four weeks here and demanded to be taught Alchemy." Mandeok listened intently to the man''s every word. It was true that sometimes he saw other players helping in the store when he came but that was very rarely. "When the Owner refused the guy got abusive and quit. Right then and there." "With this big order we needed everyone so as to complete it on time. Now we''re a man down and to rub salt into the Owners wounds rumours have spread that he is now working for one of the Alchemy shops by the main square." He could understand, regardless of how long it had been out or how many played it. Some people still had a sense of entitlement when dealing with NPC''s. As he scooped up his fee for the delivery he received the notification saying he had completed the quest. It was followed by a second box.
-:Congratulations you have levelled up. Gained five stat points to distributed :-
It was his first level up since he started the game. As he checked his character information he was overcome by a wave of emotion that he hadn''t expected from simply seeing ''Level: 2 (0.0%)''. Still in the euphoria of the momentous achievement he made the mistake of asking Pierre. "Do you need anything else." The man opened his mouth to speak when a voice from the back room cried. "Pierre show Mandeok how to start preparing the herbs he brought." He was snapped out of his rosy world by the sudden realisation of what was about to happen. ''Slave Labour. This is the price I have to pay for that skill book.'' Immediately he was shown to a table in the back room and taken through the first steps of preparing the herbs. Pierre took him through the stages required to prune, cut and ready the plants for drying. Thanks to Mandeoks handicraft he nimbly plucked stems and petals before laying them on mesh racks. Pierre was astounded by the speed at which the dwarf handled the herbs. They quickly moved on to the next stages. The dry herbs that were there before were ground down into a fine powder and then added to bubbling vats. Stems and roots were mashed and stewed. Because of the way they were prepared Mandeok saw small increases to his Cooking and Handicraft levels. These concoctions were distilled and dripped into big jars before being decanted into small bottles. labelled and left to cool. The back table soon filled up with corked bottles. This continued on for the last two days of the requests time limit. Mandeoks hands were a blur and his skill in gathering herbs had allowed an increase in both production and quality of the potions they created. Almost 2000 potions were crafted and as he put the cork in the final one.
-:New skill: Alchemy. -: Do you wish to learn Alchemy?:- -:Yes / No:-
He let out a long sigh as he accepted the fruits of his forced labour. The Owner crated them up and headed out to deliver them to the local garrison. He had decided to close the store for a couple of days so Pierre headed off in one direction and after saying goodbye Mandeok headed in the direction of his selected destinations: Blacksmithing and Tailoring. Of course like all major cities all main professions were represented by Guild buildings but these were not the places he was heading to. His destinations were shops as he felt he would gain more from learning from them than the Guilds. For tailoring he had chosen the shop ''Old Lace'' and ''The Dwarven Striker'' for blacksmithing. The rows of streets in the citadel were, as always, packed with busy Players and NPCs going about their business. Through the crowds a small figure nimbly picked his way before disappearing into one of the stores. The store was neatly laid out. Tasteful window displays, organised rows of thread spools and carefully stacked shelves of fabric rolls. Behind the small polished maple counter sat an elderly lady in a high backed chair knitting. She raised her eyes briefly from the pattern when her newest customer entered with the gentle tinkling of the bell. "Good afternoon. How may I help you today Master Dwarf?" She greeted him with a slight smile. A dignified old seamstress he wouldn''t gain anything if he wasn''t sincere and honest about his intentions. The years of experience could be clearly seen in each and every wrinkle on her face and by how steadily she purled her current piece. "Hello. I have come to learn how to sew and was wondering if you would be so kind as to show me the basics." The needles came together and the wool was placed delicately on the counter top. "Hands." He complied with the gentle command and held them out for her inspection. She took them in her own and examined them carefully. Her calloused finger tips moved over every inch of the dwarfs rough hands. She nodded approvingly. "If you can show me an example of your work I''ll decide whether or not to train you further." "...may I use the Dress Form. Do you have one in my size?" She smiled warmly at this question and went back to her knitting. "I''ll dig it out for you when you''re ready to put your fabrics together." Mandeok bought a few sewing implements and left contented. It wasn''t a quest but more of a test and now the hardest thing would be gathering the materials he may need. He could buy them from vendors but without any skill in tailoring he would waste more material then he needed to make anything. Wasted material would be wasted money. Lost in thought he once more found himself before the gates of the citadel. He took a few minutes to watch players coming and going through the portcullis. Most who returned to the city immediately sought out buyers for their japtem, people to repair their gear and heal their wounds. They bought rye bread and refilled their canteens at the fountain before heading back to the fields to hunt. Thousands of players spending upwards of fifty coppers a time, every time they returned to town. The merchants eye he was cultivating within himself sparkled brightly. The cogs in his brain worked feverishly as he continued to observe the flow of this Player driven economy.
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Chapter Six Chapter 6 Players were soon bottle necking outside the gates to Serabourg. The cause of this seemed to be a small store that had suddenly shot up just beyond the entrance way. It was manned by a single dwarf who was dividing his time between cooking and buying japtem from Players. a crude sign next to him indicated the opening times of the small stall and the current prices for what it sold.
