Chapter 4

It didn't always go so smoothly and the Silverfish struck back with its own weapons at any sign of hesitation or weakness created by a failed attack. Their death match wore on for fifteen minutes solid.

As it approached the 20th minute a silvery light enveloped the creature and its health rapidly dropped. A sign that at the other end Jazmina had taken her own prey to critical levels. The light faded when Mandeok struck the cracking carapace of the insect. Only for it to be surrounded in another silvery aura a moment later.

It had now reached critical condition and sought to siphon back any health it had just given its counterpart. When the aura abruptly ended Mandeok knew that the other was dead. He tightened his grip on the staff and hammered the crack riddled carapace with a final >. At the same time the Silverfish, in an act of desperation, lashed out and dealt him a deep gash across the chest.

Mandeok slumped to the floor exhausted while his opponent disappeared in a puff of grey smoke.

As his breathing steadied he noticed his EXP bar had risen to around 40% and as he was forcing more herbs into his mouth he felt a low rumble. He looked up to see the back wall of the dead end drop down to reveal a secret entrance to the walled off tenth ring. With what little strength he had left he crawled to the opening and peered in.

There across the room at the other side from his was another opening. In it stood the mage, the small clouds of soot rising behind her implied she had ended up roasting her prey from the boundary line. As he stared they locked eyes and he smiled weakly. She broke his gaze and stared at something else in the room.

What attracted her attention was situated in the middle of the room. A single podium on which the half eaten remnants of a once great book rested. Coiled around the base of the podium was a silverfish at least twice the size of those they had fought before. All Eun Seok knew was that he had one last foe to kill and that Mandeok would take some time to recover from the last fight.

Before he could even move the floor gained an orange tint and a wall of flame erupted in front of him barring his entrance into the room. Through the flame he could see Jazmina with her staff raised chanting.

"FLAME PILLAR!!!"

She cried, followed by the whoosh of flame as a great column of fire engulfed the central podium. The shrieking wail of the last silverfish filled the room before she to melted to her death under the extreme temperatures. Mandeok was shocked but through the flame wall he watched as the mage search the corpse and tried to take what remained of the book on the podium.

When it wouldn't budge she turned and left a little disappointed. As soon as she was clear of the room the flame wall receded and mandeok made his way cautiously into the room. He neared the podium to inspect the remnants of the blackened bug. Suddenly the scorched carapace cracked and a silvery light broken through.

"It's not dead!!"

Screamed Mandeok as he brutally smashed at the weakened moulting state of the Silverfish. It took repeated strikes to depleted what little he had recovered of his mana and truly finish the vile pest off. He knew because this time instead of a half melted corpse it disappeared in a flash of grey smoke. He picked up the few silvery scales it dropped and looked to the podium.

As soon as he neared it the paper scraps he had collected on his dungeon crawl began to glow. He took them from his pack and they immediately escaped his grasp. Encircling the charred book on the podium.

With a blinding flash and the electric tingle of Ancient magic the book was restored. It rested on the podium as though nothing had ever happened. Mandeok reach out a finger to touch it and as he did so windows appeared.

-:You have completed the archive extermination. Number of books lost: 20 :-

-:You have restored the Memoir:-

-:Memoir: the accumulated knowledge of past librarians. With each death a new chapter is added, a new story is written:-

He returned to the Curators office. The old man was seated at his desk pouring over yellowed scrolls when he entered.

"Good your back did you manage to complete my little task?"

Saying nothing he put the silvery scales on the table.

"I see. That other one was already here. I sent her to do the same thing as you. She returned and was rewarded with what she desired. I told her nothing more then what she asked of me and I will do the same for you." the crafty old man chuckled to himself.

"Now name your reward and if it is with in my power, and I believe you merit it, it shall be yours. Speak."

Mandeok paused and contemplated his answer. A reward that best represented the effort he had put into the quest.

"I would like free-access to all rings on the first level. I have still many books to read in the first three rings and have not even set foot in the fourth yet."

Now it was time for the old man to consider his response. He lent back in the chair, his shoulders relaxed and his brow un-knitted.

"You have a thirst for knowledge I have not seen in a long while. I offer you a choice."

He opened a small drawer somewhere on his side of the desk and placed a single item on the unrolled scroll he had been reading. It resembled a thin leather bookmark with a metallic strip of copper sewn onto its length.

"You may have this which will grant your wish or you may Apprentice yourself under me and study as a Scholar. In time I feel your desire for knowledge could unlock a great many of our Worlds mysteries. What say you."

