Online Game: I'm in MapleStory

Chapter 118 Warehouse x Mission Sign x Merchant

Wu Ming followed Theo closely, and the four of them set out from the coastal unloading port and headed towards the warehouse. The journey wasn't far, but the white and blue buildings along the way were filled with unique and beautiful scenery.

In this MapleStory world, most of the native residents only have levels but no professions. Compared to the weak novices in the initial stage of Blue Star, they may be slightly stronger.

However, at the current stage, these indigenous residents can still only be regarded as ordinary people. After all, they are generally above level 20 now.

Furthermore, unlike the technologically advanced Blue Planet, the MapleStory world lacks convenient and efficient cargo transport tools like cranes. All cargo transportation here relies almost entirely on manual labor.

Because of this, the distance between the unloading area and the container warehouse is naturally not too far apart. Otherwise, it would be a very difficult and arduous task to complete the long-distance transportation work by manpower alone.

In this way, Wu Ming walked slowly and in less than ten minutes, he had followed Theo to their destination, the entrance and exit of the warehouse.

"Look! This is the warehouse the captain rented for unloading and sorting cargo!"

Theo stopped and pointed at the large, densely packed warehouse in front of him, and Wu Ming introduced it.

"Merchants responsible for transporting goods usually stay in the warehouse area where the goods are sorted and organized, and then bargain for prices. Generally speaking, these merchants will only select a specific type of goods and then transport them to a designated village for sale."

As he spoke, Theo gestured in the air with his hands so that Wu Ming could understand the situation he was describing more clearly.

Wu Ming widened his eyes and stared blankly at the magnificent warehouse in front of him, feeling an indescribable shock in his heart.

In stark contrast to the fairy-tale-like and quaint mushroom-like houses he was familiar with in the Shooter Village, the dozen or so giant warehouses standing here were like towering stone fortresses.

These warehouses are all cast from huge blue, white and blue stones. Each one is a regular cube shape, giving people an indestructible visual impact.

At first glance, the vast expanse of warehouses stretches endlessly, its scale staggering. Even the dazzling sunlight cannot fully cover the entire surface of the warehouses, and some corners are always shrouded in shadows, adding a touch of mystery and majesty.

Wu Ming looked in the direction Theo pointed, and saw that the door of the warehouse was like the house in a cursed temple where giants like stone men lived, and it was more than ten meters high!

Perhaps because it was working hours, the huge door was always open, like a tireless mouth, swallowing and spitting out a constant flow of people and goods.

Through the doorway, he could clearly see the workers busy and bustling about in an orderly manner. Some of them worked in groups of three or five, shouting loud slogans in unison, and working together to move the huge boxes of goods.

Others work alone, carrying relatively small cargo steadily on their broad shoulders and moving steadily between the well-organized warehouses.

From a distance, these hard-working workers look like tiny but tenacious ants, methodically carrying and decomposing all kinds of "food" in this huge storage space.

The whole scene was both lively and lively, and revealed a wonderful harmony and regularity.

In front of the doors of those carefully organized and sorted warehouses, there is always a person holding an account book.

They were engaged in a fierce bargaining battle with the merchants who had come to collect the goods. Both sides went back and forth, neither side conceding, and they discussed the price of each transaction with sharp words.

After a series of arduous negotiations, once the price was agreed upon and the payment process was completed, the porters who had been waiting in the warehouse for a long time immediately took action.

They skillfully and swiftly moved each piece of goods onto the merchant's carriage and stacked them neatly. The merchant then tipped them and whipped the loaded carriage gently, slowly driving it to the warehouse entrance and stopping steadily.

Perhaps for the convenience of transportation and trading, all warehouses corresponding to sorted and categorized goods are located closely in front of the entrances and exits.

At this moment, most of the merchants and Shanks staff were still arguing over the prices of the goods, and the noise was heard one after another.

Wu Ming listened curiously for a while, and suddenly he was surprised to find that he could keenly perceive from these noisy sounds the profit speed of Sanks in transporting goods from each village through sea transportation!

