'I Paid For The Game, So...'

Waking up early for the second morning in a row, I took my time getting up and getting ready for another day of doing nothing before heading downstairs. My entire family was in the kitchen and eating together this time and were excitedly talking about Bygone Era while watching a large tablet together. When I walked up it was to see that they were all watching gameplay footage of a group of people in familiar armor fighting dozens of mixed goblins and hobs.

"Your friend Papi sent over a collection of footage he is putting together for advertisements," my mother explains as she gets up to make me some food. "You guys look great out there, like you're actually fighting monsters. It almost makes me want to try playing."

"If you guys started playing I would totally outfit your characters with everything you'd need until level fifty," I say boastfully. "I craft almost all of my own equipment except for my uniform I just got and the suit of armor that is being made for me. It was part of a business deal so I have to wear it to advertise it or I would just make my own version of it for the boosted stats. Our weapons, though, are only in the third tier- they do between thirty and forty damage on their own- because we don't want to let people claim we're only good because of our gear. You guys, though, would get the best I can craft with the best materials available in my region."

"You don't think I'd be good enough to make it with lowered quality like you?" My dad asks curiously, arching an eyebrow at me. "What if we really did decide to start playing and it turned out we were better than you? I wonder how that would affect your career."

"If you guys were better than me then I'd recruit you," I say with a shrug, "You, probably, would turn out to be a better fighter but I would still be the better gamer. Besides, why would you play against me? Once you learned how to work the magic systems, just the two of us would unbalance the entire game. You've been tracking my character, I'm on my way to level twenty-six and all of my stats are almost at a hundred. If anybody had stats that high right now its because they let half of their other stats stay low to get there."

"What was getting peed on by a goblin like?" My dad suddenly asks with a smirk, earning himself an angry look from my mother. Frowning back at her, my father says, "If you really thought I would just let that go without saying anything then you don't know the man you married. He got tinkled on by a goblin in a video game, I'm sure some people out there have to p-"

"Johnathan!" My mother snaps angrily as my little brother and sister simply laughed at their arguing.

I just could not help myself and said, "I paid for the game, so…"

"Leo, eat your food," my mom says with one of those sweet-looking mom smiles that the child knows really means, 'I made you so I can unmake you'. I simply nodded and quietly ate my breakfast before hurrying on to the few chores I had at this point in the week.

Getting back in the game as soon as I was done working out, I find myself standing in the empty booth that would usually have replaced me in the game when setting up a stall while logged out. This, though, was because there were currently a small grown of people gathered all around both my and Merch's stalls while browsing our wares. Unlike me, though, Merch was still out of the game.

Opening my stall's wares myself, I go over the current available inventory to find that all of my 'advanced' wares of alloy weapons and the armor the others crafted while I made their gear had sold out. Now it was just the basic worked steel items and the novelty 'noble cast' weapons that Lana had made and were priced quite cheaply.

Even those had sold, though, because newer players were still constantly popping up in the game as the orders for hardware and the game's software alike kept rolling in and out while newer players who were not combat, crafting, or generally money savvy had to go for the discount services.

Regardless that cast metal weapons had lower durability than other weapons, it was still a good steel so the weapons usually hovered above and below an attack rating of twenty. This was much better than what most players would come out of their tutorials with. I was doing a good thing for both myself and the rest of the game… it just happened to be before the currency change.

"What's the customer feedback like?" I ask out loud, surprising everybody with my presence in the otherwise empty wooden stall. My stall did not even have a roof yet and I did not know if I could upgrade it like actual merchants. Actual merchants could run roadside restaurants while out of the game.

One man, who was examining a freshly bought iron fuller that was crafted by my friends and did an even twenty-one damage for most people and was priced at forty-five gold, raised the sword in his hand and says, "It's good, but why is it shaped funny?"

