Chapter 2 The Capsule

It's been four whole years since that Interview when Benjamin sat in front of his chimney, adjusting his reading glasses while tapping on his phone to browse through his E-Mails. Amongst requests for custom-made items that he has already long rejected, there was one mail that caught his mind.

"'Prime Industries - Thank you for your help!', huh? What was Prime Industries again…? Was it that game company?" Intrigued at the memory of back then, Benjamin quickly tapped on the mail to read through it.

[Dear Mr. Joyce,

Due to your immense help in the past, it was possible for us to complete a big part of our project in even more detail as we could have wished for.

Thus, especially after hearing about your recent condition, we once again want to give you the offer of being one of the first players of 'World of Magic'. This would make it possible for you to continue your craft as much as you want without further damaging your real body.

If you are interested in this concept, please inform us and we will talk about the details.

Of course, you will not have to pay the regular monthly fee for the game nor the initial payment for the capsule, and instead, the company will pay for it completely.]

We would love to hear from you,

Your friends at Prime Industries

"I can continue making stuff, huh? Well… Maybe it isn't that bad of an idea after all." Benjamin mutters to himself. Four years ago during the interview, he had no plans of ever playing the game that Prime Industries told him about. But that doesn't mean that he is or was ignorant to what this kind of technology means, he just wasn't interested in playing it himself. He actually is also very knowledgeable about modern technology.

He even hesitated for a month before agreeing to do the interview, after he finally realized that this would be the best way of passing on his will. After all, neither of his two sons nor his daughter ever had an interest in his crafts. Of course, he was proud of them no matter what they chose to do in their life, but he was still sad to see that the knowledge he worked for within the many decades of his life would vanish together with him someday.

Thus, after carefully being told about the concept for the game as well as the level of realism, Benjamin agreed to teach Prime Industries some of the things he learned. Of course, he didn't only give them the info they could gather during the interview but also gave them copies of the journals he kept throughout the years so that they truly gained as much knowledge as he could give them.

After that, he would have been fulfilled just quietly working on random items for the rest of his life. That was until one day around two years ago…

Seeing that the lights were off in Benjamin's house, a thief broke a window and stepped inside, only to find the old man working in the back inside his workshop working on a commission. The thief, startled at seeing a mountain of a man bearing a weapon in his direction, jumped backward into a pile of steel scrap that Benjamin got from a steelyard just the day before, knocking it over completely.

As a chain reaction, the metal fell on top of some tools laying on a table near Benjamin, flinging them right into the opening to the hot coal-filled forge. Of course, as one might expect, some of the burning coals were thrown out of the opening through the impact, directly onto Benjamin's right arm, melting into his flesh.

Benjamin may be resistant to hot temperatures for the most part after working as a Blacksmith for so long, but burning-coal coming from a forge that was heated above a thousand degrees Celsius is nothing any human being can handle.

The thief ran away after seeing the old man lying on the floor, screaming in pain. The police tried finding him, but it seems like he got away successfully.

Without the emergency-button that his daughter put near the door of his workshop, who knows what might have happened to Benjamin at the time?

He had multiple surgeries after that, trying to save as much of his arm as possible. Luckily, it didn't have to be amputated, but there was still a lot of damage done to the muscles and bones in Benjamin's arm. The surgeon that worked on Benjamin did an amazing job, but even so, he had to give up his passion for most of his craftsmanship.

So, the offer from Prime Industries to this broken old man seemed like a miracle to him.

"It's all set up and ready to go, Mister Joyce. All that's left to do is lay down inside with comfortable clothing on, and sync up with the machine. It's going to explain the rest to you. For others, the game will launch in a month, but you can play in a few hours already." A private technician from Prime Industries explains to Benjamin while they are standing in front of the capsule that was just installed. To make sure he wouldn't do anything wrong, Benjamin turned to the young man. "So that's it? I don't need to install anything on it, or let it run before getting into it?"

The technician shook his head with a soft smile and answers, "No, there's no need for that. The capsule will automatically detect when you get into it and set everything up. You can choose to start the game from the desktop mode, or just by tapping the icon on the screen inside. If you ever decide to buy another game for the capsule once they come out, all you need to do is add the file-drive onto the side here. No installing, so you can just hop right in." Pointing at the backside of the capsule where there visibly are slots to add something into. Benjamin crossed his arms and nodded impressed at the state of this technological peace of wonder.

