Resurgence Of The Rogue Blacksmith

As Raphael's hand touched the wolf's bloodied mane, the looting mechanic activated and the carcass slowly disappeared, leaving two cuspids behind.

‖ Wolf Cuspid (Miscellaneous) ‖

▸ Crafting Material. ◂

He picked them up and made his way to the other cave wolf, repeating the process. The second carcass disappeared but offered no loot.

Scoffing at the lack of a drop, Raphael ate a Militia Ration to fill up his health pool, bringing it back to a healthy 90 points.

It was not uncommon for loot not to drop, as the system in charge of allocating loot was known for being chaotic - at times a miser, at times so generous it was unbelievable. At one point, there was a popular video of a player clearing over a hundred monsters, yet receiving 1 trash drop. This was definitely considered unfair, and many player complained on his behalf until it later became apparent that that player had looted an Epic item a few days before his run of bad luck. While the non-existent drops would be frustrating, this was yet another proof of the built-in balancing system that Origo had.

Glancing at his experience bar, Raphael noticed that it had jumped from 25 to 85, the two wolves earning him 60 experience points. This had pushed him to 34% of the required 250 experience to level up.

'If I get to meet a few more monsters along the way, I'll probably level up before I even reach Archosa,' he consoled himself, burying the messy fight in the past. What was done was done and wasting his time mulling over his mistakes would help no one, least of all him. What he needed to do now was slowly get used to the new style of play he was trying to create and let his muscle memory kick in with time.

As he started walking towards the town of Archosa, Jiver had barely gone a hundred meters, before a system notification rang out.

▸▹▸ Player-set timer has elapsed. ◂◃◂

Blinking at the line of text, Raphael recalled that he had set up a number of timers, so that he would not lose track of time and play for too long. He checked the real-life clock and realized it was already 7PM.

He looked around, noting that there were no useful hiding places in sight. This was actually not important, as players below level 10 would have a form of immunity, or rather protection. Their characters' bodies would be whisked away by the 'gods', so they would not have to worry about finding shelter before logging off. Despite this, Raphael had grown used to the action of doing so over the span of a decade, so he still chose a good hiding spot and climbed up into one of the trees near the road before activating the logout function.

Jiver Lefevre's eyes closed, a tranquil expression on his face as his body vanished.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

As the Jago Games Superior Helmet shut itself off, Raphael took it off and proceeded to also switch off the massage function of his Seismik chair. He clasped his hands together, stretching them above his head as he slowly moved his head from one side to the other.

His neck and fingers cracked and the tension that had been building up evaporated. Standing up, Raphael registered that his body was aching a bit despite the massage function. This was something he had expected, as the current virtual reality technology was lagging behind the players' requirements.

Raphael started stretching out his aching muscles, beginning with his shoulders, his waist, all the way down to his feet. He did a set of stretches that covered the biggest muscle groups and all of the joints. After 5 minutes of doing so, he was finally done. Even small moments like these, if done repeatedly, could guarantee that he would stay healthier. He had gotten the blood flowing and felt much more at ease.

'Wonder if I can find someone to build me a gaming suit…,' Raphael pondered as he made his way towards the kitchen. One of the current problems he would experience due to the lack of a gaming capsule, aside from the aches and pain, was that he had no easy way of making sure his blood circulation would not worsen the longer he played.

Gaming suits offered an improved circulation for the body, even when it was in a state of resting. Most of the technology behind them had already been available for decades, as it was heavily used by professional and even amateur athletes. It was just that the big companies like Sike and Abibas had yet to become aware that there was a need for such eSports-oriented clothing. If he could find a company that could make him one for a few hundred euros, he would gladly spend such a small amount of money to have a few gaming suits in advance.

Stepping into the kitchen, Raphael quickly took out all of the things he needed. A small kitchen knife, a kitchen scale, a grater, a bag of rice, a cuc.u.mber and some tomatoes, mushrooms and some cheese. First of all, he weighed 250 grams of rice and put them in salted water, letting them sit and soak. After that, he cleaned all of the vegetables and cut off the unnecessary parts, before also weighing them and noting down everything on his hiPhone XXS.

This was something he had used to do, back in the day, and had decided to start doing again. Carefully planning out his calorie intake would allow him not to overeat, which was very important to his health. Gaining weight because of inactivity had long been proven to be as unhealthy as smoking, if not even moreso.

"The rice should have soaked long enough by now." Raphael said to himself, as he drained the salted water with the help of a colander. He filled a pot with around a liter of water and put it on the stove, turning the heat on to maximum. Soon, the water was bubbling and he added the rice, lowering the temperature and letting it stew.

Leaving that to the side, he took out a pan and placed it on one of the other induction plates, adding in only a little bit of extra v.i.r.g.i.n olive oil before turning it on. The mushrooms were quickly julienned. He lifted the cutting board and slid the mushrooms into the pan, the olive oil sizzling as they made contact.

He sprinkled a bit of crushed black pepper on the mushrooms, and turned to the rice. Seeing as it was almost done, he lowered the induction plate's temperature and added a few herbs. Raphael's right hand took the pan's handle and he gently slid the pan forward and back, making the mushrooms glide across the olive oil, soaked in its aroma.

Soon, the mushrooms gained a slightly golden hue, and most of the olive oil had seeped into them. Raphael turned off the induction plate under the pan, and moved it to the side. He checked on the rice and saw that it had taken in all of the water and was more or less ready too. Turning off the other induction plate, he moved the pot away too.

The food was piping hot, so he took out a plate and utensils, puring the rice on one side and the mushrooms on the other. Steam rose from the rice, as Raphael grated a small piece of cheese onto the rice and then mixed it into the grains with a fork.

"Ah, almost forgot the salad!" he realized, turning back to the cutting board. He made quick work of the tomatoes and cuc.u.mbers, slicing them into medium-sized pieces before putting them into a small salad bowl and lightly salting them.

He sat down and heartily ate, glad that his cooking had turned out so well. Once the dishes, utensils as well as pots and pans were cleaned, he looked at his phone and realized it was already a quarter to 9PM. The day had been long and eventful, and he felt drained - both mentally and physically.

"Ah, the food was so great, but man do I feel sleepy…, might as well hit the hay." Raphael yawned, having decided to act unlike his age. He dried all of the things he had used in the kitchen, put them back in their usual places and then went back to his room.

Raphael put on his pajamas, set a smart alarm to wake him up 9 hours and 15 minutes after he was fully asleep and went to bed earlier than he had in a long, long time.