The hubbub was astoundingly real. It really was as if I had been shot into another world and the sheer number of Beleste around was mind boggling even as background characters. Some were probably players, but it was doubtful to me that more than a handful were. I was standing near a centralizing water fountain within what looked like the city’s business streets. Shops lined the road, some stalls and some buildings, and people were haggling and tempting others into buying their wares.
Okay. Step one was to take inventory. I saw I was wearing armor that was a mix of leather, chain, and reinforced thin plates set to protect the vitals a little better. An axe that could easily be used in one or two hands was dangling from a strap at my waist, ready to be releases in a second with a quick tug of the knot. I also had a satchel bag and when I touched it a prompt appeared.
‘Inventory: Item slots 4/10 | Maximum Stacks 10
10 potions of minimal healing (Health)
10 potions of minimal recovery (Stamina)
10 potions of minimal relief (Mana)
5 loafs of travel bread
20 copper pieces
5 silver pieces
1 gold’
Apparently money counted for nothing with regards to item management and that was always a feature I could appreciate over the alternative. I tapped each of the potions and three vials appeared in my hands. One was red, one green, and one blue. Each liquid looked watery and thin and each one stated that it restored 100 of the specified resource over 10 seconds to the user. There was also a period after each that denied the usage of another for the same amount of time. So one potion at a time. Dang, no spamming potions easily. I’d have to get used to the rotation of usage.
That done with, I stowed them away once again and took stock of my surroundings once more.
Usually in games with an adventure and exploration focus, there would be character’s dubbed NPC’s that would offer interactions and possibly quests to direct and guide the player to bigger and better things. There were so many people around though! Everyone looked busy, doing this or that, but no one really screamed help me I have rewards if you do this thing for me energy. Maybe it was the area. Picking a random direction it was.
I spun and chose to start walking straight away from the water fountain. It was not long till I found something I felt could be potentially interesting. Standing in a corner booth far away from most of the main business of the street, an old man human, or humani as the game said, was gently snoozing away at a stall with what looked like little trinkets of worldly materials. Sea shells, crystals, odd stones, they littered the table in the forms of little jewelry pieces and he even had what looked like carvings of various animals from wood and other materials. Even from here, they looked surprisingly realistic.
In front of him, a young Beleste was glancing at him and back at the table over and over. It was clear to me from the way the youth was looking around that they were about to try and steal from the defenselessly snoozing man. As the young beastfolk reached out, I walked up as quietly as I could. Which, while being trained in Stealth, was still fairly loud from the sounds of my armor. Fortunately that was being masked by the volume of the city surrounding me.
As I got there, I almost reached out to stop the young thief. The man who had been sleeping leapt up with startling speed and grabbed the wrist of the would be faster than the blink of an eye. I froze along with the young Beleste.
“I told you Frond, you’re ten years to early to be stealing from my stall young man. Your skills are lacking,” He was cackling, releasing his hold and sitting back down to then stare at me, “and look, you are bothering other potential customers! Shameful, little squirrel.” The Beleste in question did have the features of one.
“Damn you, old man Stiles, I thought advancing to first tier Stealth would be enough! How do you always know!? You only pretend to sleep, don’t you?”
I admit, I was confused. Clearly they were NPC characters, at least they fit the part, and their background was connected to each other. I had expected to stop a thief and maybe earn a thank you or reward from the merchant. Instead, it seemed like I had interrupted a… training session? Odd. I cleared my throat.
“Oh don’t mind me, sir. I thought you might need a hand with the youth here but clearly I was wrong. You two are… acquaintance?”
It was Frond, the youth, who responded.
“Old man Stiles is a legend in the market. No one has been able to lift from his stall in twenty years! He made a deal with the locals that if someone was able to, he would close his shop and gift it to the thief. If not, he gets his choice of spot all through the market. But the old jerk is impossible! Nobody even tries anymore.”
“Well, almost nobody. You just tried.”
He shrugged at my words but had a grin.
“The guards enjoy the amusement, so they pay someone with the skills once a month to try anyways. Free money and the chance to win big keeps me coming back.”
“They pay you to… commit crime?”
“Attempt. And it would be a crime if I did it to the others. Old man here is the only one I try against. Wouldn’t be fun to pick on the others.”
Amusement and intrigue colored me deeply. The idea of an in game reason to practice ‘legally’ stealing was a bit close to actual reality. It was like state funded corporate espionage at the most basic and ground level. It also smelled like a chance for some quests in the morally grey area of life. That matched skills I already had.
“I see… this is true, sir?”
“Aye, the long and short of it. I made my deal twenty odd years ago and still get a kick out of catching those foolish enough to take the deal. Now be off with ya Frond, I have a potential customer to sell to and you never by my wares with that money you earn anyways. Shoo.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The smiling youth laughed and waved at Stiles before nodding his head towards me. He began to leave, but not before gifting me one final parting piece of advice.
“Good luck, mister. Stiles is a known haggler with nothing to loose. He’ll steal your last dollar while you starve if you let him convince you!”
The scowl in Stiles face deepened.
“Oh go and get lost you damned fuzz brain,” he grumbled with humor, “and to you sir. Welcome to Stiles Stylish Stuff, where what you find is hopefully enough! What can I do for you today, my attempted hero?”
“I’m not quite sure. I just arrived and I’m not entirely sure what I need. Is any of this magical?”
