It was 230,000 in pure mana stone. The cost of the equipment for the four-haired group was only 800,000. There was 5 million in settlement money received from the guild, and 1 million obtained through blackmail. In addition, he had the 30,000 compensation from the innkeeper.
The Golden Mask is worth about 500,000 stones, but... since I'm going to keep this anyway, I'll pass.
Of this amount, excluding the 300,000 I give to Ainar and the money I three down the drain, 150,000 was my current value.
6.61 million stones...
It was indeed a huge sum. Maintaining my current cost of living, it was enough to survive the next three years without having to enter the maze. Of course, that calculation was based on the relatively low tax rates in the early years.
Subtracting about 70,000 stones for sufficient living expenses, the total budget mounted to... 6.54 million stones.
I quickened my pace, recalling the items on the shopping list I had prepared the night before. However, I didn't walk all the way to my destination.
"Is this cart headed to Sector 2?"
"That's how it is".
When I arrived at the shared platform, I paid the fee of 500 stones and got into a carriage for 10 people.
The original price per person was 250 stones, but the reason I paid so much was because one barbarian was too big to allow another person to sit next to him.
Damn.
That infuriated me for some reason, probably because it was a reasonable argument.
"We've arrived."
After settling into my seat and falling sleep with drool dripping from my mouth, we arrived at Sector 2, the northern region of the Kommelby trade zone. It took us about four hours. If we'd been able to cross through the royal capital of Karnon, I would have cut that time in half, but with my current reputation, that was impossible.
After a quick meal at a nearby restaurant, I headed to my destination using a map I had bought in advance. Getting there was much easier than I expected. It wasn't long before I started to see a majestic building in the distance.
[The Alminus Central Exchange]
One of my favorite features in the game was the Central Exchange. It gave you the advantage of not having to wander around the city to sell goods directly, and instead allowing you to find specific items much more easily. But in return, its use required payment.
"Are you registered for consignment sales?"
"No. I've come to get things."
After taking a numbered ticket and waiting a while, I handed my previously written documents to the worker.
"There are a total of 12 items that meet the criteria. Would you like to check the information?"
"Of course.
The search fee for each item was 3,000 stones. After paying and waiting a while, the worker took out some papers and brought them to me.
«Once you've read everything, you can tell that employee back there what objects you'd like and they'll take you to see them».
In the game, all you had to do was press the Buy button, but I guess that's how it worked in real life. It made sense why you had to pay for this type of system. It was the cost of labor.
Anyway, let's read this first.
Like the other customers cramming the bag, I sat on an empty spot and read the documents. There were only 12 articles that met the criteria, so it didn't take me long to read them all.
«I want to see this article here».
After selecting the most reasonably priced item from the list, I headed to the warehouse with the help of the staff. After checking several times that it had no defects, I bought it in cash without hesitation.
[Expandable backpack
Has one
Storage area: 8
Grade:
Shape: Standard medium size backpack
Charms: Automatic layout, Individual deposit and withdrawal, Lightweight (low)
Price: 2.5 million stones]
The expandable backpack was a little different from a normal subspace, but with my current budget, I was grateful to at least have this. If the storage level was grade 8, it was already triple the size of my oversized backpack.
And all three sets of magical enchantments come with it.
In short, it was worth it. Even if he could give up the Auto Layout enchantment, which stored items in the best possible way, Light Weight was quite essential. Think about it. No matter how wide the bag space was, if the weight remained the same, it didn't make sense.
In that sense, it is the same to put things in and out easily.
It was an expandable backpack purchased for convenience. However, if there was no way to get an item in and out of the bag easily, you would have to do the last one in, first one out in the order you put them in.
It was already very uncomfortable in the game, but in reality it wouldn't be a joke.
It was a little disappointing that it was in backpack form, but I shouldn't get greedy. I decided to settle for this and with the backpack purchased, I returned to where I was before. Then I continued looking for other objects. My remaining budget was about 4 million stones.
[The character carries an expandable backpack. Inventory has increased considerably].
Now that I had taken care of comfort, it was time to increase my actual combat power.
***
Four million stones. It was a huge amount, enough to equip you with a full set of iron armor or rise to level 3 once you obtained the imprint of immortality. Neither option was bad, but I didn't choose either of them. That was because the situation was different now.
(P) Source of darkness – You resist death while the heart is intact.
I had a vampire essence that wasn't originally in my plans. Thanks to that, I had a body that would not die as long as my heart was intact. In other words, reinforcing the imprint of immortality or placing pieces like leggings would inevitably decrease my effectiveness compared to cost. After much deliberation, I made the final decision.
Instead, he would level up the team.
In other words, instead of iron, which was a grade 1 metal, I decided to purchase equipment made from a grade 2 metal, commonly referred to as a higher level.
[The character wears a lithinum breastplate. The combined level of the item increases +270]
Lithium: a grade 2 metal, twice as light and strong as iron. Its characteristics were its white color and its ridiculously expensive price.
1.91 million stones for a shell...
The shell I bought through the exchange was the same shape as the iron semi-armored one I sold for scrap, but the price was more than five times higher.
True, you need to be at least a fourth-rate scout to use a second-rate metal, so that's pretty obvious.
