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Chapter 18.2: Lets Grind!
Chapter 18.2: Lets Grind!
Chapter 18.2: Let's Grind!
The designated construction site of the Wanderer Guild, where three job instructors were stationed, was the liveliest part of Exile Town.
After 22 hours of game time, players had already cleared a considerable amount of rubbish from the 500-square-meter construction site. The previously separated three quest areas were now connected, and players who were undertaking quests from Hal, Tuttle, and the other advanced NPCs could chat with each other from a distance.
"Seems like quite a lot of people are interested in becoming wanderers," said Blossoming Strokes in admiration as she surveyed the busy players moving bricks. "From the look of things, it seems like the Wanderer Guild would be the first to be established."
Give Me Medicine completed his quest, and while putting the coin rewards into his waist bag, he asked Blossoming Strokes who had come over to fetch him, "Has the Mage Apprentice Instructor started working yet?"
Give Me Medicine had no interest in playing a traditional assassin nor a ranged class typically found in most MMORPGs. Instead, he was focusing on building his reputation with the Treasure Expert NPC.
"Who knows? I haven't received any quests from the Mage Apprentice Instructor," Blossoming Strokes was exasperated. "Currently, only that 'Ou Huang' fellow can receive quests from that NPC. But from what I've gathered, that guy seems to be a lone wolf that doesn't like playing with others. No one knows where he's gone off to."
"Don't worry, it's only the first day of the beta, and you're just slightly short of the 50 points of Potential required to reach level 1. Perhaps you might be able to receive quests from the Mage Apprentice Instructor tomorrow," Give Me Medicine reassured her.
"I'm in no hurry. Vanilla's not even anxious, so why should I be? At most, I'll do a few more days of zombie NPC quests to earn some money," chuckled Blossoming Strokes. "Let's go find Vanilla and see if we can do some exploration tonight."
Doing mundane tasks all the time definitely wasn't a style of gameplay that most average players could accept. Even though the game had just started, with everyone on new characters and trapped in Exile Town because the rat in the south couldn't be defeated, players were still very much interested in discovering the secrets of the town and flipping it on its head.
As the two were about to leave the construction site supervised by the Treasure Expert, Give Me Medicine caught sight of something from the corner of his eyes. The human NPC, who acted as though he was greatly offended by players and had a deadpan expression on all the time other than when interacting during quests, had placed a wooden signboard in front of his tent and posted a notice on it.
"Wait!" Give Me Medicine hurriedly gestured at Blossoming Strokes and rushed over to the signboard.
Treasure Expert Finley had the appearance of a middle-aged man. The location he camped out was relatively better hidden, and he wasn't bothered much by players at the start.
But when players interacted with him to activate reputation progress and discovered the unique characteristics of his "Treasure Expert" class advancement path, he couldn't hide anymore... Now, there were more players camped here than at Hal's, second only to Tuttle's.
At least Rex, who was in charge of the warrior class advancement path, had the luxury of sleeping for a bit before being disturbed by players. Finley, on the other hand, had no chance to sleep at all until Yang Qiu came over to implement the "patch"...
Finley didn't have a favorable impression of these filthy undead players. Upon receiving instructions from Yang Qiu via the imprint matrix, he posted the notice and sat at the side, stony-faced, with no intention of explaining anything to the players.
Fortunately, the reward mechanisms for each advanced NPC had been prepared in advance, so Finley didn't need any unnecessary chatter. His job was done as long as he put up the notice.
When Give Me Medicine reached the board, a few other players from nearby were already gathered and discussing the notice.
Give Me Medicine also read the notice and exclaimed, "Whoa, damn! Other than accepting the wanderer class change and receiving apprentice weapons upon reaching level 1, the first five players to obtain the 'friendly' reputation with Finley can also participate in bidding for the 'Orb of Deception'?"
"Limited accessory, 'Orb of Deception,' personally crafted by the Treasure Expert Finley. Only three will be released this time, and the next bidding will only be a month later! It can create visual disguises and project humanoid illusions for undead race players. The starting bid for the auction is 300 copper coins?!"
