As Julian walked to a blacksmith shop recommended by Ms. Jennifer , he couldn't help but applaud the aspiring Mideous.
Using the initial rush of clicks from the players in the crowd to push the post onto the popular page quickly brought it into the sights of the public.
Although the Golden Light Emporium had not a single item in stock, he expertly posted a countdown of an hour till the shop's opening.
It not only gave their team time to set up a stand and buy items, it also kept the suspense alive.
Mideous also texted Julian as soon as the big guilds reached out to him but was advised to focus on the general public first.
Attention from the public quickly faded, but for larger guilds, this was the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars, something much more enticing.
Julian had already lent Mideous 1,000 gold coins as initial capital to get the business rolling, so he was sure they had enough money to get by.
Assuming the exchange rate of 120 dollars per 1 silver coin, that was 12 million dollars he was working with.
As Julian reached the blacksmith's shop, he couldn't help but notice there was no hint of anything burning.
When he stepped inside, he was met with the sweet smell of vanilla mixed with a metallic note.
The shop was incredibly clean, but there was absolutely no one to receive Julian.
The place was as empty as a desert, so he decided to look around and see if anything caught his eye.
Swords, spears, katanas, daggers, and polearms were all displayed on the shop's wall.
Each one cost more than most families made in a week, but it didn't matter much to Julian.
Minutes passed, and yet no one showed up despite his calls for a worker.
He pulled out the recommendation card he had received from Ms. Jennifer to ensure he was in the right place, and indeed he was.
Julian paused for a moment to consider shopping elsewhere when the door opened to reveal two people.
One was a familiar masked individual, and the other looked to be the shopkeeper of the blacksmith's front.
The moment the shopkeeper made eye contact with Julian, an expression of fear flashed across his face.
He, who should've been there to greet a distinguished customer, had been noticeably absent.
If word of his misdeed reached the ears of his boss, he was sure to be punished for the lack of hospitality.
Immediately, Mole, the shopkeeper, rushed to Julian's side and greeted him with a bow.
"I apologize profusely for any inconvenience you've faced during my absence! How may I help you sir?"
Julian simply waved the poor young man off to signify it wasn't anything to worry about.
He was more focused on Oblivion, who happened to show up at this exclusive blacksmith shop.
From Ms. Jennifer's own account, this hidden shop was owned by a disciple of the legendary blacksmith.
But considering the other's status as a regressor, it made sense as to how such a person ended up here.
The equipment here was leagues above what the other blacksmiths in town had.
Looking back at the quivering young man, Julian commanded him to bring him the store's finest armor and spear.
While the sword was a much more popular choice, the learning curve and reach of the spear were much better suited for a beginner like Julian.
The total cost of the spear and set of armor was nearly 30 gold coins (with a discount), or 360,000 dollars in the real world.
When Julian asked the shopkeeper why the items were so cheap, despite being owned by the discipline of a legend, he received an unexpected answer.
Because while in name it was owned by such a figure, this shop was only a branch location.
More specifically, it was a branch that received at most D-class equipment.
The D-class was something made up by the discipline but equated to be about the system's Uncommon+ rating.
It was a treasure for any player currently, but not even worth a moment's attention from the top of Alpha's world.
Yet even then, he happily paid for and donned the armor and stored the spear in his inventory.
As Julian began to walk out of the store, the silent Oblivion suddenly spoke up to offer a trade.
"I'll give you cords for a good leveling spot if you give me 5 gold coins."
"And why should I trust your information?" Julian questioned.
"Because I'm the number one ranked player in levels," Oblivion smiled.
Julian looked up the official leaderboard to see he wasn't even in the top ten.
"I think your eyes aren't working, buddy. 'Cause I'm looking, and you're not even cracking 10th place," Julian mocked.
"Huh."
"But how? No one should've reached level 10 till…"
Julian only caught those few words before he failed to pick up the rest of his muttering.
He's barely even hiding the fact he knows more than he's letting on, Julian thought.
But seeing Oblivion's shocked expression, it was clear there was more to the leaderboard.
Out of the nearly billion players on Alpha, a total of 11 players had reached level 10 and higher.
While this didn't seem too out of the ordinary, the 12th ranked player was a staggering 5 levels lower than the 11th ranked Oblivion.
These 11 were outliers among outliers; it was incredible just how much of a leveling advantage they had over the entirety of Alpha's player population.
Keeping in mind that the game had launched maybe an hour ago, this was truly a staggering pace.
While Oblivion was still muttering away, hunched in thought, Julian was silently groaning in his mind.
Unlike the oblivious Oblivion, he knew that it was possible for someone else to possess future knowledge.
Two of them were literally in the same building, after all.
With that revelation out of the way, it made everything so much more complicated.
Seeing how Oblivion was thinking away, Julian was sure it wouldn't take long before the other possible regressors or cheats realized their situations weren't special.
"Yo, just add me as a friend and send the cords," Julian sighed.
He placed five gold coins on the counter for Oblivion to grab before heading out of the store.
It was a risky move, but he decided to gamble on it anyway. Julian considered it a good way for him to find out Oblivion's stance on him.
His last stop was the alchemy shop to buy whatever health or mana potions were available.
Because after all this time, it was finally time for him to get out and do some old-fashioned leveling.