Kal reappeared at the entrance in front of the two guards. They perked up at his sudden arrival but didn't seem shocked. Kal didn't know how many other players had entered, but they were the same pair as earlier, so they were expecting him.

“Welcome back traveller, good hunting?” One of them asked. He held a warm smile below a shaggy mane of blonde hair.

‘“Yeah mostly. Those Dhampir aren't a pretty bunch.” Kal replied, the memory of having a dhampir inches away from biting his nose off still fresh.

“That they aren't!” The darker-skinned one said. Both guards laughed along with Kal.

“So I got a few of their hearts and a vial of blood. Any chance I could turn a profit?”

The pair exchanged a glance then shrugged. “You seem decent enough.” The dark-skinned guard spoke with a strange drawl, “we're meant to tell you to go to the dungeoneers market. But they won't give you the best price.” The man paused to check nobody else was listening. “Head over to Baker Street in the Northern part of the city. You'll find the right buyers there who aren't as tight with their coin.”

Kal thanked the pair and headed back towards the city. They probably had a deal with the shop, but he figured he’d give it a go anyway. Hopefully, he would be able to make some money so he wouldn't have to rely on Frederick’s generosity.

It took Kal twenty minutes to reach the city walls. After asking the guards at the gates, Kal had little trouble finding Baker Street. Another five minutes and he was in the heart of the crafter's district. From the top of the sloping street, he saw a smithy, a tailor, an enchanter's, and an alchemist's lab, a mixed goods store, and various other outfits. This was the right place.

The street teemed with shoppers and sight see-ers. They strolled through the walkway under the watchful gaze of Firsthaven's guards. Players made themselves apparent by their gawking at anything with a hint of magic. Kal made his way first to the alchemist's lab. If anyone could make use of some monster hearts and a vial of blood, they would be there.

Inside, vials of unknown substances glowed within locked glass cabinets. A variety of tags labelled what Kal could only assume were crafting materials. One shelf had such items as Gnar eyeball, Troll liver, and Golem essence. Another had flasks, tripods, clamps, and various tools that wouldn't look out of place in a surgery. Kal, intrigued by all these items, made his way to the counter. A skinny girl stood behind the wooden table. Her blonde hair sat above her shoulders, a pair of wire-framed glasses surrounded the cloudy grey eyes which peered back at him.

“Welcome to Aldrick's Alchemy supplies. My name is Ella. How may I help?” The girl spoke the words as if from a script. Kal jumped as she spoke, was this a scripted event? Every other NPC interaction had been so real.

Looking down at the table between them, Kal inspected a sheet of paper taped to the desk. Though it was upside down, Kal recognised the words she had spoken in a list of acceptable quotes.

"Aldrick says I've been too liberal with my greetings," Ella said, noticing Kal's inspection of the note.

“And I'm thinking you disagree," Kal smiled warmly, "As long as you give me a good deal, you can greet me however you like."

"Buy or sell, we got the best prices in town," She winked with a side look.

"I have some items I'd like to sell.” Kal pulled the 8 Dhampir hearts from his bag, dropping them onto the counter with a squish. Lastly, he pulled free the vial of owl-kin blood and placed it carefully alongside the rest.

“Eight dried Dhampir hearts. Freshly harvested, though of a weak constitution.” Ella said, inspecting each item in turn with a hand lens. “And a vial of high-quality owl-kin blood. Well preserved. Been hitting the dungeons?" She sucked air in through her teeth, "Nasty buggers dhampirs, would rather stay in the shop than get near their stink!"

“Yes, exactly.” Kal agreed. He tried to project an air of confidence like he too knew what the items were worth. In truth, he had no idea and merely hoped to dissuade Ella from shortchanging him. "I won't be going back there in a hurry."

“I'd bet. Though you meatheads seem to be lacking in the common sense department. Some adventurers act like they've never seen an alchemical turntable or even a vial of evergold!"

"Yeah, imagine that," Kal agreed, leaning onto the counter with feigned nonchalance.

"I'll give you 300 gold for the lot,” Ella concluded. “25 each for the hearts and 100 for the blood.”

“25 each for the hearts?” Kal huffed, “Even the general store offered 30. And the vial…”

“Okay 30 for the hearts, and 150 for the blood,” Ella sighed, “deal?”

“Deal,” Kal grinned and held his hand out ready to receive the coins. They both knew he looked like a complete newbie. But Kal also knew that anyone looking to turn a profit would take advantage of his green demeanour. The time of such opportunity was upon Firsthaven.

Ella dropped eight silver coins into Kal's hand. He raised an eyebrow as if she were trying to rip I'm off.

“You have no idea what you're holding, don't you?” Ella tutted to herself, realising she could have halved the price. She took a deep breath then began talking as if she'd recently explained it all not thirty seconds ago. “The largest three coins are each worth 100 silver,” she pointed as she spoke. “The smaller rectangular piece is worth 50. The edged four are worth ten each. 390 silver, otherworlder.” She said the word with slight reverence.

Kal wasn't sure if he was being insulted but shrugged it off. “Thanks, Ella. You're the first person to explain that to me.”

Ella seemed taken aback by the sudden switch to gratitude. “You're welcome. Mr traveller. I can explain our system fully to you if you'd like.”

“Please.” Kal encouraged.

“Okay, so here in Firsthaven, we use a metric system. What I just gave you is 390 silver coins or 3.9 in gold. The coins aren't really made of what the names suggest, that's just remnants from the ancient times when gold was gold pieces, and silver was silver. So the largest coins here are each a gold piece. Then fifty silver and the silver. One-hundred silver is equivalent to one gold. Cities such as Clearbay make use of copper coins to differentiate further, but to compare those we'd then need exchange rates, and...” Ella let out a small sigh. “At that point, we'd be way.” Ella drew out the ‘way', “overcomplicating things.”

