Chapter Two: Starting Over as a Late Bloomer
Chapter Two: Starting Over as a Late Bloomer
I arrived at the Eastern Plains, in search of some herbs to plant on our farm. The monsters in this area were fairly weak, which made it a suitable foraging ground for beginners. Upon setting foot in the plains, I immediately noticed a green marker—hidden amongst the bushes was a poisonous-looking purple plant.
“Looks like poison hemlock.”
Can I touch this? It doesn’t look very safe, I wondered as I cautiously assessed the plant. As it turned out, though, there was no cause for worry.
Name: Poison Hemlock
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Has a mild poisoning effect when ingested.
This plant wasn’t very effective on its own, but it apparently had a variety of applications if converted into poison. It also seemed like a useful plant to cultivate, I noted, treading carefully so as not to encounter any monsters.
“Hey! I found a paralyzing plant!”
Several minutes later, I came across a plant with yellow leaves that looked a bit like a dandelion. These were useful for things like potions and ointments as well.
Name: Paralyzing Plant
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Has a slight paralyzing effect when ingested.
My Concocting and Cooking skills granted me eight recipes from the start. The initial items I could make were: potions, ointments, food rations, hunter potions, poison, paralyzing potions, honey dumplings, and salads. You could also combine random ingredients on your own and create potions and medicines without a recipe, but this method came with the risk of failure. Letting the recipe take care of the task automatically guaranteed a one hundred percent chance of success every time, albeit with lower quality results. Both methods had their advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I was keen on testing things out on my own and churning out as many new recipes as I could. That would spice things up a bit.
The next item I found was a wooden stick, which had no marker at all. While you could add just about anything in this game to your arsenal, items that didn’t have any special effects were left unmarked. I was drawn to the stick, however, because of its shape, which reminded me of a staff. After all, I was defenseless at the moment. Even a makeshift weapon would be worth getting my hands on.
“Wonder if I can use this as a staff?”
Name: Wooden Stick
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★ / Durability: 30
Effect: Attack +1. Unable to be repaired.
Weight: 1
Much to my surprise, the stick was equippable. It was a poor replacement for my previous gear, but it was better than nothing.
Thirty minutes later, as I raced through the plains, I paused to bend down and swipe at the grass below my feet. I had now picked my sixth item.
“Not another medicinal herb!”
As I stopped to catch my breath, a giant rodent appeared, hissing, and hurled itself at me.
“Yikes! That was close!”
This was no cute mascot-type rodent, like a guinea pig or hamster, but a creepy, highly realistic rat, the type you’d expect to see in sewers—not to mention it was as big as a pit bull.
“Shoo! Get away from me!”
“Squeak squeak.”
“Did you just laugh at me, sewer trash?!”
I tried my best to fend off the creature with my wooden stick, but I was unable to deal any damage. What, you think I should’ve used my staff to wield some magic? If only!
I tried using one of my staff commands, Swing, but it seemed like it could only be activated when using an actual staff. That said, I doubt it would have been useful against a creature as agile as a rat anyway.
“You’re just grinding fodder, get outta here!”
“Hisss!”
“Guh!”
The bastard charged headfirst into my stomach; I could feel the sensation of its fur brushing against me. Although I scarcely felt the blow itself, that strike alone cost me ten percent of my health.
The rat that was currently harassing me was known as a Fanged Rat. It was infamous as being the weakest monster in LJO, existing primarily for players just starting out to gain XP. In short, it was nothing but a trash-tier mob, so the fact that I was getting my ass whooped by said mob was saying quite a lot. Of course, I was playing the weakest of all classes, one that wasn’t made for frontline fighting, and I’d already sold my protective gear. On top of this, I was still only Level 1. To describe my current state as “tissue paper” would probably be generous.
“Take that!”
“Squeak!”
“Gotcha!”
I managed to strike it, though its health meter only dropped by about ten percent.
“Yep... Time to run!”
Trying to tame it would be useless, so I took off running again. The Fanged Rat was still hot on my tail, but I ran in a zigzag to throw it off my scent, keeping my eyes on the ground all the while so as not to miss any plants. Seriously, I definitely deserved some brownie points for not giving up on what was clearly a lost cause. Of course, I was up against a nimble rat. If I was unable to shake it and kept taking hits, eventually I would run out of health points.
“Shit!”
“Squeak squeak!”
I was now down to just 3 HP; any more damage and I would be looking at a respawn.
“At least let me get one more...! D’aaaah!”
As I fell to the ground, I managed to stretch my hand out towards a green marker and pluck a mysterious plant, right before the Fanged Rat zapped my last ounce of health.
Once again, I found myself in the square where I had first appeared in the game, accompanied by the same floating sensation that I felt upon logging in.
“...Another death-warp complete.”
Was I sad? O-Of course not! After all, this was all part of my plan!
“Damn it,” I muttered, but I put aside my frustration, and assessed the last plant I had grabbed.
Name: Life Sunflower
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Potion ingredient. Recovers hunger status by one percent.
So it was a potion component. I’d lucked out here. I already knew that I could grow medicinal herbs; if I could cultivate this plant as well, I’d be one step closer to being able to mass-produce potions.
The murmur of the crowd was starting to get louder, and I could feel their eyes boring into me. Seeing someone respawn must have been a rare sight for them. I couldn’t blame them, though—I would stare too if I saw someone respawning on their first day of the game.
Whatever, I’m handling things my way, I told myself as I swiftly left the square.
Within five minutes, I had arrived back at my garden. It sure was useful to have secured such an accessible plot.
“I’m back, Olto. Got some stuff for you.”
“Mm-mm!”
“Well? Think we can grow them?” I asked Olto as I handed him one of each type of plant I had collected.
“Mm! Mmm-mmm-mm-mmm,” Olto hummed, immediately transforming the plants into seeds.
“Wow! Way to go, Olto.”
“Mm-mm.”
“This is really starting to look like a proper farm.”
During the hour or so that I was gone, Olto had finished plowing the once-empty field, which was now filled with rows of neatly shaped mounds.
“Mm-mm.”
Olto poked holes into the mounds and began sowing the seeds he had propagated. Just like before, the seeds started sprouting almost instantaneously.
Each crop grew at a different rate, but it normally took about one to four days for them to sprout, then one to ten more for them to mature. It seemed that Olto, however, was capable of making plants sprout almost immediately. It probably wouldn’t take long for them to grow either. At this rate, I might be able to harvest crops in as little as a day, which would make daily harvests a reality. I was pumped just thinking about the possibilities.
“I’ll leave you in charge of our patch, Olto!”
“Mm!”
Time to collect more plants. Hopefully I could get my hands on slightly rarer specimens this time.
“I should prepare some recovery items before I go, though.”
Having some means of recovery would mean being able to explore for a bit longer. Seeing as I was completely broke, however, I had to make those items myself, so I decided to concoct some medicine using the salve-making plants I had picked.
I watched Olto work out of the corner of my eye as I fetched some water from the well. Although the well water was meant for farming, it could apparently be used for crafting items also.
“I’ll use Auto Mode to make the meds.”
I followed the instructions and transferred the salve-making plants and some water to the mortar that was included in my basic concoction kit, then began grinding them together with a pestle—a simple enough job. After a while, the plants turned into a paste. Finally, I infused the mixture with magic, and the mortar glowed faintly. There was a cute little Poof! and the medicine was ready. The pills were even packaged neatly in individual wax paper packets...though I had no idea where the paper came from.
Whatever! Now I had some medicine.
Name: Medicine
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Recovers 10 HP. (10-minute cooldown)
Not only was this recovery item less effective than low-grade potions, it also had the lowest quality rating, but it was more than enough for me. At this level, one of these was almost enough to fully restore my HP!
“All right, that’s recovery taken care of. Let’s get going.”
The next place I was headed to was the Western Forest. Like the Eastern Plains, it was a beginner-friendly site. Before that, however, I had to do some research. I’d gotten myself into a sorry state on the last venture because I’d neglected to adequately prepare. I forget who it was that said, Knowledge is power, but I’d definitely heard those words before. For the umpteenth time today, I returned to my trusty source of information, the Farming Guild.
It was currently after 5 p.m. in-game time. If I didn’t hurry, it would soon be nighttime. Not only were there more monsters at night, they supposedly also attacked you in groups. A small fry like me would be dead in an instant. Besides, it was harder to find plants in the dark, so there really was no benefit to staying out late.
“Better get it all done before sundown.”
The old man at the Farming Guild told me there was a river deep inside the Western Forest, where you could apparently find all sorts of interesting items.
“Like water pumice, for example.”
According to Gramps, water pumice was a practical item that helped purify water. There was supposedly a mining area as well, but since I didn’t have any of the appropriate equipment, I decided to skip it for the time being.
“Better set the medicine to quick access.”
I created a shortcut for the three pills I had just made. Shortcuts allowed me to access my items from my inventory directly by thinking of the associated keyword that I’d set. While this lessened the item’s effect, it was a useful function to have during battle.
“Keyword, keyword... I’ll just go with ‘Cure.’”
With that, I entered into the Western Forest, armed and ready for the task.
