Work makes free

Rowan thanked old Jonas for his offer and left his shop and promised to be back later. His inventory was full of useless stuff and he decided to sell them. Since he found them at old Jonas' place and he didn't dare to sell them to him he decided to find a jewelry shop.

He walked along the main street and he wondered how old Jonas could afford such a prominent location. Rowan was surprised since all the other shops looked more luxurious on the outside.

There were a variety of shops. Alchemist shop, tailor shop, armor shop, weapons store, mage shop.

Rowan really wanted to visit the weapons shop but he knew it was a waste of time right now for him and it would only make him drool at weapons he could not use or afford.

Soon Rowan saw a shop with a diamond-shaped sign which was named "Lucky diamonds".

Rowan entered and he was greeted with the same look old Jonas had for him.

"Hello. Are you sure you are in the right place? , an old man wearing glasses asked him as he was looking at him over his rims.

"Hello. If this is a jewelry shop I think I am. ", Rowan replied.

The old man at the counter frowned and sighed.

"OK. What can I help you with?"

Rowan took out a copper ring. He examined it.

[Copper ring]

An ordinary ring made of copper.

[Appraise] [Polish] [Embed]

Rowan was too lazy to check his loot from mice before but now he was surprised at the three options.

He chose [Appraise] first and a value of 3 copper coins appeared. Then he chose [Polish] and an insufficient materials message appeared. Rowan chose [Embed] next and it asked him for a gem.

Rowan chose the lesser ruby and another message appeared informing him he lacked tools.

"Ahhh screw it.", Rowan stepped towards the shopkeeper with the ring in hand and said he wants to sell it.

The shopkeeper looked at it and said: "1 copper."

Rowan nodded but inwardly he thought what a rip off.

Next, he took the silver ring and appraised it. Its value was showing at 3 silver.

The shopkeeper looked at it and said: "1 silver."

"Damn you greedy bastard!" , Rowan cursed in his head.

Afterward, Rowan took the lesser ruby and as he wanted to appraise it he saw an option of Embed and Cut. He tried Cut and he also lacked tools for that.

Appraisal showed 10 silver but the jeweler only offered 3. Just as Rowan wanted to confirm he saw a barter button appear. He tried clicking it but nothing happened.

"I want 9 silver.", Rowan said.

The shopkeeper frowned.

"Let's settle on 5 silver."

"How about 8 silver.", Rowan said.

"6 and not a silver more.", jewelry store shopkeeper said.

Rowan confirmed.

"So that is how you do it.", Rowan thought.

"You have anything else to sell?", the shopkeeper suddenly became proactive.

Rowan sold him everything and earned 35 silver and 1 copper. Together with 1 silver and 20 copper from before he now had 36 silver and 21 copper coins.

Rowan thanked the shopkeeper and returned to old Jonas' place and went directly back into the cellar.

Mice were again facing a genocide caused by a relentless hammer. He killed 50 normal mice and 5 mutated ones which he searched and got 5 different jewels from them but sadly he didn't level up like he expected he would.

"I guess the mice don't give experience.", Rowan told himself.

He was wrong actually and he would have noticed that there was no mention of levels in his status window if Rowan was not preoccupied with his random occupation selection.

Rowan went back to the jewelry shop and sold the gems for 45 silver. The shopkeeper even introduced himself now as Hugh Theissen but advised that he should call him old Hugh.

As he had 81 silver and 21 copper now Rowan decided it was time to invest some of it into better gear.

His first stop was the tailor shop. The shopkeeper was an old lady who again judged him by his appearance and greeted him with coldness.

"Hello. Please don't dirty my floors.", she said looking at his bare feet with disdain.

Rowan by now was used to it and just said: "I am looking to buy some clothes and shoes."

He didn't bother to say hello and the shopkeeper picked up on that.

"Can you even afford anything in my shop?"

Rowan took out his money pouch from his inventory and jingled it.

"It depends if I am satisfied with the service.", he gave a wry smile to the old bat.

As she looked at the jingling money pouch she figured there had to be at least 20 silver in it and that was usually more than she sold the whole day.

Customers that bought expensive items of clothing came to her shop on rare occasions. The vast majority of her clothing articles were around 1-5 silver price range. She immediately changed her tune.

"Sorry for the rudeness earlier, My name is Margaret Benett but they all call me old Maggie."

"You can call me Ayx and I want to buy a shirt and a pair of pants. ", Rowan cringed at the name Ayx but he could not change it.

"What color would you like?"

"I would like them black.", Rowan replied.

"Are you going to a funeral?"; Maggie asked.

Rowan really wanted to say hers, but he contained himself.

"No, I just like the color. But you are right, make the shirt blue."

Maggie brought some different designs and Rowan quickly took two.

Rowan bartered her down from 15 silver to 9 and just when he was just about to leave Rowan remembered that he could sell his linen stuff to free his inventory. He got 2 copper for them.

Before he said goodbye he asked for shoes and bags and he got directions to a nearby store.

His clothes fit him nicely and people were no longer looking at him as if he were a beggar.

Rowan soon came to the leather shop. He could smell the leather products from outside and as he entered he got greeted like a normal human being.

"Hello. You must be new here. My name is Jack Shaw but you can call me Old Jack. What can I do for you?", the shopkeeper was full of enthusiasm.

"Hello. I am looking for some boots and bags.", Rowan replied.

The shopkeeper soon brought different models of shoes and showed them to Rowan. He even brought enchanted ones which could give you a 10 % bonus on your agility.

The price was steep with 2 gold so Rowan just bought some normal shoes for 10 silver. The bags he saw were 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 slot bags and they were all expensive. The cheapest was 25 silver and the 200 slot bag cost 40 gold.

He wanted the 25 slot bag and he tried to barter it down from 90 silver but Old Jack would not lower it under 75 silver. Rowan had no other choice but to go killing mice again until he had his inventory full and sell the jewelry to Old Hugh. He earned 31 silver 50 copper from it, so now he had 91 silver 73 copper.

He happily returned to Old Jack's and bought the stupid bag for 75 silver. His inventory was finally a bit freer and he worked his ass off for it.