"Ding, new main and side missions issued," the System's cold voice emits. "Main mission: Reach level 20. Reward: Alchemy Department. Side mission: Accumulate 1000 gold coins. Reward: Absolute Identification skill."
"Oh, missions!" I exclaim, surprised. After some thought, I believe I can accomplish the side mission fairly quickly.
"System, can I sell and convert my own items, acquired by myself, at the shop?"
"Affirmative, the host can sell and convert items acquired by themselves."
Smiling at the System's response, I decide to return to my room, retrieve the chest, and bring it to the shop. I inform the System that I wish to convert the items in the chest. The System informs me that the items can be exchanged for a total of 3500 gold coins.
"3500 gold coins! Are you sure you didn't make a mistake, System?" I ask, astounded by the enormity of the price.
"Affirmative, the System never makes mistakes. A small energy crystal is worth 100 gold coins, a medium one is worth 1000 gold coins, and the items depend on their grade and usefulness."
100 gold coins... 100 gold coins for a small energy crystal... That's about 10 times the current market price. Still in shock, I accept the exchange and convert the items into gold coins.
3500 gold coins, that's more than I've ever had, it's more than the annual salary of my two parents combined. Overjoyed with my exchange, I hear the usual voice of the System announcing that the side mission to accumulate 1000 gold coins has been completed. The System asks if I want to receive my reward, and I nod. A benevolent energy infiltrates me for a moment and disappears just as quickly as it appeared. I check my stats window and see my new skill. I ask the System for the next side mission, and it tells me that the next step is to accumulate 10,000 gold coins.
Satisfied with the events, I return to my academy room and decide to head to the city center of Steelwall.
The afternoon is bustling, with many people walking around and shopping. It's understandable, the weather is pleasant and the temperature is mild. Avoiding the traffic jams, I leisurely make my way to the weapons shop. I hope to find a new weapon that is more powerful or faster than my musket. If I don't find anything, I'll go check out the artifact store.
As I quickly scan the surroundings during my journey, I notice a few scenes that are out of the ordinary, such as a man spitting fire around a crowd and a carriage accident. Other than these two events, the rest of the journey is quite uneventful.
I arrive at the forge. The store, from the outside, is a single-story building made of polished marble, and above the door is inscribed: The Forge of the Golden Axe. The interior reveals furniture made of forged gold, as well as a large collection of weapons hanging on the walls. A saleswoman approaches me and asks if she can help me. I tell her that I'm looking for firearms, handing her my musket. She examines it and tells me to follow her, explaining that she has a few models. She leads me to a display case that contains three weapons. There is a finely carved and engraved musket with destruction runes that greatly increase projectile penetration. It costs 500 gold pieces, which is an exorbitant price, but still within my budget. The second weapon is a different type of musket: the blade musket. As the name suggests, this musket has a blade at the end of its barrel, allowing it to be used both as a musket and as a short lance. It requires ammunition to be reloaded using mana or alchemical cartridges. This distinctive weapon is wrapped in black gold thread and costs 250 gold pieces. The last weapon is a breath pistol. It fires a burst of magical fire in a five-meter cone. It uses a single alchemical cartridge for ammunition and can hold six at a time before needing to be reloaded. Sailors say that this type of weapon leads its wielder to wealth and glory. It costs 400 gold pieces. It looks good, but I am more interested in the second one, the musket with a blade, as monsters often close in on me in melee combat while I'm reloading, so with a weapon like that, I would have more opportunities to fight back. However, it is being sold for 250 gold pieces. I ask the saleswoman if it is possible to lower the price. She hesitates and tells me to wait while she fetches the owner. She returns shortly with a dwarf named Gimli. She agrees to lower the price to 230 gold pieces, but insists on inspecting every coin that is paid to her. Satisfied, she shakes my hand and tells me to come back if I need anything else. I thank her and head towards the mercenaries' association.