by Shane Walker
The next day I logged in early and am greeted by a message from Rowan.
“Jack,
Hope yer ass didn’t forget yer running the shop for a week starting today. Remember to buy low and sell high and you’ll do just fine. Keep it up and we can get that Thief Job for ya when I get back.
-Rowan”
Oh yeah, we have a trade agreement now, so he can send me messages like this. I make sure the sigh I let out is good and dramatic even if no one else is around. I remember someone once saying to do the right thing even when no one is looking and being dramatic at that moment was definitely the right thing. I messaged my friends so they’d know where I was when they log on, then headed that way.
Everything was set up and ready to go by the time I got there. He’d left extensive notes on where to find things, what to expect, who the regulars were (“take it easy on em, lad” or “fuck em over as hard as ya can” was written by each name and physical description), and things I could work on throughout the day to boost skill gains.
My first day was a blur. Rowan’s shop was several orders of magnitude busier than I expected it to be. I was thinking something like a small British bookstore, but it was more like a giant, soulless department store. Also, word seemed to get out that someone else was running it because people expected to be able to get much better deals than they got from me.
Some of those deals apparently included “free” because I picked up another three points in Perception just from spotting kids trying to shoplift. I also picked up one point in Haggle. I didn’t expect any, but I managed to get a guy to raise his offer to a price above sticker just from staring at him silently while he tried to Haggle me. Someone once told me that, in a deal making scenario like that, the first person to talk loses. He kept talking so he kept losing, I guess.
Since I’d hit so many deals the first day, I was already Level 6 in my Merchant Job by the time the day was done. I was surprised to see that leveling my Jobs also provided me with my usual five free bonus skill points. Unfortunately, much like the other points gained per level, they only applied when I had the job active. Since I used Identify so much as a Merchant, I opted to spend all twenty-five points on Willpower since it was the only stat I had no points in and regenerating my MP faster would help with dealing with customers more quickly. That and apparently stacking Intellect in a Job wouldn’t open up any more Skill Level slots.
In addition I was gaining just as much XP in my base class as my Job since it was a non-combat Job. It wasn’t enough for a level but it was a good start.
After closing the shop, I looked through his selection of arms and armor. I figured I needed to find something that he didn’t have or was low on and make it myself. Apparently there was a very small selection of Iron and Steel equipment throughout the city. Due to the previous shortage and the players buying up whatever they could, almost no one outside the military could get their hands on such equipment. I was about to change that.
As it turned out, a lot of players that were interested in crafting that started in the Human Realms were very disappointed to find they couldn’t access the materials needed for Smithing. That was going to change soon with the influx of Iron I was bringing, but for now I had another monopoly to take care of.
It was then that it hit me that I didn’t need to make all of this on my own! I had my own company now and there would be plenty of players looking for work. They just didn’t have access to materials-materials I completely controlled the flow of. I set the matter of hiring to the side for the moment as I wanted to get to work on leveling my own personal skills in case I needed to help train someone.
I quickly set about firing up my new forge and cranking out some swords as quickly as I could. I’d forgotten to order coal for the Steel, so all I could manage for the time being was Iron. It wasn’t the best thing I could make at the time, but it would do.
Switching over to my Smithy Job, I got to work. Even with time dilation during crafting, I’d only managed to make about ten long swords before I had to call it a night. That still got me to level 5 in Smithy and 1000 Management Points, plus two points in Weaponsmithing. I was pretty pleased with that for a first day, but I knew I could do better.
Apparently one of the downsides to my trait that gave me bonus SP off my Intellect was that it didn’t help heat resistance like Endurance did, so I dumped All twenty free points into Endurance. The first night was miserable without it, though. The heat from the forge sapped my will to live and move around much more quickly than I thought it would. Alfred said it becomes a non-issue at around 100 Endurance, so that’s my goal.
After handling my level-up, I had to crunch the numbers on this. If that took four hours of real world time, a dedicated Level 1 Smithy could make about twenty long swords a day initially if they played eight hours a day. Management points generated were supposed to be based on value, so that’s up to two thousand gold a day for a single smithy working eight hours a day. 14000 gold a week isn’t too shabby for sitting around crafting all day if you were just making the money for yourself. I needed this to be profitable enough to make someone an employee, though.
I decided to keep this routine up for a couple of days to see how much my production rate changed since the skills were vague, so it was two more days of selling goods and forging equipment. I should have some big skill gains when this week is done.
The second day of running the shop was much like the first, except I managed to make about twice as much money since I was getting into the swing of it. It also helped that I could see more customers more quickly now that people already knew better than to try Haggling me.
My Merchant Job leveled twice after the business day was done, which was a nice boost to my sales abilities. I put all my points into Willpower again to help with regenerating mana.
As for skills, I got another three points in Haggle, two in perception, and one each in Divination and Identify. I also got a notification I hit Level 16 in my base class! Who ever said working retail didn’t make you stronger?