-: Class change: Scholar.

Do you want to convert to the Scholar class.

Yes / No:-

"I'm sorry Lord Saint-Hilaire I have gained so much from this Sanctuary of Knowledge but my destiny lies elsewhere. I will make my mark on this world of that you can be sure and I will know that I did it using the knowledge I gained in these hallowed halls."

He refused the class change and picked up the leather marker.

"Pity. Well knowledge is the answer I give you; while wisdom is the answer you find yourself."

"One last piece of advice then. If you donate money or knowledge to the Library and spend enough Public Service Points, you may be able to upgrade that to silver and gold, when the time comes. Either way I wish you luck. Good day."

With that he buried his head in a new book.

Mandeok left him to his reading. His EXP bar now sat at 90% and with his phase three training completed he headed to the one place he had been avoiding.

****************************

The simple sign that hung above the door hide the wealth that the interior exuded rather well. The Merchants Guild; Serabourg chapter. It was situated a little off the main square right next to the exchange and the Intelligence Guild.

They say that knowledge is power but they also say that money is power or looking at it another way knowledge equals wealth. The reverse would also be true; wealth equals knowledge.

These two Guilds had a mutually beneficial relationship that few other Guilds enjoyed.

Mandeok sauntered in through the door and right up to the counter of the merchants guild.

"How do I become a merchant?" he inquired

The portly man behind the counter looked the bedraggled dwarf up and down. He rubbed his fat hands together and put on the sickly sweet smile of a door to door salesman.

"Dear Sir it could not be more simple. I would require you to run an errand for me but before that I must see if you are qualified. The exam will cost one gold. If you fail you may re-sit it for one gold. Every subsequent failure after that then the prices rises one gold per retry."

"I see I will return when I can afford to take the exam." he said accepting the quest.

With that the dwarf left. His new goal firmly fixed in his mind: Earn 1 gold no matter what.

*****************************

For low level players in the first four weeks of their in-game experience they are prohibited from going beyond the city walls. As such most tried to earn enough money for some decent starting equipment through various jobs within the city.

Jobs differ from quests in that you could pick up more than three but jobs could lead to quests so doing so wasn't advisable. Mandeok didn't care he had juggled part time jobs before and these would be no different.

He went to every store and work place in town to inquire about the prospect of work. By the end of the first day he had a rough concept of how to stagger his employment hours. By the end of the first week he was dividing his in game time between; washing dishes; running errands; couriering packages; trimming hedges; sweeping hair; bussing tables; mucking stables; polishing arms; sharpening swords; gathering wood and whatever else he could find.

He did the bare minimum asked of him by his employer. Anymore and they would ask him to undertake some task. Any quest could lead to a chain quest and tie up his precious slots for an undetermined amount of time.

Of course he couldn't out right refuse lest he lose what little intimacy he had cultivated with his employer. Whenever the topic came up it was always the same response.

"Sorry Owner-nim but I have to assist ....."

or words to that effect. The quests they gave were simple supply and delivery ones so by mid week Mandeok had learned to spot markers that would indicate the possibility of one appearing, you couldn't very well keep sending workers out to pick up four bags of flour every half hour. Luckily for him there was always at least two to three other Players working at the time who would gladly fulfil the request.

By week two he had worked part time in half the city.

He appeared at the back door of one of the restaurants in the lower parts of Serabourg. It wasn't long before someone came out to throw away the rubbish. From the shadows Mandeok made his presence known.

*cough cough*

"Excuse me sir do you have any need of an extra set of hands? I work quickly and don't mind hard work."

The man disappeared inside and a few moments later a man who must have been the owner appeared. He was dressed in the standard chefs uniform but the scarred and calloused hands spoke volumes of a man who had dedicated his life to honing his craft.

"I can pay you just 5 coppers to wash the dishes and only for tonight?"

"Sir how about..." as Mandeok spoke he saw the owners face redden and contort with anger, his thoughts were clearly plastered on his quickly furrowing brow.

'He came begging for a job and now he tries to negotiate his wage. I should show him my cleaver and send him on his way'

"....2 coppers and I'll take the balance in scraps from the kitchen?" Mandeok continued fearlessly. He had returned from the den of a loan shark what did he have to fear from another man wielding kitchen knives.

The rage left the chefs face.

"One nights work. 2 copper and I'll send you on your way with a bag of leftovers. Deal?"