Among equipment for various body parts, my reason for choosing a shell was quite simple: The more protected the heart was, the greater the benefit of the passive Fountain of Darkness ability. In any case, security was paramount, so there was no discussion. However, for the second piece of equipment, I had to think about it until checkout.
[The character carries a large battle shield made of lithinum. The combined level of the item increases +315]
Should I replace my weapon or shield, which was sold for scrap? After much deliberation, I paid 2.1 million stones to purchase a shield. There were many reasons, but the main one was that now he had no reason to do harm. Until now, he had only entered the maze in a duo. However, to go up to an upper floor it was necessary to play as a team with a minimum of four people. That meant it was more efficient to hold a shield and become a human barrier to protect the team.
The essence of the vampire is not the essence of a position that deals damage.
Above all, unlike a weapon, a shield was a piece of equipment that he could continue to use even after obtaining that essence. And without a shield now, I felt like I was missing something. At this moment, my wallet was completely empty.
Hmm, the team is starting to shine now.
When I looked in the mirror, my heart felt satisfied. Was this also a change that had just become barbaric?
***
Bjorn Yandel
Level: 3
Physical: 155 /Spirit: 90 /Special ability: 115
Item level: 683 (New +585)
Overall combat power: 527.75 (New +146.25)
Acquired Essences: Corpse Golem – Rank 7 / Vampire (Guardian) – Rank 5
***
When I finished my reasonable spending, it was time for dinner. After dinner at the same restaurant where I had lunch, I took the car back to Sector 13, where my inn was located. After that, the day was over.
Travel time is too long...
Later, when I made a lot of real money, I would have to move to the central area. Living on the outskirts came with many inconveniences. Although this new inn was a little closer to the center, I still had a long way to go to reach the Plaza de la Dimension.
After all, it's all about money...
Since I had spent a lot today, I went to sleep determined to earn more money.
The next morning, like a diligent barbarian, I went to the library first thing in the morning.
I had already taken care of the things I had to do now, so I had to head there again.
It was the custom of Korean players to do manual labor in their free time. Well, this was a manual job that could be done because this was reality and not a game. I still lacked common sense and knowledge of this place.
In that sense, it would also be nice to find a house near the library.
Books were food for the soul. The reason I was able to spend rationally on the exchange in the first place was because I had been reading about it in the library.
What was the title of that book?
I couldn't remember it, but I was recording the average price of items on the stock market over the last ten years. It was difficult to read because there were so many numbers, but there was no better textbook for learning market prices than this book.
As I walked thinking about this and that, I arrived at my destination. Nothing had changed from when I was there before: the smell of books emanating from the entire building, the skinny nerds who arrived even before me, and the librarian sitting at the counter with a sleepy face.
«How long without seeing you».
Greeting her like the last time I saw her, the librarian looked at me strangely. Then he murmured: «... How?».
Oh, have you seen this? «Haha, it's a lithinum breastplate and shield. A total of 4 million stones. Oh, and this on my back is an expandable backpack-»
«Parsytiev.»
Hmm, always humorless. I left the librarian suffering from chronic fatigue. He started dozing again after casting the spell on me, and I headed to the library. Thanks to the fact that I was wearing quality equipment, I noticed that more eyes were looking at me than usual. Most of them looked surprised. I couldn't be sure what exactly those looks meant, but any other look was embarrassing, so I decided to think that way.
... Had it been too much to come to the library in full armor? Possibly. But who cares? I'm a barbarian.
I decided to stop worrying and do my own research. With a few keywords in mind, I pulled out a stack of books: Establishment and Development of the Explorers' Guild; Casebook on the Raiders' Trial III; Legal Vocabulary Reading Comprehension; Birth of Mozlan. Having been framed and nearly killed, my interest in the Explorers' Guild, institutions directly dependent on the crown, and the law had only grown. There was a famous saying in the gaming world:
If you don't know, you'll only get hurt. Therefore, you must learn whatever is necessary.
It growls!
After going out for lunch every four hours and returning to the library to read, another day was drawing to a close. I decided to read the books I hadn't yet had a chance to read tomorrow and returned to the inn. A letter had arrived for me, something that had never happened before. The sender: the Explorers' Guild. Inside, the letter stated that Hikurod Murad wished to meet with me.
I guess I won't be able to go to the library tomorrow.
After cleaning the shield and breastplate with a dry cloth for an hour, I lay down on the bed and fell sleep.
***
I had plenty of time this morning, so I slept in longer than usual. It was just after noon when I took a quick shower and headed to the meeting place.
Ding!
The shop served as an inn, restaurant, and tavern all in one. Entering the first-floor lobby, I saw remove a few people eating and chatting. Looking around for a while, I finally found the person I was looking for. After all, dwarves were so small they were hard to spot. I wished they'd eaten standing up. Wouldn't it have been the same either way?
"It's been a while, Hikurod."
"Ha! It really was you! I was marked as rank 7, so I wasn't..." The dwarf who had greeted me with a smile suddenly jumped at the sight of me. "Wait, what's that equipment?"
Ah, so you saw it too. I replied casually. "Oh, this? As you can see from this shine, it's a piece of lithiumum armor and a shield. And this thing I'm carrying on my back is called an expandable backpack. It's nothing. Just something I bought for next time."
It really was nothing.