Chapter 5 - Finished business and shopping. (Patreon)

The Rabbit-kin trained her eyes on her. Gaia felt quite uncomfortable by that gaze, but fortunately, the Appraiser returned quite quickly.

"Here are 100 Silver Coins." The Appraiser said, but Gaia could see his muscles bulge. Was it really that heavy?

Gaia tried to lift that bag, but it was quite light for her, around half a kilogram. 'How strange...' She blinked slowly.

'Now I have plenty of Bronze Coins, Silver Coins, and a few Gold coins too!' Gaia hummed happily.

Funds:

[Unique Dwarven Gold Coin: 1]

[Adra Gold Coin: 14], [Adra Silver Coin: 105], [Adra Bronze Coin: 364]

'With this, I should have finances covered. I can now buy things that I need. I shouldn't spend too much, but it should be enough for new clothing and weapons that I will use from now on. The rest will be saved and hidden for later when I go for the 5th thing: 'Lose' all valuables.' Gaia nodded gently.

"Thank you for the business." Gaia smiled at them, but the Appraiser was clearly more enthusiastic than she was.

"Nonono, thank you so much for doing business with us. Please, do come again." He smiled sincerely at her.

They left the room together, and Gaia walked outside. Once again, she had many eyes on her, but she couldn't care less since it was shopping time~!

...

The Clothing Shop was very small and not very cosy. It had mould here and there, as it was completely made out of wood.

'The only issue I have is the fact that this place is too small, so their clothing and everything is limited. Moreover, there is only one shop of each kind, so the prices are quite higher than what I would like.' Gaia clicked her tongue. Monopolies were the worst...

'The materials also leave a lot to desire. It's very rough and doesn't stretch, so the shirts are either too big or too small. Curse these puppies!' Gaia groaned. She missed flexible clothing...

"Thank you for your patronage." The shopkeeper said. He was rubbing his hands as she was leaving his shop.

'I had to spend 1 Gold Coin for everything I needed, which was a lot of money. Depending on the commoner, they can earn around 1 Gold Coin per year. It differs per location and occupation, but that is mostly the case.' Gaia felt like she made a nice buck.

'Adra is not at war yet, so their currency is somewhat stable.' Gaia nodded. She had quite some time before that changed, so it was important to finish all her business in this country before leaving.

'But it still breaks my heart to spend so much on it, and they are not even enchanted!' Gaia cried inside her mind. Those shops were so damn expensive! 'No matter. I needed those clothes, and that's it.' She tried to comfort herself.

...

The next stop was the Weapons Shop. The shop was again too small for her business, but it still should have some good things that she could use.

'My aim is a bow and a lot of arrows. I have never trained with a bow, but it's the best thing you can use with a [Thief] as it also applies the {Hidden Damage} bonus.' Gaia nodded gently.

'Moreover, if you combine it with {Vital Hit}, it will turn into a devastating blow for a very cheap price.' She smirked.

'The bows in here are very few... Moreover, I can not yet look over their modifications, but that should be all right. This bow will be used for training and then for abandonment inside the dungeon.' She nodded, agreeing with her plan.

'Which reminds me... I still have to check the dungeon and assess the first floor. If the first floor is filled with Goblins that are less than 3 per location, then it would be much better than the Forest.' Gaia paused, thinking about it.

Why do they have to be less than 3? It was very simple.

While Goblins were not strong individually, with numbers, they were a troublesome bunch. They can throw rocks and wield weapons, as they are {Humanoid} creatures. Moreover, those rocks can apply a brief stun if you are not careful.

With more Goblins around, you might guess what would happen... Yep, permastun obtained.

'If it's under 3 Goblins, the stun they apply would not be looped, and I would still have a chance to escape.' Gaia nodded to herself.

Goblins were small and stupid. They also don't have as good stamina as humans.

And with that, it's the safest way to obtain the {Criminal} Class, but why is that important in the beginning?

[Thief] has the nice skill of 'being able to pick locks', and since dungeons have Treasure Chests... you might see where this is going, but the only Classes that can pick locks are thief and locksmith variants. There are some other unique Classes, but as the tag would suggest, it was very difficult to get them.

'Well, there are more, but these are the easiest to obtain.' Gaia chuckled.

'My {Existence Level} is also very low, which means that Goblins would have a harder time spotting me.' Gaia smirked again. This plan would only work if you had under 3 {Existence Level}.

'With that, I can get more money and thus lead a safer life.' Gaia was satisfied with this, since she already knew most of the plot that would happen on this continent.

...

'I will buy this simple boy and 50 arrows-' Gaia shopped inside the shop after she thought about it.

"That will be 20 Silver coins and 10 Bronze coins per arrow." The shopkeeper smiled, but Gaia almost coughed up blood. Those prices were outrageous! "You can also have a high-quality quiver for 5 Silver Coins!"

Gaia still handed 30 Silver Coins to him. Her pockets were a lot lighter, but fortunately she still had those Gold Coins that she could exchange.

'Next up would be the town's healer. Why am I not going for the armourer? Because if normal clothing is that expensive, I would have to cough up a lot of Gold Coins, which might endanger my life in the future, so it's better to be frugal with my spending for now.' Gaia believed that she nailed the early game. She played the game for a few decades, after all.

