Once Abel logged into to his user home, he opened up the forums and took a look at the paid posts pinned to the top. Surprisingly, he saw his own post at third place,
'Maybe if I had put 10 or 100 credits, it wouldn't have been viewed as many times… Whatever, let me find this Sstar chick and send her a private message.'
[A Sneak Peek at Velskryn's Royal Grounds]
BaldOnion: *tears* Here I am trying to earn 1 gold coin and this guy's taking a stroll in the palace gardens.
SweetVicky: Anyone know who Red Sky is? I haven't heard of him before…
IEatPotatoes: Where's Velskryn, anyone know? Also check out my new webnovel, it's the story of a genius galactic gladiator…
Swordboss: Red Sky is a hack, don't trust his posts, he's definitely a scammer. What's the use of this stupid short video other than showing off…
Slick Mick: Yeah, this Red Sky fellow must be a scammer, don't believe him people…
Shuttlefishtthatlovesdiving: Forget about that potato lover, come check out my new webnovel instead, it's about a martial arts genius that falls in love…
After fruitlessly searching for her comment, Abel knocked himself on the head over his stupidity. Coinweaver had already told him the handle she goes by so he left his post and searched for her with the user search engine.
'Here she is… damn she's got so many followers even on here. I doubt she'll see my thanks in between all the other messages she gets every day, but it doesn't matter. This is more for myself than for her, it'll be off my conscience after this.'
He quickly crafted a message, thanking her for basically advertising his post and in the end, he asked if she wanted anything in return. After he was done, he logged into VirtualScape Innovations online portal and took a look at their offerings, he wanted to order the same pod as his own -the VRX1000.
It was a great pod that was both comfortable and durable, he couldn't understand why the old owner sold his off and for so cheap, it was priced at 1989 credits per pod and that's brand new. The old owner of Abel's pod could have gotten a couple hundred credits more out of the sale but regardless, it was a great deal for Abel.
He quickly ordered 2 pods and filled in the delivery information. Adding in the delivery and registration charges, his total bill came up to 4,278 credits and it was scheduled to arrive in 2 days' time. He then transferred another 10,000 credits into his savings account, bringing his current balance to 5,415 credits. The savings account would accrue an interest of 0.9% per year which was better than keeping it in his current account.
Once he was done, he finally clicked on the Realm Quest portal and stepped through the door, appearing back in the world of Faeron.
Whoooooosh
'I should send Coinweaver and those girls a message, I hope they don't refuse…'
"Hello, I would like to ask for a small favor. If you can help out then I'll let you know of some information for free in the future. Let me know.
-Red Sky"
He was about to step out of the house when he received a message from Coinweaver.
*Ding*
You have a whisper!
'Open'
"I'm at the shop, swing by and fill me in on this favor. If it doesn't cost too much then you can count on me but just know from now… I'll charge interest."
'Heh, spoken like a true merchant.' Abel chuckled as he stepped out of the house and made his way to cinderfall district.
A short 10 minutes later, he found himself in front of Loot 'n Stuff. Coinweaver was sitting behind the desk, looking like a big boss, while the NPC attendant was dealing with a few players that looked like a group.
"Hey, what's up"
"Umm… There are a couple of people that I'm close to in real life, they're about to start the game here in Velskryn but I'm heading to Stormwatch. Could you look after them? If they need some equipment then set them up and I'll send you the payment."
"That's it…?" Coinweaver seemed quite confused, in his view this wasn't a favor at all.
Although he didn't view Abel as a good friend, they were definitely more than acquaintances. Especially considering Abel would pay for the goods, he thought he wanted some help in getting a rare piece of equipment, a special commission from Chronelix or something along those lines.
"Uh yeah, I don't like troubling people if I can help it. But I'm on a timer for this quest so I can't delay my departure."
"Bro it's fine. Consider it done, just have them swing by the shop when they log on so I can add their contacts. Oh, by the way, you can deposit the money into my online account, don't send it over distance or it'll charge you a fee depending on how far you are. I'll send you my account number in a message, you can just go to any Imperial MerBank and put it under that account."
Abel nodded and was about to bid farewell when he remembered something. He took out the 2 daggers he had recently crafted and put them up for Coinweaver to inspect.
"How much would you buy these daggers for?"
He was hopeful to come across a few Wood Viper's on his way to Stormwatch city but even if he didn't, he could always purchase the monster parts. He also had plenty of Nocturnium in his spacial bag so he could always craft a couple more daggers. He couldn't even make use of the daggers yet, the bladesling daggers he had equipped right now were more of a backup option in case he ever lost hold of his sword in battle.
"Your friend can craft level 10 equipment already?!" Coinweaver was stunned by the stats he was seeing.
"He's still learning, as you can see from the differing stats but they're still not bad. How much?"
"You're right but still… hmm in a shop they'd be priced around 20 to 22 silver coins per piece but I have to make some money too so I'll take each one for 18 silver coins. What do you think?"
"That's fine. But don't give me the money, just keep it as a deposit for when my friends log in. If they need things for more than this amount then let me know."
