[Book 1] [11. No time]
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As soon as I stepped inside my home, Tin-can greeted me, “Welcome home, miss Charlie. I am sorry about what happened. You had a visi-”

“Hello there, Tin-can. Not now,” I dismissed him with a wave of my hand at the camera at the top of the TV. “I am not upset with you anymore, but I need to play the game, bye,” I tossed my shoes next to the capsule, along with other clothes, the bag, and plunged straight into the game.

As soon as I logged in the middle of nowhere, I deeply breathed in the sweet aroma of pines. Who said our reality was better? Jogging along the path, I passed a few wolves burring themselves in a mud, but my mind was already in the Main Village Number Four.

[Lucas] Where are you?
[Princess] Meet me at the auction house.
[Lucas] Roger, ETA 20 minutes.

Unlike the wilderness, the village was a great place. The elves were so clever - they built their village by a mountain and river. Thanks to that, they could farm around it, and as I neared, I passed countless tiny farms.

It was a win-win situation, because they got a wood they needed for their houses by clearing the trees nearby and creating more farmland at the same time. Their wooden houses didn’t have any order, like in the big cities down by the river; they lacked the modern urban planning. Some of them rotted away, some of them were on a verge of falling apart.

Players were even trudging along the same path as me, pulling heavy stones, trees, or bags of something. Ah yes, the early quests were preparing them for the life. I might have joined them in a different simulation. Here? How could anyone compare pulling a bag full of potatoes to a fight with a werewolf? So I grinned, as the crowds of people were passing me, doing various tasks.

Getting my way around wasn’t so hard thanks to a trusty minimap - it mapped the place where I had been already. I wouldn’t get lost anyway, because my target - the auction house - stood tall all above any other building.

Its green roof had two long points at each end, like elf ears. How imaginative, devs. Although the building could host hundreds of players, at this moment only a handful of them lingered here, because their purses were lighter than any empty bottle of whiskey.

Why did I choose the Main Village Number Four over the other hundreds of others? The answer was simple, because of the people based here. Not all, but at least two. At the Village Number Seventeen was a juicy exploit and my favorite warrior streamer, Katherine.

 

As I arrived inside, I was looking for Ryan. He used to be an entrepreneur, and he moved to the auction house right after the game started. When I met him at the bar, many months later, he used to talk about how Irwen killed him personally; it was painful to listen to. We talked more than once since he was related to Patrick, maybe a third cousin or something like that.

Originally, I planned to meet him later, only after I leveled up to a decent character, but time was the only thing we didn’t have. Thanks to my rather poor clothing, nobody paid me any attention, so I could walk in without annoying stares. In here, players could rent a private booth and act as clerks, if they wished so. Ryan rented one of them, so I ran to him. Faster, dammit!

Out of all the booths, his wooden booth was the most reasonably priced. Means cheapest. Two wooden poles were holding together a rough counter and some moldy old cloth between them, which served as some kind of roof even though the booth was inside.

“Hello, Ryan!” I smiled at him and offered him a hand. The younger version of Ryan still could complain about his bald head. Oh yes, I had to be careful to not mention it, or haggle the price. His two big no-nos. But for a fifty-year-old man, his figure was excellent and my heart was quiet. Lucas, Patrick or Ryan were okay for chatting, but Ian wasn’t? What was wrong with my body giving me random panic attacks?

“Welcome, miss. Do we know each other?” We shook hands, and he analyzed me with his business-like look.

Upon seeing him, I grinned and mentioned that Old Patrick had mentioned him, which made me willing to trade. His eyes sparkled, and he leaned towards me, his hands barely touching a counter. “What, old Patrick? Hah! I haven’t seen him for over two years! Have he shown you the photo of us in the army?”

The game was so realistic that it portrayed even his spiting habit, and I involuntarily stepped back, while shaking my head. “No, he pulled out an old photo of you with the president. You are someone with connections, aren’t you? Now for the trade - please appraise this.” I handed him the mace.