“Oh sure, I keep all of my legendary artifacts in the back. No. I have a few enchanted items but only two for sale at the moment though. Would you like to view them? They might not be useful to an adventurer like yourself though, considering your equipment."
“What makes you believe I’m an adventurer? I would like to see them though. A shame about the artifacts.”
His smile was genuinely amused.
“Well look at ya! I mentioned the axe and armor, didn't I? What else would you be? And here you are.”
The man withdrew two items. The first was a scroll, green in color and tied with a ribbon of black twine. The second was a necklace much like some of his others, except the center piece was a fang from an animal and had two bits of silver that shaped a general maw shape around it.
“The scroll is the novice spell Weaken System from the Contamination line of magic. Like most spell scrolls, you may learn it or use it to cast it once for free. Doing either will strip the charge from the working. The other is a necklace that is meant to enhance the natural weapons of any race. This includes unarmed attacks as well.”
I think I needed that spell. Having something to actually trigger my abilities was something I didn’t know if I even had, being too busy checking other things when I first came here.
“What happens if I try learning it but already know the spell? And how much for it?”
His eyes were alight with greed and joy.
“Excellent! The spell scroll would still be expended, though why you would try learning magic you already know I have no clue. I haven’t heard of anyone ever not knowing their magic with how easy it is to check your mental grimoire. Simply think to yourself about the school of magic and any known spells should readily come to mind. The scroll is two gold pieces. The necklace is ten, not that you asked.”
That was out of my price range at the moment. Frond did say the man was a haggler though.
“How about a gold and two silver?”
Stiles’ friendly demeanor vanished, replaced by one of calculation and piercing intensity.
“Oh, now the new guy is trying to steal from this poor old man too! Oh the youth of today! Shame on you, making an old man starve with your greed. A gold and nine silvers.”
“Funny, you seemed pretty spry and well off just a few minutes ago. I bet you could take me down in a fight! Poor old man my butt. One and three.”
“You must think me a foul old fool! One and seven! Final offer.”
I gritted my teeth and winced. Note to self, teeth grinding while an anthropomorphic beast man sounded absolutely terrible.
“Would you take one and five with a few items to trade in? Or a promise of continued patronage?”
He rubbed his face at that, giving me an appraising look for several moments.
“You don’t have a reputation around here and could just run off. Though you did try to help when you thought there was trouble. That kind of action is a bit of a rarity. Okay, one and five. But you must return within the week and spend at least two more gold, yes?” He extended out a hand to seal the deal.
Score for being nosy! I quickly accepted the hand and turned out the money, taking the scroll in hand. Several symbols appeared in the corner of my vision, surprising me. Looked like notifications only popped up automatically in the creation process.
“Pleasure doing business! I look forward to seeing your journey unfold, young protector. You have an excellent day and may the gods keep your tidings fortunate.”
“As do I hope they keep yours.”
Walking away with a wave, I started opening the notifications.
‘Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill Trade. Your Trade skill is now level 1! Keep up the deal making!’
‘Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill Negotiation. Your Negotiation skill is now level 1! Keep up the impression making!’
‘Congratulations! Your skill with Trade is now level 2!’
‘Congratulations! Your skill with Stealth is now level 6!’
Whistling with appreciation, I closed them out. The first three were nice, but they were never going to be the focus of my character. The last was amazing though. It must have been from attempting and apparently succeeding on sneaking behind Frond.
It hit me then that I had forgotten to check to see what spells I already had. Hoping that I hadn’t just spent my meager fortune on a one off spell, I thought about the magic school of Contamination and a window opened.
‘Contamination: Known Spells
Minor Contaminant
Nauseous Air’
With relief, I opened the following one for Preservation. I found that I could have multiple of the windows open too.
‘Preservation: Known Spells
Save For Later
Strengthen Response’
‘Minor Contaminant: Release a bolt of mildly harmful pollutants at a target. The target gains the status effect Contaminated (Least), making them take 10% more damage from sources of poison, plague, disease, and death. This lasts for skill level in seconds and refreshes rather than stacks. This is considered a poison.'
‘Nauseous Air: The air around the caster becomes filled with a foul smelling and dizzy inducing gas. All who breath in this gas gain the status effect Dizzy, making their attacks 10% more likely to miss. The air lasts for skill level seconds, follows the caster, and refreshes rather than stacks. Strong sources of wind will disperse this sooner. This is considered a poison.’
‘Save For Later: Extend the timer of decomposition on an object by skill level in hours.'
‘Strengthen Response: Enhances the targets immune system by preserving it at the peak of its health. The target gains the status effect Strengthened Response, granting 10% damage reduction from all sources of poison, plague, disease, and death. This lasts for skill level in seconds and refreshes rather than stacks.’
Well now that was neat. I had hoped that the two schools would play off of each other and it seems I was right. None of them mentioned a cost though. I used the scroll and enjoyed reading the effects of my new spell.
‘Weaken System: Ply the target’s immune system and they gain the status effect Weakened Response. All sources of poison, plague, disease, and death are 10% more likely to take effect for skill level of seconds. This refreshes rather than stacks.’
With that sorted, I supposed it was time to find more to do. I took a single step and nearly jumped out of orbit when a loud and annoying jingle began in my ears. The timer. Guess that was all for today. I opened my menu and went down to the option to log out, hitting select and confirming.
I expected to feel some slurry of confusing and frankly horrible feelings rush through me once more and shut my eyes. When nothing happened, I opened them. I was still there. In the game.