Open: 8 till 2 - 5 till 11 -: Seasoned meat skewers: 15 coppers. :- -: Mana tea: 10 coppers.:- -: Blood stopper compress: 10 coppers. :- -: Minor poison antidotes: 10 coppers. :- -: Buying Japtem: Negotiable. :-
The prices were very reasonable so many Players quickly visited the stall and many were return customers. With all the rabbit and wolf meat they sold him he was able to increase his Cooking skill level. With its increase to two his meals were able to increase Stamina Recovery. His Alchemy''s skill level also increased by small amounts and his Handicraft was enhancing the effects of all of them. The most rewarding factor was that for every japtem trade deal he negotiated he recieved an increase of a few percent to his character level. He purchased rabbit; fox and the occasional wolf pelt. The rest of their wares seemed to be broken equipment and other vendor trash. A fang or claw sometimes turned up but the players tended to keep these trophies to themselves and anything rarer they kept to seek greater profits from selling. When the appointed time was reached the dwarf signalled to his customers and bowed deeply. "Thank you for frequenting this small stall. If you are satisfied with our service please allow me to add you to our Customer Mailing list." With that he sent friend requests to all those gathered there, many accepted before they left. In Royal Road networking between Players was just as important as networking between NPCs. Finding people you enjoyed partying with was relatively easy but to find crafting professionals or reliable merchants was more difficult. To find one right at the begining of their journey was incredible but to find one that was willing to grow with them was a Godsend. Most merchants dealt primarily with higher level Players and NPCs. They carried out deals and trades that would net them huge profits but always ran the risk of massive losses. The razor edged tight rope of the merchant profession. Mandeok wasnt like that. He would build his reputation with these fellow newbies so that as they grew they would come back to him in turn allowing his own growth. His bags had quickly filled up with fur and junk so it was into town to sell a few of the items. Normally such junk was almost worthless but thanks to his merchant skills, and his frequent use of specific shops, he was able to earn a few coppers more on each item. But even then he was left with several bags of broken equipment. Equipment could be repaired as long as its durability didnt fall below one but once it did there was no hope of repairing it and its resale value hit rock bottom. This fact didnt bother Mandeok as now he had more raw materials to practice on. A broken linen robe still had value as a piece of linen. The problem was the slowly growing piles of broken weapons that were now taking up bag space. To solve this space issue he decided a trip to the Dwarven Striker was in order. The heat from the forges was evident even at the front of the smithy''s small store. The old man behind the stone counter top greeted him warmly. "My ol'' master used to say that there were three things in life you couldn''t do: keep an elf from the forest, an orc from war or a dwarf from the forge. So what can i do for you." Hoisting two heavy bags onto the counter Mandeok replied "Can you melt these down?" The owner assessed the articles in the bags one by one as he pulled them out. He set them down in piles and once he had reached the bottom of the bottomless bag he turned back to his customer. "Shouldn''t be a problem. It''ll be good experience for the juniors..." He caught the dwarf gazing at some of the tools on the wall racks behind him. "...but why don''t you just come back here and i''ll show you how to do it instead?" "...." "Either way you won''t get much back from them." The bushy bearded dwarf just nodded in agreement and followed the older man back to the furnance carrying most of the pile with him. The small pieces were dumped into the crucible to melt. While the larger pieces would require to be broken down further before following a similar fate. To do this the owner heated it till it glowed red-orange and cut off chunks using the chisel in the hardy hole. The main piece was returned to the heat while the newly detached chunks ended up in the melting pot. Broken swords, knives and armour joined arrowheads and other metal pieces in the molten container. The old balcksmith worked the bellows to raise the temperature of the funrnace before showing Mandeok how to make sand moulds. Every so often he would return to the bellows to masterfully control the heat of the process. When he was satified with the colour of the liquid he removed the whole crucibe from the heat and began pouring it slowly into the casts. After they had cooled and set he cracked open the casing, popping out the fist sized ingots of metal. "It''ll be easier if you set up the moulds before you start melting, just until you get the hang of tempering the heat." "Thank you. What sort of rate will you charge for usage?" The old man picked up two of the better looking ingots as he mulled over the question. You could tell his mind was whirring away, behind that calm expression, weighting up all the costs of materials used and the time one of his workplaces would be out of action. "These two will cover todays tutorial and a small token of a silver per use should square us up nicely." "If i pay you as i enter will the term of usage end when i exit the shop?" ".....deal." With a simple question Mandeoks merchants talents had squeezed maxium profit out of minimum investment. A single silver coin would last him until he exited the forge. From his experience in both the Training Hall and the Libary he knew he could spend hours at the forge milking that fee. With such access to the Dwarven Striker he no longer needed to worry, blacksmithing would come in time. Tailoring too if he could succed in the Old Lace''s test. He returned to the area he had set up shop and opened up just in time to greet new customers. A couple of days passed like that; open up, buy/sell, close up, restock, sell and open up again. Occasionally logging off for comfort stops and to remind himself what the Real World was like. On the third day of this routine he was stopped at the gate by the guards. They barred his re-entry into the citadel with their pikes. A thin serpentine looking man moved from the shadows to approach him. "Merchant Mandeok. The city has decided the tax which shall be levied against you. Please produce you ledger for auditing." He was stunned. He had specifically chosen to start out with the city so as to avoid the taxation and store licencsing fees. Simply because at the time he could not afford them. Now here was the Taxman in front of him with his grubby hand out. "Failure to comply and you will be barred from the Citadel of Serebourg and all her surrounding land." This Fiend knew that to be banished from the starting city would be suicide for any low level player, especially one like Mandeok who had spent so long slowly building his network of contacts. In effect exile would exclude him from a large part of Rosenheim Kingdom. With the nearest villages being long treks through bandit and monster infested areas. Not to mention the level difference. Reluctantly he handed over the ledger, it felt like giving away a part of him, to this repulsive petty official. Who ran his fingers down every page. The mumbling under his breath could have been misunderstood as chanting a spell but Mandeok knew he was tallying the figures in his head. Presently the Sacred Merchant text was confered back to him across the crossed pikes of the guards. "Your fee shall be seventy silver. Guards let him in once he pays." "Yes Sir. Sir Beaumont." And with that the Kingdoms Goldsniffer slithered back into the shadows of the shop fronts, disappearing in the hussle of the crowds. ''TENFOLD!!!'' Mandeok roared in his head as he handed a full seventy silver, almost eighty percent of his liquid capital, to the guards. they smiled awkwardly at the black aura''d dwarf as they uncrossed their pikes and bid him entry. With more fervor then usual he smashed the hot metal into chunks to melt and with each strike he cried "BEAUMONT". so it was no surprise he didnt feel the old smithy approach him until one rough hand patted him firmly on the shoulder. "Steady Lad. You want to make a cursed blade?" he chuckled as the dwarf spun round and glared at him. "Stop for today, your scaring my apprentices. Why dont we go have a drink." the grip tightened on the dwarfs shoulder. Mandeok apologised with a deep bow to the apprentices who had noticably moved away from him. Before following the Master out to a small table set up by the shops counter. On it were two large stiens of steaming liquid. He took a great swig of it. "Tea??" A wave of relaxation washed over him and carried away most of his stress. "Unlike dwarfs i can''t quaff several pints of ale and then continue to hammer in a straight line." They both took another sip. "I take it by your black cursing you met our local publican." "That legitimate thief, that daylight robber, that ....." he felt himself getting more aggravated so took another sip and felt it all melt away. ''This is some great tea.'' "Dont worry your not the only one he''s fleeced." "Every trader has felt his sting since the new King appointed him." The old man leaned closer. "Some rumours say he worships Akryong Kaybern." "WHAT!!!" Mandeoks mind was racing. In Royal Road humans worshipped a small panethon of dieties, the chief among these being Freya, the goddess of beauty and abundancy, and Lugh, the god of light and war. For any to revere such a creature as Akryong Kaybern was beyond his understanding. Although he did concede that people sometimes worshipped beings of true power. And what was more powerful then the Great White Dragon.
