Hidden Class

Hearing the familiar voice in his head made Mo Shan unconsciously smile which made the clerk behind the counter smile too, thinking he was happy having joined the association.

"Here's your badge, sir. As well as the token to start your own company." The beautiful lady handed him his merchant badge which would grant him his benefits, but what Mo Shan was most looking forward to was the token. This was the guild order token!

Every merchant had to operate under the name of a company aka guild. This meant that every registered merchant player could create a guild! This was another added benefit for the merchant players considering that it needed a world announcement to your name to join.

The only other ways guild order tokens could be obtained was by killing field bosses that spawned once a week or less, gaining first clears on dungeons or getting lucky in an NPC auction. This scarcity would make guild order tokens one of the most expensive items in coming months, since all those powers were like loose sand without the guild to bring them together.

Becoming a merchant player was also the last requirement for his hidden class!

The hidden class needed 5 world announcements by a lifestyle player who was a registered member of the merchant association. In his last life only one player managed to do this as getting 5 world's first as a lifestyle player was near impossible. That player later became one of the most famous lifestyle class players thanks to his hidden class!

And in this life, Mo Shan would be the one taking that opportunity.

The pioneer title is awarded to every player who reached 5 world announcements. This would grant them certain benefits and some of the higher class NPC's would recognise the player's name, as if the person has long since been famous around the world. These players would basically be regarded as equals to city lords or well known generals.

After making his way outside Mo Shan quickly made his way over to the hall of heroes after asking around a bit. Every city had one of these and it could only be entered by players who met the criteria for a hidden class change, once entered they would either change classes, or give up on the opportunity altogether. Some of these hidden classes had certain secret criteria like the one Mo Shan wanted to obtain, whilst others could be obtained by getting a class change scroll which was a very rare drop from dungeons, monster sieges and auctions.

The hall of heroes looked like a tiny marble temple guarded by a marble statue of a scholar on the right and a holy knight on the left. Mo Sham recognised these hidden classes as being the paladin class and the scholar class respectively.

Not stopping for too long Mo Shan made his way inside after which he was greeted with a long hallway lined with marble statues of hidden classes ranging from undeads to giants to half human half beast creatures. Of course all of these classes were humanoid and most of them were statues depicting humans. The end of the hallway had a large gold glowing portal instead of a wall which cast light upon the entire hallway. Mo Shan knew that this hallway was the first indicator of the hidden class he met the criteria for. All of these statues depicted all the different possible types of hidden classes, for instance if the undead statue lit up then it would mean the hidden class was related to the undead, which then was divided up into a dozen or so classes.

Mo Shan slowly made his way over to the portal and the moment his feet touched the place where the first statues stood a statue instantly lit up in a golden radiance.

"As I thought" Mo Shan mumbled to himself seeing how the statue that was lit up depicted a wealthy person holding a pile of gold coins on one hand and a bunch of expensive looking items in the other. This meant that his hidden class was one of the merchant path hidden classes.

Now more confident than ever Mo Shan made his way across the hallway past the golden glowing statue and into the portal.

Upon opening his eyes Mo Shan knew he entered what others called the decision room. Behind him was a statue depicting his current class. It was an old man holding a large folding hammer in one hand and a golden glowing potion in the other. His toolbelt was lined with needles and other small tools and next to his feet was a bundle of rope and a large black ball which looked like a cannonball.

This statue depicted the lifestyle class.

The other end of the room had a big looking middle aged man adorned with jewellery and expensive clothes. His feet were basically buried in gold coins and one if his hands held a miniature city. The other hand was clutching a golden parchment.

This statue depicted his hidden class option.

Swiping his fingers across the air to open his holographic menu Mo Shan instantly noticed his personal statistics. And right above the statue across from him he could then also read the information about his hidden class.

[name: Mountain]

[level: 12]

[class: lifestyle]

[inventory: 4 slot bag]

[money: 6 gold 43 silver 81 bronze coins]

[skills: none]

[status: healthy]

[titles: pioneer]

[world announcements: 5]

[name displayed/hidden: hidden]

Hidden class option:

[holy merchant]

[class traits:

- can purchase plots of land in human NPC controlled cities without the need for city administration approval.

- can obtain one basic plot of land for free in every city on this continent free of cost.

- can freely enter the holy sky city once a week.]

[class detriments:

- can only practice three of the lifestyle occupations

- trade hall taxes are increased from 1 to 10% in all cities]

Behind both statues was a swirling portal and Mo Shan didn't hesitate to step in the portal behind the hidden class statue.

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Tonight was set to be another very eventful night in the federation as the forums would certainly explode and many of the large powers who were invited to the meeting tomorrow knew that it wasn't a matter of "if" anymore but more of how many people and how much to bring. Since the elusive player called Mountain clearly didn't belong to any power and he surely had his reasons to invite everyone.

After stepping back out of the hall of heroes Mo Shan knew that he chose the right path. Forbidding the use of the trade hall was a piece of hidden information but it wasn't a huge detriment since he could simply have others buy and sell things for him. What really made Mo Shan want to jump out of sheer joy was the benefits. The person who owned this class in his previous life really downscaled the benefits, making Mo Shan realise how scheming those top powers really are!

But since he now had these benefits Mo Shan sure as hell was going to make full use of them!

A couple of minutes later inside a large building made out of wood which was carved to appear like a world map.

"Hello esteemed holy merchant, please follow me to a private room." A clerk quickly greeted him.

Mo Shan wasn't surprised at all that they knew of his class since this building was largely related to it. Mo Shan was currently inside the city planning office, which basically was the building players needed to go to in order to buy plots of land in the city and do other stuff related to those plots of land like construction or hiring NPC staff.

The private room exuded a feeling of mystery and grandeur and on the wall there was a large map of the city with all sorts of small pins depicting which plots of land were for sale.

Mo Shan knew he could purchase one basic plot of land for free in every city, which meant that the plot of land couldn't be housing any important buildings and couldn't be connected to the main street, since those were the highly contested plots of land which were not considered "basic" anymore.

From his previous life Mo Shan instantly knew which plot he wanted, though he still had to find out where it was since every medium sized city and above had a different layout and shape.

"Miss, can you show me where on the map the adventurer's association is located?" Mo Shan confidently asked.

The middle aged employee instantly showed a bright smile after being referred to as "miss" and promptly pointed to a plot of land right next to the main street which was relatively close to the auction house and the construction association, which was one of the less popular lifestyle occupations.

Mo Shan instantly chose to "buy" the basic plot of land right next to the adventurer's association which was just off the main street. Which meant that his free plot of land in this city was obtained and if he wanted more he would have to pay just like other players would.

Mo Shan knew he had gotten a steal using his prior knowledge from his past life. Other players would surely have chosen a plot next to the auction hall or the trade hall. But Mo Shan knew that those buildings would be visited way less in the future than the adventurer's association. After the first major update the trade halls would be unlinked and thus used a lot less. And the auction hall wasn't frequented daily by players so Mo Shan knew he had gotten his hands on the best plot of land he could get with his free use. The only ones that could best his plot were those in the main street or the special lands which needed the city council's approval.

Mo Shan wished he could buy the plot on the other side of the adventurer's association too but sadly he had nowhere near enough money for that.

His plot of land currently held a simple cozy medium sized house with a large living area and a simple kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms in other rooms. Mo Shan had no money to tear it down and build something else on the plot currently, so he just kept it as is and left the association.

For the remainder of the day Mo Shan decided to simply craft more potions in the city whilst organizing his thoughts before the large guilds arrived the next day.