When I got back to base, Destreza and Nik were both there working in their respective areas. I’d decided the previous night to use some of the Management Points from making swords to get Destreza’s Training Area like she’d requested.
“Hey Boss, how about a quick spar?” she asked as I walked in.
“I don’t really see the point, Des. I won’t last long enough to learn anything from it.” I replied, awkwardly scratching the back of my head..
“You’ve got a point there. I guess if you could fight you wouldn’t have bothered hiring me!” she says before getting back to her practice. I do watch for a moment, though. Her forms are surgically precise. Every rotation of movements was done the exact same way. You could actually see where she’d slightly worn certain spots in the floor already from repetition. Her dedication and skill were, as always, terrifying.
Nik was in his special workshop. Apparently Tier III meant “blast doors” because the door looks like it’d belong on a vault more so than a workshop. There’s also a hazard sign with a warning saying not to open during experimentation.
This seemed like as good a time as any to get to work on my stuff. According to the info I found from talking to Alfred, armor could take two to three times as long as swords to make, but could sell for three to four times as much. That should equate to more Management Points, experience, AND money, so Armor was the way to go for awhile.
I opted to work full plate since it would give me the most practice and sell for the most out of all my options. Add on the fact that I’d raised my smithing skills quite a bit and I estimated I could make as many suits of armor as I did swords in the previous night. It was painstaking, backbreaking work, too. I almost went insane shaping every individual piece to fit together without grinding up against another piece as the wearer moved, plus making straps to hold it all together, polishing the metal properly, and ensuring the weight balanced evenly when the person was strapped in.
/> The notifications that flooded in were absolutely worth it. I managed to get a level of Leatherworking, and two levels of Armorsmithing off of each suit-all twelve of them. I even leveled Smithy up again. In addition, the last few suits took about half as long to make as the first ones. I assumed it was a combination of skill levels, Job levels, and increased proficiency on my own.
On top of all of that, I even picked up another Class level. I put all of my Smithy points into Endurance and I dumped my class bonus points into Intellect again to give a cushion. I convinced myself I’d put them in something else if I leveled again tomorrow.
The last big gain was that I’d made 5,500 Management Points. I banked them since I wasn’t sure how I wanted to spend them.
Unfortunately, I also used up 100 ingots. In other words, almost my entire stash was gone. I had thirty left and wouldn’t see another shipment for about three days. Speaking of which, I had a few things to deal with before logging off and getting some sleep.
First, I sent a message to Poppil letting him know to deliver the Iron to me at the Warehouse. I gave him the location and description and he said he’d have someone here as soon as a shipment was ready. We also briefly discussed plans for expansion with the next batch of Management Points. I needed more Iron ASAP.
It was a shame that the system worked the way it did. No one had bothered to explain that I was getting instant gratification of points off of what I did inside the HQ because I was doing it myself whereas the mine was weekly batches of points because I got weekly shipments of points.
Second, and this was the beginnings of greatness for All Trades, Inc. as far as I was concerned, I paid 1,000 gold and sent a system message through Alfred to be received by every player in the city every day for the next couple of days:
HELP WANTED
BLACKSMITHS, ENCHANTERS, and ALL OTHERS WELCOME
ALL TRADES, INC. IS NOW HIRING
CONTACT JACK ALLTRADES FOR MORE INFORMATION!
21-Help Wanted
When I logged in the next day, my personal inbox was completely overwhelmed. I tried to look through them, but there was no point. I was mentally overloaded by the volume of messages.
Alfred, can you organize these messages for me while I get to work at the shop?
“Yes, sir. How would you like them sorted?”
I want them broken up by crafting skill. Put those with the associated Job first in each list and sort by skill levels.
“Very good, sir. I will let you know when it is ready.”
With that handled, I requested a rental cart from the service within the industrial district to carry the swords and suits of plate mail to the shop. I really wished this was a game with more ways to magically store items. Even the extradimensional bags one could craft or purchase were limited by the size of their opening. That meant I wasn’t going to be squeezing full suits of armor in one any time soon. Well, that and the fact I hadn’t bothered buying one yet.
On the way to the shop, I realized Rowan never actually said how to split profits on selling my stuff. Since I was working for him and didn’t have a license to be a merchant myself, I’d have to sell them as if he’d paid me for them.
With the bombs, the end result he’d suggested left me getting seventy-five percent of the final sale price and him getting twenty-five, which was an incredible deal for me. The suits generated around 500 Management Points each, which was their estimated sale price. That should leave me getting 4500 gold and Rowan getting 1500, but that’s just for the suits I’d built so far. I could make more in a few days when the next shipment of Iron came in.
Wait a fucking minute! I thought to myself as I planned for how to sell the suits. I’m double dipping! I get experience from making them AND selling them. This is almost cheating, right?