Careless Whispers -:Quest: All dwarf''s know of the tyranny of their protector but to hear rumours of humans worshipping him is very strange. To allay your friends fears of dragon cultists ferret out the truth of the matter. "Discretion is the better part of Valour" -: Difficulty: D. The Quest will automatically fail should your investigation be discovered. Additional penalties will occur for your accusations against a member of the Aristocracy. -:Banishment from Serabourg and its surrounding land. :- -:Hostile to all Rosenheim Kingdom. :- -:Restriction: Dwarven Race :- -:Accept: Yes/No:-
The difficulty of the quest seemed high but the penalties for failure would be crippling. ''If I get banished from the Country I''ll lose all my hard work till now. I might even have to delete this character.'' Eun Seok lamented as he tried to weighed the pros and cons of the quest. Depending on how he was banished the situation could become even worse. For a level 2 character to be force marched by Royal Knights to the border would be a death march and if they just teleported him away there was no telling where he could end up. All the while the old smith was staring at him. "You don''t think it''s true do you?" A subtle prompt but Mandeok had gathered his thoughts and firmly set his resolve. "I don''t know but it is an unsettling notion." The old smithy smiled and returned to sipping his tea as his companion accepted the task. They said nothing more and pasted the next few hours just enjoying each others company. Eventually Mandeok finished changing and restocking his wares. With thoughts of how he would even go about attempting this quest swimming in his mind he made his way back to his small store. Already a queue had formed in anticipation of the opening. For the next few hours he just went through the motions. Buying, selling, cooking, healing all while mumbling under his breath. They were the incoherent ravings of a madman. By the time he closed down the stall, at the end of the shift, he had approached it from every angle he knew and it boiled down a few key points. His intimacy with the citizens wasn''t high enough for them to tell him such secrets. So if he went around just asking everyone sooner or later it would get back to the target and that would be game over. To complete this quest he would need to acquire the relevant information; to do that he had to ask the right questions and to know these he needed knowledge of several things. So his first port of call was to the only place in the Citadel that held a wealth of knowledge: The Library. With his first destination firmly set he begrudgingly paid his ''taxes'' and re-entered the city. ***************************** After such a long time he re-entered the Library. The smell of old books and worn leather was comforting but he didn''t have time to lose himself in it. He flashed the rewarded token at the person by the desk and was about to head in when **thud** The swing doors, set for human height, hadn''t opened to let him through. Instead the dwarf walked confidently into the solid wood. He shot a fierce gaze from one throbbing eye at the boy behind the counter. Who was covering his face, trying very hard to smoother the laughter. He barely managed to say "....fee." with out erupting into giggles. Mandeok hauled himself onto the counter and stared down at him, piercing the young clerk with a fierce gaze. He placed the token down and tapped it aggressively. "With this I don''t need to pay so open the gate or call your supervisor." The young clerk swallowed his laughter, all colour draining from his face, as he hesitated. "NOW!!" growled the dwarf in starting equipment. The young clerk made a squeaking sound as he bowed and scurried off to find a senior staff member. He returned moments later with a familiar girl in tow: Young apprentice Librarian Emma. She arrived having heard the details of the situation and bowed deeply to apologise. "My apologises Mandeok. this clerk is still very new. In the future if you touch the token to the pad on the right the gates should open automatically. Once again we deeply regret this incident. Please enjoy your time in the Library." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The gates swung open as she forced the junior into a bow. On the other side Mandeok studied the reference cards and jotted down a few items of interest before heading into the shelves. He exited awhile later having found and read several tomes and articles. Books on dragons, both fact and fiction, and any item in the public records regarding the economic policy of the kingdom. those from before and after the current King was crowned. He found a sharp rise in revenue from around the time the Sphinx and Pyramid were built. It was the books on religion he had trouble finding and on asking he was told most tomes of that nature were kept by the Church themselves. He had decided to reduce suspicion by researching the general topics of interest instead of specific items. It was thanks to this that the quest bar had filled up to 10% by the end of the first day. He headed in the direction of the church to track down any more information. ******************************* Sparks exploded as metal clashed with metal. Another exchange illuminated the murky dusk only for the briefest of moments silhouetting the figures in the dark. A cascade of sparks flickered and died as the two crossed weapons. Still frames of violence erupting in the dark solitude. One was a blonde haired girl her opponent a burly looking thug. The twin drills that framed her face extended, trailing behind her as she advanced once more. They snapped back into tight bouncing coils as soon as she collided with her foe. With a bloodcurdling scream her victim collapsed. Breathing a deep sigh of relief she took a posture and released her technique. "Shadow arts: Concealing Shadows. Release." The darkness around her began to slowly dissipate revealing several other fallen bodies as it receded back into the very fabric of her furisode yukata. The dark purple deepened to a balck that seemed to accentuate the vibrant pick sakura petals that were embroidered on the deep swinging sleeves. At a glance anyone could tell this was some sort of Ninja class. She unmade the hand sign and took off the ivory fox mask, with a swirl of cherry blossom petals her garb changed back into her usual elegant Kuro-muji style kimono. Even her hair style changed. The twins drills relaxed and straighted into a simple loose ponytail. She gazed around the battlefield and saw that her companions had also concluded their fights as well. A man with flaming red hair that complimented his scarlet kimono sat atop a jet black steed. When their eyes met he smiled gently and gave a small nod. He raised a small folded fan, pointing it forward. "We move out." Beyond him another man, built like a brick house and dressed like a warrior monk uprooted a large pole. He hoisted the banner into the air proudly. Their standard was six golden coins on an indigo field. The small party once more made their way through the mountain pass. ****************************** It was an entirely fruitless endeavour. As he was he lacked the necessary intimacy or faith to access the inner parts of the church. When he inquired if it was possible to view their records he was shooed away by the Priests and when he asked again he was escorted from the building by several heavily armoured Paladins. He now sat mopping by the fountain in the centre of the Citadel. The gentle trickling of the water behind him slowly soothed his mind and washed away his worries. He sat there quite serenely watching players enter the church or interact with those stationed at its main door. Most players were only there to receive a small blessing in return for a small donation. Others were dressed in robes or armour similar to those Priests and Paladins who had rebuffed him before. His gaze drifted to several young children playing in a nearby puddle. The still water reflected the few clouds in the clear blue sky like a perfect mirror and the children were throwing stones in just to watch the ripples distort the picture. Plop, plop, plop, one stone spread small waves across the surface only for them to be intercepted by the waves from a second impact and then a third. Before it returned to its placid serene state. Mandeok watched as they made quite the game of this before, PlopPlopPlopPlop, one child launched a handful of small pebbles. They peppered the surface with such fury that it churned dirt beneath the small puddle and when it settled this time the clear mirror had been replaced with a murky cloud. One child brandished the reed stalk he had been carrying and challenged the ''villain'' to a duel before they all ran off screaming in high spirits. A bolt of inspiration struck him and he logged off. Still in the capsule he opened up the main website for Unicorn Corporation and clicked on the link for Royal Road. He entered his character name and was prompted to create a password. He ignored it and clicked the option to utilise the Iris scan, at least while he was in