Alder awoke too banging on the door of the room he was staying in.

As he wiped the sleepiness from his eyes Alder could vaguely hear someone call out from the other side of the door.

“Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes and will be served till 6:00 AM. After that time breakfast will no longer be available.” said the voice.

Rolling out of bed feeling very refreshed Alder began gathering up his meager possessions. Even though he would be keeping the room another day with how immersive the game felt so far Alder would not be surprised if world events like thief break-ins happened, so he wouldnt take the chance and leave his starting funds laying around.

Opening the door to the room and locking it behind him Alder descended the stairs to the delicious smell of something cooking.

Walking up to the counter, the Innkeeper motioned too the empty tables in the dining room area and said, “sit anywhere you like, food will be ready in a few minutes.” nodding in thanks Alder went and found an empty table in the back of the room and sat down.

As he sat there waiting, Alder began to take a look at the other people in the room. Not many really stood out. But a few did catch his attention. One such individual, or individuals actually, was a group of burly looking dwarfs all armored too the teeth and packing long engraved swords. Another person of interest was a slightly immaterial and ghostly looking man sitting in the corner opposite Alder. Upon closer inspection, Alder noticed a ring around the man’s finger sporting the same swirling elemental symbol displayed on one side of the ID card he had hung around his own neck. Alder also saw a bunch of the dwarfs from the mine crowded around another one of the tables.

Alder’s observation time was brought to a close as a girl, probably about 16 or 17, walked out from the saloon-style doors that separated the kitchen and the dining area. She glanced around quickly before walking over to place a bowl of something on the table of the shadowy man from the tray of bowls balanced on her shoulder. The girl glanced around again before making a beeline straight for Alders table and placed a bowl down for there as well.

As Alder began to eat the oatmeal-like substance in the bowl, which as it turned out was surprisingly good, he considered what he had just witnessed. After placing the bowl down on Alders table the girl had continued placing bowls working away from where he sat. the interesting thing to him was the fact that the girl had singled out both him and the other elemental in the room to receive food first. After a moment of consideration, Alder concluded that he would more than likely be unable to make any conclusions about the situation and he would just pay more attention to similar instances in the future.

As Alder finished his bowl a problem presented itself to him. He knew that his lodging at the Inn was free but he was unsure if the food was also free. Luckily that dilemma was easily solved as he watched the shadow elemental walk out the door without paying while another couple that finished about the same time set down a few copper coins on the innkeepers counter on their way out.

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Getting up and walking straight through the doors and into the street with no one calling for him to come back and pay confirmed Alders’s observation.

Looking up and down the street Alder decided that it was about time to find a forge and get down to business.

Alder had a massive amount of theoretical knowledge about blacksmithing and crafting in general. His practical knowledge was much more limited, notably, he took a real-life blacksmithing class once and did some stuff such as leatherworking in his spare time. However, he also had some experience crafting in virtual reality. He had played around with a crafting simulator that emulated real-life crafting very well. That gave him some confidence when it came to attempting crafting in this game.

With all that in mind, he decided to just wing it. Find a forge he could rent or use and see if he could teach himself the skills he would need. The only alternate Alder could think of was possibly becoming some sort of apprentice, but that would be a plan b.

Walking along the road Alder started to consider another possible problem. He had some money, five gold coins, but judging by the fact that the couple at the inn paid for their breakfast with copper coins, gold may be incredibly valuable and he may have trouble spending it. Considering this fact Alder wondered if there might be a way to convert money.

He was pleasantly surprised when a screen popped up in front of him.

Currency Conversion Gold: 5 +         Silver: 0 +           Copper: 0 +

Playing around with menu Alder was able to convert over one of his gold coins into other denominations.

Currency Conversion Gold: 4 +         Silver: 9 +           Copper: 10 +

Alder noticed that the currency worked in multiples of ten, meaning one gold was equal to one silver and one silver was equal to ten copper. He figured that there might be other more valuable coins he could find or earn later but he would deal with that if it happened.

Closing the conversion menu Alder continued to walk looking for a blacksmith. Finally, after about a half-hour of aimless wandering, he opted to ask a local.

Approaching a nearby street vendor he said, “Could you please point me in the direction of a blacksmith?”

The vendor responded, “Two within walking distance, for the first follow this street down a couple more minutes and turn right at the bull sign. Second is back the way you came down the street with the tavern at its entrance, hope that helps.”

“Thanks!” Alder said to the vendor before turning in the direction of the first blacksmith the man pointed out.

After about 4 minutes of walking, Alder noticed the bull sign the vendor said marked the street the blacksmith’s shop was on.

Walking down the street for about a minute Alder began to notice the telltale pinging and banging sounds that defined a blacksmiths workshop.

Less than a minute later Alder spotted a sign hanging above a shop that featured a hammer and anvil.

Walking inside the shop a boisterous dwarf standing behind the counter called out to Alder, “What can I help you with?”

Alder responded, “I would like to rent a forge!”