Shameless Old Merchant
After dropping Song Zimen halfway to her house, Shin quickly went home and slept. He set his alarm for 9:30 am, which was half an hour later than usual. This was because of his little coffee date with Song Zimen.
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*BEEP BEEP*
The alarm went off loudly as Shin couldn't help but groan. He smacked the alarm a couple times before turning it off. He slowly got out of bed and went to the washroom to freshen up. After getting washed up, he went to the kitchen and made himself a small breakfast.
After being alone for a while, he was able to make himself various types of food. Some were for breakfast, some for lunch, some for dinner, and he even knew how to make many desserts. Of course, he wasn't professional or anything, but after living alone for so long, there were some things he needed to learn.
He decided to make himself some tea and flatbread. Of course, this was something foreign in his country, but he loved it still. After the game was created and the war was fought, the countries became much closer in interaction and cultures were spread rapidly.
After eating his food it was almost 10:30 am, so he decided to walk around in order to digest the food. So, he headed towards the convenience store and bought some ingredients for lunch. Although he was going to help Song Zimen move in the next day, he thought of treating her to some homemade food before heading out to work.
By the time he got back, it was a little past 11 am, so he quickly went into the room with the virtual system. Although he was about an hour late to play, he didn't completely mind. He got into the system before the game began to load up.
[Welcome back Ki Shin]
A message popped up as he entered back into the game. He found himself back in the forest where he collected the loot from the slime. Before doing anything else, he looked around to see if there were any mobs around.
Seeing that he was safe, he quickly opened up his inventory and looked lovingly at his items.
{Level 1 Slime Fishing Rod}
{Level 5 Slime Core}
This was a gift from the heavens. They sent it down to him because of his pitiful life. Shin couldn't help but feel his hands tremble as his eyes went ablaze. He already knew about how the Slime Core could be changed into a {Slime Core of the King}. He just needed to gather eight normal slime cores and then create an octagon around the level 5 slime core. It would turn into a {Slime Core of the King}
The reason it was so easy to make was that it had no other effect than turning the {Slime Fishing Rod} into a pet slime. Because of the rarity of the legendary {Large Red Slime}, most didn't even bother with making this particular slime core.
Although he could go and kill lots of slimes, he decided to go into town first. He would prefer to get a weapon just in case since he didn't want to lose his precious items.
Quickly, he ran towards Everhollow. When he got to the front gates, the guards were still there, but the long line was now gone. 'Seems like that group already left for their raid.' He didn't really care about all that since he was able to earn so much already.
When he entered Everhollow, he asked around for where the market was and made his way there.
The market was very similar to an outdoor fish market, but instead of fish, there were weapons, potions, and other items. He had a total of 12 Spirit Fragments, which could get him a decent weapon.
Looking around, he found many swords, daggers, bows, etc. Since he was in the lower leveled area, the weapons cost was from 5 to even 20 spirit fragments. Of course, these were quite trashy weapons, but this was all he could afford.
'I should look for something that has lots of durability with some decent damage. I don't really care about the type of weapon.' Looking around, he found lots of good weapons, but their price was just too steep that it wasn't worth it.
After looking around for a while, he stopped and couldn't help but sigh. The weapons were either extremely bad and would last him at most a few slimes, or they were very good but outside his affordability.
"Selling unique items! Ranging from unknown potions to extraordinary weapons!" He suddenly heard a sound coming from a small corner shop. When he looked over, he saw an old man with white hair shouting out different phrases.
{Level 5 NPC: Shameless Old Merchant}
Seeing the name of the NPC, Shin couldn't help but choke a little. 'Shameless Old Merchant? What kind of bogus name is that?'
With his curiosity piqued, he decided to go and see what kind of items the old man was selling. When he got to the stand, he couldn't help but feel blood rush to his head when he saw the different things the old man was selling.
{Level 1 Spoon of Misfortune}
{Level 3 Book of the Naughty}
{Level 2 Tire Fire}
{Level 6 Potion of Procreation}
'What the hell is the {Book if the Naughty}? This old coot is selling such shameless items. Plus, they are even more expensive than the weapons! And this {Potion of Procreation}, isn't this just a fancy way of saying aphrodisiac?' Shin almost fell from his spot. All of the items were overly expensive and extremely… dumb.
"O-old man, what the heck are these things?!" he couldn't help but look at the old NPC with a red face. He didn't know if it was because of anger or embarrassment, maybe it was both.
The old NPC looked over and a bright smile appeared on his face. "Oh my, seems the champion of the legends has appeared before me. I bow towards your greatness, my godly champion."
