Chapter 5 – A Day in the Life.

"OFF, off you damn thing," Shouted Gordan. The light slowly faded away at the command word.

"For me? You shouldn't have." Lee said sarcastically while still taking the item. "Thanks man, this means a lot." Looking at Gordan with an appreciative smile.

"How about we call it a night?" Gordan suggested. "I'm beat."

"If you say so. I'm still ready to go!" Lee made a fist and clenched it while giving a grin to Gordan.

"That's great. But I have to open the shop early tomorrow." Gordan smiled knowingly. "And I want to try out my new bartering skill!"

The two agreed to call it a night. Gordan plopped down on his bed, and Lee left. A few thoughts entered Gordan's mind.

"Just what the hell was that place. A graveyard?" Gordan put his hand over his face. "Does that mean there are bodies there?..." He let out a heavy sigh. The day had been tough. One crazy thing after another.

"If I can keep doing this, I'm not really sure where my life is going." Gordan spent the rest of the night pondering the day's events. He hardly got any sleep. He kept replaying the life-or-death moments he had experienced. Luckily, Lee was there to help him out. Gordan realized he'd probably be dead without Lee there by his side.

Eventually, his alarm went off. Not having slept a wink, the sun had not risen yet, but Gordan had. He left his room and headed down the steps. He could hear his mom from the kitchen.

"Good morning!" His mom hummed.

"Ah, morning. Is dad up?" Gordan said sleepily.

"Yes, he's in the shop. He said he was working on something new for the shop." She answered. The smell of bacon filled the house, and the sizzling could be heard. But, Gordan had no appetite.

"I'm going to skip breakfast today. I'm just not hungry." Gordan said.

"Okay, but make sure you eat lunch. You didn't eat last night either. Don't make us worry too much." She replied in a worried tone.

Gordon donned his boots, remembering the feeling of sand piling into them during the giant rat battle. He let out a sigh.

"If only I knew more about this class! It's just too strange." Gordan pondered.

While leaving the house, he could see that the side door to the shop was already open. His father must have already started work. Gordan made the short walk over to the shop and, upon entering, shouted, "Morning, dad! Whatcha working on today?"

"Good morning! Just the basics. Rope, torches, daggers and the like." He listed. "Go ahead and get us open. I want to see how your bartering has improved!" His dad said proudly.

"I do, too. Not just level 5, but all the way to level 10! I can see the deals now." Gordan's mind was filled with images of money, getting the best price, and buying items at a discount. Before he realized it, he drooled a bit.

"Oh, I didn't realize I liked money that much!" He exclaimed to himself.

He unlocked the sliding panel for the front of the shop and counted the register. One interesting thing Gordan noticed is transactions in the system used gold coins, whereas physical transactions took place with an old currency known as USD. Although the country that came up with the currency had long passed, it existed as an acceptable currency, although most vendors preferred gold pieces.

All things in order, Gordan flipped the sign and began serving customers. First up were the early risers. As soon as he flipped the sign, a passerby came to the counter.

"Fifty feet of rope please!" The customer asked.

"Alright, that'll be…" Gordan trailed off, thinking.

"Hm. I guess now is a good time to try it out. The going rate is a gold per twenty-five feet." He thought.

"That'll be three gold please!"

*Bartering activated*

"Oh, I guess times are getting harder. Alright, here's your money." The customer replied.

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"It worked! What is that? A 50% increase!?" Gordan was getting excited; all he could see was gold in his future.

More customers came up, forming an orderly line. Gordan handed the man his rope and began serving the next customer. This time, it was a woman, a young one at that. She couldn't have been over 20 years old. "Do you have any skill crystals? I'm willing to pay good money for a climbing skill." The woman was undoubtedly attractive. But Gordan wasn't about to let beauty affect his business mindset!

"Ah, yes, we have that on hand. The skill crystals come in ranks. We only have a +5, a +10 and a +15 now." Gordan smiled and put his hands together.

"Time to make some money!" Gordan's eyes looked hungrily at the lady. "The going rate is 100 gold per every 5 levels. If I can get her to pay more. Heheheh." Gordan's expression grew more attentive toward the women.

"We have a special deal! Only 550 gold for the +15! I'll get it for you now!" Gordan went to retrieve the skill crystal before the woman could respond. Coming back to the counter, he had already packaged the item and put out a hand for payment. The woman looked at him as she was about to speak.

*Bartering skill activated*

"Well. I guess it's not a bad deal. Fine, here's your gold! But next time, I expect a discount." The woman walked away, looking betrayingly happy for her harsh words. The day went on like this. Gordan regularly charged about 10% more for each item. He had realized this was the sweet spot after failing to sell another skill crystal at a 50% markup. He didn't want to burn the customers after all.