"Its a whacking weapon," I say with a shrug. "It's excellent for controlled stabbing, which is why the point section is so long, but the leverage and weight distribution of a straight blade without tapering gives you better whacks. It also has a higher Strength requirement than a normal iron longsword because of this, at thirteen instead of ten. The proper steel ones have a requirement of fifteen. Do you have any issues with the weapon? Its design should be excellent for knockback skills, if you have them."

"That last part was the clincher," the man says while sheathing the sword and working it onto a belt across his back outside of his thick and rugged ferecat hide armor that made him look like a barbarian. "I like chaining staggers on mobs so I'll probably like this sword. Have a good one."

"Do you often go night hunting?" I ask when the man turns to walk away, unable to see anything but a Treasure Hunter title and player icon above their head. "I'm in the market for imp parts. If you have any claws and tendons and skins you don't need, I'll buy them at twenty a skin and ten the rest. Not much, but we can always barter instead."

"I'll keep an eye out for imp parts," the somewhat elderly looking character with a bald head and peppered beard replies without stopping or turning around.

"What's the deal with these Nobly Cast weapons?" One young lady in the crowd asks, a female orc halfling with pale greenish skin instead of the high orc blue that Go had gotten.

"See my title?" I ask, pointing to the purple 'Delai Family Guardian' hanging over my head. "I'm the head retainer of an aristocratic family, while teaching the new head of the family the Blacksmithing skill and title they made these to raise their stats and levels. That's also why they're so cheap. It's more to say you have a noble made weapon than to say you have a really nice one. That sixteen-inch dagger, though, does like eighteen damage, though, so it's not that bad of a deal in my opinion. You're an archer, anyway, so it's not that far behind your bow."

"Do you take commissions?" Another person asks suddenly, which of course got everybody's attention.

"Currently, I do not have the time to do so," I reply with mock sadness. "But, soon, the Delai family will be opening a small line of different businesses both through the house and through other businesses in the city. You will be able to place both player-made and NPC-made commissions and I can personally assure the quality of the NPC-made goods. The higher quality armors that are sold out in my shop were made by the NPC who will be the official head craftsman so I have more time on my hands as the retainer as well as work in materials acquisition. I also cannot currently offer proper discounting but becoming repeat customers of our business, now, will open you up to better discount plans and offers later. Please see my neighbor for those discussions, though, because he is in charge of marketing."

After a few more minutes of general business discussion as well as shared speculations on future materials and products, the crowd finally started making their purchases at either stall and then leaving.

When the last person was done browsing my wars my stall simply disappeared. Then I went over to Merch's and gave him all of my leftover wares to sell through the party.

Leaving the south gate I test my Endurance by seeing how far I could run without stopping back in the direction of the Maran estate. It took several short breaks of walking but I eventually made it there in less than half the usual time. I even gained two points in Endurance along the way.

Most of the others were logged back in and awake already when I entered the estate, following the sounds of conversation to the dining room near the middle of the first floor. Lady Mara was currently discussing with Lana the different things to look for when hiring on mercenary and adventurer groups for material expeditions and the like. As well, she was seeking input from the rest of my team who obviously had experience as mercenaries.

For the most part their input was looking at what kind of team builds and numbers they worked with when coupled with the pricing and history.

The generally agreed upon minimum was one main tanker, two off-tanks like Papi and Go, two melee damage dealers like Go and Merch or myself, two ranged damage dealers like Ivana or Oleander, and two support mages like Oleander and Lil or Agnes.

This was also the general team build for running repeated dungeons and hunting wild bosses, but the actual roles varied by preference. Our support mages were all healers, buffers, and capable of combat magic whereas a priest would be greater healing and buffing with only one or two all-purpose combat abilities early on. Without any undead to fight, you were better off with a paladin in certain games for a holy-based character rather than the generic cleric-priest classes.

In other games where healing-capable classes were much more limited, though, you did not get much of a choice.

When I came in I was asked what my input was and I simply said they needed to have an all-purpose leader like me for their tenth role in the general dungeon party build. If the leader was not capable of some aspect of each of their members' abilities to help relieve the pressure on his teammates then they needed to be able to make up for it in literally every other area.

