Zane’s walk to the Quest Hall was filled with emotion. He saw many people shouting in joy when they saw their companions. They would run to hug their companions that were covered in blood and dirt. There were others who broke down in tears. Zane watched as someone with a sorrowful expression would approach a person with a hopeful expression and whisper a few words. Some cry out and collapse on the ground while others would run away with tears in their eyes.

These expressions of emotions weren’t new to Zane. He saw them many times when he traveled with teacher and when he was in Green Valley town. However, this was his first time he saw it happen with so many people. Eventually, Zane and the others had reached the entrance to the quest hall.

“Let’s do what we did last time,” Sophie said. “When I finished selecting a quest or two, I’ll contact everyone so we can meet up. We already received the rewards for the bear den quest and I’m not sure if there is a quest available for their corpses.”

“Hold on,” Sam said. “How will you contact us?”

Zane knew that Sophie would contact them mentally because they were all in the same party. However, he forgot that Sam and her friends weren’t apart of their party. Judging by the confused expression on Sophie’s face he could tell she also forgot. She only remained confused for a few seconds before taking action. When Zane saw Sam, Brad and Frank’s expressions change he correctly guessed the Sophie invited them into the party. All it took was a quick check of his system windows to prove that he was right.

“Ha-ha I was right,” Brad said. “I told you guys there had to be a party system in this world.”

“There really was a party system,” Sam said. “Then how come we weren’t able to form a party?”

Sophie explained how they were able to form a party. They did a comparison of the different methods both groups used and found that the number of people involved in forming a party was the key factor. They concluded that it would require more than half of the total amount of members allowed in a party for a group to unlock the skill.

After the quick discussion about the creation of parties the group of twelve entered the Quest Hall. When Zane entered the building, he saw a lot of people but far less than he expected. He quickly realized that it was because most people were outside talking to or looking for their friends. Zane gave the others a nod before heading to the next floor.

The next floor had less than twenty people on it and the majority of them were elves. Zane directly went to a quest pillar and started looking through the general quests. He was able to find several quests for the mana creatures he had killed in the night. After selecting his fist quest Zane was surprised to still see it as an option on the quest pillar.

Quest: Wolf Hunt

Description: Hunt down and bring back the corpse of one or more wolves.

Caution: Mana creatures are more powerful at night.

Quest Objectives: Bring back wolf corpse(s)

Quest Rewards: 10 exp and 10 village points per level of each wolf

Quest Failure: Failure to bring back a wolf

Quest Failure Penalty: None

Zane tried to select the quest again, but nothing happened. He gave it some thought and decided to look for the bear den quest. He didn’t find it and made the assumption that it wasn’t able to be completed again but the wolf hunt quest was.

Once Zane was done accepting the quests for the mana creatures he killed, he looked at the quests for gathering materials. Other than the mana stones in the bear den he didn’t see any resources. Zane hoped that after he accepted the quest the system would help him locate the materials at night. Also, he hoped that there would be powerful mana creatures guarding those materials. When Zane was finished, he walked to an available desk by the wall.

“Good morning. Is this your first time submitting a quest?” A dark skinned, blond hair woman, wearing a green dress spoke to Zane.

“Yes, it is,” Zane said.

“Then I am required to inform you that you have the ability to sell your quest items instead of handing them in for a quest reward.”

Zane was surprised to hear the woman tell him this. “Why would I do that? The whole point of accepting and completing a quest is to receive the reward.”

“Of course, but you shouldn’t forget about the market. The market exists to sell and buy items. You might lose the experience reward by selling your items at the market, but you will receive a lot more village points. You can decide what will be best for you. Now, do you have any more questions or would you like to hand in a quest?”

Zane’s eyes lit up when he heard her mention the chance to obtain more village points. He didn’t feel like he needed the experience points. He always knew that he would reach tier one quickly, but he never expected that he would almost be halfway to tier one on the first day he chose his class. Zane said goodbye to the woman and walked away. After leaving he thought he should tell the others, but Sophie beat him to it.

“You’ll never guess what I just found out.” Sophie said.

“I think I have a good idea.” Zane replied.

Sophie and Zane quickly shared what they had learned to the rest of the group. Brad and his friends were hesitant about giving up the quest but everyone else was willing to sell at the market. Sophie tried to explain to them why they made their decision, but it had little effect. In the end Brad and his friends decided to get the experience from handing in the quest. While they did that Sophie looked at the group quest on the second floor and Zane looked at the warrior quest on the first floor. When Brad and his friends were done everyone went to the market.

Before they went to the merchant Sophie said that she would be in charge of speaking and everyone, but Brad’s group agreed. Brad and his friends didn’t understand why they weren’t allowed to speak. When Sophie explained that merchants were able to use mental skills to influence people, they were shocked.

“That’s not right,” Brad said. “They shouldn’t be able to influence the thoughts of others. Doesn’t anyone try to stop them? Doesn’t anybody complain?”

