“No fighting monsters today,” Infamous Biscuit announced.

Freya frowned.

“Instead, we’re fighting to get a good deal!”

Freya’s frown deepened.

“Ah, come on, it will be fun. I need to sell the skill book from the Slow Eye Dungeon. The best place to do it is a Green Box Market. Don’t you still have some skill books from that guy? You can try to sell them too.”

“A Green Box Market?” Freya asked as she put her pen and instructions for contacting her on the counter.

“They’re markets where players can sell stuff to other players. The game system helps manage a silent auction and also sets up booths players can rent out to sell things themselves. They only pop up temporarily for a few days or even hours. There’s one outside of Lypan that’s only open today. I bet it’ll be interesting just to see all the different items.”

“Hm, so there will be a lot of other players there?”

“Probably, they’re always pretty popular.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Freya said, warming to the idea. Game items didn’t interest her much, but she was curious to see other people involved with this game. So far out of the four “players” she’d come across, only half seemed to be decent people. After all, the first player she met tried to kill her.

Calling up her inventory, she put her messenger bag full of potions and herbs on a shelf. Then she typed in the city [Lypan]

...

As soon as Freya opened her eyes, she recognized over a dozen other game players around the town square. For her, it wasn’t the green text boxes over their heads, it was their loud and unusual appearances.

Bright clothes. Odd hairstyles. Strange weapons. Freya didn’t understand how the other townsfolk weren’t staring at them. For example, a player close by them wore all black except for a bright pink scarf. Another had spiked blue hair that jetted out at least a meter from his head.

Infamous Biscuit seemed to think nothing of this.

He was busy confirming the coordinates to the Green Box Market. Freya pointed out that it was just as easy to follow the stream of strange people. Lypan was smaller than Safka so it didn’t take long to exit the town.

Once outside the town walls, lush green hills spilled out over the landscape. In the distance, nestled in one of the larger valleys sat many tents and hundreds of people.

“What are the skill books you have again?” Infamous Biscuit asked as they walked towards the crowd of people.

Freya opened her inventory, “Wind Healing and Slick Surface.”

“Hm, Slick Surface is a nice skill for alchemists and wizards. Wind Healing is kind of a niche skill. It requires an instrument, and there’s not a bard class, so most people aren’t really that interested in it.”

“What price should I set for them?”

“Hm, it’s a silent auction, so you might want to set it a little low to entice people to bid. Maybe twenty silver for the Wind Healing and a fifty silver for the Slick Surface.”

“Skill books can be that cheap?”

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“Well, you don’t need a skill book to learn a skill. You learned your Shockwave skill on your own; that’s true for any skill. If you have the base prerequisite knowledge and try hard enough, you can learn anything. It’s much easier if the skill you’re trying to learn is compatible with your class. That’s also true for skill books.”

“Oh, that’s right. You warned me not to read them because I probably wouldn’t pick up the skill, and the book would just disappear after I read it.”

Infamous Biscuit nodded, “It’s a harsh system. You can read any skill book, but it’ll be consumed right after you do. And if you can’t activate the skill within a day, it’s a complete waste.”

“Still, if they are so cheap should I try to find some martial artist related skill books?” she asked, a bit of excitement shining through her voice. She initially didn’t like skill books since they seemed like something wizard-related. But if she could learn more physical fighting techniques...

“You can keep a lookout,” Infamous Biscuit shrugged. “But you might want to save your money to buy items like clothes, weapons, jewelry, and potions. Oh, well you don’t use weapons, but there’s a lot of crafted items that can give your stats a boost. Look for healing potions, they’re expensive but good in a pinch.”

“What is this the noob forum?” Someone interjected.

A woman with light blue armor had her arms crossed, sneering at them. She focused for a moment on Freya.

“Tch, did you find some cheat codes to level up your character? What a loser.”

The girl speed-walked ahead of them, shoving a smaller girl out of the way.

Infamous Biscuit tched back at her, “Some people just like being nasty. Come on, we’re almost there.”

Just ahead, a banner marked the entrance with the simple word: {Market} then in smaller text, {Ending 11:59GT}.

The entrance sat on a hill above the rest of the market. Upon entering, Freya immediately noticed the smell of roasting meat and something else sweeter. Rows of covered tents stretched out over the field beneath her. On Freya’s right long tables covered with different objects took up half of the market. Hundreds of people clustered in various areas. Near the back of the market, a smoke trail caught Freya’s interest.

Straining her eyes, she could make out something roasting on a spit.

“You didn’t say there would be food here!” Freya said accusingly.

Infamous Biscuit laughed, “Some players are probably selling food they made from recipes. Come on, we can get some later. We should check in our items for the silent auction.”

Freya looked at the long line leading to one of the tents. Infamous Biscuit headed towards that line. Sighing, Freya joined him.

While waiting in line, she looked on enviously as people passed with odd but delicious smelling food. Many had cups of some type of brightly colored butter-like substance. Others ate small bits of what smelled like fried chicken with some seasonings she couldn’t identify. Finally, she saw a type of food she recognized.

“I haven’t had a kabob in such a long time,” Freya said staring at a man with a large red hat eating a meat kabob.

“Are they not common?” Infamous Biscuit asked.

“I had them when I stayed in Yinza for my shaman apprenticeship, but I haven’t had them since.”

“Hm, I’m more of a vegetarian person myself.”

Freya gave him an overly disappointed look, “There are veggie ones, not as good in my opinion, but to each their own.”

Finally, they reached the front of the check-in line. 

[Please place your item on the counter]

Freya tried to watch Infamous Biscuit do the process but found she couldn’t see the same text boxes as whatever he saw.

Luckily the instructions were easy to follow once it came to Freya’s turn. The text boxes warned her that 2% of the profit would be taken as a price of using the silent auction. She set the prices to what Infamous Biscuit recommended, and that was it. The skill books disappeared, and she got the following message:

[You will be notified at the end of the market if your item(s) have been sold. If sold, the coins from the sale will automatically be sent to your inventory. If not sold by the end of the market, the item(s) will also be automatically sent to your inventory.]

Excited to finally be done, Freya headed in the direction of the kabob tent.

“Excuse me,”

Freya turned around to find a young-looking girl with tied back long black hair looking at her. She had a quiver and a longbow on her back. A long black skirt came down to her ankles, and a high collared red shirt covered up to her neck.

“Were you recently working with another player you met on the player forums?”

“....Yes?”

“Could I have a moment of your time?”