Leo stood still gazing at the spot Snow stood just a few seconds ago. He felt that everything happened so suddenly and couldn’t help but feel worried. Alex walked up to him after seeing Leo stare at nothing for far too long.

“Does your life feel meaningless now that you’re back to being stuck with only me?”

“Hmm? No, it’s just … Don’t you think Snow left in a hurry? Do you think something happened?”

“I don’t know. Maybe her pizza delivery came.”

“But why would she order a pizza …”

“Leo! Calm down, I’m joking. It won’t do us any good speculating. Let’s just wait for her to return and if she wants to tell us, she will.”

“Yeah, I guess she will. Let’s go back to town, I want to experiment some more with the creation skill.”

“Sounds good. I need to talk with the Guild about all this anyway.

Leo said his farewells to Lily and Hawk before heading to Leomar Town with Alex. They split up at the gate and Leo found a place to sit down. He then opened his menu and accessed the creation space.

Leo looked at his available materials:

358x Scrap Metal

224x Copper Dust

He thought about what to do with it. He already had all the gear he would need and the quality was simply too low to make a difference in an upgrade. Leo decided to explore the financial side of his skill. He had received all the material through hunting and from others. He still hadn’t bought any from other players.

Leo exited his creation space and walked to the Auction house. The auction house stood in the middle of the town. It was a massive building made out of a mix of stone and wood. The stone pillars had intricate carvings on them, making the entire building look like a piece of artwork.

Around the auction house were several hundred carpets with players sitting cross-legged, all kinds of items covering up the tiny carpet in front of them. All he could hear were chattering voices as players haggled with each other to get the best price possible.

Leo entered the auction house, passing by the two heavily armored guards keeping the auction house safe from dangers. He walked on the red carpet, quickly found an empty seat and opened the auction house’s interface.

The listings were constantly updated with items being put up for sale or bought every minute. Leo looked through the equipment tabs and memorized every listing he could see. He then closed his eyes and organized the information in his mind.

He found that the average listing price for a level 0 Copper equipment was 5 Copper, increasing by around 1 Copper per level up to level 4. Leo could not find any listings for equipment at or above level 5 which he found to be reasonable.

Bronze equipment sold for a minimum of 35 copper and increased unevenly due to the immense demand. Leo did a quick calculation and found that Snow had spent around 80 silver on her staff and shield for Lily. She probably got the equipment from her Guild so it's not completely right, but the worth is still the same.

Leo opened the in-game exchange platform and checked the price for gold. He was flabbergasted by the insane markup.

1 Copper = 0.1$

1 Silver = 10$

1 Gold = 1,000$

The exchange platform was mostly meant as a way for players to earn money while playing in order to reduce the unemployment rate worldwide. With the current market, only corporations and rich workshops can afford to buy gold directly.

Leo checked the availability and found that the market currently only had 2 silver for sale. The silver disappeared while he watched and the market no longer had any coin for sale. He continued to watch and saw numerous copper enter the system and then disappear almost immediately. Even if he had all the money in the world he’d still be hard press to buy a single copper from the exchange platform.

He closed the interface and went back to thinking about what to do. His creations were several times better than anything on the market but he was unsure if the players could afford it.

There was only one way to test his creation’s market potential. Leo entered the menu once more and activated his creation space. He decided on trying to use 50x [Scrap Metal] and 40x [Copper Dust]. Leo estimated the production cost to be around 1 silver’s worth of equipment.

Leo began by designing a shield. He made it look slightly squared at the edges and colored it in a gray metal color. He then added some ornamentals to make it look more unique before adding the materials.

The process took a short 5 minutes as Leo had become proficient at creating shields. He could only change the finer details from time to time and create a standard in order to increase the overall score.

System: Generating shield … Limiting max-level … Shield completed!

System: Base: 116P, Quality: 86P. Overall Score: 202P

[Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)]

Level 0 (0 / 15)

Max level: 9

Class restriction: Knight

Item category: Secondary-weapon

Durability: 40 / 40

Defense: 19

Magic defense: 12

Attributes:

VIT +3

Leo looked at the shield with mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s power was certainly noteworthy, on the other it's maxed level was unfortunately only 9. The user would lose out on the important level 10 mark and have to change shield then. He could probably make about twice the amount of coin if it was level 10.

Leo let out a sigh before listing the shield on the Auction House. He had to pay a small transaction fee but the anonymity made it worth the reduced profit. Leo decided to not add any experience points to the shield. He hoped that a Guild with players still migrating over would see the listing and start a bidding war.

