Chapter 20

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Episode 20 (20/227)

Episode 20: Quinnze Blonde (3)

“Shit… I messed up.”

After seeing his master’s reaction, Eil awkwardly glanced down at the items.

Warode’s general stores usually bought anything that seemed valuable, but since they were operated by NPCs with highly advanced AI almost indistinguishable from humans, their preferences varied depending on the owner’s character.

Especially in this case, showing corpse fragments and rotting flesh to an NPC who not only failed to recognize the item’s value but also had a strong aversion was bound to provoke such a reaction.

Even Eil couldn’t possibly remember every shop NPC’s preferences in detail.

“I’m sorry, I picked up the wrong item,” Eil apologized quickly and put the grotesque items back into his inventory.

He then took out some unnecessary equipment and common junk items, sold them all to the shopkeeper, and received a reasonable price.

Though he couldn’t sell everything at once, he had confiscated quite a number of user equipment which amounted to a decent sum. The unsold items would be dealt with later in the back alleys.

After stepping outside, Eil headed to the appraisal office within the city and entrusted the antiques obtained from Latma’s stone chamber for evaluation.

Most items revealed their information simply by clicking on them inside the inventory, but there were exceptions.

Items that were extremely old, concealed by magical forces, or simply too obscure for the average person to identify immediately required appraisal.

Such items needed to go through an appraisal process where one paid a fee at the appraisal office to determine their true nature.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing particularly outstanding here. However, this ancient book could fetch a decent price,” the appraiser informed Eil after inspecting the items.

Regrettably, aside from the old book found on the bookshelf, everything else turned out to be useless junk. Considering the appraisal fees for each item, Eil incurred a slight loss.

But he didn’t regret spending the money at all.

Given the unpredictable nature of antiques, one could never know when a big discovery might happen. It was absolutely unacceptable to skip appraisals due to fear of minor losses.

[Current Balance – 1 Gold 43 Shillings 88 Kron]

“Now that I’ve saved up a bit… it’d be great if I could find some decent gear.”

Eil checked his balance and started calculating how much he could spend on equipment.

Despite not having learned all three basic skills yet, his funds had already surpassed 1 gold, and he had enough to aim for decent gear by his standards.

So Eil decided to first check the auction house next to the appraisal office.

The “Item Exchange,” located at the center of every city in Warode, was always bustling with users since it connected all registered items across the game world.

True to its reputation as a busy place, Quinnze Blonde was packed with people browsing items, fiercely bidding, or looking for direct trades.

[You have entered the ‘Quinnze Blonde’ Item Exchange.]

– The exchange system has been activated.

– The current city of Quinnze Blonde is under the jurisdiction of the Nightmare Guild.

– A standard fee of 10% and a guild tax rate of 5% will apply.

As Eil entered the exchange area, the familiar system window appeared before him.

To those unfamiliar with Warode, hearing terms like “exchange” or “auction house” might conjure images of merchants setting up stalls or holding signs for auctions, but the reality was far different.

The Warode exchange linked all registered items not just in the city but across the entire game world in real-time, making such traditional methods impossible.

Thus, except for direct trades to avoid fees, all transactions within the item exchange were conducted through individual system screens that appeared before each user.

Having reviewed the listed prices and item catalog, Eil first checked the domain tax rates before diving into serious item hunting.

“The tax rate is… standard 15%, huh.”

All transactions within the exchange came with fees deducted from the seller’s proceeds.

The “standard fee” of 10% applied uniformly across all domains.

This fee policy was one of the measures implemented to prevent inflation of in-game gold value, allowing the game company to collect a fixed amount and appropriately control the circulation of gold.

If the game didn’t reclaim gold from users, given the nature of MMORPGs where players continuously level up and acquire more gold from monsters, maintaining currency value would be impossible.

However, separate from this, there was also a “guild tax.”

Regardless of whether it was a city, castle, village, fortress, or gateway…

Guilds occupying these bases earned tremendous revenue by taking a portion of all transactions conducted through the domain’s item exchange.

Even though it was limited to single-digit percentages, considering Warode’s massive player base, the numbers were staggering.