My plan was simple—run as fast as I could and flee from my enemies. I was here to gather items; fighting was out of the question. First stop: the river at the end of the forest.
“Let’s go, shall we?”
“Cure!”
Twenty minutes later and I’d already used up one of my three precious pills. I wasn’t expecting it to suddenly appear in my mouth, though, and almost spat it out. The taste was nothing to write home about; the thought of having to swallow two more of these churned my stomach, but I had more pressing matters to deal with right now.
“Squeak!”
I was currently being chased by an adorable little squirrel. Enter mob number two, the Gray Squirrel. It was just as weak as a Fanged Rat, but it was still a formidable opponent for someone like me. Not only was it small, it was also nimble, and I doubted I could get in a clean hit.
I had no choice but to run. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, not looking back, my gathering quest abandoned altogether. Thanks to the cooldown, it would be some minutes before I could take any more medicine, but the squirrel continued to attack relentlessly as I ran, racking up the damage points.
After over five minutes of running, I was utterly spent, my breath coming in short gasps. Thankfully, the Gray Squirrel that had been chasing me was nowhere to be seen. It appeared that I had managed to rid myself of it.
“Oof, if this wasn’t a game, I’d definitely be puking right now!” I wheezed.
As luck would have it, my haphazard running had gained me quite a bit of progress. The map indicated that I was already about halfway through the forest.
“Let’s head to the river, then.”
I gingerly made my way through the forest and presently found myself at what I assumed to be the river, though it was more of a stream really.
The medicine’s ten-minute cooldown had expired now, so I decided to take one pill to recover my health.
“Gosh, these taste bad. I wonder if I can drink the water here?”
I needed something to get rid of the taste fast, so I scooped up some water in my hands and assessed it. Like the well water, it was of the lowest quality, but it appeared to be suitable for both drinking and crafting.
“Well, that’s a relief.”
To be able to rid myself of that aftertaste before I resumed my search was a blessing. Being able to taste things properly in the game was actually a pretty annoying feature. Now that my palate had been cleansed, though, I decided to walk along the stream and see what I could find. However, after a few steps, I immediately regretted my decision.
“The footing sucks,” I grumbled.
Even the river bank had been made to look and feel hyperrealistic. Thankfully, though, I managed to find a green marker alongside the river bank.
“This stone?”
I observed the marked item. While it seemed like an ordinary rock at first glance, upon assessment I found out that it was, in fact, a water pumice.
Name: Water Pumice
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Can be added to water to aid in purification.
That was a pretty vague description. I supposed that meant I could use it to create purified water, which was presumably a notch above regular water, although I’d have to test that theory to confirm it. I was sure it would come in handy when concocting items, though.
“All right, anything else here? Some new plants, maybe...? Oh hey, another green marker!” I exclaimed, spotting a marker between the river bank and the forest. When I approached the spot, however, I found nothing but dirt. Although there were some clumps of grass dotting the patch, they were nothing but ordinary weeds.
“So, what is it then?”
Is the grass some kind of item? I wondered as I assessed the ground.
Name: Mulch
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Add to soil to increase cultivation efficiency. Effect lasts for five days. Can be used in conjunction with other fertilizers.
Aha! So the dirt was an item! A perfect item for my newly acquired farm, at that. It was a shame that the mulch was a single-use item, though I supposed the fact that the effect lasted for five days made up for it. Talk about striking gold.
“Now if I could just find some rare plants.”
So far, I had only managed to collect a few medicinal herbs.
“This sure is taking a while.”
The sky was getting darker, which meant it was almost nightfall. I had to hurry. Just then, I heard a rustling in the bushes, and a Fanged Rat leapt into my path.
“Of course. I knew things were going a little too smoothly.”
In a bewildering showing of aggression, the creature lunged at me the moment it saw me. There was a cool flash of pale green light, and my health meter immediately plummeted to the red zone. I had apparently sustained a critical hit.
“Guh! C-Cure!” I gasped. “Damn it!”
If you think I’m about to be defeated here, you’re dead wrong! I silently spat. I had to go deeper into the forest. That’s right, keep running until you get your hands on something, I urged myself.
Again I ran until exhaustion set in, at which point it appeared that I had shaken off the Fanged Rat, which was no longer in sight.
“That was close...”
I had managed to survive, but I no longer had any means of recovery. If I were to encounter a monster now, I would most certainly die. Please, no more monsters, I begged, but sadly my prayers went unanswered. Just then, three more Fanged Rats appeared before me.
“Squeak squeak!” the creatures hissed, before attacking me all at once.
“Oh I am not dying here!”
With that, I was back on the run.
I dashed like mad through the forest, the rats attacking me ruthlessly all the while. Now and then I felt something strike my back, but I knew it was game over for me if I stumbled, so I continued to run with surprising persistence, keeping low to the ground.
“Squeak squeak!”
“Squeak!”
Those bastards! They’re just coming after me because I’m an easy target! Damn it! Still, I refused to die just yet. All right, rats, time to show you what I’ve got!
During the pursuit, I thought I caught sight of several green markers, but I ignored them all. Right now, I had to focus my full attention on escaping from these rats! My panic rose as my health dropped, but I refused to give up. Unfortunately, the rats showed no signs of giving up either. I was done for.
“Gotta at least make it to that tree!” I shouted. Atop a steep slope overlooking the river, there stood a lone tree, which looked vastly different from the others.
“Aaaargh!”
I raced up the slope, using every last bit of strength that I had. By the time I reached the tree, I was out of breath. Even though you didn’t feel pain in this game, you were still able to feel shortness of breath. My lungs were aching.
“...Is that a peach tree?” I wheezed.
My Appraisal skill informed me that it was indeed a green peach tree, which bore a single fruit on one of its low branches. Guided by the green marker, I stretched my hand towards the peach and plucked it off.
Name: Green Peach
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Replenishes hunger level by ten percent.
Aside from the color, it indeed resembled a peach. A sweet fragrance drifted from it.
“Heck yes...!”
“Your Gathering skill has increased to level 2.”
Not only had I snagged a rare item, but a level-up, too! Could this be my lucky day? I stored the fruit away in my inventory with haste.
“Looks like the coast is clea— Guh!”
“Squeak squeak!”
A Fanged Rat had snuck up behind me while I was distracted; I hadn’t heard its footsteps over the sound of the babbling water. The rat hurled itself at my back repeatedly, and after a split-second sensation of being suspended in midair, I found my body catapulted forward—headlong over the edge of the cliff.
“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding! Eep!”
Naturally, I was scared out of my wits. I was basically bungee jumping without a cord, after all. The wind roared in my ears, and before I could even register the feeling of the wind against my cheeks, I approached the surface of the water.
“Aaaah!” A scream escaped my throat. This was as terrifying as my death at the hands of the Wild Dogs.
I plunged at least ten meters, and several seconds later, I crashed into the water. Although I felt no pain, the shock was immense. Once again, my body felt as if it were floating, and I was transported back to the same old public square.
“There goes another one.”
I was starting to grow accustomed to this. I turned my back on the other players and began heading home, ignoring their blatant stares.
“Olto, I’m home,” I announced.
“Mm-mm!” Olto greeted me.
My cute little buddy toddled over to me, all smiles. He then began tugging earnestly at my legs.
“Mm-mm, mm-mm.”
He appeared to be pointing in the direction of our field.
“What is it?”
“Mm-mm.”
I followed his indication to discover some fairly large young sprouts, far bigger than the shoots I recalled, already growing leaves. I was stunned. We had only sowed those seeds a few hours ago!
“They’ve grown this much already?!”
“Mm.”
“Wow. You’re amazing, Olto.”
“Mm-mm-mmm!”
The praise seemed to please him. I patted him on the head as I handed him one of the trophies from my previous hunt.
“Here, I got you something.”
“Mm!”
The first item I gave him was the mulch, which he took from my hands enthusiastically, jumping up and down. He immediately started sprinkling it on the dirt.
“Also, can you do anything with this?” I asked, showing him the green peach I’d plucked. I was hoping we’d be able to grow it on our farm using his Arboriculture skill. If he couldn’t, then I’d just sell it somewhere or eat it myself.
“Mm? Mmm. Mm-mm.”
The fruit glowed as Olto hummed, the way he had when activating his Propagation skill before. Within a second, the peach had transformed into a tiny sapling.
It appeared that his Propagation skill turned plants into seeds and trees into saplings. However, unlike plants, which produced two seeds, the saplings didn’t double in number. Of course, this was probably the trade-off, as you could harvest multiple items from them when they matured.
Name: Green Peach Sapling
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Grows into a Green Peach tree. Beginners are unable to nurture this sapling.
Hmm. My guess was right; it was a difficult tree to grow. I was glad that Olto possessed the Arboriculture skill.
“Your Command ability has increased to level 2.”
Awesome! Another level-up. Making your monsters work seemed to be the key to more skill experience.
“I guess that’s it for today, though.”
I had already respawned three times; any more than that would incur a death penalty. Besides that, it was nighttime now. Not only were there more monsters about, but it was more difficult to collect items in the dark.
