Raif was bored, Nothing out of the ordinary as he spent a lot of his time bored, but he really couldn't care less about the nuances of some old Supreme Court Case that boiled down to criminal suspects being read a list of rights when they were being questioned. The only thing remotely interesting was that all the TV shows had gotten things wrong. Apparently nobody gives a shit about your rights unless they plan on questioning you, and since most cases involve a plea bargain and don't go to court it really isn't that big of a deal.
As he zoned out in class he started day dreaming about Runescape of all things, and how to get a large enough party together to get his dungeoneering level to 80 so he could get better weapons. He was past the stereotypical age to play the game now, but still enjoyed playing it when he wasn't in class and often found himself using fan sites for the game to run calculations on how to most efficiently tackle his next goal. There was something about the game's skill system that appealed to him on a primal level. He loved that while the game was open world and allowed the player to set their own goals, it revolved primarily around learning how to do every skill he could conceive of and then some in a medieval fantasy setting.
Thinking about it reminded him of a game he had played years ago on the Xbox years ago called Lost Odyssey, and the strange cut scene he remembered from playing that game. The game play had been rather mediocre at best, however he could still remember a story in there about the protagonist Kaim. Kaim was immortal and had been reminiscing about how difficult it was to find a truly good cobbler, and feeling sad after finally finding one who could make the perfect pair of boots. He had been sad because the cobbler eventually died or something and Kaim could never find anyone as talented.
As stupid as it seemed this ridiculous little cut scene stuck with Raif for years and was part of why he enjoyed games like Runescape so much, not because Kaim was sad about the death of a cobbler, but because he thought about what he would do in Kaim's shoes. Rather than mindlessly wander for millennium losing interest in the world around him, he would have learned how to make the same quality boots as the cobbler, and why stop there? If Raif had the chance to become immortal he would want to take the opportunity to learn how to do everything, and that was what made Runescape so appealing to him. It was the only game he had found where you could take a character and master all the different crafts and skills, even if the skills themselves were limited in their realism. The day a game came out that mirrored the same processes used in the real world to use those crafts was the day he dropped Runescape like the rest of his generation, but such a game just didn't appeal to most and probably wouldn't be profitable. No what really appealed to most people his age was the constant search for partying, alcohol, and sex.
He wasn't really a party kind of a guy, which was odd seeing how he had a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard. The two didn't seem compatible on the surface, he had a “cool” job where he was in charge of planning and executing the training and operations for a platoon of thirty three other National Guardsmen one weekend a month. Most of his peers told stories about wild weekends partying, drinking, and getting laid but in his free time he would find himself playing a video game with no ending that revolved entirely around raising skills with shitty graphics. If he wasn't playing Runescape he found himself playing some other low quality flash game on one of the many flash gaming websites like Kongregate or Armor Games.
Then again he still hadn't lost his virginity either despite what he liked to think of as multiple “near misses”, which was a more flattering way of saying he had fucked something up to the point where whatever girl he was with lost interest. Didn't matter that he was actually pretty good looking and in decent shape, somehow or another he always managed to fuck it up. The first time he'd been interrupted with a girl while IN BED at the hotel. They had been sharing the room with two brothers while on a weekend pass for the Army and though he doubted either of the brothers realized it, they had cock blocked the hell out of him. The girl still blamed him of course, mainly because he had somehow fallen asleep despite having a naked babe all hot and bothered next to him under the covers while waiting for them to get the fuck out.. Another time he had not one but TWO girls with him in a hotel room on the way back from some different Army Training. After going skinny dipping they went back to the room to shower and he had idiotically thought he was supposed to not get an erection so he didn't embarrass the girls... Yeah on second thought he'd fucked both of those up REALLY badly... Hell, there had even been a time with a neighbor at his apartment complex who had invited him upstairs to “hang out”. He'd talked her into a massage and was surprised when she took all her clothes off and hopped on the bed with a smile. After feeling her ip in his best imitation of a rather invasive “massage” he convinced her to give him a blowjob in exchange for going down on her. Unfortunately it was apparently her first time doing so because she didn't understand that teeth do not “enhance” the experience and his poor pecker had gone into hiding. Regardless of the reason or situation he was still a virgin and it sucked... Or at least he wished it did.
His mind continued to wander as the professor droned on and on, his thoughts turned to why he was even sitting here. Stupid Army and their stupid degree requirement. He wanted to be an officer because the pay was better, and he enjoyed being in charge and working with the guys a whole hell of a lot more than being yelled at and told to go clean the latrines or something. The downside was he had to finish this degree or he would lose his commission, despite the fact that a Criminal Justice degree had exactly nothing to do with being an Engineer Officer. Unfortunately he still had to have that little piece of paper, so since his G.P.A. Was too low to get into the Engineering Program he had decided to go with Criminal Justice since it sounded interesting. He just needed to finish this degree so he could go active duty and be done with this farce of a College Education.
He really appreciated the amount of public support the military was receiving, and while he wasn't and didn't really appreciate the “Hero” mantra the media was pushing he strongly preferred it to what his predecessors had dealt with during the Vietnam War era. While he enjoyed what he did with the military it wasn't something he was deeply passionate about, that was reserved for his hobbies, and the Army was a means to an end. The reason he had pursued a commission and wanted to go active was to feel like he was making a difference, and quite frankly because the money was good and there was an enormous amount of time off. There were very few jobs that could would pay for your college, pay you in the 6 figure range only 5-10 years afterwards, provide free healthcare, most weekends off, 30 days of paid vacation a year, several extended weekends, and federal holidays off. To make it better physical fitness was part of the job and not seen as something you did on your own time, so the work day didn't truly start until as late as 9am often and regularly ended around 4-5pm. With the time and money that provided he could buy a nice place off-base with a little bit of land and pursue his hobbies with his free time.
