Chapter 18: Mysterios NPC Stall


    "How could you remember all their locations? I don''t remember their ces!"


    Iughed and replied with pride:


    "I knew they were a very important species. So I noticed their locations."


    "You talk like an animal keeper. Wake up, this is not a zoo.


    We are going to kill them, not tame them."


    "Tame? What do you mean by taming them?"


    "Here in the game, any yer can tame any monster."


    "Why would I tame such a dangerous fellow? It could kill me from behind!"


    "You got it wrong. When you tame a monster it bes your pet. This pet can help you in fight and be like a loyal teammate to you. It also grows by gaining XP from battles like you.


    So it''s the best teammate ever."


    "Really? Tell me, my dear Shin, how can I tame a monster? I want to tame a legendary grade monster."


    "You know your pathetic seducing try is not effective on me. Listen carefully as I will tell you only this time. To tame a monster you need to fulfill some conditions.


    First, it must be a cub monster and its best if it was recently born or you owned its egg. Second, you need to reach a certain MANA value before you can tame it.


    MANA is never to raise stat to us melee sses, but if you want to tame a monster then you need to pay attention to this point. Every monster has his MANA value.


    So I don''t rmend you raise your MANA for now. The third condition is to be over lvl50. This condition is a loose one. Thest condition is the easiest of all; if the monster chooses you then you can tame him easily."


    These conditions were really bad. I thought I could tame a tiger or a wolf. These conditions were very hard to meet. While I was sinking in my thoughts, I heard Shin scream of surprise pointing to a small stall at the end of the street.


    "That stall is the legendary wanderer stall!"


    Although he seemed too surprised, I didn''t understand his reason.


    He didn''t borate more as he looked around to see if he attracted anyone by his loud voice. We were in a very busy street and his sound though it was high but no one noticed it.


    We were in the middle of a very noisy ce. I looked to him in question but he just exined everything in the chat of our small team:


    "This stall isn''t just a normal stall. It only appeared in novice viges. Its appearance is usually random. When it appears in any vige, it won''tst there for more than one hour.


    We passed through this ce many times and I didn''t notice him till now. It must have just appeared."


    I looked at this mysterious stall. Actually I didn''t notice anything special about it. Without him pointing straight to this stall, I would never have noticed it. I said in the chat:


    "I''m curious, how did you know it was this stall? I don''t find anything special about him."


    He walked towards the stall in big steps while saying in the chat:


    "Do you see that NPC standing behind the stall? It''s the stallndmark."


    "I don''t understand. What is so special about this NPC?"


    "NPCs never open stalls. Not here not in the towns and not anywhere. If you saw a stall with NPC behind it, you know for sure it was a special stall. Never miss a chance of such rarity and quality."


    We had reached the stall. When we appeared, the NPC looked at us with no interest and then continued his daydreaming attitude. When I looked at the stall I froze at once.


    This stall sold skill books! I drooled over these books like a hungry cat looking at a delicious fish. Shin was like me, he didn''t move his eyes from these books.


    Unfortunately, we couldn''t know any info about these books or even their prices. Shin asked eagerly:


    "Sir, can you please tell us what skill books do you have here and what are their prices?"


    That cold looking NPC just nced at Shin. They looked to the sky as if we weren''t in front of him. I felt nervous about this weirdo. When I looked at Shin, I felt as if he was ustomed to this man''s cold attitude.


    I was going to ask him again when his deep voice came like he was speaking from a deep well:


    "There are 5 skill books for each Adventure ss.


    Also, I have skill books for lifestyle sses. What skill books are you looking for?"


    I was about to ask for skill books for my ss but Shin was faster as he rushed saying like he was in front of a precious chance he was afraid to miss:


    "I want lifestyle skill books for sure."


    "Which skills do you need?"


    He looked at me while I felt like an ignorant little kid in front of him. Although he always behaved in a silly funny way, sometimes he transformed to be like a totally different person.


    This transformation never urred without good reason. Either we were in front of a crisis or a very big opportunity.


    "I want a forging skill book, Alchemy skill book, gathering skill book, mining skill book, collecting skill book and machinery skill book. I also wanted a scout skill book and observation skill book.


    Do you have any CC skill books for melee sses?"


    I didn''t understand any of these books except for the alchemist skill book. When I learned it I would be able to forge my weapons and equipment, right?


    "I have two CC skill books for melee sses."


    Shin muttered, "That''s a pretty shortlist."


    "I do have five auxiliary skill books too for melee sses."


