10:07am, The Thirty-First Day

“Why did I reject that reward...”

I sighed from my balcony as I watched players walk along the main avenue. It was still early in the day but the sounds of trade and metalworking echoed through the city streets. Nobody knew when another winter storm might blow in so everyone seemed to be trying to accomplish as much as possible while they still could.

Artel and I had rented a tavern room together in Oliver Square due to the cost of separate rooms. We weren’t in the cheapest tavern as Artel had mandated something near the center of town, but it wasn’t a great one either. The only real draws were the free breakfast and the central location.

We had collected around two hundred and twenty four soler from our time in the dungeon, which when converted to US dollars meant we had roughly twenty seven hundred dollars. That would sound like a lot for game currency, but divided over a month and between two people it made us actually pretty impoverished. Rent for our tavern room alone was going to run us twenty-one soler, or around two hundred and fifty dollars a week. We’d have to find alternative sources of money before long.

“What? We have almost three months of rent from that trip.” Artel lounged on her bed, messing with her menu.

“That’s really nothing.” If we had to work an entire month for two months of extra rent I would rather sleep in the park than in a tavern room. “We still have expenses for food and weapon upkeep. I still need to pick up a new weapon.”

“I’m sure we’ll just kill a few kobolds or something later.”

I shook my head at her passivity. I didn’t want to just live from paycheck to paycheck like some wandering worksman. I wanted to advance in the game while I was here, and that took finances.

Might as well look around for quests while I look around. I equipped my boots and coat and walked to the door. Artel made no move to join me, instead seeming content to laze around in bed. I didn’t really see any reason to force her either, given how much we’d been through recently. She’d earned some rest.

I locked the door behind me and went down to the tavern to get some breakfast. Despite how early it was the lower level was full of patrons, and a lively amount of conversation filled the air throughout. Sitting down was enough for the npc innkeeper to bring out a plate of bacon, potatoes and toast, which I scarfed down as quickly as I could. I still wasn’t used to the huge amount of meat that was served in Finkar and in game in general, but it almost always tasted great.

After breakfast I scurried out of the inn into the cold mountain air of Paelgard and tried to think of a place to visit first. I would definitely need to visit a blacksmith at some point to both acquire a new primary weapon and to fix my dagger, but first I needed to decide on what my new primary would be. The traditional weapon for glyphworkers was supposedly a spear, but by this point I was really used to using knives and it would probably be easier to switch to a short sword. If I did that I wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to use weapon skills with my dagger if my primary ever broke. And as much as I wanted to main the dagger, the various experiences I’d gone through had shown me that I still needed something a little longer for facing human-sized targets.

I would need to visit one of the temples in Paelgard as well to unequip Polearms and equip One-Handed, but that could probably wait until just before we left. The only other thing I could think of to do was to familiarize myself with the city. Nodding to myself, I set off to the east of the city, away from the residential zones.

Paelgard was built in a mountainside plateau, with only one route to approach from. Fort Snov overlooked the gate and walls, but they weren’t truly impressive fortifications, only consisting of thin stone walls and small squarish towers. The city was entirely behind the walls however, with only farms and small barns littering the land leading up to the city. Beyond the city hall to the west the city mostly contained residential districts, though three plazas adjacent to the cliff face saw some traffic. Finally, two large temples existed in the city, one adjacent to the park for the Pelsken faith and one firmly in the residential district for the Leaceante Faith. The Pelsken Church was where players went to change skills.

I headed east towards Fortress square and the walls, hoping to find a good blacksmith along the way. There were a few in Paelgard who would perform low-grade work or even accidentally harm your weapons, but you could normally tell them apart by their obscenely low price tags.

I went into a few shops as they caught my eye as I walked down the road, but each one was just too expensive for me to consider. Then a darkened alley drew my attention as I walked by it, and I stopped to peer down it.

It was the kind of alley that you would definitely think about before walking down, even if it greatly shortened your trip. Only a singular lamp hung in front of a door at the end, leaving the rest filled with garbage bins or woodpiles. The stones were broken and uneven in some places, and one of the roofs even seemed to be hanging low over the alley. In short it looked as if it had a sign hanging in front saying ‘Walk down to get mugged’.

I wouldn’t even think about going in if there wasn’t a sign hanging from the wall in front of the alley advertising a smith at the end.

A shop THIS hidden has to have something cool in it. With that logic I warily walked down the alley and opened the door to the shop.

A bell rang out when I went inside, and I heard a loud THUMP from the back rooms along with a muffled: “Be right there!”.

Looking around the room, I found the inside was considerably more homely than the dreary exterior would lead one to believe. A fireplace roared in one corner, illuminating the many bookshelves and weapon racks orderly placed around the small room. Above the fireplace itself was a painting of two fairies dancing around a tree. There was no counter to make space for more display pieces, though a single wooden bench was placed in front of the fire along with a small table and three chairs. On the far wall there was a portal from which I could see the forge, where a lean man hurriedly organized swords.