Kal nodded along to all of this. “Thanks for your kindness, Ella. That definitely helps.” He figured the game world would use the metric system to avoid any confusion. Though he was interested to hear about these exchange rates. Did every state really have its own unique currency?

Now with 390 silver to his name, Kal headed back to his meeting point with Frederick. He lucked his way on the correct route without any assistance, tracing his way through the streets the way he’d come earlier in the day.

Kal entered The Blood Hound, a much classier establishment than the name suggested. The bartender, a handsome man with pointed ears, gave a curt nod, his green eyes vigilant. The place was lit by glowing orbs scattering a blue hue over the place. Kal did a quick lap of the bar area to find Frederick in the far corner. Before him on the table was a bottle of ruby liquid and a scattering of papers with signatures under walls of text. Kal guessed he'd been writing up some contracts. Upon seeing Kal Frederick waved him over and gathered his papers into a neat stack.

“How was your day?” Frederick asked with a wry grin.

“Not too bad, I got some experience fighting those dhampirs. Thanks for the warning by the way.” Kal made a mock scowl.

“I gave you the silver. That was enough, I needed to know you’re not one to be scared easily. Handing you a platter of information would be a disservice to us both."

Kal wasn’t sure that it was a fair plan, but he bit his tongue on the matter. “How about your day? Just relaxing in this fancy bar?” Kal gestured to the polished mahogany table, then to a beautiful painting on the wall.

“Business mostly.” Frederick laughed. “If I’m leaving the city, I need to get most of my rarities sold.”

“Would Erica not be able to keep up with business in your stead?”

“Oh, she’s more than capable. Truly she'd probably do a better job than myself,” Frederick smiled to himself, a look of pride flashing. “But I quite enjoy the dealings, and Erica is busy with other preparations.”

Kal raised an eyebrow at this but left it. He could feel from Frederick’s body language that it wasn’t something to be pressed.

“I’ve invited someone who I think you’ll want to meet.” Frederick continued, being intentionally vague.

“Alright, I’ll bite.” Kal conceded, “who’s this mysterious person?”

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a mystery.”

“Alright, keep your secrets.” Kal laughed.

Kal was surprised to see that Frederick’s ‘mystery’ was actually two people. The first was a heavily built man, he approached with a confident gait that Kal associated with a man who could handle himself. In the past, this would make Kal wary, but here in Alter Online people could pick and choose how they looked more easily than real life. His companion was an auburn-haired woman, she bore a friendly expression which instantly endeared Kal to her. She seemed to glide towards them, each step sure and precise. They both nodded to Frederick, taking seats, so they all surrounded the round table.

“I’m Helena,” her green eyes flashed with intelligence. She looked Kal up and down.

“Nathan.” The big guy introduced himself, extending a hand.

“Pleasure,” Kal strained under the secure grip, trying his best not to show that the man was crushing his hand. Kal was impressed by the obviously high strength stat so early into the game.

As this exchange of brawn went on, Frederick poured three extra glasses of the red substance. Kal guessed that it was a liqueur by the tumblers they used, a scent of plum filled the air.

Kal settled into his seat and eyed Frederick. “I’m happy to make new friends, but I am wondering what this is about.”

The two newcomers shared a look. To Kal, it seemed like Nathan was waiting on Helena’s lead.

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kal replied, keen to find out what was going on.

“Okay. We were tailing you throughout the city and this one,” Helena motioned to the merchant.

“Tailing me?” Kal said incredulously.

“So we recognised you…”

“From the tutorial,” Nathan cut in, “we were fighting at the front and saw your stand against the big baddie in black. We thought you were an NP- native of this world. So we were surprised to see you walking around Firsthaven so many years later.”

“Anyway.” Helena took control of the conversation. “Frederick ‘bumped’ into us and basically told us to get off your back.”

Kal nodded his thanks at the merchant. That man was full of surprises.

“After a lengthy chat with Frederick, he assured us that you were like us. And that he'd introduce us soon enough.”

“We figured that you’d at least have some cool quests for us,” Nathan admitted.

“Sorry.” Kal laughed, “I’m no quest giver.” He thought back to his conversation with the old king. Perhaps this was a chance to expand his class. Even if not, he could do with some allies “But I might have something lined up to keep you guys interested.”

“If what we saw in that battle is anything to go off,” Nathan said, “then sticking with you will be a riot.”

“What do you have lined up?” Helena’s eyes narrowed.

Kal relaxed a bit. This meant that Frederick hadn’t revealed too much.

“I’m not willing to come clean just yet.” Kal raised his hands, trying to placate the incoming complaints. “But… Stick with me. If you guys are genuine, I’ll let you in on what I find. I don’t really know what it will entail or if it will bring power or trouble. But I’m sure it will be different.”

“Okay, count me in,” Helena admitted. “When do we begin?”

Nathan leaned forward. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I need to get stronger.”

“I’m sure I’m strong enough.” Nathan made a mock bicep flex. “But my skills may need a bit of work.”

“Quit it!” Helena laughed and pushed down Nathan’s arm. “We’ll train with you if that’s what you mean.”

It wasn't, though Kal was happy to act like it was his idea. Kal would accept any help fighting the Dhampir. Capable enough or not, those things were vile. “Great! We’ll spend a few days grinding the dungeons, then we’ll set off.” Kal was keen to see where the location crystals would take him. He turned back to Frederick, “Any thoughts?”