Sora appeared in a large courtyard, it appeared desolate at the moment but when more players start to arrive this will be the main hub for trading, group finding, and even dating. The center of the courtyard had an enormous fountain with a statue of Helara as the centerpiece. The bottom of the fountain had built in seats to accommodate a large amount of players and guards could be seen standing around the fountain dressed in silver and gold armor. Sora headed out of the courtyard to one of the many buildings clustered around the courtyard. The building had elegant windows that displayed shiny materials, weapons, and armor. The lowest price of the equipment being displayed in the window was 500 gold pieces for a stylish dagger made with intricate carvings of lotuses on the blade. Sora didn’t bother looking at any of the equipment on display in the shop and headed towards a man behind a counter, presumably the owner of the shop. The man had a finely groomed mustache that curled at the ends and dressed more classy than most NPCs would.

“Greetings adventurer, is there anything I can help you with today? You seem to be one of my first customers for today so I’ll give you a good deal.”

“A noble who isn’t stingy with his money is very rare to find in these days, you have my gratitude ahead of time.”

“Ohoho, I’m afraid I’m not a noble young man but I am quite happy that you would think I am.”

Sora immediately made the owner of the shop have a good impression of him. He had dealt with this NPC quite a bit in his previous life as it was a very popular shop near the center of the city which he frequented nearly every time he was nearby.

“You don’t happen to have any identification tools for sale do you?”

“We indeed have many of them for sale, let me bring some out.”

The shop owner went behind the counter and started to shuffle through multiple cabinets and containers. He came back and put five different magnifying glasses on the counter. The first one was a simple wooden handled tool with a convex mirror in the center while the last one was made from a metal that shined with a purple luster and had many different sized mirrors that could be added or subtracted from the center mirror. Sora quickly picked up the basic wooden handled tool.

“How much for this one here?”

“Well that tool isn’t very expensive, since you caught me in such a good mood you can just take it for free.”

“I’ll take you up on that generous offer, thank you once again kind sir."

The results of Sora flattering the shop owner was more effective than he though, he guessed it was because he was the first customer to come to the city. Sora stored his tool and headed out of the shop. The tool was used to identify weapons that didn’t display stats or effects. It was mainly only needed for rare items or above but it wasn’t a bad idea to have one handy at all times, you never know when luck will strike. It was better to have the tool in case a rare weapon drops to avoid from having to come back to town every time you need to identify something.

Sora went a few buildings down from the shop and found another building with a huge forge placed next to it. There was a stubby looking man with a huge beard who was pouring liquid metal into a mold. Sora walked up to the man once he was finished pouring the metal and directly gave him 20 silver.

“A sturdy sword with a good edge is all I ask, get me whatever this amount can cover.”

This blacksmith was a straightforward man, he took the silver before going to a rack with many different swords and pulled a straight sword with a hint of blue mixed into the metal before coming back and handing the sword to Sora.

[X1 Frost Iron Sword obtained]

Rarity - Common

Durability - 50/50

Damage - 21-28

Requires - Level 15

“Made from an ore found in the Eastern and Northern part of the continent. The blade is lighter, sharper, and more sturdy than a normal iron sword.”

+5 Strength

Sora knew that the blacksmith preferred when players were more direct with their purchases, if Sora had tried to barter with the blacksmith then the sword could have cost him an extra 5 to 10 silver. He equipped his new sword and decided to start leveling up until Blossom and LeeLee were able to make it to the city. Sora headed towards the west side of the town where a huge gate that seemed to be made for giants opened up into a vast plains. The plains consisted of basic enemies like bunnies, foxes, and wolves. Sora didn’t pay any attention to these enemies and took a path that circled towards the north of the city. After 10 minutes the plains turned into a forest and the forest turned into a swamp.

Sora walked through the swamp until he finally saw a shadow that was hunkered down within the muck of the swamp. As he got closer he could smell the stench of rotting corpses and finally got close enough to see the figure that was hunkered down.

Level 17 -Zombie Villager-

Sora pulled out a Roasted Feline Snapper and consumed it, gaining 10 agility. As Sora came close the zombie suddenly turned to face him, it’s jaw was dislocated and seemed to be leaking a green mucus as it staggered up to it’s feet. Sora decided to use a hit and run tactic, zombies were extremely slow and could only really do damage if they cornered you. Sora opened up with a basic attack followed by a [Crippling Strike] so the zombie would be slowed down even further. With his agility buff from consuming a Roasted Feline Snapper, the slow movement of the zombie, and the parry dagger working constantly to block attacks Sora was able to kill the zombie very quickly without taking a hit. The zombie fell into the mud before it’s corpse disappeared, leaving behind a few copper coins.