"Now then, I'll leave you to playing the game now. Have fun, Mister Joyce."

After leading the technician to the door, Benjamin walked back to the capsule and looked at the huge contraption.

He slowly stepped inside after he changed into comfortable clothes. Benjamin knew that the game wasn't online yet, but he wanted to at least try out this 'Desktop-Mode' the technician briefly mentioned. He layed down onto his back and closed the hatch to the capsule.

[No Applications Available]

[Commencing Desktop-Mode]

After seeing this message in front of him, without any warning in the slightest, Benjamin was now standing in a nearly pure white world with a single, futuristic gray desk and chair in front of him. It took Benjamin some time to get used to the sudden change in environment, and after nearly dropping on his ass, he grabs onto the chair until his slight dizziness dissipated.

"What's this now? There's nothin' even here!" Benjamin yells out and sat down at the desk in front of him since it was the only thing to do. Then, just when he did, a white orb appeared in thin air that Benjamin was barely able to notice in this white space if it hadn't been for its faint blue glow. In the middle of the orb, two small blue circles appeared as the orb released a male voice.

"Welcome! My name is Rover, your personal assistance! Do you want to set up your account information?" It asked happily, swirling around Benjamin's head. Confused at this, since he hasn't heard about it at all, he scratched his white beard and nodded, agreeing to set up his account.

For about the next 20 minutes, Rover asked him a number of different questions, such as his name, age, as well as likes and dislikes.

"Alright, Benjamin! It's time to perfect your Desktop! You can change the style of this whole space! You can keep it like this, of course, but that's boring, right?" Rover asked cheerfully. With a smile on his face, Benjamin thought about it for a bit, and then answered, "Hmm, can you set it up like this is a small log cabin in the middle of nowhere? Maybe in a forest, or by a lake surrounded by steep mountains?"

"Sure can do, Benjamin!" With that being said, Rover suddenly turned from a perfect sphere into a cube, dropping down onto the desk. The moment he touched it, the desk slowly turned from a futuristic, metallic gray to a fine, but still rough, wooden table. From then on like fire spreading, the area around Benjamin changed just into what he described. After about two minutes, Rover's body turned back into a sphere and he began to float again

"The actual area is equivalent to about 5 square kilometers! You can go outside and have fun, or stay in here and work on things! Anything, just as a book, for example, can be exported as a file into a flash-drive! Time Dilation or Contraction can be set up as well!" The small, robotic sounding ball floating in the air explained to Benjamin. However, just to make sure, he asked one question to see if he understood correctly.

"Time Dilation or Contraction? Can you explain?"

"Sure thing, Benjamin! As the name suggests, it means that the perception of time in here compared to outside can be changed, up to a certain point! The current maximum rate is 4:1 for Contraction and 1:4 for Dilation! In the Contraction setting, 4 minutes will feel like a single minute to you, while in the Dilation setting they will feel like 16 minutes to you! However, for health and safety reasons we only allow a single hour to be 'skipped' via Time Contraction every day!"

"Oooh~?" Benjamin groaned out impressed. He had never heard of this kind of thing before, and was surprised this was even possible. For now, though, he didn't change anything about how he perceived Time. Instead, he simply asked some more questions. "Will anything I do here influence me in the game, or vice versa?"

Rover's body turned to the left and then to the right a few times while he was seemingly trying to shake his head. "Nope! However, since you allowed a link to your security software, I will appear within any application you run and will let you know you have a visitor, or someone is trying to break into your house, etc, so don't worry about that! Also, you will be able to keep in touch with other players through your Desktop-Mode, since Friend-requests are account based and not game based!"

"I see, I see. Thanks, Rover." Benjamin smiled softly and placed his big hand onto Rover's 'head', trying to pat him. Just then, he realized something he should have tried out way earlier.

"Wait… my- my arm, it feels completely normal!" Excitedly, the old man jumped up and made a tight fist using his right arm. "So they were right! I can use my arm normally! Yes, yes, yes!" Not having been this excited for years, Benjamin nearly began jumping up and down like a kid. Confused at first, Rover's eyes flashed green for a second before turning back to the normal blue.

