Chapter 10 10: Lili’s Contract Skill
"Eh… so this is your home, Captain?"
After carefully stepping inside, Lili looked around curiously.
Although the room was filled with all sorts of odds and ends, forging tools, and materials, it wasn't dirty or chaotic overall.
It had a kind of orderly messiness to it.
After returning from the Dungeon, the two of them had first made a stop at the Guild.
The magic stone fragments they earned today had been exchanged at the money counter for a little over 8,000 valis.
For a rookie adventurer's first day, that was already a very respectable result.
But Drake wasn't satisfied with that at all. In his eyes, that amount wasn't much.
Even a somewhat well-made low-grade weapon would cost more than that.
As a member of the Hephaestus Familia, his sights couldn't be set too low.
"Just put your things down wherever for now. We're going somewhere else in a bit."
As he spoke, Drake summoned the system and opened Lili's information screen.
There wasn't much on it.
It was mainly divided into two sections: Management and Skills.
The Management page allowed Drake to control a contractee's permissions.
For example, whether they could enter or leave a given world, or use certain items.
On top of that, he could also assign roles!
In other words, he could designate a contractee to serve as a Terraria NPC role, and gain access to the corresponding shop function!
At the moment, Drake could only assign one role: Merchant.
This was Terraria's most ordinary merchant NPC, selling basic supplies.
Things like torches, rope, Lesser Healing Potions, and so on.
There were also a few fairly practical tools as well.
Items such as a Mining Helmet that gave off light, or a Piggy Bank that provided extra storage space.
Unlike the adventurer market in Babel Tower, the currency used in Terraria's shops was gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins produced within that world.
And the goods were supplied infinitely and never increased in price.
Most of the things Drake got from treasure chests could also be bought from the shop.
However, items like buff potions and accessories were not for sale.
[Assign "Liliruca" the role of "Merchant"?]
[This contractee possesses the skill "Behind-the-Scenes Supporter," granting additional bonuses while serving in this role.]
"Hm? There's a bonus too?"
Seeing the prompt before him, Drake raised an eyebrow and didn't confirm it right away.
Instead, he first checked the effect of the skill Lili possessed.
[Behind-the-Scenes Supporter: Contract Skill. Grants the contractee a 50-slot inventory. When serving as a "Merchant," an additional 50 inventory slots are granted.]
"So forming a contract also unlocks contract skills."
Drake looked through the skill information thoughtfully.
As expected of a professional supporter—after becoming a Merchant, Lili's inventory space would actually exceed his own!
"Lili, how do you feel right now?"
After finishing the assignment, Drake turned his gaze toward Lili, who was sitting quietly off to the side.
"Mmm… a lot of information suddenly flooded into my head."
The palum girl rubbed her temples, looking a little strained.
But she quickly digested the information she had received and let out a sigh of relief.
"I now have the Merchant role. As long as I have money, I can buy all sorts of items."
"And Captain can also open the shopping interface through me… at least, that's what the information says."
Since Lili didn't know Drake had a system, her explanation was a little vague.
But the moment Drake heard it, he understood and immediately started testing it out.
"I see. As long as I'm within a certain range of Lili, I can open the shop page."
Very quickly, a dazzling interface appeared before Drake's eyes.
On it were exactly the kinds of goods he expected… along with their prices.
Torch — 50 copper each
Lesser Healing Potion — 3 silver per bottle
Lesser Mana Potion — 1 silver per bottle
Wooden Arrow — 5 copper each
Shuriken — 15 copper each
Rope — 10 copper per segment
Bug Net — 25 silver each
Piggy Bank — 1 gold each
Mining Helmet — 4 gold each
…
Aside from those, there were many goods that had not yet been unlocked.
They could only be sold at certain times, in certain environments, or after meeting specific conditions.
Drake checked his inventory and discovered that his total assets amounted to… zero.
"Well, I did die once. All my money dropped."
Drake shook his head helplessly and closed the shop page.
The death penalty wasn't just being unable to re-enter Terraria.
All the coins on his person would also be dropped.
Compared to certain games where dying made you lose all your equipment and inventory as well, this level of punishment was already quite mild.
Still, if he wanted to build up his fortune, he'd better avoid dying in the future.
After setting Lili's permissions to allow entry into the Terraria world, Drake took her little hand and vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, the two of them suddenly appeared in an open clearing in the woods.
Unlike the main world, where dusk was approaching, it was still broad daylight in Terraria, with the sun only just rising.
"Phew… this place really is more comfortable."
Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, Drake sighed in satisfaction.
"The Dungeon's environment is awful—dark, cramped, and full of dust."
Meanwhile, Lili clutched the hem of Drake's clothes, peeking out from behind him as she looked around at this world full of unknowns.
"Master, what is this place?"
"Terraria. A brand-new world… and one that only I can enter."
Drake pulled Lili out from behind him and explained, "After getting my permission, you can come in too."
"Of course, I didn't bring you here for sightseeing."
"As long as you complete the work I assign to you, you can use the rest of your time however you like."
"Oh, and time flows twice as fast here as it does outside. Two days here equals one day in Orario. You can think of it that way."
For Lili, who had been born in the slums and started begging from the age of three, everything that had happened today, and everything she had experienced after following Drake, was utterly unheard of.
"A world that only Master and I can enter…"
"That means the people from my Familia won't be able to come after me here."
A strange light shone in the gem-like amber eyes of the palum girl.
"Master, what do I need to do next?"
"What do we do next? Obviously…"
Drake took out his Copper Axe from his inventory and looked around.
"First, we build a home to serve as a base for long-term exploration."
"I'll chop trees. Lili, you're in charge of collecting the wood and keeping watch."
"If you spot monsters like slimes, report them to me immediately."
'Home.'
The palum girl repeated the word over and over in her heart.
Then, filled with energy, she hurried after him.