the capsule. He opened up his friends list or as he had dubbed it is Customer List. He grouped the names by profession and began to compose several emails. This was one of the major updates that Unicorn had done to their website a few years back in a bid to further integrate aspects of Royal Road. With ease players could now view their characters stats, skills, equipment and friends list all from the account page of the Official website. They had also bought the largest Player Item Auction Site. It was a move that many saw as controversial but came about after several Players were victims of scams during item or gold transactions. This was the fastest way Unicorn could think of to avoid frivolous lawsuits. It wasn''t their fault if players lost things or were scammed by using unscrupulous auction sites when they provided a legitimate one, with only a small transaction fee. As Eun Seok hit send on the last batch of emails he let out a small sigh and allowed himself a small grin at his own cleverness. While it was true Mandeok didn''t have the requirements to access the church it was clear that other players did and he intended to fully utilise them in his quest. If he shared it with them then the chance of getting caught increased but if he used them to muddy the waters then it would become even more difficult to trace it back to him. There was always the chance of them turning on him or trying to extort him but the likelihood of that was low enough to not worry him to much. The main body of the email he sent was very similar; Hello dear and valued customer...great opportunity....requires your aid....adequate compensation....seeking information on. And then it differed. To the priests, paladins, clerics or other classes in felt would have high intimacy with the church in his customer list he asked for information regarding historic religions, religious practices, Deities and Cults in the Continent. To most other classes he asked for information on the Aristocracy, who administered and how their jobs affected the governing of the Country. But to those of the rogue profession he asked for the routine of the Aristocracy. And to seal the deal he offered a small reward depending on how useful the information turned out to be, from 10 silver to 1 gold. With his task done he shutdown, left the capsule and caught a few hours sleep. ********************************* The next day was full on activity for one small stall owner outside the gates of the Citadel. Players bought and sold to the sturdy dwarf owner as usual but most only stopped by to exchange a few words with the owner before departing with a heavier coin purse. Mandeok was content the quest had steadily been filling since he logged in this morning unfortunately he may have underestimated how quickly his networking could get out of hand. Rumors had rapidly spread that he was paying for information and his few hundred Player network had boomed to encompass most of the Players currently active in the Citadel. His resources dwindled faster than expected. "The Eastern farm lands are struggling....." "Count Drefus is seeking a Champion to avenge an injustice...." "There is a Dungeon with a Dragon as a boss....." "1000 years ago the Orcs worshipped a Wolf, 999 year ago they worshipped the Giant who slayed the Wolf, 998 year ago the Orcs worshipped the Ant who killed the Giant...." And most were rebuffed in a similar fashion. "Thank you here is 10 silver." "Thank you here is 10 silver." Occasionally the bar would rise and he would pay out a larger sum to reflect the increase. "Thank you here is 20 silver." And as was becoming more common by the end of the third in-game day. "Ah I''m sorry I was already told that please accept this Kebab as compensation." Of course some could not accept that so easily and that was when he would produced his ledger, since he had begun receiving information he had meticulously recorded it all in his book. By the end of the fourth day he had hit 75% completion, most of the people that came to him now were just there to solely view his wares. He was starting to realise that this was as far as he could get just passively gathering information. If he was a bit more proactive the quest would surely resolve itself, one way or another. He took out his ledger and grabbed several screen shots before he ripped out a handful of pages. They contained everything he had written down during his networking. He felt it was better to be safe than sorry and threw them into the dying flames of his cooking fire.
-: You have destroyed evidence. Chance of being caught decreased by 10% :-
He dismissed the message and wondered if this sort of thing was common among the thieves and assassins of this World. And as if to answer his question a sudden voice whispered in his head -: Hello. Mandeok its SilentBlade. You still looking for information? It was a PM from one of his customers, the diminutive female cutpurse, SilentBlade -: Ah yes, hello....please go ahead. -: I was shadowing a target...its probably best if I just show you. Can you meet me by the housing district gate in say 20 minutes. -: I''m shutting up shop now so I''ll head straight there. With that she hung up. Renewed vigour spurred him on through the streets and down the Citadels alleys. Only when he was half way there, to his clandestine meeting, did he wonder about the possibility of a trap. It wouldn''t be too farfetched but he was safe in the knowledge that at least within the city he couldn''t be PK''d. The busy shop rows gave way to tightly packed stone tenement houses and then to brick houses that slowly increased in distance between their neighbours as he moved further along. The houses then increased in both size and grandeur after he passed under the open portcullis in the Citadels walls. Before him now spread the Nobles residential area. As he was taking in the breath taking architecture of the Grand Houses he was suddenly aware of a bush off to his left. The inconspicuous shrub on the roadside was wobbling slightly, noticeable more so then could be achieved by the light evening breeze. A small hand burst from the greenery and beckoned the stunned dwarf over. The hand was followed by the small head of a Player. The unassuming face of the hobbit belonged to none other than SilentBlade. "SilentBlade-nim?" "Mandeok-ahjussi. Quickly before the guard patrol comes back round." She was right the last thing he wanted was to be questioned by the city guards as to why he was conversing with the shrubbery around the houses of Highborn Landed Gentry and Noble Lords. As if by instinct his body reacted by throwing itself forward into the hedgerow. He wiggled furiously until he had popped out the other side. He now sat behind the hedge row in the small open space between it and a garden wall, completely hidden from the view of anyone casually passing by. The small hobbit was already several meters in front of him. Given her races small stature the hiding space was large enough for her to move at a comfortable pace, all be it in a slightly squatted manner. The dwarf on the other hand had to crouch lower and on several occasions had to scrabble on his hands and knees to squeeze through overgrown gaps. He silently wondered how any of the taller races would cope with this type of covert operation as another bramble barb snatched at his tattered clothes. Eventually after several more twists and turns behind the hedgerows, including breaking cover for a quick dash across the street, they arrived opposite a rather humble looking mansion of faded white brick and black slate. By this time the sun had set and the dwarf was tired of ferreting through the hedgerows. "SilentBlade-nim please...tell me why ...we''re here." He panted as he shot a quick glance at his satiety. "Sssssssh. Just keep watching that house, its almost time." Was all the hobbit rogue would tell him as she shushed him before returning her hawk like gaze to the house across the street. Mandeok peeked through the curtain of branches and leaves at the target of her laser like focus. Beyond the intricate iron gates lay a simple two storey mansion house of faded white painted brick. A simple quaint design that''s only remarkable feature seemed to be the large columns that stood sentinel either side of the entrance way. They held up a roof that jutted out from the simple lines of the building. Underneath which a balcony jutted out of the second floor over the doorway. It seemed like a crude addition to an otherwise nice Colonial style mansion. He was entranced in studying the architecture when he felt a small hand grasp his arm in a tight grasp. He turned to look at the aggressor but she didn''t acknowledge him and continued to stare open mouthed at the house. "There." His head snapped back as he tried to discern the reason for her commotion. He scanned the house again from top to bottom. Every window closed, curtains drawn and lights off. The door was closed and the garden was emp....something moved. It was a shadow or a silhouette and it was just for a second but something had moved between the trees within the darkness of that garden.
