Afterlife Dream

After spending a whole day in Dai City Party Quest, I discovered the downside of focusing on leveling in the current version of Afterlife Dream.

I was not earning money.

I could get some by going to NPC Sena for daily quests but the meager sum she gave me in exchange for the hard labor was hardly worth it.

I needed a way to earn money, and fast. When I consulted HellWitch the next morning, she suggested that I focused on leveling still until I hit 20.

"After you unlock home, you don't have to rent places to stay anymore. And then after you hit 20, you will unlock loads of home skills. You can make your own potions, craft your own equipment, and also do some farming and cooking. Take up one specialization and start selling to fellow players."

HellWitch leaned in and whispered.

"Sell to the newbies with less gaming experience. You can earn a lot of money that way."

"..."

I wanted money, but I did not want to scam beginners.

"I don't think I will find many buyers," I said. "Everyone has the same access to the home skills. As soon as they hit 20, they won't have to buy anything from anyone."

HellWitch laughed.

"Well, that was what I thought at first. But you see, leveling a home skill takes ages here. You will want to focus on one and buy or trade what you need from others."

"... Is that so?"

HellWitch nodded.

"You will see. Also, you have to perform the labor on your own in order to level. Don't think you can just go AFK like in real life while your avatar works his butt off."

"..."

Wonderful. My greatest talent in life was sleeping for hours. What did I know about crafting, cooking, farming, or making potions???

"How expensive do they sell anyway? All these home products?"

HellWitch nodded in the market direction.

"Find out for yourself. Browse through the personal shops and you will have an idea."

I took HellWitch's advice and headed to the market.

After browsing a few shops, I was slack-jawed at the shamelessness of some players. To give you an illustration, one bubble monster dropped one gold coin each upon death. I had 342 gold coins in my inventory at the moment. Did you know what the players were selling in their personal shops?

A level 50 staff, +20 enchantment level at 45,000,000 gold coins.

Skill reset scroll at 100,000,000 gold coins.

Gender change scroll at 400,000 gold coins.

Lobster steak at 150,000 gold coins.

How the heck was I going to get enough money to buy these things??? And why would a lobster steak cost 150,000 gold coins???

I checked the item information of the lobster steak and understood right away. +20 weapon attack and +20 magical attack for two hours. Alright. So where could I get lobster steaks from? I dived into my 2D screen and found that it could be crafted at level 20 of home cooking. Aha.

HP and MP potions were used to replenish HP and MP bars respectively, while food was used to increase attack and or enhance attributes temporarily. It was especially necessary for bossing purposes. One must pay attention to the warnings before eating a combination of dishes, as some of them canceled out each other's effect.

Crafting equipment was also worth it, but you need to specialize in one type of equipment in order to make money. Headwear? Footwear? Upper armor? Bottom armor? Gloves? There was also a range of weapons that one could choose from. I could understand why weapons especially sold like hotcakes. Strong weapons were mandatory. Enchantment scrolls and enhancement stones were mostly wasted in an attempt to get a godly weapon.

A good thing about crafting equipment was that if the player was lucky, he could craft equipment with a certain level of enchantment right away. These equipment naturally sold for more money.

Cooking required materials that came from farming. All farmers started with very humble plants such as chili or leek or onions. As they leveled up their skills, more exotic plants could be planted. A shop was selling a range of farm products starting from garlic cloves to truffles. With my shabby 342 coins, I could not even afford to buy garlic.

So what about alchemy? Alchemy skill allowed the player to make their own potions. These potions granted players temporary skills that other jobs had. For example, a rogue had a first-tier skill that allowed them to go invisible like ninjas. By drinking a potion by the name of "Unseen", any job could have this skill for a certain period of time. Higher alchemy level unlocked potions for higher tier skills.

So many options but so little time to increase the skill level. Sigh. While I was standing around and pondering which skill I should specialize in, a message popped up on my screen. It was Kitty.

"Hey Anty, are you coming for the party quest?"

"Oh, of course," I typed. "Wait for me, I am coming soon."

Thanks to HellWitch's help, Kitty and I leveled a lot in the previous day. We decided not to partake in the daily clicking battle for lodging, so we had to reach level 15 before the day ended. Else we would have to sleep under the stars for the night.

Alas, things did not go smoothly that day. We kept running into newbies who ruined the party quests for us. I then understood why HellWitch offered to carry us through the party quests. She did not need us to be strong. She needed us to listen to her and do what she told us to do. It turned out that listening was a precious skill in Dai City Party Quests.

Kitty and I were not the only ones who kept failing our party quests. A clearly experienced person cursed around as soon as he exited the dungeon with his party members. A fight quickly ensued, during which the experienced person, a mage, started to push a poor warrior around. The warrior initially took all the harsh scolding without uttering a single word in defense, but then his patience ran out. I widened my eyes in horror when the warrior drew his sword and stabbed the mage in his stomach.