[SP-F1] <<Earning a Living>> Setting Up Shop - Complete

[Hans 0]

Hans strolled around town with a lazy air about him. His messy blue hair covered his face and his hands were shoved in his pockets. An annoyed sigh escaped his lips as he glanced back and forth to the various shops, inns, and stalls lined around the starting city. He felt the emptiness of his Col pouch on his belt and grumbled under his breath. Just starting out, he couldn't take any of the bounty quests and hope to live. And most of the starting mobs in the outside plains areas, despite being level 1 boars, looked like they would hit too hard for him to take on alone. This game was really designed again solo players. Hans pulled his hands out from his pockets and laced his fingers behind his head. "Nyaa... How can I make any money in this game?" He complained, brows furrowed.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Hans

[Hans 0]

His eyes were then drawn to an NPC with an available quest. He must have passed by this one before, since he had only seen high-level quests in other parts of town. This looked like it couldn't be too interesting, though, considering the quest giver was a middle-aged woman standing behind the counter of an open-faced shop with a variety of goods. Skeptical, he approached the shop and interacted with the NPC, allowing the quest offer to begin.

"Ah, you there!" The woman called to him, even though he was directly in front of her display. "How would you like to become a Merchant?"

[Hans 0]

Hans' head tilted slightly at her words. "You can buy, sell, and trade! It's quite a lucrative business, for those that can handle it!" As the quest prompt appeared in front of him, a wide, catty grin overtook his features and Hans pressed the blue circle under 'Accept'. "Wonderful!" The merchant woman replied. "Why don't you start by checking out the other shops in town? Here's some Col to get you started--try buying and selling the right goods to make a profit, then bring back to me what you make." The NPC explained the steps of the quest, and Hans turned on his heel to get started, his thoughts overtaken with the idea of making easy money.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Hans

[Hans 0]

Hans looked down at the small pile of Col in his hand. For a moment, he wondered what would happen if he just kept the money and never completed the quest. He slowly reconsidered, since the idea of being a Merchant was pretty interesting. He wandered around a bit before stopping at an NPC-run store that looked to sell cooking supplies--food, tools, and other miscellaneous materials. His eyes scanned over the items, debating the prices set and getting an idea of the appropriate price ranges for different items. After a few minutes he had a rough idea of what was supposed to be cheap and what should be pricey. Turning away from the store, he decided to do a bit more investigating before making a purchase.

[Hans 0]

Stopping in front of another shop, Hans determined this one was more for general goods. The items for sale included beginner supplies, some basic weapons, and other random goods. His eyes quickly spotted a bright red apple sitting on a shelf with a 50 Col price listed in front of it. He grinned again, recalling the food merchant he previously stopped at was listing a variety of consumables, and apples were listed for 90 Col each. With a bit of mental math, he determined that even if the sell-back price was seventy-five percent he would still make a decent profit. With the 100 Col the NPC had given him, he exchanged it for two of the apples and they promptly appeared in his inventory.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Hans

[Hans 0]

With no reason for delay, Hans made his way back to the cooking supply vendor. He approached the NPC, an elderly man, who greeted him normally. "Hello young man. What can I do for you?"

Hans opened up his inventory and pulled out the two apples, offering them for sale to the merchant. They made the exchange and Hans received 135 Col total. He was right, the sell-back rate was seventy-five percent. With a satisfactory grin, the blue-haired man walked off in search of other types of goods to observe and study up on.

[Hans 0]

Hans wandered about, hands in his pockets again as he strolled up and down the marketplace. He eventually stopped in front of what looked like an armory. He scanned the armor and weaponry, admiring the daggers for a moment before tallying the prices. He was slowly noticing a trend. It looked like the best strategy was to buy various pieces from general vendors that were also sold at specialty shops, as the prices seemed to be higher at profession-exclusive shops. Keeping in mind the prices of the blacksmithing items, he moved on, searching for something that sold cheaper specialty items.

[Hans 0]

Hans scratched his head, trying to keep in mind all the new information and prioritizing what was important to remember in the merchant world. He had passed a general store selling a lesser healing potion, but had to pass up the 500 Col price tag. He could surely sell that to an Alchemy store for close to double that price, but as he didn't have the initial funds he was forced to keep looking. He pulled up the quest information again, since he hadn't been paying attention to the completion requirement. 'Return to Merina with a 500 Col profit' read the quest text. Since he had started out with 100 Col that meant he couldn't go back until he was at 600 total. Hopefully as his available spending money increased he could start making bigger purchases and he wouldn't have to spend too long running around town.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Hans

[Hans 0]

Hans was keeping himself busy, weaving in and out of shops and between people. So far he had managed to buy and sell up to a 200 Col profit, leaving him with 300 total to mess around with. He sauntered around, slowly growing bored with his surroundings. Running around and doing all of this trading himself was getting rather tedious.

"Nyow what...?" He mumbled, frowning as he scanned the shops with good displayed on shelves. He spent all 300 Col on a short sword at a normal shop, traveling down the road to sell for a higher price at a smithy.

[Hans 0]

Hans grinned in satisfaction when he accepted the Col from the smithy owner. He counted up his Col, determining he wasn't far off now. 'Alright, just a bit more...' He thought, scanning some more shops. He stopped at a general store and picked up a small variety of items--a few reagents like ore and thread, and some food items. He wandered around, stopping leisurely at the corresponding shops where he could sell them at a higher price.

Some time passed while he completed his task and tallying up his earnings, he was just short of returning back to the quest giver. "One more trip should do it." He muttered, heading back to his go-to basic supplies shop.