During Gordan's shift, Lee was busy working on his swordsmanship. His mother was a skilled explorer, and his father was, too. However, his mother was a master swordsman, whereas his father was a geologist with some combat skills. This strange combination of people is what produced Lee Springer. Out on the back of their property was a swordman's training ground. There was a ring for sparring, blocks for practicing strikes, and all sorts of strange gadgets designed to help perfect striking form. The specific type of sword his mother specialized in was the bastard sword. A versatile one-handed blade. As a result, Lee chose this type of sword, too.

"25, 26, 27, 28," Lee's mother said, standing at the edge of the training circle while Lee was performing push-ups in the center. "You're past 25. That's a quarter to 100! KEEP GOING!" She shouted. Lee was already sweating.

"I can do it. This is for my dream! Push!" Lee told himself.

Lee pushed and reached a ripe 58 before collapsing into the dirt. "Ugh… Mom, my arms are wiggly." Lee said in despair and a bit of a cry for help. "It's alright, dear, just take a break." His mother's words sounded sweet.

"How long will the break be? This demon never gives me breaks!" Lee's expression was relaxed, and a few seconds passed. "GET UP!" His mother shouted, her gaze narrowed. "I want to see 100 squats!" She commanded. "YES, MOTHER!" Lee responded out of habit. He was instructed to say this when his mom told him to do something.

*Physique: lvl 6 achieved! *

*You will now require 5 minutes less sleep*

*You will now require less time to recover from fatigue*

"Sweet! Mom, I leveled up in physique!" Lee spoke in excitement while continuing to squat. "That's great! Only 20 more levels to go before you get to where your dad is, and only 28 more to go to catch up to me!" She said smugly, picking back up her count. "9, 10, 11 …" Their training continued into the night. Around 7:30, when the sun began to set, Lee was starfish in the middle of the training circle, huffing and sweating.

"Hey mom?" Lee spoke with a tentative tone.

"Hm?" She answered.

"Gordan got a new class. We did something pretty cool last night." Lee briefly reviewed what he found to be fond memories and smiled. "I leveled up my swordsmanship because of it, and I think I might be ready to go to the labyrinth soon," Lee said smugly.

"No one's ever ready. I've told you this before." His mother said in exasperation and disappointment. "The things you may see will never leave you."

"I know. You've told me before." Lee responded. He then sat upright to face his mom. His legs were still recovering. "Actually, I've leveled up twice recently. I'm already level 3 now." Lee said a tad more quietly but much more seriously. He looked down at his tired arms. "I think I can do it. Not only that, Gordan made me an offer."

"What kind of offer?" His mother responded with wary curiosity.

"He wants me to help him gather materials." Lee said. He knew that's what Gordan said but didn't know much more. "I think I'm gonna do it. Gordan has good business sense. I think he's going to give me a fair deal." Lee steeled his expression. "He's a good friend."

"Do what you think is best. I don't trust you, and you aren't that smart." His mother sighed. "But, I trust Gordan with you. He's always gotten you out of trouble." His mom smiled, thinking back. Gordan had been there to make sure her little troublemaker stayed true. "If there's anybody who can make sure you do the right thing, it's probably him. Unless you get married." She chuckled.

Lee blushed. "I will someday, but not now. I've got some work to do." Lee said. "Thanks mom, I think I'm going to go see Gordan. He's probably closed up by now." Lee sprung up, nearly recovered. "Oh, maybe a shower first." Lee added.

Meanwhile, Gordan had closed up the shop and couldn't believe the profits he'd made! He and his father sat at the register, counting the mixture of cash and gold. His father's eyes widened as the stacks kept growing. After all, his father's bartering skill was only at level 6.

"Holy hell. My son's a genius!" Gordan's father looked at him, he smiled and said: "Son, if you keep this up your mother and I will retire early!" He chuckled.

"You retire early? No way! Then who's going to make the wares I sell to make a fortune?" Gordan thought.

"Ah. Right dad. But still, I've been thinking about something." Gordan replied while stacking another ten pieces of gold.

"What's that son?" His father said quizzically with a curious expression.

"I want to go into the labyrinth." Gordan said seriously.

"Nope." His father replied.

"Why not?!" Gordan said pleadingly.

"Simple." His father crossed his arms. "You don't even know how to make anything; you don't know how to swing a sword and you're the pillar of the business at this point." Gordan's father straightened his back as if to maintain a fatherly posture.

"You mean to say if I figure those things out I can go?" Gordan grinned.

"I don't see why not. But you'd better talk to your mom first." His father was feeling a mixture of pride and hurt. His boy was finally considering leaving the nest. He didn't think this day would come. Now, it's come far too soon.