Chapter 08: The Poor Noob.

“What?! That’s all I could get?!”

I was surprised by the obscene amount of the item that listed for sale. I went back to the guy the other day who gave me a weird and untrustworthy information. Though I doubted his words, his wares were different. Among his wares were some high quality equips that I could make use for my journey. However, the price was extremely exorbitant. In fact, most of the items that were for sale by the other merchants, PCs and NPCs here were ridiculously pricey.

“Look man, I really want to help you. Being a newbie and all is a tough thing. But it’s a fair price. This is a new city, with new players and the nearest one is the Royal Capital, few maps away, which is littered with high level monsters in between.”

I looked dejected. Even Elly too was surprised by the price and she tried to reasoned me not to buy anything. But I had decided to equip her one way or another.

“Is there anything at all you could do?”

The merchant, that goes by the name Shawn, a player character would always make his trade here. As he thought hard what he could do to help me, I looked around and saw more people buying items. Even those that looked like newbies could purchase something fancy.

“Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. I don’t know what you did the whole time here or you just logged in to AFG, but those people had been playing here far longer than you. They had been killing monsters around the city, collected the loots and sold it to us here.”

One girl walked into a shop wearing all tattered robes and when she came out, she looked dazzling; a fighter type player with a new sword and an armour set. And there was this guy who keep on trying new weapon and equips next to me. Once he picked a fancy looking bow, a dagger and a new outfit, he took out a big pile of money pouch and handed it to the merchant.

“Well, if you really want something within your budget, I could make do with these old stuffs I bought from other players.”

Oh! Now that was a good news for a change. He took out a decrepit and old looking wand with a similar robe, all dirty and dusty. Wearable but it looked ugly.

“I could spare you this wand and this basic mage robe for 60 silver coins. That’s the best price I could give you.”

That was not what I wanted to equip Elly with. She was supposed to be a damage dealing type, of what people would call Damage per Second player (DPSer). And I was supposed to tank. And now, the plan seemed to jump right out of window.

“Look, I need to equip my ally here some proper equips. I can’t do that with that wand or mage robe.”

“Oh? You have an ally? Well, that’s great for you. I don’t know where you get her, but it’s great to have an ally working with you.” Shawn scrutinized Elly up and down. She was still in the ragged robes and it did not give a proper first impression.

“Yeah, it’s great and such, but I need to give her a proper weapon before she could be of real use. The only proper items I have had been bounded to me.”

“Well, in that case, why not you gave your items, instead,” he suggested.

“You could do that?” I was surprised.

There were not much information regarding allies that I could gathered anywhere else even before I started playing the game. To find out that Shawn knew about it was a pleasant surprise for me indeed. “Between allies, yes. Let her equip your items if you wanted it.”

That idea might work. I gave Elly my items for her to equip. Though she was reluctant at first, she finally relented after I pressured to take her off from my party list if she was not going to listen. I did not need to carry a NPC and let her leech my EXP just like that. She needed to earn her dough, too.

And Elly successfully equipped my items. I supposed that any items that were bounded to me could be used by any of my allies. I thanked him for the tips he had just given me. Elly now looked much fitter to explore the world now. As for me, well…

“Is that all you want?”

“You can give me more if you want. But as far as the money concern, I’m broke.” I had spent 60 silver coins to equip myself with old and decrepit wand and a dirty looking mage robe. I opened the window screen and was extremely disappointed with the result.

Old Wooden Wand

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Requirements: Level 1

Durability 3/10

Descriptions:

This is the most basic of all the magic wands. You should get rid of it once you find a better one. Don’t be such a cheapskate!

+ 3 INT when equipped.

+ 3% Magic Damage when equipped.

Equipment Status: Bound (Ghost)

Tattered Mage Robe

Requirements: Level 1.

Durability 2/10

Descriptions:

A well-worn mage robe that had seen better days. Doesn’t give much of anything. Better be naked than being seen wearing one.

+ 2 INT when equipped.

Equipment Status: Bound (Ghost)

Ughh… but beggars can’t be choosers. And I looked like a proper beggar too nowadays. Once I wore it, everyone looked at me and laughed hard. Everyone else was shopping to make themselves looked better and perform well in their adventure. And here I was, exchanging Popo’s equipment into something as ugly as this. Elly tried her best to console me, but then again…

I let out a deep sigh.

