The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen (15 page)

"I'd be interested in three heifers and a bull, all under thirteen months of age," I finally responded, after giving it some thought. "I would like to inspect them though before purchasing, if that's possible. I've travelled a long way to get here."

"Of course," he replied without any hesitation. "Meet me at the large barn near the eastern edge of the city at sunrise, and I'll show you the stock."

"Perfect, I look forward to tomorrow," I replied as I offered a hand.

With a handshake to seal the deal, I turned my attention back to my drink and ordered a plate of food as well. Entertaining the locals with the hope of gathering some information, I bought some drinks for the few that had gathered around and I spent the better part of two-hours indulging with the NPCs.

It only cost me some copper in the end, so it was worth it.

I was able to learn about horses and their prices, which were outrageous… but at least I was informed now. It would be a long time before I ever purchased a horse as a mount, to the point where I was starting to wonder if I could capture one instead. If there were wild pets to be had, maybe there were wild mounts to be had as well.

Thinking back on the four cattle I would purchase, the young heifers would need a month or two at the minimum to mature and develop in order to bear a calf, then they would have to give birth some nine months later before they could produce milk.

That was a long time to wait, but the game was helping me there. Every day in-game lasted eight-hours, so there were three days per real-day. Then, there was the multiplier for aging and growth of NPC children, animals, and crops at four times. That added up to twelve times faster than normal, and meant the heifers would be giving birth to a live calf in about one real-time month. That wasn't too bad, really.

I still had a week or two to finish off the fifth floor of the dungeon and then return to Dragon's Breach, that time will let the cattle mature. Once I return, three weeks real-time and I would have myself a supply of milk and three more cattle.

Well, it was time to call it a night.

Returning to my room, I only had two hours before the sun would rise, so I decided to sleep in-game and set an alarm. Quickly falling asleep, I had started to dream of my future metropolis in all its glory.

Only to be rudely awakened by the alarm I had set two-hours prior.

Slowly sprawling out and rolling out of the bed, I realized halfway through that the kittens had ended up sleeping with me for the extra warmth. I guess they thought I was their parent already. Careful not to wake them, I made my way outside and towards the barn where the rancher was supposed to meet me.

Along the way, I couldn't help but notice a herd of cows grazing in a fenced-in area. They were most likely the milk cows that he was selling. Walking over to one, I tried inspecting it and to my surprise, a small window appeared before me detailing the cow. As if I had tried to inspect an animal or an item in-game, it opened up right in the middle of my visual field.

The cows were rated in the same way as the NPCs were. The ones that I picked from the recruiter. There were potentials in different categories such as milk quality, meat, and leather. It was somewhat strange to look at, but since I wasn't familiar or learned in the art of grading livestock, most of the potentials had a tilde at the end denoting that it was a rough estimate. All of the cows were around a rated 7.0~/10.0 overall, with the older ones being slightly lower.

A few minutes later, and I had found myself at the entrance of the barn with the cattle rancher standing just inside, next to an array of calves. I let myself in with a light knock on the door frame to alert the man and then gave him a slight wave.

"Morning, hope I'm not too early," I cheerfully greeted.

"Good mornin', these here are the heifers and the bulls under thirteen months of age," he quickly replied, not wasting a moment to get down to business. "You won't find them lacking, they're good ones."

Walking up to the closest calf, I tried to inspect it in the same way I had viewed the milking cows that were out in the pasture, but it failed as a message popped into view. To my dismay, I was unable to inspect the calves' potential and quality as my proficiency in animal husbandry was too low to accurately determine their statistics. The status window was left with nothing more than question marks and empty stats.

I was a little confused.

Not more than five minutes prior, I had successfully viewed the cows that were grazing without issue. Now, I was supposedly not proficient enough to do so.

Well, if I were to guess… maybe it was because the other cows were already developed, and these had yet to do so. That didn't seem too unreasonable, so I figured I would go with that.

Left to my own devices, I continued my inspection the manual way.

Checking each and every calf head to toe, inspecting their eyes and teeth, I did my best to evaluate how healthy each animal looked and then went by how energetic they looked. One of the heifers looked either sick or extremely lethargic, so that one was removed from my potential list. Another had bad teeth, so I crossed that one off. And down I went, until I finally found three heifers and a bull that I was satisfied with.

"I'm interested in these four here," I finally stated after some time had passed. "You were asking for eight silver coins per heifer and ten silvers for the bull, correct?"