“Guess I could just log out for now. I still have a while before the time limit, though...”
In order to protect players’ health, there was a limit to how many hours you could dive into LJO at a time. Of course, this was a rule that applied to all full dive VR games.
There had been a variety of tragic accidents when full dive VR gaming consoles first went on the market. In regular junkie mode, you could eat while gaming and fall asleep if you felt sleepy, but with full dive VR games, where your consciousness itself entered a virtual reality while your body was half asleep, it was difficult to sense changes to your actual physical body. Some players lost track of time and gamed for over one hundred hours straight without eating or drinking, which led to them collapsing upon logging out, and getting whisked away by an ambulance. In more extreme cases, there were some hardcore players who completely emptied their bowels and hooked themselves up to an IV drip before they logged in and started playing. The worst case reported was a player who died of heart failure after staying logged in to a VR game for a full week.
As a result, VR games nowadays had various regulations to prevent such accidents from occurring. Regular enforced logouts were one of those measures. If you failed to log out after a certain amount of time, the game would apparently eject you by force.
That being said, I still had a few hours or so left. I was mentally exhausted, however, and very much needed a break.
“Wait a minute.”
Was that a wise idea? I had already gotten off to a slow start. Wasn’t it better to look for something I could do to try and maximize my experience points? I decided to check out the notice board at the Adventurers’ Guild. If there were any quests that I could fulfill, then great; if not, then that was that.
I managed to find a super-easy quest: washing dishes at an inn. The reward was pitiful—one medicinal herb—but I was grateful for having something safe and easy to do. It was like working a part-time job.
One hour after accepting the quest, I was done and on my way back to report to the guild.
“I’m pooped...”
Though I had elected to accept the quest myself, I honestly hadn’t been expecting to wash dishes inside of a game. Oh well, at least I had made the innkeeper happy.
“Thanks, dear! I’m so glad you came! No one else would take the job,” said the woman.
“Don’t mention it.”
Although she was just a non-player character, it was still nice to hear a thank-you from a real-looking person.
The Adventurers’ Guild was open even at night, and the receptionists were different from the ones I had seen in the afternoon. The attention to detail in this game was really something. Completing my quest only took a second; I simply had to browse the notice board from my status window and press a couple of buttons. Once that was taken care of, I decided to look for another quest, and found one similar to the dishwashing quest—helping an item shop organize its storeroom. The reward was incredibly cheap—a mere 50 G—but that was about the only type of quest I could do. The task was simple; all I had to do was follow the old man’s instructions and move some boxes and carts around.
“Ho ho ho. I appreciate your help, boy. You’re the first person to accept this quest.”
With good reason. Why would anybody waste two hours of their precious time for a measly 50 G? You could make far more than that by collecting items in the fields and killing a few monsters. Good luck getting anyone to accept this type of quest at this stage of the game.
“Look at the time...” I muttered. “Time to log out.”
Now, I was thoroughly drained, and could definitely use that break. It was better to rest and resume playing at dawn. Olto would be able to take care of our patch in the meanwhile.
“That reminds me, better try out the water pumice before I go.”
Using the money I’d earned, I bought a wooden cask, and filled it with water from the well before adding the pumice to it. There was no immediate change, though. I probably had to leave it for a while.
“See you tomorrow, buddy,” I said to Olto, bidding him farewell.
“Mm-mm.”
The following day, at 6 a.m. on January 2nd, in-game time, I logged back in to LJO.
First things first—to the farm! I raced down the path that led from the square to our humble patch, excited to see what I might find.
“Morning, Olto!” I greeted.
“Mm-mm,” he replied.
“Whoa! This is amazing!” I gasped, stunned by the sight before me.
Our farming plot, which had been completely barren at the start of yesterday, was now lush with greenery.
“Let’s see, we’ve got medicinal herbs, poison hemlock, paralyzing plants, life sunflowers, edible grass, and salve-making plants...and they’re all higher quality now, too!”
Those plants definitely had a one-star rating when I gave them to Olto yesterday; now, they had all risen to three stars.
“Mind if I harvest these?”
If this were real life, I would assume I was supposed to pull them out by the roots or something, but who knew what the rules were in-game. I hadn’t stopped to consider the mechanics of this during my whirlwind grass-picking tour, but now I wondered—would the method of harvesting affect the quality of the crops?
“Mm.”
As if to answer my unspoken question, Olto grabbed one of the plants near him with his hand, yanked it out of the ground, and handed it to me. Oh. I guess I could just rip it out like any old weed. I followed suit and picked some poison hemlock. This specimen was bigger than the one-star variety, and darker in color, which gave the impression that it was even more poisonous.
The morning’s harvest totaled two medicinal herbs, two poison hemlock, two paralyzing plants, two life sunflowers, five salve-making plants, and five clumps of edible grass.
“This is incredible! Great job, Olto!”
“Mm-mm!” Olto crowed as I patted him on the head. He didn’t seem to mind that I was tousling his hair as aggressively as I might when praising my parents’ dog. The online forums said it was essential to communicate with your monsters; this obviously applied to humanoid types as well.
“Let’s see, what else...? How’s the water?”
“Mm.”
Olto tottered towards me with a wooden cask in hand. The way he carried the cask like an enthusiastic small child was rather endearing, though it also made me nervous. I worried he was going to trip.
“Mm!” he said, presenting the cask.
“Thanks.”
“Mm-mm.”
“I see. So the water pumice breaks after one use.”
The water pumice that I’d added to the cask the day before had split into two, rendering it unusable. Regardless, the cask now had a green marker clearly visible above it.
“Still looks like regular water to me.”
I tried storing the water, cask and all, in my inventory. The cask stayed where it was, but I now had ten additional items named Purified Water among my possessions. Using the water pumice had turned out to be a success.
Name: Purified Water
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Item.
“Well, that should be everything I need to make potions.”
As a bonus, the items I had were of better quality than what you could typically obtain at this stage. From what I’d heard, other people appeared to be making potions by simply collecting one-star wild medicinal herbs and life sunflowers and mixing them with ordinary well water, which put me at an advantage.
“Let’s get cracking.”
I followed the Auto Mode crafting instructions and ground some three-star medicinal herbs and life sunflowers into a paste, then added the purified water and mixed everything together. The steps were essentially the same as making medicine, only with different ingredients. Once again, the mortar emitted a faint glow, and my potion was ready.
“All right!”
Name: Low-Grade Potion
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 3★
Effect: Recovers 30 HP. (5-minute cooldown)
Three stars, baby! Those high-quality ingredients really made a difference. I had no idea where the bottle it was in came from, though.
This potion would recover ten more health points than the one that had come with my starter kit, and was bound to come in handy during the early stages of the game—though, currently either one would more than suffice to bring me back to full health. Honestly, it was probably even wasteful of me to use these higher-quality potions on myself. Better to sell them for cash to buy the things that I actually needed.
“Your Concoct skill has increased to level 2.”
Excellent. My skills were leveling up nicely too. I decided to check my other recipes to see what else I could make.
“Let’s see, I already made medicine yesterday. All that’s left to try is food rations.”
Like medicine, food rations could be made with just grass and water, with one clump of edible grass yielding five rations. A single ration bar recovered twenty percent of your hunger status, which meant I only had to make them once a day for a full day’s supply of food. Considering their taste, I would have liked to avoid them altogether if I could, but I couldn’t very well starve myself. I decided to make ten of them, as well as two pills of medicine for emergency purposes. The only problem was that both of these items required well water. I doubted that even increasing the quality of the food rations would improve their taste, and it seemed like a waste to use purified water to make medicine. After all, even the lowest grade was more than potent enough for my purposes.
In order to make poison and paralyzing potions, I needed three poison hemlock and three paralyzing plants each, which was unfortunately more than what I currently had. I also lacked the ingredients for Hunter Potions, which required poison hemlock, paralyzing plants, and a type of mushroom called a red panther cap. Honey dumplings weren’t an option either since I didn’t have honey, and I wasn’t sure where I could obtain it, but I hoped I could at least find some red panther caps.
“I still need a lot more ingredients.”
Being able to craft items didn’t mean much on its own, though; my stats wouldn’t increase unless my base level did as well. While crafting activities did grant players some experience, the amount was negligible. If possible, I needed to gain experience points through other means.
“Hmm. I guess doing some basic quests would be the fastest path to XP. Maybe it’s time to go wash some more dishes?”
Completing quests gained you not only rewards, but also experience points. Washing dishes barely gave me any points, though, so I wasn’t keen on repeating the effort. If I could find a quest that didn’t require any washing up and rewarded me with new kinds of seeds, though, that would be awesome. I made a mental note to visit the guild to check out the available quests later.
“Before that, I gotta sow more seeds.”
With all of my crops harvested, it was time to start the next batch.
“I know I just picked this, but could you propagate it for me?”
“Mm!”
I handed Olto the medicinal herb that I’d just harvested. I knew that the quality of plants deteriorated once they had been propagated, but what would happen if I propagated a three-star item? What if it only went down one rank and transformed into two-star seeds? The one-star seeds I sowed yesterday had turned into three-star crops, which meant that the quality of crops must increase by two stars with each growing.
