The capsule was huge, unlike what he had expected. Measuring 3 meters on each dimension, it was more a small room than a capsule. He had read that this was the fifth version of the original capsule design. Carefully, Jinyang opened the door (more of a hatch really) and entered the capsule.

Points of light blinked into existence around the walls as the capsule detected his presence and powered up. A wrap around visor was in the center of the room. Putting it on, he felt himself lifted up by the capsule’s gravitic field while the visor fully covered his vision and displayed the Royalroad logo. Vibrational sound discs built into every corner of the capsule generated a soft feminine voice.

“Bioscans have determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?”

“Er.. Yes”

“Please select the name of your avatar.”

“GimmeMoney”

“Please select your gender from male, female or monogender”

“Male”

“Royal Road has forty-nine discovered races. You may select from any of the forty-nine under the following list.”

A list of race names, a picture of a stereotypical member of the race and a short description of their racial abilities followed. Jinyang has already looked all of them over and since there was no new race from the expansion uncovered, he went with his original choice.

“Human”

“You may alter your appearance in the following aspects”

As another long list of explanations began to unfold, Jinyang had no patience for it.

“Skip, use my current look”

“Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. The following rules will be instituted based on your beginner status.”

“Skip”

“Select a city and kingdom you want to start.”

“The Village of Hilldale, Kingdom of Mintarn”

“Welcome to Royal Road, we hope that the new expansion will bring as much joy to you as ..“

“Ugh, skip intro”

With a flash, Jinyang found himself in a small ramshackle village on a hill top overlooking a deep mountain range. The ground felt solid but uneven which spoke strongly of the precision of the gravitic field that, in the real world, pushed against his feet to create the tactile sensation.

“Hmm, first things first. Logout.”

“You are logging out. Please confirm.”

“Yes, logout”

Jinyang found himself once more looking at the Royalroad logo as the gravitic field lowered him to the actual ground.

“Ok the logout works. I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a capsule and starve to death just because the logout function failed or something.”

“System, log me back in”

“Welcome GimmeMoney, loading in status and location. Synchronization with main server initialised.”

Opening his eyes, Jinyang found himself once more at the village. He had chosen this location because of its proximity to a vast mountain range. That and the number of players that actually chose to base themselves at the village were very low. He was not a sociable person by nature and after his parents had passed away due to illness, he had become even more insular. Having to move to the rhythm of a group was also hard as he preferred to move at his own pace. As such, he did not like to form parties with strangers and preferred to lone wolf every MMORPG he had played before.

The first task on his battle plan was to gain a mining pick.

“Inventory Window”

Immediately everything carried by him was visible as an overlay on top of his visual senses. He had a canteen and 10 pieces of rye bread. It was definitely not enough to trade for a mining pick but that was not the plan anyway.

From the game guides he had read, every settlement that had mining as a major industry also had a simple quest given by the settlement’s mayor or chief which would reward a mining pick to those that completed it. However finding the chief’s house or office was not as easy as he had thought. The game guides had given the map of the town in 2 dimensions. Jinyang was not a good map reader especially when he had to translate 2 dimensions in 3. It took 20 minutes before he was sure he had found the house which given the size of the village was a long time. It would have been much easier to ask a non player character for directions but his manly pride refused to stoop to asking.

The village chief was painting a picture of a cornstalk or at least that was what it looked like. It could have also had been an abstract painting of some sort. Whatever the ugly thing was, it required praise.

“Wow, that’s beautiful.”

“Ah, you understand art. Welcome stranger, to Hilldale, where the mountains will gift you great treasure if you work hard:

“That’s exactly why I’m here chief. I heard that you might have a spare mining pick to generously bestow upon people like pitifully poor me”

“Well yes, in fact I do have a mining pick I could give you but in the mountains, you have to give to receive.”

“Just tell me what I need to do, great chief, and I will complete the task or die trying.”

Jinyang was laying the butter on a bit thick but it seemed to have an effect.

“It’s not a big or difficult thing. The problem is that I have to refill the town’s ten fire prevention urns by bringing water from the nearby river. Do at least five and I will give you a mining pick. If you fill all the urns, I’ll give you my very own pick.”

Replenish the village’s water supply

The village chief needs help in replenishing the town’s water supply used to fight fires and you’re it. Fill at least 5 urns to earn a mining pick. Fill 10 urns and get a superior mining pick.Difficulty level: FRewards:

A mining pickQuest requirements:

Village chief must not dislike you

Must talk with the chief about mining picks

Quest fails when you tell the chief you cannot do it

“…”

The quest was more tedious than he had expected but he couldn't simply leave for another town or city, even if he was free from the 4 week rule for newbies, as the village was on the frontier of the Kingdom of Mintarn, which was itself bordering the edge of civilization. He could try and earn money to buy a pick but that would take a long time.