Sora continued to hunt zombies, zombies who were alone were basically just free EXP waiting for Sora to come by and take. Even when there were two zombies Sora didn’t have trouble kiting them around using [Crippling Strike] and [Concuss] to keep the zombies away from him. After hunting this way for a while Sora finally ran into a bit of a road block. In front of Sora was a pack of four zombies that would stay grouped up as they roamed around.

“Hmmm, it should be a little interesting.”

Sora used [Purge With Silver] before rushing out to meet the zombies head on, opening with a [Concuss] and [Crippling Strike] to take two of the zombies out of the fight for a while. With the buff from [Purge with Silver] the zombies health quickly dropped, when one of the zombies was close to dying he would kite away from it and start focusing on another one. Just as Sora killed one of the zombies a bright silver light flashed as huge damage numbers appeared above the other three zombies, killing them all at the same time. The plan when Sora fought against groups of three or more was to whittle down the health of all the zombies to a point where [Purge With Silver] could eliminate them all at once, this kept his DPS at the maximum amount, making his clearing speed very high.

[Level up]

[Level up]

[Level up]

Sora was leveling at around a level per hour but now that he was over the levels of the zombies the EXP slowed down. Sora estimated that Blossom and LeeLee would be entering the city soon and decided to head back, killing zombies on the way. Just as Sora was about to leave the swamp he saw a small object that was glowing a bright gold running through the swamp. Sora suddenly stopped, mouth agape as he examined the creature.

Level 1 [Treasure Spirit]

Sora suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, in his past life he had only encountered a treasure spirit 7 times. Sora quickly calmed his mind down as he examined the small orb of golden light jump around, leaving after images. The spirit suddenly started heading in Sora’s direction. Sora started to panic as he formulated a plan on dealing with the spirit, the spirit only had 1 HP but trying to hit it was extremely difficult. Even professional players looked like clumsy noobs in front of the treasure spirit. Sora thought of a plan before hiding behind a tree, holding a small pebble. Sora used [Purge With Silver] on the small pebble before dropping it and stealthily walking around the treasure spirit, positioning himself behind it.

“10...9...8..7”

Sora started to count down as he ran towards the treasure spirit with his sword drawn. The treasure spirit suddenly turned away from him, shrieking as it bolted in the opposite direction. Just as the treasure spirit ran past a tree a flash of silver light appeared.

-1

The treasure spirit fell to the floor before the golden aura dispersed, leaving behind a ring that shimmered in a golden light. Sora walked happily towards the loot with a smile plastered on his face, this is the first time he’s felt this way since the accident, he was truly having a good time. Sora bent down and picked up the ring.

[x1 Ring of Good Fortune obtained]

Rarity - Unique Rare

Durability - 55/55

Requires - Level 15

“An ancient ring that has been blessed by Lucia, Goddess of Luck.”

+5 All Stats

+2 Luck

Sora put the ring on and looked at it for 5 minutes straight before finally pulling away from it. This ring will probably stay with him until possibly level 70 or 80, the +5 stat gain for his base stats were good but he was even more excited about the +2 luck. Luck buffing items were one of the rarest effects an equip can have. Sora continued to fight at the edge of the swamp with renewed vigor, he was the arch nemesis of zombies and ended up leaving when he got a message from Blossom.

“We are in the city mister fisherman, it’s so pretty! Hurry up and get over here so we can get our classes.”

“Alright I’m on my way now, start looking around the city so you know where everything is.”

Sora headed back to the city as he tried to find an excuse for when he told Blossom and LeeLee how to get hidden classes. He quickly shrugged it off and decided that he will tell them he found some clues in a hidden cave.

…..

The courtyard in the city was now starting to fill up with players, some players already opened a shop in the best locations so they could attract a lot of customers. The merchandise wasn’t all that great but someone would want what they have. Sora found a pair of girls dressed in black leather with beautiful silver capes wrapping around their bodies, the passing players couldn’t help but take a second look as they walked by. Blossom saw Sora and ran up to him with an excited look.

“Mister fisherman this place is so cool! Now let’s go get our classes, hurry hurry I really want to get my warrior class already.”

“Now now, let’s find a place to talk in private first, I have some information you might find interesting.”

“Oooooo alright let’s go grab a bite at a restaurant I found down the street. There shouldn’t be anyone there since everyone is rushing to get a class and start grinding EXP.”

“Alright, let’s go then.”

Sora, Blossom, and LeeLee all went to an out of the way restaurant and just as Blossom had predicted, the entire place was empty. Sora ordered a meal for the three of them and sat down in a corner before putting on a serious look.

“Would a hidden class be interesting to either of you?”