Chapter 43
Behind the cluttered glass booth, a disheveled young man raised his head. The moment he looked up, his ID card appeared on his head - Matthew.
When he heard that he was asked to enchant, the shop owner showed an incredulous expression: "You want me to enchant?"
Xia Mo looked at him with a smile: "Yes."
As she spoke, she placed her new weapon, the Star Staff, on the display stand, and took out the deep-sea pearl Andrew had given her, as well as the reverse scale she had picked up in the Dragon Valley, and placed them one by one.
"I need two enchantments. How much do they cost and when can I pick them up?"
Perhaps seeing her unbelievably generous attitude, Matthew didn't immediately agree to the deal. Instead, he looked at her with a puzzled look. "You're an adventurer from out of town, right? You might not be familiar with my situation. Um, I'm an enchanter, yes, but my title isn't high; I'm only an intermediate enchanter. And, uh, I need to tell you, I didn't even make it past the preliminary round of last month's enchanting competition... If you're looking for me to enchant, you'd better be prepared."
The implication was that there was a possibility that he would fail in enchanting her.
However, Xia Mo's eyes remained firm: "I know."
After confirming that she had no objection, Matthew lowered his head and looked at her weapon and the materials that needed enchanting. "These two materials won't be difficult to enchant. I'll charge you 50 silver coins in total. You can pick them up later this afternoon."
50 silver coins, in this royal city where every inch of land is worth a lot of money, is not even enough for a day's rent. No wonder Matthew had a rather mocking nickname in his previous life before he became famous - the Negative Magician.
It's no wonder he's charging such a low price. As he himself explained, in a city teeming with talent, what's a mere mid-level enchanter? Furthermore, he'd recently suffered a career-ending setback in a tournament. With that kind of record, which player would want to hire him?
Only by lowering the selling price can we attract some poor people and use it to make a living.
However, the truth is that Matthew is actually an extremely talented enchanter. The reason he was kicked out of the game was not because of any mistakes he made, but because he was framed by his peers.
Matthew himself was not aware of this until later, when a player triggered a related task, restored the truth of the matter, and cleared his name.
This kind of NPC with a certain magical life setting mostly has special tasks, and it is likely to receive special rewards after completing them. It is for this reason that Xia Mo insisted on asking Matthew to enchant him.
As expected, after Xia Mo paid the 20 silver coins deposit, Matthew suddenly called her: "Adventurer, can you help me see who the winners of yesterday's enchanting competition are? In my current state, it's not suitable for me to go out and embarrass myself again."
Matthew's request: Let him see the winner of the enchanting competition.
Xia Mo's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed: "No problem."
The place where the winning list was announced was not far from Matthew's store, but because the royal city was so large, it took Xia Mo five or six minutes to get there.
The list listed the names of three winners, from first to third: David, Bank, and Clifford.
Xia Mo stared at the third person's name, instinctively feeling as if she had seen it somewhere before. However, due to the large number of NPCs in "Protoss", even if she had some impression of him, she couldn't quite remember his story.
There are tens of thousands of NPCs in "Protoss". According to incomplete statistics from players at the time, about 60% of them have story backgrounds. In other words, at least 6,000 NPCs have their own story lines. Xia Mo feels that no matter how good his memory is, it is impossible for him to remember all the events that happened to them.
She only remembered those famous NPCs and those she had dealt with before.
After standing in front of the list and thinking for a long time, Xia Mo found that he had no success, so he had to give up and prepare to go back to hand in the task. Suddenly, at this moment, a hunchbacked old man appeared from nowhere.
"You're here to look at the list for Matthew, right?"
Xia Mo couldn't help but be stunned, and looked up at the ID above the other person's head - Delia, an NPC, not a player.
Compared to the three words "Colliford" which seemed a little familiar just now, Xia Mo had no impression of the old lady named Delia in front of him.
But he still maintained the courtesy due to the NPC: "Yes, Ms. Delia."
Delia nodded slowly. "This poor kid must have been very depressed recently. Good boy, please help me bring these breads to him. Don't tell him that I made them."
[Delia's request: Help bring bread to Matthew]
This is the case in the royal city. Almost any NPC you encounter will trigger some small tasks, and players can decide whether to accept them or not based on their mood.
Xia Mo thought about it and decided that since it was on the way, he might as well take it.
So he hurried back to Matthew's shop with a basket of bread.
After telling the other party the name of the winner, Matthew was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "Thank you, adventurer, for being willing to make such a trip for me."
[Successfully complete Matthew's request, experience +500, silver +2]
[Gain Matthew's Favorability +5]
It was just a small task, and players could not get much experience points and silver coins as rewards. Because of this, many players gave up after taking it a few times and felt that the cost-effectiveness was not high.
It was not until later that players who persisted began to share on the world channel that many NPCs had special tasks and they received unexpected special rewards. Those players who gave up suddenly realized that only by completing these inconspicuous pre-tasks first could they receive the subsequent ones.
Xia Mo was not part of this group of repentant people back then. In fact, she had taken over all the small tasks of more than 10 NPCs.
