Winston walked into the tailor’s shop brimming with curiosity. H’d received the message earlier but it had taken a while to tie up everything and get ready to head to another city. He was starting to feel a bit like that’s all he was doing lately, just running errands as he prepared to leave one place or another. At least this errand was a welcome distraction. His new clothes were finally ready.

This time it wasn’t the girl with the too bright smile at the counter but a rather tried looking woman in her mid-thirties. She was pretty, with dark hair and a heart shaped face but had the worn look of a woman raising a small child. It was the built up pressure of months of short-sleep and extra stress, along with the bone deep certainly that it would be years until things eased up. Although her face and shoulders sagged a bit her eyes were bright and her clothing was impeccable.

“Can I help you?” She asked as Winston walked in.

“Here to pick up my order.”

The woman smiled and dug behind the counter until she brought up two clothing items on wooden hangers.

“I was waiting for you to come. Only had about 20 real orders this month so I was happy for this business. It was also nice to make something besides mage robes, even got a skill rank from these so I tossed in some extra value for you.” The woman said as she handed over the hangers.

Winston inspected them his eyes widening when he saw them. The shirt was pretty standard, but the second item made him both excited and wary. He had a feeling his wallet was going to be taking another one for the team.

[Farmer’s Embroidered Flannel Shirt]

[Uncommon, Light-Armor, Superior-Quality]

[A flannel shirt made in the classic style. Although the design is simple it was made with care, creating an item of surpassing quality. After completion, the creator added on some simple embroidery with ice-worm silk. This allows the user to stay cool and work harder and longer.]

[Armor: 1]

[+3 Endurance]

[-2% Stamina Drain while Working]

[Shirt is naturally cool, even in hot temperatures]

[Created by: Fiona Longshadow]

[Farmer’s Denim Overalls]

[Rare, Light-Armor, Masterwork]

[Made from high-quality cotton by a Journeyman tailor. These overalls were made with exacting precision along with some decent innovations. Minotaur hide has been added to the knees for extra durability, along with dryad hair to strengthen the seams and increase the users affinity for plants and growing things. The result is a masterwork.]

[Armor: 10]

[+5 Endurance]

[+7 Constitution]

[+3 Strength]

[Increases growth rate of all plants, planted by user by 3%]

[Trees planted by user grow 15% faster and produce 10% more fruit.]

[Improves sensitivity of [Soil Sence] when kneeling by 300%]

[Created by: Fiona Longshadow]

It wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting, but he couldn’t say it wouldn’t be useful. He’d been planning to switch over to a mostly fruit based farm anyway. The tree growth likely wouldn’t be that useful but 10% extra fruit from all trees was a huge boost. The smaller 3% boost to growth was also useful but less so. The problem was the last boost.

The difference in quality between low-quality, standard-quality, and high-quality wasn’t really that great. The vast majority of items players produced fell into those three grades.You had to really screw-up to get a poor-quality. On the the flip side of that, you had to put up some decent effort and have good skill ranks to get to superior. The difference between superior and excellent was another similar step-up. However, masterwork was a fundamental transformation. You had to both go above and beyond, as well as have high skill levels and more than a bit of inspiration or blind luck to reach it. Masterwork gear improved skill or class abilities directly. Even a common Iron sword that reached masterwork was worth a decent chunk of money.

He didn’t even what to think about what this was going to cost him, especially for such a mediocre ability. He had no doubt the skill would be useful, but it might not be worth the price.

“Excellent work.” Winston praised. “What’s it going to cost me though?”

“4700.” She said bluntly. Winston winced slightly, but it was honestly less than he was expecting. It was still overpriced for the bonuses it gave. Then again, custom gear with crafting bonuses was expensive. He could buy a next-gen console with the money these clothes had cost him.

Winston popped open a trade window and they made the transfer. Things were much easier when trading directly with other players. Both parties could just send money directly from their banks to each other as a digital transfer as long as they were in the same safe-zone.

“Do you have a few minutes?” He asked once the clothes had been paid for. The older woman looked at him a bit oddly but shrugged. Winston didn’t stand on ceremony. He felt a bit awkward but that was fine. It was just a conversation.

“You know form my order that I’m a farmer. I was just wondering how much cloth you guys usually go through. Do you guys buy the cloth directly, or do you process it from cotton, or wool, or whatever your selves?”

The woman seemed surprised at the question but was more than happy to answer. “It depends really. We do have to do our own weaving sometimes, the prices for cotton are high, but it’s usually the best all-around material and not horribly overpriced. The problem is there’s no real high-level equivalent. Everything the shop uses to make powerful high-level items comes from animals. Either, wool, silk, hair, or fur.”

Winston pondered that for a while. Then realized it was likely true. Any plant sufficiently rare or magical to be made into high level cloth would probably get used for alchemy instead and growing something like in enough quantity to use for tailoring would be very difficult. It might also be an extremely good money maker. He didn’t think he was quite at that level yet as a farmer, but he should be getting close, or at least within a few months. It would be something to look into after he got his orchard started and got some consistent money coming in again.