The cattle rancher stood idly by and looked on rather emotionlessly as I picked out each calf. He knew which ones were the best but he set the prices for his best stock, most likely. If I had chosen the worst ones, he would have surely charged me the same price for a small gain on his part.

"Yep, that's correct," he replied after a few seconds had gone by. "I believe you'll find it to be more than a fair price."

I couldn't argue there.

The prices were on par with what the middle kingdoms were currently asking, and this far north, that was something else. I had no qualms paying him his asking price, as I started to think about whether or not I should grab a fifth one. Eh, four would be plenty to start with, I figured.

"No, I agree that's a fair price, I'll pay it," I said without much hesitation while fiddling with my bag. "Though, would you be interested in a little bartering?"

As I said that, I brought out the pelt of the [Northern Forest Cat] that I had skinned the day before. It was a beautiful long-haired coat that was wonderfully soft to the touch, and was probably worth as much as a wolf pelt in quality of the fur alone. Adding in the value of the aesthetics and the rarity, and I could easily see it fetching three times the price.

"I don't barter unfortunately, I only take coin-" the cattle rancher had started to reply, without looking at the fur I had brought out. But as soon as his eyes came across what I was holding, he began to trail off and stopped his verbatim mid-sentence.

"Ah, that's too bad," I quickly cut in. "I thought you might be interested in this."

"Well hold on a minute now," he instantly replied while raising a hand up. "You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, I only take coin but I think there are always exceptions. I may be interested in that pelt there."

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I smiled at him and nodded, handing the pelt over to him so he could inspect its quality. "It's quite a fine piece, and I believe it to be somewhat of a rarity around these parts." Of course, I didn't know if that was true or not, but I believed it to be the case. There was no real information on the cats, so logical leap indicated it was probably quite rare. If it weren't, he could set me straight right here.

"Well, in all my years I've only seen this type of pelt come around a few times," he said with some nostalgia that I didn't quite understand. "It's certainly rare, are you selling or looking to barter?"

Now we were talking.

"As a fellow trader, I believe in fair bartering," I said with a smile. "Whatever you believe it's worth, and then I'll make up the difference in silver for the cattle."

He looked the fur over another time, before nodding at himself and locking eyes with me. "If you include the pelt with thirty silver, I'll consider it an honest and fair trade," he said with conviction.

Extending a hand out, I replied, "you have a deal then."

In truth, I wasn't expecting more than three silvers or three-hundred copper coins for the pelt, but straight trades of goods for coin tend to devalue a product. When bartering and exchanging goods, the values can fluctuate quite a bit more depending on rarity or scarcity, and I figured that would help me. He sold cattle and that was his business, he could take a little off the top in trades and still make money. I on the other hand, picked it up off a dead animal, and had nothing to lose either way.

My twenty mile excursion had proved to be quite valuable.

Seven kittens, four calves, and a couple silvers left to my name, all in a day's work.

Now, all I needed to do was conquer that fifth floor, and return to Dragon's Breach… Selene and Katherine were waiting for me and it wouldn't do to keep them waiting indefinitely.

That would be rude of me.

Chapter 50: Return to the Fifth

(Thursday, June 24th Game Day / Sunday, February 28th Real Day)

Night had already fallen by the time I made it back to the dungeon town but I was actually glad for it as it kept prying eyes off my precious cattle and kittens. They were a national secret, after all. My kingdom's ultimate treasure at the moment were these little fellas, and so long as no one caught wind of my plans, I would have a leg up on the competition for a little bit longer.

Sneaking into the back of the stables behind the inn, I tied up each calf in its own pen where it could munch on some hay and get some much needed rest. I figured they would be safe there for now, especially since no one actually had a horse yet.

Entering the inn that I had been staying at, I paid the fee for four pens and informed the inn keeper that I would be staying for nine more days. The inn cost me ten coppers a day but it was reasonable, as the inn was fairly upscale compared to the others. Storage space via a locked chest was included in each room, which was quite large in its own right. There was a full-sized bed, a small table and chair, a personal washstand with a small mirror situated just above, and magic-powered lights that had a soft amber glow to them. Compared to some of the other inns that only provided a small twin-sized bed and not much else, this inn was like going from a one-star motel to a three-star hotel.

All in all, it was a pretty nice place.

Not to mention, the tavern downstairs was considered the best one around and I received one free meal a day during my stay. The cost for a pen and hay wasn't too bad either, at three coppers a day. Of course, the charges were by eight-hour in-game day, rather than real-life twenty-four hour day… which would have been quite convenient. Everything went according to the game clock, so that was twenty-two coppers per eight-hours including the room rate with the pen rentals.