Mandeok agreed and followed the mountain of a man back into the warm kitchen. He could hear the clamour from the front of the restaurant as patrons; Players and Non-Players alike, filed in and out. He was given a dish towel and an apron and shown to his station by the big sink. The dishes had already started to pile up but he began immediately.

With a steady pace he kept the flow of clean and dirty dishes moving. From the corner of his eye he saw aspiring players learning cooking and veteran NPCs waging war against the dinner rush. There were lulls in the kitchen when food was cooking or no new orders came through but he just stood at his stations rinsing, washing, drying and carefully stacking.

At the end of the night the owner approached him. In one hand he held two coppers and in the other a small bag of leftovers.

"Come back tomorrow and see if your needed." he gruffly said thrusting the bag and wage towards the wet dwarf, his beard tip was soaked from the constant dunking it had received, who gratefully accepted it and left. He headed towards his next job.

During the third week he had covered most of the city in his job hunt and had struck deals with those he was currently working with. They would supplement his wage with off cuts of cloth; leftover food; metal filings; old fish; scraps of paper and even hair.

Of course he still tried to receive at least half the salary they offered.

They would still get his full commitment to work and its quality was always satisfactory enough that when he proposed his odd conditions they had no reason to decline, so long as the standard didn't slip. A full day's work for half the wages and a little trash could they be more blessed.

It was in the fourth week that he received a system message while he was helping the owner of a small tailoring shop carry bolts of silk.

-:Title earned: You have earned the title Part-timer. Townsfolk find you a diligent hard worker but they may not always pay your wage in coin.

Fame increased by 10: +10 fame:-

As soon as he earned that the bags of junk they gave him to make up the rest of his wage increased. It seemed the little fame from the strange title prompted the increase in his wage.

Still it took him another four weeks to save enough coin to make 1 gold.

The man behind the bars of the exchange window smiled warmly as he saw the young man approach.

"Welcome back you looking for more work?"

"No sorry not at the moment. If you don't mind could you convert these into gold."

The last word caused the players in the exchange to prick up their ears. Greedy eyes narrowed in the direction of the man at the counter as he emptied into the collection plate a small mountain of copper coins. It overflowed and needed two more plates just to hold it all.

"Alright let's just see then shall we." the old man said as he rolled up his sleeves.

First he counted out stacks of 100 and converted them into 1 silver piece. When all stacks of a hundred had been made from the copper pile he turned to the silver pile and counted it in to stacks of a hundred. When he had one full stack he changed it for a single gold piece.

All in all the change Mandeok had dumped on the poor man amounted to a little short of two gold. This was of course after the exchange had deduced its transaction fee. Having worked there previously Mandeoks rate was lowered slightly.

Wasting no time he scooped his money into his bags and headed for the door. Unscrupulous shadows followed him, hoping to ambush him should he leave the safety of the city gates. Unfortunately for them he didn't. He headed straight across the road and into the Merchants Guild.

He thought of going straight to the counter but instead pulled up a stool in the open area of the Guild Hall. He sat there for a few hours watching and listening. In that time several human Players came and got their quest to become Merchants and each time it was the same. Either the Owner or the Guild Master needed 300 rabbits pelts urgently and with that they would pass the player a single gold coin. They were even given a generous three day time limit. After the fifth time he had seen enough.

Mandeok strode up to the counter and placed a single gold coin before the merchant.

"I've come to take the merchants exam please."

"Ah yes one moment please."

The man behind the counter was a little entranced by the coins lustre to start with but he quickly recovered and proceeded to pull out a rather large file from under the desk.

"I had this prepared the moment you left the last time."

Mandeok swallowed hard. If this thing was the test it would surely be like sitting SATs; the bar exam; the exam to get a medical license and a pop quiz from MENSA all rolled into one. Where opening the test was part of the test.

"I had the Intelligence guild use their contacts in the Rogues guild to keep tabs on you and this is the dossier of their findings."

All Mandeok gathered from that was that his activities over the past few weeks had become some sort of Player quest for those of the Rogue profession.

"The results are quite surprising but nothing here indicates you acquired your wealth through more unsavoury means. "

"Since I've seen all the effort you've put in, I think you have the talent to become a merchant. Very industrious. You may lack a little of the greed for money that drives most merchant but that may not be such a bad thing. Only time will tell."

He closed the file

"One copper please."

'This filcher even now he's trying to squeeze more money from me.'

