Tavern Mercenaries

Damn it, this was bad! What was a level 48 mercenary doing here?

Xiao Yu inwardly cried out that he was in trouble. Of course, level 48 didn't mean she was invincible. Level wasn't everything in this game. Even against a level 48 high-level character, enough people with good coordination could wear her down and kill her. But there were also guards, adventurers, Ancients of War, and all sorts of other troops to consider. His advantage hadn't been particularly clear to begin with, and if a fight really broke out, this rogue would definitely be the key figure in deciding the outcome.

Moonmark Shadow Chaser's arrival immediately drew a lot of attention. The mercenaries who had been drinking all stood up and saluted her in particular. They were obviously NPCs.

Moonmark?Shadow Chaser, however, seemed to be used to this. She gave a casual wave, found a seat, and crossed her long legs on the table. With a snap of her fingers, she said, "One special meal, please."

She casually took a book from her pocket and began reading, apparently to pass the time.

Xiao Yu didn't leave. Now that things had come to this, whether it was a blessing or a disaster, he couldn't avoid it. Whoever Moonmark?Shadow Chaser was, she would probably be an obstacle he had to overcome. Rather than leave, he might as well sound her out.

With that in mind, Xiao Yu put on a standard NPC expression and walked over to the tavern bar in a relaxed manner. He said to the flirtatious middle-aged night elf proprietress behind it, "Morning, Lusi. The usual, a glass of wine."

He acted as though they were well acquainted, and the proprietress showed no sign of finding it strange. She handed him a glass of wine and accepted the few silver coins he gave her.

Wine in hand, Xiao Yu sat down at a table behind the female mercenary without drawing attention to himself.

As he drank, he secretly observed Moonmark?Shadow Chaser. Judging by her name, she had clearly deliberately imitated the naming style of the night elves, making it difficult for most people to tell whether she was a player or an NPC. But Xiao Yu was certain she was a player. Otherwise, that day in the forest, she would definitely have killed him instead of marking him, letting him go back, and then following him to slaughter the entire camp. That was definitely a player's style.

Moreover, reaching level 48 showed that she was highly skilled at the game. Although the current level cap in Sky World was 60, the game company seemed to have no intention of letting people reach it. After level 40, the amount of experience required was frighteningly high. At present, the number of players at the level cap in the entire game could be counted on one hand. Anyone above level 40 was basically an expert, to say nothing of how damn difficult it was to level up with the mercenary template.

Could this girl be a professional player? But that can't be right. Don't professional players usually play with the adventurer or monster template? The advantage of the adventurer template was a stable income. As long as you reached the level cap, got yourself a decent set of equipment, and were reasonably skilled, you could basically make a living without a problem. A few thousand yuan a month, or even over ten thousand, wasn't comparable to what high earners made, but it was still more than an ordinary brick-hauling loser earned.

The monster template, on the other hand, had greater ups and downs. Not many people actually managed to make money with it, since the template was difficult to level. But as long as you played it well, you could often make big money. Even several hundred thousand yuan a month wasn't impossible. Of course, the investment was also substantial. At later stages, a single resurrection could cost ten thousand or even tens of thousands.

But this woman had chosen the mercenary template. If she was a professional player, that was rather hard to explain. Xiao Yu had briefly tried the mercenary template before, and he had always felt it was impossible to make money with it.

While he was puzzling over this, several adventurers barged into the tavern.

"This is the place. If you want to hire a mercenary, this is where you should come," the one in the lead, a level 13 knight player, said to a level 10 warlock beside him.

"Can I really take a mercenary on the quest? But the demon-summoning class quest says I have to do it alone."

"Hey, mercenaries don't count as party members. They're just like summoned beasts, only you pay to hire them temporarily. Don't worry. Back when I was level 10, I got a mercenary to help me with the Power of the Holy Light class quest. Hurry up. Pick whichever one you like and hire them quickly. If you're late, all the good mercenaries will be gone."

So that's how it works! Hearing the two adventurers' conversation beside him, Xiao Yu finally understood. Who said the mercenary template was useless? Although its combat power was inferior to a boss's, and even to an ordinary adventurer's, the good thing was that mercenaries didn't count as party members. It was obviously reasonable for them to charge a fee for helping with class quests. Xiao Yu had already thought of quite a few other tasks mercenaries could make money from, such as power-leveling people, taking low-level characters through dungeons, and-

"I think this one looks good," the warlock said, pointing at Moonmark Shadow Chaser, who was drinking tea.

Hearing him, Moonmark Shadow Chaser spun around and gave him a charming smile. "Hehe, you've come to the right person. I'm not bragging, but I'm definitely the strongest mercenary in this tavern. It's no exaggeration to say that even all the other mercenaries put together couldn't beat me. You're doing a class quest, right? Don't worry, the warlock class quest isn't difficult. I've done it more than once. As long as you pay me, I can take care of it for you from start to finish. All you have to do is stand there and watch."

Xiao Yu rolled his eyes nearby. No kidding. You're level 48. Fighting these mercenaries, who are mostly only around level 10, would be child's play.

"Really? Huh, you're a player?" The young warlock seemed a little surprised. He had seen how pretty she was and assumed she was an ordinary NPC, since there were practically no ugly female elf NPCs. But once he realized she was a female player, he immediately felt differently.

"What, is that strange?" Moonmark Shadow Chaser asked in return.

"N-no, nothing," the young warlock said, hurriedly shaking his head. "Um, how much does it cost to hire you?" After asking, he felt a little nervous. It would be nice to hire a beautiful bodyguard.

The warlock was somewhat tempted. "So how much is your hiring fee?"

"Not expensive. Two hundred an hour."

"Two hundred copper coins?" the warlock asked in a tone that showed he didn't believe it himself.

Moonmark Shadow Chaser shook her head.

The paladin beside him tapped the warlock on the head. "Are you stupid? Who hires a mercenary for 200 copper coins? She obviously means 200 silver coins."

To their surprise, the female elite shook her head again.

"Damn, you don't mean 200 gold coins, do you? That's a bit expensive," the knight said in surprise.

Game currency was hard to come by in Sky World. Two hundred gold coins could be exchanged for a game time card-though these days, hardly anyone still used time cards to play games.

"Two hundred RMB."