The newly opened faction “Blood Rat Gang” now has only 4 people including Dorothy. They’ve just set up their stall outside the entrance of Sewer No. 7, and immediately about a dozen waiting players crowded around them.
These were all folks planning to pursue thief and stealth paths. They had been longing for similar class changes before, but this damn game only introduced stealth gameplay now, which was really disappointing!
Bah! Extremely poor gaming experience!
However, the little players who came excitedly left disappointed one by one, because the stealth assassins in this damn game seemed to be slightly different from the image they had imagined of killing someone in ten steps without a trace.
“What? What did you say? Stealth? Yes, I know stealth, but that visual concealment effect you mentioned isn’t something an ordinary Professional like you can learn! To summon shadows to cover your body so Proficiently, you need to be at least Black Iron Rank.”
“I can teach pickpocketing skills too, but don’t you need to practice? If your technique isn’t good when stealing wallets on the street, you could get beaten to death!
Look, there’s a pot over there, see? Use two fingers to pick it up after the sand is heated, if you succeed in one try, you’re considered a Novice. After that, practice picking up soap with your fingers in a basin of hot water.”
“Who’s throwing flash powder randomly? How can you throw it like a smoke grenade? Your technique is too poor!”
The 4 members of the Blood Rat Gang were quite exhausted by the players’ endless questions. It wasn’t until now that Lady Dorothy realized what a hot potato she had taken on.
She was getting a headache from the players’ strange requests, and remembering the skills she learned in the “Basic Civil Servant Course”, she simply shouted to quiet everyone down, then somewhat clumsily used the Computation Bead she was issued to give them daily quests to eliminate ghouls.
Want to learn skills? No problem! Bring me 10 pairs of ghoul teeth and claws first.
With this move, the 4 members of the Blood Rat Gang finally got a moment of peace.
After the noisy little players left, Dorothy sat tiredly on a wooden barrel and said irritably to her 3 subordinates who were looking at her:
“What are you looking at? Get to work! Set up our camp first. Daisy, when they come back later, you teach them how to shadow walk. Freeman, you teach these guys how to pickpocket and cut purses. Old Pete, teach them searching and disguise.
After they’ve all learned, I’ll teach them how to connect with shadows.
These rookies heard from somewhere that they can instantly melt into shadows and disappear suddenly. Damn, I’ve only heard that shadow elves might be able to do such high-level techniques, but it took me several years to learn!”
Dorothy ranted thoroughly, but the work still had to be done.
As she was directing her 3 subordinates to work, she suddenly saw a figure wrapped tightly in black cloth sneaking along the wall towards her.
This outfit made Lady Razor laugh outright.
“Hey, you over there, are you dressed like that because you’re afraid people won’t notice you in the crowd? Read too many third-rate knight novels, right?
Hurry up and get rid of that unfortunate outfit.”
She sat on the wooden barrel and said to this little player who was stunned in place, with an air of seniority:
“The first thing to do if you want to be a thief is to learn how to disguise yourself, but definitely not like this. I suggest you go to the main street and see what kind of people are the most ordinary, then learn to disguise yourself as them.
When others never notice you, you can be considered a Novice in the thief profession.
In our line of work, the lower your presence, the better.”
“Oh.”
That little player was quite obedient.
After Dorothy finished speaking, he quickly took off his “night clothes”, revealing the novice squire leather armor he was wearing underneath.
This guy’s face was quite young, a very young fellow, but he seemed very reluctant to interact with others, his eyes constantly wandering, not daring to look at Dorothy.
“This won’t do,” said the Blood Rat Gang’s big sister, shaking her head.
“Your demeanor is very suitable for being a petty thief, but that’s not how we do things in the way of thieves. Come on, chest out, head up, tell me what’s your name?”
“Frostfang Claw.”
The little player answered honestly, but he was clearly keeping a low profile.
From the mind microphone plugin inserted in the Computation Bead, it was clear that this guy was also someone with “some wealth”. Little players who could spend 20 gold coins on plugins right after entering the game were still a minority.
“You want to be a thief?” Dorothy asked again, and he nodded vigorously.
“First go and get the ghoul teeth and claws, bring them back to prove your determination and potential. Of course, as a thief, you can’t just think about fighting, so you can also try to steal the wooden boxes our Rat Gang left there from among the ghouls on the third level of the sewers.”
Lady Razor waved her hand and said:
“We left in a hurry earlier, and many things were left there. If you can bring them back, it shows you have a talent for this line of work. But I must tell you, stealing from ghoul-infested areas is much more dangerous than face-to-face combat. Those creatures are very sensitive to scent and life.
You weigh it up yourself.”
“Is one enough?” Frostfang asked softly, and Dorothy nodded.
She thought for a moment, then took a very special small wooden tag from her waist, carved in the shape of a rat as an identity marker.
She said:
“Some of the ghouls on the third level of the sewers carry these, which proves they were once members of the Rat Gang. It’s difficult for me to collect their remains now. But if you can bring back one identity tag, I can also count it as completing your initiation task.
