Willow held the newspaper with his eyes fixed on the date. It was as if the world around him had stopped spinning and time had literally stood still as he took in what it meant. Well, actually, that was just the initial sensation he had, because soon a light wind blew, slightly shaking the paper in his hands.
Doing the basic math, it was clear that he was five years behind in Ether Online time compared to when the servers closed.
"That doesn't make any sense..." muttered the brown-haired, green-eyed young man, staring at the date on the paper. "That must be wrong. That must be a very old newspaper."
Somehow, he wasn't just stuck on Ether Online. No. That was already an old and outdated theory. He was back at the beginning of Ether Online, when the game started to rise rapidly on the internet and gain popularity. That meant one thing: he had five years of accumulated knowledge and experience on his hands.
Five years of learning about quests, monsters, hidden cities and legendary items. Five years of knowledge about events, happenings, deaths and world events that he could now use to his advantage.
Willow took a deep breath, trying to calm the euphoria of thoughts that arose within him, but he couldn't help the slight smile that began to form on his lips.
"I've gone back in time..." He whispered, almost as if he were trying to convince his mind of the truth.
This new information made it even more difficult for him to understand what on earth had happened to him to end up in this place. Despite this, what it meant for him was clear: there were more opportunities than he had imagined.
Willow was no longer just a low-level adventurer with a new, overpowered class. He was a player with the knowledge of the future. He knew about secret locations, hidden treasure chests and powerful monsters that would only appear later.
His thoughts began to wander through the possibilities. He knew stories that many would only discover months, even years, later. Pavagar, that modest, provincial town, now seemed like a perfect starting point. He was no longer limited by his lack of immediate power. The question is... what could there be in this town that no one had discovered? There was certainly a lot, but the ideal thing for Willow was to obtain a powerful item so that, even at a low level, he could protect himself.
Thinking about this, an item jumped into his stream of thoughts. The Grimoire of Valendoor. The name popped into his mind like a memory from a time long ago.
At that moment, Willow could almost see the post on one of the Ether Online forums he saw when he was looking for ways to get stronger even with the extremely weak class he had.
[Ether Online item sold for 100,000 dollars on the World Market].
Slowly, the memory of this post came to life in Willow's mind. That news caused a stir in the gaming community at large. Everyone wanted to know what that item was and if it was possible to get more. Rumors and legends soon began to emerge about the location of the artifact. Many tried to replicate the feat, but the grimoire sold was a unique item.
In an interview months after the sale, the player who sold the Grimoire of Valendoor said that he found the grimoire at the end of an ancient crypt, not far from Pavagar. He was already of a higher level and so, when he found the crypt whose monsters were at most level 10, he found no difficulty in reaching the end of it after a few hours. What he didn't expect to find was that, at the bottom of this low-level crypt, there was an ancient chest that held a Grimoire.
Willow started walking again, his legs guiding him automatically as his thoughts raced. Before he knew it, he had dropped the newspaper that had previously been in his hands. His eyes didn't even blink and his hurried steps soon turned into a run.
Willow knew exactly where the crypt where the Grimoire of Valendoor was found was, because he had been there a few times to level up. It wasn't a very difficult place to explore, and the monsters there were weak. At the time, Willow had been too late to regret not finding the item, but now, with his advance knowledge, he had a real chance of being the first to obtain it.
However, there was one big problem.
Could Willow not be the only player to have been trapped in Ether Online? He hadn't seen any sign of the extravagant personality of players in the people he'd seen since waking up on that verdant plain, meaning there definitely weren't many players who had experienced the same thing as him. However, it would be very presumptuous to assume that he was the only one experiencing it.
This was Willow's reason for starting to run so fast towards the Blackened Crypt. But as he ran, he thought of something he hadn't thought of before. Willow then stopped running. Gasping, he looked down at his empty hands and realized something essential.
"I don't have a weapon to fight with..." He muttered, and it hit him like a bucket of cold water.
He was going to a crypt full of monsters, a place of not very high level, but whose monsters were level 10 and he was only level 1. And what did he have? Nothing. Not a sword, not a bow, not any basic equipment. In his haste to think about his next objective after arriving in Pavagar, he had completely forgotten the essentials.
Generally, most classes on Ether Online gave an item as a starting armament. If someone got the Archer Class, they would get a bow. If you were a cook; a cleaver. Willow's first time in Ether Online, he received a pickaxe because he was an Explorer. However, this time he got nothing.
Normally, anyone would have realized this beforehand. However, Willow has had to absorb a lot of information since he woke up in this world and, luckily, the holy elf Aria helped him with all his expenses until he arrived in Pavagar. So this was also the first time he was wondering if there was any money.
"System, how much money do I have?"
There was a brief moment of silence before the familiar translucent window appeared before him:
[Current Balance: 50 Drakis.]
Willow squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head negatively. He knew the value of 50 Drakis well. That was the amount any player received at the start of Ether Online. What 50 Drakis looked like was a single bronze coin. It served almost no purpose other than to buy food. 250 Drakis was equivalent to a silver coin, and a thousand Drakis was equivalent to a gold coin. But with 50 Drakis... that barely covered two simple meals in a cheap tavern.
