Don't underestimate this simple lettuce salad—it not only helped Nami complete her beginner quest but also unlocked the Chef sub-profession and the Slime Recycling House. Nami opened her character attribute panel.
[Player Name: Nami
Profession: Mage (Legendary Mage)
Sub-professions: Alchemist lv7, Gardener lv3, Chef lv1
Race: Dragon Clan (Black Dragon)
Level: lv100
Attributes: Attack Power 233333, Defense 99999, Mental Power 99999, HP 999999, Charm ???, Luck ???
Equipped Items: Praise of the Cold Night (Legendary Robe), Song of Hanging Stars (Legendary Staff)...
Current Appearance: None]
In the game, you can choose two types of sub-professions. One is combat support professions, like scroll crafters, potion makers, and Nami's alchemist profession, which can create magic scrolls, potions, and all sorts of strange items. These both enhance your power and serve as the main source of income for ordinary players.
As for the other life support profession, you can choose from gardener, farmer, chef, or fisherman. These mainly add to life's pleasures. Nami had chosen one randomly back then, but now she somewhat regretted it. Looking at all the life support professions, it seemed only gardening had nothing to do with running a tavern. How likely would planting flowers outside the door attract customers to eat?
But since she had unlocked the chef sub-profession, starting over didn't matter. Looking at the 3D character floating in the air on her panel, Nami couldn't help but wonder: was a black dragon wielding a magic staff more absurd, or a chef wearing mage robes more ridiculous?
Thinking of this, she opened the appearance interface and selected the most suitable look for her current situation from the many appearances she had previously purchased.
[Sweet Wine: Gradient pink wavy curls, from sweet lilac pink to peacock pink, finally transitioning to smoke pink with gray undertones. Affinity +5]
[Sugar Paper in a Bottle: Snow-white petticoat naturally falling, thin silk shrouded in falling cherry mist, the swaying hem flowing with mysterious dark patterns. Affinity +10]
After changing her appearance, the system's voice rang out again. [Congratulations on completing all beginner tutorial tasks. Would you like to claim your Beginner Gift Pack*1?]
Nami eagerly opened the beginner gift pack. **[You have received: Sign1, Silver Coins20, Small Blackboard1, Tavern Decoration [Small Town Atmosphere]1]
Only twenty silver coins... Nami felt a bit disappointed. At her level, equipment enchanting and gem setting easily cost tens of thousands of gold coins. She rarely saw silver coins as a unit of measurement anymore.
She forced herself to cheer up. Twenty silver coins wasn't too bad. Let those past glories drift away with the wind along with her gold coin balance.
As soon as she got the sign, the system prompted Nami to name the tavern. She thought "Dragon Flame Tavern" was a good name. Although there was no alcohol in the tavern yet, at least there was a genuine black dragon, so without much thought, she directly replaced the old, rickety sign at the entrance.
Now she could finally see the tavern's panel.
[Dragon Flame Tavern
Branch Stores: None
Industries: Farm (Bathtub Farm), Ranch (None), Forest (None), Fish Pond (None)
Level: 1
Experience Points (affected by revenue and number of customers served): 0/1000
Achievement Points: 0
Reputation: 0
Current Funds: 20 silver coins
Decorations: Small Town Atmosphere]
Besides the tavern's main page, there were various shops she could access: seed shop, decoration shop, tableware shop, and so on. However, in the seed shop, only lettuce seeds were available, priced at 3 copper coins each.
The seed shop had unique rules. Nami had to obtain new seeds from the system and unlock the encyclopedia before she could purchase the corresponding seeds in the shop. So currently, only lettuce seeds were available for purchase.
Although she had completed the beginner tutorial, Nami still had no clue how to run this tavern. Where would ingredients come from? She couldn't just have customers eat lettuce, could she? Who were the customers? The town wasn't large—would the townspeople come to eat at her tavern?
Just then, the main quest finally arrived: [Main Quest 1: Grand Opening. The townspeople need you. Please open as soon as possible. Opening conditions: Repair the broken wooden door (0/1), Have one staff member (0/1)]
Open already?? Nami shuffled to the entrance, trying to reinstall the wooden door she had violently dismantled. The door hinge was missing some parts and couldn't be restored no matter what. Nami's already limited patience ran out, and she called up the system.
"Can you fix the door?"
[Would you like to repair the door? Cost: 5 gold coins]
Nami rubbed her eyes, confirming she saw gold coins, not copper coins. She firmly resisted this highway robbery. Nami decisively refused the system's help and instead took out the small blackboard from the beginner gift pack, trying to fulfill the other half of the opening conditions.
[Seeking tavern waitress, room and board included, salary...] Nami's hand paused. She wasn't clear about the local prices and didn't know what appropriate salary to offer employees. So she casually hung the incomplete recruitment notice on the outer wall, planning to complete the information after she went to town to understand the market rates.
With the tavern's door wide open but the owner about to leave, Nami thought for a moment, then dug out a pair of long daggers from the corners of her backpack and forcibly nailed the wooden door to the door frame.