    "What did you say? Auxiliary skill books?"


    "Yes, but they aren''t cheap. Each book costs 1 silver coin each. I don''t ept anything except coins."


    I was angry with both of them as they neglected me as if I was invisible.


    I entered this unknown discussion for me asking in a simr cold tone:


    "What is the price of the previous skill books then?"


    "Each lifestyle skill book costs 500 copper coins. Each CC skill book costs 750 copper coins. As I said before, I only ept coins not a pawn shop."


    That NPC stuff is really expensive. He also treated us like we were nobody. I felt humiliated. Before I did something foolish, Shin sent me a message in our chat:


    "Don''t move even a single hair of yours. This NPC level is over 100. Just a breath from him and you will be dead before you even know. This NPC has very excellent skill books for us.


    We just needed to be patient and endure."


    I was about to argue with him but he added:


    "This skill book of forging if you wanted to buy it from the NPC store in towns you won''t find it. Only NPC stores in the city sell it.


    You either learn it from a cksmith association and pay 100 gold coins or you wait till your level exceeds level 100 to be able to go to the city and buy it with a price of 1 gold coin. This stall is very cheap."


    That price fluctuation made me worry. I understood that the cksmith association was monopolizing the market in towns.


    But the difference between 500 copper coins and one gold coin was immense.


    "Are you sure these skill books are authentic?"


    He looked at me first till he understood my meaning. He replied at once:


    "This stall is a kind of game to help newbie yers like us.


    These prices are estimated on the wealth of the whole yers, not just us alone. The game is nned by these prices to enable yers to get only one skill book. We are the exception to this rule."


    "Then it appeared from nothingness in front of us by luck?"


    "Indeed. The main factor for its appearance in front of yers is the Luck hidden stat. your luck value is very high so it''s natural for it to appear in front of us after we get some wealth."


    I tried to tease him like what he always did to me saying:


    "Now our poor money has turned miraculously into wealth?"


    Heughed replying to me:


    "Money value isn''t in its amount but by how much you can benefit from it. All these skill books here if you tried to buy them back at town will earn you a fortune."


    "Really? So why don''t we buy some useless skill books for us and sell them?"


    "Silly girl will always be a silly girl. Don''t you understand math?


    Just do some calctions and tell me how much we will pay to this NPC?"


    I really didn''t calcte our current small wealth.


    We came out from the NPC store with 22 silver coins and 660 copper coins. We bought 100 HP recovery potions for each of us. Each potion cost 20 copper coins, so we spent 4 silver coins on these only.


    We also bought 50 simple bread for each of us. Each simple bread cost 5 copper coins. We also bought 100 obacle juices for each of us. Each obacle juice cost 20 copper coins.


    That left us with only 18 silver coins and 440 copper coins. That was in case we added the original 100 copper coins we already had at the start of the game.


    We needed 19 silver coins to be able to buy all these books. I looked at Shin who said like the one who knew everything:


    "Do you understand how poor we are?"


    "Why don''t we go back and bring back all the remaining trash equipment and sell them. Their price will allow us to buy what we need and even more."


    "There is no time to do that. This stall won''t be around till we finish all this. Give me all the equipment you got from the 10 yer team that caused the previous strife."


    I had 7 pieces of equipment from these yers. I gave them all to him while he moved to the busy street disappearing from my sight. I didn''t understand how these 7 pieces of equipment would change our dire situation.


    We needed at least 560 copper coins. I didn''t check those equipment stats. If they had stats then our problem would be solved.


    But if they were just like the trash equipment we just sold, then we would get only 280 copper coins. We were still 280 copper coins short. I tried to know any info about these skill books on the stall but that cold NPC didn''t agree.


    He told me to see them myself after I bought them. I kept my silence and got bored from this stall. After ten minutes, Shin appeared again with a big smile over his face.


    I didn''t know why he was this happy. Once he reached me he said to the NPC with confidence:


    "I will buy two skill books from each lifestyle book I have mentioned before.


    I also need all the CC skill books and all these auxiliary skill books."


    "That will cost you 19 silver coins."


    "Here are the 19 silver coins."


    I thought our luck was really high, as it seemed all the equipment I gave him was with stats. What he said next surprised me as he said:


    "I also need skill books for melee sses, specifically swordsman and spearman sses."


    "I have many skill books for these two sses. Do you need something specific?"


    I noticed Shin was thinking very hard for a moment then he said:


    "I need AOE skill books for the two sses."


    "I have one skill book for each ss."


    "How much is the skill book?"