Woong.
[Welcome to Astria Online]
With a strange floating sensation, my body arrived in the world of ‘Astria Online’.
“I slept well!”
I jumped up and down in place and stretched fully as I always did.
Now, the time I spend living in the Astria continent far outweighs the time in the real world. I could feel like I become a completely different person in here.
The place I logged in was the rocky mountain area in front of the elite dungeon Demon King’s Army Outpost.
Thanks to hiding my body behind a pile of rocks before logging out, I could do my stretching exercises without worry.
Peek.
I poked my head out from behind the pile of rocks and observed the people gathered in front of the dungeon.
“Looking fora part, Sword Saint! I’ve cleared once! I’ll work hard tanking the 3rd named chimeras!”
“Experienced in 2nd named sphere dribbling! Ranger looking for a party! Please take me along!”
There were still many people looking for parties today. It seemed there were some who had cleared several times and some who were making their first attempt.
While there would be people with fixed parties, most light users formed pickup parties on the spot like this.
I immediately opened the auction house and checked the weapon prices, my main source of income.
On the third day since the dungeon opened, weapons still maintained decent prices. The difficulty of this elite dungeon outpost must be quite high indeed.
The problem is…
“Now the weapon prices vary greatly depending on the options.”
In the case of Swordsman weapons, the ‘Moonlight Slash damage increase’ option, which can raise the multiplier of the main skill Starlight Slash, was most preferred.
Damage reduction on successful block, thrust damage increase, PVP skill damage increase for skills like knockdown or air skills, and more. The additional options were very diverse.
In other words, even among Zarkan weapons, there was a preference gap.
This was the same for weapons of other classes. The main skill damage increase option for each class was the most expensive and sold well. PVP skill options were also in demand.
In the early game, skill ranks and multipliers were low, so weapon attack power was prioritized. However, now that damage cycles have been established and the main skills account for a higher share of damage, additional options have become a priority over attack power.
Still, you can get ‘Zarkan Coins’ by grinding useless accessories and weapons. Zarkan Coins, which can also be obtained through daily quests, were the only means to purchase socket items, ‘Echostones’, at fixed prices.
I made a tearful face looking at the echostone embedded in my weapon.
“I didn’t know it would be such a rare item.”
Socket item echostones were still forming prices comparable to the first weapon sale price.
If I had been patient and farmed diligently, I could have bought it at a fixed price someday by collecting Zarkan Coins. I resented myself for being unable to hold back and putting it in the weapon.
Thwack.
I slapped my face with both palms once and steeled my resolve.
Anyway, weapon prices are still not bad, so I must run the dungeon today to earn gold.
I almost completely cashed out the money I earned on the first day, but I needed to keep running the outpost today to collect Zarkan Coins and earn gold to use in the next area.
I hope many weapons with good options drop today.
Just as I was steeling my resolve while leaning against the pile of rocks.
A shadow fell over my head.
Strands of red thread slightly blocked the sunlight.
“Wah….”
I blankly looked up at the owner of the shadow.
Although it looked a bit dark due to the backlight, this person was surely…
“Rain found.”
Chris looked down at me and smiled brightly.
“I saw you come online on my friends list just now, so I thought you’d be nearby. Are you going to run the dungeon today too?”
“Uh, um. Yes? Yes.”
I stammered.
I didn’t expect to meet Chris today?
“Ahem, are you done farming Zarkan? Did you perhaps promise to run with your party members today too?”
Chris looked around as if searching for my party members.
My heart started racing.
I know that even for someone like me, it’s not common to do advance party runs solo.
In a way, I’m using a cheat key due to the 100% virtual reality synchronization rate. I’m a kind of bug character. I’m in no position to reveal the fact that I’ve been doing advanced party farming solo until now.
No. I’ve gotten by well so far, but if I’m not careful, I might face account suspension or other measures for being a bug character.
I feel a vivid sense of reality physically on the Astria continent. If I can no longer feel this, I won’t be able to live.
“I don’t have any promises today.”
I added a slight addendum.
‘I don’t have any promises’ is true.
By adding ‘today’, it would have the effect of making her think I’ve been running dungeons with a party until now.
I felt a bit guilty, but it couldn’t be helped.
