Haven Online

Chapter 13: General Store*

"And so, my brother's friend stabbed the monster right in the eye and, when he pulled the sword out, the eye came out with it. Blood just kept spurting from the socket it was like a gusher ..."

"Oh, look, we're here!" Xinya excitedly yelled, trying to interrupt the boy's story.

Walking into the store, Xinya saw that it did sell an assortment of items that you wouldn't see together once you left the beginner town. There was an assortment of musical instruments, like violins, cellos, guitars, drums, pianos, and even handheld microphones. There were also score scrolls and art canvases scattered about. Going deeper into the store, Xinya also saw tailoring items, pet training kits, and something Xinya knew he had to get, an Automat kit.

An automat is a kind of vending machine, players can put their sellable items into it and leave it somewhere in town. When other players buy the items the coins will go to the owner automatically and what's nice about it, is that the owner can restock the automat from anywhere. Most people don't use them since they can only hold small-sized items, such as food, potions, knives, or shoes for example. Xinya was distracted, from looking around for a minute, by Melting Snow's loud voice as he enthusiastically gushed over the pet training materials and how cheap they were.

"Drifting Cloud look, they are selling these items at such a low price. I heard that these exact items cost around 50 silver each and I should save my money, but look, they're only 15 bronze coins here. Wait until I tell that person, he is going to be so jealous." Melting Snow said while grabbing all the items he could.

Laughing slightly, Xinya said, "I'm betting you're glad you didn't make it to level ten when your brother's friend did."

"I sure am." The boy said with gleaming eyes, holding on to his items like they were treasures.

Shaking his head at Melting Snow's silliness, Xinya went back to looking around the store. After a couple of minutes of searching, he found the cooking equipment. Everything he would ever need was there, although the quality was low as was everything in the store, it would last him until he made enough coins to buy better quality equipment.

Looking over everything, he noticed that it wouldn't all fit into his spatial inventory, he would need to get a larger one. After checking around the shop and not seeing any, he went to ask the owner.

"Excuse me, sir, can you help me?" Xinya asked the older gentleman that was standing behind the counter.

"Hello there, you young whippersnapper. What can I help you with?"

"Well, I searched your store for a spatial ring but I can't find any. Do you sell them here?" Xinya politely asked.

Scratching his chin, the old man said, "Well, I do, but we ran out of the material to make them. The young man who got it for me stopped getting it out of fear."

Quest Triggered

"How about you help an old man out and get the material I need. If you do, I'll give you an entire spatial jewelry set for your trouble." the old man said.

"I would be glad to help, what do you need me to do?" Xinya asked.

"There is a cave a little way out of town, inside the cave, there are these magical stones called Lapis. It is deep blue and glows with a magical aura, they grow on the vines that cover the cave, I need you to gather some for me. The only problem is that the Lapis is a food source for the Gem Spider. It's a fearsome creature that causes many brave men to come to their end with its poisonous fangs. I know this task sounds difficult and it is, so I will allow you to share the task with someone else. Will you do it?"

Xinya weighed the pros and cons before accepting the quest. He never heard about this quest in his past life but the old man did say the stones grow on plants and he did have the harvest skill. He thought, maybe that was the reason he had gotten the quest and he could always ask Melting Snow to help him with it. He was feeling quite glad that he saved the kid's life now.

"Yes, I will help you," Xinya said to the old man.

"Good lad, I knew you wouldn't let me down." The man said with a kind smile.

Quest has been created. The general store owner needs you to gather 20 Lapis and kill the Gem Spider at Lazuli Cave. The quest can be shared.

Reward: 20 bronze coins 1000 exp

Item: Spatial Jewelry Set

Xinya left the old man and went to find Melting Snow, who he had left ogling all the items in the store. After finding him in the junk section, Xinya walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Startled Melted Snow jumped and turned around, "Oh, it's you, are you ready to go?"

"Well I got a quest from the general store owner and it's shareable, do you want to join?" Xinya asked.

"What kind of quest is it?" the boy asked curiously.

"It's to kill a giant spider."

Wide-eyed with excitement, the boy said, "Hell, yeah, I'm in."

"That's great, let's get started when the day breaks, okay?" Xinya said with a small smile.

"Alright, but what should we do until then?"

Pondering for a bit, Xinya looked at his energy bar, "Let's go to the pond just outside of town, I need to get my feet wet."

"Your feet wet?" Melting Snow asked in confusion before he remembered a small detail about dryads. "Oh, ok, let's go."