Once breakfast was out of the way we once again returned to the yard but this time Lady Mara joined us to watch the activities. This did not mean much to me since I went straight to instructing the imps as well as giving Lana a quick First-Aid to make sure she was recovered from the day before. Then I showed her the same basic sets I showed the imps the day before and used that refresh the imps for an hours.

Next came the paired practices with their training gloves while I made Lana continue practicing her hands in the same straightforward jabbing cycle as the imps. Eventually she would probably develop a boxing skill or something of the sort since she was also a classless person like me. However, right now the goal was only to raise her Agility and Endurance.

Now that the others were learning to make their own skills through magic and replicating the elements they were all practicing together learning each others elements through attack and defending with opposing elements. If Lil threw a fireball at somebody that person was expected to block it with either a buffet of air with more energy than the fire, frigid air to diminish and extinguish the fuel of the flame, or just straight throwing water at it.

Likewise, if Merch struck with lightning they were expected to throw water to redirect it or sink themselves in the ground a little while physically blocking to minimize damage through grounding. It was a crude, cruel, and arduous form of training but it had long since proven to be the best for building stats and skill levels through active combat.

Back when I first started gaming I used to train my skill levels alone fighting lower leveled mobs that did less damage like most players. With a good team, though, it becomes much more efficient to simulate actual Player Versus Player combat. PVP usually came with the benefit of increased experience, too.

After another hour or two of these practices I made the imps and Lana rest before walking over to survey the magic action taking place. Of course, while studying the different elements being used around me.

[Learned Spell: Firebolt]

[+25XP]

[Firebolt Uninitiated: Firebolt, a lesser form of the ever popular Fireball spell lacking in splash and explosive power. What it lacks in overall firepower, though, it makes up for in raw heat and DOT. At 10MP a foot, Firebolt can burn for as long as the streak of flame, compiling hit-per-second damage before burning for as many seconds as feet after the Firebolt has finished landing. Set fifteen enemies aflame to Initiate]

[Learned Spell: Splash]

[+10XP]

[Splash Uninitiated: Condense moisture from the air around you into a proper liquid to extinguish flames, harass small animals, or distract your opponents. Costs 10MP per gallon and has an effective range of ten yards unless combined with another magic. Splash ten fires, animals, or people to Initiate]

[Learned Spell: St Elmo's Fire]

[+30XP]

[St Elmo's Fire Uninitiated: Amplifying the natural electricity generated in one's own body with mana gathered in your hands, one can discharge arcs of plasma from their fingertips. Costs 10MP for the initial charge and discharge of ten arcs capable of spanning ten feet and 5MP per second to sustain the arcs. At higher levels can be discharged into stronger arcs through combination or produce more arcs from other parts of your body. Zap ten targets to Initiate]

[Learned Skill: Air Cannon]

[+20XP]

[Air Cannon Uninitiated: Condense the air around you at intense pressures to shoot a concussive blast at short ranges or simple knockback bullet at medium range. For 10MP to compress 100LbPSI of air pressure, this spell can be combined with multiple other elements or objects to strengthen their effects and impacts. At higher levels can stack exponentially. Knock out or back fifteen targets to Initiate]

Then came a surprise that at fist worried me.

[Fusing Skills: Quick Quake+Frostbite+Firebolt+Splash+St Elmo's Fire+Air Cannon]

[Fused Skill: Elementalism]

[+100XP]

[Acquired Unique Title: The Classless Elemental]

[+250XP]

[The Classless Elemental: Epic. Passive. After learning how to detect, replicate, and incorporate a sample of each basic element you can now innovate your magic more freely. As the first Classless to unlock the Elementalist class mastery skill, you have earned the original title of The Classless Elemental. Permanent +10 Intelligence and Willpower, reduced costs to use elemental magics of any kind, +50 mana, and +30 Imperial Reputation]

I said nothing after this happened and just sadly walked away while wondering how on Earth I could possibly be the first classless.

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