After going through the list of blueprints, Abel was adamant in making the chest armor, dagger and longsword. He could put the rest aside and make them later. After he was done with this quest he could take some time to make more of these pieces of equipment and sell them through the city auction house.

He could probably get a better bargain online but then he’d have to travel great distances to meet the other players. If they were willing to foot the teleportation charges then he wouldn’t mind but if they didn’t, then it simply wouldn’t be worth it.

‘I’ll think about it later, I have a quest to deal with for now…’ As Abel was mulling over what he should do for the time being, he got a whisper from Coinweaver.

*Ding*

You have a whisper!

‘Open’

“Red Sky! I sold off the last of the rat poison, where should we meet?”

Abel took a look at the time, 4:57 am. It was around 2 am back on Luminara, he figured he’d meet up with Coinweaver and then log out to take a nap. He was feeling quite tired after reading for so long.

He had been concentrating on every word he read, afraid of missing a crucial piece of information about the location that he now felt exhausted. Although he wouldn’t get a headache from reading in the virtual world, he was quite spent, mentally speaking.

In fact, the reason NeuroNex pods were making a big splash in the educational sector was due to the feature of a healthier reading style. Students wouldn’t get migraines or damage their eye sight by having to read from harmful screens or paperback text. Of course, the students that could no longer complain about a headache from reading were quite upset about it but their displeasure was obviously disregarded by everyone.

“I’m at the shop. If you’re close then swing by right now, I need to log off.” He went out to the shop after sending out the message and patiently waited for the young merchant. Thankfully, the latter didn’t keep him waiting and showed up through the creaking door after a couple of minutes.

“Why are you logging off so soon? Don’t you usually log off a few hours from now?”

“I’m just tired.”

*Ding*

Coinweaver would like to send you 1 gold 8 silver and 95 copper coins, Accept?

Yes/No

‘Yes’

“By the way, can you buy some goods for me? I-uh Xiang asked me for them but I’m not really that knowledgeable about the different merchants in the city…”

Abel suddenly thought of acquiring the materials needed through Coinweaver. Although he could get some of them through the Blacksmiths guild, he didn’t have the time to go there. He wanted to forge a couple of pieces and then make some last-minute preparations before heading out to Stormwatch city.

Although the city was only half a day away by horseback, he had to rent a steed and buy some much needed goods before setting off. He still needed to get a cooking skill-essence crystal and he was hoping to buy a horsemanship or riding skill-essence crystal as well.

These types of skill-essence crystals were much cheaper than active skills but they were a necessary expense. He didn’t trust eating his own cooking in-game without a cooking skill and without a riding skill he would take much longer on the road if he just walked.

“Sure. What are the goods?”

“I need 6 Silver Steel ingots, 1 Ogre Pelt, 4 Wood Viper Teeth, 2 Magma Steel ingots, a cooking skill-essence crystal and a horsemanship or general riding skill-essence crystal.”

Coinweaver looked at him weirdly, he could understand the materials but what was up with the skill-essence crystals. He didn’t hold back his curiosity and asked in turn,

“Is your friend planning on going somewhere?”

“Yeah-No, well I am actually… the skill-essence crystals are for me. I got a quest in Stormwatch city but I need to make some preparations before I head out.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“You’re leaving Verdia after?” Coinweaver lifted a brow in surprise. It wasn’t surprising someone wanted to go out and adventure in the world but he thought Red Sky would stick around for a bit longer.

“I’m… I honestly don’t know. I’ll have to stay in Stormwatch for a while… After that, it depends.”

“Well if you ever come back to Velskryn, send me a whisper. I finally leveled up my trading skill to open up a permanent store in the city.” Coinweaver’s voice was laced with pride and for good reason. He might not have been the first player to open a shop in Caelondia, but he was definitely the first in Veridia.

“Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Thanks, I have that confidence too. Anyway, I’ll send you a whisper when I have your goods.”

Abel simply nodded as Coinweaver left the old shop. Although he didn’t want to interact with people much, he came to understand how important it was to have a range of contacts to help him out if he ever needed something.

He wasn’t thinking of starting a guild or anything but he did appreciate the fact that there were still many people in the world that were worthy of befriending. His interactions with Coinweaver had showed him that not all people were as evil as those hooligans, it would be hard to generalize the populace but he would rather think optimistically about someone than the opposite.

