CHAPTER 45: SOLO LEVELING

"To become as strong as Sebastian?" Rowan hummed. "Probably a million coins."

"A million coins?!" Wade yelped, causing some people passing to look at them.

"Yeah," Rowan chuckled. "That’s how strong Sebastian is. He doesn’t just have gear. He’s got something else, but that’s not for me to say."

’Something else?’ Wade thought. Sebastian had to be more than he seemed on the surface.

"Though I have to say, taking a million coins loan would be pretty stupid for a new adventurer." Rowan added.

"What do you mean?" Wade asked.

"It’s obvious, don’t you think?" Rowan shrugged. "It’s a bit overkill. You’ll end up spending most of the money on gear, and the interest rates for those kinds of loans are pretty high."

"I’m sure the newbie would just get himself trapped inside a predatory contract, because he wouldn’t be able to make payments in time."

"If they want to be able to clear dungeons alone, 500,000 coins is enough."

Wade breathed a sigh of relief. Just 500,000 coins. That was good.

If prices stay the same, it should take him 7 dungeon runs to clear the debt.

"Wait a minute," Wade said as he remembered something Rowan had said. "Why would a newbie have to spend most of their money on gear? Can’t they just buy skills and stat stones?"

"Stat stones. That’s where the problem lies." Rowan said. "There’s a cap on how much you can raise your stats using stat stones."

Wade hadn’t used stat stones before, so he had to ask. "What do you mean?"

"For every level you hit, you can only use 20 points in stat stones. At level 1, you can use 20. At level 2, another 20." He glanced at Wade. "What level are you now?"

"Level 3." Wade said.

"And you haven’t used any stat stones, right? That means altogether, you can only use 60 points worth of stat stones."

"Of course, this means that every adventurer needs the extra points that come with every level up. Of course, that doesn’t mean they get to pick and choose where those points go."

"For example, the Warrior class gets +3 Strength and +2 Constitution per level. The Archer class gets +3 Agility and +2 Perception per level. And classes like Barbarian get just +4 Strength per level."

"And every ten levels, the number of stat points we get per level increases, but the amount of stat stones we can use remains the same."

"That means adventurers have to keep leveling up for the extra stat points. Every point counts when it comes to life and death."

Wade blinked, surprised. Other classes don’t get unassigned stat points? Just how special was Dimensional Merchant?

"So, if a newbie gets the 500,000 coins they need, they’ll have to spend it mostly on gear."

"Gear to protect their bodies, and gear that increases their mana points."

"Basically, they’ll need gears with inbuilt mana storage, in order to have enough to power the skills they’ll need to get to be capable of soloing a dungeon."

"And most of the time, it isn’t worth it. It’s better to just get the 200,000 coins, and level up the normal way."

"I see." Wade nodded as they entered the guild building.

As they walked through the wide corridors of the guild building, Wade fell into step beside Rowan, still chewing over what they’d just talked about.

"Hey, Rowan," he said, lowering his voice. "Can adventurers buy skills and gear from people outside the guild? Or is that forbidden?"

Rowan chuckled. "Forbidden? No. But controlled, yes."

He scratched the back of his neck as they turned down the hallway that led to the cafeteria. "There are a few shops scattered around Hiving and other big cities. They sell skill stones and gear, and their thing is privacy."

"The issue is, whether you want it or not, the guilds have records of what is bought and by who. And some people are a bit... paranoid. They do not like the idea of their guild having a list of every skill they own."

"So, while the stores offer items that are a bit pricier than what the guild offers, they guarantee discretion. No records, and questions asked."

Wade raised his brows. "So, like... black market dealers?"

"Not exactly," Rowan said, shaking his head. "They’re legitimate shops. Just not under guild control."

"Think of them like... independent merchants. Sometimes they’re worth it. It depends on if you want to keep a part of your arsenal private, even from the guilds."

"The guilds don’t like to admit it, but they don’t always have the widest selection."

"Wait," Wade interrupted. "I thought the guilds buy skills from each other. Shouldn’t that make them the ones with the widest selection?"

"It’s a bit more complicated than that. There are plenty of skills the guilds don’t want to circulate, because they come from their rival guilds."

"Or," Rowan smirked, "because they’re keeping them scarce on purpose. Scarcity drives up demand, and demand drives up prices."

Wade’s merchant brain lit up. He could practically see the numbers running. "So the guilds create artificial shortages?"

Rowan gave him a look that said don’t repeat this too loudly. "You didn’t hear that from me."

Wade nodded, thinking about it. The guilds were each other’s customers, but also each other’s competitors.

So, sometimes, they manipulate their selection of stones and gears in order to make a profit.

They soon reached the cafeteria, the warm smell of roasted meat and bread greeting them.

The hall buzzed with adventurers still in half-armor, some laughing, some slumped in silence.

Wade grabbed a tray, piling it with food, Rowan doing the same.

Together, they carried their trays to their usual table in the corner.

Ingrid was already there, her bow leaning against the seat beside her, a half empty plate of stew in front of her.

She looked up as they approached, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the two of them together.

"Why are you two coming in together?" she asked, suspicion dripping from her voice.