Mandeoks mind shouted curses at the fat man but his face betrayed none of that, instead he calmly reached into his pockets and put a single copper piece down on the counter. The merchant snatched it up.

"Sign here and here."

He produced a scroll of paper that read Guild Charter which Mandeok signed where indicated.

"And these are yours." the fat man slid two items across the counter towards the dwarf. The first was a single gold coin and the second was a single copper coin that a hole had been punched through. A strap of leather had been a fixed to it to make it into a crude bracelet.

When he touched it a window appeared

-: Class change: Merchant.

Do you want to convert to the Merchant class.

Yes / No:-

This time when the class change box appeared in pressed yes without a second thought.

-: Congratulations you have chosen your class.

All stats increased by 20 points. +20 all stats:-

-: New skill: Trade (Merchant class skill):-

-: New skill: Barter (Merchant class skill):-

The merchant then gave him his very first Ledger; for recording accounts and purchases. A truly invaluable tool for the merchant profession.

The last thing Mandeok did before logging out for the night was make an investment in his new profession. He bought as many merchant bags as he could for one gold.

*****************************

An elderly gentleman in a dark suit sat in the branches main office. He had lost interest in the conversation and was staring out the window when his eyes caught a strange sight.

"Manager, who is that man over there." he used the polished black cane to gesture beyond the glass.

"President-nim you don't expect me to know every...oh actually I do know that gentleman." the bank manager replied having followed the canes length to its target currently at the tellers window.

"Mr. Eun Seok-nim. He had a substantial account with us but closed it out a little while ago. He only operates a small checking account currently."

"Ohoho." the President of Happy Sunshine Loans had only stopped in by the more legitimate face of his company to hear how business was going. The fact Eun Seok had been in there checking his interest had come through and was enough to cover his expenses was just convenient timing.

"Manager I want all information you have on that client."

"Yes President-nim, right away."

*****************************

Eun seok knew that he had now taken his first steps on the long and difficult road of commerce.

He stood in front of Admiral Yi reviewing the growing number of articles on the wall. He had filled in and updated them every time he logged out. He read them over before he logged in just to firmly set the sessions goal in mind.

Right now he had ticked off several bullets points. On the page called starting goals he'd marked off;

Gained maximum stats through training hall

Gained maximum stats through library

Gained endurance stat

And next to it on a page titled "What kills a Merchant" he had ticked off the sentence;

Poison

Other points on this page included; Wild Beasts/Monsters, PLAYERS, Hired Mercenaries, the Weather, MORE PLAYERS and Bleeding.

The other things he had gained during his training had been written down on his 'Character' page. On the line marked class he had written MERCHANT followed by the date and level he had obtained it at.

Happy at the progress he had made he slipped into the capsule and with a flash was back in Serabourg. Like always the streets were full of people calling for items, trades and parties. Mandeok just walked past them all having only a few specific places he needed to be.

Thanks to acquiring his class he had now unlocked the skill cap, it was a limit set on the amount of skills a player without a class could learn; a pitiful ten. While he still had a couple slots open it was less worrying now that the limiter had been removed.

With all the jobs he had done over the city he had a fair idea of the best places to acquire the rest of the skills he desired. The trick now would be meeting any prerequisite stats or skill levels. His overall level itself was level 1 around 97%. It had been a struggle just to keep it this low but somehow he had prevailed until he received his chosen class.

He entered the restaurant, one of the many he had worked in before but by far the most superior, and found the owner. As usual the man was busy in the kitchen tossing rice above a roaring flame.

"Back again eh kid, well dishes are in the back."

"Do you have anything else that needs done as well."

"Potatoes are in the back to, ask those already there if you don't know how to peel them." came the gruff reply as the flames grasped at the great pan.

After washing the few dishes that were piled up he headed to the back. In the storeroom he found two other players hard at work peeling great sacks of spuds.

"Knife. Stool, see." came a weathered voice from a weathered face. The old man sitting behind the door handed him a small peeler and pointed him to a corner stool. Mandeok sat down and grabbed the first potatoes from the sack.

His first attempts were dreadful, deep gashes and hacks in the poor tuber. So much so that the old man leapt off his chair when he reached for another from the sack.

"No lad like this. See." with measured strokes he passed the blade across the surface of Mandeoks botched attempt. In a short time he had salvaged enough to still use it.

"Gentle, delicately. See." and with that he handed back the knife as he toddled back to his post.

