Gleist Town used to be Gleist Village.
As its population slowly grew, it upgraded from the village to a town.
Even so, Gleist Town became a town that felt like a village. It's people were simple and didn't have much ambition.
Close to the center of this town, was big three stories tall building. At the front was a signboard, a pouch of gold coins drawing in there. That was the symbol of the Merchant Guild.
Love Money completed his quest and a few others already and was getting his rewards at the Guild.
"Mr. Love Money, this is the accumulated reward. Please keep up the good work."
Although he was receiving money, he was a still absentminded. His thought were in disarray ever since he saw his friend fighting for the first time.
George liked to play games too, but he used to watch more than play. He loved professional players and their incredible plays under great pressure. Their feats were the result of great talent, great determination and will and great practice to pull the right moves at the right moment. It's not something that most people can do.
But looking at WindBow, he remembered those plays. The way he didn't lose track of what was happening even when a warrior and a thief were closing on him. To use the hardest weapon, the bow, that well after just several weeks the game release. The calmness he maintains the whole fighting even though his heart is burning with excitement. That was the level of a world talent.
"Samuel really is amazing."
At this point, Love Money was sitting in the town's tavern.
His father has 3 sons and 2 daughters. The eldest son is very proficient at negotiations and is preparing his own career to become a politician in the next decade. The 2nd eldest son, is a genius in economics. Among his brother and sisters, his father would give them command of a small company to give them experience. His second brother is already commanding three companies. And they're not small companies anymore! With his one small enterprise, he got the money to buy two other competitors and transformed them in one if the medium sized business of the family.
George sisters were younger than him, but they showed good academics results and would probably do fine in any area of study.
Because of his talented eldest sons, George's father didn't expect much from George and his sisters and didn't give them as much attention.
Because of that, George was the only son to actually get involved in games in the family. He would play occasionally and live like a rich kid. He lacked ambitions and confidence to start something which his brothers could do better.
But this dying fire was ignited again. His friend who was almost disabled not long ago was the culprit. There is a lucrative market out there which his family doesn't have a good foothold and which he knows most of. It's the game's market.
For years he kept himself updated on all popular games and most professional players and studios. Although not as much as his brothers, he also had talent for negotiation and business.
"If my family has a big hold on reality business, then I could get a hold on virtual business. I know this more than anyone in my family! And I'll prove father that I too have worth!"
George was finding his own way in the game.
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"Already I think this is good for now."
WindBow just leveled to 17. His new skill Multishot increased his hunting speed a lot. As agile types, he would pick enemies one by one usually with Fenrir. Now he would use Fenrir to get lots of monsters and use multishot to hit all of them. With some kiting and his bow effect of poisoning, his arrow consumption and exp hunting became more efficient.
After restocking all his consumables, he decided to take a few minutes break. He sat at the fountain in the town's center and Fenrir lied down next to his feet. Without a fight, he actually looked a very calm companion.
"Bro, are you free now?"
"Yes, just resting. So did you sort your things?"
"Yes, I've done a few quests and got my own foothold in Gleist already."
"Not that. Did you sort whatever you were thinking about?"
"...Yes. I'm good now."
"Good. So what do you need me?"
"Actually, I want to talk this at school tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll meet at you at class XX during lunch break."
"Okay."
Love Money disconnected already.
"Whatever was troubling him, it really tired him, huh? Let's go Fenrir. My brother has something important to talk tomorrow. I got to be strong enough to help."
A man and his wolf companion started another round of slaughter in the forest.
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"Brother, I told you that I don't need to apologize. He call his friend a brother, but doesn't even care about his problems. He doesn't deserve brother's admiration."
"I already told you that was not uncaring. It was confidence! As a man, sometimes we can't depend on others and he was leaving his brother that opportunity! That's a man's friendship. You wouldn't understand. But even so, you were rude to him so until you apologize, I won't be making your favorite food for dinner."
A japanese girl was giving a wronged look at her brother. She didn't understand any of that non sense of male's friendship, but her brother was actually bullying her.
ShieldMan and Yuki, who are called Akira and Yukiho in real life, were arguing. Their family had problems years ago and they moved out with their mother to a small apartment somewhere else, far from the family's problems.
Their mother, unfortunately, died a few years ago in a crime scene. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it doesn't change the results.