In the Treasure Island of MapleStory, no matter which village, or the precious materials obtained from various wild monsters roaming in the wild, Wu Ming seems to frequently hear the names of these items in the conversations among these merchants who are arguing about prices.

Wu Ming pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the noisy sounds coming from the surroundings, as if he could hear the red bows tied on the cute pigs in the Archer Village being made into commodities and sold by merchants.

I also heard the crisp sounds of various rare minerals that could only be obtained by killing powerful monsters in the wild colliding with each other as they were transported from the warehouse to the carriage.

In addition, there is the tempting aroma of sweet apples and oranges used to restore the body's MP and HP, as well as the unique flavors of various delicious fish and meats that have been carefully marinated.

These numerous precious items, which can only be found in the wilds of various villages, are piled up in every warehouse and on the merchants' carriages.

At this moment, Wu Ming seemed to see the porters carrying items from the warehouse onto the carriage. The cargo box was filled with razors with colorful handles! As far as he knew, such items were usually shipped from Rainbow Island by sea!

"So, how exactly are we going to accept the caravan's protection mission?"

Wu Ming knew full well that his purpose in coming here was to successfully complete this crucial escort mission. After he had roughly inspected all the items and conditions around the warehouse, he turned to Theo without hesitation and asked.

"See that eye-catching mission notice board over there? It details the prices the merchants have already agreed on for the goods, and the goods have been properly loaded onto carriages, awaiting escort from the escort agency.

Once someone from the escort agency successfully takes on these escort missions, they can follow the merchants who issued the missions and then officially begin the escort journey to the designated transportation destination!"

Hearing Wu Ming's question, Theo smiled, raised his hand, pointed in another direction, and began to explain.

Wu Ming was startled when he heard this, then looked in the direction of the speaker's finger. He saw a huge wooden sign standing at the entrance of the warehouse.

At first, Wu Ming thought it was just a common warning sign or a common sign in warehouses, and didn't pay much attention to it. However, when he took a closer look, he was surprised to find that this seemingly ordinary sign was actually a key sign used to receive orders to protect merchants while they were transporting goods on the road!

Wu Ming couldn't help but squint his eyes, trying to look from his position towards the high-hanging task notice board in the distance.

Due to the distance, the handwriting was a little blurry, but he could still barely make out the task content marked on it and the reward after completing the task and reaching the destination.

What surprised and puzzled Wu Ming was that the commission for these escort missions was not high, ranging roughly between 500,000 and 2 million Maple Leaf Coins.

Looking at the long distance and meager escort commission income, Wu Ming was full of suspicion. He turned his gaze to Theo beside him, with confusion and bewilderment in his eyes.

"You can go and take a look! Usually, these missions are very safe and the risks are minimal. Because of this, most of the time the escort agency will only send one of their own people to follow.

However, as our captain's business became increasingly prosperous and bigger, the escort agency was running out of manpower! That's why they had no choice but to adopt our captain's suggestion!

We're recruiting a group of capable adventurers to form a temporary team to escort the convoy. This idea is new, and the captain has high hopes for you, so he strongly recommends you take the lead and help establish the reputation of this new initiative!

So far, this matter has not been revealed to the outside world at all. Because of this, the adventurers on Treasure Island are naturally still unaware of it!"

When Theo noticed that Wu Ming's puzzled gaze first fell on the notice board and then turned back to himself, he hurriedly explained to him in detail the ins and outs of this escort.

"This mission is generally not very risky. You should know that most of the goods are actually reserved in advance by the village chiefs or respected people in various villages on Treasure Island.

Therefore, the probability of encountering robbers during transportation is relatively low. However, it is important to note that these are only attacks by monsters that appear in the wild!

Some merchants have certain strength themselves, or are part of a business team. They often choose to transport goods alone or as a team, so they don't need to spend extra money to hire people from the escort agency.

As for the remaining ones who still stayed where they were, eagerly waiting for the escort agency to send someone to escort them, either the goods they were carrying were extremely valuable, or they were wealthy merchants with no financial resources at all.

