In the world of Asper Online, Elleon served as the centre-most city on the map. It connected the Lands owned by the Top four guilds to a place where players could meet peacefully. This meant that the city served as a top place for Trade, as well as a general place for players to do politics. As the world recently had a power shift, there was one present issue that was more prevalent than any other.
Elleon was a city built up like a modern city with light-fantasy features. It had skyscrapers and apartments but instead of cars, there were caravans and horses. There were many side streets for people to travel. Machinations filled the sky. They weren’t the most fleshed-out aeroplanes, but there were creature summons such as gryphons and wyverns that players could use to fly. Other than that, similarly to how Vegan was flying, flight serves as a skill that can be learned by certain classes. Mages learn it in later classes while not only rare items grant the ability. We would find our players entering the portal. Elleon served as a non-hostile map. This meant that even Outlaw characters could walk in the open freely without anyone knowing due to all players' names in the city being set to grey. Even still Madder decided to remain in Jun’s shadow. As they stepped through the portal they were met with a large fountain. The area was predominantly green and flourished with plants and benches which were occupied by other players socializing. Nearby there was a park. Aethera opened her map and showed it to the group. “See guys we entered from the south portal” She pointed to the screen. This is Caron Square. Shell then held the map and dragged it so it could further centre. “As you can see Elleon is sectioned from outer to inner infrastructures. For example the City Hall.” She then scrolled to the middle-most layer. “Is in here.” She began to expand from this point. “And spreading from this point are various guild halls, taverns, shops…” Jun's eyes lit up. “Combat halls, Masonries, Apothecaries, Quest Guides, all you can think of.”
Jun then looked at his Class Change quest. Something was odd. “Where am I to find a Tradesman Master for Mercantile.”
Although it surprised Aethera, she told him. "All you’d have to do is track the quest. When you do this it will pinpoint all Tradesman Guides.” Jun followed her instructions. His map then opened and at the moment there were 10 guides. In the city. He read the names from the list. “ItsSelling, level 55, Tiscountman, Level 55, Bankshere, Level 55, Crypto-4, Level 15…” Just then Madder’s shadow raised a bit. But it then went down. “ScoundrelRyan, Level 155, Emil, Level 155, Heist, Level 155.” Jun’s shadow began to rumble. “Hey, what is it? Pitch down!” Jun whispered behind him.
“Who are you talking to?” Julia asks. Jun just shook his head and continued with the last names.
“Chest, Level 234, Mimic, Level 234, and lastly Poor, Level 234. Jun didn’t pay too much heed to Madder’s reactions but even Aethera looked at the names and pointed out something. There is a large discrepancy in their levels. For some reason, they are all on the same level. That is unusual. “Except this Cypto player…” She exclaimed.
Jun looked back at the map. He could see the players noted on the map as blue dots. Jun decided to head to the closest. It was Tiscountman. He seemed to be in an area called Food Market. As the group headed to this area they noticed all the vendors were selling vegetable items. Some were selling farming equipment Jun immediately noticed the difference between the shops here and those in the starting city. These were stalls that held items. Similar to those you’d see in a real bazaar or local market. Whatever was in the shop was out in the open, virtually. This interested Jun. “Now to find our guy!” The group began walking through the area. Looking from stall to stall. All Jun saw were radishes, tomatoes and farm equipment. It was then that one caught his eye. It was a stall that had a scroll inside. When he approached the shop, he inspected the scroll and it read, Class Change: Tradesmen Voucher. He then looked at the price. “1 MILLION GOLD!.”
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He turned back to the group. “It’s 1 Million.” Everyone jumped. “That’s ridiculous! Julia exclaimed.” Even Aethera was surprised. In the shadow, Madder remained silent. Suddenly a player in a gray robe approached them. “Hello, it is I, Tiscountman, welcome to my shop. May you fancy some veggies.”
Jun shook his head and pointed at the Voucher. “Oh, it seems we have a fellow trader in the midst. Might I say a formidable choice?”
Jun raised his eyebrow. “Well here’s the thing. Why is it 1 million gold?”
“Well if you can’t afford this then I don’t think the trader route is for you…” Tiscountman said with a grim smirk on his face and walked away.
Jun was struck and if he faced his first rejection asking a girl out. He held his heart. ‘Guys…guys! How am I supposed to heal from this?”
The group began to pat him on the head comforting him. “It's just 1 of the vouchers- My lord, we can check the others,” Julia said to him. She was right and Jun raised his head. He opened his map, to the next. “Let’s try Heist.” Heist seemed to be a little west of the area and continued that way until they entered yet another market. This time it was Animal Skins. “This area must be for armour materials, specifically Leather armour. This looked around and saw that most stalls had a loom and weave near it. Again they looked around until they found one with the Voucher. “Jun over here!” Julia said. As they all ran towards the stall, they inspected the price. 2.1 million! “This is even more than the last place!” Again the merchant came to see them. It was Heist, a player dressed in an all-grey robe just like Tisocuntman. “Ah, it seems we have another Tradesman here. You don’t like the price?” Jun shook his head. He checked his gold and only had 100g. He showed this to Heist, and Heist began to laugh hysterically. “What level is your mercantile?” Jun opened his menus and showed him. “Level 10!” Heist yelled laughing. “You haven’t even sold anything yet and you wish to become a trader?” Heist turned around and walked away. “Good luck.”
Again this bothered Jun. He opened his map once again and looked for the next merchants. They were Its-Selling and Bankshere. Jun would approach both and see the same prices for the voucher except they were each 1 million higher than the next. “Yggsalad, we will find a way for you to get a class change. I know it.” Julia said to Jun. This time she seemed to break character and noticed. “I mean. My lord Yggsalad, we shall succeed on this quest for your voucher!” Jun scratched his head. “Thank you.” Finally, there were 6 Left. When Jun checked his map, 5 of them seemed to be very close to each other. The group walked towards the area where the players were but to their surprise the area was walled off. Jun looked to his left and right but nothing seemed like an entrance. The others walked around and they could see that the area was simply inaccessible. Madder then inspected the area and noticed something. “Yggsalad, it seems we have found something up my alley…” Madder raised the shadow to push Jun’s arm to point at something. “There!” Jun inspected the area and saw that it was a secret entrance. As they were in front two players spawned. “If you wish to enter the Black Market, you’re going to have to give us your weapons.” Jun looked back at the other players. He dropped his weapon and traded it to the guards. “I don’t know about this My Lord, this seems to be a very shady place.”
Aethera stepped back, “I’ll be waiting outside. When you return, message me.” She began walking away. “Smart woman, Madder exclaimed. “Buddy, this isn't a great idea, but If you wish to go, I am no better to tell you not. There's nothing to be afraid of, it's just stalls similar to up here but you may not like what they are selling.”
Jun put his hand on the portal. “Julia you are coming.”
Her eyes wavered and she closed them and shook her head. She patted her head twice. “Let’s go me-lord.”
They entered the Black Market.