Ever since, the brother and sister pair have lived supporting each other. The sister was still a high schooler as the brother was old enough to be working. Their mother left some money besides the insurance they received so they actually had money to live comfortably for a long time, but they didn't want to become lazy so they made the effort to became independent from that money.
"All right. I'll apologize. But brother must promise that you'll be going to the amusement park with me next weekend!"
"All right. I think I can compromise on that. Now I got work. See you later!"
"Have a safe trip!"
After cleaning the table, she got her bag and also left. Time to go to High School.
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In the same forest where WindBow and party had their first PK experience, a man was skinning a monster that was just killed.
The man was around 1.7 meters tall. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were black and Asian. He was wearing leather clothes that let him move freely. Although he was not handsome, he was also not ugly, the kind of face you forget as soon as you stop looking.
The man looked at the skin he just got from the monster. His skinning was on par with WindBow's, which is one of the best in the game now, and his eyes were showing appreciation.
"Today's haul was pretty good. With this I can splurge a bit and even eat meat."
Jae-ho was a half Korean living alone in Korea. His mother was European and his father Korean. They met in Korea and lived there for a few years. But his mother was actually escaping authorities after robbing some kind of jewel in France and left when she got news of them tracking her. His father couldn't bear it and became a drunk when she left. One day he got violent and was arrested. Thanks to the Watcher, he was caught before any serious damage was caused to Jae-ho.
As a young man in Korea, he used his only means to get some money. He would farm items in games and sell them. He had a small emergency sum that he used to buy LEO, feeling it might be his life changer.
"I heard that there were people going to the town after this forest already. Might as well make it my new base for now."
The man kept hunting on the way. As a thief, he actually got lucky and had a dagger Mastery skill. Coupled with his agile movements, he hunted monsters at a steady pace. He was not as flashy as others, but he was always pursuing the most efficient method to make money. Most his kill were targeted at the monster face. He discovered there was a slight increase in quality of the skin when there few body attacks.
Grim, the thief, sold everything to some Peddler when he got to Gleist Town. He got even more than he hoped for. It actually sold each for 1 silver, getting a gold coin. He got his first gold coin!
"Yes, I can definitely put a little meat to today's dinner. "
Grim was elated at his achievement and felt like trying harder. He got to the gate to start hunting again.
As he was leaving, he actually bumped on the rarest class in the game. An Archer! At this town! Meaning he was actually at least level 15! And rarer was.. He actually have a pet! He thought pets were just rumors started by people who didn't have anything better to do.
Most archers were still level 13 or lower. Because it took then too long to get used to their weapons they're still catching up to other classes.
"Hum? Sorry, I was talking to someone and didn't see you."
"Don't mind."
The Archer apologized first so he just accepted it.
As they got back on their ways, the situation became awkward. They were walking side by side! Although he didn't need to say anything to a stranger, for some reason it felt weird.
He just ignored the weird feeling and kept going to his hunting ground.
For some reason, even when they got inside the forest, they were still at the same situation. Being like that for five minutes already, he couldn't take it and finally said something.
"So... are you also hunting here?"
"Yes."
"I see."
The Archer answered, but he didn't look like the talkative type. So the weird feeling was back.
"Is there a specific spot you're going to?"
"Yes."
"... I see."
('Damn, he just doesn't talk! Doesn't he feel weird walking with someone in complete silence?)
Luckily for him it didn't continue for long.
"Fenrir, get ready to pull."
Seeing the wolf taking action he decided to observe first. He would look at his hunting style so they wouldn't fight for mobs. If the Archer hunted slowly with his pet, Grim could still farm close by to save time.
He saw the wolf running to a lone monster, then to another, to another.. and another...
"Holy s**. What is this guy doing?"
Using stealth, he still observed from a little far away.
Fenrir finally came back with close to 30 monsters following.
"MultiShot."
When they got in his range, the Archer used some AoE skill and attacked almost all monster at the same time. Then he repeated it again, and again. Soon he started running backward too as the wolf couldn't keep aggro anymore.
After a couple minutes, all monster were dead. The Archer didn't look to have spendended much energy besides its mana.
"I thought the guy was good because of his pet, but what the hell is this?! He can hunt 30 monster while I can hunt a single one at that amount of time!"
When he got over his initial shock, Grim immediately went to find another hunting spot. This one probably wouldn't have monsters for much longer with that guy here.