“Uh?” Jack picked up the call and heard a familiar voice on the other side.

“What’s up, Jackie?”

“Rob! How did you…?”

“I gave you your access code, remember? You were added to my friend’s list as soon as you started playing.”

“Right.” He supposed that made sense. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. I didn’t call earlier because I wanted to give you enough time to finish the tutorial. Focusing on getting the most out of the tutorial is super important.”

Hearing how much value Rob placed on Tutor Ezekiel’s lessons, Jack grimaced. “Right. Super-duper important.”

“How do you like the game so far? Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah… about that. Rob, I forgot to ask you a bunch of things. What is it that you do in the game again?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you focus on hunting? Do you run dungeons? Do you craft?”

“I have my profession slots filled, but I prefer hunting. I don’t have the patience to craft. It takes too much grinding.”

“Does it?” asked Jack, gulping drily.

“Oh yeah. You must invest endless hours in a profession before it becomes profitable. Not that it is any different with hunting.”

“B-but I read that it was the best way to make money in the game.”

“Right, right. You want to make money playing the game,” Rob said, reminding himself of the fact. “Once you get a profession leveled high enough, it is indeed the best way to make money in the game. Even then, that doesn’t guarantee you make a lot of money. The richest craftsmen in the game are those who got rare recipes or picked boring professions.”

Each word that Rob spoke terrified Jack. “Boring? What does that have to do with anything?!”

“Some professions are more fun than others. The ones that pay the most money are the most boring because no one wants to do them. Law of supply and demand! Everyone wants to forge swords, but few people want to dig coal in the mines.”

“Uh… Right.” Jack thought back to how some workshops had looked emptier than others. He had been the only one at Jenny’s place, for example. The smithy, on the other hand, was packed.

“I’m about to run a dungeon, but we can chat a little if you need some guidance. Have you chosen your class yet?”

“Actually, after reading that crafting was profitable, I started experimenting with different professions. I’ve tried the five majors available in the beginner’s town but didn’t like them.”

“Those are the most common. There’s a huge demand for their products, too, but I wouldn’t recommend them.”

“Right. After that, I somehow triggered a rare quest, and…”

“What did you say?” interrupted Rob.

“I started a rare quest.”

“A rare quest?! At level 1?!”

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“You lucky duck. That’s incredible!”

“It is?” Seeing how riled up his cousin sounded, he couldn’t help but feel a little excited about it.

“Oh yeah! I’ve been playing New Earth for six months, and I only got two rare quests.”

“I was actually about to give it up.”

“Don’t be stupid! Rare quests are far too precious. Remember that gem I sold in exchange for my TV? I only got it because of one of my rare quests.”

Thinking of the huge flat screen at his cousin’s house, Jack couldn’t help but imagine owning something like that. “Is that so?”

“Oh yeah. You’d be a fool to drop that quest. Especially one you’ve unlocked so early on. It could really make a difference to your future in the game.”

“Are rare quests difficult to complete?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve only completed one. I’ve been trying to crack the other one for over a month, but it will still take a while.”

Jack winced, realizing that if even his seasoned cousin was struggling with rare quests, he might be in for a tougher road than expected.

“The worst thing is that rare quests are always brand new territory. They aren’t like common or uncommon quests. Each rare quest is unique. There are no guides, no one who can tell you what to do.”

“Oh, wow.”

“My team is calling for me. I have to go, cous. I’ll tell you more later, but whatever you do, don’t give up on that quest, you hear me?”

And he was gone. Jack was sad his cousin had hung up, but he was at a much higher level, and he couldn’t expect him just to drop everything and help him. It was good enough that Rob was taking the initiative to call.

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As he thought about their conversation, Jack frowned. The guides that Jack had read had made crafting sound so simple, but his cousin felt strongly otherwise. His experience in the game so far also went along with Rob’s apprehension. Everything was incredibly realistic, and all professions came with discomfort and challenges.

“Open browser,” he called, and a regular internet window appeared before him. He tried thinking of the terms he had put in the search engine earlier on while the game was installing, and after a few tries, he managed to find the page praising crafting.

New Earth, Money Making Guide

I’m DoomBringer, and I’m a level 38 warrior. Today, I’ll tell you how I quit my day job to become a full-time gamer. I used to work at the court…

Jack skipped this part and found what he had been looking for

Q: Which is best?

A: The wealthiest players in the game are all craftsmen. However, crafting isn’t for the faint of heart. The competition is fierce, and you have to put in the work. If you want to go down the path of crafting, read and study the market as much as possible before choosing your major and minor. Profession synergy and the unique skill trees it generates are your best shot at success. Also, make sure you choose something you love. Be warned. Hours of tedious, mind-numbing grinding await you.

Having said that, if you don’t love crafting, I’d recommend just focusing on hunting or dungeoneering. That might suit you better. There are no shortcuts. Choose something you love and become good at it.

Jack stared wide-eyed at the paragraph. He'd been so tired and in such a rush to get into the game that he skipped the most important paragraph! He had assumed that crafting was easy, but the guide painted it as the stuff of nightmares.

