Information doesn't come cheap
"A 1000 gold coins?" Kaden's face twitched.
"Yes. A… hic… 1000 gold coins and I will give you the information you are looking for… hic. Aye, lad, information doesn't come cheap."
Kaden gave the old man a stern stare.
Did he look like an idiot? Like hell, he was going to give him thousand gold coins but the next second, the old man leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "You reek of evil, lad. You definitely need me. Hic. Else those Elysians are going to swallow you whole!"
Immediately, Kaden's face changed. His eyebrows furrowed at the old man's words. Now he couldn't easily ignore him.
Ah. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Kaden scratched his head in confusion. He was hoping for a kickass start but this was heading to very rocky regions. It was as if this world was hell-bent on scamming him for gold coins. Did they know he was cheating the system or what?
Kaden let out a deep sigh. Well, if he was getting screwed, then there was only one thing he could do, screw someone else!
In this particular situation, he was going to screw someone called the 'Bigballzzz.'
In his last life, Bigballzzz had become extremely famous by streaming his exploits of various treasure chests. He went from a no one to a big shot in a single day because he had by chance run into a lucky encounter.
In fact, it was this lucky encounter that had first put their starting kingdom on the map. After his stream, several players had even used the expensive teleportation portal to come to the kingdom to search if there were more spots available. Unfortunately for them, this was a one-time thing.
Naturally, Kaden had always planned to make this lucky encounter his. It was just that now he had to do it sooner rather than later.
He gave the old drunkard another glance and then left the stinking tavern. If he could claim this stroke of fortune for himself, it would solve a lot of his problems but for that, he needed to make some preparations and take some risks.
Kaden did not immediately exit the underbelly and first visited another stall tucked away in a corner. "Ah, a new face," the shopkeeper glanced up. "What brings you to my humble establishment?"
"I wish to learn about mana."
In 'Apocalypse Online', one had to officially visit a testing center or the mage tower in order to unlock the mana attribute. Otherwise, the system did not allow one to perceive mana which meant one wouldn't be able to use any mana-related skills either.
Kaden had easily progressed in the game so far without using any mana or mana-related skills but he did not dare continue to do the same, especially considering that the place he had to visit now was a high-ranking area with stronger beasts and mobs.
If he stepped there without unlocking mana, it was just going to be a suicide attempt. Moreover, it would be a complete waste.
He was never a genius but in his last life, he could use several basic mage skills with good proficiency. So why let all of that go to waste and muck around with a dagger that he barely knew how to use?
The only problem was that Kaden would have preferred to unlock his mana in a more standard place rather than this decrepit shop.
Instead of the beautiful female instructor of the mage tower who was supposed to hold his hand and send a sliver of her mana into him, a stout middle-aged man with several bulging pimples on his face was now going to do the same.
"Sigh. Life is unfair." He groaned as he lifted his hand for the shopkeeper.
The guy pocketed the two silver coins Kaden gave him and rubbed his hand vigorously before preparing to touch Kaden. But surprisingly nothing happened. The middle-aged man stopped his actions and did not do the activation.
"What? Is something wrong?" Kaden immediately asked. This damned title better not screw him over some more. Thankfully, the shopkeeper shook his head. "No. Nothing is wrong. It's just that your mana is already activated."
"Huh?" Kaden was surprised. This was new. He ignored the shopkeeper who was now gruffly reminding him that he won't be returning the two silver coins and looked at his palm. What the heck was this new development?
One had to be awakened by another mage for players to start sensing mana but he was naturally awakened?
"Right, can I check my affinity here?" Kaden decided to set this matter aside for now and moved on to the next important thing. If his mana activation had changed then what else had changed?
"Of course. That would be another 5 silver coins." The shopkeeper held out his hand with glee.
Kaden sighed inwardly, feeling like he was being milked for every last coin. However, he was very curious to know about his affinity in this life and if it had changed so he reluctantly handed over the 5 silver coins. Now he was once again completely broke.