If my calculations were correct, that would mean that if I continued to harvest and propagate plants every day, I would be able to create a ten-star medicinal herb in eight days. At least, that was what I hoped...
“Mm-mm.”
“Bingo! For real?!”
Lo and behold, the seeds that Olto produced had a two-star rating. Clearly, I had cracked the code.
I handed Olto one more medicinal herb, two poison hemlock, two paralyzing plants, one life sunflower, three salve-making plants, and one clump of edible grass to propagate, then sowed their seeds. I was looking forward to tomorrow’s harvest. Forget crafting or concocting, the first order of business would be to create as high-quality ingredients as possible.
“All right, now to go look for some quests.”
Now that I no longer had anything to harvest or craft, I needed something to kill the time while I waited for Olto to finish up his work. I headed straight to the Adventurers’ Guild and checked out the notice board, where I managed to find the perfect quest.
“Weeding, eh?”
The quest was only worth 50 G—one of the lowest-tier rewards—but it seemed like it would take the least amount of time to complete out of all the combat-free quests. I followed the route marked on the map to the farm in the South District that had sent out the request.
“Anybody home?” I called out upon arrival.
“Why, hello there,” an old man replied. “Are you the young fella who’s come to help me out?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re the first otherworldly traveler to accept this quest. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” he thanked me.
Following the old man’s instructions, I then proceeded to remove five rows worth of weeds. This was way more tiring than doing the dishes. Who the hell picks weeds in a game, anyway? Still, it felt nice to be thanked by the old man, and weeding was probably a skill that would come in handy on my own farm. The quest only took about an hour to complete, which wasn’t bad at all, at least by my standards. After that, I did a variety of other quests, such as delivering letters and helping an old lady who had injured her leg to do her shopping, which gained me more experience. It didn’t seem like I would level up anytime soon, but like they say, slow and steady wins the race.
It was pretty cool to see the smiles on everyone’s faces as well, and all of the quest givers were excited to tell me I was the first person to accept their quest. Unlike certain manga protagonists, I wasn’t about to insist that NPCs had souls or deserved to be treated like human beings or anything like that, but their advanced artificial intelligence and realistic way of talking made it hard not to feel a sense of kinship towards them.
“Phew, I’m really racking ’em up here. Hm? Hang on...” As I completed my final request and headed back to the Adventurers’ Guild, something suddenly occurred to me. “Crap! I haven’t completed that herb quest yet!”
I had totally forgotten about the gathering quest I had accepted on my first day. Thanks to all my other errands though, I now had more than enough herbs for it.
“Might as well get it done now.”
Ding dong.
“Huh?”
“This is a public announcement.”
Just then, I heard a voice over the PA system, a server-wide announcement apparently.
“Today marks one day since the official launch of LJO. Thank you for logging in, everyone.”
I glanced up at the clock to see that it was currently noon, in-game time. Of course. Exactly twenty-four hours had now passed in the game since it launched yesterday at noon.
“We will be giving out special rewards to our most active players so far.”
“Huh.”
I didn’t remember getting any notification like that. Probably some kind of secret achievement. I was sure that was none of my business, though. I had failed to get a head start, I hadn’t won a single battle, and I had barely completed any quests... Man, that was depressing.
“...Might as well check out the announcement, though,” I sighed.
I was currently in one of the public squares in the South District. Everyone around me had paused, staring intently at their status windows, probably perusing the same information. Unlike me, however, the other players seemed to have hope in their eyes.
“First, the player who has traveled the greatest distance will be awarded the title of ‘Adventurer,’” the voice announced, and the crowd let out a collective sigh.
Titles were awarded by completing specific actions or quests, and were extremely hard to obtain. Most titles came with perks like raising your skills or stats, so you could consider yourself pretty lucky if you got one this early on in the game. The fact that these titles were being given out at a surprise event also meant that they were going to be ultra-rare and probably a one-time-only award. Predictably, everyone was awaiting the names of the winners with bated breath.
“The total distance traveled was 50.6 kilometers. In accordance with this player’s appearance, they will be awarded the title of ‘Purple-Haired Adventurer.’”
I couldn’t tell whether 50 kilometers was a lot, but according to what I could glean from the conversations around me, this player most definitely possessed horse-riding skills. That made sense.
“Next, the player who has collected the most items will be awarded the title of ‘Explorer.’”
Neither title had anything to do with me. If only I hadn’t messed up my character build, I might have been able to feel a smidgen of excitement... No, forget it. There was no use crying over spilled milk. I had already decided that I would do things my own way, remember?
“The total number of items gathered was 191. In accordance with this player’s appearance, they will be awarded the title of ‘Ruby Red Explorer.’”
Was that another reference to their hair color? If they were already this active, they were bound to become famous, so I guessed I would find out eventually.
“Finally, the player who has died the most deaths will be awarded the title of ‘Pioneer.’”
What? Deaths? Did they mean the number of respawns?
“The total number of deaths is three. In accordance with this player’s appearance, they will be awarded the title of ‘Silver-Haired Pioneer.’”
Ding dong.
Silver-Haired...Pioneer...?
“You have obtained the title ‘Silver-Haired Pioneer,’” my status screen announced.
Yep, it turned out that ignominious honor was mine, folks. I mean, I did have silver hair, but like, seriously? Couldn’t they have at least announced it with a fanfare of trumpets or something? That pretty much just sounded like the doorbell ringing.
As I was trying to process what had happened, I became aware of the other players whispering around me.
“Three deaths on the first day? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Who the hell does that? Don’t tell me it’s you.”
“Hell no. My hair is white, not silver!”
“Ha ha ha, that’s so lame.”
Up until now, the players had been oohing and aahing at each announcement, but they were now openly ridiculing my dishonorable mention. I was a laughingstock.
I probably shouldn’t let on that that unlucky bastard is me, I thought to myself.
Unfortunately, there were dozens of sets of eyes already pointed my way, which I could not pretend was simply my imagination.
“Hey, didn’t that guy respawn yesterday?”
“He has silver hair.”
“Then that means...”
Shit! If I didn’t get out of here immediately, everyone would know that it was me! Sure, I craved as much attention as the next guy, and I’d even fantasized about becoming famous at one point... But not like this! This was absolutely not the kind of fame that I was after.
“Anyway, let’s get to the guild.”
I lowered my eyes furtively and hurried out of the square. Thankfully, no one seemed to be following me. On the way to the guildhall, I decided to take my mind off of things by checking out my newly acquired title. A new section named “Titles” had been added to my status menu, which contained the following information:
Title: Silver-Haired Pioneer
Effect: You have gained 4,000 G and two bonus points, as well as the skill Flee.
Well, how about that. Money, bonus points, and even a new skill. Although I wasn’t proud of this achievement, I had definitely scored with these rewards. Now to see what my new skill was capable of.
Flee: Shortens your enemy’s range of pursuit when fleeing and makes it easier to escape.
That basically meant that my enemies would give up on pursuing me more easily. That was a relief; it was just the kind of skill I needed—and one which I would definitely be putting to good use.
“Time to actually fulfill this quest now...”
After fleeing the square, I made my way to the Adventurers’ Guild, as I had been intending to. Upon arrival, I selected the items that I needed to deliver from my status window and pressed “Done.”
“You have successfully completed this quest. You will now receive your reward.”
Five medicinal herbs disappeared from my inventory, and in turn, my in-game currency increased by 50 G. The quest was now complete.
“Your base level has increased to level 2. You have acquired two bonus points.”
“Your Job level has increased to level 2.”
“Hey, I leveled up. That worked out nicely.”
By increasing my levels I also earned additional bonus points, similar to the ones I had received during the character creation process. These could be used to learn new skills or raise my stats. Since I had acquired two more points when I received my title, I currently had a total of four available bonus points.
“All right, that should be enough.”
I immediately opened my status menu and pulled up the list of obtainable skills.
“Let’s see... There it is.”
The skill that I had been hoping to learn was Farming. Even though I mainly depended on Olto to take care of our farm, I couldn’t let him do all the work. There were bound to be times when he would need my help. However, I didn’t want to run the risk of ruining the quality of our crops, which was why it was crucial that I learned this skill as soon as possible. With Farming in my arsenal, I could now tend to our field without worry.
“And done. Let’s keep the momentum going with some more quests.”
I scanned the bulletin board, wondering if there was anything else I was qualified for. Given that even the beginner-level quests had landed me in life-or-death situations, that wasn’t an easy feat.
“Hmm, easier said than done...”
Wait a minute. Didn’t the old man at the Farming Guild say something about quests too? If I remembered correctly, he had mentioned a quest noticeboard when I registered as a guild member.
“To the Farming Guild it is, then.”
Couldn’t forget to stop by the Magical Beasts Guild either, which was closer to my current location according to the map. I had yet to pay a visit, despite it technically being my primary guild.
“Let’s go there first.”