He sat down back in his chair and examined it, even knocked at it, so I almost didn’t hold back my annoyed thoughts. Just use appraisal, Rayan. Time is of the essence! After he finished, he placed it on the counter and said, “Hm, a very good item. The players are leveling in the dungeon, so the time to sell it is now. I think we can get a high price, around five golds.”

I bit my lip in consideration and let out a sigh. “But I need cash, and I need it fast,” I said.

His eyebrows shot up, and he stared unconformably right into my eyes. “I see. For a second, I thought, you want to disagree with my appraisal. Now, I think we could get the money within the hour, if we set the price at four gold. Or you can sell it directly to me for twenty-seven silvers.”

One gold was ten silvers, one silver was a hundred coppers. Damn Ryan, you can smell I’m desperate, right? I sighed yet again and nodded at his ludicrous price. “Thank you, Ryan. How much is the gold to real money now?”

“The price of gold pieces surged and from the initial 1 credits to 10 gold, up to 2 credits to 1 gold. What they were thinking at the initial price? There weren’t enough people selling gold! The point of independent game was to create an economy, so the price surged.”

I sent Lucas a message to move his ass fast, and grinned as we moved with Ryan to our favorite topic, economy. “Oh, let me tell you about…”

 

While I was waiting for Lucas, we talked about the economy and upcoming features that may come and such. Even though NPCs had a three windows for clerks, only one had been working and you had to either wait in the queue, or ask Ryan. So this is how he made a starting capital.

After a while, my identification friend appeared. “Lucas! Here!” I waved and gave him a smile. Lucas stumbled around crates and as soon as he was in throwing distance, I shoved at him the staff and books I got in the dungeon.

I waved at Ryan and grabbed my lovely mage’s hand and dashed to the carpenter. Lucas looked so confused, so I grinned at him to calm him down. Everything will be okay.

“Charlie, please calm down. I know we need money, but there is no need to be this nervous.”

Thankfully, there wasn’t a queue at the carpenter, so we rushed in, while I said, “Yes, yes. I will be restless and won’t stop until we have ten thousand in our account.”

 

A poor old elf was working on a bow when I interrupted him and said, “I need to learn your craft, please. And I need a saw, a chisel and a knife.”

This old man was sitting across a table with a half-finished bow and raised his head. “Yes, of course. I always welcome young cra-”

I smashed six silvers and five coppers onto the table. “I need it fast, please! Lives depend on it!”

“Youngster these days. They want everything fast. Young girl, the craft needs time, but so be it. Twenty-five coppers for the skill and four silvers for the tools.”

“Deal! I will learn it as a secondary job.” I accepted it as fast as I could.

[You have learned the secondary job: Carpentry]
[You bought carpenter tools]
[You lost 245 coppers]

I caught a hand of very confused Lucas once more and we ran to the alchemy and enchanter’s shop. The owner organized it like a warehouse; it was full to the brim with various ingredients, scrolls, potions, glasses and such.

A vagrant smell of something burned lingered in the air and reminded me of that time when I raided Felix, the storm-braker; his potions were a true nuisance. I only skimmed fast through the scrolls and found the two I was looking for.

[Rune of Intelligence]
Quality: 1-common
Effect: Adds intelligence to the equipment
Ingredients: 1x Enchanting powder
Price: 20c
[Rune of Fire Resistance]
Quality: 1-common
Effect: Adds fire resistance to the armor
Ingredients: 1x Enchanting powder, 1x Essence of Fire
Price: 1g

Although the price was high, I had no other choice than to accept it, because the runes were essential for my plans. The Enchanting powder was cheap; only 1 silver for a little bag of 100, but Essence of Fire was whooping 2 silvers for one.

The lady at the counter, with her long gray hair and a warm smile, asked me if I wanted to enchant items when I brought the scrolls forward.

“Yes, this is my intention,” I simply said, “I want to start with the little intelligence enchantment and when I will be good enough, I will proceed to the Fire Resistance.”

