7. Earning the First Pot of Gold When HereticKing received a message containing 1 gold coin as soon as he logged on the next day, he didn"t know whether to cry or to laugh. This boy called LuckyCat was not as greedy as his cat after all. When he didn"t receive any more replies after he said there"s no need to return it, he"d thought that was it. He didn"t think LuckyCat would still insist on returning the money.
The time stamp on the message was near midnight. LuckyCat had probably been grinding for money just to send the gold coin to him. Hopefully this letter didn"t result in the LuckyCat sleeping on the streets. After accepting the 1 gold coin and deleting the message with a small wave, HereticKing began working on his Job. Rumours said AO would soon release the guild war patch. As a frequent visitor to the board of top players based on level (anonymously, by choice) he had best complete his third job change as soon as possible. (First Job at Level 10, Second Job at 50, and Third Job at Level 100. Levels are capped at 150.)
Meanwhile, Bai XiaoYu was also working on his job change. A few more flower sprites and he"d have completed his quest.
If he added more Strength, he could actually complete it easily. But Acolytes really don"t need Strength. They can"t always whack at monsters with a wand. He hoped his stat points could be spent in useful areas and not just for short-term convenience.
"Congratulations, player LuckyCat, for completing your Job Change." The system"s quest complete notification was as beautiful as always.
"Player LuckyCat has successfully become an Acolyte. System awards Wand +1, Long Robe +1." Upon exiting the Job Change Hall, he found a quiet corner and began reading up on his new equipment and skills.
Wand. A plain wooden wand. Magic Attack 10-20. Level Limit: 10. Job Limit: Acolyte, Magician.
Long Robe. A common work uniform of acolytes. Def +10. Int +1. Slots: 1. Level Limit: 10. Job Limit: Acolyte.
His Skills tab was finally not blank. Healing, speed increase… While they"re all at 1 Proficiency, they"d slowly level up. He had more than enough time.
The Long Robe occupied the Top and Bottom slots. Once put on, the two pieces of clothing he had were automatically removed. He twisted left and right and observed his new silhouette. Upon which a conclusion was reached: neither this nor that.
That was because he"s still wearing a pair of slippers with a cute little knapsack. orz
AO"s equipment combinations were something that required a lot of consideration and research, thought BaiYu. Not only must one look for the best in terms of stats, they must also look at how they"d fit together as an outfit.
Other than providing different equipment for different jobs, AO also had a clothing store just for all sorts of pretty clothing (accessories not included). But the prices were expensive and did not provide any defence or stat increase. The wearer couldn"t even use skills. Most were worn by those who loved to be beautiful inside cities or those who didn"t want to expose what their jobs were. Outside the city, whether it was to kill monsters or to PK, they"d change back to their job"s equipment, unless they"d grown tired of living.
No wonder he"d always felt some players looked weird but he couldn"t understand how or where. It was because he wasn"t used to staring at other people at all. So it was because they didn"t tweak their equipment to match.
After sneaking a few more peeks around and confirming his suspicions, he too walked out of his corner in search of NPCs without embarra.s.sment. It wasn"t just him who had a weird outfit after all.
As he pa.s.sed by the Exchange, he noticed it wasn"t as crowded as usual. Bai XiaoYu decided to take this rare chance to enter and have a look around.
The Exchange was a place where one can place their items up for sale and a place where players can exchange items. Each player can place a maximum of 10 items up for sale and post 3 item requests.
However the great game would never let players get away with a cheap deal. Depending on the market price and how long an item was placed up for sale, the game would deduct a certain amount from the seller as admin fee, regardless if the item sold or not. On the other hand, requests had no time limit and only 1% of the request"s total payment would be deducted as admin fee.
Rather than calling it the Exchange, players would privately call it the Request Office as its admin fees for selling were high. It would be much more worth it to set up a stall outside and take care of it. Most players rush in for the Request Board.
XiaoYu browsed around the Exchange. One, to experience something new. Two, to see if he was lucky. When he was killing flower sprites, his RNG was good enough that a flower crown was dropped.
There were a wide variety of accessories in AO. Female players would gather all sorts of headdresses and jewellery that match their clothing just to look pretty. As accessories can only be obtained via monster drops, those with good stats and looks had sky-high prices. Even those that just looked pretty had rather nice prices.
XiaoYu rotated the flower crown in his hands. A wreathe was formed using tiny nameless red flowers. It looked quite beautiful and it had a +2 Defence. Although it was better than the gra.s.s wreathe on his head, it would look rather flamboyant on him. It was much more suitable to be sold to a female player, but flower sprites are low-levelled. Those who are focused would have no issues getting one. Hence, he did not expect to get any great deal out of it, just a price that wasn"t ridiculously low.
He had a look through the Request Board. Fortunately, someone was requesting one at a rather reasonable price. 20 silvers. Looking down at his wallet, it was the first time he had so much money in it. (The 1 gold coin from before was not obtained normally. Ignored.) A tiny sense of accomplishment started welling up in him.
Despite having sold the flower crown, he didn"t leave immediately. He took advantage of how few people there were in the Exchange and took another look at the items being requested. There really were all sorts. Someone was even asking for the sticky mucus dropped by caterpillars. They didn"t ask for many though. It was probably for a gather or creation quest.
Thus, Bai XiaoYu decided on his first money-making strategy. He"d avoid selling the items dropped by monsters as much as possible and have a look at the Request Board whenever he"s free. As long as the request"s amount was not exceeded, the game would allow players to be fulfilled bit by bit. Everything would be sold to the NPCs otherwise. He might as well sell them to other players. Even if the price was only 1 copper higher than the NPC"s, he would have earned a bit more.
With that in mind, he ran back and forth between Storage and the Exchange. Half of the junk he"d acc.u.mulated in the past two days were cleared out. While his pouch wasn"t filled to the brim, XiaoYu still felt happy watching the number rise. He joyfully hummed a song as he left the Exchange to begin his journey to level up.
"Meow…" So boring. Owner"s running everywhere but he"s not killing monsters nor completing quests. With nowhere to show off its strengths, the tiny lucky cat cried out in boredom and sorrow.
"Be good. We"re off to kill some monsters and complete some quests now." Knowing how bored the little cat on his shoulders was, XiaoYu took out a piece of dried fish to cheer it up. Suddenly he was reminded of the grilled fish skewers. He wondered where were they sold? They should be quite tasty and they even decrease a large amount of Hunger. But he"s not that familiar with that HereticKing player. He"d better not disturb the other just for something simple. XiaoYu would buy some more the little one if he spots any in the future.
"Ah-choo!" Strange. One can"t catch a cold in this game.
"Ooh, someone"s thinking of the chief!" I_Am_A_Poor_Man began cackling at HereticKing.
"If you don"t buff, then you"ll be the tank."
"No, Chief! You know I"m not a meat-shield priest. I"m so soft and tender that I can"t even handle a Gryphon"s caress." Despite chitter-chattering non-stop, he quickly buffed HereticKing.
"…" I"m not a tank-build Knight as well! On behalf of his buffs, HereticKing became too lazy to bother arguing with the other. He concentrated on dodging the Gryphon"s claws using his high agility then swiftly slashing a few times at it.
Translator"s Notes:
Asgard Online VS Ragnarok Online:
AO does not have Transcendence/Renewal (as can be seen from the 2nd paragraph). Instead, players go straight to the 3rd Job.Skills in AO are more like skills in simulation games (The Sims etc) and VRMMO manga/novels. They level up when a player uses them. Skills in RO level up via Skill Points which are earned using the Job Exp system. Just think of AO as FF2 - you only increase proficiency in skills when you keep using them.