by <unknown>
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Please set a price. You may select money, experience, or items.
You may also set buying requirements such as favorability, level, skills, class, etc.
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So far, Han Xiao had been dealing in Aquamarine’s international currency—the Aquamarine Dollar. The ‘Inar’ was the standard universal currency. Han Xiao discovered to his surprise that the shop function allowed him to set the item price in any currency that he had ever come into contact with.
An idea suddenly came to Han Xiao. ‘I can set favorability requirements to manipulate—I mean—attract players to keep coming back for quests!’
Han Xiao was reminded of how he had spent long hours grinding out high difficulty quests just to achieve exalted status with the Alliance of Light—all for the sake of a battleship.
Now, however, the tables had turned.
‘This interface is the best!’
A shop interface popped up in front of Frenzied Sword. As he scanned through the items, his eyes began to widen in disbelief.
“Godly equips!” he blurted.
“[Retractable Knife], [Incendiary Bullets], [73-Wasp], [Jackson Assault Rifle], [Bayonet Rifle]…”
Frenzied Sword was shaking uncontrollably. To him, all of these were ‘godly equips’ that would allow him to surpass any other player!
However, his expression changed when he looked at their price tags. It was as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over him.
Even the cheapest of them, the [Incendiary Bullets], cost a hundred dollars each, while the [Lightweight Mecha Arm] required 10 favorability!
‘This is daylight robbery! And how am I supposed to gain favorability with this NPC when completing his quests reduces it instead‽
‘No wonder this NPC’s danger level is so high. It’s definitely still too early to interact with him.’
But Frenzied Sword only knew true pain when he took a look at the Skill Shop.
[Basic Combat], [Basic Shooting], [Submission]… the sight of these skills caused Frenzied Sword to start drooling… until he saw their prices.
There was also a [Mechanic Class Change Tome], and an array of Mechanic skills, but none of them were as eye-catching as the [Energy Training Technique]!
“Godly skill!”
Han Xiao shook his head upon seeing Frenzied Sword’s reaction.
“You aren’t a Technician, so you are unable to learn it.”
By now, Han Xiao had already been solidified as a Secret NPC in Frenzied Sword’s mind.
‘If I can make him my teacher, I will definitely become rank 1 in no time!
‘But… I really wanted to be a Pugilist…’
That much was obvious from his in-game name.
‘Damn it! This had better be worth it!’
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Are you sure you want to become a Mechanic?
Y/N
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“Yes!”
…
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[Basic Weaponry] learnt. You have gained 500 exp, $100.
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Buying a skill was like paying for lessons, and Han Xiao’s skill level would remain unchanged.
Of course, the skills that Han Xiao had chosen to put on display were the more common and easily obtainable ones—not that any player would know at this point.
…
Frenzied Sword’s reaction to [Energy Training Technique] confirmed this. He obviously did not know that the skill was automatically given to all characters after the first advancement at Lv. 20.
It wasn’t that Han Xiao was trying to scam him, though. On the contrary, he had purposely set its cost at a whopping 10,000 exp and $3,000 just to make the shop look ‘nicer’. He had also placed a requirement of 10 favorability on it.
“Oh right!” Han Xiao quickly reverted Frenzied Sword’s favorability back to 0, which caused him to immediately have the wrong idea.
‘I must buy more things from him in order to increase favorability!’
Suddenly, the NPC began to walk away.
“Where can I find you‽” yelled a flustered Frenzied Sword after him.
Han Xiao thought for a moment before handing him a piece of paper with the workshop’s address on it.
As Frenzied Sword watched him leave, he began to grow excited.
‘This is my chance!
‘With those skills and equips, I will definitely be able to climb to the top!’
Suddenly, his expression froze.
‘I cannot let anyone find this Secret NPC!’
…
To a city as big as the Western Capital, a few beta testers were truly insignificant. For now, Han Xiao did not have any interest in them. The only reason he had come into contact with one was to test the NPC functions, and they certainly did not disappoint. Han Xiao was already thinking up ways to use them for scamming players.
‘Frenzied Sword…’
As Han Xiao thought back to the player from before, scenes from another lifetime began to play out in his mind.
In his previous life, Frenzied Sword had been part of the first batch of professional ‘Galaxy’ players. As a Pugilist, he had taken the first competitive season by storm and won one of twenty-four spots to represent China internationally. This honor alone had cemented his status as a legend.
Unfortunately, this future Pugilist legend was now a Mechanic.
Han Xiao did not know exactly how Frenzied Sword’s fortunes would play out in this timeline, but he did know one thing for sure: there would be no Frenzied Sword representing China in the near future.
The only reason Han Xiao dared to choose the Mechanic class was that he knew it would eventually become the strongest class. However, this was something that no other player could know. In fact, the class seemed so bad from the start that in Han Xiao’s past life, numerous gamers, including pros, who chose the Mechanic class would give up their characters and restart in another class.
