Buying Materials

Palak City is one of the five major cities housed by the Hardenia Kingdom.

The player population in Palak City was much bigger than in the beginner village. Players from hundreds of villages would be sent to this place.

A variety of races can be seen moving around the area. The ambiance was lively. It was expected because the game was already running for five days.

Ethan doesn't know what is the average level of players in this place but he can assume it was between levels 7 and 9.

It was easy to level up below this stage but soon the leveling speed would slow down after reaching level 10 and beyond.

Aside from the large experience needed, the monster outside the city was much more challenging than the beginner villages.

Truly, in the city, the real game begins.

Ethan took his time to admire the surrounding. He missed this kind of feeling.

After all, in his previous life as a guild leader, every time he finishes a task outside, he'll just stay in his big guild residence instead of taking a breather in this kind of place.

He was in some kind of plaza. In his back was a water fountain.

The buildings he can see from his position were much more organized and there is no single establishment that was made entirely of wood.

There are a lot of NPCs walking in the street. They were mixed with the flow of players. They were different in races and dress attires.

Having enough sightseeing, Ethan started to walk from his spot while checking what he can do for now.

"This quest huh, for now, let's set this aside."

Ethan ignored the unique quest he had previously received.

The red dot on his map was pointing to the location of the Witch Elaina, which is located in the noble state area of the city.

Palak City was divided into four parts.

The Governor's State where the head of this city was living as well as the Administration Hall is located.

The second part was the noble state where the noble's house was lined up.

The third part is the most crowded place of the city, an area next to the governor's state—the Trade Center.

It was the place where big establishments and stalls were displayed. Foreign and inside trade was usually held in that place. Various shops could also be seen.

The last part was of course the residence area. A place mostly filled with commoners.

Ordinary as it seems, it was usually the place where a unique quest can be triggered...as most of the players say.

Who knows.

What if some kind of legendary hero from the past was resting in that place? Planning to spend the rest of their life in peace waiting for their successor to come... that was just an example.

After several minutes of walking, Ethan's feet carried him to the trade center.

If he were to describe this part of the city, it was very simple...

Noisy!

The place was very noisy.

Trade here, shouting here, recruitment, and more activities involving both NPC and players.

A large establishment was visible from his spot. The said building would easily catch the attention of the people if they were to step into this place.

That was the Auction House.

It was run by NPC management.

Various items that were circulating in the kingdom can be seen at the Auction house.

So it was some kind of treasure trove, well only for those who have coins and are willing to compete for the price.

chime.

Ethan entered a merchant shop and walks towards the counter table where an old woman was sitting. A pipe was resting in her mouth.

She stopped for a moment then glanced at the newly arrived customer and said a curt 'Welcome' before sipping her pipe again.

"Hello, grandma—" Ethan wanted to greet but was stopped immediately.

"Stop you brat. I'm still a maiden so call me Miss owner!"

The store owner cut Ethan's words as she change her relaxed posture to a merchant one while placing down her pipe.

'Maiden you say, you clearly have so many wrinkles in the face you old hag!'

Ethan mentally retorted as his cheeks were twitching but remained smiling through the past seconds.

He inspected the old woman and only the name "Kara" was reflected.

A player can only inspect the name while the other information was hidden—not unless they have affinities to the said NPC.

"Brat, you're thinking bad things do you?" the woman looks at him with suspicion.

"It's nothing, miss owner."

Ethan immediately said and place a single note on the counter.

"Anyways, I would like to buy what in the list. Does your shop have these things?" He asked.

The shop of this hag sells different material items aside from potions. Items such as talismans, monster's part, and various types of herbs can be seen on display.

In short, this was a suitable place for artisans and alchemists to gather their crafting materials.

And him? He also wanted to craft something that's why he went first into this place.

"Hmm... san flask, slime core, rag cloth, spidey eyes, and kero-kero oil. I have these five but what's this last item?"

The owner Kara paused while pointing to the one item on the list, "What do you mean by elemental grass?" she asked.

"...ah well, it was a grass that contains elemental mana. Though I prefer if it contains fire element," Ethan replied.

In truth, he forgot the real name of the grass. Though he can vaguely remember it was a grass that contains elemental mana.

Elemental mana was different from normal mana. It was some kind of mana that seeps through to the other matters such as grass, trees, and even monsters.

This type of mana had already contains one specific element, unlike the normal one which is still raw and bland in general.

Fire elemental mana, for instance, can be often found in places with hot temperatures such as mountains near a volcano or a lake connected to a hot spring.

Materials that contain elemental mana have various purposes but a lot of them need arduous research.

In his previous life, the most famous usage of these materials was to use them for upgrading equipment bestowing several effects such as elemental damage or other magic bonuses.

"Brat, if you had said grass that contains elemental mana, then I have tons of it."

Kara pointed to one of the corners of the shop.

"Just you know, I only had water and fire. You can search on that shelf. And the other materials you needed were in the right corner. Get it yourself since this maiden would like to rest for a while."

She was back again in a relaxed state and took her pipe.

"Alright."

'I understand that your old knees were on the verge of breaking, old hag.'

Normally, the NPC store owner would be the one serving the customer.

But in this shop, the customer was the one to search. It was pretty tasking considering there were a lot of shelves around.

Ethan first collects the other materials in the right section. After that, he goes to the part where the said elemental grass can be found.

Skimming through the shelves for several minutes, he finally found the grass he needed. One leaf was enclosed in the vial.

The grass was dotted with red spots.

Taking five vials of it, he turns around and walks back to the counter.

"I found it, miss owner. Here, these are all the items I wanted to buy."

Ethan called placing all the items on the counter table.

"Hmm... exactly two silvers," said Kara after calculating all the chosen items.

Ethan wasn't surprised about the price. He expected it would be expensive, especially he bought a grass with elemental mana.

He paid two silvers leaving him with two silver and ten copper coins.

After turning his pay and thanking the old hag, he walks outside the shops and trodded back on his previous track.

Ethan planned to process the materials he bought that's why he needs room to concentrate—he needs a crafting room.

After a while, he arrived at the front of the Artisan Association building.

In this building, he can rent a room for 1 silver. It was quite an expensive rent considering he can only use the room for three hours.

Though he can't complain about the price since he wasn't a member artisan. To be a member artisan, you need to have a primary class focuses on production.

Paying the exact rent, Ethan went to choose one of the rooms in Artisan building and start to do his task.