"It seems like the muscles in your right arm are severely damaged. If you want and will allow it, I am going to keep check over your vitals and inform you in case something is wrong." The small orb suggested and lost his excited voice for a second. This, however, changed when Benjamin agreed to let him do it, making Rover as excited as always.

"Now, Rover! Tell me when I can finally play that game!" Benjamin asks and looks over at his Virtual Assistant, who then pulled up a small futuristic-looking and see-through floating screen.

[Time until 'World of Magic' can be launched: 2 hours, 13 Minutes]

Chapter 1 Interview With A Legend

"Hello, Mister Joyce. My name is Samuel Morgan, we were talking on the phone last week." After entering into the hot smithy, a young man with short, dark blonde hair and glowing blue eyes walked up to a man standing in front of an anvil while he was still hammering down onto the hot metal in front of him. The man, Benjamin Joyce, turned around in surprise and layed the metal down with his tongs and began to smile.

"So you're the kid I'm supposed to meet today? Sorry, I'm working on a little project of mine." Apologizing with a bright smile, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and arms using the towel he always has laying somewhere around himself if he should need it, and then took off his ear-protectors.

The young man called Samuel loosened his tie and took off his suit-jacket to cool himself off in the searing hot smithy. In any other setting, people might have found this to be rude or unprofessional, but the Benjamin knows how hot it can get inside here. So, without commenting on his action he extended his hand to shake his guest's.

"Don't worry about it, Mister Joyce. Your skill in different crafts such as blacksmithing is the reason I'm here after all." Laughing slightly, Samuel opened his suitcase on a nearby table and took out something that looked like a contract to Benjamin, laying it out together with a pen,

"Before we start with the interview, it is necessary for both parties to sign a non-disclosure agreement. For once it is so that you will not spread the information that you get from us. It also protects the secrets of your craft that you may tell me today, so that no member of Prime Industries may tell someone outside the Company. Either way, the information will be handled on a need-to-know basis, so the spread will be minimized. Do you have any questions?"

Since this wasn't the first time in his life that he had to sign something, Benjamin shook his head and grabbed the contract, reading through it meticulously.

After a few minutes, he gave a slight nod and took the pen, then looked over at the young businessman.

"Where do I need to sign?" In response to his question, Samuel began smiling softly. Benjamin figured that he was simply happy for making it so uncomplicated.

After he pointed at the different spots where his signature was needed, Benjamin signed the contract without any complications. Afterward, Samuel did the same, thus completing the non-disclosure-agreement.

"Alright, Mister Joyce. Should we start the interview now?" Samuel asked and took out a tablet as well as an electronic pen to use for writing from his suitcase. Benjamin nodded while keeping up his soft smile and pointed at a door leading out into the backyard of his house where his smithy was set up, "Let's talk outside. The weather is beautiful today." He suggested while opening the door and walking over to a table, then sat down on one of the wooden chairs, motioning Samuel to take a seat on the other.

Samuel looked through the first few questions he noted down and began to speak, "The first section will be-"

"Ah, sorry! Young man, do you want something to drink? Some water, lemonade? A cold beer?" Noticing that Benjamin forgot a basic part of a host's etiquette, he stood up and walked up to the glass sliding door leading to the kitchen. Sighing loudly but knowing this old guy will leave either way no matter what he says, he nodded and asked to get some water. Benjamin himself grabbed a bottle of beer and opened it up before walking back outside.

"Alright, now. What I was saying, the first section of the interview will be made up of personal questions. Is that fine?" Samuel asked and looked at Benjamin with a soft, professional smile. Since he seemed like quite a good lad, Benjamin decided that he didn't mind telling him and nodded.

"Thank you. What is your full name, Mister Joyce?"

"Benjamin Theodore Joyce. My first name is that of my grandfather fatherly side and my second name that of my grandfather motherly side. Something like a family tradition. My own grandchild's name is Benjamin as well, haha. Would you like to see a picture of him? He just got out of elementary school! Here, I have a picture of him in my wallet!" Excitedly Benjamin stood up wanting to grab his Wallet from his Jacket inside, just when he noticed that he was trailing off.

"Sorry, sorry. I tend to trail off like that sometimes when I'm passionate about something." He apologized and began to laugh embarrassedly.

"Don't worry, Mister Joyce. I'm very close to my grandfather as well." With a soft smile, Samuel looked down at his Tablet and noted something down. It seemed like he noted more than just Benjamin's name, however.

