Yeah, we had some comedy last chapter, and there's also some comedy going on this one... I guess I'll need some more chapters to actually get to where I'm going, I did say the MC is not what he seems to be, but I'll need to develop the story a lot more for that (and maybe fast forward a lot too, damn)
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Ryaki knew he had been scammed, but there wasn't much he could do. He did try to find the man who scammed him, but when he finally found the place the man had been, he simply wasn't here anyome, probably happy after earning a whole silver in a day.
Knowing he had been tricked, and that his coin would not be enough to buy a dagger, even if he bargained for it, he started looking for "people appearing out of nowhere in the square"... And finally found a girl who did just that, appearing out of thin air. The girl was dressed in a white robe, but he recognized it as one of the possible starter clothes that he could choose from when starting the game, although he decided on black clothes, more fitting for what he planned on becoming. The girl would probably try to make a cleric or something like that, so she should be a nice person. All the better for him.
His clothes had dried already, being under the sun for two hours already, and he casually approached the girl, who looked around 17. Well, not that you could really say her age like that, she could easily be older than that, and just look young, or maybe the opposite. He was 20 himself, and could only guess she was younger than he was.
"Hello there, young lady! Is this your first time playing?"
The girl was still looking around, as amazed as he had been two hours ago. Cute. "Oh, hi there, yes, I just can't believe this game is so real!"
"Yes, yes, I was also surprised when I started playing yesterday... tell you what, you seem like you'll be playing a cleric or something like one, with this white robe, is that right? Wanna join my party? We are hunting some low leveled animals outside the city and would like to have someone with healing!"
"Sure, although I still have to learn some spells for that, so I won't be of much use now..."
"Oh, no need for that, we have a mage who got a healing spellbook, but he can't really use it because he got a dark affinity spell as his first spell... opposite elements..."
The girl just nodded, as if she knew that already. This was too easy.
"Wanna join us? I came here in order to buy some food to continue, but we can just go now, you'll just need to help with the money we got for the food, and that's all."
"Oh, that's great, well, I'm really excited to play, but doesn't the book have any requirements? I just started today, after all..."
"No, no requirements whatsoever. Tell you what, I'll whisper him to get the book, I think he bought it for 1 silver, he should sell it for that amount too... let me see..." Ryaki pressed some random points in the air. "Hey, Sam, I found a priest for our party, how much was the book anyway?.. ... ... Well, I said 1 silver, can't you sell her for 1 silver?.. ... Sure? I let you out of the food costs. ... Great, I'll talk to her then!" Turning to the girl again, and dismissing an invisible (inexistent) window with his hand, Ryaki just smiled. "He agreed to sell it for one silver, the costs of the food will be on me this time too."
The girl opened a big smile. "Great! How do I get the money then?"
"Just say inventory, think about getting the 1 silver out, and hand it to me then."
The girl did exactly as Ryaki told her, and then they both headed out of the city, getting to the gates while chatting about how real was the game. "Oh, wait, I forgot to fill up our canteens with water, be right back, wait for me here and I'll be right back!"
Ryaki ran to fill up the canteens, and then just headed to the dagger merchant.
For sucessfully lying and maintaining your lie for a long time, deceiving a target and convincing her with your words, you've gained the skill [Lie].
Your lies become more convincing as the skill removes minor signs that could give the fact you're lying away. [Detect Lies] skill can fail at detecting your lies.
+1 CHA
Due to your newly acquired skill, your character type has been updated from [Novice] to [Liar].
Because of your current character type, your lies are more convincing. NPCs are tricked more easily.
Ryaki was a little surprised at the windows that appeared. He read that skills were generated according to the players actions on the game, and that there wasn't a class system on the game, so that their 'character type' would be constantly updated according to their skillset and attributes, but he didn't expect this. So he was a [Liar] now, wonder what he could get from that. From what he read, the bonuses his character type would give him would be changed when he changed to another type, so if he got the thief character type, for example, the lie buff he had now would probably disappear. Maybe he could get something from this [Liar] thing while he still had it...
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Grinning, the man returned to the square, looking for the sudden flash of light that indicated a player appearing...
He used different tactics to trick two other players, selling a cantel of water for a full silver for one of them, and tricking the other into buying five loaves of bread for 20 copper a piece. With hiw newly acquired money, the [Liar] went on to buy a new set of clothes, different from the beginner black attire, as well as two canteen of water, getting back to his scams. While in his inventory, the canteen full of fountain water were listed as "Cantel of Pure Fountain Water", so he managed to convince some players that the fountain water was not pure, and they had to purify the water before drinking it, and that's why the price was so big, otherwise they would get a chance of contracting diseases from the unpurified water.
When he finally managed to trick his fifth player, he got a new window.
For sucessfully scamming five people for your own benefits, profiting from it, you've gained the skill [Scam].
Your scams are more likely to work, and lies you make while trying to get money from people become more convincing. [Detect Lies] skill can fail at detecting lies you use for your scams.
+1 CHA
+1 INT
+1 PER
Skill quest avaiable:
Requirement: Sucessfully trick two people into giving you all of their money and items, except for their basic clothing, and trick a group of at least three individuals. If you're discovered and caught on your lies before getting profits, this Skill quest automatically fails.
Rewards: Skill
A skill quest? That was new...
Ryaki accepted the quest without a second thought, and then just went back to his scams. He bought a dagger, and then managed to trick a player into paying 1 silver and 50 copper on it, then selling a "flask of pure water, that granted bonuses against undead" to another innocent looking boy, who looked to be no more than 12. Well, extorting all money out of those two had been easy, but finding a group of three people to trick should be harder. A group of three meant a party, which probably meant they would already know each other and have played for a little bit longer than those noobs he just tricked.
As he thought that, he saw the girl in the white robe he had tricked before just to get a silver for a pair of daggers, and contained his laugh, as she had shown him the way to get that money... until he saw the guard at her side. And the third noob he had tricked. Damn, they should probably be after him. He wasn't dressed on his black clothes as he was then, but still, he had tricked a lot more people, eventually they could recognize him...
Calling for his status window, he noticed there was nothing saying he was recognized as a scammer, nor anything of the sort. The recognition for him jumping into the fountain some seven hours ago had also disappeared. He was surprised seeing seven hours had passed, but then again, time here passed three times faster than in real life, another perk exclusive to a single VR game, as far as he knew it, that was integrated on this game. They surely took every major aspect of the big VR games out there.
Knowing the guard was looking for him, Ryaki went on to buy a new set of clothes, a brown robe similar to that of a catholic priest. He knew that there would be no such faith in here, but players could still think he looked like a priest, which would be far from what he looked in his previous adventurer's clothes.
After buying his new attire, he had exactly 6 silver and 50 copper on his wallet. He then decided it was time for him to lay low a little bit, and, as such, decided to log out. No one would ever be able to find him after he logged out, and if he waited just an hour in real life, it would have been 3 hours here, and the guards would probably be tired of that hassle already and forget about the scammer.
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Well, next chapter will have more information on this world, and Ryaki's group scamming. It will also have a bit of fast forwarding, as this story won't really be focused on the how the characters got powerful, but how they used their power later on...
Yeah, I'm spending some time on this initial chapters with a simple novice character, but for me to actually get to the actual story I have planned it would take some ingame years. I had to talk about how the character started though, it would be awkward to start it with him as a level 200 player or such, no background and all that, right? Well, I wonder...