I walk past the other miners to mine ore inside the cave.

* Obtained 1 Iron ore.    –

The notification chimed in front of me every time I finished smashing one of the ore deposits. Maybe they renew every day or so. This planet seems to have some sort of game-like system in place, or maybe I’m somehow inside a game? No, that would be too weird.

I gather the rest of the iron ore and return to the quest counter.

“Done already eh? Here ya go.” He hands me 50 copper in exchange for the ore.

“Now that you know how to mine, I recommend going to see the blacksmith Griffith over there.” He points over at Griffith who is currently at the forge.

I walk over to the forge and the burly dwarf Griffith peers over at me. “ I’m not that trusting of humans, but ya seem to be the good type. Betray that trust and you’ve gotta deal with me.” He pointedly flexes his arm.

“ Yes sir.” I nod.

“ Good boy, but ya don’t need to be that polite with me, the name’s Griffith but you can just call me Griff. You want to learn how ta make yer own armor I’m guessing?”

“ Yes, I don’t want to be dragon dinner” I say jokingly

“ Hahaha ! Dragon dinner!, yer a funny one lad I’m starting ta like you already.” He laughs a little too hard at my lame joke.

“ Okay, back to what we were talkin about. The first armor ya want to make is iron armor.” He walks over to the forge with me.

As soon as I reach the forge, A large menu pops up that shows the required materials for different pieces of iron armor.

“Since ya mined iron ore, Iron armor is unlocked. When you fight certain beasts or find new ores to mine ya can unlock new armors. Did ya mine any extra ore boy?”

I nod and show it to him.

“First thing ya should do is smelt the ore in the furnace over there. I suggest startin' with a simple iron chest-piece. Ya should be able to make it with the amount ya got.”

After he finished demonstrating the process, I walk over to the furnace and place the iron ore inside of it. A few seconds later it solidifies, transforming into a grey iron ingot. The process is quite similar to how smithing works in a lot of games. Smithing just might be fun!

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“ All right, now ya just need to make it at the forge.”

After I finish making five iron ingots I take them over to the forge. A large screen pops in front of me once again. The chest-piece is now unlocked along with a few others. I raise my hand into the air and touch it, surprisingly to find it similar to a touch-screen. I scroll to the chest piece and click it.

Another screen appears in front of me with two options:

* Would you like to make an Iron chest-piece?

* Yes

* No

I select yes and the chest-piece materializes right in front of me.

* Obtained the achievement: Blacksmith’s Apprentice. -

“ Ya can polish year armors on the rack there to upgrade them, but it usually requires a few extra ingots. Try in her new armor boy, it should fit.”

I pull the armor over my head to find the armor surprisingly lighter than I originally thought.

“ Once ya have a full set of armor, then ya can finally go on real quests if ya want.”

Now outfitted with a chest-piece over my torn high school uniform I probably look pretty silly. I take it off for now and head over to the inn. I head over to the inn and pay 25 copper for dinner and a room. After getting served beef-stew and some ale (I guess there’s no drinking age here) I head to my room.

I open the door to find a black cat sitting on the windowsill. It quickly jumps off as I enter the room. Well I guess it’s time for sleep, and finally in a real bed (I say that but it’s basically a mattress stuffed with hay, It’s heaven compared to a jail cell though).

I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. A wave of painful memories hits me while asleep.

“ It’s not like you’re their real son. Nobody cares how well you do in school.”

“ His parents were alcoholics and addicts, what do you expect.”