The Magical Beasts Guild was a ten-minute walk from the Adventurers’ Guild and was located on the border between the South and West Districts, though it was technically located in the latter. It was a massive European-style building, unlike either the Adventurers’ Guild or the Farming Guild in appearance, and rather charmless in impression. It had a brick exterior, but the walls and roof were largely covered in vines, lending it an oppressive atmosphere. If I were a movie protagonist seeking shelter at this house on a rainy day, I would definitely find a mad scientist or vampire on the other side of the front door—that was the kind of vibe it gave off.
The place was enormous; the full grounds were more than five times the size of those of the Farming Guild, and the building itself was more than twice as big. Since the Magical Beasts Guild was in charge of Tamers and Summoners, it had a large open area where players could leave their monsters while inside. According to the online forums, this area was called a “monsterway.” The same forum speculated that the guild having such a vast parking lot might mean that we could expect to get our hands on much larger monsters in the later stages of the game. Indeed, it didn’t make much sense to leave small monsters outside when you could just bring them in with you. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see something as massive as a dragon out here one day. The possibilities seemed endless.
“And in we go.”
I mustered up my courage and opened the door to the Magical Beasts Guild, which revealed a room quite unlike what the building’s intimidating exterior would imply. A well-used wooden counter added a sense of warmth and homeliness, and the warm orange glow of ceiling lamps gently lit up the floor. A few indoor plants were strategically placed throughout the room. Even the dreary shade of the dark brown carpet managed to add to the coziness. However, that wasn’t the only thing I found impressive.
“Hi.”
“Hello, and welcome,” the receptionist greeted me.
The receptionist NPC was an adorable black-haired woman who gave off a pure and innocent air—in short, jackpot. What an upgrade from the Farming Guild...
The first floor of the building was spacious, and there seemed to be a second floor as well, which according to the signs housed an incubation room. Unlike the Monster Synthesis Summoners had, Tamers had a system known as Monster Breeding, which enabled you to breed monsters that were compatible with each other and make them lay eggs. This allowed the spawning of monsters with higher-than-normal stats, or brand-new specimens, which sometimes occurred when you bred monsters of high compatibility. Unlike synthesis, however, there was a factor of randomness to the results, so it was difficult to achieve your desired effect. Additionally, in order to hatch your monster’s eggs, you apparently needed to use one of the guild’s incubators, or else set one on your home screen. If I could manage to tame another monster, there was a chance that I could hatch some eggs too.
Wait for me, incubation room! I’ll be back soon!
Incidentally, the basement was designated the Synthesis room. I guessed that was where the Summoners went.
Anyway, back to business. Right now, I was supposed to be looking for the quest noticeboard.
“Excuse me. Where’s the noticeboard?” I asked the receptionist.
“Right this way, sir.”
The board was so tiny, I couldn’t tell what it was at first. It was about one-thirtieth the size of the board at the Adventurers’ Guild and looked just like a regular corkboard. I quickly scanned the list of available quests. Aside from delivery-type quests, there were also special quests that required you to tame specific monsters.
“Why are some of these red? There’s some blue ones too.”
Quests were usually indicated in black, but I spotted a few highlighted in different colors.
“What do the different colors mean?” I asked.
“Quests in blue indicate that you have fulfilled all of the requirements. Red stands for quests that you have partially fulfilled.”
“Partially fulfilled?”
“For example, you may own the items necessary to complete the quest, but you may need to go back home and retrieve them.”
“I see.”
“Another example would be special quests that require you to learn specific skills. You may be able to fulfill the requirements for these by paying the necessary amount of bonus points.”
Hearing that, I immediately checked the list of blue quests.
Special Quest
Requirement: Raise your Monster Taming ability to level 5.
Reward: 1,200 G
Time Limit: None
Huh? Really? I’d already raised my level using my initial bonus points before the game even started. Did that count? Not that I had any objections; that was pretty much a godsend. I promptly selected the quest.
“You have fulfilled the requirements of this quest. Would you like to mark it as complete?”
“Yes, please.”
“Your base level has increased to level 3. You have acquired two bonus points.”
“Your Job level has increased to level 3.”
No way. A single quest and I had leveled up again. I guessed that one had been worth a lot of experience points. Plus, another 1,200 G—what a godsend!
L-Let’s check out the others as well!
Although I was out of blue quests, there were still three marked in red.
Special Quest
Requirement: Show Barbara a level 5 monster.
Reward: 500 G
Time Limit: None
Special Quest
Requirement: Show Barbara a unique specimen.
Reward: 3,000 G
Time Limit: None
Special Quest
Requirement: Show Barbara a monster that has acquired either a rare or EX skill.
Reward: 5,000 G
Time Limit: None
There was no doubt about it: I could complete all of these quests as long as I had Olto with me. However, that left me with one question.
“Um, who’s Barbara?”
“That would be me,” she replied.
“Oh, I see. Wait, so I just need to show my monster to you?”
“Yes! I love monsters! Rare monsters, cute monsters, cool monsters, you name it. I want to see them all!” Barbara exclaimed dreamily with her hands clasped in front of her chest, in a way that was somehow both cute and sexy...though it would probably have been less cringey if we hadn’t been talking about monsters, of all things. It was as though some switch had flipped in her. “So please, I would love it if you brought me some interesting monsters to see! I’ll make sure to reward you, of course.”
So, she was basically just using the guild to fulfill her own desires? Was that even allowed? Not that I cared, though, with how big the reward was.
“Olto’s busy tending to our farm right now, so I’ll bring him here once he’s done,” I replied.
Suddenly, it dawned on me. If I had come to the Magical Beasts Guild first, I wouldn’t have had to sell all of my gear...
“Ha ha...”
“Is something wrong?” Barbara asked.
“It’s nothing...” I sighed, exasperated at my stupidity. “I should head back to the Farming Guild...”
I felt like I might cry if I stayed there, so I headed to the Farming Guild, hoping to find some profitable quests. Sadly though, those hopes were dashed. There were no quests that I could easily fulfill there, which should have been obvious if I thought about it. Farming wasn’t my main job, and I hadn’t selected any farming-related bonuses at character creation.
Still, I managed to at least find a few quests that could be completed in the near future, mostly those which involved successfully growing several different types of plants, or harvesting and delivering crops above a certain quality. I would have to work on increasing the variety of my crops and improving their quality moving forward. In order to do that, however, it was evident that I had to gather more items...
Gathering quests were by far the most common lower-level quests, but it seemed highly inefficient to risk my life every time I so much as ventured into the forest.
“I need some type of protective gear, for starters. It doesn’t have to be as good as a silver robe, but something slightly above average would be nice.”
I was also concerned about the matter of market prices. Were similar items priced the same across the board, or did the price vary from shop to shop? This was pretty important, as it affected the selling price of my potions.
“I think there were some stalls in the square.”
There were several public squares in the Town of Beginnings, and each square was home to a number of stalls.
“The small square in the south should be the closest.”
True to my recollection, I found ten-odd NPC-run stalls when I arrived at the open space. Aside from a weapon shop and apothecary, there was a grocery store and a bait and tackle shop as well.
“Looks like the price of medicine is the same at all NPC shops,” I mumbled as I strolled through the square, my mouth full of the grilled rabbit skewers I had just purchased after succumbing to the enticing smell. “God, these are good. Can’t tell if I like the sauced or the plain salted ones better,” I smacked.
I couldn’t believe I got to eat something this good this early in the game. If NPCs could create food this tasty, what would high-quality player-made dishes taste like? I had Cooking skills myself, so if I could just get my hands on some ingredients...
As I was lost in thought, I heard somebody call out to me.
“Hey there. Got a minute, mister?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Sometimes it’s rough being a guy; it was a rather suspicious-sounding invitation, but I felt compelled to turn around. Surprisingly, I was greeted by a slender flaxen-haired beauty with cat ears. Her short hair curled at the ends, and a pair of black cat ears with white tips sprung from the top of her head. A set of inquisitive gray-blue eyes gazed back at me.
I assumed from the blue marker above her head that she was a player.
“Are you a player, miss?” I asked, confirming.
“I am,” she replied.
“Wow. I thought there were only NPC-owned shops here.”
“Well, I guess player-run shops are still pretty rare. It doesn’t cost much to buy a stall, though. Certain job classes get one for free with their initial bonuses.”
“Huh. But sure, I’ll have a look.”
Upon browsing, I realized that the prices at her store were different from other stalls. Medicine, for instance, was 100 G cheaper than at the NPC-run stores, while poison was 150 G more expensive.
“Did you set these prices yourself?”
“Ah, so you noticed,” she said. “Indeed I did. That’s the good thing about having your own shop.”
“Why are your poisons more expensive?”
“Oh, that’s because I made them myself. They’re slightly more effective than regular ones.”
That certainly seemed to be the case, considering their three-star rating.
“Of course, whether these shops are better or not really depends. There are plenty of nasty players who’ll try to rip you off.”
Judging from everything so far, I felt like I could trust this player. At the very least, there didn’t seem to be a considerable difference in price between her shop and NPC stalls.
“Do you sell any protective gear?”
“Sorry, no stock at the moment. I mainly specialize in tools. If you’re looking for armor, I recommend checking out Lewin’s Arms and Armor Shop in the Western Town Square.”