After a minute he rushed out of the back room and stopped in front me, looking pleased. He was tall and clean-shaven, with short blonde hair and bright brown eyes, or pretty much the opposite of what every fantasy blacksmith hoped to be. His right hand was on his head, massaging a new bump. Still, he seemed friendly enough as he extended his hand to shake mine.

“It’s nice to have you visit us today. What can I help you with?”

I shook his hand as I looked over the weapon racks. I had been a bit worried with the position of his storefront and all, but they seemed to be good enough quality weapons. There were even a few rarer metals blended in with the iron and silver ones, and quite a few were made of polished steel.

“I’m looking for a good primary weapon to match my dagger.” I said. “Oh, and I’ll need some repairs on the dagger itself.”

I handed him the dagger to look over. After a second of inspection he handed it back.

“This is pretty worn. You use the tip much more than the blade, is that correct?”

My eyebrows raised in disbelief. “You can tell that just by looking at it?” I looked more closely at the dagger, wondering if he was bullshitting me or not.

He chuckled. “Of course!” He pointed to the tip of the dagger. “See how there are a multitude of scrapes and it’s very slightly bent? That points towards a heavy use of stabbing.”

I was impressed, though I probably shouldn’t have been, him being an npc and all. They probably have access to all kinds of information players didn’t.

“How much do you think it would take to repair?”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to get it back up to maximum strength. I’d say around ten soler?”

I cringed. Not much indeed. I knew upkeep wasn’t cheap, but this was equivalent to a hundred and twenty dollars! Maybe I should learn how to take more proper care of my weapons…

“That…” I paused. “That would be acceptable.”

“And about the new weapon… I’m assuming you want something with a point?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll need something I can draw glyphs with. Blunt weapons won’t do.”

“And are you looking for a specialized weapon?” He asked.

“Specialized? What do you mean by that?”

“If you fight a lot of fae you might want a steel sword, while a silver or gold sword might be better for ethereal monsters.”

“They make gold swords?” I asked in confusion. I wasn’t a black or silversmith in any capacity, but I would’ve assumed gold would make a terrible sword.

“They are normally only gilded. Even then they are only useful for spirits, but at least they don’t weigh a ton. What do you normally fight?”

I thought about it. If I was honest I had almost entirely fought rock golems in my tenure in Finkar, but I wasn’t planning on making that into a habit.

“I don’t normally discriminate on what jobs I take. I’ll just want a good all-rounder to use. Steel I would think.”

He nodded as if he anticipated that. “Steel it is. What kind of sword would you like?”

I’d thought of this one already. A sword that covered my weaknesses and focused on stabbing.

“Let’s see your longswords. ”

…

I left the blacksmith seventy-five soler poorer. A long thin steel sword was now in a sheath strapped to my back and my dagger was back in its sheath, scratch free.

I practically skipped down the main lane as I made my way to the Pelsken church. Having the sword strapped to my back made me giddy beyond belief, and I couldn’t wait to try it out. If I wanted to use any of the abilities though I would need to change my skills at the church.

I popped into the church to quickly unequip my Polearm skill with the clerk there. The church was small and old, older than most of the other city buildings. According to town lore it had been the first building constructed by the colonists several hundred years ago. It looked the part as well, with aging dark gray brickwork and only simple architectural flourishes. It only contained five rooms, consisting of the entrance hall, a storeroom, two offices and a smaller antechamber necessitating daily congresses to handle the populace in Paelgard.

Adventurer skills were handled in the entrance hall, and indeed half a dozen or so players stood in the hall talking or changing skills. Going up to the clerk I simply asked him to unequip Polearms and add One-Handed which he did in under thirty seconds. Then, seeing as I had ten levels in the skill already, I picked out the [Pinpoint] and [Waterfall] skills from my menu.

I took a left out the door and wheeled around to the back of the church where a gate opened up to the central park in Paelgard. The forest was a large place, and was popular in the beta as a dueling ground or testing bed. It would be the perfect place to practice.

I went off the path into the forest where I could find a quiet place. After dodging a few other players and a couple I eventually came upon an empty clearing some distance from the path.

I unsheathed the sword and drew it beside my right ear pointing forward. Feeling a little giddy, I stabbed forward while unnecessarily shouting the skill name.

“Pinpoint!”

My sword started to glow a bright white as it traced through the air, leaving a faint trail behind it. The momentum of the stab threw me forward, and I leaned into it, letting the force of the blow take me a meter or two forward, a small woosh accompanying me. I smiled in satisfaction. Time to throw off the training weights.