“No, sir.” came Alfred’s response to my rhetorical question. “It is completely within the rules of the game, though I must say it is very likely unintended. It is also very likely that few, if any, players would stumble upon this themselves given the skill investment required.”
That certainly made me feel better. I just hoped it wouldn’t get patched out. That’s assuming of course this game ever patched. It could have been one of those experimental “dynamically updated engine” style games I’d heard about that could modify most aspects of the game while it was running.
I had just enough time to get them on display before it was time to open the shop. Day Three was roughly as busy as the previous day, with the addition of selling the suits. I also managed to squeeze in enough time to send an order to the local herbalist for materials. Additionally, I managed to buy a few interesting items.
First, I managed to get magic rings off of a tank player character who didn’t need them. They were basically worthless to him, so he took 200 gold for each. Turns out they were worth significantly more considering I got 1800 experience from each purchase. They were called Paladin’s Ring and Shadow’s Ring. Each one was +15 Intellect, but one had +10 Strength and the other had +10 Agility, respectively.
Next, I had someone come in with a Golem Manual. It allowed you to craft Golems if you had the requisite skills, but not even I had all the skills necessary for this. It was filed away for later, but I didn’t quite get a great deal on it. We were both guessing at its value.
The last thing was a Shadowcloak. When inactive, it could be made to look black or dark gray. I went with gray since my armor was already black. When activated, however, it became a billowing mass of physical shadow that concealed movements and location. It gave +15 each to Dodge and Stealth. The NPC selling it asked for 3000 for it but I managed to get him down to 2500. That was where my single point came from.
After that much business, I ended up jumping up six levels in Merchant but only one in Rogue. It looked like leveling was finally slowing down as I closed in on twenty. I guess it couldn’t be easy levels forever, could it?
For my skills I also picked up a rank in Haggle, nine in Bluff (almost entirely from lying about where I got Iron for the armor), and five in Appraisal. Haggle was nearly stalled out now that I’d gotten it so high.
With fifty-five points from Merchant leveling, I threw everything into Willpower to maximize my regeneration. That would significantly improve my ability to cast Identify several times during a shift. It was still disappointing it couldn’t help with skill levels. That could have been over a hundred more skill levels to gain, but nope! It was just wasted except for the bonuses to my ability to Appraise items.
As for Rogue, everything went into Agility. I’d neglected it for too long so I wanted to make sure I had a little boost when combat inevitably happened. I was going to avoid direct combat as much as I could, but I knew that was impossible to do forever if I wanted to keep making money.
Without more iron I was pretty much stuck on Blacksmithing, so I was lucky the herbalist was able to fulfill my earlier order. I’d also requisitioned an Alchemy Lab for my Property so I could work on something after I was finished at the shop for the day.
Alchemy was much more mentally intensive than what I’d been working on before, but the physical break was nice. I was also dealing in a much larger volume than before. In four hours of working, I cranked out 100 Minor Healing Potions. Each one restored 100 HP instantly. They weren’t terrible for someone like me who didn’t stack much Vitality, but they’d be fairly useless for a tank type character.
In any case, they were worth ten gold a piece and got me up to Level 5 Alchemist. The ingredients averaged out to about one gold per potion, so it was an incredible return on investment, but it still seemed inefficient to make 900 gold a night when I could make almost 30000 worth of plate mail. On the other hand, people would always need potions. Not everyone is going to run around in full plate armor.
Shortly after I finished brewing potions, Alfred let me know that not only had he finished sorting the messages, but he’d also been done for several hours and didn’t want to interrupt me. I thanked him and started going thro
ugh what he’d done for me. After looking through all the applications, I decided to spread the specialties out some. I didn’t want to hire nothing but Smithies, after all.
First, I had a duo of brothers wanting to work as Blacksmiths because their father got them into it as a hobby growing up. Strangely, however, they insisted on being able to work the same forge. Since the basic forge only supported one person working at a time, I spent more than double points to get a second tier forge for them.
Second, there was an older couple of empty nesters looking to keep in touch with their kids who were playing. While the kids were off as adventurers, the parents couldn’t get into it so they took up crafting. The husband got into Enchanting and the wife was a very competent Alchemist. Alchemy could pay off now in a small amount, but Enchanting was going to be of great value later. I decided it was worth the investment and I made enough already I could afford some delayed gratification. For now, at least, he could make quite a few charge-based wands usable by any class that sold for a pretty penny.
Lastly was the Tailor. He was the first one I’d found in the game. It didn’t seem impressive until he explained in his message the types of things he could make cloth from. Regular cotton, spider silk, and threads made of metal and all sorts of monster parts could be all be woven together to make fabric for clothing. He even said he’d managed to make robes that provided armor-like protection. That sounded very useful for Mages and Priests, and it would pair well with the Enchanter I’d imagine.