[Hans 0]

Hans stopped off at another shop and decided to just buy a bunch of artisan materials to round off his basic understanding of the pricing and different types of crafting materials. He purchased a few gemstones and wiring, calculating out how much he needed to buy and sell to meet the 600 Col total. After buying all the materials, he wandered around again at a lazy pace until he found an artisan shop that would make him a profit.

Now that his coin purse had multiplied, he started making his way back to the merchant store where the quest giver resided. Along the way his mind wandered, thinking of interesting names for his new establishment, as well as where it would be located.

[Hans 0]

As Hans approached the quest giver Merina, he was prompted to trade back the Col, including the extra 500 he had spent a while earning. He grumbled slightly as he had to hand it over, thinking to himself what a foolish quest has you earn money and then give it to an NPC. Just as he was ready to complete his quest and obtain the title of Merchant, the woman spoke up, "Great job making such a profit! Now that you've got the basics of trading down, I've got something else to show you." Hans placed a hand on his hip in impatience as she spoke, "If you want to run a good business you'll have to know everything about vouchers." The man raised an eyebrow, no longer completely disinterested, as Merina pulled out what looked like slips of paper and continued speaking.

[Hans 0]

"Vouchers allow you to replace an item's enhancements," Hans listened is slight interest as the NPC explained. "The type of voucher corresponds to the type of equipment you can use the voucher on. For example, you need a rare voucher to reassign the enhancements on a rare item."

Hans listened to her lecture on vouchers, how to use them, how to make them, and how they would be a valuable part of any Merchant worth his salt. "Now, there's no better way to learn than by doing. Get over here and try making a voucher!"

[Hans 0]

"Eh?" Hans tilted his head in confusion for a quick moment as the Merchant NPC waved him over into the small shop. Quests in this game weren't quite what he was expecting, although he was less bored now at least. "Now," Merina went on to explain another rule. "You can't get something from nothing. So in order to make a voucher you need two basic items, and then you attempt the craft. I'll supply you with the items for now, so long as I get any vouchers you successfully make. Now go on, give it a try!"

[Hans 0]

• ID#: 32875
• CD: 6 (Good Item)

Hans was presented with two normal-looking items: a piece of cloth armor and a sword. After following the woman's instructions, a loot window popped up before him, reading "Success! 2x Uncommon Vouchers Obtained." He pushed a button to dismiss the screen as the merchant NPC clapped with delight. "Alright, now hand over those vouchers and I'll give the you materials to try again." Hans scowled, but handed off the vouchers and received two more plain items. He didn't know why he had to do it again, especially since he succeeded the first time.

[Hans 0]

• ID#: 32962
• CD: 10 (Rare Item)

Repeating the same process, this time he was notified with, "Success! 2x Rare Vouchers Obtained." He was pleased at first, and then immediately growled when he realized the vouchers weren't his to keep. Begrudgingly, he passed the vouchers to the NPC when prompted to do so, and placed his hands on his hips impatiently, waiting for the quest to be over already. "Congratulations! That's the most I can teach you right now. But there's still more work to be done before you can be a successful Merchant." Hans frowned as the woman continued, "You'll need to find a place and set up your shop. You'll have a standard set of Merchant Items to sell, but your bread and butter will be your Custom Area. There you can sell anything and everything--just be sure to set fair prices, or you'll drive the customers away!"

[Hans 0]

Hans hadn't realized he still needed to find a place for a shop. He figured they would set him up with some default place in a player-run marketplace or something like that. He folded his arms over his chest, mulling over some ideas as the woman finished up her speech and set him on his way. He would have to find out what some of the other floors are like, but the most likely source he could find that information would be from other players. He doubted any of the NPCs would tell him of anything past the first floor. He left the marketplace area and wandered over to what seemed to be a sort of plaza. A lot of player characters relaxing and talking among themselves. He grinned, scouting out someone who looked like a higher level.

[Hans 0]

Hans approached a small group of four player characters, hands in his pockets. His messy hair covered his eyes as usual, leaving only his wide grin visible as he spoke. "Nyaa, you all look like you've been to the higher levels." He tilted his head to the side, leaning in a bit. "What's it like? Any interesting places worth mentioning?"

The group seemed taken aback by Hans' sudden, fairly creepy intrusion. One man spoke up, who looked be to the leader between them, "U-uh, I mean, the second floor...." The man seem flustered as he started speaking. "It's mostly forest and mountain areas... "

[Hans 0]

"Floor three is a prairie with a country village, and four is really snowy..." The adventurer answered, looking nervously to the side. "That's as far as we've been..." He sounded unsure of what else to say, as if he was hoping that would be enough to make Hans go away. "Nya ha ha ha!" Hans cackled and leaned back, grinning widely and startling the man. "Is that so? Sounds boring, but it might do..." He trailed off, thinking to himself.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Hans

[Hans 0]

"Um..." A girl in their small group spoke up, looking at Hans with uncertainty. "You're not planning to go to the higher floors already, are you? You should probably train here on the first floor until you've leveled up a bit..." Her comment brought Hans back to the conversation. His catty grin didn't falter as he took a couple of steps closer to the girl and leaned back in. His hair fell to the side as he titled his head, his bright yellow eyes flashing and piercing her with unknown intent. The girl noticeably tensed, and her teammates were left unsure how to react. "Nyah, you should be worrying more about yourself in this place." His words held a threatening tone. "If you're looking out for others too much, you're likely to get hurt yourself." Hans could tell the girl was nervous, causing his smile to grow even wider. He laughed suddenly, causing the group to jump in surprise. Hans quickly turned and left without another word, quickly distancing himself as he got the answers he wanted.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Hans