"How old are you right now, and at what age did you find your interest in different crafts?"

The aged Blacksmith leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his beer while he thought, but soon enough remembered when exactly that was, "Right now I'm 66 years old. We were a family of blacksmiths for generations, sadly I'm the one where that tradition stopped. I practically grew up in a smithy, knowing how to properly work with Iron before I could spell. And that's not an exaggeration. I spent a whole month trying to make the perfect Paper Knife for my father when I was just a little boy of five years. Sure, I did get a lot of help from my father's apprentices, but I still like to think I did most of the work, haha." Floating in a nostalgic feeling when thinking back on this, Benjamin smiled deeply.

"I see. And what about other crafts? I was told you are also very proficient in things like leatherworking, tailoring, and even meddled in some eastern herbalistic lines of work for a while?" Samuel asked his interviewee and continued writing down his notes.

"Ah… I dropped out of high school when I was 16 to officially become my father's apprentice, and just when I finished it my old man died. He overworked himself because of the stress from many of his other apprentices stopping to work in the profession. After he died, I decided that journeying around the world might be a good idea, since all I knew was in that small, crammed smithy. Until that point, I never even left my hometown. I first traveled through the United States to expand my general knowledge or how to be independent. I worked with some other blacksmiths and refined my techniques even further. But at some point, I began to wonder. Is blacksmithing really the right thing for me, or was that a choice made by my heritage before I was even born? Thus, I left the country and traveled across South America. Mostly on foot, or on boat when necessary, I even spent time with some recently, at the time, discovered tribes and learned how to connect with nature. I learned different Mexican and Carribean cuisines as well while I was at it, working with natural ingredients most of the time.

After a year, I went over to Europe, and in France met a talented tailor who I worked under for another whole year, and then continued traveling through Europe, picking up as many tricks on traditional crafts as I could. I even lived with a hunter for a month, who showed me how to properly work with leather of an animal you hunted yourself, and how to get the hides without damaging them too much.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I finally went on to Asia, where I learned about a whole new perspective on the crafts I knew about before. Completely new blacksmithing and tailoring techniques, cuisines that I had never eaten before. To my simple mind that thought it got to know all there was to know in the world this just showed that you can always keep growing, no matter what you do. There, how you already mentioned, I also learned about herbalism, although I had gotten to know the basics from areas like the United Kingdom or central Europe already."

Benjamin explained in as much detail as he could muster without being completely useless for the rest of the day from reminiscing big parts of his whole life.

"That's something that many young people dream of nowadays. I myself also always wanted to travel the world like that since I was a child." Samuel pointed out with a big smile.

"Don't worry about it, lad. You're still young! You can do whatever you want with the rest of your life! You're not an old geezer like me, haha." With a soft laugh, Benjamin took another sip of his beer and waited for Samuel to continue the interview.

"For saying that you are an old geezer, your body is still one that many people my age would love to have." Samuel smiled softly and then looked at his Tablet again to read through the next question, "This was basically all that the first part included. Since you explained many things in such detail, I was able to skip some of the questions. Now, for the second part. This will be you explaining the mindset you have when you are inside this smithy or committing to any other craft. What makes you want to continue it? What does the profession itself mean to you? These kinds of things."

After Samuel began explaining what the second segment of the interview will be about, Benjamin thought about it for a while. What do the crafts mean to him? It's simple, really.

These crafts, especially Blacksmithing, the thing he grew up with, means everything to him. He never was a book-smart man. All he was ever good at was slamming his hammer against metal. Others relied on their brain, while Benjamin relied on his hands. Sure, he gathered a lot of experience in life that may make him seem 'smart', but deep down he knows that he's a handyman. But that doesn't mean that Benjamin only does this because it's the only thing he can, he genuinely loves it. Exactly the fact that he can only work with his hands makes the importance and his reliance on different crafts so strong. It makes him feel like he has a purpose in life as long as he has something to do with his two hands.

"I'm already long beyond my prime, you know? These days I may have other things to be proud of, like my grandchildren for example, but even then it still calms my mind to just be in here. It reminds me of easier days." Benjamin finished his monologue on the importance of Craftsmanship in his life, even bringing some tears to Samuel's eyes.