That added up rather quickly, really.

Oh well.

Checking the clock, Barik would be on within an hour and so too would the rest of the crew. We had been hitting the dungeon up every day on a schedule, twice a day at the very least, with a third run squeezed in on the weekdays.

The only real issue when playing with Aussies was the time difference… midnight here was five in the afternoon for them. Plus seventeen hours for them, so in order to maintain our group runs, I either had to stay up extremely late or wake up very early.

It wasn't that bad, since I had no life anyways, but it took some getting used to at first. First few days were a bit awkward, especially getting my food and sleep cycle on board. Though, after those first few days, I transitioned wonderfully into a complete night owl.

"Ah, I should eat," I muttered to myself after the kittens had settled into their positions on the bed. They had already ate and were fast asleep; now it was time for me to take care of my virtual body. Wolf jerky could only last for so long, especially with how realistic the food tasted in this game. I was getting sick of eating nothing but flavorless jerky.

Leaving the kittens in the room, I made my way downstairs to the tavern only to find the hallway blocked by four young men standing shoulder to shoulder. At first I thought, perhaps something was going on, but after a few seconds had gone by they were still blocking the path while chatting amongst themselves. They weren't in a hurry to go anywhere, they were simply being a nuisance.

"Excuse me," I said loudly and clearly as  I attempted to make my way through.

They didn't move though, they didn't even turn around.

Typical behavior, really… there were always a few people like them running around. Crowding doorways, blocking paths, standing on-top of an NPC so others couldn't interact with them… these people who were content with their selfish behavior were always in a game. If you played a game without these kinds of characters, it probably wasn't much of a game.

That's just how it was.

"Hey guys, think you could move over a bit?" I asked as politely as I could muster, while trying to contain my anger. I didn't have the patience for this shit, but the good citizen route would be my first attempt.

"What's it matter to you punk, mind your own damn business," said the man closest to me as the four of them turned around to face me.

"You're blocking the doorway," I stated plainly while locking eyes with the man who had spoken up. "I'm going through and you're in the way."

"
Tsk
, wait your turn," replied another man. "We were here first."

Ah, I couldn't help but wonder,
what was the penalty for combat again?

My hand was itching as I started to gather electricity in my palm, the penalty for fighting within a town was somewhat severe, but I didn't care.

Then they all turned around and walked away.

"Huh," I whispered as I watched the four enter the tavern and occupy a table in the corner. My mouth agape, I released the lightning that had accumulated, letting it dissipate into the air as I was forced to shake my head to break my chain of thought.

"That was unexpected," I mumbled to myself.

Making my way over to the bar, I grabbed an empty stool near the middle and sat at the counter. Maybe I was too harsh on the four, and jumped the gun. They could have been indecisive, yet I was ready to send them to the graveyard.

Oh well, my intuition was usually right.

No harm, no foul, anyways.

"What will you be having?" asked the barkeep not long after I settled in.

"I'll have the potato stew, and a loaf of bread," I replied quickly as I relaxed my shoulders and set my arms on the counter. "Ah, and bring me a porter too, a stout porter preferably but any porter will do if you don't have a strong one."

"We have a good selection of ales and beers, quite a few porters to choose from," the barkeep stated with a smile. "I'll bring you the strongest one we have, it's quite good."

The wait was relatively short.

I suppose that was to be expected here, the service was fast and the food came out quickly. It honestly surprised me a bit. Well, to be fair, the food I ordered had probably been sitting in a large pot for hours, so I can't really compare that.

Looking around the tavern, the place had a nice, comforting layout.

The design was simplistic but efficient, spacious but not too distant. Everything felt connected while giving enough privacy for each guest. It was a good layout, one that I might have to borrow for Dragon's Breach. Opening my overlay schematic menu, I was able to trace the entire room out and save it for future use. I might not end up using it, but it didn't hurt to have an example for my own tavern.

I did like the efficiency.

Add in the décor and it was really a quaint little place, too.

There was a certain rustic flair combined with a bit of a modern touch, somewhat out of place though considering the time-frame that the game was supposed to be in. The building was a combination of stone and some type of concrete replica along with treated and painted wood. The style was more 1700's then 1100's, but it somehow worked. It was certainly a far cry from the wooden shacks of the Northern Triangle, and definitely more advanced than my log cabins and lodges.

Eh, but I liked my artistic touch a tad bit more.