“How much cloth do you guys normally go through?” Winston asked.

”It depends on business and the orders obviously. Used quite a bit for your stuff and all cotton. Your’s took around four pounds?”

Winston did some quick mental math she’d said earlier that she only had 20 orders this month, even if she’d used a bit more than that for just regular clothes, that mean she’d used less than 100 pounds. That was for a decently successful store in a capital city. How much cotton would he be able to grow? How many shops like this one were in the city?

He ran some guesstimates and realized he could likely supply the entire city with cotton without a huge amount of trouble. Moving that much would crash the markets. It didn’t seem worth it unless he was really off on his numbers. He’d have to look into it more. The plan for the time being was still growing crap loads of fruit to get things moving again.

He couldn’t even imagine the amount of players that ate breakfast in game every day and wanted a glass of coffee or OJ. He had no doubt he could make an orchard the size of the city and wouldn’t even make a dent in the games demand. That was the sort of long-term limitless demand products he was looking to cash in on.

“Thanks… for the information and the clothes. I’ll send my buddies here if they are ever in the area.” Winston told the woman as he headed for the door.

*******************************************

“Now what?” Troll asked as his wagon appeared in Westriver. It was already dark but the area was busy, it was 8:00 on friday night and it was one of the games busiest times. Winston didn’t answer right away, too busy goggling at the size of the city. Westriver was HUGE, the population seemed significantly smaller than Valor’s Crossing, but it was hard to tell because everything was so spread out.

Valor’s Crossing had been a bustling city packed full of players but Westriver was a sprawling mess of docks, warehouses, shops, and slums. The city was on the fork of two large rivers, where they joined into a even bigger river. He tried to get his bearings but then the smell hit his nose and he nearly gagged. It was dead-fish, mud, and human excrement.

“Well, this is a nice place.” Winston said sarcastically as he tried to get his rebelling stomach under control.

“Yeah, I did some reading up on this place before we came here. The rivers are deep and connect the with sea. The land outside the city is some of the most fertile in the 10 Kingdoms and the mountains to the east are also full or iron and coal. This place is the largest trading hub on the continent, but the entire place is run by the great trading families and the gangs. Only about half the city is a safe-zone.” Troll explained.

“Great.” Winston muttered. “Well, we’ve got a few days. I’ve gotta find out what it takes to open a stall, then get one made. After that it’s mostly just shopping and finding a portal to Kishik. Although we’ve got a week to waste. First though it’s an inn for Bog and I.” Winston said.

“Have fun! I’m gonna have a look around try to find some deals.” Troll said as Winston and Bog hopped off the wagon and went to find a inn.

It was Friday night and the weather in the city miserable. It was raining exactly but instead fog was rolling up off the river and the whole town was damp and dreary. It reminded Winston of crappy TV shows that took place in old London. Everything was old brick buildings, wet cobblestones, and foggy alleys. Winston wandered around a bit aimlessly. Until he took a wrong turn.

[You Have Entered The East Docks]

[You are no longer in a safe area]

Shapes appeared out of the fog, converging on Winston and Bog. Winston grabbed Bog around the neck and dragged her back a step.

[You Have Entered the East Square]

[You Are In a Safe Zone]

Winston only got a few glimpses of blood red name-plates before they disappeared into the fog again.

“You guys are classy. Do you really just wait over there and gank anyone who steps over the line?” Winston said to the fog.

“Screw you!” said a voice from the darkness. “We don’t tell you how to play the game.”

“Stay classy guys!” Winston called as he got Bog turned around and headed back the way he’d come. “Wow… What jerks.” Winston told his bird as they looked for a decent inn. “I mean, how bored do you really have to be to just stand there and gank noobs all night.”

It took quite a while to find somewhere with a stable that had decent prices and wasn’t a rat hole, but eventually Winston found a quaint little inn called the Rusty Shiv. It’s atmosphere didn’t match its name. It was mostly filled with craftsmen and tradesmen. It wasn’t great, but at least it was clean and after he got Bog settled he found out the food wasn’t half bad.

Winston worked while he ate. He popped open a browser and brought up a map of the city, quickly locating where he currently was. Then it was just a matter for doing some digging to find out where the competition was supposed to be located.

It was in the Crier’s district. One of the oldest parts of the city and where most of the powerful merchant families had their estates. Apparently there was some sort of outdoor combination arena/pavilion thing that one of the more extravagant families had build a few centuries ago. The yearly cooking competition was held there, alongside various fighting tournaments, alchemy contests, and other such things.

Getting a spot to set-up a stand outside wouldn’t be easy and in a city like this he didn’t doubt he’d have to make more than a few bribes. Still, his cash reserves were in good shape, so tossing some gold around shouldn’t be an issue, as long at it wasn’t too much. He planned to gouge the competitors but he only had so much product. So if the costs to set up his stand got too high it wouldn’t be worth bothering with anymore. Winston would deal with it all tomorrow. He logged out.

