Your own personal blacksmith.

[Welcome to Vanagra Town. Please remember that any agression will be punished by the guards.]

After a few more minutes they finally get to the first town of the game. It was located between two hills and composed of a path and tiny houses built around. There was two guards at the entrance, and each of them was level 20 and watched over the players coming in. Although the town wasn't big and only had a few NPC, there were players absolutely everywhere. The road was filled by guys running around, seemingly looking for something.

"Milady Aelya, what are they all searching?" Edwyn watched them, confused.

"A hidden quest I guess. Game designers said that you could find hidden quest everywhere, and that it gave you special and priceless rewards."

"But... wouldn't it be a little bit obivous to put a hidden quest right in the first town of the game?"

"Indeed, but those guys are still searching, and from what I know, there are here since two days."

"What a waste of time."

Aelya smiled and nodded.

"That's not our problem. At least the longer they stay here, the longer the monsters are in peace and waiting for us to kill them!"

They entered in the town, carefully looking around them.

"Well, now that we are here, what do you want to do first pretty boy?" Aelya asked with a smile.

Edwyn looked at her with confusion.

"Why is it up to me to decide milady Aelya? You have more knowledge about this game than me!"

"Because you're the leader and I want to see how you take care of things. Consider this as a test from me pretty boy."

Edwyn didn't know if she was serious or not, however he wasn't planning to disappoint her.

"I think that, at first, we should look for a blacksmith." He finally said while looking at her.

"Oh, and why?" She seemed to be interested by his reasoning.

"Actually, in our team, you're the one responsible for the damages and holding the monsters. From the wild boss we get a skill for you, and a blueprint. If we could find someone to craft the axe, it means that you'll be even more powerful. in other words, upgrading you will mean increasing the whole team."

"What a good thinker! You begin to think like a real leader, I like it. But don't you think that bet everything on me could be a mistake?" She asked with a pleased smile.

"It's not like we had another choice. Currently we only have one blueprint and it's for you. Moreover, by gathering the resources for your weapon we'll gain more experience point and then level up. It's the more profitable thing to do for now."

Aelya nodded.

"That's right. Now we need to find a good blacksmith and from what I know, you can switch your class to a job in this town. Let's see if there is a crafter association."

"A what?" Edwyn asked, curious.

"With the massive increase of players on MMORPG, there was more and more needs of crafts and resources. Finally, some people thought about a solution and decided that it would be more profitable to create guilds only focused on crafting and gathering resources. We call those guild "crafter association". Some of them are well-known and big guilds are working with them to stuff their own forces. Since then, it has becoming common knowledge that those "crafter association" are untouchable." Aelya explained.

"What do you mean by "untouchable"?"

"I mean that if you meet a player from a crafter association and kill him, you will be targeted by almost all of their customers, which means big guilds. So usually players will do their best to stay friends with the crafters."

"I see. That's a good idea in a sense, it reminds me of the actual world in fact."

"Personnally I find that a little bit frightening to add a capitalist mecanism in a game, and the idea of a monopoly isn't good either."

Edwyn frowned, a little bit lost, wasn't her analysis a little bit... too advanced?

"A monopoly? How?"

"There is a limited amount of resources available in the game at the same time. For example, if you"re a miner and need ores, there are only a few deposits popped in one place. If all those deposits are held by a crafter associaition and you are a solo crafter, how are you supposed to get your ore?"

Edwyn finally understood her point.

"How are they doing then?"

"They wait patiently." Aelya explained, her expression becoming darker. "They can't go against the current. If they choose to oppose the crafter assocations, they'll be crushed by the big guilds, so their only way is to wait until the crafters won't need a place anymore."

"Is there really no other way? Everyone accept that?"

Aelya looked in the distance, lost in her thoughts.

"Not everyone. There are people who aren't afraid of the big guilds' retaliation and accept to kill those crafters for golds. However you won't find those guy walking in the daylight, carefree."

"A sort of hitman?"

"You can say that."

Edwyn shuddered. All of this looked so... realistic. People were litteraly behaving like in the real world.

"So were are looking for a crafter association in order to get your axe?"

Aelya nodded.

"I don't like that but indeed. We are gonna find one of them and offer them the blueprint in exchange of their help. Each time a new game is launched, crafter assocation exchange every blueprint against gold or services."

They didn't have to wait longer because as soon as they walked in the town, they heard an advertising.

"Noble sir, if you are looking for good stuffs at low price, the crafter association "Smith & Weapon" can offer you the best!"

"Smith & Weapon is a mid-tier craft association. Not the most renowned but they'll be ok for what we need. Go on and ask him for the axe." Aelya said after thinking for a few seconds.

Edwyn was nervous but accepted. He knew that the young woman was encouraging him to take initiatives and move forward.

"Excuse me mister." Edwyn said to the man who was advertising. It was a bald man, with a big beard which occupied almost all his face. He was pretty short but had a muscular build which made him look like a dwarf from fantasy universes.

The other one looked at Edwyn with curiosity.

"What can I do for you?" He asked while crossing his arm in front of his chest.

"I need you to craft an axe. We can give you the blueprint in exchange..."

"Which axe?"

"The Split-skull." Edwyn answered, doing his best to hide his nervousness.

"We already have it. If you want us to craft it for you, you'll need to pay 10 gold coin."

Edwyn paled. Ten gold was an enormous fee. Even if Aelya and him added all they have, they would only get 5 gold.

Edwyn was about to complain when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder stopping him. It was Aelya.

He turned back to ask her what she wanted when he saw the young woman shacking her head, telling him to not continue.

He bade farewell to the dwarf and followed Aelya who drove him further away from there.

"There is no need for you to try to discuss the price with that sort of people Edwyn. They have plenty of customers and won't loose their time with you." She explained to him.

"Then what do we do? We need this axe."

"Maybe I can help you then." A unknown voice interjected them.

It was a man, with short black hair and a piercing look. He wore a kimono which gave him an Eastern vibe.

"And who are you?" Aelya asked, frowning.

"Your personal blacksmith!" The newcomer announced with a scheming smile.