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Chapter Seven Chapter 7 They continued watching for it to re-emerge. Several hours had passed before a light in one of the upstairs rooms went on. After ten minutes it was turned off and the house was allowed to fall back into the still silence of the night. Two figures crawled out from behind the opposite hedge row. The hobbit rogue led him stealthily across the road, hugging the iron bar fence all the way to the far end of the estate. She was a little in front of Mandeok as she turned the corner and he was surprised to find only the empty street when he rounded the bend. She had vanished into the night. Anxiously he called out for her in hushed tones but she didn''t answer. He was about to try again only a little louder when a small voice somewhere behind him whispered for him to hurry up. He spun round to see the arm of the small hobbit lifting up the overhanging foliage and peering out from a hidden gap in the fence. A gap that looked freshly made. The hole may have been wide enough for the female hobbit but his bulky dwarf build provided more of a challenge as he tried to squeeze through. After several minutes of groaning, and thinking thin, he eventually burst forth from the vice grip of the iron bars; before emerging from the undergrowth. He stood at the bottom of the Grand Garden, just hidden by the shrubbery. From his vantage point the whole landscape was laid out before him. Rolling lawns flanked by boundaries of iron and hedge, with lines of trees that canopied over the wide gravel path. Beyond flowerbeds and immaculately manicured topiary the back of the house was visible. A rustle of leaves drew his attention back to his immediate surroundings. By the ornate wooden summerhouse crouched SilentBlade, she was squatting down beside what once may have been a very practical well but had now lost its function in favour of a more ornamental look. It was encompassed by and housed several potted plants. He crept closer to her. Without even a word she jostled a loose brick in the wells masonry and lifted up the secret lid with ease. What had appeared to be a deep seed bed was in fact a tray of no more than two inches in depth. As she held it up Mandeok poked his head over the precipice and squinted into the darkness. "Every night he takes a constitutional around the garden. It took me a while but I realised I had never seen him return to the house; found this only last night." The little hobbit thief sounded quiet pleased with herself. Several feet down the shaft was a heavy looking grill, the only other thing he could make out was the equally heavy looking padlock on the top of the grill. ''If its a secret escape passage from the house then why is the lock on this side?'' pondered Mandeok A familiar chime broke his train of thought as a message window popped up before him. He watched the last 35% of the quest bar fill up and the text change slightly.
-: Careless Whispers: You have discovered a hidden passage on the Beaumont estate. what lies beyond the locked grill in the secret passage of the hidden well? :-
The difficultly of the chain quest remained the same as did the penalty for failure. He closed the window and handed his benefactor a single gold coin. It was more than he should have paid her going by what he had stated and what he had paid everyone else but he felt it was justified. Without her aid he would not have made this final connection,;the connection needed to advance the quest. The more links of a chain quest one could complete than the greater the rewards. Of course the difficulty may also rise to reflect the current progression. "Well, this will definitely buy my silence." She was about to turn to leave but Mandeok was itching to know. "SilentBlade-nim didn''t you even try to see what was down there?" His eyes were full of fear and apprehension as he watched her shrug and sigh. "I don''t have the skill to unpick the lock." It was a simple enough answer. So simple in fact it seemed to blow away any doubts as to whether or not she would hinder him. "Ah I see. In fact neither do I! Do you know where I could buy some good picks and a few practice locks?" She suppressed a laugh and marked on his map the location of a place she knew had what he needed: The Rogues Guild. And with that she disappeared into the night: Literally. Mandeok watched as she walked away getting more transparent with each step before he could no longer she her at all. A thief''s stealth skill. He sat silently in quiet contemplation for a few more minutes after she left before turning and squeezing back through the hidden gap in the fence. Skirting through the secret hedgerow highway and the still slumbering streets he arrived at the main gate just in time to re-open his small stall for another period of business. ****************************************** When it ended Mandeok put a sticker on his crude sign, paid his tax and headed further into the citadel. For the first time in a long time he opened his stats and skills window.
Status
Character nameMandeok
Health800Mana800
AlignmentNeutralProfessionMerchant
TitlePart-timer
Level2
Vitality70Strength70
Agility70Intelligence70
Wisdom70Charisma25
Luck25Fame10
Offense0Defence0
Magical resistance
none
Endurance35
Poison resistance
10%
Number of unallocated skill points: 5
The effects from the Training Hall, the Library and gaining a class were shown clearly as both his Health and Mana had reached frankly ridiculous heights for his current level. An astounding boost of 700 points each. And he still had 5 points to distribute from his level up Offense and defence showed the base values of armour and weapons. Currently he had neither but in combat they would be enhanced by his agility and strength. Other pleasant surprises were the twenty point class change boost his luck and charisma had received, his endurance also benefitting from this and finally his 10% resistance to poison. Resistances were highly sought after and he could see why, as not only did his own reduce the risk of being poisoned by 10%. It also decreased the time he was poisoned by 10%. He could only imagine what have a resistance to magical affects would be like. He had yet to hear of any player gaining 100% resistance to anything, would they report it if they did, but he was aware of several often fought Boss Monsters who had such high resistance to certain elements and attributes that damaging them with one would actually heal them. Making such a mistake on a boss fight would defiantly be a costly one. He thought back to his own experiences fighting with a mage against enemies with resistance to magical effects. Especially after he witnessed the devastation her spells had wrought. He let out a deep sigh and viewed his current skills.
