CHAPTER 32: TASKS

Wade woke up that morning, feeling a dull ache in his limbs.

He groaned as he got out of bed, stretching. Today was going to be a good day.

Taking a shower and dressing up, he checked his inventory.

[Inventory Slots: 6]

[Slot 1: Coins (1,230 coins)]

[Slot 2: Skill stone]

[Slot 3: Breastplate]

[Slot 4: Barrel (Filled)]

[Slot 5: Empty]

[Slot 6: Empty]

He smiled as he saw the first slot. He had money!!!

He looked around the room for anything that he owned that was left in it.

His clothes. He packed them in a single wad, stuffing them into an empty slot.

There was also his sword. Instead of putting it in his inventory, he sheathed it in the sheath strapped to his back. Now, he looked like an adventurer.

He was tempted to wear his breastplate too to reinforce the image, but he chuckled at the thought. That was overkill. But he had to admit it made him feel good.

Maybe this was why the other adventures walked about with their weapons strapped behind them or with breastplate and pauldrons on.

Or maybe it was because there were no spaces in their inventory left. He chuckled at that.

With a smile, he looked around the room once more.

His emberleaf and yeast were already inside the barrel, which he’d already shoved into his inventory.

Soon, he’d go search for the honey and other ingredients he needed for the mead. But he knew he couldn’t do that here.

He had to do it in privacy, in a place he was certain the guild won’t be watching. Which meant getting his own apartment.

Fortunately, he’d told Rowan of his intentions, and the man had promised he’d come by later.

With that done, Wade left the room, heading to the cafeteria.

There, he had his breakfast, eating as much as possible. If he ever ran out of money, or was trying to be cheap, he could always come back to the guild cafeteria to eat. Just like the other members of his party, who ate breakfast here whenever they had duties in the guild building.

With breakfast taken care of, he made his way out of the building. Walking through the streets, he noticed it.

Something had changed. Not just about him, but about the people around him.

Where before, he’d been a part of the masses, now the other adventurers he passed on the road gave him nods of greetings, whether they were from the same guild or not. It was as if they could finally see him.

He smiled, returning the nods. His mind finally accepted it. He was now an adventurer.

Making his way through the city of Hiving, he quickly found Tom’s shop. As usual, the man was inside, hammering away at whatever order had been made to him.

"Tom! My good man!" Wade called out with a grin as he stepped into the shop.

The blacksmith glanced up at him, not stopping at his hammering. After a few seconds, the man stopped, picking the red-hot iron he’d been working on and dipping it into a barrel of water, steam hissing into the air.

"It’s the boy with the breastplate." The man finally said, returning Wade’s smile.

"It’s Wade." Wade chuckled.

"Well, Wade, are you back for the refitting?"

"Yeah." Wade removed the breastplate from his inventory, the metal appearing in a flash of muffled light. "You have the measurements, right?"

"Yes, I do." Tom grinned, examining the breastplate. "You seem to have taken a beating."

"That’s what dungeons do to a man." Wade quipped.

Tom nodded, putting the breastplate on a nearby table. "Come back in three days. I’ll have it ready then."

"Three days?!" Wade’s eyes widened. "What if I need it tomorrow?"

"That’s not my problem," Tom said. "I have other equally important equipment to work on. If we had done the fittings on time, we wouldn’t be having this problem."

Wade narrowed his eyes at the man. "So, you’re saying it’s my fault."

"I’m saying nothing, adventurer." Tom held his gaze. "All I said is that I have a large number of tasks."

’Yeah, right.’ Wade eyed the man. ’I know you think it’s my fault.’

"Alright." Wade nodded. "I’ll be back in three days for my breastplate."

"Very well." Tom gave him a single nod, before returning to his walk.

Wade walked out of the shop, the sounds of hammer banging on metal ringing behind him.

As he walked through the streets, a question slithered into his mind. ’What if I get myself a breastplate item?’

His mind went to the mirror dagger. That was a minor item, and yet, it was worth at least 6,000 coins. How much would a breastplate cost? Maybe upwards of 20,000 coins.

If he wanted one, the only way he could get one right now was to receive it as loot in a dungeon. He almost stopped in the streets at the thought.

The guild calculates its tax based on the monetary value of the loot, not their quantity.

So, even if his only loot from a dungeon was the breastplate, and it was worth 20,000 coins, he’d have to pay the guild 2,000 coins in order to keep the breastplate.

Which means even if he wanted it for free, he’d have to pay for it.

He exhaled at the thought. Nothing was truly free, whether this world or his previous one.

If he had to buy the breastplate from the guild, it would cost 20,000 coins, and if he had to sell it to them, they’d buy it at 16,000 coins.

Either way, he made a loss.

With that worked out, he made a decision. He’ll try as much as possible, not to sell loot gotten from their dungeons to the guild.

They’ll rip him off, and it would negatively impact his Dimensional Ledger.

Thankfully, him paying tax and his debts didn’t count as deals to the Ledger. He needed to make an active trade for it to count as a deal.

And as long as he stuck to profitable deals, he should have his first dungeon key in hand.

Only when he had a dungeon all to himself, could he begin taking deals like that.