Across the continent from Stellar Woodlands, in a small human settlement, many new players appeared for the first time in New Eden. Amongst these players, an old man opened his steel-grey eyes slowly, taking in the new feeling of a different world.
This old man was Jack Boudreau, playing New Eden for the first time, alongside his wife, who was nowhere to be found near him.
Jack had done his homework, figuring out the interface commands and options before he ever launched the game. So he was ready for this eventuality and knew what to do.
He opened up the message interface, which he had already linked to his phone contacts before they completed the game update, and opened up a message window to his wife.
'Were you teleported into a town?'
The response from his wife came back quickly.
'Yes. It looks like a small, rundown village. The people here look haggard.'
Jack looked around himself, but the scenery was a little different. He looked to be in some kind of walled-up settlement, too small to be a city, but too large to be considered a village.
Opening his map, Jack looked at the greyed-out area all around what had been lit up to him with exasperation. He noted his location coordinates and sent them to his wife.
She did the same.
Through this, they could establish that they weren't that far from each other, given that the coordinate numbers matched a standard metric like on Earth.
Jack had noted every large city and their location from the forums, and their closest large city was Aravelle. It was the one closest to both of them.
'Let's meet up in Aravelle. Do you need the coordinates?'
His wife's response made him chuckle to himself.
'Jack, my dear, you underestimate me. Did I ever need your help to find my way somewhere?'
'I'm sorry, old habits die hard. Then we shall meet there as soon as possible. We need to reach the Paragons base as soon as we can, and we can do our things from there.'
After receiving confirmation from his wife, he closed the chat window. He looked around himself, trying to find a mercantile district, or anything resembling it.
He could see a few stalls on the sides of the road, but they sold mostly food and daily wares. What he wanted was a weapon and armour shop.
Asking around to some people, which the youngsters called NPCs, he was guided toward the shop he was looking for.
Entering the small shop, he saw a few leather armours and metal armours lined up on the walls, as well as some standard weapons on racks in the middle of the open shop. There were also a few better-looking pieces on the wall behind the merchant counter.
Browsing through the weapons, he picked out a simple-looking dagger, and a light leather armour that looked serviceable?. He then headed to the counter, where the merchant looked bored out of his mind, leaning lazily.
"Hello, sir. I would like to buy these, as well as the pair of pistols on the wall behind you. Also, do you have a rifle anywhere that I could purchase?"
The merchant looked at the old man before him, dressed in pauper clothes, and almost sneered.
"The wares behind the counter are premium quality, and you can't afford them. Stick to that side of the counter, old man."
Jack's gaze became cold.
"I wasn't asking for a price. I said I wanted them. Don't worry about money. It is not an issue."
"Tch! Like someone of your standing could buy these premium weapons. The pair of pistols alone costs five gold. And, although I have a rifle in the back, its price is out of your range, marked at ten gold pieces."
Jack looked at the pistols before looking the merchant in the eye again.
"Please bring the rifle to the counter and show me the pistols. I would like to inspect them."
The merchant looked at the old man in annoyance, before walking to the back of the store. When he came back to the front, he was holding a large-sized rifle, with a revolving barrel, same as on the pistols on the wall.
It seemed to Jack, these were crude attempts at making multi-shot guns, like one would expect of the early eighteen hundreds. Jack picked up the rifle as soon as the merchant dropped it on the counter and started inspecting it.
Although its weight was much heavier than the new-generation rifles he was used to, it wasn't anything too bad. The steel parts on it were crudely fashioned, and the wooden covering was of inferior quality.
The muzzle pin and back sight were slightly misaligned, which would assuredly mess up the aim for someone inexperienced, but Jack could make do. Next, he opened the barrel mechanism, verifying the roll on it to make sure it wouldn't lock while in use.
Everything was crude, but in order. The rifle wouldn't be the best he had ever wielded, but it wouldn't blow up in his face or jam too easily.
He did a similar inspection of the two pistols, which were in similar conditions as the rifle, before putting them back on the counter.
"How much for all of this?"
The merchant was looking at the old man nervously. He had never seen someone inspect a gun so rapidly and accurately, since it was a gnomish weapon, and he was afraid he had to deal with someone of knowledge.
"Uh. The rifle is ten gold, and the pair of pistols are five gold. As for the armour and dagger you chose, they are five silver and one silver, respectively. The total would come to fifteen gold and six silver coins."
Looking at the gear he put on the counter, Jack did a quick estimate.
'This isn't worth over ten gold, by my estimates. What a rip-off.'
"The rifle's aim is misaligned, and the pistols' barrels are rusty. The armour had a repair on the back, and the dagger has a nick close to the hilt. Ten gold pieces."
Of course, Jack knew the merchant was overpricing the guns, since they were not human made. But a little haggling wouldn't hurt the man.
The merchant started sweating. All the problems the old man listed out were true, and he knew it.
He had hoped the man was not familiar with what he was purchasing, but he turned out to be wrong.
"I run a business here, old man. I can't go lower than fourteen gold."
"Fine, I'll pay you a finder's fee. Twelve gold coins. Take it or leave it."
The merchant looked at Jack with uncertainty. But the look on the old man's face wasn't one of unease.
So he broke down first.
"Fine. Twelve gold pieces. But do you even have that much on you?"
Jack flashed a shark-ish grin, pulling out a small pouch of money with exactly twelve gold coins in it.
"I said money wasn't an issue. Have a good day, sir."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