If they proved they weren’t worth his time, then it was a lesson learned and he would move on after cutting them out of his life. But if he didn’t talk to anyone due to a lack of trust, then he would just end up living a sad and lonely life without much meaning. He shrugged off these thoughts and called up his Panel to log out of the game. After finding himself in his user home, he opened up the forums and made a simple paid post for 2 credits.

[A Sneak Peek at Veridia’s Palace Grounds]

He didn’t write out a post underneath, just uploading the video and publishing it behind a paywall.

‘If just 100 people are curious and click on it, that’ll be 200 creds!’

He excitedly thought about the possibility of making some easy cash as he stepped out of his pod. He quickly went to answer nature’s call and brush his teeth before crawling into bed.

When he opened his eyes again, it was 5:30 am. He hadn’t forgotten about the delivery coming later today, he could finally finish the rug he had been working on for nearly a month.

Once he washed up, he stepped outside to start exercising and time passed by swiftly. As he was carrying out his cooling exercise, he heard Frankie step out of the main house, probably coming out to feed the chickens.

“Morning Abe, what are you doing exercising before bed?” Frankie asked with a yawn.

“I woke up a while ago.”

“What… why?” For some reason, Frankie seemed shocked as he asked for more details.

“I’ll tell you over breakfast, I don’t want to repeat myself later”

“Sure bro, whatever you say.”

Perhaps Frankie was still too sleepy to bicker so early in the morning but he let him be. He got started with his morning ritual as Abel went to take a quick shower. He had worked up quite the sweat working out and he didn’t want to suffocate the couple at the dining table. After showering and reapplying his ointment, he stepped back into the house and found Frankie and Melly had already started eating.

“So, Abe… Frankie said you logged out early today. Did… did those guys kill you in the game?”

Abel suddenly realized how Frankie had misunderstood him earlier on and he couldn’t help but grin.

“Those trash? No, I logged out early because I was tired. I was reading all day long in the royal library.”

The couple breathed out a sigh of relief internally. They were worried he had been ambushed and attacked but after hearing his next words, they were stunned and excited instead.

“I finished that damn quest! I know where Branthor went…”

“What?!”

“Where?”

Their replies were simultaneous. While Frankie wanted to make sure he heard Abel correctly, his girlfriend was more curious about the location. Abel went on to explain how he finished the quest as well as the next part. Seeing as he wasn’t strong enough, he had to put the next stage of the chain quest on the backburner and was preparing to head off to Stormwatch city.

“… actually, I don’t think it was a coincidence I got the major information from Bryen. I have a feeling the written record about the Sacrificial Peaks wouldn’t have been nearly as useful as the old man’s recounting. I think if I was to read about it, the book definitely wouldn’t have mentioned how the entire mountain range was basically a monster carcass.”

“I don’t get it, if it wasn’t written down then how could you possibly figure it out?”

“Well I would have most likely gone to ask the old man if he knew any additional information about the forbidden zones and then he would’ve revealed this part to me. I got quite lucky that he came to check up at the end. Anyway, you two should finish up and get ready for work, you wouldn’t wanna miss the bus.”

At Abel’s reminder, the couple quickly gobbled up their food and ran off to get dressed, it was nearly 8 am and the bus would be there in 15 minutes.

After the power grids and infrastructure was rebuilt to make use of the clean and sustainable nuclear fusion, nearly all vehicles were made electric. From private cars and public buses to maglev trains and airplanes, they all sustained themselves through the near perfectly renewable fusion energy.

Public transport was also made easier and cheaper with near endless electricity. Although it would sometimes fall behind schedule, it was a rare occurrence in the case of an accidental car crash but such a thing was rare in a small place like Luminara.

Abel finished his own breakfast and got up to clean the dishes, he took care of some chores until the delivery came, he had to deal with the other boar pelt getting cured in the salt vat along with the rabbit pelts getting soaked.

When the rug pad finally arrived, he spent a few minutes attaching the boar pelt to it before placing it in the living room. It enhanced the overall ambience of the place, alongside the harmonious color palette of the furniture and decorations. He nodded to himself after taking an overall look, then headed back out to his room. It was time to log back in!