"What is it?" Peter received a call from Eric on his way back to the city. "I managed to get a workshop license for us. I also registered it under the name Blak Flame. We can now purchase up to 50 game cabins." Eric said. "Ok, that's good news." "We also have a problem", Eric's tone changed slightly.

"What is it?" "We have been losing money due to the unstable exchange rates. So, we need to start recruiting properly soon. I made a contract. If you approve, we can start recruitment to the workshop right away." "Sent the overview over. I will go through it as soon as I see it. Don't be too strict with the terms. I don't want people to leave." "I will see what I can do."

Port Blair was getting more crowded as the majority of players slowly caught up to the high levels. After the massive investments that flooded into the game from major studios, most guilds now owned at least one building in the city. If not for the nobility and restrictions there was a higher chance that all the real estate would have been taken away by the whales.

Thankfully, the City Lords placed heavy restrictions on land purchases and without high fame, it was impossible to own considerable land in major cities. Port Blair is the most important city in the country after the imperial capital due to its sea trade routes.

Peter walked into the mage tower to meet Mr Hall. He was sorting through paperwork as usual. He raised his head when he saw Peter walking in.

"Killed the salamanders? Looks like your fire affinity rose high as well", said Hall.

"Yes, I got lucky."

"Well, I heard everything from Samuel. He is one of the overseers. I know why you are here. So, would you like to take over the mine? It can give you a steady flow of crystals. We tax 30% but you should be able to make a huge profit even after that."

"Thank you", Peter thanked him as he received the crystal mine deed.

"You will have to hire guards for the mine and see to the transportation. Make sure to use water mages as well. Salamanders often cave into that mine to lay eggs. Hiring permanent personnel will lower the operation cost a lot. Better to be safe than sorry."

Peter thanked the man and left out immediately. He went to the city office and started working on hiring. The mine generated a large quantity of different ores. The fire crystals were relatively low as it took years of mana accumulation of form one. Although just one crystal could sell for 10,000 gold. It was not a steady source of income. Peter asked Eric to check out if it was feasible and Eric approved. Eric also decided to come over to Port Blair and help out.

Leaving the rest of the work to Eric peter went looking for a good spot to buy. Peter had the coin to buy properties and had decided to open a shop in the city long before. Since most of his weapons were sold directly to guilds, he felt opening a shop would make it easy to sell the cheaper stuff. Besides, it would be better to sell the guilds products in one place. So, soon a new shop stood on the main street of Port Blair with Black Flame as its name.

Peter placed two NPCs as workers and then left. Eric was on his way over.

"Sicily, where are you now?" Peter called her.

"We are killing a few creatures in the eastern forest. Why?"

"I finished a dungeon and received a few good items. Was wondering if you would need them?"

"Can it wait, we are levelling now."

"Will you be coming to port Blair soon?"

"Yeah, we need to pick up a few potions. There are none in the town. We will be coming over in two hours."

"I will keep the items in the store then. When you come over just ask the girls inside."

"What store?"

"The new one we opened. It's on the main street. Can't miss it. Called Black Flame."

"Ok, see you later."

Peter went to the nearest shop and asked the shopkeeper, "Hi, is there any alchemy guild here?"

"There is one branch, but it doesn't have any alchemists. It exists mostly to support trade in the region." After a short pause, the NPC said, "Only the capitals have a working alchemist guild."

"Thank you. So, how do I buy potions?" Peter asked.

"There is an outlet next to the auction house. You can always get the potions there." The helpful NPC said with a smile. Peter thanked the lady and went towards the alchemy shop to check out their wares.

There was a large crowd outside waiting for their time to enter. Peter, who was a noble was allowed in, skipping the queue which made a few people grumpy.

Alchemy shop was run by the guild and they had all of the regular potions for sale. Peter went through the display and noticed that all of them were of normal quality.

"Excuse me, can I get one of a higher quality?" Asked peter to the male NPC selling the potions.

"Sorry sir, we only have the products displayed here. The higher quality products are all sold only at the capital." The guy responded honestly.

Small healing potion(1)

200g

Minor agility boost potion(1)

500g

Minor strength boost potion(1)

800g

'These potions sure are expensive. Can't believe I sold them so cheap before.' Peter went through the rest as a lot more higher-cost potions came into view.

Lesser mana regeneration potion(1)

2000g

Lesser health regeneration potion(1)

2500g

Lesser health recovery potion(1)

4000g

Lesser mana recovery potion(1)

5000g

'Regeneration and recovery potions? I should try and make a few of them. Maybe Alder has the recipes.' After getting the general idea of the price Peter went out of the store. 'I should be able to craft potions at higher quality easy. I should sell them in bulk. That should be able to net me some good profits.'

The alchemy store had a strict one potion per head rule that cannot be broken. Peter could make the potions with ease but the quantity that Peter could make was considerably lower. 'Maybe I should only sell it to the girls. I can sell the higher quality potions through auctions.'

Peter daydreamed as he walked across the street to this own shop. He had already given the few armours and weapons that he had to the NPC girls. To him buying a few shops was cheap. He soon left the city aiming for Hedgesnow using another horse from the stables.

"Lady Alder wishes to see you." Peter was taken to the Alder's office as soon as he entered by the guards. Hedgesnow kept growing busy with each days passing. There were almost no shops available to purchase as most were already bought by larger guilds.