“Idiot,” Jack muttered, rubbing his temples in frustration. Why did he dive into crafting without reading the full guide?

On the one hand, his cousin had been adamant about him not dropping this quest. He had made it sound as if it was a real opportunity. On the other hand, this guide told him that crafting sucked, and his quest had to do with crafting.

Jack weighed his options. So far, the requests that Kevin had made were annoying but reasonable. He had just asked him to learn two professions. He was willing to do the quest if that was the price to pay for getting a giant TV. Maybe once he finished this quest, he could reassess whether crafting was really his thing. He could always try hunting with Rob if this didn’t pan out.

He opened the search engine and looked up information about the next profession he had to learn.

Bushcraft

Bushcraft is one of the most popular professions among solo adventurers, and for good reason. For one, it’s the only minor that comes with the [Kindle] skill. Additionally, [Survival Cooking] is great for saving money, and [Forage] lets you collect different basic resources. Because of all these things, it isn’t uncommon for parties to invite someone to join their group just for having [Bushcraft].

Even though this minor is popular for those who prefer hunting, it’s pretty useless if you want to focus on crafting. Chefs can cook better than bushcrafters, smithies can use fire more proficiently, tailors can make stronger ropes, and herbalists, lumberjacks, and miners can gather more things, but the beauty of this profession is that it lets you do a little of everything.

To learn more about this minor, search for any NPCs working for the military or law enforcement.

Pros:

* Versatile and interesting

* Saves you money

* Increases survivability

* Easier to find a party

* Easy to level

Cons:

* No synergies with majors

* Dead-end minor (Only has one tier)

* Little profit

Rank: B

He had thought bushcraft was about crafting bushes, but it looked like he had gotten it all wrong. Bushcraft was a set of skills to help adventurers survive in the wild. It looked like something that would come in handy if Jack quit crafting and focused on adventuring later.

He set out to find a soldier or a guard who would teach him the minor. He walked up and down each street, looking for guards on patrol. After finding no one, he started asking around.

“Excuse me. Are there any soldiers in this town?” he asked of an NPC sweeping the street before her shop.

“We have no garrison stationed here. Are you alright, stranger? Has anything bad happened?”

“Nothing of the sort. I just wanted to ask them for some information.”

“I suppose that if you really want to talk to a soldier, you just have to go over to Rivertown. It’s a long walk, but there’s a garrison there. Plenty of soldiers.”

“Thanks,” said Jack appreciatively. Thinking of the hassle of having to go back and forth between cities just to learn this minor, he frowned. That was too much work. After a few more unsuccessful queries, Jack finally spotted a promising NPC.

He saw him leave the smithy with a shield strapped on his back. Jack tried to make out the symbol on the shield, but scars, scratches, and neglect had made it fade beyond recognition. The tall man had a scar from one eye to the opposite ear, and he used a spear as a staff to assist him as he walked. His silver hair was tied into a neat ponytail.

Jack checked the name tag over the man’s name, ‘Saul, the Mercenary.’

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Uh?” mumbled the man.

“I’m looking for someone who’ll teach me the basics of [Bushcraft]. Can you help me?”

The man issued a series of grunts and throaty sounds. “I don’t usually waste my time on greenies like you, but the smithy has just told me I must wait a little longer before my order is finished. I guess I can teach it to you.”

Saul, the Mercenary is willing to teach you [Bushcraft].

Select one of the following options:

Delete [Pottery] to make room for [Bushcraft];

Use major slot to learn [Bushcraft].

Jack selected the second one. He didn’t see the need to delete the minor he had just finished learning because of this. If he decided to learn a major while keeping [Bushcraft] later on, he could delete [Pottery] then and move [Bushcraft] over to the minor slot.

You’ve become a bushcrafter-in-training.

You’ve temporarily learned [Forage].

Forage, lvl. 1

Skill description: You can collect the bounty of Nature most easily accessible.

Skill effects:

You can collect all common materials.

The first skill was interesting. It allowed him to collect common materials. He noted that bushcrafters could also collect [Earthenware Clay]. However, if they found rarer materials, they could only leave them behind for specialized gatherers.

“Let’s see. What should I teach you first? See that hill over there?” Saul asked as he pointed toward one of the nearby hills. “See the tall grass swaying in the wind?”

“I do,” Jack said, squinting.

“Go fetch some tall grass. Just pull it by the stalk and yank it. Come back once you’ve collected some. Hurry. I won’t be here for long.”

Proud of himself for finding an NPC willing to teach him the minor without having to leave this town, Jack sprinted toward the hill and into the tall grass. He did as the man instructed and started pulling grass.

You’ve collected 1x[Tall Grass].

Jack frowned. Uh? No XP? Maybe it's the price to pay for being able to harvest a bit of everything.

Tall Grass (Common)

Although it possesses weak fibers, when dried, it serves as excellent kindling.

Seeing how much of it was everywhere, he guessed that its value was next to nothing, and this time, instead of filling the inventory with it, he collected two stacks of 10 and ran back to Saul.