Chapter 45 Acquired

Lange Street, Old Jack's Sundry Shop.

Although this young man had been introduced by someone else, Old Jack remained highly vigilant.

Despite it being their first meeting, the young man standing before him gave Old Jack a rather peculiar feeling.

While the attire of the youth named Rize was quite ordinary, Old Jack could perceive a faint halo of magical elements swirling around him, indicating that he was a rare and uncommon mage.

Yet, looking at the calluses on specific parts of his hands, he appeared just as accustomed to wielding longswords and other heavy weapons.

Strange!

Moreover, one had to remember that the customers of this shop were usually members of underground gangs and criminal syndicates. Yet, not the slightest hint of a bloody or fierce aura could be sensed from this handsome young man.

Especially... the guard standing behind him.

A Gold-tier warrior? It seemed not only was his personal strength formidable, but his background was also extraordinary!

Countless thoughts raced through Old Jack's mind in an instant, though he did not voice any demand for Rize and his companion to leave.

Able to run a shop in such a chaotic and lawless place as Lange Street and maintain it for so long, Old Jack naturally possessed the strength and confidence to protect himself.

Even if this was a rare Gold-tier warrior, within the cramped confines of this room where physical maneuvers were restricted, he could deliver a fatal blow if he caught them off guard.

Welf was completely unaware that the old man before him was harboring malicious thoughts as he sized him up. He simply followed behind Rize, observing the various items packed densely around the room.

Piled casually on the floor were all sorts of equipment—longswords, armor, iron spears, and more. The weapons were stained with darkened, dried blood, testifying that the origins of these items were far from simple.

Hanging on the right wall were materials harvested from various magical beasts: the white pelt of a snow wolf, the sharp claws of a great earth bear, the single horn of a rock-splitting rhinoceros, and Welf even spotted what appeared to be dragonhide material from a wyvern. Aside from these, there were many other magical beast materials that Welf did not recognize, though none of them looked cheap.

No wonder the young master wanted to come here; this shop certainly seemed to have hidden depths! Ah!

Rize paid no mind to Welf's curiosity. He had been just as astonished during his first visit. Unfortunately, his pockets had been too empty to afford anything, leaving him to merely look on and drool.

This time, however, he was not here to purchase equipment or weapons. The Emerald Mage Set he was currently wearing was already more than sufficient for his needs as a Gold-tier gear set. His actual target today was a secret treasure collected by Old Jack.

Of course, for now, this treasure was still nothing more than an ordinary brooch.

Old Jack walked over to a wide-backed chair against the wall, sat down, and said ungraciously:

"Since someone introduced you, you naturally know the rules. Take whatever catches your eye, and no bargaining!"

***

Rize did not mind. Old Jack's attitude was much better than before, likely showing him a bit of courtesy because Welf was tagging along behind him.

One had to know that in his past life, there were players who couldn't stand Old Jack's venomous tongue and impulsively attacked him, only to lose their lives on the spot—which was how everyone found out that Old Jack was actually a Gold-tier Shadow Assassin.

"Welf, see if there's anything you like. I'll look around myself first."

Rize instructed Welf before casually rummaging through a pile of miscellaneous items nearby.

That was a heap of chaotic debris piled in the corner of the room. Old Jack couldn't recognize many of the bizarre objects, so he simply tossed them there for people to pick through at will.

One hundred gold coins per item, just like a lottery; whatever you got depended entirely on your discernment and luck.

"A magic ring? ...Just an ordinary piece of stone."

Rize tossed a faintly glowing ring aside. A fake, and a poorly crafted one at that.

"Is this an aphrodisiac or a vitality potion?"

Rize picked up an ambiguously pink crystal potion vial, half-filled with an unknown liquid.

After searching for a long time, Rize finally located his target.

A dark gray brooch shaped like a four-leaf clover.

This was it, identical to the picture posted online in his previous life.

Rize picked up the brooch, and after a moment's thought, he also grabbed the vial containing the aphrodisiac.

Sometimes, this stuff was far more useful than poison.

"I'll take these two. Two hundred gold coins."

Rize placed a pouch containing two hundred gold coins onto the table in front of Old Jack.

Old Jack glanced at it, then tossed the heavy pouch directly into the cabinet behind him.

As for what Rize had taken from his shop, Old Jack didn't care. If you picked out something good, it meant your eyes were sharp; if you picked up junk, you had no one else to blame.

These were all smuggled loot fenced for quick cash anyway, and they had cost next to nothing to acquire!

Perhaps the consumption of two hundred gold coins had exerted a tiny bit of influence, as Old Jack's attitude softened ever so slightly.

"Need anything else? I can get my hands on quite a few good things here."

Rize shook his head. Aside from this brooch, nothing else here held any real attraction for him.

Perhaps later, when he began his research into magic runes, he would come back here to acquire some rare magical beast materials.

So that must be why Old Jack occasionally closed his shop—to go elsewhere to source new goods.

Just as Rize was about to leave, the wooden door was gently pushed open, and a soft, sweet voice drifted in:

"Uncle Jack, I'm here. I brought you something delicious."

Ashley walked in carrying a basket, and suddenly noticed two unfamiliar men standing in the room alongside Uncle Jack.

Wait, hasn't she seen this handsome older brother somewhere before?

Ashley felt a bit curious, but being naturally shy, she immediately lowered her head and walked straight to Old Jack's side. She placed the basket containing bread and vegetable soup on the table, then hid behind Old Jack's wide-backed chair, secretly peeking at the somewhat familiar-looking Rize.

Isn't this the little easter egg? As expected, she's still just as adorable.

A dozen years later, during a side quest involving the assassination of kingdom nobility, players eventually discovered that the culprit was a stunning, hot-bodied female assassin who favored form-fitting leather armor. In subsequent main-quest storylines, this female assassin appeared multiple times, though no one ever knew her origins.

However, the dedication of the horny players knew no bounds; the true identity of the female assassin was eventually uncovered by the community as the little girl who could occasionally be seen at Old Jack's shop in Radiant City during the early stages of the game.

That incident had caused a massive sensation on the player forums for quite some time. Rize remembered very clearly how someone had placed a screenshot of young Ashley side-by-side with a later photo of the dashing female assassin, making all the gentlemen exclaim that one must look at each other with entirely new eyes after three days apart.

As a character with immensely high popularity among players, thanks to the easter-egg plotline where one could encounter young Ashley at Old Jack's place, she was affectionately dubbed the "Little Easter Egg" by the players.

At this moment, however, the Little Easter Egg showed no signs of having embarked on a class path yet. Old Jack probably hadn't formally taken her on as an apprentice.

"Hello, little miss. Judging by your voice, you were the one who warned me from behind the window last time, right? Thank you very much."

Rize smiled and offered a friendly expression of gratitude toward Ashley. She was an important plot character, after all; getting on good terms with her early on wouldn't hurt.