"Hmm? Isn't this an item from a certain other game?" mused Blossoming Strokes, who was also knowledgeable about other games.
"That's right, it's the Orb of Deception! Damn! They only released three orbs for the first five qualified bidders. The unscrupulous devs are forcing players to spend money!" Give Me Medicine exclaimed agitatedly.
"Well, it's just a cosmetic change of appearance, not necessarily a must-have," Blossoming Strokes casually remarked.
Another player at the side immediately refuted, "It might not matter for other classes, but this accessory is indispensable for those that choose the Treasure Expert class path."
"Yeah, that's right," another player chimed in. "Treasure Experts specialize in finding treasures in human territories. If they can't disguise themselves as humans, won't they be flagged as monsters wherever they go?"
Blossoming Strokes thought about the attitudes toward the undead of Exile Town that those human NPCs serving as job instructors had, then nodded in agreement. "That seems so. This item is really useful if we have to leave the undead spawn area. A godly artifact that isn't just limited for Treasure Experts or Wanderers."
The bunch of players exchanged glances, and without saying more, gathered their respective quest items and hurried toward the construction site.
There were only five bidding rights available, so even if they managed to achieve a bidding right but couldn't afford the orb, they could still sell the bidding right to others. Snatching a spot among the first five was definitely beneficial!
Give Me Medicine also realized this and immediately turned to his companion and said solemnly, "I won't be joining you guys for tonight's activity. I have to hurry and grind more reputation."
"Alright," Blossoming Strokes' reply was instant. "You don't have enough coins, so I'll lend you all of mine. Should I speak with Boss Vanilla and get his studio friends to reserve their coins for you too?"
"Yes, yes!" Give Me Medicine nodded vigorously while interacting with Finley to accept a quest. "Tell them I'll take all their copper coins at market rate!"
"Alright, I'll do that right away," replied Blossoming Strokes without any hesitation and immediately turned around and headed toward Rex, the warrior instructor.
As Blossoming Strokes jogged past another advanced NPC, the Knight Instructor, who wasn't particularly popular, she noticed another wooden signboard with a notice next to this human NPC's tent.
When she saw several players grinding away especially diligently in front of the Knight Instructor's work area, Blossoming Strokes immediately headed for the signboard and took a look at the notice.
This time, Blossoming Strokes, who wasn't particularly interested in the Orb of Deception from before, let out a loud "Holy crap!"
There was a "bidding" event here as well with the Knight Instructor. And the item up for bids was an Undead Horse mount!
Once more, only the top five players with the "friendly" reputation with the NPC would obtain bidding rights, but there was only one Undead Horse available!
And the starting bid was an astronomical 1000 copper coins!
Realizing that obtaining enough copper coins in the short term would be difficult, Blossoming Strokes didn't dawdle and quickly ran off to find Qin Guan.
Qin Guan, who was busy grinding reputation with the Warrior Instructor, immediately abandoned his current tasks upon receiving the news and promptly made a round to check on all the advanced NPCs in the town. It was confirmed that at present, only the Treasure Expert and Knight Instructor were having the "bidding" event.
"Just these two are troublesome enough... Orb of Deception aside, that Undead Horse will definitely cause massive chaos!" Qin Guan felt the onset of a headache. "Damn those scheming developers! I thought this game was different and it wouldn't follow the usual pattern of equipment repair, revives, and consumables costing money. But it turns out they have it here!"
Had it been any ordinary players, most would gladly convert the in-game currency they earned into real money.
Qin Guan, too, wasn't against the idea of in-game currency having value. Not only his friend, Studio Boss Xiao Zhou, a sworn brother and good friend who entered the game together, but Qin Guan was also an avid gold farmer himself. However, if the value of in-game currency rose too excessively, it would be difficult for his other comrade, Give Me Medicine, to accumulate enough copper coins to buy the Orb of Deception that he desired.