Sora was currently sitting in a tea shop on the edge of the courtyard which he was transported to when he first came to the city. The shop was somewhat empty right now but still had a few people walking in and out. Most people would walk in, realize it was a tea shop, and then turn right around and leave. This little shop was the place that Sora frequented in his off time, the tea wasn’t exactly top notch but the atmosphere was calm and he could watch all of the people in the courtyard, scrambling about trying to sell things, form parties, and revive from the Statue of Helara. Sora continued to sip his tea as he enjoyed the rare moment of downtime. He had planned to take a break from combat to work on his skills a little more and came here to decide what he wanted to do. At first Sora decided to go ahead and do his fishing quest to become a Novice Fisherman but when he thought of the amount of bait he would need he changed his plans to go to an excavation site to get his digging skill up while getting bait. If he was lucky he could also find some rare items and equipment, even items that resulted in a hidden class were possible to unearth from an excavation site.

As Sora was mulling over what he wanted to do next, a refined man with long black hair walked into the tea shop, taking a large breath to take in the aroma of the tea in the air. He had a feminine face with sharp features, and some might have even mistook him for a girl if they only glanced. Sora noticed him right away and immediately recognized him. He was a person who he had gotten to know in his last life, he and Sora would always find themselves chatting over a cup of tea. The man seemed noble and dignified but in reality he was quite weird, he was obsessed with tea, even to the point where his username was ‘Green Tea’. Although the man was a bit weird, he also was very good at getting information. Sora would specifically come to the tea shop just to find this man if he needed information, other than information he was also a good strategian. Sora and him would talk for hours about different battle strategies and form a small illusory battlefield between them to see who could win.

Green Tea sat down at a table next to Sora and started to examine the tea that was in front of him. He would smell it, taste it, touch it, and even listen to it at some points. At first the girls were quite enamored with him and was thinking about going over to talk to him, but his actions had effectively repelled every single person in the shop. There was only one person who still managed to walk up to his table and sit down, it was Sora.

“Violet Ginseng Tea, a very bold choice.”

“Oh?”

Green Tea was surprised at the man who sat across from him, he had already hooked him by talking about his choice in tea. He thought maybe the man was only spouting off a couple of random words but as he looked at the tea Sora was drinking he had felt like he found a soulmate.

“I will admit that the flavor is a bit harsh, but you are drinking the same thing, are you saying you are also bold?”

“Haha, well I would be if I didn’t use a cup made from natural wood. You are using a porcelain cup which will make the tea react and turn into an overly bitter flavor.”

Green Tea had just noticed that Sora did in fact have a cup that was carefully carved from some sort of wood. Green Tea didn’t think he was just spouting nonsense anymore, the tea did have a different flavor depending on the container used to hold it. He was excited to have finally pieced it together. Violet Ginseng Tea had the best aroma and taste but sometimes it would become overly bitter. Green Tea had steeled his heart as he was getting ready to get on the ground to beg for a wooden cup from Sora. Just as he stood up Sora had slid a wooden cup in front of him.

“...Thank you.”

“Eh? It’s only some wood, let’s not make a big deal out of it. It would be troublesome if you draw attention to us.”

The two men started to chat as Green Tea made a new cup of tea using the wooden cup that Sora had given him. They started to talk about news that was going around the game and the name ‘Ethereal’ came up a few times. Green Tea had even mentioned Blossom a few times and LeeLee once. The game had barely launched yet Green Tea was very knowledgeable about everything that had happened. They talked about politics, literature, war tactics, and of course tea came up multiple times. After a long chat Sora decided it was time for his break to end.

“I enjoyed our chat, Green Tea. I will definitely see you again in the future, I hope we can continue where we left off.”

“Haha, I sure hope so Mr… Well your information is hidden so I’m not sure what your name is.”

“Hmmm, for now you can just call me Violet Ginseng.”

“Ha! A fine name, then Mr. Violet Ginseng, I wish you luck on your endeavors.”

Sora left the tea shop and headed towards the Transportation District, he was planning on flying to the beginner excavation site just south of the city. After paying the 5 Silver and a quick ride on a giant crow, he had arrived at his destination. The land was surrounded by a forest but the area around the excavation site was completely deforested. As Sora walked up to the site he noticed only a couple people, both of them just tiny specks compared to the size of the site. Sora found a man wearing a wide brimmed hat sitting at the entrance to the site. He was the NPC that sold basic excavation materials along with the person who would give rewards based on the items you found.

“Hello good sir, how is site treating you recently?”

“It’s been very dry lately, it seems we have already taken the easy picks and now it’s time for the real work to begin.”

“Haha, real work will get you real rewards.”

“Well said young man, well said!”

“Do you have an excavation kit I could purchase?”

“I have a good amount on hand, it will cost ya 10 Silver though.”

Sora handed the man 10 Silver and retrieved a small box that had basic excavating tools including; A pickaxe, a small shovel, a brush, a chisel, a hammer, and a pan for sifting through dirt to find smaller artifacts. Sora took the kit and found a spot away from the other two people excavating.

