6 Charisma

Edgar smiled as the blacksmith accepted his proposal. As soon as the blacksmith spoke those words, a screen appeared in front of him.

[Quest: Chop Firewood for Blacksmith Myran]

[Quest details: Blacksmith Myran is fine with you watching him as long as you chop firewood for him. Use this opportunity to learn what you can from Myran.]

[Clear Conditions: Chop 0/200 pieces of acceptable firewood each day.]

[Quest rewards: Opportunity to see Blacksmith Myran work and gain insight.]

While the quest rewards may not seem like much, Edgar didn't care. Instead, it was exactly what he wanted. All he had to do now was find a change of clothes. It shouldn't be too hard. Edgar left the blacksmith's shop and headed to the main part of the town. He searched for shops to try to see if he could buy anything. Not that he could buy anything anyway. Not only did he not have enough money to buy anything, no one would even let him near their shops. At this point, Edgar was stumped. He was not experienced enough in these types of games to even find a change of clothes. He felt slightly ashamed of himself. With this in mind, he decided to log out and take a break.

"Atlas, log out," he said out loud, and instantly he woke up as if from a dream. He didn't think too much about it and got up from his bed. He felt refreshed as if he had just taken a nap. He checked the time and he was surprised to learn that only two hours had passed. He was confused for a moment. He had spent what seemed like half the day in there.

He quickly got up and logged onto the forums where he was previously searching for information and tips. There, he realised that hundreds of thousands of players were having the same issues as him. The majority of them could barely interact with NPCs because they were discriminated against. It was a trending topic worldwide.

It showed just how popular Atlas Life was. People all around the world were complaining about the same thing. It was the first time in recent history that people around the world were on the same page, and it was about a video game.

Edgar felt slightly relieved seeing that he was not alone. At least he stopped thinking he was a failure. If people more experienced than him also had difficulties, he shouldn't feel too bad. Edgar kept searching around the forums and realised that people hunting were also having difficulties killing even the most basic of creatures.

One forum post had the title "This game is too hard", and talked about his difficulties hunting rabbits. In fact, this user went into so much detail that it was clear that he was not an inexperienced player. Nonetheless, he failed multiple times to defeat rabbits outside his village. Just like the players facing discrimination inside the villages, the players out hunting came were also stumped.

Edgar laughed out loud as he read the gamer's struggles inside the game. He spent a couple of more minutes reading before he motivated himself to get back into the game. He wasn't aware of more people got the same opportunity as him, but he didn't want to let his advantage go. He must be one of the free people that actually got a quest. Although the quest didn't give him material rewards, he was sure that developing a relationship with blacksmith Myran would be a good thing. In any case, he was extremely interested in blacksmithing and didn't mind holding off leveling up in order to learn.

He got off the forum determined to find a way to change his clothes. He laid down on his bed and entered the game. Having run around the city for hours before, he had a pretty good idea of the city's layout.

He chose the place with the biggest foot traffic and…

started to beg.

Edgar started to beg on the streets. It was just too hopeless. Maybe better players than him could have found a better way to progress. Edgar decided to beg. If he looked like a beggar, smelled like a beggar, might as well beg.

Actually, it was quite profitable. Edgar was just too pitiful. He was too skinny. Most of the villagers instead of discriminating against him, like they did the other players, starting pitying him. Edgar sat in one of the corners, trying to stay as small as possible, while he placed his hands out. He never said much and kept his head, because he didn't think he could keep up the act. But whenever he felt the cold weight on his hands, he would always look up and give his brightest smile. Edgar tried his best to fake his neediness. Slowly but surely he was accumulating enough copper coins to buy new clothes. He needed to gain as much as he could before other players started copying him.

In fact, he saw a couple of players attempting to mimic his actions. They were unsuccessful, as they were just a bit too round to pretend to be hungry and poor. Most of the villagers couldn't believe that a fat person could be poor after all. How could they truly be in need of food after all??

Edgar chuckled as he saw the dejected look of the players. It helped him gain a couple more copper coins as the villagers felt bad for the "real" beggar. As soon as he reached 20 copper coins, Edgar sighed with relief.

He had gained enough for a pair of new white linen clothes. Also, with fix extra coins to spare, he could buy himself a loaf of bread and a pint of ale at the inn. He was done. After a couple of hours of begging, the sun was beginning to set. Most of the crowd near the main street had long disappeared, and Edgar got up to find the tailor. He had one hour left before the tailor's shop closed, so he had more than enough time. When he arrived, he had to show the tailor's apprentice the copper coins before he was let into the shop.

He quickly picked the cheapest set of clothes they had and put it on. Instantly, it seemed like the aura of a beggar disappeared. The tailor's apprentice looked at him without as much derision and nodded in approval at Edgar's new look.

At this moment, several notification screens appeared in front of Edgar.

[Achievement Completed]

[Be one of the first 100 players to get rid of (Street Rat's Aura) -- 96th place]

[Achievement Reward: Charisma +1]

[Unique Achievement Completed]

[Get rid of (Street Rat's Aura) by begging]

[Achievement Reward: Charisma +1]

Edgar's happiness soared as he realised his unique approach to solving his problem was rewarded. He was also overjoyed at the fact that he got 96th place in the entire world. This meant he was at pace with some of the top players in the world.

The initial difficulty of the game was in fact planned by Atlas. Once players got over the fact that they could not progress through the game as quickly or as easily as in other games, finding a way to change their clothes was not so difficult. Some players were in auto-pilot and headed straight for the forest, or went around the village asking for help. In reality, most of these things don't work. That's what Atlas wanted to realise through the initial difficulty. Once players step out of their comfort zone, more imaginative solutions will come forward.

Edgar was rewarded for his creative solution quite adequately and had a bonus stat point allocated to his charisma, which was impossible to add points to. Satisfied, he went to the local inn with his new pair of clothes. As he expected, the villagers treated him without as much scorn. He was let into the inn and he paid for his bread and ale. While he could satiate his hunger and thirst at the inn, he also wanted to gather as much information as he could. As such, he attempted to strike up a conversation with the waitresses, bartenders, and other guests. However, many ignored him. Apparently, inns weren't as easy to get information from as the movies depicted it.

He wasn't so distraught, as the ale soothed most of his negativity. As he tried to find out other ways to get ahead of the other players, a familiar figure sat alone in the far corner of the room. He smiled and realised that this was the perfect opportunity he was looking for.