Now that she mentioned it, most of the items on display did appear to be medicine and the like. Lewin’s Arms and Armor Shop in the Western Town Square, huh? Got it.
I’d been having a hard time deciding where to sell my homemade medicine and potions, but perhaps here was as good as anyplace. She seemed trustworthy enough, and would probably buy them for a high price if the quality was good. I selected a low-grade potion from my inventory and showed it to the young woman.
“Hey, do you buy this sort of stuff?”
“Ooh, did you make that?”
“Yeah.”
“I see. A three-star low-grade potion, eh? Not bad. I can buy it for 250 G.”
“Huh? That much? I’ll take it!”
One-star low-grade potions were being sold at 200 G apiece. Sure, my potion might have a three-star rating, but if she were offering to buy it for 250 G, just how much did she intend on selling it for?
“The prices go up even further in the next town. You can sell this stuff like hotcakes there, since anything above three stars is still pretty rare.”
That meant that some people were already doing business in the next town. Damn, I really was behind everyone else.
“Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy two cheap potions, though?”
“It’s because of the cooldown. High-potency potions are a lot more useful in a tight battle.”
That made sense. Since potions had a ten-minute cooldown, good luck using them multiple times during battle. So, the more HP you could recover at once, the better.
“So you know the market price in other towns as well?”
“That’s right. It’s our area of specialization, after all.”
“Specialization? I didn’t know there was a job like that.”
“Not so much a job as a hobby. I’m a Merchant. Our clan acts as an information broker of sorts.”
Clans referred to player-made groups which existed for friends or people with similar goals to help each other out. This was a built-in game mechanism, and there were apparently even some clan-exclusive quests and items.
“Members of our clan, the Quick-Eared Cats, are certified information dealers.”
“You’ve already formed a clan? Were you in the beta test?”
“Who knooows? Well, I’m an information broker, so I might just tell you, if you tell me a little about yourself.”
Wow, an actual information broker! The sky was truly the limit in LJO. The woman’s mischievous smile was putting me in a playful mood myself. What kind of information did she want from me, though? I supposed a standard self-introduction was as good a place as any to start.
“I’m Yuto. I’m a Tamer in this game and an office worker in real life. My total amount of initial bonus points was 186.”
The woman chuckled heartily at my introduction.
“Ha ha. Not every day that you meet someone who tells you that sort of nitty gritty.”
Oops. Guess I got a little carried away there.
“Are you sure you want my information, though?” I asked.
“Of course. You seem interesting.”
“Interesting? How so?”
“Well, you’re a Tamer, aren’t you? If you got that many initial bonus points, that means you’re not a beta tester, but here you are already crafting three-star potions. There’s something different about you... I don’t see your monster anywhere either.”
The fact that she was able to deduce all that from merely what I’d told her so far was impressive. It was a sure sign that her information could be trusted.
“Okay, I’ll tell you a little about myself too. My name’s Alyssa, and my shop is called Alyssa’s Everything Store. Like you guessed, the Quick-Eared Cats is a clan that’s made up entirely of beta testers. Most of the players are ex-frontliners too.”
“Impressive. What are you doing running a stall in the Town of Beginnings, then?”
It was odd considering most of the beta testers had already moved on to the next town on the first day.
“Well, you know. Reasons.”
“What do you mean by th— Oh, right...”
Alyssa flashed me a grin. I supposed that meant I had to offer something else in exchange.
I didn’t have any information that was of much value, though... Actually, scratch that. I did. I was confident almost no one knew about “that.” However, I had to make sure my secret was safe. I didn’t want anyone else to find out.
“...This is between you and me, okay?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t sell your information without your consent.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I obtained a title yesterday.”
“Is that so? I like how straightforward you are; it makes things much easier. I see. You’re the Silver-Haired Pioneer, aren’t you?”
One look at my appearance and she had figured me out immediately.
“I am.”
I was beginning to feel a bit embarrassed, considering the nature of my title. Judging from her expression, however, she didn’t appear to be mocking me. Her smile seemed to be one of amusement, but I didn’t sense any malice from it.
“All right,” she chuckled. “My turn, then. Our clan was right on the frontlines during the beta. We all had different tastes and hobbies, but one thing we shared in common was curiosity. We wanted to explore every inch of LJO, visit unknown lands, and discover things we hadn’t known. That was our motivation and purpose.”
“Yeah, I sort of get that.”
“You do, don’t you? Unfortunately, our efforts turned out to be futile. After working tirelessly for two weeks, we managed to clear less than one hundredth of the full game. We came to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t enough to be on the frontlines if we wanted to discover every detail about this world.”
“So that’s why you decided to become information brokers?”
“Exactly. We had already been dealing in information, but we decided to take things to the next level starting with the official launch.”
“I’m surprised you can make any money. Considering there are forums and all.”
I doubted that many people would bother buying information when you could just look something up online. It seemed that Alyssa had already taken that into account, though.
“Well, we’re not really doing this for money. And besides, you’d be surprised to know how many people avoid checking the forums because of how seriously they take their role-playing.”
While I could sort of see the appeal of LARPing like that, I highly doubted I could survive by relying on information brokers alone, fun as the idea was.
“We get a lot of those types of players. A lot of folks also want their info pronto, so they’ll buy information from us in conjunction with using online forums. So, I’d say we break even. It was like that during the beta phase too.”
The clan’s main objective was information, not profit, so I guessed they were content as long as they weren’t operating at a huge loss.
“So, if you have any information worth sharing, I’ll buy it from you. If you want the deets on something, I can sell it to you too.”
“Um, one question. What’s the market price for info like?”
“Hmm. We’re the only ones doing this at the moment, so I guess it depends on us. Prices might go up, or they might go down.”
Duh. Information was a fickle thing, after all. Obviously, the prices would fluctuate from time to time.
“You decide if the price is right.”
Alyssa extended her hand towards me in a dramatic gesture and smiled.
The issue was whether I could actually trust her and her clan, although I had a feeling that I could. Their brokering business wouldn’t fare well if there were uncomfortable rumors about their prices, so surely they couldn’t be that outrageous.
Honestly, this whole thing had piqued my interest. I was excited to get in on the information game. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any money on hand at the moment, so I would have to sell something and make some cash first. But what information could I sell...? Wait a minute. I totally had some deets worth selling!
“I’d like to sell several pieces of information.”
“Oho. You’re telling me you’ve got something good? A beginner like you? Well, I suppose I can guess what one of those pieces of info pertains to.”
“Yes. It’s about my title.”
That’s right. I hadn’t revealed the details of my title yet. I assumed this news ought to be at least slightly rare.
“Knew it. Man, I’m glad I could catch you of all people!”
“Um, it’s not that big of a deal.”
At the end of the day, it was just a joke title, with no noteworthy special abilities. Regardless, Alyssa continued beaming at me.
“Doesn’t matter. Learning the details of a unique title is enough for me.”
“Well, if you say so.”
“I can buy that information for 1,000 G.”
“Huh? Are you serious? That much?”
I had figured the most I would get was 100 G. This was a surprise.
“I’m giving you a bit of a bonus since you’re a first-time customer, but it’s mostly because you’re the only person who has concrete evidence to share about this. Besides, this information will allow me to make some educated guesses about the other two players’ titles, which is pretty useful.”
“Is that so?”
“It might feel like a huge sum right now, but I promise you it’ll start to feel more like pocket change sooner or later.”
Regardless, 1,000 G was a fortune for me at the moment. I immediately opened my status window and showed Alyssa the section regarding my title, Silver-Haired Pioneer.
“I see. So no stat bump.”
“Nope. Just money, points, and a new skill. See, I told you it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“I wouldn’t say that at all. Thanks for sharing that valuable nugget of information with me. I appreciate it. By the way, if this had been exclusive, game-breaking information, it would’ve been worth even more. This hardly counts as expensive.”
I could already feel my spending habits going out the window. I supposed 1,000 G wasn’t all that much money to beta testers.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she prompted.
“I have some news concerning monsters too. It’s about a change that’s been implemented since the official launch.”
“Oh?”
“You know how there are gnomes in this game? They only appeared from Zone Three onwards in the beta test, but with the official launch, they’ve become available in Zone Two as well.”
“Really? That’s quite a valuable piece of info, you know? Where did you learn that, anyway?” Alyssa cocked her head at me.
Her skepticism was totally justified. After all, who would believe that a low-level idiot who’s already died three times would know anything about monsters in Zone Two?
“Take a look at this,” I told Alyssa, showing her my status screen once more.
The word “gnome” was listed under my Tamed Monsters section, which ought to back up my claim more than anything. That did appear to be enough to convince her.
“I see. So you acquired Advanced Tame, huh?” she nodded with satisfaction.
“You sure know your stuff.”
“I couldn’t call myself an information broker if I didn’t even know that much.”
“You believe me then?”
“I do. You have solid proof, after all. I’ll pay you 300 G.”
Pretty good sum for such a vague testimony.