The basic process was to use his normal shovel to dig up dirt, occasionally getting some bait and pebbles. If he runs into a rock he uses the pickaxe to break it, if the rock needs to be delicately removed to avoid damaging something then he uses the chisel and hammer. The small shovel was to dig around objects carefully and the brush was used to gently remove dirt off of the surface of an object. The pan used for sifting dirt was semi automatic, all Sora had to do was make sure the dirt he shoveled landed in the pan and it would start to slowly get rid of the dirt while leaving objects behind.

After 5 grueling hours of labor he had only increased his digging skill to 6 and found close to nothing of value. His biggest jackpot right now was firstly the amount of bait he had and secondly fragments of a sword that was presumably from an ancient era. Sora was starting to get worn out on shoveling and decided to take a break. He climbed out of the site and found a single tree that was left around the site so workers could have a nice place to relax for a bit. Sora sat down under the tree and pulled out a Roasted Flat River Fish, eating slowly as he enjoyed the subtle breeze that would occasionally pass by.

…..

Blossom and LeeLee were currently killing lesser rock elementals within a cave. They had both just leveled up to 35 and were maintaining a good momentum as they plunged further into the cave.

“Hey LeeLee, did you see that video of mister fisherman fighting?”

“Ya… he looked so co- He is a really good fighter.”

“Hoho, was my little LeeLee about to say that mister fisherman was cool?”

LeeLee started to fidget as her ears turned bright red, Blossom stared at her and even ended up taking a few hits because she was too focused on LeeLee’s red face. This was a recurring thing for the two girls, Blossom would tease LeeLee until she got nervous and would then enjoy the view of the red faced girl. Blossom suddenly snapped out of her weird state of mind, LeeLee also calmed down as they stared at a rock elemental that was glowing red. Both girls looked at each other before nodding and circling the creatures from two different direction. Blossom started the attack with a [Savage Pounce] followed by a [Overwhelm] before leaping away with the second cast of [Savage Pounce]. This locked the aggro onto Blossom, letting LeeLee get in a couple sneak hits with [Accurate Strike] and [Barbed Strike], once LeeLee took the aggro Blossom came in again with a basic attack to grab the aggro back, then used [Shoulder Bash] to push the creature away just before it was about to attack. The creature was already below 35% health and started to charge towards Blossom. LeeLee responded with another [Precise Strike], taking the aggro once again and using [Shimmer] resulting in a beautiful sight of the word ‘Evade’ popping over LeeLee. LeeLee was able to keep [Shimmer] up until the creature was just below 10% health. Blossom had been holding onto her cooldowns for this moment and immediately unleashed a deadly combo onto the poor creature. [Savage Pounce] [Shoulder Bash] [Overwhelm]. The creature had died without Blossom or LeeLee taking a single hit. The two girls had a satisfied smile on their face as they went to pick up the loot. On the ground was a few silver coins, a red orb of light, and a small book that was face down.

“A book?”

“Maybe a quest item?”

“That would be a little weir- Wait… WAIT!”

Blossom suddenly recalled a question she had asked Sora a while back. The question was regarding how they would be able to obtain new skill. He had mentioned that not only named bosses could drop skill books, but also enchanted creatures had a very slim chance to do so. Blossom carefully went up to the book while praying to the gods that her speculations were right. As soon as she picked up the book a notification popped up.

[Skill Book: Devastating Quake obtained]

-Use this item to gain the skill Devastating Quake.

Blossom nearly fainted from excitement and LeeLee gave her a puzzled look, the puzzled look quickly became a look of excitement as well when Blossom shared the item description with her. They had finally gotten a skill book, one for the Blossom’s class too. Blossom didn’t hesitate as she used the book.

[Devastating Quake Skill obtained]

Cost: 125 mana

Cooldown: 1 minute 30 seconds

Requires: Executioner Warrior Class

-Knocks all enemies off balance and deals 100% weapon damage within a 5 meter radius.

…..

Sora had finally hit some luck almost at the same time Blossom had gotten her skill. After just coming back from his break he had dug up a large worm that seemed to be made out of a yellow metal.

[Small Solar Worm obtained]

-Special bait that can be used to catch legendary fish.

Sora didn’t have an immediate use for it would be of great use in the future, he stashed the worm and had a worried look on his face as he noticed his bag space starting fill up. It seemed Sora would have to get rid of some stuff after he was done here. Sora continued to dig for the rest of the day, occasionally taking a break under the tree nearby. He finally hit level 9 with 99.9% after 20 hours of digging. His bag was filled with enough bait to last him a while, including two Small Solar Worms, and many stacks of pebbles. He went back to the man with the wide brimmed hat that he talked to when he first arrived and sold all of his artifacts he had dug up. His hard work was rewarded handsomely when the man gave him a total of 1 gold and 56 silver. It might not seem like a lot considering Sora had over 60 gold already but if a player was down on his luck and needed a way to make consistent money then this was the place to be. Sora did a final look over his inventory and dumped all but one stack of pebbles, greatly clearing up a lot of space, before walking back towards the flight service to head back to Var.