ITEMS AND EQUIPMENT

1. Press Space to pick up items and gold.
2. Expend inventory space with bags.
3. Upgrade clothing and weapons when you find them and are capable of using them.
4. Equip accessories once you have equipped clothing with pockets.
5. Repair equipment at a clothier or blacksmith before it breaks.
6. Sell unwanted items to NPC merchants for gold, and purchase supplies.
7. Purchase Storage space to store excess items.

Defeated creatures often drop various Items onto the ground when slain. If you can see an item, and are the one who slew its former owner, then you can pick it up by pressing Space. Your character will pick up the nearest available item, but you'll have to keep pressing space if you're amidst a pile of loot.

Except for Gold, which is added directly to your character's cash total, all items will take up space in your Inventory, which you can check by pressing I. Each different item you find takes up an additional inventory space, and you begin with only 25 inventory spaces. So you'll want to equip additional Bags pretty soon, which can be purchased from clothing dealers throughout the Land. You can equip two additional bags, which each add another 25 slots to your inventory. Some bags even enhance your character, but these are rare and precious.

You also have a Disassemble Bag in your inventory, which is specifically for the items you receive when disassembling equipment, also known as Particles. Particles are automatically placed into your Disassemble Bag, and can't be removed from it.

Moving your mouse over an item reveals its name, and clicking it once reveals the item's Tooltip, which provides additional information about it. An icon in the upper-right corner of the tooltip, when moused over, reveals whether an item can be traded with other players, sold to NPC merchants, placed in storage, or discarded.

The first three functions will be explained later, but Discarding an item removes it from your inventory, and drops it onto the ground near you, where other players may be able to pick it up if they see it.

TIP: The Sort function organizes all the items in your bags, but the game's idea of organization might not match yours.

Among the most prized items are the weapons which you need to execute your kung fu techniques, and the clothing that protects you from the blades and fists of your enemies. Basic weapons and clothing can be purchased from merchants, but the most prized equipment is found in treasure hoards held by mighty foes, or crafted by talented artisans.

To equip a weapon or clothing item, either double-left-click on it in your inventory, or click and drag it to the appropriate slot on your Character Window, which can be accessed with C. Clicking an item once will display all of its information, while information on your currently equipped item of the same type, if any, will appear to its right. Equipping an item when you already have one of the same type equipped will remove the existing item and place it back into your inventory.

Weapons and clothing can be enhanced and modified in multiple ways, which are the subject of their own section.

Even the most basic Weapon will increase your kung fu damage when equipped. You can strike opponents when unarmed, but most kung fu techniques require you to have a specific type of weapon to perform them. Techniques for unarmed combat inflict more damage when you wear gloves (which function like weapons). But to equip a weapon properly, you will need to meet its Prerequisite values for level, Strength, and Dexterity. You can equip weapons when you don't meet the prerequisite, but the item won't be as effective as it would be in the hands of a qualified wielder, and its Durability will decrease rapidly.

Bracers function like other weapons, except bracers increase the damage of chi kung instead of kung fu, and they require a prerequisite Wisdom value instead of Strength. Bracers count as a separate weapon type, so you can't use Hands and Feet techniques while wearing them.

You can equip an extra weapon and swap between it and your primary weapon with W, but you'll only gain the benefits of one weapon at a time.

Clothing can turn aside a deadly blow and steady your wrist enough to turn the occasional miss into a hit. Kung fu requires too much fluidity and freedom of motion for heavy armor to be viable, but various useful shirts, pants, wristbands, hats, and shoes can all be found, and are vital to your survival. Clothing requires a prerequisite level to wear properly, or else it will degrade quickly.

Shirts and Pants increase your defense against physical kung fu damage. Shirts and pants can also have Pockets, inside which you can keep Accessories to gain their bonuses. Hats increase your Dodge Rating, and Wristbands increase your Attack Rating, letting you more easily avoid physical attacks and strike true with your own. Shoes don't do anything on their own, but can carry powerful magic, like other clothing.

Most clothing is specially made for Male or Female body types, and you can't equip clothing made for the opposite sex.

Clothing often comes in matched Sets, and you'll gain additional stat bonuses from each piece if you wear more pieces from the complete set. A new piece of clothing might not be so impressive, unless you acquire more of the matching outfit.

TIP: Many types of clothing have stats which make them more suitable for either kung fu (physical) attackers, or chi kung attackers.

The various jewelry, relics, and trinkets you find in the Land are collectively known as Accessories, and all of them grant you various bonuses when you carry them. But in order to carry even a single accessory, you'll need a shirt or pair of pants with Pockets. Each pocket holds a single accessory.

Accessories can't be modified to the same extend as equipment, but you can unlock additional properties from them. See the appropriate section for more information.

Like clothing, accessories can also be part of matched Sets, gaining additional stat bonuses when more of the set is equipped.

Equipment wears out with use, and you must take care to keep it maintained, or risk losing it. Dealing and taking damage in combat inflicts damage to the Durability of your weapons and clothing, respectively. An item breaks when it reaches 0 durability. A broken item is lost forever.

Since equipment represents a significant investment in time and value, you'll want to keep yours maintained. Any Blacksmith or Clothier can repair all of your equipment, for a reasonable fee.

Most of the items you find in the world won't be of much use to you, or you'll outgrow existing items. Other items, try as you might, can't be found just lying around. There are plenty of Merchants in the Land to help you with both of these problems.

To use a merchant, talk with them, and see if they have a Trade function under their dialogue window. If they do, they'll have items for sale, and will purchase any item which can be sold (any merchant is willing to purchase any item). Clicking Trade opens the Buy/Sell Item window.

To buy an item, double-left-click on it, and enter the amount you wish to purchase. Enter All will set the purchase amount to the maximum number of that item which can be held in a single inventory slot. Press Confirm and the appropriate amount of gold will be deducted from your funds, and the item(s) will be placed in your inventory.

To sell an item, double-left-click on it when the Buy/Sell Item window is open. You will first be given a prompt as to whether you want to sell the item. If you have more than one, you'll be asked how many you wish to sell. Once you've confirmed the amount, the item(s) will be removed from your inventory, and gold will be added directly to your total.

If you sell an item by accident and want it back, you can open any merchant NPC's Repurchase function and buy it back, but it will cost twice as much gold to repurchase as what you sold it for. You can only repurchase the last 25 items you sold, and sold items can't be repurchased after 24 have passed. You don't have to repurchase an item from the same merchant you sold it to, but all merchants you deal with share the same repurchase list.

TIP: When you arrive in a new location, talk with every NPC. A few will have rare and exotic items for sale, despite not advertising themselves as merchants.

You are inevitably going to run out of inventory space, as you obtain more items you can't sell and don't want to discard. Storagekeepers will allow you to deposit or withdraw items and cash from a personal storage vault. Once you make a deposit, you can withdraw from any storagekeeper in the Land.

You'll have to use the Add Storage function and rent storage space before you can make any deposits, however. Storagekeepers offer multiple storage contracts, for 20 to 80 storage slots, and for periods of 120, 240, or 365 days. You can purchase a new contract while an existing one is in effect, but this will overwrite it. As long as the contract is in effect, you can deposit and remove items and cash at your whims.

TIP: Storage contract costs increase exponentially as you add more item slots, but cost per unit actually decreases with longer durations. So don't rent any more storage slots than you think you'll need, but it's cheaper in the long run to go for the longest storage contract you can afford.

Next: Quests