Let Cephaphyr do more...

This thought stayed in Eldrian's mind the entire day. Stopping him from really focusing during his classes. Naturally, it was not just this thought, but also the thought of all the goblins. Eldrian fearing just how many would be inside the caves.

Believing that clearing the entrances was the easiest part and that they would never be able to search the insides of the caves.

The more he thought, the more he felt it was hopeless. How was he supposed to do this? He ended up stuck on this sour note, failing to even enjoy Erik's company during lunch.

Coming back home Eldrian logged onto the forum simply because he was so used to his routine. His mind not at all with his actions, not until he saw that a new major update had been released.

This snapped his drifting thoughts back to their places. Quickly he focused up as he read this update notification.

[We have realized that players do not feel united. They do not feel like they can influence each other. This is due to how we had spread the player population throughout the entire world. Our way of ensuring each kept their own time zone.]

[Due to this realization we are going to implement a few measures to fix this before we start selling our new and improved headsets.]

Eldrian read through the rest of the post with rapt attention. Sad that most of this would not even apply to him until he made it back to civilization in the game.

The biggest factors of this update were enabling players to sell things to each other and being able to fully choose their starting location -limited to their time-zone synchronization.

The way trading would be done would be similar to trading platforms on other games. There would be a few things different though. The trading platforms would be done through the temples of gods. Making them available throughout most of the world. At least as long as there were races of Kalos settled, there should be at least one or more temples.

A slight limit on these trading platforms was, the fact that the type of trading was limited to the god the temple was built for. As an example, the developers listed the most common trading they expected would take place.

Weapons would be sold through Dioktis, the god of war. Blacksmithing materials through Dragos, the god of dragons and blacksmithing. Potions through Asteria, the goddess of life, as well as most materials for potions. This was because she was also the goddess of plants.

In this manner, all types of trading could be done. Not all the gods and what can be traded was explained to the players, the developers leaving this to the players to find out.

Jewelry for example was mentioned and actually pointed out by the developers. Stating that this was neither a weapon nor armor, rather an accessory, and as such it would require a different god than Dioktis to trade.

The developers added with this example that all things would be tradable, even bodies and living things. Finding the right god would be a struggle though, some might even be evil gods of the Kako races. Other gods would have very few temples, with some gods having less than four temples over the entire world.

While this trading method was a bit irritating since it was so split. Requiring firstly, that the temple was in the city the player was in, and secondly, them traveling to all the different temples they wish to trade through. It was still a great addition.

The opening of trading excited all players. It would enable them to actually share their progress. It would enable them to sell their excess loot, something which NPCs mostly did not care for. It would also enable them to gain some really useful things, like potions far easier.

It was not easy to get potions through the NPCs. Mostly due to how few NPCs made potions and the fact that these NPC normally did not wish to make many potions. They only made some when they required more money for their experiments during normal circumstances. Very few actually were part of the military and made as many as they could.

Naturally, like with all trading platforms, there would be a tax. But in this case, it was quite little. Five copper for listing something and if it is sold then a tax of 1% of the cost up to 1 silver. Meaning that when one sold anything more than one gold worth, they would always only pay one silver in tax.

This money would naturally go to the temple. Yet it was not just a tax for the sake of taxing, it had a bonus. This bonus was that once players have paid a full gold of tax they would be able to use their tax to lessen the death penalty.

The degree of lessening would be determined by their level. For anyone yet to reach level ten it would mean they only lose all the XP they had gained, not being reset to the level before with 0 XP. If they had traded three gold, then they could also stop the loss of current XP.

This was really useful, so much so that it might even be better than not losing a level. Though one would still lose the XP in that case.

The reason for its usefulness was simple. Eldrian for example was currently level 8. Needing 40k XP to reach level 9, he already had 32k. The total XP he had needed to reach level 8 though, had only been 92k. This meant that if he reset his XP to 0 for level 8, even at this low level, he would lose almost more than half the XP, he had saved in his levels.

For above level 10, it was explained that it would depend. At 1 gold you would only lose 1 level, instead of the standard 2. At 2 gold you can limit your loss completely, only your XP being reset to 0 for the level you are on. At 5 gold, like before level 10, the loss could be completely negated.

These values were not set, explained the developers. Saying that it would increase as players' levels increased. Even so, everyone was happy about this inclusion. Sure it would take a great deal of trading to receive these benefits, but no player complained.

This also explained why the tax was limited to 1 silver. Making it possible for those aiming for max profit to gain a great advantage. While those wishing for the death penalty lessening would need to trade at least one gold worth of items a hundred times. Forcing people to choose between profit and XP.

For the first time in many, many posts. The players were praising the developers.

Eldrian sat in silence for a while after finishing the post. This change was really big.

Before he could not really get rid of the Tier 5 greatsword he had gotten. He might have tried selling it to those in his city, but no one actually had the coin to afford what it was worth. If they did they might as well go to a blacksmith.

While having kept it had helped him, Eldrian always planned to become a blacksmith. This update would enable him to actually make a good amount of money through that. While he might not get as much as he would if he kept it in a store, he felt certain he would be able to sell it far faster.

This benefit was true for all craftsmen and meant the most to those trying to make guns. The nobles were too blinded by immediate returns to invest when the product was still weak.

Now through this, they might be able to support themselves. Cutting the NPCs completely, which would be far better for them.

After getting over his surprise, Eldrian finally logged into the game. One part of him happy that it was the weekend and another sad. He was happy that he could place all his focus into the game but worried that this came too early. He felt it was most needed when they started entering the caves.

...

"M-my lord..." A goblin shaman bowed obediently to one of the Oni, who was disappointed to find that the girl they had been chasing had disappeared again.

The Oni looked almost just like goblin knights, having a great figure and toned muscles. But unlike the goblin knight, its skin was not just dark green. Instead, it was a patchy mix of dark red and green. The Oni also had two small horns on its forehead, the signature of most demons.

"What!" Snarled the Oni, wishing to rip the little goblin's neck off. It only stopped itself since goblins shamans were the most reliable. If they only had goblin knights, then they would actually have to join the search. Goblin knights might be decent at fighting, but they were next to useless at organizing themselves and others.

Shivering the shaman wished he did not need to tell his lord. Yet it was his task to monitor the cave entrances.

"Something happened at the cave entrances." The shaman said in great haste, fearing for his life as he felt the anger building up in his lord's body.

"Explain!" The Oni yelled, causing the goblin to lose its footing and kneel in front of the Oni. Even being a Tier higher than the Oni, the shaman dared not delay in its explanation. Instinct propelling it to not delay.

"A group of humans seemed to have taken to killing those guarding the entrances."

"So what!" The Oni became more irritated, feeling that this was a waste of time. Who cared if a few goblins were dying?

Shivering the shaman tried to explain what was happening, doing so caused him to lose an arm. But he was grateful for still having his head as he led his lord to the entrances. Limping from the loss of blood and pain caused by not being allowed to heal the wound.

While the Oni did not care for a few dying, a few thousand was too many.

Once he saw what had happened he killed the shaman on the spot. Feeling that the shaman was too useless to have allowed this to happen.