He put the starting price to be 1 silver and 15 copper with no buyout price. This easily made the shield one of the most expensive items on the auction house. Leo then entered his creation space once more and began to use the rest of the materials.

He created five other weapons from the remaining materials with an overall score ranging from 159P to 219P. It took him 30 minutes to finish it all and Leo once more accessed the Auction House. He pulled up his listing for the shield and was left speechless at its price.

Listing for [Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)]

Starting bid: 1 Silver, 15 Copper

Buyout Price: Not set

Current highest bid: 9 Silver, 22 Copper

Time remaining: 2 minutes, 33 seconds

How was this even possible? Leo struggled to understand why someone would spend more than 9 silver on a shield they won’t need after level 10. He calmed himself down and thought about it logically. 9 silver was an insane amount for a normal player but it’s nothing to a large guild. While thinking about it, the timer reached 0 and the shield officially sold.

System announcement: Your listing for [Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)] has sold for 9 silver and 22 Copper. You will receive 8 silver and 97 copper (3% tax).

Leo looked at the announcement still in disbelief. He had gained a 2% tax reduction due to his title of Knight in Ferima Province, which included Leomar Town. This reminded him that he also gains a 30% discount in all normal NPC shops in Ferima Province as well.

Leo quickly put the other weapons up for sale and began walking towards the NPC market. He walked through every armor and weapon shop in the district but could not find anyone selling Bronze equipment for a decent price. Even with his discount the price still exceeded the Auction House.

Leo suddenly remembered that there might be a cheaper shop in the Slums. He only needed the Quality level to be Bronze so even if the stats are terrible he’d still buy them for the right price.

He hurriedly made his way to the Slums and began walking around in search of an armor or weapon shop. Leo walked past a seemingly ordinary plot with several shack-like houses when a certain sound hit his ear. The sound was unmistakably that of a hammer hitting a piece of metal.

He quickly followed the sound and found a smithy hidden within the sea of shabby shacks and rundown houses. The front sign displayed the words “The Titled Anvil”. The words were so faded into the wooden sign that he could hardly read them at all.

He walked through the door and was greeted by mountains of armor and weapons filling up the entire room. It was almost impossible to walk through the room without accidentally knocking down a weapon or two.

Leo found his way through the heaps of equipment and was greeted by an old looking wooden counter with a young girl sitting on a chair behind. The girl was reading a book, seemingly unaware that she worked at a store.

He decided to look around before interrupting her reading. It would be a shame to interrupt her if he ended up not buying anything. Leo inspected several of the chestplates hanging on the wall.

[Basic Chestplate (Bronze Quality)]

Level requirement: 2

Armor type: Plate

Item category: Torso

Defense: 5

Magic defense: 3

Description: A generic bronze chestplate made following the [Apprentice’s Blacksmith Guide] designs.

Price:

Original:15 copper

Your price: 11 copper

Leo looked at the price in disbelief. The chestplate was certainly something no-one would ever wear due to its terrible defense, but 11 copper was simply too low. Even an ordinary Blacksmith player would buy it in a heartbeat for its materials.

Leo quickly checked the prices of several other types of equipment and found that they were all cheap. Leo thanked his lucky stars for guiding him to this shop. There’s simply no way he’ll not make money from gear created by this equipment.

Leo quickly walked up to the counter and coughed to grab the girl’s attention. The girl was startled by his sudden appearance and quickly shot up from the chair.

“S-s-s-sir Knight, h-h-how may I help you?”

“I want to buy several weapons and armors.”

Leo could clearly see that the girl was nervous about his title. Normally you would never find a Noble wandering around in the Slums, not to mention a Knight, which was one rank higher. He wanted to calm her down but was suddenly interrupted by a door flying open with a loud sound.

“What’s the ruckus in here? Can you not hear me trying to work?”

An old man with large muscles walked through the door while screaming in a loud voice. He was clearly the Blacksmith responsible for making all the equipment in the shop. The old man looked at him and shouted once more.

“Either you buy something or get the hell out of my shop.”

Leo was flabbergasted by the man’s words. He had never been talked to in such a manner by an NPC of lower status than himself. The girl suddenly went into a panic before he could respond.

“F-father you cannot speak to sir Knight like that!”

The girl turned towards Leo and bowed so low that her head almost hit the floor.

“I am terribly sorry for my father’s attitude. Please do not have him thrown in jail. I swear he is normally a good person.”

Leo was shocked by the sudden development but remained calm on the outside. He had no intention of throwing the Blacksmith in jail. He might be a noble in the game but in real life, he’s just a commoner like them.