As if sensing Wu Ming's deep-seated doubts, Theo immediately added an explanation.

After listening to Theo's detailed account, Wu Ming finally understood the reason why this escort mission came into being.

People like him who traveled from Blue Star and then moved to the MapleStory world, if you look at it from another perspective, it's like they traveled through time and space into a game world called MapleStory.

From this perspective, the indigenous people living in this MapleStory world are naturally equivalent to the NPC characters in the game.

As for Wu Ming's ability to successfully trigger this escort mission, the most crucial factor was the 100% favorability between him and Shanks!

That's why the escort mission appeared. As for why it appeared after I changed my job, maybe this is because of the rules of the MapleStory world!

"Thank you, Brother Theo, for being so patient in clearing up my confusion. Now I finally understand. So, as you said, I just need to take the token I got from the escort agency, go to the mission notice board, and choose any mission from the many merchants. Then I can officially start the escort work that only the escort agency can do, right?"

After his thoughts gradually became clear, Wu Ming looked at Theo with burning eyes and asked.

"That's right! I have nothing to do from now on. You just need to lead your team to the mission notice board, select a suitable caravan, and escort it all the way to its destination. Once you successfully complete the escort mission, the merchants will pay you the agreed commission."

Hearing Wu Ming's words, Theo nodded without hesitation.

As he spoke, he raised his hand to signal Wu Ming to follow him. Soon, the four of them arrived at the mission notice board.

"Okay, this is where the mission notice board is. That's all the instructions the captain gave me. The rest depends entirely on you and your team! I wish you all the best on this escort mission."

After Theo finished speaking, he waved casually at Wu Ming, then turned around and strode out of the warehouse.

As Theo's figure gradually disappeared from sight, the task bar that had been hidden in front of Wu Ming slowly emerged again, and the progress indicator on it was quietly flashing.

At this moment, the task prompt box in front of Wu Ming popped up the task entry [Start Escorting].

Immediately afterwards, another series of news came one after another.

[Phase 1 mission begins, progress one, follow Theo to contact the caravan] (completed)

[Phase mission started, progress 2, accept any mission on the signboard] (in progress)

At this time, a detailed task description appeared in front of Wu Ming.

"Mission Requirements: Protect the merchant and the freight truck until they reach their destination safely. The final reward will be calculated based on the damage rate of the goods and the merchant's injury level. Please do your best to protect the merchant and the goods!"

Wu Ming stared at the line of words and was stunned.

Because before this, the tasks he received were almost all about obtaining certain specific props as a means of advancing to the next stage of the task. This was the first time he had encountered a situation where specific requirements were clearly stated.

"Have you two seen the requirements of this mission?"

After calming down a little, Wu Ming turned his head, glanced at Dachun and Ah Hao who were standing not far behind him, and asked.

"Huh? What mission? I didn't see it! Boss, are you talking about the mission sign in front?"

However, Ah Hao seemed to have not yet reacted, and pointed at the sign at the entrance and exit where the merchant issued the protection mission and responded with a confused look on his face.

"In my opinion, it's most likely because of the escort agency's token! Just now, when our boss was talking to that Theo, he directly showed the token, and he has been holding it in his hand until now. That's why this mission appeared!"

After a moment's thought, Dachun instantly grasped the profound meaning of Wu Ming's words. He muttered to himself while recalling the various situations that had happened before, and then he began to explain to Wu Ming and Ah Hao in a firm tone.

As soon as he finished speaking, Da Chun quickly reached into the backpack on his back. His movements were skillful and smooth. In the blink of an eye, he firmly grasped an exquisite golden bronze identity token of the escort agency.

At this moment, Dachun felt the right emotion. The task prompt that had originally only appeared in front of Wu Ming suddenly appeared before Dachun, as if possessing a spirit.

"You guessed it right! Ah Hao, quickly take out your own escort agency identity token! I just took out my token and immediately saw this task prompt!"

Dachun turned to look at Ah Hao with excitement on his face, and at the same time raised the token in his hand to signal the other party to act quickly.