86 Identifier (1/2)

An old man was walking along the streets, carelessly looking at the busy people. The sun was setting in the distance and it was time for his daily walk. He was not affected by the hectic behavior of the passersby who were in a hurry to sell their daily loot. Occasionally, the old man would snap his fingers and magically, a wisp of flame would magically appear between his fingers and fly upwards.

The wisps would fly and dance in the street until they would settle in one of the lamp posts of the street.

Li Wei was calmly making his way towards the Yu Family's inn as he witnessed the old man's actions. ”So beautiful! I did not know magic could be used like that!”

”Quite a sight right?” asked a voice.

Li Wei immediately turned to look at the speaker. It was a short chubby man who was wearing casual clothes. His IGN was Piece of Cloth.

”You are?” asked Li Wei. He was still on his guard since he had been ambushed at the Verdan Wood earlier.

”Can't you see my name? I am just here to look at this old man, nothing more!” said Piece of Cloth. ”mmm, I'll get going then! I have things to do!”

Without waiting for Li Wei's answer, Piece of Cloth stepped forward and approached the old man. ”What a coincidence to meet again sir!” exclaimed Piece of Cloth.

The old man did not even acknowledge his presence as he continued on his way to the next lamp post.

”Did you finally change your mind, sir? I know it is a hard decision and 5 days are not enough! I am willing to wait more you know? This sort of things can be considered fate...” Piece of Cloth continued to walk next to the old man, without caring about the weird looks he was receiving from the other players.

Even Li Wei was finding his attitude very strange. ”Who is that old man?” said Li Wei to himself.

The only one unperturbed by Piece of Cloth's behavior was the old man. He only let out an expression of surprise for a moment before resuming with his walk. Very quickly, they walked too far for Li Wei to hear what Piece of Cloth was saying but no matter what, the old man did not even speak a word.

”What a weirdo! That old man must be someone really important but that does not really concern me for now!” said Li Wei.

He hurriedly made his way to the ”Joyous House”, the inn where the Yu Family decided to set up their headquarters. It was the peak hour where everyone was returning from their hunt and so, many players could be seen entering the inn.

In fact, only few players there used their real name there since, most of those who did, joined the Fleeting Clouds Sect instead of the Yu Family's guild, Golden Mansion.

Compared to Algate City, this place looked more peaceful. Even though many players were still rushing to get their items evaluated, the atmosphere was more relaxed and friendly. Most players there knew each other and since many came from the same place and interacted with each other before, there was no tension.

Li Wei easily stood out since he was not displaying the badge of Golden Mansion but nobody was rude to him. They all clearly knew that he belonged to another branch guild of the Fleeting Clouds Sect.

Very quickly, it was finally Li Wei's turn. He was standing in the main hall of the inn. In front of Li Wei, 4 desks were arranged to act as counters, an elder of the Yu Family was sitting behind the desk, evaluating the items brought by the players.

”Next!” hearing the voice, Li Wei quickly walked to the free desk.

An elderly woman was sitting there, waiting patiently for Li Wei to take out the items.

”I am here to deliver the ores!” said Li Wei as he took out a piece of ore from his inventory to show the woman.

As she saw the ore, the elder's eyes shone, ”finally! How much did you bring?”

”Not much! 500 pieces in total!” honestly answered Li Wei.

The elder's eyes immediately displayed her disappointment, ”Still better than nothing I guess. Initiate the trade, as per the arrangement, you'll get 2000 Contribution Point! Give me your identity crystal!” said the elder.

Li Wei immediately complied and initiated a trade. A trade window appeared as he quickly chose to trade all the ores he had with the elder. The latter scanned the identity crystal before accepting the trade and returning back the identity crystal.

”All done! Is there anything else?” asked the elder.

”Just a small question! Is there an identifier here or should I ask the NPCs?” asked Li Wei. The reason he wanted to contact an identifier of the guild was simply that there was a discount associated with all the professions if they asked the players of the guild. He did not know how much identifying would cost at the guild but if he could save a few gold, Li Wei would not refuse.

”An identifier? Unfortunately, we do not have any identifier yet! This is a rare profession! Did you find some rare items? If so, we are willing to buy it!” said the elder with curiosity.

”It's nothing like that! I will simply look for an NPC then!” said Li Wei.

”Do as you wish! Next!” declared the elder. She did not wait for Li Wei to leave as she already asked the next player to step forward.

Li Wei did not mind this behavior, the queue of players was quite long and if they continued at this pace, they would probably spend a few hours before the last player is able to trade his items.

He quickly left the inn and wandered around the town. Li Wei was looking for a specific emblem which represented identifiers. This profession was quite rare since it was not very useful; it would only allow people to examine and find the attributes of objects. This required some knowledge of all the other professions. It was quite difficult to have knowledge of several other professions but that was not the sole reason why identifiers were rare. The main reason was simply that the profession was not as lucrative as the others. Daily objects did not really require identifying; only rare treasures would require identifications but how often were treasures found? In Li Wei's case, it might be useful to check if the potion does not have any side effects since he did not fully trust the Messenger.

The emblem of identifiers was a magnifying glass with a small question mark printed on the glass. During all his time playing the game, Li Wei actually saw this emblem only twice in the main street of Algate City. Associations also normally had identifiers but their services were usually costly; moreover, the identifiers would often try to make the players sell their items to the association and so, it was safer to go to the shops.

After a few minutes, Li Wei still did not find any signs of a magnifying glass. He saw all kind of other emblems except the one he was looking for.

”mmm... Is there no identifier here? Looks like I'll end up going at the warrior association,” said Li Wei to himself.

The streets were still booming with players and NPCs; just like Algate City, Verdan Town was also quite lively during the evening and the shops would only close past 8 o'clock. Li Wei still had one hour to hopefully find the shop or he would have to go to the association.

An hour quickly went by and Li Wei could not help but feel defeated. He spent the whole hour walking around the town but failed to find an identifier. He did not limit himself to the main street and went to adjacent alleys and even less popular streets. But no matter where he looked, he did not find the emblem.

”Sigh... Let's just go to the Warrior Association then... It's going to be a bit costly but at least this way it is going to be safe.”