The park next to the central market was not difficult to find. It’s a large open green space in the middle of the city right off the main road. Walking trails wind through grass fields and trees while flowers, fountains and other decorations bring character to the area. Benches line the trails, many of which are already occupied at this time in the morning.

I chose to head out right after the sun rose, because I do not know how long this job will take, nor what the NPC even looks like. It was mentioned yesterday that the NPC spends all day on one of the benches at the park, so it should be easy to locate him when there are not too many people here. Or so I thought.

It was released to the general players that an expedition would take place today since there was no way they could contain that information. Therefore, last night there were many players celebrating and even this morning many must have come to watch the sun rise.

After 20 minutes of searching, I finally located a man who fits the description. He looks to be in his mid 50’s with greying hair. He has a scar down his left cheek that barely misses his eye and a full beard. His clothes are nothing fancy and could be found at any general tailor’s shop, but the most distinguishing feature is the drawing board placed on his lap.

The board has spots filled with a variety of pens, inks, and measuring tools. At his side are a stack of papers that he would, one by one, place on the board and start drawing. There are no players in the vicinity yet, but i’m sure this area will be packed once his location is leaked. After all, the skill he provides is necessary in order to get a spot in the surveying party.

Even if I do not get on the party, the cartography skill will become very useful in later stages of the game. I may have a good sense of direction, but even I can get lost. Similar to what happened in the Pleylf Forest on the first day. Unless one has the map data for an area, which can be purchased from other players, the user menu map will be greyed out. Once the data is collected, the map will start to fill in.

A level 1 map only provides the basic details, and so far I have not seen a level 2 or higher map. I haven’t purchased one a map before, but I have seen the map from members of Subestimar. For example: the map of the city Cheetos has only shows lines and city blocks. Even then, it was only of a portion of the city, because a full map would cost too much on a tight budget.

“Good morning!”

The man halts his work and looks up at me.

“I almost didn’t see you there. Would you like to purchase one of my maps?” He smiles with a toothy grin.

“How much are they?”

“A basic map of the park and surrounding area would be 49 Tor. If you want a more detailed map, that would be 79 Tor.”

“Why not 80?”

“A person generally looks at the first number first, and since 7 is less than 8 they feel it is a lot cheaper than it really is. You’re welcome to pay 80 for it though. I wouldn’t mind. Hehe.”

Ahh, a classic marketing strategy based on human psychology. This is seen is practically every store in the real world. I am somewhat surprised to see it here in a medieval fantasy world.

“Hah, no thanks. I was actually wondering if you would be able to teach me how to draw maps.”

“Oh? A fellow cartographer. Let me tell you a story.” He continues, “Back when I was in the army, I was chosen to be a scout based on my abnormal dexterity. The commanding officer had spent many weeks teaching us scouts how to draw proper maps. If we had made any errors we would get whipped in front of our fellow soldiers. This was because those soldiers would stake their lives on the information we provided them, and any mistake could very well cost them their lives.” He pauses to scratch his face, “Well, it’s not like much of that matters with the portals the way they are now.”

I must of unconsciously worn a appalled expression on my face, because his expression changed to a more friendly one.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be whipping you for mistakes. Anyways, map these days are much easier to create. So, do you wish to learn the cartography skill?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful! Here are the details.”

Job Request Old Cartographers’s request Details Explore park Create map covering the entire park Time limit 1 hour Repeatable Yes Reward Cartography Skill Basic Map of Park

“The name’s Vlodimir by the way.” He offers his hand to shake. “As you can see, I sell maps of the park here to tourists and visitors. If you want to learn cartography, I’ll teach you if you complete a simple task for me.”

“Mhmm.”

“I want you to create a basic map of the park for me. I will add details to it later to be sold, but having the basic outline will help me save time.”

“Okay, but how do I do that?”

The process is not exactly evident. The maps we use are within the user menu, but it looks like he is drawing them out by hand.

“Ahh! How could I forget.” He slaps himself on the head. “All you have to do is open up your menu to the map option and select the draw option. Then you simply have to walk around the park like that. The map will automatically draw out a radius of 10 metres from you.”

It sounds weird listening to an NPC talk about the user menu.

“When you are finished, you can come back to me and I will assess the map. If I deem it satisfactory, I will teach you the cartography skill. Now go! You have one hour to complete the task.”

As he says that, a timer counting down appeared on my UI.

I open my user menu and bring up the map. Sure enough, there is now a draw option below it along with a save, map book, and locate button. The save button is self explanatory, but I wonder how the locate function works. Does one have to have a completed map to use it? Can the set target be an item, player, or monster? Can one even locate an unknown entity, or how close does one need to be to set a target? Maybe these will just require trial and error.

With the holographic 2D map displayed upright in front of me, I hit the draw button and immediately see the area around me become saved to the screen. If I am to cover the entire park in one hour I had best get started.

While walking I can hear conversations and a few players cast odd looks in my direction, but I just continue on.

“Hey, what do you think he’s doing?”

“I don’t know. Just ignore him, many people have been driven insane already.”

“Yeah, have you heard about the guy back at the arena where this started?”

“No, what about him?”

“You’ve got to see it. He sits at the corner of the street in a fetal position speaking gibberish during the day and disappears at night. No one sees where he goes, but every morning he arrives back at the same spot.”