If you steal it back, I’ll personally teach you how to be a thief, but let me be blunt.
This is basically sending you to your death.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
The little player saw that he had triggered a Hidden Quest, and immediately perked up. Without waiting for Dorothy to speak, he turned and ran out, making Lady Razor shake her head.
She had seen many reckless Transians before, but this was the first time she had seen someone as reckless as this. However, the language of these guys is so strange, it’s not the language of the mountain people at all!
Dorothy grumbled in her heart:
Their faces showed an expression of “finally met a sucker”.
Master Broken Blade rubbed his hands and enthusiastically invited Joy Stick to the tent next door. He said:
“To be honest, brother, my younger brother and I have been researching the manufacturing system in this game. We’ve found that to forge equipment with special properties, we need to add some special materials.
Here’s the deal!
You bring us the materials we need, we’ll only charge for labor.”
As he finished speaking, under Joy Stick’s astonished gaze, a quest frame suddenly popped up in front of him.
【Order Quest – ‘Pursuit of Masterwork’ has been triggered!
Quest Content: Crimson Citadel’s official blacksmith “Master Broken Blade” requires you to help him collect a series of rare materials to forge custom weapons for you. The list of requirements is as follows.
Time Limit: 48 hours.
Quest Reward: Custom Masterwork weapons X10, can be collected after forging is completed.】
“!!!”
Brother Stick widened his eyes, looking at the smiling Master Broken Blade in front of him. He exclaimed:
“You can give quests to other players? This is really off the charts!”
“Hey, what’s so surprising about that? This is the ‘exclusive benefit’ for us manufacturing players.”
Master Broken Blade waved his hand and said:
“Brother, I stay in this blacksmith shop all day long, and I’m not interested in fighting. Where do I have time to go out to level up and find materials? This is exactly where you combat professions come in handy.
Let’s put it this way, you bring back the materials, we help you make Masterwork weapons, and we can grind our proficiency at the same time.
Hey, killing two birds with one stone.”
“Wait!”
This was the first time Joy Stick learned about the special mechanism of manufacturing players. He quickly asked in confusion:
“But if you don’t fight monsters and only grind skills, how do you handle the Black Iron Trial?”
“Oh, that’s a trial only for you combat professions. We craftsmen don’t pursue these things, our trial is called the ‘Craftsmanship Trial’.”
Master Broken Blade explained:
“It can be triggered when the blacksmith profession reaches level 10. The requirement is to independently and consecutively craft three Masterwork – Veteran weapons with more than three special properties.
And manufacturing and combat professions don’t conflict. Everyone has three profession slots, right? If we get tired of crafting, we can go out and fight some monsters too.
Anyway, I approve of this game’s degree of freedom.
By the way, are you going to accept my quest or not? And what style of weapons do you plan to order for your guild members? Do you want fantasy-style or more practical classic styles? Do you want me to recommend some?”
“No need, KA-BAR will do.”
Joy Stick accepted the order quest and said, which immediately made Master Broken Blade’s eyes light up, instantly knowing this person’s unusual background.
He said in a low voice:
“Do you want the classic version or the commemorative version? I’ll tell you in advance, the quality of the iron ingots provided by the camp is average, so even if it’s Masterwork, don’t expect it to be as durable as the original.
Also, the commemorative version costs extra!
And the waiting time will be longer, because the special anti-rust treatment and handle are more troublesome to make. My younger brother and I still need to get some specialized tools in the game before we can start working.”
“If you can make the commemorative version, that’s even better! Money is not an issue, after all, you can’t buy it in reality, so it’s fine to play with it in the game.”
Joy Stick’s eyes lit up.
Then he looked at Master Broken Blade with a strange expression. With a sense of awe, he said in a low voice:
“What do you do in reality, brother? From what you’re saying, do you have commemorative versions in stock? Willing to sell?”
“Oh, I’m just a humble man with a small knife company, making a living.”
Master Broken Blade grinned and waved his hand, saying:
“We do have stock, but I’m afraid you can’t afford that price. There’s no need to be a sucker in reality if you’re not a dedicated collector. Anyway, this game is so realistic, it’s good enough to play here.
My younger brother and I are preparing to start replicating classic knives in a while, why don’t you pre-order one?
Since you’re a fellow enthusiast, we can negotiate on the price.”
“Alright!”
Joy Stick thought for a moment and said:
“Let’s start with a Napoleon command sword.”
“Piece of cake. Deposit 30, full payment 100, pick up in two months. Guaranteed Quality above Masterwork Veteran.”
“Damn! Why don’t you just rob people? With this money-making speed, I’m thinking about switching to blacksmith too.”
“You can. My brother and I also take apprentices. Pay 10 gold coins as tuition, and we can start now. Don’t think it’s expensive. You know Lady Aqua, right? She’s a famous fashion designer, born with the ‘Master Tailor’ talent. The three tailor NPCs in the camp are now her apprentices, and she can even get special allowances from the administration.
Sigh, indeed, knowledge is power!”