Suddenly, the old man began to rub Shin's hands and fell to the floor, bow continuously in a very exaggerated manner. Shin felt so embarrassed that his face turned redder than a tomato. He took a few steps back, but he saw the NPC reached out and grab his ankle. With a slight tug, he saw the sky appear in his sight.
*BAM*
{-5 health!}
He fell down with his head hitting the ground first. 'What the heck, this old piece of garbage tripped me.' He opened his eyes and saw the face of the old NPC right in front of him. "AHH!" he quickly punched forward, knocking the old man away.
"My heavenly sent lord! My master, you are injured, let me take you to rest. Here, sit on my chair, no, sit on the table. Oh, my heavenly master, I was mistaken, this seat is just too rough. Come, sit on me." The old man's shenanigans continued as he forced Shin to sit on the chair, and the table, and for someone weird reason, Shin found himself sitting on the old man's back.
"Old man, what the heck are you doing? Let go of me! Ah!" Shin suddenly felt air beneath him and saw the old man was gone. He fell down again.
{-2 health!}
"My lord! How did you get on the floor, my lord! Maybe you are dizzy, let me help you with that!" The old NPC appeared in front of him once again, but the only sight he saw was a large palm.
*SLAP*
{-20 health!}
"AH! Old man, I am going to kill you!" He couldn't take it anymore. This old man was just too shameless. 'Who the hell decided to create such a shitty NPC!' Getting up, he walked towards the old man who slapped his face, but he suddenly saw the old man disappear and reappear in the middle of the market streets.
"Master, my lord, the heavenly lord, please forgive this old man. I only tried to help you, please do not hurt me. I shall hurt myself in order to appear you. *sob sob*, I am not worthy of being your slave my heavenly lord!" Everyone watched the commotion and some even felt extremely sad for the old man.
A young girl with golden hair walked towards the old man and helped him up. Reading her name;
{Silinai: Level 10 - Human Sage}
"How could you do this to an old man?! Even though he is an NPC, you should still not be such a trashy person!" The girl looked angrily at Shin. Although the NPC had no emotions, everyone knew that they were programmed to act according to the player they were talking to.
It was rare to see an NPC beg if they weren't already beggars. This meant that Shin had said and done things that forced the NPC to reply the way it did.
"I- I really didn't do anythi-" Before he could say anything, the girl waved her hand.
"I don't want to hear it. Just buy what you want and get out of here. Stop making trouble for others!" Shin felt his mind going numb. He couldn't help but feel anger building up, but he really didn't want to say anything.
'No, I said I was going to be evil in this game, I cannot shy away from this now!' With this thought appearing in his mind he couldn't;t let go of it. He already planned on becoming the opposite person in this game, she had to stick with it.
"This is none of your business, little girl! This old man and I are having a private discussion, so why don't you get out of my sigh-" He suddenly saw a fist moving towards his face.
*BOOM*
{-20 health!}
The fist landed like a hammer on his face. 'Am I going to die in this fricken town?! I just want to buy a weapon! Why the hell is everyone hitting me?!' He felt himself going crazy. Getting off the ground he saw the girl looking at him with a frightening face.
"You best watch your mouth! I said to buy what you need and get lost!" The girl spoke with cold words. Although it was impossible to kill in the town, one could still get beat up. This beginner town had very lax rules, making it extremely dangerous.
With a snort, Shin turned around and picked up a weapon with looked like a belt. Although the weapon seemed a little weak, the durability on it was quite high, plus it was in his budget.
Taking out his 12 Spirit Fragments, he threw them towards the old man before walking away. Before moving too far, he stopped in his steps and turned his head.
He looked straight into the girl's eyes with a ferocious look. "You best hope that I don't catch you in the for-" Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the girl raise her leg and aim towards his chest. "AH!"
{-20 health!}
He lost another good amount of health. He didn't even do anything. He could never finish his sentence or even buy what he wanted. 'Why is my life so pitiful? Is the game trying to equalize my amazing loot with such shitty treatment?'
He laid on the ground as a small teardrop fell from his eye, landing on the ground, making for a very pitiful sight.
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After finally leaving the market, he walked towards the front entrance of Everhollow, but before he left, he brought out the item he had just bought.
Level 1 Belt of Destruction: This is a belt worn by an angry father. Whenever his son would get bad marks, he would whip him until he fell. One day, the belt destroyed the will of his son, causing the father to die of sorrow. Can raise fear in little boys. Can do 7 - 10 HP damage. Durability 300/300
'What the hell is with this description!'