“Creepy...”

The screen is before my eyes and is visible by other players. Currently I am walking around in straight lines without regard for the path to fill in the blank areas on the map. In order to get the full area, I have to walk through trees and bushes. There is a large pond in the centre, but thankfully I am able to reach the entire space from the banks and wooden bridge through the middle.

Around half of the park was mapped by the time I started to notice other players doing a similar task. I have to admit, they do look odd while walking around. The mapping process is very simple and doesn't require much skill, but in order to get a full, accurate map one would need to explore every path. Thankfully, the mapped area can jump over walls as long as it is within the radius of the player.

20 minutes has elapsed from the halfway mark, but I've gotten a good look at the park. I'm glad to have chosen to do this in the morning. The map is finally complete, so I hit the save button and the map data is sent to my map book automatically. From there it becomes an object that can be traded. When this becomes more popular, the information brokers will pick up on it. They already sell information on quests, shops, hunting spots, and other such things.

I make my way back to Vlodimir. There are a couple players talking with him, so I have to wait until they are finished. When they head off I approach him.

"I've completed the task." I flip around the map to show him. "This is the map. How did I do?"

"Hmm let me see." He looks scrutinizingly at the map. "Looks good! You got the entire park on here."

Notification You have completed the job: Old Cartographers Request. Skill Acquired Cartography level 1. Allows user to create and share maps. As the user’s level advances, higher detail maps will be created.

"Thank you. I'll be heading off now."

"Be sure to spread the word."

"Mhmm."

After leaving the park, I make my way over to Subestimar's shop. The guys are still running the shop, but the popularity is nothing like the first day. For one, I haven't been able to keep up with demand for weapons, so that aspect is not there. They are making the most business buying monster drops and converting them to other items such as food and clothing.

The inside of the shop has gone under a bit of renovation. The designated smithing desk has been removed and in its place is a shelving unit. I had asked them to purchase broken armours based on their weight in metal and it seems that has been a popular option. Many players would rather obtain a brand new armour than do the maintenance on their own. And besides, once an item gets below 10% durability, only a blacksmith can repair the armour.

I hand them over the bronze items I made yesterday and, in exchange, I pick up the Tor I am due as well as the old armours. I can take these armours and melt them down, combine them with tin and make more bronze for production.

With nothing to do until the designated meeting time, I head back to the Inn to work on hammering out a couple more bronze weapons. I am preferential to one handed weapons, so I create 8 short swords, 5 maces, and a couple pickaxes. Pickaxes can be used as weapons, but they are primarily used for digging ores.

Since the dungeon is within an abandoned mine, it might we worthwhile to bring a pickaxe. A pickaxe can be used to mine ore one tier above it, so in this case, if I find any Iron ore I will be able to gather it. I heard from an information broker that to obtain the mining skill requires two things: a pickaxe and an ore vein. No quest required. Even though I cannot use iron at this time, it wouldn’t hurt to obtain some for free.

At noon I take a quick bite to eat from a market stand and make my way over to northern gate. On my way I decide to stop in at Subestimar’s shop once more to sell off the bronze items. When I arrive at the shop, there is no one present, so I approach the counter and ring the bell.

“I’ll be right there!” A voice comes out from the back room, “Just a minute.”

*Phew*

They must do half day shift rotations since a player I haven’t met yet comes to the counter. He is short and stocky with a heavyset build and looks to be around 16 years old. He has short brown hair and is wearing a standard shopkeeper’s apron.

“Umm, hi. I’ve brought some weapons to sell in the shop.”

“Oh? Place them on the counter and let me see.”

I take them out of my inventory one by one and place them in a row on the counter. I keep one bronze sword and a pickaxe for myself for emergency purposes. The player stands there with his eyes wide open and his jaw dropped.

“Th-That is..” He stammers.

“Seven bronze short swords, five bronze maces, and one bronze pickaxe.” I smirk at his reaction. “I’m Quinn by the way.”

“I’ll add these to the store stock and you can inform your guild head. I have somewhere to be right now, so I cannot give it to them directly.”

“Yes.”

His reaction is priceless. I immediately put them in the store stock and turn around to leave. I chose to informed the player at the counter rather than just putting them in the stock and walking away partially to see this reaction. I also send a quick message to Darkbond for good measure. I’m sure he would rather buy them himself for the guild rather than sell to random players.

“Before I leave, I will purchase twenty lesser health potions, five lesser stamina potions, a white crystal, and ten days worth of food.”

The player quickly snaps out of his daze.

“Right. Let’s see” He puts my order in the automatic pricing system. “That will be 1230 Tor.”

The pricing system for stores is manually set by the owner, and at first players questioned its usefulness. However, with larger orders and increased stock variety, it’s usefulness soon became apparent. I place the money in the trade window, and receive my items. And, of course, the 40% discount applies.

Potions are very expensive due to the excessive demand. Just a simple lesser health potion goes for so much, because many players are fearful of death. Having that potion as a form of life insurance allows them to keep fighting. I already have seen first hand the value of these potions. Gem wouldn’t have been here had I not gotten a normal health potion from that cave.

With 30 minutes until the meeting time, I set off for the northern gate.