While there was a condition that it only applied to items registered within the domain, given the sheer volume of items constantly being listed and sold by countless players, taking even a small percentage represented significant profit.

Therefore, despite the occasional financial struggles in defending their bases from other guilds, owning even a small outpost provided guilds with substantial capital advantages, leading to fierce territorial battles.

Some guilds did go bankrupt trying to defend their bases, but domains in Warode remained something everyone coveted despite the risks.

Regarding the guild tax, each guild could set their own rates, but most domains maintained the standard 5%.

In the early days, some guilds tried lowering their tax rates to increase usage of their exchanges, but they were mercilessly crushed by larger guilds nearby due to reduced transaction volumes.

Because of this, it was rare to find domains attempting to lower their rates below the standard to gain competitive advantage.

“It’s a bit expensive, but nothing beats this convenience…”

Compared to private trades where sellers kept all profits, the 15% fee during transactions might seem dissatisfying.

However, finding individual buyers for private trades wasn’t easy, especially since Warode lacked return stones or city-to-city teleportation, making transactions with distant users difficult.

Sending mail with large amounts of gold would incur similar fees as the exchange, making it pointless.

Thus, nearly all users opted to use the exchange despite the taxes.

[68 units of ‘Granzeb’ have been registered.]

Eil also listed items on the exchange.

Granzeb herbs obtained while traveling through the cave.

These herbs were widely used by production-class players, often in short supply and quite valuable, so selling them through the auction house was better than to regular merchants.

Popular items like these never failed to sell, and would likely be purchased at reasonable prices during this quest.

“Category: Weapons, Keyword: Longsword, Grade: Upper and above, Level Limit: Below Level 13 and Above Level 10.”

Eil skillfully set search conditions with practiced ease.

An impressive number of item listings quickly appeared before him.

[First Step Longsword (Upper)]

[Berol Longsword (Upper)]

[Longsword with Red Decoration (Rare)]

[Pabbar Longsword (Upper)]

Eil read through the extensive list with surprising speed, despite carefully checking detailed stats for each entry.

This was unsurprising given his experience with online games, where he made considerable profits through item hoarding and auction house low-bid competitions.

Naturally, with Warode’s excellent interface, his efficiency reached near-masterful levels.

“Yes! This one!”

Eil’s scrolling suddenly stopped as his finger pointed to one particular item.

[Yphnir Longsword]

– Grade: Upper

– Type: Longsword

– Restriction: Level 13 and above

– Physical Attack Power: 15

– Strength +3, Agility +1

[You have purchased the item ‘Yphnir Longsword’.]

[41 Shillings have been deducted.]

Eil immediately paid the seller’s set instant purchase price and acquired the item.

While bidding for a lower price was possible, he didn’t have time to wait 8 hours until the deadline.

Besides, the price was reasonable and the specs were notably good for upper-grade equipment.

Of course, getting better weapons would be ideal, but rare items were prohibitively expensive despite being only one grade higher.

“This is more than satisfactory.”

With plenty of funds remaining and acquiring decent gear without much effort, Eil replaced his currently equipped weapon with the newly acquired sword upon withdrawing it from his inventory.

The thin, long-bladed longsword perfectly matched his taste, and he sheathed it with satisfaction.

From armor to accessories, weapons to secondary weapons…

Eil’s equipment now had a respectable setup.

However, just then, someone rushing from behind collided heavily with Eil who was standing still.

Both tumbled over in a messy heap, and Eil pushed the woman lying on top of him off to the side.

“What the…”

“Aaah, I’m… I’m so sorry!”

The woman, clutching her head as she got up, quickly apologized.

Then, seemingly in a hurry, she immediately stood up and rushed past him.

Most ordinary users would have either forgivingly let her go or grumbled in irritation.

But Eil was different.

Already well-versed in how Warode worked and naturally perceptive, Eil instinctively felt something was off.

Quickly checking his funds confirmed what had gone wrong.

[Current Balance – 71 Shillings 01 Kron]

“Damn thief!”

Eil immediately took off running.