The hours passed, as the fertile land was stripped bare, and on the lush greenery was the scattered remains of countless attempts at creating various items, and the leftovers of the materials in the area.
But success was seen as a small number of goods had been created through these tiresome endeavors.
A luggage back rack with hanging wicker basket, a new thick corded belt upon which a small couple of wicker style cupholders hanging from it with various herbs inside inside the hanging basket a small collection of stone knives as well as a spare stone axe.
With the basics of equipment having been figured out, and some basic gaming knowledge learned about the beta (Having managed to level up even though all I had done since signing in was craft though my chosen class was crafter so perhaps i gain XP at the same rate as a DPS class does through combat?) but since the sun is starting it's descent through the sky for safety's sake the journey back to the city to spend the night.
Perhaps I can find someone willing to purchase my early attempts in order to earn from cash to spend the night in an inn and purchase new materials.
My trip back to the city was uneventful but as I approached the gatehouse the guards standing there bore a look of surprise and bewilderment on their faces as I got closer, until I was standing right in front of their stand guard line.
"You there kid, How did you survive out there and beyond there where did you get all that stuff?"
"Still not a kid... but whatever, as for this I made them from stuff I found in the forest"
"Whaaaa you managed to make it back from the forest?"
Ignoring their various states of surprise I receive permission to enter and returned to the town of beginnings at least that's what I'd decided to call it since in all games you only stay in the starter city/village in the beginning.
While walking through the streets the various NPC conversation were filling the air in only to be overshadowed by the constant grind of metal as the various soldiers and guards marched around in formation, or walked passed carry stretchers with bodies in various states of distress.
Finally i found an open air market place to which i figured i could sell my wares.
Walking up to a peddler who had simple wares spread out on a blanket sitting on the ground.
Walking up the man i produced my spare knives and the modicum of herbs i had collected.
"I'd like to sell these if possible?"
"Stone craft, and Fresh Okegrass is it?"
"That's right, i know their simple but they must be worth something right?"
"Oh no worries about that sonny, the market is always open for alchemy ingredients and though they might not be super useful their are places that can only afford stone craft items, for the lot however i can only offer you this"
Not knowing the market price i just chose to accept reaching out to accept the passle of coins but seconds later my concept of reality shattered, as there was a simple light emitted from my palm to which when i looked rather than the coins that i had been handed was instead clumps of ore.
... ... ...
So when i set my limitations the system took what i wrote in the most literal way possible huh...
Having only to think about things for a little bit it seemed that my self-imposed limitation to only be able to use things i craft myself prevent me from using money since i haven't made it myself instead reverting it into it's base form to which i could create from.
"This is going to be bad... if i can't use money my only option is going to become to barter, or set out wholly on my own"
With night falling fast, i opted to do what i could rather than sleeping out on the street, having found an inn, and putting on my best poor me face i hailed the proprietress, who after hearing out my sob story and accept some of the lumps of copper i had on hand allowed me to sleep in the stable using the hay there as bedding.
Tentatively I laid down on the hay half expecting the pile to revert back into seeds but thankfully it did not.
Having closed my eyes and entered a state of rest after a minute a menu appeared to my closed eyes, giving me options to log out, sleep/wait for x number of hours as well as giving me an overview of my own status but the most jarring thing of all was the community listing showing the number of active players.
10,000 players were selected for the beta test and from that 12 in game hours had passed that's only just over 1 hours of real time but in that short span of time the chaff has very effectively been cut from the wheat.
Out of 10,000 players only 6,348 remain... Well over 3,000 have already fallen never to rise again as per the state of difficulty enforced by the admins.
Surely some of them must've been like me who set overly unrealistic limitations on their character build but even then it can't possibly explain for the mass majority of those who'd fallen.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Alre Race: Shadar-Kai (Shadow Elf) Age: 28
Class: Crafter Level: 2 Title/s: None Fame/Infamy: 2
Health: 10/10 Mana: 5/5
Strength: 5 Dexterity: 3 Vitality: 5 Intelligence: 4 Wisdom: 3 Charisma: 2
Skills: