The tank from Stony heads galore team was actually a lady. And she was team head. The heart-shaped faced, doe eyed lady. Obviously the body was in default setting, which meant it was good. But, the clothes also default one. Clothes were well fitting as her job was melee type but it did nothing to showcase the figure. She was not a prickly rose, beautiful to look from far but making you bleed if you touch. No, no, she was a f**king Venus flytrap. Gorgeous and deadly. She didn't become the head of that hapazardly made team just by looking good. Her manners were lady like but she hit like a hooligan. Her voice was sweet but the content... even the controversy content makers would hang their heads in shame. She didn't coat her words, she stripped the pride and confidence in a sentence. Yet, the team was still together. Were others in the team masochists? If they were they would not have taken the video of her teaching a bumbling, still a newbie mage. Games were like that. Sometimes, you just click. Who knows what position others held in real life but here, they were comrades. A hotpotch team was slowly turning into fixed team.
Sela was starting over. This was a new start, a second chance. So, she changed everything and removed all the things that were reminders of the past and here she was, happily running around with a bunch of enthusiastic players. She wanted to work with her brother who was using name Eben. He was a sword fanatic. She knew he would choose some sort of weapon based melee job. As a person who suffered from betrayal and backstabbing, he would never choose a thief. He was a klutz, so being an Archer or ranger was out. He wanted to be in middle of action scene, so healers or mages were out. So she finally decided he would choose some sort of swordsman. Next was to decide her job. Which one would be useful to him and help her to stay with him? After many pros and cons, she ultimately zeroed on tank. She had no experience being a tank. She always played mage before. But she had worked with few exceptional tanks, so she knew something about that class.
What helped her was her talent - A grade- Reflect -20% - reflect back 20% of the damage received. It was a rare talent even among shield bearers. She hoped her brother would also get good talent, to help in his playing. The situation at home was so bad that she could not contact him or talk to him. Maybe, becoming his friend would also turn into dream which cannot become reality.
However, she would still try. As she didn't know which village he would be chosen, she accepted game's random selection. She knew she would leave the team in the future, so she didn't make a fixed team but kept on making friends, joining and leaving teams. The mage she had an eye was not Artha but someone else. However, that person didn't like the team set up, so he left. Technically speaking, Artha was not a team member at all, more like a tail. He was slow. They would have nearly finished the task in a new field by the time he appeared. Though having an extra mage was useful, it would be so when the said mage was in the group. Unlike the present setup. But most in the team had been bribed by a bottle of potion.
Sela agreed for entirely different thing. This clumsy mage was seen selling potions on first day. He was now ready to gift them. Either he had an inside deal going on to get potions or he made potions. The second option was not valid. The village didn't have any apprentice from players faction. So he must have a way to get these potions. He was not whisked away by any guilds, it was still a fair game. She wanted to pull him to her side. She didn't have fame, name or money in her name, so the chances of that was close to nil. The next best thing would be leaving a good impression and having a friendly relationship.
Annnd a chance to deepen the relationship had come. She got a level 3 great sword as task reward. Was she going to gift it to him?
Was she going to give it to others in the team? Was she going to sell it to NPC? The answer was none of the above.
The best solution was to sell it to players. There were few ways. First - Sell openly- put a stall and sell it. Second - a slightly risky way. Grab hold of your connections, inform one of the guilds or rich bully's followers and sell directly to them. The guild or bully may not pay much but it's the risk you have to take. Third - have a mini auction. Inform middlemen and guilds and as such. Open a stall and conduct mini auction. The powerful might oppress others to get item cheaply. They might not want it at all. They'll band together to get it cheaply. One of the losers gets angry and vent on you as you are weaker than him. As risks are higher, chances of earning was also higher.
But Sela was not doing that too. She called Artha.
Artha had a legitimate cover for him having potions. He was a trader. He could trader with players and NPCs too. Technically, both issues were true but totally unrelated to each other. But no one knew it. Among all the acquaintance of Sela in the village,Artha was closest to the guilds. They didn't mind pouring money to get resources and they didn't get angry at ants, aka, independent players. She wanted Artha to be intermediary and facilitate the sale- however that may be. The base sale value was considered to be 5 silver, 40 bronze coins. If he got that, Sela would pay 10% commission charges. Any higher, he could take 20% of the excess prize. The amount quoted was to the limit. Some experience will not go away even if you take a different path.
To her surprise, Artha made a counter offer. All he had to do was to talk to few guild people and choose one to facilitate the sale. He would get 54 bronze coins to use his mouth and giving a guarantee. Instead of sure deal, he preferred something else.