Goblin Merchant

The only thing Rex disliked about the Warcraft System was that he had to walk some distance every time he entered it. Just as on his first visit, he appeared in a place surrounded by dense mist, where he could only walk forward. As he advanced, even the path behind him became inaccessible. Forward was the only way.

When the mist cleared and the view before him opened up, Rex had arrived at his Warcraft base, the name he had given this place.

Unlike his first visit, when only a solitary Town Hall had stood there, two more buildings now surrounded it. No, calling them two buildings was not quite right, because one was still unfinished. Only half of it existed, looking rather like a foundation. Anyone watching it for a few hours would notice that it was slowly building itself without anyone working on it. Given enough time, it would finish itself.

Constructing a building in the Warcraft base took quite a while. The sight of the Barracks springing up from the ground in an instant, as it had the first time, would not happen again.

Rex approached the unfinished building and reached out toward it. A notification sounded in his mind.

[Time remaining until the Goblin Merchant is complete: 15 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds!]

The numbers at the end kept changing, steadily counting down. Lately, Rex had used the Warcraft System every day and had become familiar with all its functions. Even buildings he had not constructed had descriptions in the Town Hall, allowing him to learn about them in advance.

There were two ways to find out how long a building would take to finish, as he had just done. The first was the method Rex was using now, and the second was to enter the Town Hall and operate the rainbow-colored orb.

Rex had personally tested how gold worked in the Warcraft System. It corresponded directly to gold in the real world, and the system charged no fees, so he had topped up his balance with 5,000 gold at the time. He called putting gold into the Warcraft System "topping up," a little nod to his previous life.

Buildings in the Warcraft System could not simply be constructed at will. Having enough gold did not mean he could build every last one of them. As a product of the Transmigrator Alliance, it followed the principle that everything they produced had to be top quality, but its rules were strict. Each requirement had to be met in order. Otherwise, no matter how much gold he had, it would be useless.

The Warcraft System could be divided into several ages. The Transmigrator Alliance had not made many changes, merely establishing broad divisions centered on the Town Hall: the Town Hall age, the Stronghold age, and finally the Fortress age.

These three ages were based on the most fundamental Town Hall age. Town Hall levels 1–3 belonged to the Town Hall age, levels 4–6 to the Stronghold age, and the final levels, 7–9, to the castle age.

To upgrade the Town Hall to level 2, he had to construct two buildings. There were not many buildings Rex could construct with a level 1 Town Hall. It was worth mentioning that the selection included a few more buildings than Warcraft, while also removing several others, though it was still largely Warcraft. Those additional buildings would only become available in the castle age, which was still a long way off for Rex.

He could choose two out of three buildings to construct. Excluding the Barracks Rex had already built, that left the Watch Tower and the Goblin Merchant. The farms and lumber mills that had originally been available had been removed. Construction here required only gold, not lumber, so lumber mills were useless. As for the population, they were heroic spirits who needed no food, making farms useless as well.

The Watch Tower was somewhat special. It consumed the fewest resources and could be built not only inside the Warcraft System but also in the real world. Building one in reality, however, required going through the construction process step by step, finding a construction crew, and so on. Although Rex was very interested, he had not chosen to build a Watch Tower. It was meant for someone short on resources who wanted to rush to a level 2 Town Hall. Since Rex had no shortage of resources, he chose to ignore the Watch Tower and its relatively limited function. He would certainly build one in the future, but not now.

The Goblin Merchant's functions greatly tempted Rex. It differed slightly from the game. Once built, the Goblin Merchant would still provide three item slots. More slots would appear once he advanced to the Stronghold age, but that could wait.

Originally, the three items offered by the Goblin Merchant were the Scroll of Regeneration, the Mechanical Critter, and the Lesser Clarity Potion.

The Goblin Merchant's initial stock was fixed, starting with those items, and beneath them was the time required for restocking after a purchase. That had not changed much. However, the contents of the three slots had undergone a major change: they were no longer fixed but randomized, and their values varied as well. Any consumable item that had appeared in Warcraft could show up. If Rex got lucky, he might find something good, but he might also get something of little value.

The Goblin Merchant's three slots would refresh automatically every month. Whether he bought anything or not, new stock would replace the old at the end of the month, right on schedule.

The wait was somewhat longer, but items from the Goblin Merchant could be taken into the real world and used there, which greatly excited Rex. He had delayed his trip to Dalaran because he intended to wait for good items to appear in the Goblin Merchant and prepare as opportunities arose. Although he might obtain such things on the way, Rex understood that a good horse needed a good saddle. He was going to Dalaran to fleece people. Relying on Gilneas's local specialties to make money would be too slow, nowhere near as fast as selling the magical items that appeared in the Goblin Merchant.

Mages represented wealth. Poor people could not afford to study magic. Magic required experiments, and everything cost money. With all the materials and equipment involved, what poor person could afford it? In Rex's eyes, mages were ripe for fleecing.

Rex was counting on the Goblin Merchant. If he acquired something good, he couldn't just take it as it was. At the very least, he needed to put it in an elegant box, which could add considerably to its value.

Rex had high hopes for the Goblin Merchant. He went to inspect the Barracks, where the number of Infantry Spirits had reached 200. They stood ramrod straight at attention, like statues. With a sigh, he exited the Warcraft System.

(End of chapter)