Chapter 6

In the back half of the store, the tailor opened a safe and took out an ornate jade box. He carefully placed it on the table before slowly opening it and taking out a piece of velvet like fabric. When Vergil saw the fabric, his eyes almost blew out of his sockets. The fabric was constantly flitting about between a solid and liquid state and changing color from purple to red and vice versa.

"This..." The tailor whispered in a mysterious voice. "...is a bizarre fabric I obtained in my travels when I was younger. Till today, I haven't found out what this material is, but I know that if I can understand the properties of this material, I'll be able to significantly improve my tailoring skills and even become a master tailor! Then I no longer have to stay in this backwater town!"

Vergil looked at the tailor and blinked. For an ordinary looking tailor to actually find such a mysterious fabric, if it could even be called that, just what was the setting here? "How can I help?" He asked straight forwardly.

"You've proven yourself as a resourceful guy and a regular customer. Finding so many mutate pelts must not have been easy. I need you to get this fabric appraised. You will need to pay a visit the the mage tower in the town to get it done. If you can help me learn what this material is and what it's properties are, I will give you a worthwhile reward!"

[Quest (Secret) - Appraise the Mysterious Fabric]

[The tailor trusts you and wishes for you to help him appraise a mysterious piece of fabric at the Red Leaf Town Mage Tower. Will you rise to the challenge and help this trusting man?]

Vergil immediately accepted the quest. The tailor put the fabric back into the box and handed it to him. Vergil discovered that the item had immediately become a quest item and placed it within his storage. After thanking the tailor for his trust, Vergil rushed straight to the auction house.

The auction house was right beside the courthouse and one of the bigger structures in town. The game's auction house connected to all auction houses in all beginner towns like Red Leaf. As part of the introductory quests, the building had been introduced to the players and so Vergil didn't think it was going to be an issue. Instead, he took out the most useless of the cloth sets and took a snapshot of its basic information using the system.

[Sourcream Hunter Cloth Set - Common Grade]

[Equip - Level 0]

[Set Effects - Decreased Stamina consumption when running, Increased Defense]

He then went to the game forum's general section where most of the posts seemed to be marveling about how amazing the full dive system was and how real everything felt. Some of the more advanced players were grumbling about how the realism made combat extremely cumbersome. Vergil quickly made a new post on the General forum.

"Full Cloth set for sale in the Auction house. Details below." He followed up the text with the snapshot of the details of the full clothing set. He then logged out of the forum and set the item up for sale in the auction house with a bidding period of 3 real days. Vergil had a good grasp of the game, and without someone specifically discovering this particularly secret quest, finding a complete clothing set of such high quality was an absolute rarity in the game for at least a couple of weeks. He was betting on some of the rich folks bidding on the sets for the sake of vanity or some pro players looking to get a quick boost.

With how much individual players were bound to suffer from the difficulty of the combat, Vergil knew that anything that would boost defense and stamina would be in high demand. Meanwhile, his perfunctory announcement in game at the town had also set the place into a frenzy. A lot of people were already congregating at the auction house and Vergil's full costumed Night Crawler set was extremely conspicuous to everyone else who were still in the ragged beginner garbs.

When the item had been registered in the auction house, it was actually the first object put for sale in the auction and Vergil even got an announcement for it, but no particular reward other than server wide fame. However, Vergil chose not to disclose his player name as a part of the announcement.

[Player **undisclosed** has become the first person to put up an item for sale at the auction.]

Vergil then quickly went offline. He was exhausted from the day's proceedings. For most others were still grappling with the game's mechanics, Vergil had already approached halfway to Level 2 and gained access to a number of quests and reputation rewards.

When he woke up the next day, Ryan didn't check the forums or any game news. He freshened up and went to the gym. Arnold immediately set out to 'fix' Ryan's laziness with some difficult training. Five hours later, he returned home tired to the point of death, but also rejuvenated and mentally refreshed. After having a good meal, Ryan was about to check the forums when he heard the bell of the house ring.

Ryan opened the door to find a man in a suit, holding a briefcase and presenting a smile. The man held out his hand for a shake before handing Ryan his business card. He was the manager of the bank that was looking to seize the house. Ryan sighed and invited the man inside. After a brief chat the man went away, pleasant as ever, however, Ryan's face was even more heavy.

The bank wanted Ryan to either give up on the house or cover some of the money for the house in the coming week. "Fifteen thousand dollars in a week and fifty five thousand dollars at the end of the month..." Ryan grimaced. He wondered if he should just give up on the house and find another smaller apartment to rent out. He was alone anyway and that was what he had done in his previous life.

Earning money with the increasing demand for the gold currency from the Stellar Ambitions demand wouldn't be difficult, but he wasn't sure he could gather the amount the bank wanted so quickly. The game wouldn't get really popular until the close beta ended at the end of two weeks and the frenzy for entering the open beta would begin. Ryan felt the pressure building on him and the desire to become stronger only increased.