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Sure he would have to deploy every few years, but that meant no bills and increased income so he planned on using that money to buy rental properties in Texas. After 20 years he would come out as a Major most likely with a sweet 50k/year retirement package with free healthcare, and several rental properties bought and paid for, which would allow him to buy a nice place and pursue his hobbies. His was currently playing with what he considered amateur leather work having made his own belt and other miscellaneous pieces. Once he had some space and money for an actual workshop he wanted to learn all about woodcutting, fletching, bow making, tracking, hunting, tanning, and many more hobbies. A goal of his was to find the best kind of wood for bowyers and obtain the wood himself in order to make his own bow and arrows, then use them to track and kill game and use the hides to make his own leather products which he intended to sell. Why stop there though, he could continue that train of thought and learn how to mine and smelt ore so he could smith it into other products. He might even go so far as to learn how to create his own thread and make clothing himself, the possibilities were endless. He wasn't intending to do any of this because of some crazy survival instincts, or half baked ideas about prepping for the collapse of civilization, but because he found the prospect of being able to do all of these things was highly alluring to him.
Coming out of his daydream and introspection Raif noticed everyone getting up around him and realized class had finished for the day at last. Quickly grabbing his backpack he got up to follow his classmates but the professor stopped him on the way out.
“Oh Mr. Raif, since you seemed to be paying such rapt attention to the lecture today could you tell me which amendment Miranda vs. Arizona most applies to and why before you go?” asked his professor.
“Huh?” said Raif without thinking, playing the question back in his head real fast as he focused on the professor. “Yes Sir, Miranda vs. Arizona most applies to the 5th amendment as it is primarily intended to prevent suspects from incriminating themselves without representation.”
“Hmm... Very well Mr. Raif, it seems you were paying attention after all. Very well, I'll see you in class tomorrow, have a good day.” said the professor looking somewhat put off at having the opportunity to harass Raif for not paying attention taken away.
“Yes Sir.” Raif responded as he passed out of the classroom smiling to himself lightly and thankful he had bothered to read a quick synopsis on Wikipedia about the Miranda Rights at the beginning of the lesson. He didn't really have any idea of the specifics, but didn't really care either as the test tended to focus on the material the book covered more than the lectures themselves. “Besides, its not like he would remember or care about any of this information as soon as the test was done” he thought to himself. He was only here for that stupid degree and so long as he could pass his classes for the respective credits, it didn't matter one bit to him what his G.P.A was.
Once outside Raif jumped on his bicycle and rode off campus starting the quick three mile ride to his apartment complex. He rode hard and fast, trying to get there as quickly as possible for no reason other than the adrenaline of hauling ass. It wasn't like he did much exercise in his free time so riding the bike to classes was his way of justifying his laziness and meeting the physical standards expected of him as an Army Officer.
Pulling up, he lugged his bicycle up the two flights of stairs to the third floor of his apartment building before dragging his bicycle in and parking it haphazardly in his living room. He dropped his backpack on the way and headed to his bedroom where he sat down and pulled up his internet browser. Finally it was time to play some Runescape.
Raif loved this game, even if he didn't really understand why. Something about the ability to do everything yourself and grow stronger without depending on others really appealed to him. He loved that he got to decided when to pursue game objectives on his own time and could get as strong as he wanted before pursuing any of the story driven elements of the game.
Logging in he guided his character to the location to start a dungeon dive and started announcing that he was looking for a party. He was a reasonably high level at level 113 out of the current maximum of 138 so he got quick responses and added people as they sent their requests until he got the full quota of 5 before realizing that half his party couldn't go to an advanced enough dungeon to be worth his time. Booting them he started advertising again, and after 10 minutes he finally had a full party qualified to do what he needed and started the dungeon.
His character re-appeared in the starting room and he watched as two of the guys he had recruited immediately raced to grab all the free resources from the starting location before running off in separate directions. With a sigh, he looked at the other two who just stood there. One of them typed out that his Mother was calling and he'd “BRB” the other continued to stand there with no explanation. Shaking his head in frustration Raif guided his character out of the room and began heading into a direction that hadn't been explored yet. The whole point of the activity was to explore and clear the dungeon and kill the boss. Doing so gained experience and points that could be used to purchase some of the best gear in the game, which is why he was here in the first place.
Before long he came to a puzzle room that required members of the team to mimic body movements of opposing statues. Stupid, but still something that had to be done in order to advance. He called all members of the party in and waited...and waited...and waited. Suddenly he sees a message about one of the idiots who had initially rushed off getting killed, followed by cursing by said idiot that was broadcast across the party chat before the prick logged out and left the dungeon. “Well Shit...” Raif thought, “Now we aren't going to be able to clear this puzzle.” Sure enough as soon as he finished thinking that he got another message about one of the non-responsive characters from the beginning logging out and grew frustrated.
Deciding to log out himself, he sat back in his chair and wished this game were single player for the millionth time. He didn't want to deal with the hassle of relying on others to meet his goals, but damn if the experience for doing solo-dungeon runs wasn't terrible. Sighing he decided to just suck it up and do some solo runs for the rest of the night.
Hours later, he decided to call it a night. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and got in bed wishing as usual that he could live in such a world with the ability to learn skills in the same way without the limits of biological restraints to keep you from truly growing powerful. Drifting off, Raif was dreaming about how cool that would be.