Sophie hastily answered him when she saw he was getting agitated. “Merchants can only make you want to spend your money. If you don’t want to purchase anything then they can’t force you physically or mentally. There are some merchants that have the ability to force you to buy items, but they usually aren’t allowed in most territories.”

Hearing Sophies explanation helped Brad to calm down. Realizing he almost lost control again caused his face to turn red. Zane reflected on his own experience with merchants after hearing what Sophie said. When he was with Teacher Isabelle he would watch as she paid whatever price the merchants told her but sometimes, she would attack the merchant. Zane was shocked the first time it happened and asked why she did that. She simply told him that the merchant was an idiot.

“Brothers! Sisters! It’s good to see you again.” Merchant Forty-Two said. “I see you have brought some new friends to meet me.”

When they arrived at Merchant Forty two’s stall, he gave them a warm greeting. The merchant seemed even more friendly than last time. He probably assumed that Zane and the others would probably purchase some items from him.

“Hello again,” Sophie said. “Before we look at what you have to offer us, we have some things we would like to sell.”

The merchant agreed to buy their items with a smile on his face. When Sophie reached for hear space bag the merchant waves his hand and Sophie paused. Next, she reached up and started to tap the air. Zane realized that the merchant must have activated an ability that let her sell to him without taking anything out of the storage bag.

Zane mentioned to the merchant that he also had things to sell and the merchant waved his hand. A window which contained a list of item names appeared in front of Zane. The list had his food, weapons, corpses, ropes, potions, and everything else he had in his inventory. Zane was a bit worried when he saw all of his items were exposed but he quickly relaxed. If his items could be exposed from interacting with a merchant, then Teacher would have warned him.

Zane reached his hand up to select and item but stopped when he was halfway there. He tried mentally selecting an item with his mind and was pleased to see that it worked. The moment Zane mentally selected an item he felt information surge into his mind that let him instinctively knew what he had to do. He selected all the corpses and thought about the merchant’s inventory.

The window in front of Zane changed. He saw two smaller windows containing two list of items. One was the merchant’s items and the other was his own items. He selected an item on the merchants list and the list disappeared while the window showed the item he selected. He willed the item away and the list reappeared.

Pleased with how easy it was to access the merchant’s wares Zane started to browse. While he was browsing Zane wondered why the merchant didn’t use this option when he met them the first time. After some thought Zane realized it was because he wanted to increase their desire toward his items by displaying it for them.

With that thought Zane decided that he should stop looking and sell his items. The moment Zane mentally confirmed he wanted to sell his items he saw a number appear next to each item and more information appeared in his head. Each corpse was worth fifty village points per level and the price would vary depending on the condition of the corpse. Zane gave another mental confirmation to sell his items and he saw the list and the small window disappear. The only window left was the one with the merchant’s wares and he quickly dismissed it.

“Now that your done selling, is there anything that you would like to buy?” the merchant asked.

“Why did the price of the potions increase?” Brad asked.

“The price of many things in the village have gone up. I’m not trying to cheat you by charging a higher price. You can look at what the other merchants are offering if you still have doubts. I will say that potions are important and if you have a lot, having more definitely won’t be a bad thing.”

The merchant moved to Sophie while Brad was thinking “I see that you brought me the corpse of a dire bear. You probably obtained the hidden reward, right? You should definitely buy some items and take advantage of it.”

“Do you know if the prices of items will increase tomorrow?” Sophie asked

“I can’t guarantee anything, but it is highly unlikely.”

“Then I won’t be purchasing anything,” Sophie said “Do you guys want to purchase anything? If you feel like an item would be useful to you then I won’t stop you.” Zane and the other shook their heads.

Seeing this the merchant was alarmed. “Don’t be so hasty,” the merchant hastily said. “I definitely have some items that can catch your eye.”

The merchant began taking out item, but Zane and the others weren’t interested. Zane had seen some of the items when he was looking at the system windows. The items could be useful, but he didn’t need them now. The merchant showed skill books, but Zane had plenty of skills. The merchant showed weapons, but Zane’s current weapons worked well for him.

The merchant’s actions did cause Brad and his friends’ eyes to light up. However, Sophie quickly woke them up. She asked if there was anything they needed right now.

“Well, we did use some of our potions getting some more wouldn’t be bad,” Sam said.

“How many do you have?” Sophie asked.

“One health, one stamina and three mana.”

After hearing such a low amount Sophie eagerly encouraged them to buy some more. The merchant joined and helped Sophie with a few words of his own. Brad and his friends only had a little bit of money after turning in their quest. Sophie felt they didn’t buy enough potions and was considering loaning them some, but they declined. They felt that they had already received a lot from their group and weren’t willing to be a burden. The merchant tried to convince Sophie to buy some potions for them so they could increase the chances of their survival in the forest, but she resolutely walked away.