When Shaun entered his room he was surprised at what he found, it wasn’t just a room with a bed, instead what he found was an entire apartment, it had a lounge area with a kitchen off to the side. It all looked very different to what he was used to, when he went up to what he assumed was a stove he could see that it was just stone, no gas or electricity to be seen. It had a dial made of crystal, where when he turned it around the entire plate started to heat up. Turning it off he continued in to the bedroom where he found a huge bed in the middle of the room, it had to be bigger than a king size bed from back on earth and looked so comfortable that he was tempted to throw himself onto it and go to sleep straight away, but he had other priorities.
Walking through the bedroom he found that there was a closet already stocked with clothes that looked to be his size, there was no armour or anything of the such, just everyday clothing to spend time in when not training. He immediately picked out a pair of pants that looked comfortable but would still allow him to fight in as well as a short sleeve shirt, there was also boots that he would put on once he checked out the bathroom.
And the bathroom was everything he could have dreamed of and more, there was a huge bath tub that could easily fit multiple people built into the ground and opposite it a shower that a king would kill for. He didn’t hesitate to strip down and get in. It took a minute to turn the shower on and adjust everything to the perfect temperature, which ended up being nothing but the hottest water that he could get it to produce. That would be his fire affinity at play, making him practically immune to the effects of heat, but he could still feel the heat of the water, if only a little.
He spent a good 15 minutes just standing under the water before using the soap that was already in the shower to clean himself until every ounce of dirt and blood had been removed from his body, it was a therapeutic experience, and when he was done he couldn’t remember feeling so refreshed in ages.
When he got out of the shower he found a towel and started to dry off, getting his first look at himself in the mirror that was in the bathroom. He had changed a lot since he had entered the tutorial, he had always been in good shape but now he could see every single one of his muscles showing, he could easily count each one of his abs and his chest and arms showed massive growth. He wasn’t overly muscular, more of the slim toned build, but he couldn’t help but be impressed with himself. He was littered with small scars, fully healed but marking parts of his skin with faint silver lines, when he looked closely at his face he saw where he had received the wound from the lion that he had encountered in his first dungeon. They were barely visible but still there, a reminder of what happened when you entered a fight unprepared and under levelled.
He didn’t linger for long and went back into the bedroom and got dressed, making sure to put on all of his weapons and gauntlet, although they weren’t supposed to fight outside of their scheduled battles he did want to go to one of the dungeons sooner rather than later, testing the gauntlet was still something he had yet to do and he needed to make sure that it would work as well as he expected before his first fight.
He left his apartment with one last longing look at the bed before stepping out and waiting for Gabe and Eric. He didn’t have to wait long, they both came out a few minutes after him having done the same as he had. They looked clean and in new clothes, they had put their weapons and armour back on which was good as it would save time if they went directly to a dungeon, and looked ready to head out.
“We ready to do this? I was thinking we sell what we want to get coin, do a quick shop around, maybe grab some food if there is any and then we go to a dungeon to do some training.” Shaun said to the others.
This elicited a groan from Gabe, seeming to be not as impressed with his plan as he would have thought. “Do we have to? It’s only the first day.”
He just gave him an odd look, not quite getting it, they had agreed to do the shopping and exploring, why would he have changed his mind now?
Eric just laughed at Gabe’s response, clearly knowing exactly why he was grumbling. “He is complaining about the dungeon part, he was hoping for a break before he ended up having to fight again.” Eric directed at him.
“Nope, not happening. No breaks. If you guys want to do well in this stage you need to get stronger, we all do. Others aren’t going to just kick back and relax, and if they do they are going to lose their fights. If you want to do well we train as much as possible.” He told them both.
“Is it too late to go back inside and sleep?” Gabe mumbled to Eric, but it was loud enough for Shaun to hear which made him laugh.
“I will do you a deal, you train hard and dedicate yourself to growing stronger and winning and I will help upgrade any equipment we might buy, or I can craft something new for you if I have the materials.” This got both of them more excited. They still had everything that he had crafted for them in stage 2, and really it was better than what most of the people here had, but he knew he could do better now. To prove his point he held out his gauntlet at them “Identify it.”
They both did as he had asked, and the moment the identification skill brought up the description they both looked at it in shock. It was an impressive piece of equipment, better than anything he had ever seen, and he had crafted it. If that wasn’t going to get the asses into gear he didn’t know what would.
“But how? The orbs, the gem, its epic ranked! Where did you get all of this?” Eric asked, Gabe still just looked at it with his mouth open in complete disbelief.
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“All of the orbs were rewards form the five dungeons in the last stage. The gem and metal I found in one of the dungeons, a story I will tell you about when we are sure no one else can hear. I crafted it yesterday, haven’t had a chance to test it out yet but I am betting it packs one hell of a punch.”
“And you can craft us something like that? Just like that?” Gabe asked, finally re-entering the conversation.
“Not exactly like it, it will depend on what materials and items we can get, then we can come up with a plan on what you guys need. Hopefully we will find something good to buy that we can use as a base and just upgrade it for you.”
