Second World Chapter 138 - 138. Meeting An Old Acquaintance

After spending his hunter points to get the book, he only had 23 hunter points left. He went back to the Bronze hall to pick on hunting quests. He was not planning to focus on hunting, but since the quests did not have a time limit. He could just apply for it and work on it while he was doing other things.
He asked Peniel what monsters were common and easy to encounter for levels ranging around 15 to 20. Peniel advised him to retake the hunting quests for Silver Wolf, Goblins, Grey Sabrecat, Gremlins, Gnomes, and Lizardman, since Jack didn't plan to go anywhere far. They were the most common monsters around this region.
She then told Jack of some higher-level monsters that were also easy to encounter, but they roamed a bit further from the capital. It was Green Harpy, Bald Eagle, Fire Jackal, and Giant Worm. Jack followed Peniel's instructions without any question and applied for the quests.
When he came out of the Hunters Association building, the sun was already about to set. He planned to applied for his Mage advance class since his Magician class had already reached 15. But after giving it some thought, he decided to do it tomorrow morning. He felt rather tired already at the moment, since yesterday night he had slept late due to fighting the Monster Settlement. Might as well have an early rest and challenge the advanced class test tomorrow.
He walked around the marketplace to look for some equipment for sales. He had collected quite a number of common equipment in his bag, if he could buy more, he could transform them into higher-grade version using his Transformation Box. Since he had enough coins now, might as well abuse his advantage.
He went around from shop to shop, spending around 16 silver coins to buy a number of common equipment required for the transformation. He also spent another 24 silver to buy 12 common Magic Staffs. He already had five uncommon Magic Staffs if including the one he was equipping, he just needed three more, and he was going to use these 12 common ones to create another 3 uncommon Magic Staffs.
While he was shopping, Peniel said to him, "since you have many coins, how about go buy some Magic Scrolls?"
'Magic Scrolls? What are they for?' Jack asked.
"They are one-time-use magic tools. Each scroll has a pre-recorded magic spell stored inside. When you release the magic, it will take effect but the scroll will be destroyed. But having a powerful Magic Scroll can give you a strategic advantage, as it allows you to use spells even if you haven't learned those spells, and it doesn't consume your mana."
'All right, let's look for the shop then.'
Jack asked a local NPC for direction. When he was asking, he suddenly noticed a familiar face. The guy was selling foods in a simple stall with another woman. Jack was unsure if his memory was correct, so he went closer.
"Bill?" He said to the man after he approached.
The person turned to him. His face had a puzzled expression at first, but then his eyes turned wide with realization. "You!" He exclaimed, but then bewilderment overcame his face again, he seemed to be trying to remember something. And then he uttered, "Jack! You are the young man who came to my house."
Jack nodded. "That I am. So how are you feeling after dying once?"
"Young man, don't joke around like that. It's really not a pleasant experience."
"Who is this?" A woman beside him asked.
"This is Jack, the one I mentioned to you before." He then turned to Jack and introduce the woman, "remember about the wife I said was missing when it all started? This is her. Apparently, she was the same as me, she got killed as well, though it was by a zombie."
"My name is Ellie," She introduced herself to Jack.
"So, what are you two doing here? You open a shop?" Jack asked them.
"It's just a temporary stall," Bill said. "Apparently, even in the afterlife, you still need to pay to do business."
"Afterlife?"
"Yes, isn't that what this place is? How do you die by the way? Do you get killed by that big monster too?"
Jack had the urge to facepalm himself. The guy was clueless before this, and he was still clueless at this time. He then inspected him out of curiosity. Crap! Still at level 1?
"You have been spending all this time selling food after you got here?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, it's difficult at first, but after mingling with some of the crowds, We started to show them that we can cook. And so they started to commission us to cook while they provide the ingredients. After a while, we started charging them coins. The business had started to pick up lately."
"That's good to know," Jack commented while browsing his merchandise. He looked at one and inspected it.
Spicy Fried Noodle (Apprentice grade)
Recover 50 HP, Recover 1 HP every 5 seconds in and out of combat for the next 3 hours.
The food effect was like the weakened version of Fighter's skill Natural Body Recovery, but it had a plus point as its effect still took place even during combat. He then looked at another food.
Sweet Dumpling (Expert grade)
Recover 250 HP, Increase Damage by 10% and reduce cooldown time of skills by 10% for the next 6 hours.
Jack was amazed, this food was even better than the one that Silverwing let him eat before they went into the dungeon this morning. And it was Expert grade?
"What is your cooking level now?" He asked.
"Cooking level?" Bill was putting on that puzzling expression again.
"He is at Advanced Apprentice, while I am at Basic Expert," Ellie interrupted when she saw her husband was at a loss.
Jack looked at her, it appeared that she was more aware of what was going on. "You are already at expert level?"
Ellie nodded with indifference, "cooking is all we do since we got here anyway."
No wonder they were still at level 1 but their cooking grades were already so high. It seemed that to survive here, it was not all about increasing one's level. Players could also focus on one of their auxiliary skills in order to make a living.
"Why don't you try to open up a permanent shop?"
"We tried, but just to buy a land required a huge sum of coins. We do not have enough."
"How much?"
"The cheapest plot of land in the outskirts of Business District cost 100 gold coins. Honestly, I'm not sure until when we will be able to save to have enough coins to buy a plot of land. After that, we still need more coins for constructing the shop. It's such a hassle."
One hundred, that's too much, Jack thought. Even with the gold coins he had, he still could not afford one. He had thought at first that he could maybe finance them with the coins he had, and took some profit share from their trade, something like an investor. But apparently, he was still not as rich as he thought.
"Let's become friends then, so we can keep in contact with each other," Jack offered. "When I have enough funds, maybe I can help you build that shop."
"Aren't we already friends?" Bill asked with a clueless face.
Ellie smacked him on the head, she then guided him to work on the processing system. Jack was glad that he did not need to be the one to guide him. After they officially registered as friends, Jack bought five of their Sweet Dumplings at 3 silver each. Ellie explained that their prices were pretty much set by the system, they could increase or decrease within a range, but the range was not large.
The Sweet Dumpling gave a good combat boost, he told them he might become their regular customer. But then he thought if he started to rely on their foods, then his cooking skill might get neglected.
After thanking them, he went to the direction of the Magic Scroll shop.
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