Skills -: Handicraft: (Intermediate level: 7 (19.5%)):- -: Staff Mastery: (Intermediate level: 1(42%)):- -: Staff Ward: (beginner level: 6(93%)):- -:Brutal Smash: (beginner level: 8 (52%)):- -: Precise Strike: (beginner level: 8 (33.3%)):- -: Cooking: (beginner level: 5(75%)):- -: Alchemy: (beginner level:4 (12%)):- -: Identification: (beginner level: 6 (84.63%)):- -: Herbology: (beginner level:7 (0.0%)):- -: Medical Botany: (beginner level: 3 (99.88%)):- -: Trade: (beginner level: 9 (23.00%)):- -: Barter: (beginner level: 9 (12.45%)):-
The Golden Treasure skill of the Dwarven race had rocketed up to intermediate level 7 while he wasn''t looking but since he had the handicraft skill since the moment Mandeok was born on this continent, and then proceeded to grind jobs that mainly emphasised the use of his stubby Dwarven hands, it was no wonder it had climbed so fast. It boosted most of his skills and was boosted by them in kind. Every time he held a knife; grinded a herb; stirred a pot; pulled a weed or even twirled his staff his handicraft was at play and as such was receiving experience from it all. His only combat skills had not really moved since he cleared the Archive but that was okay. One of the main penalties of his race was that in return for starting with handicraft any and all weapon skills could only be raised to Advanced level 10. The rest of his skills had stagnated around the middle of the beginner levels. This he put down to not having been outside of the starting zone and thus exhausting all sources of experience. There was a limit to how much he could gain from the same thing and this was clearly it. Crafting skills needed new sources of inspiration to advance; just like warriors sought out tougher foes so too did artisans seek stronger stimulation. What Eun Seok had failed to realise was that in Royal Road non-class specific skills grew at half speed; a warrior''s sewing would grow slower than a tailors and as a racial skill Handicraft grew at almost four times the speed but this would be balanced out later in the later game as the wall between advanced level and master level was four times as high. Content enough he closed both windows and approached his destination. A small weathered door was the only thing of interest in the dim dead end alleyway and even that would have been missed if he was not looking for it. When Mandeok had checked the map the marker SilentBlade had placed on it indicated this was the spot so somewhere nearby would be the Thieves Guild. It was only then that he had noticed the door, partially concealed behind some crates and of a similar colour to the brickwork around it. He took another moment to recheck it before one sturdy fist rapped out three knocks. He was surprised to find that the door resisted his blows. The force of the impact showed it was a lot sturdier than it looked. He knocked again, only this time with a little more force. Muffled voices could just be heard on the other side before metal sliding over metal drowned them out. Without so much as a squeak the door opened, sliding sideways. Mandeok entered the shadowy room and as he was growing accustomed to the darkness he felt metal at his throat. He glanced down to see two long daggers cross in front of his windpipe, they rested just below his Adam''s apple and had he gulped in horror he was sure the motion itself would have ended his life. These people were professionals; no other way to look at it. Nervously he cast a glance down the length of the blade and up the arm of the person holding it on his left. He wore a long hooded robe that concealed his entire body bar the leather gauntleted arm he was holding the blade with. A blood-red cloth covered his face so only his piercing gaze was visible from under the hood. Mandeok turned his gaze upon the figure on his other side. The one on the right was dressed identically to the one on the left. **cough**cough** His attention was drawn away from the two shadowy assassins and directed to the small old man lounging on a chaise longue and smoking a long pipe. He blew a few smoke rings before he spoke. "And who are Y...O...U." The last word was emphasised by three more rings and a long trail of smoke rising through their centres. Sweating bullets Mandeok knew that long explanations wouldn''t be necessary and he doubted they would let him live long enough to give the full story so he attempted to say the only word he knew that may be effective without slitting his throat on every syllable. "..Bu..s..in..es..s." the old man smiled slyly. With an "Ohoho" and a subtle motion of his head the two shadow guards slowly retracted their blades as they disappeared into the darkened corners of the room. Rubbing his throat he tried to begin but his nerves were shot and all that came out was. "Thief....thief tools....buy locks..." The old man took another long draw from the pipe and contemplated what this intruder had said. "Through there." After the brief silence he indicated with the end of his pipe a simple hanging curtain. Jittery and with little grace Mandeok inched his way toward the velvety partition. He moved it carefully and stepped through. Silence and a multitude of eyes greeted him on the other side of the curtain. Many people had their hands on weapons and several were drawing them when the old man stepped through after him. "If you have business with us please use the front entrance. Valued customer." He was escorted to a booth by the far wall and told to wait for someone to take his order. Mandeok stared around the room, not stopping too long when his gaze fell on one of the patrons of the tavern, it was spacious and full of shady looking people. He quickly realised this was the legitimate front of the Thieves Guild. Being an actual thief class SilentBlade had indicated the entrance way to the guild she was used to using. She had not thought of how it might go if someone unaffiliated with the Guild tried to enter it through their Back Door. Lost in thought or distracted or maybe it was just to be expected in such an establishment but Mandeok did not even hear his waitress arrive. For that matter he didn''t hear her leave either. One moment an empty table, the next a menu and the lingering smell of subtle fragrance. He opened it up and perused the contents: three pages of alcohol, two of food and the last page devoted to a set menu. He re-read it. Unexpectedly the menu had a hidden code, thankfully it was simple enough to break in time for the reappearance of his waitress. "A number 5 set and two number 7''s to go please." Moments later she brought him an unassuming brown paper bag. He verified the contents; paid and left. This time through the front door, which lead out onto one of the side streets off of the main square. He lightened his bags of all non-essentials before returning to the Beaumont Estate via the Hidden Hedgerow highway. ****************************************** When the players returned once more to their favourite stall outside the main gate of the citadel they were surprised to find a banner across the usual price guide. It was something players were more used to seeing in older games, a simple three letter phrase; --A.F.K--. And where was the store''s owner. At that moment he was crouched behind a bush twirling picks in one of the locks on the key ring. It was part of his order from the Thieves Guild; a set of five padlocks on a large metal loop. The largest was the easiest, They decreased in size and increased in difficultly as they went round the ring. Since he had returned to his hide he had been busy occupying his hands so as to occupy his mind. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He would deftly toy with the padlock until it either opened or he became frustrated enough to almost throw it against a wall in a very aggressive manner. When either state occurred he would put it down before reaching into his bag to pull out his sewing kit and a piece of material. Broken cloth robes and leather armour were cut into small strips before being sewn together, unpicked and sewn together again. When the lengths of cloth fabric had been sewn together to the point of fraying he would roll them up and place them neatly back into his bag. The used leather he crafted into very crude shoes of very poor quality. After he felt his mind calm again it would be back to the locks. If he had opened the first he would move on to the second only attempting the next one after succeeding in opening the previous. If he failed to open it before his rage grew he would have to move back a level and start the process again. Sometimes he would pull an animal pelt from his bag and cut it into pieces then return those to the deep recesses of the holdall. Like this the days passed. He was rudely awoken by the thunder of hoof beats and metal steps on the cobbled street. When he peeped through the obscuring foliage he was greeted by an armoured procession. Four brilliantly armoured knights in full colours seated on horseback guarded an equally resplendent carriage. The crests on the carriage and their shields as well as the patterns on the horses caparison were the colours and images of heraldry for the Rosenheim Kingdom. Behind the carriage a single column of warriors; four men wide and ten men deep. Forty of the Kingdoms finest foot soldiers armed with a shining steel buckler, a solid looking spear and a sturdy sword held in a neat leather scabbard at their sides. From the Estate the target, dressed in his finest clothes and wearing his gold chains of Office, slithered into the awaiting carriage. He gave a signal and the whole procession departed; the feather plumes of the Cavalry Knights bobbing gently. From the information he had gathered Mandeok had become aware of an event that was about to occur. The Kingdoms economic policy was about to be decided upon and for that they needed the "Crop Report" of the lands they owned. It would contain figures on planted acreage, expected yield and production. As well as allow a comparison to previous years giving an insight into the economic state of the country. Problem markers that gave indications of draught, flood and infestation could be highlighted and addressed quickly. This information would be very profitable to both Players and NPC''s alike, hence the armed escort. From his recon stage he knew he would have a very small window of opportunity to infiltrate the Estate. Lord Beaumont would be out assessing the villages and towns of Rosenheim for around a month. That gave him a little under four weeks to finish the quest in. If not he would have to wait for another Golden Opportunity to present itself. He would waited till nightfall, not wanting to risk being caught, before he made his move. During all of this his hands had been fiddling with the third lock on the ring and as it popped open with a small click several boxes blocked his view.