She left satisfied, but hadn't walked far when she encountered a spirited woman in hunting attire coming toward her. She looked to be in her early thirties, quite tall, striding toward Nami with joy in her eyes.
"The new owner of Dragon Flame Tavern? We've been waiting for you for a long time." Nami was stunned. Did this tavern have some hidden secret? How could a tavern owner deserve such enthusiastic expectations? Fortunately, the woman was talkative. Noticing Nami's bewilderment, she cheerfully introduced herself: "I'm Rosa, the mayor of Misty Town. I heard the tavern's next owner would soon come to take over. Today I saw the tavern's lights were on, so I came to see if there was anything I could help with. Anyway, welcome to our town."
"Hello, I'm Nami." Rosa's gaze swept over Nami's delicate curls, the complex embroidery on her clothing, and her pale hands. She didn't ask those questions Nami had already prepared excuses for, but instead warmly invited her to tour the town.
The tavern was located on the edge of town, barely included in Misty Town's map by a stone path. It was damp and foggy here, with a cool, chilly sensation when the air touched skin. Nami followed Rosa step by step, inadvertently making eye contact with a little lamb in a pen. The lamb bleated once and buried its head in its mother's belly.
Rosa paused outside the pen: "Kayla is not only an excellent hunter but also a successful ranch owner. If you need it, you can buy smoked meat and cheese here." Nami silently made note of this.
Walking through the town's streets, perhaps because there was no sunlight, Nami felt everything before her eyes was like a faded oil painting—no flowers, no green grass. Under the gray mist, there were few bright patches of color.
So much empty land—don't they grow vegetables? Nami looked at the spaces between houses, estimating how much suitable farmland could be cultivated. Although she only had a small tavern now, the tavern clearly displayed an [Industries] section, divided into four branches: farm, ranch, forest, and fish pond. It was obviously encouraging her to expand her industry chain, covering everything from ingredients to finished products.
Rosa noticed Nami staring at the withered grass on the empty land and sighed: "Even the Harvest God's footsteps are blocked by the tall Yas Mountains, preventing this fertile land from bearing fruitful harvests." She smiled at Nami, "Fortunately, there's still Dragon Flame Tavern."
Wait, Nami was confused. According to Rosa, the land here wasn't barren but wasn't suitable for growing crops. But what did this have to do with her tavern?
Just as she was about to ask for clarification, Rosa pushed open the door of a street-side shop.
"I think you definitely need to know about this place, Miss Nami." "Grain—whether it's rye, oats, or beans, they have it all here." She joked with the man in the shop, "Hannah's grain store holds the throat of our destiny."
"Allow me to correct you, Mayor—Hannah's general store. Not just grain, whatever you need, you can find it here," said Beck, stroking his small mustache while brushing tung oil on a wooden box. "Of course, except for fresh vegetables—those cost as much to transport as their weight in silver coins."
"Transport?" Nami caught the key point. "This flour is also transported in?" Rosa had mentioned that Misty Town wasn't suitable for growing crops, so perhaps the grain in front of her wasn't locally produced either. Food costs that included transportation fees were definitely not good news for her.
"Yes, transported from Bant City outside, crossing cliffs where wing-crows circle and lakes full of rotting thorns..." Beck realized he was rambling, "Just the road you took to get here—that's the only road connecting to the outside world."
Nami's expression didn't change. She had been air-dropped in, so of course she hadn't walked any road. But this road was fraught with difficulties, which must be why food prices were so high.
She looked at the grain prices: rye flour 3 silver coins/bag, wheat flour 5 silver coins/bag, beans 1 silver coin/bag...
Nami weighed a bag—it was probably less than five pounds. Her entire fortune could only buy about twenty pounds of flour. She hesitated, then picked up a bag of flour and paid for it. The place wasn't far from the tavern, so she could come back to buy more flour if needed.
Beck was quite puzzled by her flour purchase: "Miss, the Midnight Swamp isn't a good place for cooking. If you want to fill your stomach, why not try Hannah's white bread instead?"
Rosa explained: "Miss Nami is the new owner of Dragon Flame Tavern, not a mage apprentice training in the Midnight Swamp."
Beck's expression became visibly more enthusiastic: "When will the tavern open?" Nami thought of the lettuce salad she had fed to the slime, smiled without changing expression, and said: "Soon."
The town wasn't large. After leaving "Hannah's General Store," Rosa and Nami saw several townspeople nailing temporary signs to their front doors. From the slightly blackened signs, Nami could make out words like [Equipment Repair] and [Inn].
What kind of day was this? Was everyone opening businesses together? If she hadn't seen the townspeople greeting Rosa familiarly, Nami would have thought everyone was fellow sufferers transported into the game.
Rosa nodded in response while explaining: "The Fog Month is about to end, and before the Clear Month arrives, townspeople will organize their spare rooms to rent to the large groups of mercenaries who will come. This is our main source of income for the year," she glanced at Nami, seemingly wanting to remind her, "and also when tavern business is at its best."