Chapter 11 Strange Old Man
With his newly acquired funds, Jack got up and exited the now empty association building. He used the system to scan the bag and found that it contained twenty-four silver coins and eleven gold coins.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that they barely deserved to be called coins. They were loosely cut and had no image on either side. Regardless, Jack made his way to the town square in the city's center in search of a place to spend the little wealth he had.
After around five minutes of walking, he could see numerous small tents and stands scattered across what looked like a large medieval rock garden. Jack hurriedly entered the sea of people perusing the many wares presented.
He soon discovered that all similar products and services were bunched together. Apparel and accessories were to the north, trinkets and magical items were to the east, beasts and any beast related items were to the west, and weapons were to the south.
Thanks to Zariff, his weapon was already very good for a lv. 1 and Jack knew he wouldn't be lv. 1 for long, so he didn't bother with the many weapon stands. The east was where his attention went.
Jack took a lap around the many shops while fiddling with the stat gem in his hand. While on his second lap, a hoarse voice called out to him, "Boy, need me to embed that gem into something?"
Looking back Jack saw an older man with tattered facial hair at a small stand. Thanks to his years of experience playing the game, Jack did well to spot most of the fake items and scams during his first lap.
The old man didn't have too many items available, but they were all decent quality. He started to walk over when a young merchant in extravagant clothes from the neighboring canopy yelled, "Don't listen to that old coot! Something that simple, I can do free of charge with any purchase. Come, I'm sure you won't be disappointed."
Jack was about to smile when he got a good look at what the young merchant offered. Most of the items were mediocre and some were fakes in front of Jack's well-trained eyes and the achievement system's detailed scans. But he perused anyways, acting interested in the few decent items available. "How much for this pendant?" asked Jack.
Before the young merchant could answer, the old man chimed in, "If that's the kind of stuff you're looking for, then you shouldn't browse my wares."
This caught Jack's attention and got him to respond before the young merchant could offer a rebuttal. "Oh? And why's that? From what I see, your selection is very small. Everything you have is very adequate, but nothing too over the top that's worth my time."
"Then why not come over and get a closer look, that way you can inspect my more valuable wares without other's competition," said the old man with a grin full of dark, unruly teeth.
Hearing that Jack knew the old man was an adept salesman, but that also meant he might have some items not typically found on the market. Immediately, Jack put down the pendant in his hand and marched to the old man.
"Sir, please! I've got much more in the back, I'll cut you a deal," begged the young merchant, obviously inexperienced and not confidant enough to stand his ground against the old man's offer. It was the lack of confidence that caused Jack to leave the young man's beautiful canopy for the run-down wooden stall with a worn-out curtain hiding the stock in the back.
"What do you got for me?" asked Jack.
"The name's Zarris, and yours?" the old man introduced himself.
"The name's Jack. I'm sure you've already seen through my level with your appraisal abilities, so why target me?" stated Jack.
Zarris chuckled, "You may be lv. 1, but of the thousands of people I've worked with you're the first to have a strange class. Hero, wasn't it?"
"Looks like you're better than I thought," said Jack. "Then you should also have some wares that are, shall we 'unusual?'"
"You've come to the right place." Zarris disregarded everything he had on display and entered the back, leaving the curtain open behind him.
Jack took the hint and entered as well before closing the curtain. It was obvious to Zarris that Jack was a new adventurer, but his gut told him that Jack was far more unique. He had made it this far by following his gut feelings, for that reason he decided to befriend Jack.
Not many would notice, but Zarris could tell that Jack was carefully perusing and actively avoiding the typically attractive sales prices on display. Such a customer was unique and worth extra effort.
"So Zarris, what's so special back here?" asked Jack with a slight smile.
"As you can see, I don't boast the largest selection; in fact, I have one of the smallest collections in all town square. But I make up for it all with quality and rarity," Zarris' crooked grin became warmer. "Forget that stat gem, I'll take care of that easily. Tell me what you're really after."
Jack tossed the stat gem to Zarris and sighed. He told the truth in hopes that Zarris would offer some special benefits. "Fine. I'm a newly summoned hero who got in an argument with the king and joined the Adventurers Association instead. Currently, I'm desperate to level up faster than humanly possible, got anything that can help?"
Zarris' weary eyes showed a glimmer of light after hearing Jack's brief request. "In that case, it will be hard to find such a thing even if you search the entire town square. Lucky for you, my small collection can usually offer something fitting of strange requests. Check this out." Zarris opened one of the leather chests on the floor and threw a small, emerald green pearl.
Jack snatched it out of the air eagerly. He knew exactly what this was before even the system could notify him. Some of the earlier achievements in the game had level caps, forcing Jack to reset his level and grind it back to the top. If it weren't for these emerald-like spheres, Jack would've wasted a lot of time aimlessly farming EXP back then. "A weathered jade?"
"You're not like any lv. 1 I've ever met," Zarris' intuition on befriending Jack was confirmed correct the moment Jack named the item. Most experienced adventurers might have only heard about such an item, let alone instantly recognize it. "Consider that a gift from me to you, hero."
"Call me Jack. Normally I'm against gifts, but I'm desperate for immediate leveling. In return, how about I become an official patron?" offered Jack.
Zarris' wild grin expanded into roaring laughter. His gamble won him the lottery. It wouldn't bring him too much immediate return since Jack was only lv. 1 but having a summoned hero as a patron was well worth the weathered jade for advertisement alone. Not to mention the items that he could buy off Jack in the future. He calmed his laughter and said, "Wonderful! Then I shall also offer you a patron's discount. What else do you need, now that we've settled that?"
After a moment of thought, Jack opened up to Zarris. "Let me tell you about my unique circumstances. I'm different than offer heroes. Not only do I have a separate class, but I also have my own subclass as well. To explain it simply, I can gain almost any skill, but I must meet random and unusual demands to be able to slowly master them. I'm not a fan of general wares, I like what used to known as adaptive items. Do you know anything about those?"
"Adaptive items…" Zarris was a little startled by Jack's mention of such unique items that were uncommon centuries ago. In modern times, such things were only found in legends and possibly in ancient ruins yet to be discovered. "Sadly, in modern times such things rarely exist. Might I ask how a lv. 1 like yourself even knows about them?"
"Let's just say that before I was summoned to this era, I was already familiar with ancient Kartonia. If you ever find anything from that era, I'll be the first to buy it, got it?" said Jack with a wry smile.
"Of course! With your knowledge, you may know of some things that an old man like me may not understand. You'll be the first person I'll contact whenever I get anything of true value. Can we link contact crystals?" Zarris was ecstatic. He had hit a gold mine in his newfound partnership.
"Contact crystals?"
"You don't know of them?" said Zarris, slightly stunned as he pulled out what looked like two hexagonal diamonds as big as his palm. "These are contact crystals. They let us communicate with anyone we've linked within a certain distance. These are low tier like everyone else's. Those in the middle tier are only affordable to large guilds or factions. But these are plenty strong, as long as you don't go beyond the surrounding towns or villages, we'll be able to contact each other. Here, take one."
"Thank you," said Jack. He didn't question the usual cost because he was certain that it was above his current budget. These kind offerings from Zarris struck a chord in Jack's heart, cementing the importance of their relationship. "Is there anything else you'd recommend I get before I leave town?"
Zarris kept smiling and answered, "I think there's one more thing only you would be interested in."