Willow rubbed her forehead with one hand. "Right, that's going to be tricky."
If he wanted to buy a weapon to go to the Blackened Crypt, he would need to work some kind of miracle with this ridiculous sum. Ether Online was never generous to its players in the beginning. Everything was difficult, expensive and slow. The best weapons and equipment were out of reach for beginners. But he had no choice. Looking around, he saw several stalls selling everything from fruit to pieces of armor and simple weapons.
Yes, there were plenty of traders willing to get even a bronze coin. He just had to negotiate very well so as not to end up being cheated. When he came across a stall selling weapons, he decided to approach it.
The thin vendor with a gray beard and wearing a leather apron seemed to be in a good mood. He was polishing a blade when he saw Willow approaching.
"Good afternoon, young man! Looking for a good weapon?" The man exclaimed with a cordial smile and then thought: 'Finally, someone with decent clothes. Mustn't be some poor guy wanting my items.
Willow looked at the stall's main table where several swords of different sizes and shapes were on display, as well as a few other weapons such as axes and hammers. They all looked well made, but he knew that with 50 Drakis, he was far from being able to buy anything decent.
"I'm looking for something... affordable." Willow said, choosing his words carefully.
The salesman laughed and nodded, clearly excited about the possibility of a sale on a weak day.
"Well, you're in the right place. I've got a bit of everything. Whatever you need to start your journey, I can supply it."
Willow hesitated for a moment and then, with a sigh, decided to be honest. "I have... only 50 Drakis."
The salesman's expression changed almost immediately. The smile disappeared, replaced by a more thoughtful look, as he scratched his beard.
"Fifty Drakis, eh?" The man let out a long sigh. "That's not much, young man. With that amount, I can offer you something very basic. Something last-hand perhaps."
Something 'last hand' meant items that were about to be discarded. Then, just as Willow imagined, the man pointed to a barrel full of old tools and worn-out weapons in the corner of the hut.
"You can have a look in there. Maybe you'll find something that can help you."
Willow walked over to the barrel and started rummaging around. There were rusty swords, axes with broken handles, a bow with a loose string, and many other tools in very poor condition.
Willow knew the common enemies of the Blackened Crypt. They were the Giant Beetles, beings with extremely resistant armor. As such, Willow knew that a rusty sword would break into ten different pieces at the first strike against these creatures' armor, axes without handles were no good either and a bow, even if he fixed the string, was useless without arrows.
He searched deeper, but found nothing. When he turned towards the vendor to tell him he hadn't found anything, to thank him and after saying goodbye, he saw something that looked perfect for taking on Giant Beetles and that perfectly suited the situation he was in. It was a spear lying next to the barrel, long and with a slightly crooked tip, as if the weapon had been forged carelessly. Even so, the handle was perfect and the spearhead new, except for the crooked part.
A little mesmerized, Willow held the spear, quickly analyzing it. This was more useful than anything else there.
"This spear... is it for sale?" He asked, holding it up for the seller to see.
The man looked at the weapon with a grimace. "Oh, that? It's a badly finished piece. I tried to forge it, but the process went wrong. The tip ended up crooked and I only fitted it because I wanted to test a new type of fitting. Besides, its balance isn't the best."
"Would you say it's not worth much?" Willow asked, already trying to persuade.
Unfortunately, the salesman in question, who also appeared to be a blacksmith, was an experienced man and quickly noticed what Willow was trying to do.
"I wouldn't say that. It's just an unfinished item."
Willow frowned and decided to use the only skill he had to try and turn the situation in his favor.
-:|:-
Name: Norian Silverchest
Race: half-human, half-dwarf.
Level: 29
Description: He's negotiating a prototype spear that was about to go into forge.
Emotions: Cunning, Evaluative, Slight greed.
-:|:-
"Come on, my friend, I know this is a prototype item." Willow said, assessing the spear with his eyes. "Seeing this spear up close and looking at you, I know you wouldn't normally sell an unfinished item like this and you probably intended to resell it. Shall we make a deal for 50 Drakis?"
"Indeed, I wouldn't normally sell an item like this, but you must be wanting even a spear with a crooked tip. I can sell it to you, but for 50 Drakis I'd be at a loss because of the material and my labor. I can sell it for 150 Drakis."
"Unfortunately, I only have 50 Drakis."
"Then there'll be no deal." The Norian blacksmith stretched his right hand forward. "Come on, hand it over."
Willow might try to steal, but the window over Norian's head said that he was slightly greedy, so it was obvious that Norian was trying to make more money than he should on this deal and was inclined to do business.
"Wait." Willow put the spear back. "I know we haven't met, but how about 100 Drakis? I'll give you 50 Drakis now and 50 Drakis tomorrow. If I don't have that money by then, you can put my face on a wanted poster."
"Are you really willing to become a wanted man in the Kingdom for 50 Drakis? I like that courage. All right, boy, we've a deal."