“If it had been a minor change in details, I would have only paid you 100 G, but gnomes are a pretty troublesome opponent. Their earth magic is powerful, and they’re fast runners. They’ll destroy you if it’s your first time encountering them. I’m pretty sure a lot of players got their asses kicked by gnomes during the beta phase, but they’re worth fighting for the item drops. Not sure if that’s still the case now, though. Knowing that they also appear in Zone Two is a pretty valuable detail. If you had intel on their exact location as well, I would have paid you 5,000 G.”
No way. I would’ve been content with selling just one piece of information; I hadn’t been expecting to make even this much money.
“Okay, I’d like to buy something this time.”
“Sure thing. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know more about gnomes. Like how they attack, for example.”
“That’ll be 500 G.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“During the beta phase, gnomes were one of the monsters that appeared in the abandoned mine in the latter half of Zone Three. They were a tough enemy to deal with—earth magic for long-range attacks and wooden clubs for melee. Their most-feared attack was known as the Pitfall, an earth magic skill that makes the ground beneath your feet cave in. Most players got thrown off balance by this move and then were clobbered to death. Chances of dying on your first encounter were more than ninety percent.”
“Damn, that’s rough. Kinda weird, though.”
“Oh? What makes you say that?”
“My gnome doesn’t seem to have any combat abilities.”
Not only did Olto not attack with his earth magic, he couldn’t even make the ground cave in.
“Ah, got it. It was the same during the beta test. Apparently, some monsters change in temperament once they’re tamed.”
I had no idea. I’d have to be more careful from now on. If I tamed another powerful monster only to find out that it specialized in crafting things I would lose my mind.
“By the way, did you say their item drops were good?”
“Yes, especially their rare drops. They’re called earth crystals.”
“Earth crystals?”
“You can add them on to weapons to give them bonus attributes, use them to make wrought gold, and so on. They’re incredibly versatile. They’re several times more effective than ores, the item a rank below them, so they were highly sought after by crafter types. The drop rate was pretty cruel though—less than 0.01 percent—which was why it was sometimes known as a legendary item during the beta. The drop rate for ores was one hundred percent, though, so there were quite a few parties that devoted themselves to hunting gnomes.”
“I see. That was super helpful, thanks. I’d like to buy one more piece of information, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m all ears.”
“I’d like to know what sort of cultivable items you can gather in this area. Not just plants, but trees too.”
I figured I might as well ask that while I was here. I wanted to know what other items I could pick besides the ones I had obtained already.
“That’ll be 300 G.”
“Deal.”
“You can find blue acorns and red panther caps in the Southern and Western Forests. You can also pick green peaches in the Western Forest, but I don’t recommend it since you’ll have to go pretty deep, plus it’s not guaranteed that you’ll find them. Oh yes, you can find glowing walnuts in the Southern Forest too. These are even harder to obtain than green peaches.”
“Glowing walnuts?”
“That’s right. They occasionally grow on regular walnut trees, although it’s hard to tell them apart since they look like ordinary walnuts on the outside. It’s easier to find them at night when they emit a faint glow, but the forest also becomes far more dangerous at night. I recommend you attempt the Southern Forest when you’re level 12 or above if going solo.”
“Level 12, eh...? That’s a nope for me.”
I would have loved to get my hands on a glowing walnut, but it seemed like I would most definitely die if I attempted it. I would have to abandon that idea for now.
“Thanks for all your help.”
“No problem. I’ll be seeing you around.”
I said goodbye to Alyssa, and left her store behind. So far, the day had been time well spent, and now I was 5,850 G richer!
Online Forum [I’d Kill For A Title] A Discussion Thread for Ever-Elusive “Titles,” Pt. 1
Wanted: Information on how to obtain titles.
You are also welcome to simply post the effects of titles.
For speculation on what sort of titles there might be, please refer to the thread made specifically for that purpose.
14: Kainz
>11
Dishonorable mention or not, I would kill to get my hands on a title this early in the game. That Silver-Haired Pioneer is a lucky son of a gun!
15: Kitaro
Totally. There were a handful of titles available in the beta phase too, and they were all pretty good.
16: Kurumi
Here’s one that I know of from the beta, provided that they haven’t made any changes with the official launch:
The Friendly Neighborhood Helper
Requirement: Successfully complete over fifty Errand side quests in a single town.
Effect: Slight increase in side quest reward amounts, Strength +1, Agility +1
17: Keropi
Obviously everyone wants a title. Did you find any others in the beta?
18: Kurumi
We found about seven, I think? No more than ten, anyway. So it was a pretty generous move on the devs’ part to release three new ones all at once.
19: Kainz
Are there deets on any of the beta titles on the information board?
20: Kurumi
Yeah, several.
21: Kainz
Personally, I’d like to learn more about the three secret achievement titles. I wonder if the title holders will come forward?
22: Kurumi
Ruby Red and Purple-Haired might, but I highly doubt Comrade Silver-Haired will. It isn’t exactly a title worth boasting about, after all.
23: Kitaro
Why ‘Comrade’?
24: Kurumi
I just felt like the Silver-Haired Pioneer warranted an honorific term. I mean, you gotta respect the fella lol
25: Keropi
Comrade Silver-Haired: “Your sympathy is uncalled for! Do not pity me!”
26: Kitaro
Lol what do you know about Comrade Silver-Haired?
Also, why’d you make him sound like a general
27: Coriander
>21
I doubt they’ll be posting anything for free.
28: Keropi
Whaddya mean?
29: Coriander
I think they’re more likely to sell their info to the Quick-Eared Cats than post in the forums.
30: Keropi
The Quick-Eared Cats? Sell info? What are you talking about?
31: Kurumi
They’re a clan of information dealers that’ve been around since the beta phase, the only ones. If you bring them exclusive information, they’ll buy it off you. Looks like they’ve decided to continue the brokering business in the official version too. I checked.
Since they have access to important tips and strategies, you might be able to buy rare tidbits of info from them. The more valuable the information, the higher the price. I’m sure they have the lowdown on the titles as well.
32: Kainz
Is that such a good idea, though? If everyone starts withholding information and stops posting, those Quick-Eared Cats are gonna catch hell.
33: Coriander
They have their critics, but most of the beta players just accepted them.
Anyway, anyone who’d try to monopolize information is usually swayed by short-term gains, so they’ll sell whatever they know to information brokers if it means money.
By that token, information given to the Quick-Eared Cats can only spread from there. They actually play a pretty crucial role if you think about it.
Besides, they upload their data, including major hacks, to their knowledge base once they break even, so kicking up a fuss about their confidentiality is pretty pointless. If you really want to know something pronto, you can just buy it from them.
34: Keropi
Damn, sounds impressive. Maybe I’ll pay them a visit sometime.
Only problem is I don’t actually have anything to sell lol
35: Kurumi
It’s still a fun experience even if you’re just buying, so why don’t you go?
36: Kainz
It’d be nice if they had information regarding the Silver-Haired Pioneer.
37: Kurumi
I mean, we don’t even know if Comrade Silver-Haired knows about the Quick-Eared Cats.
38: Coriander
What kind of lunatic dies three times on the first day? Come on, they’ve got to be a beta tester. I bet they were part of the verification team, which means there’s no way they wouldn’t know about the Quick-Eared Cats.
39: Kainz
Hmm. You do have a point.
40: Keropi
Isn’t there a slight possibility that they’re actually just a newbie who messed up their character build?
41: Kitaro
Nah, unlikely.
42: Kurumi
Nuh-uh.
43: Keropi
I guess not, huh?
[Information Regarding Zone Two] Zone Two Megathread
88: Harold
So the Humming Forest at the end of the Eastern Plains for insect items?
89: Hinako
Lightweight items, yes. If you want heavy armor-type items, you should check out the Forest of Horns at the end of the Southern Forest.
I highly recommend Atlas beetle horns and black beetle shells.
90: Fluffy
I need some wood. What’s the Forest of Horns like?
91: Hello
Same as the Southern Forest; it’s mostly beech trees.
It’s supposedly easier to obtain higher-quality items, though.
92: Harold
Wood? How do you get your hands on that? I hunted a ton in the Southern Forest, and I never managed to obtain any.
Is wood not an item you can gather?
93: Fluffy
You need Logging skills to collect wood, and the appropriate tools. Just like how you need Mining skills and a pickax to dig up ores.
94: Hello
Same with fishing. You need Fishing skills and a fishing rod.
95: Holmes
You can uncover item collection spots if you possess complementary skills.
96: Harold
Got it! I don’t have any Mining skills though, how have I been getting ores?
97: Fluffy
Everyone can see gathering nodes as long as one of the party members possesses a skill that corresponds to it, so it’s probably a good idea to divvy up what skills your team plans to acquire.
98: Harold
Come to think of it, one of my party members did have a Mining skill!
99: Holmes
If you want wood, you should get a Logging skill. You’re more likely to obtain high-quality wood if you have one.
100: Hello
So I heard that you can obtain wood from the green peach trees in the Western Forest, but I’ve never managed to get any from them, despite having a Logging skill. Is that just a false rumor?
101: Holmes
Apparently, it has to do with your skill level. You can cut down peach trees once you hit Logging level 21+.
Incidentally, there’s no downside to cutting them, since they grow back fairly quickly. You can’t make consecutive cuts, though.
