"What? You are already returning the gold?" The fat pawnshop owner shook his head at Liam in disapproval, his chubby chin and neck fat jiggling as he did.
He was not able to get a single silver from the young man and it pained him terribly.
As a loan shark, his survival depended on people returning back the money borrowed at the last minute, if at all, but now this young man had returned it back to him within a single day!
"Alright. Don't hesitate to ask for my help again if you need it." The shopkeeper muttered, replacing the frown once again with a big smile. Liam nodded at him and then walked out towards his next destination.
He had neither expected this influx of cash nor his unique body constitution. This made his path ahead a lot easier and at the same time also uncertain.
After exiting the pawnshop, Liam made a quick trip to the weapons store and upgraded his rusted long sword to a bright and shiny silver sword.
It gave him a simple boost of 10 attack power as opposed to the 1 attack power of the rusted sword while costing 10 silver.
Unlike the pieces of equipment dropped by beasts and monsters, swords sold by the merchant stores were flashy, extremely good-looking, expensive but had very bad stats. No one in their right mind would buy these.
It was far more efficient to obtain pieces of equipment by clearing quests and grinding for monsters or even personally forging them.
However, right now time was more valuable than gold for Liam. So he quickly purchased a full set of gear without hesitation, including light leather armor, leather pants, silver boots, and silver gauntlets, spending a little over 1 gold.
There was also a thick silver breastplate which Liam did not buy as he preferred keeping his body light and free, rather than being weighed down by clunky pieces of equipment.
Combined with his tempered well-toned body, clear skin, sharp look, and fine, polished, and crisp leather clothing, he looked like an heir to one of the rich families. The gear also gave him a decent boost of course, albeit for an extravagant price.
[Defense]: 50 -> 70
[Agility]: 50 -> 60
[Physical Attack power]: +10
For a player who has just started the game with not a single ounce of experience points, Liam's stats were extremely terrifying, to say the least.
"Alright. Time to head out." He had already spent enough time in the town, so Liam started walking out in long strides. This time he didn't bother taking the busy commoner's road and directly headed into the wilderness.
"This guy! What the hell? Just how much money does he have? And not to mention the good items and the unique quest!! What a lucky bastard!" Robert grimaced.
He was one of the players who had noticed Liam back in the training hall and had been following him ever since.
Robert was not someone new to VRMMORPGs and had a dedicated group of friends playing along with him who were all together as a guild in the last game before they got forcibly pulled into 'Evolution Online'.
They had only coincidentally noticed Liam, but after they saw him receiving the special quest from the instructor, they decided to follow him along.
His actions were a bit too suspicious and they couldn't help but doubt that he had prior knowledge about the game. Otherwise, how could he get this lucky this soon?
Not to mention, Liam also looked unusually calm and steady among the sea of players who were fumbling around.
"No doubt. This guy is a beta-tester!" Robert exclaimed. He was a tall young man seemingly in his twenties and he had a wild unkempt scraggly beard on his chin.
"Should we loot him, bro?" Ben asked, walking along with Robert. Their group currently had five people following Liam.
Robert paused and replied after a while, shaking his head. "That would only be counterproductive. Let's follow him and see what he does next. Maybe he can lead us to a good grinding spot which can give us an advantage."
All the others agreed with him and nodded in response. Though it might seem like they were wasting time, in an exploration game with very little information available, any amount of extra advantage would give them an edge.
However, they were not the only group following Liam and not everyone had the same intentions.
Jin Wei slapped the guy standing near him on his back and loudly harrumphed. "Ahhh! I can't wait to slaughter that bitch! He is spending my money without any limit."
"Heh. How stupid! Why would a level 1 loser even invest so much in equipments? Wasting money because he has lots!" Another one chimed in. This group of players had oriental features and were also following Liam.
"Must be some rich sucker who has a death wish. Bish money can't save you in the game!"
"Leader, we should teach him a good lesson while we are at it. Camp at the grave and wait for him to get more in-game gold and kill him again and again!"
"Ke Ke Ke! How many times do you think he will end up recharging before finally giving up and uninstalling the game? Ke Ke Ke!"
…..
Note: Physical Attack power is directly proportional to the Strength attribute and the boost from weapon is in addition to this. (in this case: +10)