**************************

The next day flew by as Winston went to talk to a few people who already had stands up on the street around the arena. That took a small bribe, mostly in silver, to get through. Then it was the city guard, that bribe took gold. Then it was an NPC from the city planning office, which charged him 50 gold for a permit. Winston knew he was getting ripped off but arguing about it would have taken too much time and it was still less than he was willing to spend.

That left him with the stand and his sign. That was easier. Since the inn he was staying out was in the craftsmen district it didn’t take long to find a small woodshop. It was run by a aging half-elf with gold streaks in his brown-hair. He looked like he was in his early forties but had to be twice that. The man looked down at Winston with a puzzled expression.

“Can I help you?” He asked, his voice was oddly sweet for a male. Which would have been odd, if he wasn’t part elf.

“Yeah, I need a cheap stand and a sign. Something I can put up and take down fairly easily, and it all needs to fit in my pack. So no more than say… a hundred pounds.” Winston said. He would have to buy a new pack, but as long as he didn’t go overboard it would be pretty cheap. “Also do you have any paint?”

Hours later Winston sat in the upstairs of a fairly classy restaurant across from Trish. She was even more dressed up than usual in a dazzling green dress while Winston was about as dressed up as he ever got in black dress slacks and a dark-blue dress shirt.

“I can’t believe you dove an hour to take me to a dinner theater.” Trish said with a laugh. Winston scowled at her, but there wasn’t much heat in it. The drive had been a long one, but they’d had to go three towns over to find something interesting to do.

“It seemed interesting and the reviews were pretty good. Besides we’ve been dating for a month now. Did you really wanna go eat at Marnie's and then catch a movie again? That’s been every single date so far. Thought we’d do something a little different tonight.” Winston said defensively.

“I wasn’t complaining. You just don’t seem the theater going type.” Trish said. “It’s actually kinda fun. I’ve never seen a play before that wasn’t put on by the high-school.”

“At least it’s not a musical…. I’m not sure I could handle that, but I was looking around for date ideas and found this place. It was this or an an indie-band playing at a bar downtown and after I listened to their music on youtube I had no desire to see them live.” Winston explained.

“Besides, if we’d have gone to a concert you’d have just worn jeans and a sweatshirt. Then I’d have missed out on you in that dress.” Winston said as he reached across the table and took her hand. Her face pinkend, and Winston smiled wider.

“Very smooth.” Trish said, still blushing but having regained her composure somewhat.

“Josh taught me that one actually. The sincere completement with the eye contact and the hand-hold.” Winston said.

Trish snorted and laughed. “He’s really is a monster.”

“He really is.” Winston said with a laugh, releasing her hand and breaking the eye contact. “All the girls know he’s a womanizer, but he’s always so straightforward and polite about it that none of them seem to care. He’d never cheat on any of them but he has no real problem just swapping every few weeks. He still talks to all of them, and they all know he’d go help if they ever needed him for something. He’s been dating Katie for like two months now and that’s the longest relationship he’s been in ever I think. He’s the only person I’ve ever met that might be able to make a harem work for him.” Winston also knew he’d probably be breaking up with Katie to get back with Jessica soon but he didn’t say that.

“What, no harem for you?” Trish asked with a raised eyebrow.

“God, no.” Winston said immediately. “I mean, as a man I can’t say the idea doesn’t have some appeal but I look at the whole thing pragmatically.”

“What do you mean?” Trish asked.

“I mean, look at the divorce rate? Look at all the fail relationships going on all the time.” Winston said. “The vast majority of those aren't because of incompatible personalities. It’s because one or both sides aren't willing to put in the work and time. A real functioning relationship is hard work. Trying to balance more than one of those at a time seems nearly impossible to me. It’s not that I don’t think someone could do it, but how would you have time for anything else? You know how many text-messages Josh gets a day? No, thank you.” Winston said, shuddering theatrically.

Trish’s smile this time seemed to light up the room and she reached over and took his hand. “What have you been up to in game?” She asked, changing the subject. “I’ve been busy with student council stuff, and haven’t been at the lunch table much. Expansion comes out this Tuesday you know?

“Doesn’t affect me much, assuming I don’t run into any of the new skills they are adding, but who would even know? There’s so many skills in the game no-one has ever unlocked. Apparently there are three entire branches of magic no-one has ever touched in the three years since launch. That’s not sub-skills but complete magical disciples.”

“But what have I been doing? Just wasting time mostly before I move to Kishik. I’m gonna set-up a vegetables stand during next weekend’s cooking competition and sell some high-quality vegetables. Then after that, it’s time to head your way and get started on my new farm. I’m planning a massive shopping spree on Friday that should be fun.” Winston said.

“Be careful when you’re selling those vegetables. Some of those cooks are the darlings of their guilds. If you push them too hard you might make enemies.” Trish said.

Winston shrugged. “I’m starting my own business. It’s pretty inevitable i’m going to make enemies. Then again, I’m willing to back down if pushed. Taking a hard-line stance is for novel protagonists not businessmen.”

Trish laughed but their conversation ended as the lights dimmed and the play started.