Chapter 205 - 205. The Busy Restaurant
He was probably the first player to have a full set of rare equipment. Apart from his Ring of Luck which was Uncommon grade, all his other equipment was at least Rare grade. Both his Warrior and Mage class' combat ability had further increased again.
His mage's equipment was still lacking compared to his Warrior's ones, he might need to increase them to level 21 as well. He thought about doing it when he had the time.
He had also produced one rare longsword, one rare staff, and one rare shield from the transformation Box, but all three were not as good as his current equipped weapon and shield, so he stored them first.
This rare longsword could be sacrificed to increase his Storm Breaker level, but currently its level had reached his level's threshold. If he increased the level again, he would instead end up cannot equip the weapon, because a player couldn't equip a weapon more than ten levels higher than their own level.
After tidying up, he realized it had already passed midnight. Now that his tasks were done, his fatigue sank in. He couldn't help but climbed onto his bed and allowed his exhausted body to rest.
He woke up late the next morning. However, his new restaurant was still not open yet. It would open its business at ten in the morning, still an hour to go. He had made an appointment with Bowler and the others to meet at the restaurant, so he could take a look at the business as well.
During the wait, he went to the blacksmith workshop, and paid for rent on the room that had rare tools. Since he had a large number of iron ores, he went and upgraded each of his cloth armor equipment to level 21, increasing their defense for his Mage disguise. The total of his Unrivalled Arcaner's physical defense was now 221, while his magical defense shot up to 280.
He also increased the level of his Unyielding Kite Shield to level 21. This would increase his total defense further when he equipped the shield.
Although he had many materials to use, he needed to go back soon as it was almost the appointment time with Bowler and the others. So for the remaining time he had, he spent making a few Whetstones and level up his Red Dawn Staff to level 26, failing three times in the process. But he didn't mind, these materials were originally not his to begin with.
Red Dawn Staff, level: 26/40 (rare magic weapon)
Magical damage: 83
Range: 10 meters
Attack speed 1
Energy: 80
Intelligence +3
All spell range +2 meters
He imagined if he going up against Scarface now, he would be able to take him down in a short time even if he only used his Mage skills.
After going out from the Blacksmith Workshop, he made some time to visit the weapon and armor shops to sell the excess weapons and armors which were useless to him. Checking on the coins he received from selling, he found out the price for selling equipment was around one-fifth of the price if he bought them. The number of coins he got from selling all those excess common equipment were only 2 gold and 11 silver coins.
Looking at the coins, he realized the significance of the Transformation Box. He could use those equipment to make a few rare grade equipment, even if he could not wear heavy armor, and light armor was not effective for him, he could still sell them. He bet the famous guild would gladly pay him a hefty number of coins for one rare heavy armor or one rare light armor. At least it would be worth more than these pitiful 2 gold coins he got from selling all the common equipment. He regretted now that he had sold them all. Why so hasty?
What's done was done, he didn't dwell on it too long. There was another benefit he got from selling the equipment, his non-battle skills Haggling had leveled up to Intermediate Apprentice. He looked at the effect of this skill, it increased the price of things he sold by 1% while decreasing the cost of buying by 1%. This was an essential skill for those who want to be a merchant, Jack thought.
He was happy with the huge upgrade he had gotten. He wondered if the robbers would go back to their activity again? Maybe he could go check again. Probably he could get a jackpot again, while at the same time, performing a community service by taking out scumbags.
He hailed a carriage to go back to the restaurant afterward, it was already past the appointment time. He had already received a couple of messages from Bowler asking of his whereabouts.
Using the carriage, he arrived back at the restaurant in a short time. He went in at once. The business was truly going well. There were already so many customers on the tables despite the restaurant had just opened not long ago. Some were players, some were NPCs.
It was a nice surprise to see a rather large number of NPC customers considering this street was usually rather deserted. He looked at the NPCs that he had hired going back and forth to serve the customers, he might need to hire one or two additional workers to cope.
He peeked inside the kitchen and saw Ellie and Bill hard at work. They were so busy that they didn't notice him. Maybe he should hire an NPC cook to help out as well, although the price of a specialized worker was higher than a regular worker, at least until they could find another player with Cooking skill that was interested to join. He didn't bother the two cooks considering how busy they were. He went up the stairs.
The first and third floor was for general public use, with the third floor provided an outdoor atmosphere. One-third of the second floor was also for the general public, while the remaining two-thirds were separated into several enclosed VIP rooms. It was for customers that prefer privacy and not stingy enough to pay extra cost.
In fact, in the last two days since this restaurant started operating, several guilds had rented these VIP rooms to hold their meetings. Considering none of them had a physical base yet, these VIP room venues were rather enticing for them.
Jack had made an appointment with Bowler and the others in one of these VIP rooms. He opened the door to said room and found Bowler sitting alone inside while munching on snacks.
"Huh? Where are the others?" Jack asked.
Bowler made an attempt to swallow the mouthful of snacks, before replying, "The Man was caught up with settling some matters with his gang first, he is on his way already. He should be here any moment now. Fierce Flame was spending the night in the wild yesterday for her adventurer quest. She met some monster packs during her return. But when I last checked ten minutes ago, she had already entered the city gate. So she won't be long as well."
And here I am thinking I was late, Jack thought. He sat down beside Bowler and joined him in enjoying the snack.
"Say, bro. I didn't expect you to be able to secure a VIP room in this restaurant," Bowler said. "This restaurant just opened two days ago, but it is already a huge hit among the players. The cooks here are expert grades, their food provides nice bonuses. Almost every player will visit this place first before they go out to the wild. I've also come several times, and didn't manage to get this VIP room despite having the coins. Many guilds had already made reservations for these rooms."
Jack had a wry smile, what if he told him he was the owner of this place? But he decided to keep his ownership a secret first, he had already made enemies with several large guilds. If they found out he owned the place, they might decide to boycott it. Or worse, cause some trouble to it. He had told Ellie and Bill as well to keep his involvement in this restaurant a secret.
Jack took out the Fast Heal Gloves and passed them to Bowler. "Here, to celebrate you advancing to Healer class," he said.
Bowler inspected the gloves, before his mouth opened wide. "A… a Rare equipment…! Are you sure?" Bowler asked.
Jack gave an indifferent shrug. "Its ability is catered for Healer, and I don't use cloth armor. Don't feel troubled, my gloves are also Rare grade as well."
"… but you can also sell them for a large sum of money."
Jack's eyes twitched when he heard it. He was reminded of his impatience in selling all the unusable equipment from the robbing. "Do you want it or not? I will take it back if you don't want," Jack uttered.
"I want, I want! Of course, I want!" Bowler quickly replied. "Thank you, bro. You are the best! If I find any equipment that suits a Warrior, I will be sure to give it to you."
Jack just waved aloofly on the comment.