“It’s alright, I won’t do anything like that.”

The girl let out a relieved sigh before turning towards her father, scolding him for his previous outburst. Leo could clearly see that the man did not regret his words at all. He stared at the two of them for a solid minute before bursting into laughter.

Leo calmed himself before saying “I like you. You do not care about titles and formalities. It’s a pleasant change from the usual people in town”. He could see that the Blacksmith’s expression softened slightly. It would seem that he does not like nobles very much.

The shop’s interface popped up in front of him, displaying everything available for sale. Leo had a bit under 15 silver on his person and used all of it to buy equipment. He bought a total of 136 pieces of gear before he could no longer afford more. The shop still had 114 pieces of equipment left for sale and would add 25 more every day from now on.

Leo deconstructed the material and gained 645x [Bronze Core] and 444x [Bronze Dust]. He used about half of it on his armor and the rest on his spear and shield. Leo then inspected his gear with a bright smile on his face.

Base: 129P → 375P

Quality: 82P → 341P

Functionality: 102P

Total: 313P → 818P

[Tricky Magic Shield (Copper Quality → Bronze Quality)]

Level 0 (0 / 100) → 4 (0 / 1,500)

Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

Item category: Secondary weapon

Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 3 DEX → 7 STR, 5 DEX

Durability: 40 / 40 → 50 / 50

Shield mode:

Defense 22 → 39

Magic defense 24 → 37

Attributes:

VIT +2 → 6

RES +3 → 5

Health +5 → 15

Attachment mode:

Attack power: 2-5 → 15-19

Spell power: 18-24 → 31-39

Attributes:

INT +3 → 7

PIT +2 → 5

Mana +5 → 18

Leo did not want to offer his EXP right now to get the shield to 5. He did not expect to run into any particular trouble until he could gather enough EXP to level it. He still had the option of leveling it up at any time should he feel the need.

Base: 102P → 372P

Quality: 68P → 339P

Enchantment: 10P

Total: 180P → 721P

[Faithful Spear (Copper Quality → Bronze Quality)]

Level: 1 (0 / 200) → 6 (0 / 2,900)

Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

Item category: Main-weapon

Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 DEX → 10 STR, 5 DEX

Attack power: 13-18 + (2-3) → 59-72 + (2-3)

Durability: 35 / 35 → 60 / 60

Attributes:

STR +3 → 9

DEX +1 → 6

Considering Lily’s scimitar had an attack power of 96 at level 5 with Gold Quality rank, he could confidently say that his weapon had a very high attack power. With how much materials and EXP it’s costing him, the weapon better be good even at low quality.

Base: 67P → 385P

Quality: 35P → 339P

Functionality: 0P → 72P

Total: 102P → 819P

[Armor of Destiny (Copper Quality → Bronze Quality)]

Level 0 (0 / 100) → 4 (0 / 1,500)

Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

Item category: Armor set

Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 VIT → 8 STR, 6 VIT

Defense: 16 → 87

Magical defense: 12 → 62

Durability: 75 / 75 → 90 / 90

Attributes:

VIT +2 → 7

RES +2 → 5

Health +5 → 30

*New*

Special trait:

15% chance to block one attack every 30 seconds.

Leo was both happy and confused by his armor gaining a special trait. He still hadn’t figured out what exactly makes a piece of equipment worthy of having a functionality. It made sense for his shield/attachment combo to have it, but what did he do differently with his armor?

With no more material to experiment with, Leo once more exited his creation space and checked if his five listings had sold. Not only had all of them sold, but their price was also even more than double that of the shield. He made a total of 1 gold from roughly 5 silvers’ worth of materials.

The combined power of thousands of players in a large guild is truly something to be frightened about. Leo decided to not sell any more creations until he reached Ferima City. This would give players more time to gain gold and realize how nice it is to have a weapon that follows you as you level.

Leo wanted to buy a few skill books before heading out but none of them were good enough. Although it’s possible to remove skills later on, it’s still a pain to do. He would rather wait and find decent skill books. The fewer skills he needs to remove later on, the better.

Leo quickly made his way back to the Tilted Anvil and bought every last piece of Bronze equipment for a total of slightly more than 13 silver. He then deconstructed it all into 540x [Bronze Core] and 372x [Bronze Dust] for later experimentations and money making.

He hummed happily to himself while walking towards Tuliun Forest. He decided to fight the golems in Teliun Mountain Range due to their slow movement speed. Teliun Mountain Range was a level 10-zone and the highest level zone near Leomar Town. Once he hits level 10, he’ll go back to town and teleport to Ferima City where the game truly begins.