Chris seemed like a nice unnie, but as someone who doesn’t know her deeply yet, I couldn’t expose my current state.
Chris smiled brightly.
“Really? Then, can I borrow Rain for today?”
“Bo-borrow?”
I jumped up in surprise.
Borrow, I’m not an object. What do you mean?
Of course, Chris is a nice unnie, but doing something together is a separate issue.
I need to farm and earn gold today too.
If I had known this would happen, I should have said I had a farming appointment today too.
“…Just the two of us?”
“Well, there’s one more person, is that okay?”
I jumped up again.
No, no, no.
Even if it’s okay with Chris unnie, another person? Absolutely not.
“G-g-goodbye.”
“Wait!”
Chris stopped me as I was trying to carefully leave.
“Rain, you didn’t forget your promise with unnie, did you?”
She smiled and pointed at my clothes.
“Ah.”
The clothes I’m wearing now, the Desert Admiral’s outfit.
I had promised to run the dungeon together as a condition for receiving this outfit.
“Seeing that you’re still wearing that outfit, it seems you like it? Unnie is happy.”
“Eek…”
I, who had been hooked for 1 gold, had no choice but to be caught by Chris.
“Kyaa…! Wow! Wow! So small! Not just short, but small face and cute too… How do you do Swordsman with that body?”
“Hey, Bae Merong! Rain is for viewing only! Just look!”
“Viewing only…?”
I was hiding behind Chris, grabbing her collar.
That pink-haired woman squealing at me, she was surely the Mage from Chris unnie’s party.
She doesn’t seem that much taller than me, so why does she keep saying I’m small?
Although Chris is okay, my aversion to other people hasn’t disappeared yet.
“Anyway, I’ll talk with Rain, so you just handle the customer well.”
“Yes!”
The Mage called Bae Merong saluted Chris in attention stance. I couldn’t help but ask Chris about something I was curious about.
“Customer?”
“We’re going to start running buses from today. The tank is busy so he’s out, and the Elementalist said he can’t log in today, so I was hoping Rain could take one spot.”
“Huh? Unnie, you just threatened Cherni not to come…”
Glare.
Chris shot a sharp glance at Bae Merong.
“Ah, it’s nothing!”
Bae Merong hurriedly turned her head and opened her interface again. She was writing some kind of message.
“Rain, we’ll take care of the rest ourselves, so can you main tank the 1st and 2nd named, and tank the chimeras for the 3rd named?”
“Chimera tank?”
I tilted my head.
Main tank means tanking the named bosses. That’s no problem since I’ve been doing it alone.
The chimeras of the 3rd named must mean the two dogs that appear below 50% of the boss’s HP.
“Who’s tanking the boss then?”
“Huh? Didn’t your party clear with ranged DPS tanking?”
“Um, um. So I just need to keep the two chimeras occupied?”
Chris nodded with a smile.
It seemed that in 3rd named party play, it was common for ranged DPS to tank. Anyway, I just needed to do as she said.
“So we’re going with three people?”
“I mentioned a customer earlier, right? We’ll take one spot as a bus customer.”
“Oh.”
I nodded.
There were buses in the level 25 elite dungeon too. Whenever I turned on the regional announcements, I always saw messages advertising buses.
The low-level elite dungeons at that time finished farming quickly, but now that farming difficulty has increased and proper PVP battlefield content has been added, bus business should do well.
Even if you don’t aim to sell weapons with good options or the lottery of dropped echostones, buses were a stable means of earning gold.
I asked one more thing I was curious about.
“But don’t people run buses with 1 or 2 people?”
“Huh? Ahaha! Even setting aside whether solo play is possible for a character that has completed farming, if it’s 1 or 2 people, that means taking two or three customers, and if you do that, you can’t give all the drop items to one customer, right? The bus business structure works because all the items from the dungeon are given to one customer.”
“Ah, I see.”
Even if you only take one customer, solo play takes much longer than party play, so there’s no merit for the customer. There might be people who use it to watch how solo play is done, but there’s no sustained business value.
Even if a user can clear the dungeon alone, they can’t run a bus alone.
In the first place, I don’t think I could handle customer service properly.
I smacked my lips with an inexplicable sense of regret.