Chapter 5 - Starting Stats  

Liam sat on a rock, right outside the novice village, and opened his status screen. Next to him, a couple of people were already fighting the rabbits and squirrels which were beginner level beasts.

However, Liam was not in a hurry. In fact, he didn't plan on gaining any experience points for now. He calmly willed his status screen and first took a look at things.

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Name: Chang Liam

Species: Human being

Gender: Male

Level: 1 [0/200]

Title: N/A

Class: N/A

Health: 10/10

Mana: 10/10

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Stamina: 2

Intellect: 2

Strength: 2

Defense: 2

Vitality: 2

Agility: 2

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Ha Ha Ha! Liam chuckled at the sight of his familiar pathetic starting stats and quickly closed the screen.

The beginner stats ranged from 0 to 20 depending on each individual's prior condition.

Liam being very malnourished and his current body lacking any physical training, it was no surprise that his starting attributes were all on the lower side.

After all, he had started with the same stats last time as well, but the difference was that he now knew what to do.

This small difference in abilities at the start might not seem much but ultimately it slowed you down and pushed you to the bottom, even before the game began.

Liam shook his head sighing and then opened his inventory. There was a worn out pair of pants, a shabby looking mismatched pair of shoes, a sleeveless shirt, ripped here there, and lastly a rusted long sword.

These were the beginner items that were uniformly given to all players on entering the game, all Level 1 and all pretty much useless.

But since Liam was currently in his underpants, he still took these trash items and equipped everything. The three items of clothing each gave 1 defense point and his previous 2 defense immediately went up by 3 points.

This boost wasn't really that much but roaming around half-naked sometimes ticked off certain NPCs and Liam couldn't possibly remember each and every single NPC's characteristics. So to be on the safer side, he threw everything on.

After the issue of clothing was resolved, Liam then opened the map feature to check where he was.

Beginner players typically spawned in novice villages that were on the outskirts of towns and cities and Liam had spawned in Coldwater village.

It was a small village without many resources in the northern part of the Gresh Kingdom. "Hmmm… So an hour walk to the next town… Alright. Let me start."

Of course, it was also possible to reach the next town in a much shorter time but Liam took the roundabout main route frequented by villagers and merchants.

He did this because he didn't want to come across any wild beasts and be forced to fight them. Not that he was too weak to fight these beasts. Rather he wanted to keep his slate clean.

And so, while others busily hunted for wild beasts and starter quests to increase their level, Liam alone leisurely walked over to the next town.

It took him a little longer than an hour, but just like he had wanted, he reached his destination without any hitch.

Thankfully, unlike cities, towns did not have any entry fees, so he was also able to smoothly walk past the town guards.

"If I remember correctly…" Liam paused at the entrance of the bustling town and sucked in a deep breath before he scurried along the crowded streets.

Compared to the novice village, Basla town was a much bigger place and had several stores and vendors and even an auction house.

Liam directly headed towards one of the more flashy buildings in the northern part of the town, the bank.

But he didn't enter inside the bank, as it required a certain reputation and fame to borrow money from the bank. Rather he entered a small building on the same street, just a couple of blocks away from the bank, with a sign that read 'LeeLani's Pawn Shop'.

Inside the shop, a fat salesperson was sitting who revealed a big suspicious grin as soon as he saw Liam walking in.

"Hello. Hello. Good day to you, young man. What brings you to my small establishment this fine morning?"

Liam rolled his eyes and bluntly replied, without bothering with the formalities and fake niceties. "I need a loan of 100 Gold coins."

He knew that there was no point in trying to butter up this fatty as all the loan sharks in the game were extremely cruel and cutthroat.

"Oooo… What a big sum for a little fella like you. Good. Good. Youngsters have to be ambitious! I like your courage young man!"

"But should I give it to you or not? Hmmm..." The shopkeeper rapped on the desk in front of him, looking at Liam up and down.

"Alright. I have decided. This is your lucky day. Though you don't look particularly reliable, I will still loan you this sum of money."

What a scam! Liam sneered inwardly.

The man was spouting a lot of big nice words, but at the end of the day, it was all lies because he would just about loan anything to anyone. The interest rate was just that outrageous!

[Ding. Received a loan of 100 Gold coins]

[Ding. Interest: 10 Gold coins a day]

[Ding. If the full amount is not returned by the end of the week along with the interest, the player will be stripped of everything and permanently imprisoned.]

[Ding. You are the first person to receive a loan.]

[Ding. You have obtained the title 'Rolling in Debt']

[Rolling in Debt: When the title is equipped, it gives a 5% bonus on auction house settlements]

Liam stared at the notifications not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Even though the title hit a little too close to home, he was still happy with the small surprise bonus.. He chuckled wryly and left the pawnshop.