“Hey man. Don’t worry about it. If you work hard, I’m sure that you would equip yourself with some proper equipment sooner. I’ll wait you until then.”

I just gave a weak nod to the merchant. I didn’t mind being a magic user, but I could help to think that I just wasted 2 weeks of real time training for the wrong stats. I had not increase a single point of my INT point and not only that, I have no magic skills with me. And the words around streets told me that to learn magic skills, I must have at least a few gold coins with me.

I let out a deep groan of disappointment. An honest and a newbie mistake. I should think about it better, next time. I got caught up in the excitement of walking, working out again and raising stats that I basically forgotten about the other aspect of the game. Should have asked more money from that lazy rabbit.

“Ghost, do you want the equipment back? I don’t mind wearing the thing that you are wearing now, you know.” Elly was still feeling guilty of having my items but it was not because of that I was disappointed about. Well, the past was past and there was nothing else I could do, for now. Time to head out and earned ourselves some EXPs, money and practice some skills.

“It’s OK, Elly. I think you’d better use the equips I gave you. I still could do something with whatever I have.”

And if I have to, I would go barehanded. A low durability equips meant that it could break anytime and I didn’t have the money to repair it once broken. Both of us walked towards the main gate. As we approached the border between the city and the outside world, suddenly a system message popped-up.

About Exploring the World (1)

Congratulations on finally settling into the world of Noble Path Online. We trust that you had made good use of your adjustment period while waiting for this very moment where you can now explore the vast world of Astral-Gaia Realm.

Since you are going to take your first step into the world, we would like to tell you a few important things that would help in your journey.

1. All your character’s senses including hunger and pain had now been set to ON. This is a system change. To quell your fear about the safety of inflicting pain in gaming and the extent of it uses and practicality, this system is under UWN and WGCHS’s extreme strict guidelines of VR gaming. You are guaranteed to be safe at all times in NPO.

2. Though there are no quest markers, we trust you to be able to talk to strangers and players around to learn a few things that would make your gaming experience an enjoyable one.

3. Death and Respawn. Unless otherwise stated, characters respawn would be at the nearest safe zone of your character’s death point. However, you have to wait for 24 hours in real time for your character to respawn fully.

4. PK-Zone. PK-Zone shall be marked on your map and a prior warning would be given before you enter. A system icon would be on top of your screen to serve as reminder as long as you are in the PK-Zone.

5. HELP Menu. Please read through your HELP Menu if you needed more information regarding the systems, rules and regulations of the game.

Till then, enjoy your time in NPO!

“Ghost, if you may, I’ll tell you a little about the ally system.” Elly suddenly talked to me as I finished reading the system message.

“You can summon me to your side anytime you want. But I must be on the same map as you for you to do so. If you need to dismiss me, you could do that too at any time and I would be waiting for you at the nearest safe-zone.”

After a slight pause, she continued. “And if you log-out, like usual I’ll be free to do whatever I want; sleep, farm, go back to town, train or just wait for you.”

“Alright. Got it. But for now, stick with me, alright.” I just patted her shoulder in response.

Elly nodded enthusiastically. I wanted to check Elly’s stats before we started. She was at Level 1, with 40 STR, 35 DEX, 38 AGI, 13 INT, 10 CHA and 12 LCK after adding the effects of the equips I had given her earlier. Having no resistance to magic and such, she was as bare as they come. She managed to learn a few skills too during her training. Compared to me, she had learned all Active Skills with damage dealing capabilities instead. And that was the reason why I wanted her to be the DPSer and not me.

Chaotic Strike, Double Strike and Shield Bash. I had seen her using those skills on training dummies and now was the time to try it on proper monsters.

Many PCs and NPCs were traversing in and out the main gate. As we stood side by side of each other, after 2 months of hellish training and the utmost boring routine one could ever do anywhere else, I gave out a shout that startled not only Elly, but everyone else too. But I did not care. I continued to tumble around, squatting and jumping like a hallucinated deer getting electrocuted and then ended up with my Karlton’s Dance routine. Needed to vent off my steam from earlier disappointment.

“Prrriitt!!!!”

Oh, there was that damn whistle again. I gave out a loud laugh before I took Elly’s hand and dashed outside the main gate.

“Let’s go, Elly.” I led both of us out of City of Asgardia.

And it did not take long for our enemy to appear either. Barely 100 steps outside the main gate, we encountered our first monster of the game.