He wiped his sleeve across his face to wipe them away, smiling softly at this speech, "That was truly inspirational, Mister Joyce. Now, I think that was enough for the second phase. Lastly, I will need to record the process of you working. I brought a number of heat resistant cameras so I can set them up in the Smithy as well, effectively recording complete 3D images of you. It would be a great help having you explain different techniques by showing them to me as an example." The young man explained at last. Nodding with a smile on his face, Benjamin emptied his bottle of beer and stretched slightly.

"Let's go, lad. I'll go and prepare the materials, and you do your tech whatchamacallit."

"Thank you, Mister Joyce. I'll get right to it!"

And like that, for the rest of the day, Benjamin taught Samuel all of his tricks and techniques related to blacksmithing, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Herbalism and other smaller details related to other professions.

After sitting down in his car, sweating profusely after spending hours in this extreme heat, Samuel stares silently at his tablet, muttering out a single thing.

"So this is what a Legendary Craftsman is like, huh?"

Chapter c-1 Prologue

The Capsule, a completely revolutionary gaming console created by the lead Virtual Reality Research and Development Institution in the world, Prime Industries. Together with the launch of said capsule came the very first Application to run on it: World of Magic.

World of Magic is a Multi Massive Online Role-Playing Game with its setting in a Sword and Magic world. Its biggest selling point sits with the sheer possibilities that the player gets. Aside from being able to fully customize their appearance, race and gender, they can do whatever they want.

Save countries from ancient Dangers to become their hero or destroy them to become their downfall. Or while those Heroes and Demons are fighting against each other, sit back and have fun creating the strongest Weapons, most beautiful Sculptures or prettiest Clothes.

Whatever your heart may desire can be accomplished in this Virtual World.

The world into which players are thrown into continually changes and grows with its people, the NPCs, No-Player-Characters. These simulated Humans can be barely differentiated from a normal person, and some players even fall in love with these NPCs and build up families with them. These beings can be born, live, and die. They can learn and forget. This leads to no player possibly ever having the exact same play experience, even if they do the exact same things.

One especially promising and talented players of the game sits down in his capsule for the first time. In the past, he always was in the top ten of the strongest players in many different popular games. Now, after taking a break after the last big game lost popularity with the launch of World of Magic, he decided that it's about time he gets to play this game as well and rise to the top like he always does.

While in real life he is already well beyond his prime, in games his prime is whenever he is playing. He changes his character model to the perfect version of himself: 30 to 40 years younger, long luscious blond hair, a nice and handsome angled face as well as the muscled and lean body of his dreams.

So that he would have an easier time starting out by buying the best items he can, he also enchanged a large amount of money into in-game currency. Now that everything was prepared he began his journey through this new World as Tekk, a great Warrior!

The very first thing he did was actually get his job changed to Warrior through a Job-Trainer, and next he walked through the small town of Kultra, one of the starting towns of the Western Empire.

He sees a number of people fooling around with each other in the streets, whether it be friends just having fun with each other or couples walking around together on dates. Since both of these things are something Tekk never experienced before at any point in his life, the newborn Warrior clicks his tongue and scoffs at those people wasting their time.

They should be out there grinding right now. What an utter waste of space. No wonder I'll overtake all of them soon. He thinks to himself while walking down the main boulevard to look for a shop that sells weapons and armors. The first one he sees is the shop "Heaven's Protection", an obviously high-class shop that seems to sell just as high-class protective items.

Tekk buys a golden full-plate armor and a shield together with it. Dissappointed that this shop didn't sell a weapon on par with the quality of his armor, he steps out of the shop and continues walking down the street. While he was looking for a good place to buy a sword, he noticed something strange. All the weapons held by the people around him had a single thing in common: A small engraving in the shape of a Hammer.

Without hesitation he walks up to the next person he sees carrying one of these, and asks them where they bought their sword. And after Tekk is redirected to the shop by the young, green haired boy, he walks into an alley leading away from the main boulevard. In an area that nobody would want to be in at night, Tekk finds the storefront of a Shop with a sign in on which he can find the characteristic carving of a Hammer.

Confidently he walks through the entrance. Around him he finds a huge selection of different weapons and even armor, all of which seem to be highly inferior to the Armor Tekk is already wearing.

