The reason Nava could communicate with people in The Oneness was because his player device had a translation system. It converted the sounds he heard into information and sent it directly to his brain.
When he spoke, the device translated his voice into a language the other person understood.
However, this translation was limited to humans. For other races' languages, players needed to pay the system to activate it.
After walking around and asking the townspeople and residents of The Oneness for a while, Nava gained a basic understanding of the lifestyle and living conditions of Mattehorn.
Mattehorn is a small town located southeast of the Jotandia Kingdom. Most of its inhabitants are farmers and hunters.
The town has fewer than ten thousand inhabitants and about 200-300 players, mostly low-ranked players, frequenting it. High-ranked players rarely visit this town because the monsters surrounding Mattehorn aren't very high-level.
Mattehorn is filled with brick and stone buildings, resembling medieval European villages seen in many big-budget fantasy films. The buildings weren't very large. The city's roads were made of large stone slabs.
In the central square, stood a statue about twice the size of a person, depicted as a winged angel.
One hand held a spear raised to the sky, the other a large shield with a symbol resembling a plus sign or a cross. The statue's overall appearance resembled an angel from a worldly religion.
Behind the statue was a large, beautifully decorated building. The top of the building bore a symbol similar to a cross, but with straight lines drawn from one end to the other, forming a frame. This was the same symbol as on the statue's shield.
Even without a detection system, Nava could guess that this building was likely a place of religious ceremonies for the city's inhabitants.
On Earth, it wouldn't be particularly interesting, but this was The Oneness, a land where supernatural phenomena were commonplace. Therefore, it was possible that the beings humans worshipped might actually exist.
"Perhaps the world's connection to The Oneness isn't a good thing,"
Nawa murmured to himself with a serious expression.
In his mind, he was thinking about the godlike beings he had encountered in the Himmapan Forest five years ago.
In White Snake's memories, those beings possessed immense power, capable of wiping out an entire city with a single attack. In Nava's mind, even the present world might not be able to handle them.
Although there had never been any reports of beings from The Oneness traveling to the human world, it didn't mean it was impossible in the future.
Nawa himself was the one who knew this best, for he was the one who had traveled from the Himmapan Forest back to Earth.
If The Oneness was a land similar to the Himmapan Forest, there was a high probability that those beings could cross over to the human world, and if that day came, the world would face a great catastrophe.
Nawa was lost in thought. A fleeting thought urged him to reveal his experiences in the Himmapan Forest to the world, but he soon abandoned the idea. Even if he did, it was unlikely anyone would believe him.
Currently, Nawa was just a mediocre Rank E player with no social standing. Even if some people did believe him... It's still difficult to make the whole world stop interfering with The Oneness, because The Oneness is now an invaluable treasure.
"We must become stronger."
Nawa clenched his fists, thinking to himself that even if he couldn't protect the whole world, protecting his family and loved ones would be enough.
The only way to do that was to become stronger. Even if he couldn't match those god-like beings, he had to be strong enough to protect himself and those he loved.
The city of Matthehorn has nearly a thousand soldiers. Besides maintaining order within the city, they also patrol and eliminate dangerous monsters around it.
As a result, the monsters near Matthehorn are mostly low-level, harmless creatures, like the one-horned rabbit that Nawa recently hunted.
If Nawa wanted to improve himself, he needed to hunt higher-level monsters. But with his current abilities, hunting those levels alone was too risky.
Monsters from Pro-level and above aren't weak and cowardly like the one-horned rabbit. Furthermore, some species not only attack first but also use large numbers to swarm.
Therefore, even a Rank C player might risk their life if they try to hunt alone.
"If you want to catch a big fish, investment is unavoidable," Nawa muttered to himself as he walked towards the commercial district.
Besides stats and skills, weapons and artifacts are another way to strengthen a player. Nava had a decent amount of money on him, so he wanted to find some good weapons and equipment to boost his power.
In the city's commercial district, Nava saw quite a few shops. However, calling them shops isn't quite right; most were just small tents for shade, with cloth laid on the ground before the sellers displayed their goods. The items for sale were diverse, including potions, weapons, equipment, and various other items.
The sellers included both residents of The Oneness and players. Nava knew this because the shops run by players had short messages. Appearing above the vendors' heads:
(The Never-Ending Rich Shop: Sells cheap potions)
(Shop 712: Sells a wide variety of high-quality weapons)
This is the shop function of the player equipment. Besides displaying messages for other players to see, interested players can select and view the details of the items for sale.
However, the product information isn't as detailed as the system's assessment. If players want more detailed information, they need to pay the system to check it.