-:Level Up: Handicraft (Advanced level: 1(0.0%)):- -: Bonus gained when using tools, increased damage with all weapons and hand combat skills can be learned regardless of profession. You can now learn certain craft skills :-
-:New skill: Mind Hand (Beginner level: 1 (0.0%)):- -: You may now summon a ''third hand'' using your mind. It can manipulate objects and attack enemies but cannot use skills. Cost: 2 Mps :-
-:New stat: Dexterity:- -: Deft fingers that work with finesse and grace. You are prohibited from distributing points to it :-
-: New skill: Lock Picking (Beginner level:1 (0.0%)) :- -: A Thief skill used to open simple locks and doors. Cannot be used to open magical locks or objects sealed by magic :-
Mandeok choked holding back the tears, all he had wanted was enough skill to open the lock without have to rely on someone else but to think it would have such a profound effect; two new skills and a new stat. The Lock Picking skill he had worked towards and Mind Hand, finally a skill to drain his vast mana pool on. The Dexterity stat was different from agility and handicraft. If agility was focused on evasive movements or quick limbs and handicraft was basic hand eye coordination then dexterity was solely about the nimble and delicate touch of just the fingers. By the time darkness had descended he had managed to raise his Lock Picking to beginner level five and his Dexterity by ten points. he had yet to try using mind hand. Feeling the time was right he stealthily crept across the street, hugging the wall and disappearing through the secret gap. The garden was even more still than it had been the first time he had been there. So still it almost felt unnatural and he expected an ambush every step as he picked his way carefully towards the faux-fountain. The loose brick moved easily and the hatch revealed itself without much fuss. He was down the hole like a shot, leaving the hatch propped open just enough to let what little starlight there was filter in. He looked to the lock on the grill, no less imposing then the last time he had gazed upon it. Withdrawing the Torsion wrench and Hook-pick he began the slow process of ''feeling'' the pins. Sweat beaded up and trickled down the dwarfs face before being absorbed by the matted beard. Several hours had passed and still he was no further forward then before. The hot stuffy oppressive darkness of the shaft was getting worse now the sun had risen. He had also had to stop to rest; eating and drinking just enough to continue quickly. Finally he felt the tumbler give, rotate and the lock opened with a rewarding click. A couple points in dexterity and a little increase to his lock picking. He removed it from its place and two thirds of the grill fell away. It swung down to open revealing a set of iron rungs jutting out from the wall. Mandeok retrieved his tools and the lock before starting his descent. The hole dropped for twenty more feet then stopped abruptly. As he stepped off the lower rung he felt the solid stone slab floor below him. Even the sunlight wouldn''t reach down here, regardless if the well had a lid or not. Peering into the darkness gained him nothing but strained eyes. Thick Dwarven hands reached out to greet the wall before sliding hand over hand to circumnavigate the well. Under the last rung of the crude ladder was an opening, he had missed it the first time as he stepped straight off thinking any opening would be on the opposite side. It was just wide enough for a person to crawl through and as he placed his first hand over the threshold a flash of light blinded him. ''TRAP!!'' Mandeok''s mind raced, it was a possibility he had over looked. Slowly he opened his eyes and as they refocused he saw several light crystals blink into life in a chain reaction that stretched the length of the tunnel. The entrance itself was only a few feet and before long he had emerged from the tunnel to stand bathed in the light of the long passage. He was more cautious now after his near miss with the non-trap. On his hands and knees from the safety of the small entrance tunnel he activated his untested skill. "Mind Hand" A transparent limb grew from his chest. Slowly his mana began to drain, as it was a channelling skill the decent regeneration rate he got from his inflated wisdom cancelled. It would restart after six to seven minutes provided he didn''t engage in combat. That same inflated wisdom would allow it to refill within two minutes leading to a cycle of ten minutes: two to gain, seven to drain. The remainder would be a buffer or margin for error. Using his will he turned the hand over, flexed the fingers and made a fist. With the systems check complete he used the ghostly appendage to meticulously check every inch of the corridor before him. It transmitted sensations as well as either of his real arms and he could even utilise his full strength and moderate dexterity with it. He threw it three tools from the lock picking set. Whenever it encountered a loose brick, a slightly raised stone or a suspicious tile he would use the half diamond pick, the saw rake or the snake rake to fully investigate it. It paid off; a pressure pad for hidden floor spikes, a trip wire for wall arrows and collapsible floor. He disarmed and navigated them all thanks to his third hand scout. This corridor was one long death trap. He had covered one quarter of the distance, crawling on carefully after fully checking the floor, walls and ceilings. Pulling himself up to the latest uncovered trap he found a more sophisticated trigger mechanism. Most so far had just been simple switches or levers but this one was an array of small wooden cogs and gears. Assessing the function of each visible part he determined it would be impossible to disarm it without triggering it. From the safe distance at the end of his Mind Hand''s range he depressed the hidden pad. A soft clink of metal chimed from the mechanism as a small metal ball dropped down and rolled along a track. It put him in mind of the child''s game mouse trap. as it dropped from the end of the run the transparent hand plucked it from the air. He waited for a few moments but nothing else happened, crawling once more to the precipice of the trap mechanism he followed the supposed route of the ball with his eyes. Curiosity got the better of him and he used Mind Hand to manually trigger what he believed to be the next stages of the trap. Without the timing effect created by the rolling marble he could quite safely activate one part without dominoing the whole thing. Translucent stubby fingers triggered levers and spun cogs; several weights on pulleys dropped and ratchets engaged. Jets of flame shot out of the wall from obvious holes at head height after a moment a multitude of blades cleaved the air from slots hidden in between the mortar of the lower wall and floor. They sliced and diced in all directions. They then retracted into the wall before a low rumbling tilted sections of the floor. Half rose clockwise the other half anticlockwise and both would have tipped anything that stood on them into the awaiting bubbling green pool below. Mandeoks jaw hung wide open as he watched all of this unfurl. He been in a relative safe zone but he still felt the heat from the flames and the air pressure from the blades. The acrid smell of the pool confirming his suspicion that it was some sort of strong acidic liquid. He flicked a small switch at the end of the channel, where the ball should have come to rest and with the whirring of coiled springs the whole thing reset itself. "If I had ducked to avoid the flames I would have been sliced. If I tried to avoid being hacked apart I would have been tipped into the acid bath. What sort of thing needs this much security?" Mandeok pondered as he pocketed the metal marble. He began crawling forward again and had just passed the titling floor when his head bumped the roof. ''What?'' He thought as he simultaneously reached upward with his regular hand and outward with his third one. They both hit something solid at the same time. The last trap of the long corridor was an optical illusion. From the well end it seemed like the corridor was incredibly long but in actual fact the walls and ceiling slowly tapered off thus giving the impression of great distance. The door at this end was no larger than the entrance tunnel at the other. No sooner had he touched the door with his real hand then up popped a message.
