"You could just touch them if you want to read their stats," he heard Peniel's voice. "Also, don't bother to look for uncommon or rare equipment. Normal shops usually just sold Common equipment."
'Oh, I guess that it's pointless for me to hang around then."
Jack was just about to exit the shop when he thought of something. He immediately turned around and approached the woman who was the shop owner.
"Do you sell magic equipment?" He asked her.
"Of course," the woman said with excitement.
"It's over here by this stand," she said as she led Jack to the other side of the shop. There were numerous robes, wands, staffs, and garments hung on the stand.
He asked the owner, "can you get me three of your cheapest magic staffs?"
The owner looked at him, "are you not going to look at their stats first, sire?"
"It's ok. Any stats is fine by me," Jack replied.
The owner was confused but still proceeded to follow the request. She went and picked up three magic staffs from the stand.
"What's in your mind?" Peniel asked.
'My magic weapon had been lacking,' Jack said. 'I think it's time to put that Transformation Box to test, shall we?'
"Oh… I see what you're getting at," Peniel said as she came to a realization.
The owner came back and placed the three staff on a small table nearby. Jack checked them, they were all level 5 common grade magic staff. Their total prices came to 5 silver and 40 copper, the magical equipment was slightly more expensive than their physical counterparts. The total cost was above Jack's budget. He was depressed.
"Do you buy items too?" He asked the owner.
The owner nodded, "yes, if you have unusable items and equipment, we can buy them off your hands."
Jack then took out some of the equipment that he thought would never use, which he had stocked in his storage bag. He placed Tunic cloth, Protective dress, Leather Vest, and Sandal on the table, then prayed that these were enough.
"How much would you pay for these?" He asked.
"I will take them off your hands for 1 silver and 52 copper," the owner said.
So low? Jack thought.
He gritted his teeth and decided to just sell all four equipment. After all, they didn't serve any use to him. Deducting the prices of the three magic staff, he just needed to pay 3 silver and 88 copper. After the transaction, he only had 1 silver and 1 copper coins in his bag. He felt much poorer suddenly. He stored the staff, said his thanks to the owner, and made his way out.
He didn't stop at any other shops anymore, afraid he couldn't resist the temptation to spend his remaining coins. He passed by a white building in the shape of a tower. He saw many people in white robes went in and out of the building.
'What's that place?' Jack asked Peniel in his mind.
"That is a library," Peniel answered. "In fact, that should be the first place you guys go to if you want to find out more information regarding this world. But you don't need it, because you have me!"
He heard a hint of pride in Peniel's words. He didn't deny it, as she really was a big help. Otherwise, he would be lost and didn't know what to do when he arrived in this new world. He then thought of Silverwing who was currently trying to collect information. He opened his Friends interface and sent a short message informing him about the Library and its position.
A moment later, he received a prompt reply, "Thanks, my friend! I will send people there right away."
He finally arrived in front of the Adventurers Association building after asking another two natives and were pointed the way. It was a large and luxurious building. The layout seemed to be oval-shaped judging from the curved walls, it was completely out of context if compared to the other medieval building styles in the vicinity. The walls were held by round pillars every eight meters. There were runes on the surface of the pillars, they flickered with light every now and then. Jack figured it should be some kind of magic enchantment that protected the place.
Jack went and entered the front entrance which should be free to enter judging from people coming in and out freely. When he was inside, he was greeted by a man in purple-colored formal attire.
"Greetings, sir. Are you an adventurer?" He asked.
Jack answered, "yes, I am."
"New adventurer should register first, please come with me." He led Jack towards a counter attended by a young girl.
Before leaving Jack at the counter, he said, "once you are done with your registration, you can go into the Bronze Hall to review available quests."
The girl handed him a dark red orb. "What's your name, sir?"
"Storm Wind," Jack answered.
"Please put your hand on this orb, sir," she said.
As Jack followed the instruction, the orb color blared to become more reddish. The girl at the counter scribbled something on his paper while mumbling, "age 23, Fighter class, level 13."
The orb light died down. She took it back and then placed another flat round object of bronze color on the counter table.
"This is your adventurer badge sir, please keep it with you at all times. You will need to show it when you apply for a quest and when you submitted the completion of your quest."
Jack nodded and took the badge. He observed it.
Bronze Adventurer Badge (special item)
Identification as a member of Adventurers Association
Adventurer points: 0
Available points: 0
He asked the way to the Bronze Hall from the girl. After getting the direction, he thanked her and then went as directed. He came onto a spacious hall which walls were lined with many counters. Each of the counters was manned by staff. Several people were there communicating with the staff. Some people were sitting leisurely at the benches lined up around the hall as they read the quests on three large noticeboards hung from the ceiling.
'Bronze hall and bronze badge, looking at the name, I figure there are ranks within adventurers?' Jack asked Peniel through his thought as he held the badge.
"Of course, there are ranks to almost everything," Peniel replied. "The Bronze rank was the lowest. You need to complete several Bronze rank quests and accumulate points in order to upgrade to the next rank."
'This the point I saw inside the badge here?'
"Yes, after you have completed the quests, you will be awarded rewards and points. The points will be recorded on your badge. You can also report quest completions for quests which you've received from out there, the ones not taken from this Association, but those reports will not net you any rewards, only points. And the point is also much lower compared to if you undertake the quests supplied from the Association."
'I see. Why are there two points categories in this badge? Do I get two different points?'
"No. They are the same. The difference is, the adventurer points recorded are the total points you have accumulated in your entire career, they will not reduce. While available points are the points you have that you can exchange for items in the Adventurers Association. At the start, those two amount points will be the same until you start exchanging points for items."
'I can exchange for items?'
"Yes, so go out there and accumulate as many points as you can. Some items and equipment can only be gotten here. The higher the rank you become, the better the prizes."
'How many ranks are there?'
"Four. First one is Bronze, which is where you are. The next is Silver, then Gold, and the highest grade is Diamond. Normally there were only a handful of Diamond adventurers in a country. They are those of the highest level with countless battle records."
'So many natives are also adventurers? Does that mean we will meet some out there in the field?'
"Certainly. But now since you outworlders are here, you folks will most likely take up the bulk of the adventurers."
That was weird, in past VR games. NPCs only stayed in safe zones and repeated programmed routines. He kept on forgetting this was a whole other world, not some games he could log in and out of.
'Outworlders… I still can't get used to that name.'
"Never mind that, hurry up and take a quest. You need to grab as many prizes as you can before the others realize the importance of this place."
'All right, but I need to at least inform Browler and Flame also about this place. So they can get ahead of others as well.'
"Man… You really are a goodie-do-gooders, you know that?" Peniel complained in exasperation.