‘I feel like I scammed him big time or something…’
Han Xiao shook his head.
‘Scam? Nah. He made the decision himself. On the contrary, if he can endure a few patches then he’ll have me to thank… yeah…’
Chapter 59. B-Class Mission Triggered‽ |
From enlisting in the Stardragon Army to joining underworld societies, there was no lack of work opportunities for players in the Western Capital. Even just by walking on the streets and interacting with NPCs, there were plenty of quests waiting to be triggered. From the money that they earned from these common quests such as “Find the Missing Purse”, “Rescue the Cat Stuck on the Tree”, and other collection missions, it became clear to Sleepy Winter that exploring had been the right thing to do.
Of course, as the Western Capital was a high-level zone, there were many places that the trio found inaccessible at their current level. Rainy Kim had been rejected at the gates of the Western Capital Academy while Twinkle Fried Rice had been held at gunpoint when he’d tried to enter District 1, almost giving away his first death.
The day after, the trio enlisted in the Stardragon Army, thereby gaining their first combat class: [Recruit]. After a couple of training quests, their Faction changed from [Stardragon] to [Stardragon Army], and they earned the rank of [Private].
Out of goodwill, Sleepy Winter messaged Frenzied Sword to let him know about being able to join the army, but Frenzied Sword only replied briefly in acknowledgement. For some reason, he seemed uninterested.
What Sleepy Winter did not know was that Frenzied Sword was preoccupied with trying to win Han Xiao’s favor.
In order to test out the limitations of the quest function, Han Xiao entertained Frenzied Sword and issued him with all sorts of strange quests, such as [Kick Ten People
in the Ass], [Strip a Patrolling Officer of His Shorts], [Remain in a Ballerina Pose for Five Minutes], and many more.
From these tests, Han Xiao learned that as long as the maximum reward was able to match the quest’s difficulty, he would be able to choose any type of quest scenario that he wanted.
Meanwhile, things were a bit different on the receiving end. Frenzied Sword, who found himself only being assigned crude and twisted quests, gradually began to develop a sense of fear toward Han Xiao.
Nonetheless, he religiously completed all of the quests as the experience that Han Xiao rewarded him with was several times more than the standard reward. That alone was enough for him to ignore his own morals.
The quests allowed him to level up rapidly, and he used the earnings themself to learn more basic skills from Han Xiao.
The beta test might have been unexpected for Han Xiao, but overall, it did not do much to disrupt his plans. The beta players were simply too scattered and few in number to have much influence on their respective starting planets. Twelve days was not enough time for them to level up significantly.
It would take longer for a breeze to develop into a storm.
In the long haul, however, the influx of players would be like a gold mine to Han Xiao.
Helping to strengthen Frenzied Sword was only the first step. Soon, his progress would definitely catch the attention of the other players and his own association. His association would certainly capitalize on it and release information on this ‘secret NPC’ in order to gain popularity. That was when the money and experience would start pouring in for Han Xiao. Frenzied Sword might have thought he was hogging Han Xiao to himself, but he was actually dancing in the palm of his hand.
…
[Official Launch Countdown: 126 Days 11 Hours 32 Minutes]
Aside from crafting [Incendiary Bullets], Han Xiao spent most of his free time browsing the forums.
Although it was usually buzzing with discussion and players would frequent it while their characters were dead or had set up shop, there were only beta players posting now.
“The women on Aquamarine are so beautiful!”
“Urgently looking for party members to fight the Sand Bandits. Location: Fallen Dragon Valley, Planet Longtune. Coordinates are…”
“A shot of Planet Brighton’s magical floating city.”
“I somehow transformed myself into some tentacled monster. How do I change back‽”
“Damn it, teach me how!”
…
Most of the threads were posted to request help or share information. Some parties also used the forums as a means to record and share their progress.
There were over a dozen beginner planets of various civilizations available in the beta—magical civilizations, scientific civilizations, and religious civilizations, to name a few. The societal structure of each planet also varied.
The most popular planet seemed to be Planet Winterfrost, which was ruled by the void demon race. The planet also served as an outpost for the Destruction Army, whose aim was to ‘destroy all civilizations’. In Han Xiao’s past life, they were an enemy who had given him quite a headache.
As Han Xiao refreshed the forum page, a new thread caught his attention.
“First B-class quest!”
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He recalled that the first B-class mission had only appeared after the official launch. How could someone have unlocked such a high class mission during the beta test?
Curious, he entered the thread to see that it was already erupting with discussion.
“Who are you trying to fool? I haven’t even seen a D-class quest yet.”
“Are you dumb? He posted pictures as proof!”
“They must be fake! Why is there only a quest name but no quest information?”
“Nice try, clown. Who would want to share their quest information with you.”
“It must be super hard. I’m still at the beginner zone. Does anyone know how to get out?”
