"A 9th Circle Druid is as powerful as a Hermit but so much weaker than a Sage" Ralf answered while the edge of his mouth twitched.
"Is there a Great Druid or an Arch Druid then?" Michael seems to have not...or more like intentionally not noticing the slowly darkening look on Ralph's face as he continued asking questions.
"Of course th- Shh! I didn't meet with you to talk about us Druids" Ralf didn't finish his answer to Michael's question, and instead seems to have become a bit angry that he even shook his finger in front of him.
Michael just smiled and answered, "Ohh...right".
Michael sigh as he wanted to ask more. After all, he always had the feeling that a Druid is a hidden class or something, and opening the path to become a Druid might give him some hefty rewards, and he's not someone to miss something like that… something that could help him gain an advantage in the game.
"I want to ask for your services about…"
Then Ralf started telling Michael about the details of his request, and it was actually related to his new class as a Herb Hunter.
[Ralf's Personal Request]
Village Chieftain, Ralf Wolfgang has asked for your help to obtain two Blood Orchids. A very rare and hard to obtain herb.
Will you accept the Quest?
Accept / Decline
A message window immediately appeared in front of his eyes after Ralf gave him a short briefed about the quest.
Michael didn't immediately accept it and instead said, "Do you know a place where I could find those herbs then?"
Ralf just shook his head and showed a helpless smile, "Sorry, I really can't help you with that. Blood Orchids are known herbs that could grow to any climate and adapt to any changes in the environment. That's why they're really hard to find, and the only people who had the highest chances of finding them are Herb Hunters"
"Then why didn't you ask my Teacher instead of me? You should know that I'm just new to this" Michael said with a helpless smile on his face.
Ralf just looked at him, then gave a weak laugh, "Honestly, I already did...but she's just asking too much for a payment!"
"How much?"
"Fifty thousand gold coins...each! What a scam! She's trying to take advantage of me and rip me off! That's a freaking hundred thousand gold coins for two of them!"
Michael just took a sip of his fruit juice when he suddenly spurted all of it towards Ralf's face when he heard how much his Teacher so that she would help her brother!
"*Cough!* *Cough!* What!?" Michael was surprised, as fifty thousand gold coins is really a huge number even for him.
Of course, he wasn't surprised about the price, but instead the expensiveness of the herb...a single freaking herb! Even the most sought after herb in the real world wasn't that expensive, and the only plants that could probably contend with it are those super rare flowers like Kadupul Flower or the hybrid flower called Juliet Rose!
After all, a single gold coin right now could be exchanged for $100, which just shows how expensive that herb would be in the latter stages of the game, but Michael wasn't an idiot to believe a player would buy an herb like that right this early, so stacking up rare herbs right now wouldn't be a bad idea if the current price doesn't plummet later.
And at the same time, he was now starting to like his profession more and more as the possibility of getting rich fast inside the game is actually not impossible.
"One hundred thousand golds, I tell you! In the market, the herb is only sold for ten thousand gold coins if someone miraculously found one in the wild!"
"Then why don't you buy one in the market then instead of putting me up to this?" Michael clicked his tongue when he heard him.
"Aissh! I ought to smack you right now with how disrespectful your tone is!" Ralf clicked his tongue in anger and pretended to smack his hand towards Michael.
But the latter just looked at him nonchalantly, not even in the slightest bit intimidated.
Michael looked at him and grinned widely, "I'll accept your request if you pay me ten thousand gold coins for each Blood Orchid!"
"Wha..what!? No! Five thousand!"
"Ten thousand, no more no less! You just freaking said ten thousand is the market price"
"Okay, okay! Seven thousand! That's as high as I could go right now!"
Then Micheal suddenly laughed, "You said "right now". It means ten thousand wouldn't be a problem for you in the future, and it's not like I could immediately find one the next day!"
"Okay! You win boy! Nine thousand! That's truly my limit!"
In anger, the veins in Ralf's arms and face bulge as he didn't expect that there would be a day that a brat would actually try to rip him off, a respected druid!
"Old man, if you're actually allowing a brat right now to take advantage of you, that means that the Blood Orchid must be very important to you! Fifteen thousand...gold coins! That's now my new offer!"
"Brat! You're going to far!"
BANG! ROAR!
Ralf roared in anger as he slapped the table in front of him to pieces, while his body started to transform, and a few moments later, he had become a huge and ferocious black bear with a pair of antlers on his head.
And because of his transformation, the roof of their house was destroyed, and now his pair of antlers are sticking out of their roof.
During that time, Michael had already retreated back from where he was sitting from as he watched Ralf transform into a huge bear with amazement, interest, curiosity and eagerness, while the event had also attracted the guards of the village as they immediately hurried over thinking that their chieftain is being attacked, while the players flocked towards the location thinking that there's some kind of an event going on.
"Boy, ten thousand! That's my final offer or else I would slap you to death if you still won't agree to it!"
After his transformation, Ralf's voice became more deep and intimidating, that even the people who flocked towards them were scared shitless, except for the guards who are looking towards the direction of the house of their chief with respect in their eyes, because they certainly knew that he had just transformed into a powerful Rakshasa Bear, while they busied themselves into dispersing the crowd of players around them.
"Okay, deal!"
"Wha...what!?"
*****
A few minutes later, Michael sneakily left the village chief's house as he didn't want to be spotted by the players who's keeping watch at the house.
After all, what Ralf did earlier was truly excessive, and at the same time, Michael had the feeling that he had just gotten out of danger.
It was because he was actually taking a gamble that Ralf wouldn't kill him earlier, and that's why he was so hell bent on trying to take advantage of Ralf earlier.
And the thing he was betting on is that he is a student of a Sage.
"But it seems this quest would be hard...I didn't expect that this quest is actually an S+ difficulty"
Michael sighed, as he made his way towards the center of the village before logging out of the game.
*****
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