Alder was in her office as usual but restless. When Peter entered, she was pacing around. "You are here. Where were you gone?" Alder was frantic. "I just went to the port. Needed to meet Jester Hall for a fire crystal." "You could have just bought it from the mage tower. I explicitly wrote to him to give you one." "He asked me to clear a mine." "I should have told you." Adler had calmed down after seeing Peter.

"I called you in because there will be an official competition for alchemists in the capital soon. If you succeed you will receive an alchemy master rank and a trade license for potions. I want you to take it." Alder gave Peter the notice and looked at him expectantly. "I will try my best."

"You should make a recipe on your own first. It's down in two months so you should have plenty of time to prepare." While Alder was about to send him off, Peter asked, "What do you mean to receive a trade license?" "You can't trade alchemy products in the shops unless you are approved by the alchemy guild. Only a master alchemist can sell their products without any restrictions. It's a way for the guild to control the local markets." "Ok, thanks."

'A Tier 3 alchemist?' Reaching Tier 3 meant reaching level 30. Peter who was only level 12 in alchemy knew how difficult it would be. 'Still, two months should be enough.' According to Alder, he had to make a unique recipe and impress the guild to get a master alchemist license. From what he saw on the official websites, a master crafter can take in apprentices. Peter was looking forward to it.

"Also, do you know where I can get a wind crystal?", he asked Alder one last time. "Wind crystal? I think you could get one near Eldercreek. It's a border village between our town and the elven country. Try and see if you can buy one from the elders there. It shouldn't cost you more than 30,000 gold." Peter said goodbye and went out.

'Isn't that Vayazi's place?'

He went through the warehouse and saw it nearly half-filled with herbs. There were a few bundles of rare herbs in the midst. After sorting out the place he registered the bear hide armour blueprint as a guild recipe and asked the smiths to try and make a few. The guild became excited and soon a lot of smiths started working on it.

Peter left towards Eldercreek after leaving Eric with a few menial tasks. According to Alder, only seasoned travellers used this path due to the high levelled monsters. Peter was confident enough to kill anything that was level 60 and below thanks to his tier 3 spells.

The snow wolves and mountain goats died instantly to his fireballs. As he travelled further up, he noticed ore deposits that were most likely mithril. The snow too got thick and walking became a bit difficult outside the trails. Soon, Peter encountered his second open-world BOSS class enemy.

Snow Wolf King BOSS LVL 50

HP: 200,000

AP: 20,000

DEF:10,000

The beast tends to attack anyone who walks too close to its domain.

'200000 health? Isn't that too low?' Peter thought to himself as he started attacking the wolf with a fire blast.

-34689

A high damage value rose above the snow wolf's head.

'Still lower compared to the landslide.' Peter switched attacks and used landslide.

-20739

'Looks like it has some resistance.' Peter went back to hitting the wolf with Fire Blast and Landslide keeping the wolf stuck in place. The few attacks killed the wolf.

You killed a Black bear BOSS. You gained 5000 experience, Boss Wolf pelt, Fangs, Strong Blood vail.

You received Snow crystal.

You received Snow Pelt Armour

You received Frost Fang Arrows Blueprint

Snow Crystal(R)

Used by ice and water mages to strengthen their mana. Can be traded at mage guilds.

Value: 40000 gold or 4 mana crystal shards.

You received a compatible mana crystal. Would you like to absorb it?

"Yes."

You have attuned with a snow crystal. Water affinity reached 25%.

You consumed snow crystal. Ice skill tree unlocked. Ice affinity unlocked.

Ice affinity reached 15%.

Ice spell book unlocked. You received the spell Snow Ball.

Snowball

Cause damage to a targetted enemy.

Tier: 2

Rarity: Uncommon

Damage: 2*ice damage*mana cost

Range: Short

Mana cost: 100

'What about that other crystal?' Peter took out the beast crystal from the inventory and looked through its details.

'Nothing? It must not be compatible.' He kept it back in his inventory along with the rest of the items.

'Arrows?' He went through the blueprint to see a new avenue open before him. 'This is perfect for hunters.'

Frost Fang Arrows Blueprint(R)

Difficulty: A

Fangs, ice crystal shard, arrow shaft

Peter had already received countless ice crystal shards from the snow wolf's roaming around. Arrow shafts can be made by anyone in his guild. Peter decided to add the blueprint to the black flame database immediately. 'So can I make other magic arrows too if I have the crystal shards?' Peter decided to try it out once he returns to Hedgesnow.

*****

Profile

Name: Peter

Race: illicote(L)

Title: Creative Artisan II(R), Knight

LVL: 33

Gold: 1.9M

Credit: 21.4M

Available points: 36

STR: 672

VIT: 200

AGI: 50 (max: 50)

INT: 310

AP: 6720

HP: 2000

SPD: 100

MANA: 31000

DEF: 5920 90%

Weapon damage: 510

Sword mage(L): T2 L11 (16,500/16,500)locked

Elemental mage(U): T2 L23 (42276/46000)

Blacksmith: T2 L21 (22050/31,500)

Alchemist: T2 L12 (5560/6000)

Herbalist: T1 L13(1060/6500)

Miner: T1 L10

World fame: 170

Blacksmith fame: 1050

Swordsman fame: 10

Elemental affinity

Fire: 35%

Water: 25%

Earth: 20%

Air: 1%

Ice: 15%

Mana manipulation: 2.3%

Magic damage base values

Fire damage: 115.63

Earth damage: 69.13

Water damage: 84.63

Air damage: 10.23

Ice damage: 53.63