“The poster is the official account of the Throne of Gods guild. They’re legit. It should be true.”
“Does anyone know which planet this is?”
“All of you are noobs.”
“Sorry, my dog ran over my keyboard.”
…
Han Xiao chuckled. In his nostalgia, he continued reading through all the banter before finally checking out the contents of the original post. There was only a cropped screenshot of a quest name.
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B-class Quest: [Investigate Zero]
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Han Xiao scrolled up to check the poster’s name.
‘Throne of Gods?’
The Throne of Gods was a prestigious guild that boasted a line-up of renowned gamers. They were so big that they even had their own line of goods.
In his previous life, Han Xiao had once taken up an assignment to strip their leader and take pictures of him in various embarrassing poses. He had then posted them on the forums with the title: “Shocking! Why would the leader of the Throne of Gods…” and charged a fee for viewing. While Han Xiao had earned his money, he had also ended up being chased around by the entire guild for an entire month.
‘Ah, I miss player killing…’ Han Xiao sighed as he turned around to look at Frenzied Sword, causing him to freeze up.
Han Xiao shook his head.
If things went as they had previously, the Throne of Gods would join the Germinal faction to become the biggest player guild on their side. It was already looking likely.
Germinal must be hellbent on getting him this time, for even beta players to be able to acquire the mission to look for him.
For the average player, it would be impossible to evade the notice of Division 13 while trying to locate Han Xiao by themselves. Normally, it would take a large amount of people to even have a chance of succeeding. However, the Throne of Gods did not seem to lack manpower.
As he considered the situation, Han Xiao finally decided on which Germinal base to act upon next.
…
The Throne of Gods guild had 15 players in the beta test. It was a team of core members led by both the leader and the vice-leader. Before the beta test started, they had already decided to list science as a preference.
Their reasoning was simple—since the world of Galaxy had a ‘galactic’ setting, science would definitely be a core driving force of the game. As such, they were all able to start together on Aquamarine and had also quickly purchased a map to begin exploring.
The leader, Jupiter, was the one who decided to join the Germinal Organization. Their starting zone had also been close to a Germinal base.
Jupiter thought that the Germinal Organization was probably the strongest faction on the planet as they able to stand strong against all of the nations on their own. Choosing them had nothing to do with favoring their ideology or anything like that. After all, their only priority was to get stronger.
And reality did not betray their expectations. After joining Germinal, they were brought to the Dark Crow Valley Base where they underwent tough training to become low level grunts.
The biggest gain that they received there, however, was none other than the B-class quest, [Investigate Zero].
The only information provided by the quest was that the target, Zero, was currently residing within Stardragon.
At present, the 15 members were having a top-secret meeting to discuss how they would complete the quest.
“This is our first B-class quest,” said Jupiter in a low voice. “As there doesn’t seem to be fighting involved, with our level, we have a good chance of succeeding. The rewards are extremely good. With them, we will definitely be able to become the number one guild!”
“All we know is that Zero is in the country, but Stardragon is just too big,” added Poseidon, a core member of the guild. “The beta test period is too short, so I think that we should only aim to complete the quest afte
r official launch. Now, we should just do some preliminary investigation.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“The quest information only tells us that Zero is an enemy of the Germinal Organization. If we manage to kill him, will there be a bonus reward?”
“Nice thinking, as expected of our leader.”
“But that would most likely be A-class difficulty,” pointed out Poseidon.
“There’s no impossible quest in a game. We just have to find the way,” answered Jupiter matter-of-factly. “The official launch is one week after the end of this beta test. During this period of time, we will also have to discuss the matter with the rest of the guild.”
“In any case,” added Shiva, the vice-leader, “with the backing of our gaming organization, we are the ones with the highest chance of completing this quest.”
“That is true,” agreed Jupiter.
“It would be faster if we made use of the other players,” suggested Poseidon.
Jupiter’s eyes lit up.
“Good idea. Let’s release Zero’s face and put up a reward for any valuable leads.”
Rich guilds had their way of doing things.
Chapter 60. Sudden Assassination! |
‘The Throne of Gods sure has deep pockets! If only I could find Zero…’
The reward on Zero’s wanted poster was extremely alluring, but Frenzied Sword knew that as he was operating alone, it would be like trying to search for a needle in a haystack.
While it might have been a pity, it did not bother him too much. Frenzied Sword’s eyes filled up with fire as he took another look at Han Xiao.
‘As long as I latch onto this guy, I will level up faster than anyone!’
Initially, performing all the strange quests that Han Xiao gave him did give him a sense of aversion. However, he gradually discovered that they not were that bad after all—at the very least, they were interesting to do. Compared to hunting monsters, running around to carry out these ‘errands’ was much simpler. Of course, this came at the expense of his morality.
One day, he realized that his mind was becoming more open, and he had an epiphany: ‘shame is but an obstacle to human evolution!’