With a wide grin, she placed her hand on my items, giving them a quick once-over. “That is a sound plan. Do you want to learn the enchanting from me? If you buy these scrolls and ingredients, I’ll teach you for free,” I nodded and fast added three bags of powder and three Essence of Fire.

[You have learned the primary job: Enchanting]
[You bought Enchanting powder bag x6]
[You bought Essence of Fire x3]
[You lost 2220 coppers]
[You learned: Rune of little intelligence]
[You learned: Rune of Fire Resistance]

The shopping spree had drained my funds completely, leaving me with almost no money left. Or time - so I dragged Lucas out of the shop and went outside of the village. Fast! Rather, I tried to pull Lucas, but he jerked me back. Outch.

“Charlie, spill the beans! What the brick are you doing? Let’s talk about what happened. Yesterday and today. Don’t focus on the money, okay? We need to think it through.”

“Lucas, my mage with one foot in a grave, let me work! If any problems get in my way, I will drink and wash them away!” My answer was my favorite saying and punched him slightly in his shoulder.

That’s right, I never solved problems, I just run away from them. He sighed at my problem-solving philosophy.

 

I dragged him through the farms, and as we entered the forest, I could hear the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds. A smell of fresh wood attacked my nostrils again, but this time I ignored it and searched around me for a branch, looking good enough.

I spotted a reasonably low twig within reach and pulled it with all my might using both hands. It slightly cracked, but my pitiful strength was not enough. “Come on!” I yelled at the branch and pulled with my both feet leveraging on a trunk.

After a moment of intense effort, I broke it, and it came crashing down with a loud crack. The fall claimed 6 hit points, which I healed in no time. Yeah, being a healer is mainly for masochists.

While I worked on clearing the piece of wood, Lucas sat on the ground with a sad look in his eyes, watching me. Silly Lucas, everything I do is for your sake.

[You created Broken Spear]
[Broken Spear]
Quality: 0-broken
ATK: 1-1
Durability: 1/1
This spear is a disgrace to their brethren; it will break on first hit

What a lovely item I created, right? As I opened the enchanting window, I noticed it looked almost identical to the magic one, except it had only two runes. I selected the [Rune of Intelligence] and watched the video. Easy enough.

 

I unevenly sprinkled sparkling powder around the spear and then fumbled with my improvised stick, trying to fail at drawing the rune. Well, I would have failed even if I wanted to succeed.

[You failed to enchant the Broken Spear]
[The item had lost 1 durability]
[The item Broken Spear is Broken]
[You failed to enchant the item, you lost 1 enchanting XP]
[You lost 1 rank in a job. Operation terminated; the level of the job is zero]

Reaching into my inventory, I took a chisel and with its help, I “repaired” the spear and then followed with an enchanting once again.

[The item Broken Spear is now repaired]

[You lost 2 ranks in a job. Operation terminated; the level of the job is zero]

Yes! As I tried to enchant the weapon again, the internal counter added one more rank. That forged my path to the greatness!

 

Lucas stared at Charlie for an hour with a look of sadness and despair.

She was powdering a tree branch with a dust.

Then she created a rune in the air.

Then she lit the branch on fire.

Then she tapped the branch with a chisel and did it all over again.

Hundred of times.

He shouldn't have taken her with him. No, he shouldn’t have gone to the loan sharks in the first place!

But that wasn’t in his nature. He had to go there and ask; he had to go there and play the stupid game. Charlie told him to stop, but he didn’t listen to her. But what about now? His best friend John vanished because of him. How could he live with that?

This Charlie was even crazier than the old Charlie.

She ran barefoot to her home; she ran around the game like it was her life was on the line, not his. It was his fault that she had gone crazy and started to lit branches on fire. For him. His eyes turned heavy and couldn’t stop the tears. Why was this happening? The fire that Charlie was creating had a soothing effect on him, and he felt he might fall asleep.

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