"Sure thing." Coinweaver cheerfully responded after hearing what Abel said, he would be a fool not to take this deal.
Abel thanked him and then bid farewell, intending on going to the stables to rent a horse. He had already learned the cooking and basic horsemanship skills. It was quite simple really, you only need to squeeze the essence skill crystal and the prompt comes up asking if you wish to learn the skill.
In fact, Abel already knew a bit about horsemanship as Xiaowen had ridden horses a few times in his life. Although he was no equestrian, he definitely knew the basics to controlling a horse. Horse riding is all about maintaining good balance and posture while riding. You need to keep your weight centered and shoulders back as this would help prevent discomfort for both the rider and the horse. Using light pressure with your calves can signal the horse to move forward, while increasing the pressure or squeezing can be a way to tell the horse to speed up. Pulling on the reigns would inform the horse that he should slow down instead.
As he went over the dusty memories in his head about horsemanship, he closed in on the largest stable in the city. The NPC clerk at the desk inquired if he was looking to rent or purchase a horse.
"How much is your cheapest horse? How much does it cost to buy and what are the renting rates?"
"The cheapest horse for sale is our appaloosa mixed quarter horse, they are quite old and have long been neutered so they can no longer breed, it will cost 2 gold coins. If you wish to rent instead, this same type can be leased for 10 silver coins per day."
Abel thought for a moment, while he could afford to purchase it, he wasn't sure he should. He would definitely need a horse for the expedition but that was still a week from now. It would have to be fed and taken care of which was an expense onto itself.
"I'll rent it for 1 day. I plan on going to Stormwatch city, I assume you have a branch office over there?"
"Certainly sir, we do not expect all our customers to have to come back here to return their horses. But we will have to ask for 2 gold coins as a safety deposit, if the horse is injured or killed in battle we would have made a loss so this policy was put in place. We will provide you with a special token that can be used to redeem your deposit from our branches across the kingdom after you return your rental without harm or injury." Abel nodded, it made sense. He handed over 2 gold and 10 silver coins and received an enchanted token in return. He now only had 10 silver and 30 copper coins on him.
'I'm back to being dirt poor… at least it's temporary, I just have to make sure this horse doesn't die.'
"Please follow our stable boy, he will guide you to your leased horse."
Abel followed the little NPC kid that was working as a stable boy and stepped out back. He was overcome with the smell of hay and horse feces but there were some poor districts in the outskirts of the capital that smelled much worse so he wasn't too disgusted by it.
He soon came to a brown and white spotted old looking horse that seemed to have traveled a lot over its life.
Neiiiiiiggghhhh~
"Sir, would you like to purchase same hay for the journey? A bundle is only 15 copper coins…"
The little kid seemed hopeful Abel would agree, he guessed the kid would get a commission of sorts from the stable if he sold off some hay. Abel figured he'd get a couple of bundles since the journey would take all day, the horse was bound to get hungry.
"Sure, give me 2 bundles."
The little kid smiled in joy and quickly got 2 bundles of hay while Abel paid 30 copper coins. He slowly approached the horse from the side, careful to not approach it too quickly or directly from the front. He was calling upon every bit of knowledge he remembered about horses from his life as Xiaowen. Once the horse calm down, he let it sniff his hand and get accustomed to him before he inspected its stats.
"Inspect"
[Appaloosa Mixed Breed]
Level: 5
Attack: 8-10
Defense: 5
Neiiighh~
"It looks like sir knows his way around horses."
The little kid was slightly surprised as Abel came off as an experienced horseman, what he didn't know was that he was a complete novice and merely knew a few tricks from some otherworldly memories. Abel took the reigns and slowly guided the horse out of the stables, making his way out of the eastern city gates.
He didn't receive any looks from those on the streets as there were many others on horseback or in carriages being pulled by much more beautiful horse breeds. He slowly made his way out of the city, he had restocked on supplies earlier on, filled up his spacial canteen and repaired all his equipment yesterday so he had no further stops to make. Old man Rye had also told him there was no need to bid him farewell and to just take care.
Once he got out of the city, he carefully got on the saddle, making sure he didn't accidentally kick the old horse to death as he was getting on. Just as he was starting to trot forward, he received a system notification informing him of a new whisper.
*Ding*
You have a whisper!
'Hmmm, it seems the girls are online. Weird, don't they usually log on a little later… Open.'
"What's the favor? We'll definitely help if we can, even if you don't come across any information it's fine.
-Sophie"
He slowed down his horse and carefully wrote a response, he felt like he was thrust back in time to when Xiaowen would text and drive… except, it was much bumpier than driving a car. He got rid of these silly thoughts as he quickly explained the same thing he told Coinweaver.
"I have a couple of friends in real life that will start in Velskryn soon but I have a quest that took me out of the city. Please look after them for me, after they finish with the training citadel just help them get accustomed to fighting monsters. I'll owe you one regardless."
Just a few minutes later, he received a short response.
"Sure, when they're done with the training course let me know."
Subsequently, he squeezed his legs and quickly starting bobbling up and down with his old steed's pace.