“Are you unwilling to aid me, stranger?”

“Of course I will do it chief. It will be my honor. But I am but a weak person, perhaps there is a wagon or mule I could borrow?”

You have accepted the quest.

“Old man Jessup has a mule if you wish to borrow a mule: Let me give you directions to his house.”

“…”

A long and tiring hour later, Jinyang found himself in front of a rundown smithy where an old man was straightening the pines of a pitch fork with a hammer. A mule was in its stable and a cart with a broken frontal wheel was waiting to be repaired

“Mr Jessup?”

“What is it boy?”

“The village chief has asked me to borrow your mule to refill the urns of water used for fire fighting.”

“He did? Whatever for? Let the whole place burn down, I say”

Privately Jinyang would have agreed but he needed the quest done and the old man was being troublesome.

“Is there is something I could do for you to show that you can trust me with your mule?”

“... Well, if you could find out what flowers Widow Kainen likes, I could maybe spare my mule for a few hours”

Discover Widow Kainen’s favourite flower

Jessup needs you to find out what type of flower Widow Kainen likes so he can give them to her.Difficulty level: FRewards:

You can use Jessup’s mule.

Improved friendship with Jessup.Quest requirements:

Quest fails when you tell the Jessup that you cannot do it

“Done and done. Where could I find her”

You have accepted the quest.

“Here let me give you directions to her house:”

“…”

After an hour and a half, Jinyang finally found a house that vaguely resembled the description given to him. Knocking on the door, he heard a voice

“Who is it? Whatever it is you are selling, I don’t want any.”

“I’ve come from Jessup’s house. He would like to know what flowers you like.”

To Jinyang’s mind, it was better to go straight to the point. It wasn't a thoughtless lack of tact, it was simply a thoughtless lack of caring about anything that to his mind, barely concerned him. The door opened and a careworn face that looked to have witnessed over sixty years peered out.

“Well you can tell that lecherous old man, I’m not giving him the time of day:”

“Look, you are old…”

“What? Why the impoliteness you”

“Wait for me to finish. You’re old, he’s old. Both of you obviously live alone since I have seen no one else and nor clothes on your clothes line sized or in a fashion that would suit anyone but you. Would it be so bad for him to visit you? If you fall down and get injured, at least he would find you the next day at the latest. And it’s the same for him. You could find his cold dead body before he was eaten by his mule so he could at least get buried intact. No one said you had to sleep with him or whatever. Just be friends that look out for each other out first.”

The old lady looked shocked initially but slowly the cold hard truth of Jinyang’s words was heard.

“…You’re still an impolite boor but you might have a point. Alright, you can tell the old fella I like lilies.”

Returning to Jessup’s smithy with nary a farewell or goodbye, Jinyang relayed the message to Jessup.

“She really… She really told you that she liked lilies?”

“Yes, can I borrow the mule now?”

“Oh course boy, take what you need. Now where am I supposed to find lilies?!?”

Quest completed: Discover Widow Kainen’s favourite flower

Using your harsh words, you convinced Widow Kainen and she told you that her favourite flower are lilies and you relayed that to Jessup.

You can use now use Jessup’s mule.

Intelligence increases by 1 point.

Dragging the mule out of its stall was surprisingly effortless but judging from its size, Jinyang estimated it could only carry about 2 urns at best. That meant 3 trips up and down the hill just to get a normal mining pick. The answer was sitting right next to the mule

“Well he did say to take what I needed…”

Hitching the broken cart to the mule, Jinyang removed the remains of the broken front wheel as well as the undamaged wheel that was connected to the broken one. The cart became a 2 wheeled cart instead, balanced on its rear wheels. The balance was off but it rolled well enough. Grabbing a stout stool and throwing it onto the cart, he made this way back the village chief’s house to collect all ten urns and then headed towards the easily visible river.

With its unbalanced center of gravity and its full load of 10 urns, going downhill was much more treacherous then up. To prevent the laden cart from barrelling into the mule, Jinyang travelled in a zigzag fashion. The angled movement meant that gravity was applied to the sides of the cart. Using that method, he arrived at the river safely while a status window had suddenly popped up when he had stopped.

Skill: You learned the passive skill - Teamster.