On the second one Mandeok took his time. His dwarf hands firmly grasped the peeler as it shaved off layers of tough skin. The other apprentices had long finished by the time he was half way done but he was rewarded for his patience none the less

-:Level Up: Handicraft (Beginner level: 2(00.0%)):-

He had been very conscious of it slowly creeping up every time he picked herbs in the fields and doing the dishes. Now it was coming into its own.

The rewards were quick to show themselves as the next sack took half the time. And by the third one he could almost keep up with the other two players. The old man in the corner just nodded silently at the young dwarf's progress.

After a week of dishes and potatoes one of his companion peelers asked about learning cooking. It was apparently what they had come to learn. 'Great minds' thought Mandeok as he watched the head chefs reply.

"Any Apprentices who wish to learn Cooking front and centre." bellowed the owner.

The other two joined the third in a line in front of the Master of the Kitchen. He held a presence like a Commander inspecting the troops.

He grabbed a plate from somewhere and held it under their noses.

"This is our signature dish. I got the recipe during my days as a mercenary from a Foreigner like yourselves."

On the plate was a round of breaded batter. When the chef cut into it and the most wonderful smell of hot curry spices filled the room. Overflowing the senses of the three would-be trainees.

He set the dish down on a counter next to the group.

"Your job is to recreate that dish. Take your time now to study its textures, scents and flavors. Then when you're ready to try tell me and I'll have one of our regulars over see you. If you fail you leave MY kitchen."

-:Accept Quest: Yes/ No:-

The three obviously had similar ideas as they each tried to > it. The first grinned confidently and asked to begin preparing it. The Owner and the rest of the staff smirked but allowed it. Just like that there were two.

Once again they must have been on similar wavelengths as both reached for a half to taste. It had a very delicate flavour that surprised Eun Seok, he had expected it to be spicier but like this he felt he could eat two or three in one sitting. Their tasting over they returned to the potatoes.

They were never rejoined by the first player.

A few days later the second got up and left to attempt the challenge. Mandeok and he had used every spare moment they had had since taking up the quest to observe the other chefs and examine the ingredients and spices on hand in the kitchen. Mandeoks Herbology soon hit Beginner level 3, as he used it on every vegetable he could, and his Handicraft wasn't far behind.

'Just make curry bread. The quest is far too simple or was it designed to cause you to over think the solution.'

Unknown to Mandeok, who contemplated the problem one potato at a time in the darkened storeroom, the first player had failed. He had ignored the ingredients provided and instead made the sauce from scratch before sealing it in dough, he also made, rolling it in bread crumbs and frying it. His mistake was adding rice instead of potato to the roux.

The second fared a little better. He combined the ingredients provided so at least the roux was correct. However when they bit into it the spiciness was overpowering.

All that remained was Mandeok, still peeling potatoes.

Another couple of days passed before he emerged from the store room in a Sadako like fashion. The chef's would have forgotten he was there if not for the fresh mounds of peeled spuds that appeared daily.

"Head Chef-nim I think I'm ready to take your test." he tried to sound confident but in his mind all he could think was 'if I don't I may go mad before I've found an answer.'

He was escorted to a work station with a few ingredients already on it.

"Here's the basics but you can add anything else you like to it and prepare it in any order you choose. I'll leave you under the care of our Roundsman. You can start when you like. If you make a mistake you may make another as long as you have enough ingredients and the test ends when you present me with one your happy with."

With that the Lord of the Kitchen left Mandeok alone with the weary looking Roundsman.

In front of him was a medium sized ball of dough; a pot of roux; a large plate of bread crumbs and a couple of spice racks. He tried to recall the mellowness of the curry he had tasted before he tested the curry roux. small chucks of potato and other vegetables were visible in the thick sauce. The first thing that hit him was the spiciness of the roux. As fire belched froth from his mouth he desperately tried to drink some milk.

Not at all like the flavour he remembered. Next he took small spoonful's of the sauce and poured them on to little dishes. To these he added a little of the spices. These samples were then tasted but none matched the delicate flavour. The Roundsman silently watched him testing combinations of spices. He remembered his own trail at the hands of the Head Chef and winced.

Mandeok had now moved on to other possibilities. He searched high and low with a little of the roux's spiciness on his lips he tried different vegetables to reduce the burning.

When he licked his lips it had lessened a little but was still present. He looked at the thing in his hand. His skills told him it was a Wild Onion. He had actually eaten many of them during his time in the fields, long before they knew what they were. He took a bigger bite but that didn't mellow the flavour any further.

'One piece of the puzzle?'

Back to Main Page