"Hello, hello~! How can we help you today, dear customer~?" On the other side of the shop a small girl with long pink hair bound into twintails pushes herself up on the counter to look at the new person that just walked in. Next to her stands a boy of a similar age with short blue hair and a defiant look on his face.

"I need a weapon." Tekk simply answers. It still feels weird to him that you actually need to talk to NPCs, who are nothing but simple code.

"No shit. You already got an armor and shield, what else would you need but a weapon?" The blue-haired kid scoffs and turns away to sit down on a chair and begins to read.

That already makes Tekk grind his teeth to the limit. What does this little shit think he is? He's nothing but a simulation! Something created for players like him to toy around with and to be used for their advantage.

"Just get me your strongest sword." In a low voice, Tekk demands. With a quick nod and bright smile, the pink-haired girl jumps in front of the counter and toward one of the displays, picking out a boring looking longsword. Compared to other weapons he's seen on the street, this doesn't seem very strong to Tekk. Angry, he rips the sword out of the girl's hands and throws it to the side, "I said I want the strongest sword. Give me that one." Trying not to break the most important rule given to every player of the game, not letting the NPCs know they are inside a game, Tekk clenches his fist tightly.

He points above the counter to a huge black greatsword with a sharp edge and a slight white glow.

Scoffing once more, the boy shakes his head, "No can do, bud. That sword isn't for sale."

"Fuck off, kid. I said I want that sword. Give it to me now, or you'll regret it."

Furrowing his eyebrows angrily, the blue-haired boy lays down the book on the counter and steps in front of it, looking up at the man in front of him, "I said, that sword isn't for sale."

Tekk slowly raises his hand and prepares to swing at the boy. He throws it forward and just when he thinks his palm connects to the child's cheek, Tekk feels a sharp pain in his arm and he freezes up.

"What the-?!" He yells out instinctively and jumps backward.

"Oi, the hell do ya think you're doing in my shop?" A deep, raspy voice asks him. Tekk hadn't even noticed the person that the voice belongs to before he grabbed his hand. The Warrior turns around and looks at the man standing before him. Even though he already made himself relatively tall, this man is even taller. His bulging muscles stand out at his arms and the veins popping out accentuate the scars that cover his whole body. His upper body is only covered in a leather apron, giving the impression of a cliché blacksmith. His long hair that has turned white due to his high age is bound into a manbun so it doesn't get in the way of his work and the beard in the same color as the rest of his hair only strengthens the sheer feeling of manliness he emits.

"Wh-What do you want, old man?!" Even though Tekk shouldn't be that much younger than this NPC in front of him is supposed to be, he feels an overwhelming mass of wisdom from him. The man looks down at Tekk angrily, and crosses his arms in front of himself.

"I'm the one that asks questions. The hell do you think you're doing here?" The blacksmith asks once more, his tone showing that he won't ask again. Tekk clicks his tongue at the nerves of this NPC and similarly crosses his arms.

"I want that sword above the counter. Now." He says confidently, looking up at the man in front of him.

The blacksmith instantly begins to laugh out loudly. "You want to have that sword? Kid, that's my sword. You're a hundred years too early to try and swing it."

"Tsk… And what if I can?"

"Haha, Kid, let me tell you what. If you can swing it, I'll give you every single weapon in this shop. If you can't, you buy a weapon and leave, got it?" The old man holds his hand forward and waits for Tekk to agree to the bet, and after the Warrior agrees the man reaches upward for the sword and picks it up with a single arm.

"Here you go, kid." He smirks and shows his pearly white teeth. Tekk extends his hand and grabs the hilt of the sword confidently. Immediately, the weight strains his arms and Tekk has to concentrate strongly so that they won't give in.

"Alright, you got it? I'll let go now."

"Huh?" Tekk mutters out after he hears the old man say this, and before he can react his knuckles are pressed against the floor, "What the?! How is this sword this heavy?"

The old man continues to laugh loudly and pats Tekk on the back, causing a sharp pain to spread across his body, "What do ya expect? You're barely level one, and that sword needs a strength stat far above what even a level 100 could have. Now, how about you take the sword that my girl over there showed you, or just leave. Forever."

Tekk experiences a threat that he can feel deep inside his bones, so he pulls his hand away from under the greatsword and grabs the other sword that he rejected before, and after reading the price tag throws a bag containing 100 Gold coins on the ground in front of the blacksmith.