Log cabins were always aesthetically pleasing to the eye, anyhow.

As I ate, I kept my head down while listening to the ongoing conversations all around me. One table off to the side, occupied by three women most likely in their mid-twenties based on appearances, were busy chit-chatting about their relationships.

That was hardly the least bit interesting.

They weren't worth listening to.

Another table, a mixed group of three males and two females, were discussing the dungeon's third floor and the difficulty they were having with the boss. They weren't too far off on strategy but they seemed to lack experience, skill, or levels.

Well, they would get it eventually.

Letting my eyes defocus as I concentrated on filtering out the noise from the important conversations, I eventually found one that got my ears to perk up.

"Did you see that blog post?" asked a man with a squeaky voice.

"Which, the meeting details or the one on that group that cleared the fourth floor's boss?" questioned the other man. "I saw both up the other day."

"The meeting one, the report on how the North is basically free territory for the taking," replied the man with the squeaky voice. "There's only one player village way up in the wastelands, dude, we could easily stake out a place for ourselves."

Ah, Emily, what would I do without you.

I knew the day would come, it was bound to.

So it was hard to really stay mad at the girl. She was doing her job, introducing areas and going over the details of how territories in The Dragon's Wrath were developing. The game designers needed feedback, especially on why some areas were seen as incredibly lackluster. I understood that, I truly did.

It would have been nice if she didn't single me out with that photo, putting a target on my back. After that meeting, I had lost all interest in returning to future meetings. I never really liked going in the first place, but felt some responsibility to attend as an Alpha tester. Plus, information was always important.

Well, their query was a pointless one in my mind. They wanted to gauge popularity and categorize it. Popularity was a strange thing to explain though, often times the most popular thing was far from the best in its category… there was something at work, something that couldn't always be explained.

The masses could clamor for change, for improvement, for something to evolve from the stale state it is currently in, but then when cookie-cutter copies come out, they flock to it and buy it up en masse. Their preconceived notions taking over, they ignore the faults and love it for what it embodies, for its similarity to the stuff that came before it. All of the complaints that had been made would be forgotten for the time being. Well, only until the doldrums finally become apparent once again. Then complaints anew about the repetition and the poor state of the industry would arise once more.

It was a cyclical nature, and one that couldn't really be explained.

What made something popular was often random, and once it was engrained in current thought, breaking the mold could prove difficult if not disastrous.

The developers wanted to figure out how to sway public opinion, to advertise the remaining open territories in the game, to popularize areas that weren't favorites.

I thought it was all a waste of time.

Those who appreciate it, will find it.

It may take some time, but given the right circumstances, it will happen.

Attempting to figure it all out was truly pointless.

Oh well, there wasn't much I could do about it here and now. I had my territory, that small village… all alone up there that everyone now knew of. They might not have known the owner was the lone guy sitting at the bar, eating some potato stew and drinking a dark beer, but they knew my village.

What bothered me, was that these random people had heard, no, read about this information on a blog. Releasing information within the meeting was one thing, but there were rules on confidentiality and not reporting it to the general public. Leaks always happened though. Some individual sharing everything for the good of the people, breaking rules and regulations so as to get popular while pretending to be Robin Hood.

Truth was, he or she wouldn't get punished for it. The offense wasn't that bad, at least not to the company.

Having nearly finished my meal, I started to think about my plans going forward. I had my cattle in tow, a couple of kittens too, and my dungeon questing was nearly complete. The only thing left, was to return home… to see Selene and Katherine again.

As I was thinking of the girls, a woman entered the tavern wearing a heavy robe that covered her from head to toe. All I could see were the black leather boots and the tips of her dark brown hair poking out from the hood covering her face.

Normally, I wouldn't bother looking.

Well, I might glance… once or twice.

Something was off though, with her walk.

And that's when I noticed that she had a cane, though she didn't seem to be relying on it much. A cane was a bit peculiar, but if she was a caster it was a suitable weapon if not a bit rare and out of place at the moment. Most casters didn't bother with weapons as it slowed them down, especially since enchanted weaponry wasn't really available yet. Yeah, she was odd… odd enough to catch my eye.

Continuing to eat what little was left on my plate, I could see out of my peripheral vision that she was looking for a place to sit. She ended up settling on the bar a few stools away, at the end far from the rest of us. A few minutes had passed, as I played with my food and wondered if there was anything interesting to do while waiting for Barik and the others. The girl ordered some food, but I stopped paying attention after that.

She was interesting for a minute.

After a few seconds though, it was creepy on my part.