102: Hello
I didn’t know that. Gotcha, I’ll work on leveling up my Logging skill!
***
Sweet. I had money now, which meant I could go buy some armor.
According to the information broker, Alyssa, the arms and armor shop was supposed to be located in the Western Town Square. Could it be a player-run shop?
“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
I arrived at the Western Town Square. It was my first time setting foot in the place, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the number of people. Perhaps because it was so close to the Western Forest, there were far more players here than there were in the Southern Town Square.
“That must be it.”
The shop in question stood out like a sore thumb. Spears stood erect all along the sides of the store, making it obvious even from a distance that it was a weapon shop.
As I approached the stall, I noticed a short and stocky middle-aged man sitting cross-legged on a straw mat beside a precariously stacked mountain of weapons. The anvil and hammer next to him implied he was a blacksmith as well. Talk about intimidating. I felt like I would get yelled at if I so much as greeted him. There didn’t seem to be any other weapon shops nearby, however, so I had no choice but to approach him.
“Um... Is this Lewin’s Arms and Armor Shop?” I shakily called out to the man.
“Yep, you’ve got it. Someone tell ya ’bout my little shop?” he replied, no menace in his voice despite his lack of expression.
“Yeah. Alyssa told me about you.”
“Well, I’ll never turn down a referral from Miss Alyssa. The name’s Lewin. Nice to meet ya.”
It was obvious that Lewin, a dwarf, was a player, not an NPC. Out of the various character races that players could choose, dwarfs were one of the few that didn’t automatically result in a beautified avatar. Female characters were apparently granted a short, childlike appearance, but men were doomed to be grizzled, stout, burly, and bearded. Lewin appeared to be roughly the same height as me.
“Are you with the Quick-Eared Cats too?”
“How’d ya guess? Yep, that’s right. I’m in charge of blacksmithing.”
I had to hand it to Alyssa—she sure was good at doing business. No wonder she was so eager to give this recommendation. Not that I minded, though. The very fact that Lewin was a dwarf was enough to make him look like a master blacksmith. Dwarfs gave off a reliable vibe, and the fact that he was a member of the Quick-Eared Cats meant that he was also a former beta tester. He seemed more than trustworthy.
“I’d like some armor.”
“Yeah, I bet. You know, young fella...”
“Yuto.”
“I was pretty shocked to see ya walkin’ around without any protection, Yuto.”
My sleeveless tunic apparently made it obvious to the trained eye that I was unarmored.
“Yeah, some stuff happened. So, do you have any robes? I’d like to check out the staffs too, if you have any.”
“Gotcha. We’ll start with the robe. What’s your budget like?”
“Roughly fifty-eight hundred, max.”
Not that I intended to spend all of it.
“I see. More money doesn’t necessarily mean you get better gear, though.”
“Equipment requirements, right?”
“Precisely. I’m sure ya know this, but your stats need to be above a certain level in order to equip certain items. The more advanced the gear, the higher your stats need to be. You’re at level 3 now, right?”
“Yes.”
“Right, so this thing here costs 5,000 G, but ya can only wear it if your base level is 7 or higher.”
Lewin shook his head sadly. You could assess other people’s levels and job classes by using your Appraisal skill, though names were displayed as ???? until you introduced yourselves to each other.
He made a flicking motion in the air, and a virtual shop window popped up before me. Apparently the physical items in the stall were only for display, with the real transactions completed on-screen. The very sci-fi vibe of the holographic, translucent virtual window felt out of place for a fantasy setting, but I couldn’t complain about the convenience.
“Okay, how about this one?” I asked, tapping on a 4,500 G robe displayed on the screen.
The robe I selected popped up in a separate window, along with a full view of it and its abilities.
“Ah, that one’s a bit heavy. Your Endurance and Strength need to be a combined total of 12. Can ya handle it?”
“...Nope.”
“I figured. Guessing yer a rearguard, yeah? Let’s see, how ’bout this one? It’s 1,900 G.”
This one was a beautiful blue and white robe. I immediately tapped on it to view its details.
Name: Blue Robin Robe
Rarity: 2 / Quality: 4★ / Durability: 100
Effect: Defense +9, minor water resistance.
Requirement: Strength 2 or higher.
Weight: 1
“Blue Robin?”
“A bird with white and blue feathers, s’posed to be a pretty little thing. This robe’s probably named after it for the colors.”
“Never heard of it.”
“I hear you can even see ’em in Japan if ya head down south. Not that I’ve actually seen one myself.”
“Wow, this is great. Nice and light too.”
While it wasn’t as good as the Silver Robe I had initially possessed, it was still pretty decent for beginner’s gear. Its Defense score was much higher than the robes sold in NPC-owned shops, too, and the weight was low.
To elaborate, all equipment had a Weight value. If this number outweighed the total of your Strength and Endurance, your Agility and Dexterity would suffer greatly, so it was especially important for rearguard players to keep this number in mind.
For reference, the stats of my initial gear had been as follows:
Name: Silver Robe
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 3★ / Durability: 100
Effect: Defense +24, slightly magic-resistant.
Weight: 3
Hmm, what to do? A higher Defense score would be ideal
“Anything with metal incorporated?” I asked.
“No can do. Iron is heavy. It’d bump the weight up quite a bit.”
“I see. Guess that’s out of the question for a weak-ass rearguard like me.”
“You in particular. You’re as weak as they come.”
“You don’t have to rub it in!”
Damn, Lewin! Talk about cold!
“Hey, ya said it yerself. Quit mopin’ around.”
“Sorry, bad habit.”
“Well, here’s the deal with equipment made out of metal; you can make it lighter, but the price goes way up with it. 5,800 G wouldn’t cut it.”
It appeared that shaving off a few pounds wasn’t simply a matter of making the item thinner; there were additional costs involved.
“Okay. Forget it, then,” I replied. It was important to know when to give up.
“A wise decision.”
“Hmm, what now?”
I was still concerned about the Blue Robin Robe’s lower Defense.
“Well, how ’bout this?” Lewin suggested, pointing at a pair of shoes that appeared at first glance to be made of black leather.
“Shoes?”
“Foot armor.”
Name: Hard Leather Shoes
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 4★ / Durability: 120
Effect: Defense +5, minor poison resistance.
Requirement: Strength 3 or higher.
Weight: 1
Not bad. Pairing these with the robe would probably make up for the latter’s low Defense stats.
“Looks good! How much?”
“That’ll be 1,100 G. This is a player-made item and has the added benefit of the poison resistance, so it costs a bit more.”
“Gotcha. Weight’s not bad, though.”
“Right? What’s your Strength and Endurance total right now?”
“Five.”
“Huh. That’s low.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Well then, what do you think of this?”
Name: Bronze Necklace
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 2★ / Durability: 100
Effect: Defense +1
Weight: 1
“It’s one of the least effective accessories, but I’ll throw it in for free if ya buy the Blue Robin Robe and the leather shoes. This too.”
Name: Cedar Staff
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 2★ / Durability: 100
Effect: Attack +3, Magic +3
Weight: 1
There were two items before me: a plain bronze necklace and an ornate staff. The staff was made of dark wood, painted a solid black color with a hooklike curve at the end. The feather and blue piece of cloth attached to it gave it a stylish flair.
“It’s less functional than other items, so I spent a lot of time tweaking its appearance. No one wants to buy it still.”
“I see.”
Admittedly, it didn’t rank highly in terms of performance, but it was still more than enough for a non-combatant like me.
“You said you’ll throw it in for free? Are you sure?”
“Well, Alyssa sent ya. Besides, that thing is a prototype, so to speak. It’s made from the lowest-quality ingredients you can get, all stuff from around the entrance of the Western Forest.”
The entrance of the Western Forest? I’d been there myself, but I didn’t remember finding any wood. I asked Lewin about it; apparently I needed a skill called Logging. Allegedly, certain types of gathering nodes wouldn’t even appear unless you had the right types of skills. Did that mean Olto’s Digging skill would let him find ore? I’d assumed it would only come in handy for digging up dirt, but it might just prove to have some actual use. I made a mental note to visit the mines with him sometime.
“I guess I’ll take you up on that then.”
“Come on, don’t mope about it. You make me feel bad. This stuff’s at least slightly better than beginner’s gear.”
“It’s good enough for me.”
“Ya sure?”
“Definitely, I mean, compared to this?!” I said, whipping out the wooden stick that I was currently using.
“Hang on, this is literally just a stick. Are you some kind of expert playin’ with a handicap?”
Lewin started mumbling incoherently under his breath, clearly taken aback. Terrified of what he must think of me, I decided to skedaddle before he changed his mind and asked for his items back.
“So, I can take these?” I confirmed.
“B-Be my guest.”
Hehe, farewell, wooden stick! You’ve served me well!
I was now down to 2,850 G, though. Was it just me, or was I spending my money way too fast? My cash flow seemed to be moving at an alarming pace.
“Guess I’ll have to make some more... That reminds me, I gotta take Olto by the guild.”
If I completed some special quests, I’d be able to earn cash and XP. I hurried back to my farm.