“Well what are we waiting for! Lets get moving! We have things to sell, stuff to buy and a dungeon to get into. Lets go now!” Gabe shouted at them both.
Apparently the promise of better equipment was all that was needed to kick him into gear and get him moving, if not extremely excited for what was now planned for the day. It didn’t take them long to get to the shopping district, and it did not disappoint.
As they walked through the strip of shops they first encountered a number of restaurants, the smells coming from each of them was enough to make him stop right there and get something to eat, the only problem was they had yet to sell their loot so had no idea how much money they would end up with and if the food was going to be to expensive for what they could afford. They did see a few people inside eating so it was a good sign, but they could have just been splurging given that they hadn’t had anything but cooked monster meat in months.
Further down they found the stores that would sell them goods. There was stores dedicated to a lot of different things, some specialized in weapons, other armour, as well as one for precious gems, books and clothing. There were stores for raw materials like stones, herbs and metals, he had made note of the stores he wanted to go into and browse, mostly he wanted to check out gems, metals and the bookstore. There was even a store where you could pay for dedicated one on one training sessions on your class, profession and skills which was cool.
When they finally came to the singular store where they could sell their loot there was a short line, only three people, so they wouldn’t have to wait long. He started going through his inventory checking for things that he wanted to keep and sell. This started a conversation with Eric and Gabe on what they had and were planning on selling. It was agreed pretty quickly that they would be keeping all of the high tier metal they had left as well as anything that may be useful. That’s when Shaun found out that they hadn’t received any elemental orbs from the dungeons they had completed. They had only gotten a B as their top grade in a dungeon, and even then only once, they had received a seed from the nature dungeon as their reward that apparently if cared for and grown would turn into a bush that would provide berries that could be used to make health potions. It wasn’t a bad reward but nothing that would be useful to them now.
He did ask if they had been able to form any faction emblems, apparently between their whole team they had been able to combine all the pieces that had gotten to form two full blank emblems, which they both had. He didn’t know what he was going to do with his four extra emblems but figured that if there was people here that didn’t have one they would pay for them at a premium, and he wasn’t opposed to getting extra coin off something he didn’t need.
When it was his turn to be served and hand over the things he didn’t need he stepped up to a counter and was greeted by another being. They stood at only a metre high and looked mostly humanoid outside of having pointed ears and reptilian eyes.
“Welcome to the Exchange hub, I am Ulorid, a species of goblin that focus on trade. I assume you would like some information as to how currency works in the multiverse?” So it’s a Goblin, not at all what I expected.
“Yes please, Ulorid, all three of us are together here so if it is easier you can tell us all at once?” He replied motioning to Gabe and Eric who were behind him.
“Oh splendid, that will save us much time. Now thankfully currency and trade are a straight forward process for the most part, especially on lower ranked goods. Currency is made up of coinage, it starts at bronze, and works up to platinum for the most part. 10 bronze get you 1 silver coin, 100 silver get you 1 gold, 1000 gold get you 1 platinum. It goes further but only B grades and above really trade in higher currency. You can also get part currency, so a quarter bronze is a real price, this works as they aren’t really real coins, although you can get them as loot from dungeons. Instead they are kept in a separate part of your inventory or in one of the banks if you wish to do so. Any questions so far?” They all shook their heads, it was all pretty standard.
“Perfect, now when you sell, you will agree to a price and the good is exchanged for coins straight to you inventory, when you buy it is similar to pulling an item out of you inventory but instead of focusing on that item appearing, focus on sending the coins to the person or item you are needing. The currency is universal across the whole multiverse, so whatever currency you had back before integrating is now worthless. Now if you don’t have any questions lets get to the fun part. If you will take out whatever you wish to sell I will price it for you now.”
Looking around, he couldn’t figure out where he should put it all, he had a lot of skins that he has planning to get rid of, as well as claws, teeth, bones, shells and all sorts of other things he just didn’t need or want. There were hundreds of items he was planning on selling, no where near enough room for him to put it all. “Ummmm, where should I put it all?”
“How much are you planning on selling?” The goblin asked him with a slightly sceptical look.
“Er, maybe a hundred skins, even more claws and fangs. Some other stuff too.” He was keeping a bit of everything but he planned to rid himself of 90% of the loot, only keeping what he thought might be useful.
There was a moment of shock from the Goblin before he recovered, he then seemed to recover and spent a moment looking at him, assuming he was using identify to see who he was dealing with.
“Apologies Master Shaun, I should have looked to see who I was speaking with before I started. Of course, the number 1 ranked human in the tutorial would have much to sell. And might I add you are doing very well for yourself, many do not reach such a level so quickly. If you will follow me to a private room I will happily go through everything you have to offer. As the highest ranked human here you are also entitled to preferable rates on your first transaction with us. If you wish you may bring in your friends as well.”
He was shocked at the change in manner from the Goblin, he had never been called master in his life and getting preferential treatment was not something he was used to. Regardless he agreed and all three of them were led into a side room to start the process of selling their loot.