Using the stool, he propped up the front of the wagon, reducing the slope of the cart greatly. As he filled the urns, he noticed a white lily flowering just above the waterline.

“… Maybe he will give me something for it.”

Quest completed: Replenish the village’s water supply

You have filled up all ten urns with water from the river in a single trip. Return to the village chief to claim the reward.

Intelligence increases by 1 point.

The lily found itself perched on top of one of the urns as the cart made its way back up the hill. There was no need to zigzag but Jinyang kept a careful eye on the mule. If it looked like it was slipping backwards, he planned to stick a block under each of the rear wheels and let it rest for a short while. But he never had to do it though as the plucky mule pulled its burden to the chief’s house without incident.

The chief nodded as he checked each urn.

“You did well and finished before night time. Since you have filled all ten, I will gift you my very own mining pick”

Receiving the pick, Jinyang looked it over

“Identify”

"You have failed to identify the item."

“Hmm, the guide said that you could learn skills by putting them into practice. The identification skill should be the same.”

Sitting down on a nearby rock, he kept repeating the phrase. After 30 minutes of constant repetition, most of which was spent waiting for Mana to regenerate since an attempt at identification apparently cost Mana, a window finally popped up

Steel PickGifted by the Hilldale village chief in reward for completion of his quest, this mining pick is much more durable than a normal pick. Using this pick also grants a greater chance to discover rare ores

Durability: 120/120

Damage: 5-8

Restriction:

Strength 10+

Effects:

+15% chance of mining an uncommon ore.

+5% chance of mining a rare ore

+3% chance of mining a very rare ore

+1% chance of mining a unique ore

Skill: You learned the skill - Identification.

“Stat Window”

Character NameGimmeMoneyAlignmentNeutralLevel1ProfessionNoneTitleNoneFame0Health100Mana100Strength10Agility10Vitality10Wisdom10Intelligence12Luck0Leadership0Offense5Defence5Magic ResistanceNone

“Skill Window”

IdentificationBeginner 1 (0%)Enables you to learn the true value of unidentified items.

Mana consumption: 30TeamsterBeginner 1 (0%)Wagons driven by you have a reduced chance of accidents and improved speed.

“Not too bad. Got 2 free skills in 4 hours but only intelligence was increased though. Seems like how you solve the quest impacts what rewards you get. That’s something to exploit.”

Finding things and mechanics for exploitation was fully on Jinyang’s mind. Maximum gain for minimum effort was the mantra of the lazy gamer, and that was what he espoused as well. Honour, glory and fair play were all foreign words to him. The only redeeming quality he had was that he would not do things that would harm innocents for his own benefit, including things like hacking or stealing accounts.

Hacking was something that had plagued VirU’s game and for short periods of time when some security flaw was discovered, there would be a chaotic period with some hacking into other players accounts and transferring all their items to the hacker’s real account. These periods were also rife with sales of the stolen virtual goods online. The hackers were rarely caught and when the security flaw was rectified, the turbulence would end.

“Time to return the mule and cart.”

Driving the cart back to Jessup’s smithy, he spied Jessup walking up and down the aisle of his shop muttering to himself.

“Jassun might know where to find lilies since he’s a farmer. Or maybe Pech might know…”

“I’m here to return the mule and the cart I borrowed.”

Jessup merely nodded and waved him away, never ceasing the conversation with himself.

“I also brought you this lily and maybe…”

Jinyang never had the chance to finish his sentence as Jessup rushed over and grabbed the flower.

“YES!”

After shouting that single word, he ran out onto the street disappearing as he rounded the corner of a hut.

“A reward of a few silvers would have been acceptable but noooooo, I will just grab and run. Cheapskate! Ungrateful thief!”

Still, there had not been an official quest message so the entire thing could be thought of as a gamble on whether an NPC would give a reward outside of the quest system.

Stabling the mule and replacing the cart back to its original position took some time as he needed the cart’s front end lifted high enough for him to thread the axle of the broken wheel through the cart’s supports. He figured that he owed Jessup the return of the cart back to its original state since he pretty much took the cart without actual permission. By the time he finished, Jessup had returned.

“What are you doing boy?”

“What does it look like? I’m returning your cart.”

“Whatever for? It’s yours now and the mule too.”

“Whaa?”

“Take them as a small compensation from me for you giving me a new lease of life.”

“Sure thing! I’ll take them right off your hands. Do you think you could fix the wheel though?”

“…”

After half an hour, the cart was fully repaired and Jinyang was finally ready to proceed with his overall plan for building up his character.

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