-: You survived the 100ft Death Crawl; tackling traps that were far above your level using only the wit and skills you possess. Fame has increased by 150: +150 Fame Nature of Quest Prohibits Fame gained during Quest: -150 Fame:- -: New Skill: Disarm Trap (beginner level: 2 (73%)) :-
Eun Seok sighed Mandeok was growing in odd directions; he was definitely becoming the worst kind of Japkae but he had planned to be since the beginning so this should be seen as a step not an obstacle. Sooner or later his Merchant would find a use for these skills. He made quick work of the locked door at the end of the passage and slowly opened it. With great trepidation he pushed it fully open and entered a new room. Nothing happened. No traps, no ambushes and no armed guards awaiting his arrival. With his way forward secured he did the most unthinkable thing ever. He headed back through the door and into the Corridor of Death; confidently he walked back to the start and began re-arming all the traps he had painstakingly disarmed. He crawled backward slowly; using sewing thread to fix trip wires and re-engaging levers.
-: You have re-armed traps. Retreat is now impossible but the chances of being followed have decrease by 50% :-
Ever since he had destroyed the evidence of his information gathering he had wondered how to continue to obscure his presence during the quest. If he should fall and Lord Beaumont should return what would alert him would be the fact his trap network had been triggered. And then he would do the only sensible thing; he would raise his guard. Possibly even move any quest objective and Mandeok would definitely lose any chance to retry if such a situation occurred. Plus this way he would definitely hear anyone coming along there thinking he had removed all the obstacles. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust the people he had interacted with it was more a sense of you just couldn''t be too careful. Mandeok now stood in the room beyond the trap hall. In the darkness he could just make out the shape of a tall candle stand, slowly he edged his way over as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark. He lit it using the flint and striker from his cooking supplies. The small flame flickered gently as he guided it to light the other candles on the candelabra. The small room was now washed in the flickering orange light of several candles. He could make out a worn book case and desk, a large stone structure and a heavy looking chest. Black curtains were hung, draped in a manner to hide the stone work There was nothing on the shelves of the books case and after picking the desk draws open all that greeted him were a couple of flighty moths. When he approached and inspected the stone structure he found it to be something he was very familiar with: a forge. For something like this the room must have adequate ventilation but all the walls seemed like solid stone. When he stuck his head under the flue he could just make out the clouds leisurely drifting by in the pin hole of sky above. The trunk was another mystery it was an ornate vertical slatted dome top with a padlock that hummed with magical energy. He left it for the moment and continued searching. He moved one of the long black curtains to reveal a highly polished section of wall. Moving around the room he removed all the curtains only to reveal a hidden opening. As soon as the heavy blackout curtain was removed a blinding light emanated from the newly discovered space.
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Sorry this one took a little longer to upload then originally intended. Thanks to the positive comments in the previous chapters I got a little big headed and couldn''t get back into the right mind set to continue writing Profit Margin. Thanks to certain diversions I was able to calm down and write again. Unfortunately I realised I had written myself into a bit of a corner. ORZ Note: To all those Fanfic Authors who are writing stories in worlds created by other people please make sure you have all your facts straight to start with. If your character has to be on the other side of the continent don''t just magicall place him there, unless of course he can Teleport or Fly or is Summoned etc. Or, as in my case, if you need your MC to have a certain skill by a certain stage of the plot, make sure he is at a stage to reasonably acquire it. Thankfully after taking some time to research (re-re-read LMS) I found the Author does make some allowances; non-class skills grow at different rates compared to class skills; so why not racial? This is why the growth of our MC may seem a little rushed in this chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read this SL AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION So I''ve written myself into a bit of a corner. In trying to get out of it I have decided to turn to you, the readers, in my time of need. The problem is thus: How does Mandeok escape for the hidden room? Above is a poll with several possible solutions to the problem at hand, please vote for your preferred solution. The fifth option is for you to give anyway, creative or otherwise, that may help or hapless Merchant. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The most voted for solution, or the best alternate option, will be used to further the next chapter. Please leave your comments, critiques, suggestions, praise or cookies below. Thank you all very much for taking the time to read this FanFic and participate in the poll. SL Update Hello. It¡¯s me ShamelessLeech. Been awhile. Thank you for all your support, I appreciate all the feedback and support. I was always giddily waited for comments on new chapters. To see if you liked the last chapter, thought the direction I was taking was wrong or adamantly refused to believe that character would act like that. Some of that was, of course, related to the plot or twists further down the road but some of it made me stop and consider my fiction again from a new perspective. It allowed the world I had crafted to deepen.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Unfortunately, as is often the case, [REAL LIFE] has gotten in the way. My creative juices have been sapped completely and I was truthfully always someone who enjoyed reading more than writing. So with this new year upon us, I¡¯ve decided to prune back my fictions in an attempt to finish one, or any, of them. As such I will be removing and heavily editing the fictions found on this site. *Bows Deeply* Thank you for all the hard work and I look forward to working with you again.