Chapter 62 - Blackrock Town (2/2)

As he was going through the list of animals to be expected and their characteristics, he got a message from Winston informing that he had received the doc.u.ment and would support Robert. He also forwarded a list of suggested items he could take to the planetary excursion.

As he checked the list, he found that few of the items he suggested would actually be useful. Mainly two of them. He would require a very sharp and strong blade for the purpose of cutting up whatever he found. It would be extremely unwise to use any of the usual high frequency blade* as the heat would cause an explosion due to high atmospheric pressure.

He also would need a something to shield him in case of an emergency. Though he couldn't use the combat suit he took to BR-64, he was offered the small piece of equipment that could project he shield. Winston wanted him to carry it on his body wherever he goes to.

Balthazar appreciated his grandfather's offer and immediately sent a message back offering his thanks and that he would gladly accept whatever he wanted to give for the excursion. Winston asked him to meet the next day morning so that he could prepare them for him.

With the concern about the competition for the elders handled, he had one more important thing to check. He wanted to find out about the situation at the base as soon as possible and what would his posting be.

Though he had been informed by Sophia that there was no information about his posting, he still sent a message to her hoping to hear something new. He had been in constant contact with her every day. He even told her about the suspicions he had about the knights and the Nirbaadh pirates. She was his confidant about a lot of things with exception of his family secret, the one of his father's true lineage.

He returned to the game and found that the blackrock village was upgraded to blackrock town. He quickly checked his privileges panel and found that he had the same amount of reputation in the Blackrock town as before.

Reputation in towns is generally harder to gather than a village. In a village once he hit 200 reputation points, he would be provided the maximum privilege possible equivalent to a village head. Gathering any further would be a waste. The only reason he wanted to be the first to finish the quest of clearing a path was to get reputation at White River city. Now he had another reason.

With the rate the size of the town is increasing it would soon be a famous starting point for those players spawned at the White Heart kingdom. Within a town, he could actually have a guild quarters set up. Having reputation points exceeding 250, he would already be considered a first-class citizen of the town.

He found that his team and friends have already got into the town. With the upgrade into a town, the geography of the place changed. The boundaries have increased, various buildings have increased in size along with a few new ones popping up.

There have been new constructions too. A few watchtowers were visible outside the village. A large 4-storied hotel appeared beside the town hall which was 3-storied building itself. Many new NPCs were also visible.

With his friends and team already exploring the new town, he couldn't lag behind and immediately went into the hall. The first place he went to was Blacksmith Kade's shop. He had a decent amount of resources from the Cave of Wargs, which he could use to obtain a few designs. The majority of the player in the town were already level 5 and right now the equipment would earn him a lot.

As he went in, he realized that the outline of the place had changed a bit and master Kade's shop wasn't where he expected it to be. He checked around and even bought a map of the new town from a shop but couldn't still find Kade on it.

””Ah! How could something like this happened. I was just performing well and now this upgrade had Kade disappearing,” thought Shadow. An NPC wouldn't usually leave once a village upgraded into a town. If anything, he would try to achieve a better position in the town than he had before.

”Oh! That's it. He probably just closed the shop and moved to a better area. I better check near the auction house or the market,” he thought. With these thoughts in mind, he made his way towards the market.

He called Slaine and was told that he along with the team were at the marketplace beside the teleportation point inside the town. As he reached the location, he observed that the auction house was also moved beside the marketplace.

The marketplace was vast and empty and allowed the players to call out their wares and exchange items with one another. It was like a real-life market with hawkers and shops. There was a new building opposite to the auction house. It was the town bank.

The bank was a feature that was very useful, especially for trade profession and merchant players. It was widely used by all guilds too. It would provide a storage area for valuable possessions and also to store money or coins to be shared among a group.

All banks in the town and cities of a kingdom share the storage space and the items stored at one town can be accessed in another town of the same kingdom. But to be able to use a bank one must rent the storage using coins.

Along with the hawkers, there were also people who were shouting about recruitment for guilds. Slaine was also among them with his friends, Merlin and the team. Rudra and a few other have also joined him. As he saw Balthazar, Rudra came running to him.

”You changed your ID!” said Shadow as he noticed him. It used to be Road Kill No 1. Now he is using

Crimson Power instead.

”Well, Lizzy used to be the actual guild leader before, though I handle the affairs. I am told that Road kill would be a horrible name for guild leader,” replied Rudra.

”Road kill was a horrible name for one's character any way you look at it,” said Balthazar shaking his head. It was the name of an old game that Rudra used to play as a kid and chose it when he first started to play games.

”OK. You sure you are all right? I heard that you are playing like a crazy person,” said Rudra.

”I am fine. Why do you keep asking the same question?” said Balthazar angrily. He was getting irritated that everyone he knew kept asking the same question. They were obviously worried that he might have taken Max's death to heart. But he was actually angry that Max died without letting him know anything about his companions.

”Fine. I will give your space. Let me come to the point. I heard you already might have earned enough reputation to be a first-class citizen, right? Can you purchase some land in the market? If we get a shop for trade profession, it will improve our popularity in the town,” said Rudra.

Rudra already had the thought and went to the town hall. But he couldn't even rent a land as one required to be at least a third-class citizen with 50 reputation points to do that.

Now that Blackrock village upgraded to a town, it provided more quests and one could soon acc.u.mulate the required reputation, but it would be a lot slower and he might not even succeed. It would be best if they could get the best slots near the market, right now.

This kind of competition is only seen in towns. It is rarely seen in villages where there wouldn't be any shops available for rent or purchase. Balthazar completing the special quest had resulted in this situation too unexpectedly. He quickly made his way to the town hall where one could purchase such properties.

”Well, it is best if I do use the advantages I have. I can never be too prepared. Moreover, this would help reduce some strain on me in the White Heart Region,” thought Balthazar as he went along with Rudra to the town hall.

Note:

*High frequency blade - A high-frequency blade was a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonating at extremely high vibration frequencies. This oscillation weakened the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability. The effect is similar to using a red hot blade and it produces a lot of heat and sparks.