This function can be used not only for selling items but also for announcing purchase requests. Some people even use the system to find hunting teams, recruit guild members, or simply find people to chat with.
This atmosphere reminded Nawa of the online games he played as a child.
Nawa explored the various shops for a long time. Finally, he gave up on buying anything from the player shops because most of the items were priced very high.
Nawa understood, though; setting up a stall took up valuable hunting time, and if the items didn't sell well, it was a waste of time.
Nawa looked around at shops that sold goods as their main occupation; the prices probably weren't that high. As he scanned the area, Nawa's eyes landed on one shop constructed from stone, not a tent. Inside, many weapons were piled on the floor.
Nawa looked at a particular sword. The item was priced at 90 copper coins. It looked sturdy and felt good in my hand, and the price was within my budget.
Nawa used 2 copper coins to have the system check it, and a system window appeared, accompanied by a familiar sound in his head:
"Ding!"
(Steel Sword, Common Grade, Crafted by the Blacksmith of Matthehorn)
(Attack Power 5-7, Suitable for All Classes)
(Durability 20/20)
(Price 50-80 copper coins)
"Just a common grade item, huh? Isn't this more expensive than the items players sell?" Nawa muttered to himself, feeling a little disappointed.
Even though the weapons players sold were more expensive, they were high-quality. The items in this shop, though cheaper, were of much lower quality, being only common grade.
Considering the price difference and value, the players' items were much better value.
But even so, Nawa couldn't do anything about it. Because right now he only has enough money to buy weapons of this level.
"Uncle, could you lower the price of this sword a little?" Nawa asked in a calm voice, hoping the merchant would reduce the price further.
"Young man, this price is already very low. There are few cargo carts coming to this town right now, so the slime cores used as fuel for the smelting furnaces are very expensive. If I sell it for any lower, I'll lose money," the shop owner grumbled angrily.
Nawa remained silent, intending to negotiate the price down, because the system estimated that a sword like this shouldn't sell for more than 80 copper coins.
"You probably think I'm lying to you to inflate the price, right? How about this? If you hunt slimes by the river and bring me 50 slime cores, I'll buy them for 2 copper coins each, and I'll let you choose one weapon from that pile for free." The merchant said, pointing to the pile of weapons in the corner of the room.
(Quest Level E: Collect 50 Slime Cores)
(Details) The blacksmith in Mattehorn City needs Slime Cores to craft high-quality weapons. Collect 50 Slime Cores and give them to the blacksmith.
(Reward: 100 Copper Coins and the choice of 1 weapon from the shop.)
(Reputation points upon completion: 2)
Nawa accepted the quest without much thought. Besides the money and weapons, this quest also gave him 2 reputation points. While reputation points can't be used directly as money, they can be used to purchase system services.
One reputation point can be exchanged for approximately 100 Copper Coins worth of system services. Two reputation points would mean Nawa could use system functions worth 200 Copper Coins. In total, the reward from this quest was more than 3 Silver Coins.
Afterward, Nawa left the weapon shop and headed to the clothing store to find equipment to increase his defense. Even though Nawa already had the Dragon Scale Armor, he wanted other equipment to supplement it.
To boost his defense in other areas,and wearing the guild's free outfit made him look pathetic and unreliable. Wearing something like this, no team would let him join any party, he thought to himself.
Upon arriving at the clothing shop run by a resident of Mattehorn, Nava discovered it was the same shop as the weapons shop.
The shop only had low-quality clothing at prices higher than the system's assessment. Wanting to experiment, Nava offered to work for the shop owner in exchange for a linen outfit. He did this to prove something.
"Ding!" A sound rang in Nava's head, and a quest notification window appeared.
(Quest, Level E: Collect 30 bales of wool)
(Details: A skilled merchant woman from Mattehorn village needs a large quantity of wool to make winter coats for the villagers.) Collect wool from 30 sheep.
(Reward: A complete linen set including a shirt, pants, shoes, and gloves.)
(Reputation points upon completion: 1)
Just as expected, if we can create certain conditions with the NPC, the system will evaluate it as a quest. Unfortunately, this quest only gives 1 reputation point.
Nawa walked out of the tailor shop and opened the system window to check the details of the quests he had accepted. After thinking for a moment, Nawa decided to do the weapons merchant's quest first, and then he would go hunt sheep to collect wool to exchange for equipment.
As for the guard quest that requires traveling to Taiban Village, Nava isn't planning on doing it right now because there's still a month left. In the meantime, he wants to hunt monsters around the city to strengthen himself.