'Healer also can sell me salves that can heal my fingers from the training and teach me {First Aid}, but that's for later.' Gaia's eyes shined. She would be able to learn special skills once she obtained certain Classes.

'I just need salve and a few bandages of higher-quality, so that they are a bit softer and can wrap around my fingers easier.' Gaia made up her mind not to choose the cheapest stuff, since she needed it for more delicate work.

The Healer Shop was even smaller than the previous ones. You would think that this place was a normal house if it didn't have that very obvious hanging sign with Herbs plastered on it.

Knock Knock

"Come in." A youthful voice greeted her.

The outside looked quite homely, and the inside was even more cosy. Gaia liked this place a lot.

"May I have some healing salve and a few not-so-low-quality bandages?" Gaia asked the young girl with brown hair and freckles.

"Sure, what do you need it for?" The young girl asked curiously.

"I will be training in [Archery], so I can go into the Dungeon." Which was a lie. She would only briefly practise, so that she could hit her targets. 'But I won't take that much time with it, so I can finish my current plans as soon as possible.' Gaia needed that [Jack of All Trades].

You also needed a low enough {Existence Level}, so that you didn't pass Level 33. Once you passed that, it would be impossible to get [Jack of All Trades]

'Then I can dedicate as much time to training as possible, as I will actually be able to earn EXP from it!' Gaia smirked happily.

"Okay, I'm guessing that you want shorter, thinner bandages for fingers?" The young girl asked cheerfully.

"That would be the case." Gaia smiled gently. 'It's been a while since I had a normal conversation where nobody scolded me. My previous slave work life was god awful...'

"Here you go. That will be 10 Bronze Coins." The young girl smiled.

"Isn't that a bit too cheap?!" Gaia couldn't help but blurt out.

"You are our Hero who raids the dungeon, so that there is no overflow!" The young girl smiled from ear to ear. She might've guessed her occupation by the shabby clothing and a worn-out dagger with a bow on Gaia's back.

"But what if I'm just a hunter?" Gaia smiled teasingly.

"There is no way! Your presence is too thin, and you are too chubby for that!" The young girl stabbed her twice in succession.

'Gosh, that was quite painful, but I can understand why. My fingers are quite chubby, and since this is a fantasy world without conveniences, most people would be either well-fit or completely ripped. My body condition would fit into the category of a 'noble', without actually being one.' Gaia groaned, but she was not unhappy with her body. She would be able to starve for longer before needing more food, which was essential in the beginning.

Gaia handed over 20 Bronze Coins. That was around the usual price, and the young girl pouted at her. Fortunately, the girl didn't say anything more and Gaia was able to leave this place without suffering more mental injuries.

...

'The bag that I'm using is perfect for this occasion, since it looks like it will rip any time now. It would last for this plan, and I will later buy a new one.' Gaia inspected her very poor bag.

'It took me a whole day to shop, since those shops are quite far apart. There is no such thing as tall flats that could house many people. Most would have a single-story home in the countryside, since space was not an issue.' Gaia liked the conveniences of the new age, but with the quietness of the old age.

'The most common lifespan was around 35 years. So naturally, the common adult age was around 12-14. Yup, very disgusting, but with only around 35-40 years of life, that's already past the 33% mark. If you waited for 18-21, that would already be around 60%. That means you could barely find someone to make children with and take care of them...' Gaia groaned. Her current lifespan was a problem, but that would have to be solved later on.

'I'm currently 17, but I need to find Herbs or things that can extend my lifespan-' Gaia paused when she saw the system.

Age: 17|32 (125)

'Interesting... I didn't think that the system could show this, but this means I'm already halfway there to my death's doors. That's not very reassuring...' Gaia groaned.

...

Gaia picked a medium-sized Inn. It should have been of better quality since it was located more inside the Village(?), but she couldn't hope for much. This world was made up of Kingdoms, and she ended up with one of the poor ones.

Walking inside, it felt a lot better than the previous inn. It was a cosy inn, which had the first floor made out of bricks. The second floor looked like a mixture of wood and bricks.

"Welcome to my humble inn." The Innkeeper smiled at her. 'She looks nice, we might be able to do something with her.'

"You must be joking. This is a cosy place." Gaia smiled at him, and he laughed happily. 'This place is really nice~!'

"Come inside. Most have already left for the dungeon." The Innkeeper smiled.

"How much?" Gaia asked him the price.

"80 Bronze Coins per night for such a pretty lady." He chuckled. "I'm Lewi, by the way."

"Gaia." Gaia placed 1 Silver Coin on his counter. "What can you tell me about the dungeon?"

"Hmmmm..." He wiped a few glasses. "The first floor has a lot of traps, there are apparently only either single Goblin or squads of 2."

"The second-floor houses slimes, the corrosive ones, and a lot of breeding traps."

"The third floor has some strange small lizards with weapons. There are no traps, but there are squads of at least 3 and at most 6."

He shared his information with her and rearranged his glasses. Inns in this Kingdom have both inns and restaurants in one place. So it was easy to dine and sleep, while also sharing information...