To move to faraway places, I need to be equipped with items that could protect me. I need a mode of transport if I want to travel,
And all of that needs money.
I. Need. Gold.
After crafting for half an hour, I was able to sell fifteen spears and ten pikes.
I was able to make more spears, which usually lengths around two meters, compared to pikes that took more time and have longer shafts.
Not everyone bartered with me. Some chose to buy them with gold since they already finished a mission. They just wanted to have a cheap weapon to help them farm faster.
Each spear sold for 20 gold, while pikes sold for 30 gold. If someone had the money to pay for it, they would choose to do instead of haggling with me.
With that side business of mine, I earned 600 gold in just thirty minutes. I then realized that manufacturing classes absolutely rakes gold when they have a monopoly!
With about 900 gold in my pockets, I confidently strode towards the marketplace.
Stalls were placed at certain distances with each other, and they had no specific order into them. A stall can sell anything they want and the NPC only takes charge of the cashier.
Players could try to steal from any stall but the punishments were severe. Getting fined for an amount of gold while also serving an amount of the sentence online. If the player goes offline, the sentence timer would stop and would only resume once the player went online.
I first headed to the biggest stall in the center of the marketplace to look around. Players and NPCs alike crowded the stall making the area prone to pickpocket. If it weren't for the tough-looking stall guards, people would have probably raided the stall for its items.
The shop had decent items but had extremely high pricetags. The cheapest item was a Computerized Skill Processor, a microchip installer that can be used on the holowatch, priced at 1000 gold. It contains a program that determines and analyzes skills used around the user. It's a great auxiliary program for fighters who like to be on the frontline.
No one can probably buy any of these items at the moment since players were busy completing their gears.
There are a few items that I found interesting, but not useful enough to spend gold and buy them. A portable barrier incubator that can tame baby creatures, a survival med-kit produced by GiG, an EMP-Pulse kit that stops any electrical devices in a certain radius, and a Survival Drone Controller for scouting. I could see more items in the stall but their price was really out of my league.
After literally window-shopping for the last ten minutes, I decided that it was time to buy the essential things that I really need.
I hate shopping manually but there's nothing that I could do. If it was possible to access the auction system and the online shopping that I'm used to, I would pay for anything.
Perseverance gives you results, no matter whether it is good or bad for you.
I managed to find a barren stall that sells an outdated multi-tool on a secluded corner of the marketplace. He must be running out of gold since he chose to set up shop where there's less traffic.
Most of the items displayed were manufacturing tools and material ingredients. He had all kinds of common ores and gems for sale.
It was understandable why no players were looking at his items. Everyone currently wants gears that could help them in battle. There are probably less than 1% of the players focusing on manufacturing items.
"Hello sir, how much for this multi-tool?" I asked while smiling. I heard that positive actions can raise the NPC's affection, and players might receive better trades in the future.
The owner was an old merchant. He wore good leather clothes and has gray hair and wrinkled skin. "So I actually misplaced it here! Good evening young man. I see that your interested in this item, unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't sell it to you. I am still actually using the multi-tool and just accidentally put it on display. You don't happen to need it do you?"
What a bummer. "It's okay, I don't really need it at the moment. I just thought having it now would be better than searching for it in the future."
Instead of dwelling on it too much, I accepted that the NPC simply made a mistake. That's what I was thinking until he called back to me and appeared troubled.
"You seem to be an understanding person. Would you like to help me with something?"
I turned around with interest, which prompted him to continue speaking. I knew I encountered a unique NPC and is in the process of giving me a hidden quest, so I waited patiently.
"You see, after traveling from place to place, my caravan met an unfortunate accident and encountered a group of Tigrites. Our camp got attacked by Tigrites on the forest up north, they're an aggressive mutated cat species that likes to move around in packs. I'm the only one who was able to escape and all of my mercenaries died. If you can help me retrieve some of my lost wares, I will give you the multi-tool for free, together with an additional item from my wares. I would also give you some gold as remuneration." he said.
The request appears to be a simple item retrieval, so I accepted. I then learned that the NPC was called Garam after he shared the camp coordinates to my holowatch.
Before leaving, I decided to check the prices of materials sold here as a reference when I shop on other stalls.
Common quality materials like wood and stone cost 1 gold per kilo, while metals and alchemy ingredients had variety in prices, hovering around 50 gold to 100 gold.
This game had no quest windows when NPCs requests for help. There's even no guarantee that they would not cheat on you after completing the request. They could backstab you and run away from payments.
The only thing thing that offers a reward guarantee was the mission panel. The mission panel was like online job boards. There are employers looking for freelancers and the mission panel acts as an intermediary. It works using servers connected to the holowatch's network, and every city on the Alliance has it.
Why did I accept the quest then?
Because there are no risks towards me!
I'm retrieving items that are probably much more expensive than the multi-tool. If I don't care about reputation, I could also take all the items for myself and run away.
However, I'm not playing the game to become someone strong. I just wanted to explore and experience unique adventures, that I've only heard from my father.
Unlike other games, XP mostly comes from killing monsters and crafting. There are other ways to gain XP; like meditation, unique items, artifacts, and enchanted places. However, they offer meager amounts and only taken as bonus XPs.
On my way out of the marketplace, I managed to buy some useful old-gen tools. A worn polisher and a rusty grinder. With those two as the base, I searched for complementing items. A smart stand grip and an energy-powered rotator. These items would help me produce wooden spears at a much faster pace.
Literally anyone could do what I am doing. It's just that they haven't thought about it, or interested in it. Well, if people saw how I produce spears after using these items, a lot of them would probably delve into this business.
I'm quite fascinated with how the technology found in the game seem to be devolving. A topic that I'm really interested to learn of.
I rode the bus towards the northern exit, which cost me 10 gold.
After getting out of the northern exit, I started running and followed the path towards the forest. In the vast fields, players could be seen hunting with their friends.
Being reminded of friends, I then pondered on what my petty friend was doing now.
It became darker as time passed. I used the moonlight and the stars as a source of light while searching for the campsite.
After circling around a few times, I noticed that there was no path that leads towards the given coordinates. There were only shrubs and foliage on both sides of the dirt path that leads to nowhere.
Should I buy a navigation AI, so I don't get lost in the future? But that would cost too much gold, and I have to set up a basic workshop first...
I checked my coordinates on the map and decided to enter the vegetation. After blindly moving forward, I successfully found the campsite.
The tents were ripped to shreds as dried blood splashed all over the place. At least, Garam was speaking the truth, so I could probably relax now.
According to Garam, Tigrites are aggressive and like to move in packs. That means I'm pretty safe since a day has already passed and those cats should hunt for their next meal.
A tree had a leash tied into it with a huge pile of blood near it. I could also see two cloth-covered carriages nearby. They were facing a weeded path with cut branches and tree leaves that hid their trail.