Not giving him any chance to react, Tekk storms out of the shop and immediately toward the Town's Gate.

I'll show him! After I level up, I'm going to grab that sword and kill that old fucking asshole! Angrily, Tekk exits through the gate and makes his way toward the dungeon that's in the immediate vicinity of the town.

"Hey, have you heard? There's a rumor that one of the originals is in town!" He hears one of the players also heading to the direction of the Dungeon tell his friend. Shocked, the friend stops moving and looks at the first player. "Are you kidding me? Do you know which one?!"

"I heard it's Eisen! Someone his necklace!"

"Eeh? But they can be faked so easily… His sigil is known best, because he uses it on all his weapons…"

"I guess… They're sold en'masse in the capital, right? … Maybe it was just another faker?"

"Maybe… Let's just check it out later!"

"Yeah!"

Tekk clicks his tongue at the annoying conversation of those two and looks at the line leading to the dungeon in front of him. Cutting through said line of people waiting to get inside, Tekk throws a bag filled with a few golds coins to the guards that are supposed to control who enters the dungeon when so that they just let him in.

Ignoring the cries from the people yelling at him for cutting in line, he moves forward through the halls in front of him.

Quietly grumbling to himself, Tekk continues on forward. After a few minutes, he finally sees the first monster. In preparation for the upcoming fight, he holds his shield up and points the sword toward the monster's snout. It looks like a huge hound with razor sharp teeth and claws longer than daggers.

"Come at me, you fucking bitch!" Tekk yells out and hits his shield with the sword to taunt the beast. Seeing that it worked, he prepares for an incoming attack. Nearly instantly, the beast jumps forward and slashes at the Warrior in front of it, throwing him to the other side of the room instantly.

"Wh-what the fuck?! Isn't this supposed to be a beginner dungeon?!" He yells out and then looks at the beast once more. While thinking deeply about using one of the basic skills any player unlocks he tries to move away from the monster, but freezes instantly when he sees its level.

[Beast of the living dungeon | Level 100]

"Shit, shit, shit, shit! I'm going to die! I'll lose all my money and the equipment I paid for! Please, no, I need to leave here alive!" Scared beyond bounds, Tekk begins to crawl away from the Monster slowly after losing most of his health to it. Shaking uncontrollably as he feels the beast's hot breath in his neck, he freezes up completely, preparing to be torn apart.

But then…nothing happens. The beast seems to be gone as well, judging from the moist air not touching his body anymore. Slowly he turns around and stares at the scene before him.

The beast that nearly killed him is cleanly cut in half, covering the whole ground in blood. What kind of thing could do this..? Tekk thinks to himself.

"Haha, kid, seems like you got pretty unlucky, eh? Nobody tell you that the living dungeon is in town?" A familiar, deep and raspy voice calls out to the Warrior.

"Y-You..? What are you doing here?!" Tekk yells out at the man standing before him. The old man from the Weapon store is standing in front of him with thick red blood running down the greatsword on his shoulder, and the two kids standing next to him.

Only now does he notice something he hadn't when he was in the shop before. A black and red colored coin hanging around the man's neck in the form of a necklace with the sigil of a hammer on it.

"Eisen~? Why'd you help him~? He tried to hurt my bro…" The pink-haired girl asks the man confused.

"Huh? Ah, no! I didn't help him! I just don't want the sword to go to waste! Ego-Swords are hard to make! I hoped to see what would happen if we give it to someone with a rotten soul like his, but there's no use if he just dies and loses it instantly." The man laughs so loud and heartly that he holds his hand against his stomach before walking over to Tekk and taking the sword out of his hands.

"I thought you seemed promising since you walked into my shop. After all, who goes out wearing an ornamental armor from the decorator to fight? He seemed to be confident in his strength, but I guess there was nothing behind it, hahaha!"

"W-Wait! Please, help me! I invested nearly all my money into this!" Tekk yells out, hoping for the man in front of him to help him out, but he just stops laughing and turns around, showing a wicked smile at him. While the smell of blood called for more monsters to come to this place, they instinctively avoid this strong man that killed their brother and begin to painfully rip apart Tekk lying on the ground. With this, ignoring the screams of the man being killed behind him, Eisen turns away and walks off, telling him one last thing before Tekk is forced to log out.

"Fuck off, kid."

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