It's just that she was unlucky. There was no story line for those 10 or so NPCs. Naturally, she completed the task to the end but did not receive any so-called special rewards.
How should I put it, she has never won when it comes to judging people by their looks.
At this time, Xia Mo looked at the ordinary reward with a very good attitude.
She placed the basket of buns on the stand and said, "I bought this at the roadside bakery. I'm giving it to you."
Matthew raised his eyelids, glanced at the bread in the basket, and sighed helplessly: "Did Grandma Delia ask you to deliver it?"
Xia Mo: ...What does it feel like to be exposed in a second?
But she remained calm, as if someone else was lying: "Yes, she asked me to give it to you."
"Then please thank her for me and give her my regards. I hope she is in good health."
[Matthew's request: Thank you and send regards to Ms. Delia on his behalf]
This kind of small task cannot be completed in a short time, so Xia Mo said "OK" and took it first, preparing to run errands when he was free.
Now she has more important things to do - bind the city.
In the setting of "Protoss," the Royal City is the political center of the entire Pergas continent and the home of the royal family. Players can enter and exit at any time as long as they don't commit any crimes or have a red name. However, players cannot settle in the Royal City. If they want a permanent residence, they can only go to a secondary city.
Simply put, the royal city is the royal territory, and players only have the right to enter and exit, not the right to reside.
As early as on the way to the royal city, Xia Mo had already thought of the city he wanted to bind this time - Huangs City - a less developed city that was a little far away from the royal city.
If there was someone with a God's perspective who could see through Xia Mo's plan at this moment, he would probably be shocked by her choice.
As the saying goes, water flows to the lowest place and people go to the highest place. As long as one is a rational person, he will know to run to a better platform. Who would be so stupid as to choose a worse one?
But Xia Mo is the latter.
Huangsi City ranks low among major cities, and its overall development rating is weak. It has no developed agriculture and no prosperous business district. Moreover, due to its distance from the royal city, some commercial NPCs do not like to go there. Over time, the city's development has fallen into a vicious circle.
However, these are just the apparent shortcomings of Huangsi City. If you inquire carefully and analyze the map carefully, you will find that this city actually has a unique advantage - mineral and medicinal resources.
Huangsi City is backed by mountains to the north, and the mountains are dotted with various high-grade minerals that players will use in the future. The variety is so rich that it is simply a paradise for miners and blacksmiths.
As for the medicinal resources, they are located just to the west of Huangsi City.
There is a large forest to the west of the city, where extremely high-quality medicinal herbs grow. These herbs are essential raw materials for pharmacists to make high-level potions. It can be said that unless a pharmacist only wants to stop at the intermediate title, anyone who wants to be promoted must come to this forest to dig herbs.
However, these two major resources were not taken into consideration when rating the royal city, which directly led to the overall rating of Huangs City being weak development.
Many players back then were deceived by this ranking and rating, which led to most people not taking Huangs City into consideration.
Xia Mo was one of the few people who wanted to bind Huangs City at that time. However, because of Xu Xiaobei and others, Xia Mo was finally forced to give up and instead fled to Lolock City near the royal city.
The economy of Lolock City is prosperous and the trade is developed. It is the binding choice not only for Xia Mo and his friends, but also for many other players.
At the beginning, the city was really good. However, who could have expected that a few months later, the city lord would rebel and lead a group of NPCs and a bunch of stupid players to attack the city. As a result, he failed to capture the city and was captured and beheaded by the king.
From then on, the city of Lolok became synonymous with "rebels". The reputation of all residents of Lolok (including players) on the mainland plummeted. They had to be searched before entering the royal city. Those who wanted to accept large-scale tasks were automatically rejected by NPCs. Even if they killed a monster, the experience points and coins they gained were 30% less than normal!
This punishment mechanism lasted for a full month, and all players bound to the city of Lolock were not spared.
During that time, the players in the city were living a life worse than death, with wailing everywhere.
During the process, many people proposed to unbind the city, but they were prompted by the city system that they had to pay high taxes and ransom for unbinding.
Xia Mo remembered these two fees very clearly: the tax was 1,000 gold per person, and the ransom was 1,500 gold per person, totaling 2,500 gold.
It's a huge sum of money.
Many people are scared off by the amount of money and would rather grit their teeth and endure it than pay it.
However, Xia Mo gritted his teeth and handed it over.
Because she knew very well that if she delayed for a month, it would be difficult for her to restore her account to its original ranking.
Having experienced these losses, Xia Mo would never choose Lolock City again in her life. Instead, she would stick to her original intention and go to Huangs City.
In fact, her first choice back then was indeed correct. Huangsi City had grown rapidly, eventually becoming the third largest city after the Royal City and another city. It was truly prosperous!
Having missed out on some unworthy people in her previous life, Xia Mo only wants to live for herself in this life.
Xia Mo rode her horse north from the gate of the royal city, crossed the Ama Plain, waded across the Vallecillo River, climbed up the highlands, and crossed the hills. Finally, she arrived at the city she had always longed for.
Some dilapidated city gates were wide open, and there was no soldier guarding the gates. Xia Mo took a deep breath, held the horse's belly, and stepped into the city with the hopes of his previous life and this life.
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