Resurgence Of The Rogue Blacksmith

'Time to get things started!' Raphael hyped himself up, as he started to consider his current situation. He had been given a new lease on life and he wanted to fully take advantage of it, in effect getting a 'redo' at life altogether.

The young man slowly walked along a cobblestone street, with a glazed look in his eyes. There were a lot of things to consider. He had checked his finances earlier, and after tallying the money from all of the different bank account he was now the sole owner of, he had amassed close to 250 000 euros.

This sum included the money he would get for his book's publishing rights, but not the royalties he would receive on a yearly basis. In the past, he had not paid much attention, nor prioritized his cooking book's promotion, leaving all of the decision-making to the publishers. Had he made use of his right to request translations into specific languages or publishing the book into more formats, he would have made a lot more money. Even without a lot of publicity or PR, his book had still managed to make him enough euros for him to afford to rent a big apartment in Berlin.

'Let's see, the inflation in the early 50s was just starting to dive down to manageable levels, so if it took me around 1100 euros to live comfortably back in 2063, I should be fine with 900?' Raphael pondered. Math had never been his strong suit. 'Argh, forget it, I'll just go with 950 euros a month for bills, yearly taxes and food combined. Even if the inflation is higher than what I remember it to be, I should be fine if I set aside 150 000 euros for living expenses for the next decade!'

Raphael smiled as he realized that this left him with over 100 000 euros for him to invest. As he did not plan on moving to a bigger city for now, and he was now the sole owner of the apartment he had lived in for years, this meant he had a lot of capital to freely use. Of course, due to his parents' upbringing, he was quite frugal even in his grand spending plans.

'I'll do groceries a few times a week, so that I can take advantage of the daily discounts. It'll be a bit bland, because I'll have to cook a lot of food, so that I can stock up for a few days ahead, but I'll save a ton of money that way!' Raphael thought with glee, as he marked all of the convenience stores around his apartment - both the big and the small family-owned ones. The town was not very big, but even if it had been, shopping malls had started dying off in Europe a couple of decades ago, so there was a slim chance of everything being in the same place nowadays.

'Next up, gaming supplies!' Raphael eagerly thought, as he waited at a crossing. He had been there for a minute, missing his chance to cross twice. 'I could buy the Bogitech VR helmet and save some money, but that would mean an inferior synchronization rate. Didn't the company behind Origo, Jago Games, have its own helmet? Darn it, I can't remember…, last time I went with the cheapest Paniconic rig.'

With a face full of anticipation, Raphael realized he had reached his first pit stop. It was a large shop, that was filled to the brim with technological wonders - everything from your latest home appliances, robots and gadgets, all the way to computers and gaming peripherals. The glass doors had a small stencil plastered in the middle, which said 'Killsteal Electronics'. This was the only such shop in the whole town, owned by an old man that had been a professional gamer in his youth.

Briskly walking inside, Raphael immediately went towards the gaming section, his muscle memory kicking in and guiding him. There were rows upon rows of computer parts, premade personal computers, mice and keyboards. In the center, a stand featured numerous helmets, each with a slick and polished design, the colors of the VR helmets ranging from matte black to electric yellow.

Raphael looked around, but failed to find what he was looking for. Dejectedly, he walked to the counter in the front of the shop and waited. Close to a minute passed, but as nobody came forward, Raphael asked, "Hello, anyone here?"

"Be right there!" a voice rang out from somewhere within the shop and soon, an old man came from around the corner and made his way over.

"Anything I can help you with, sir?" the employee asked.

"Yes, I'm looking for the virtual reality helmet released by Jago, but I couldn't find it. I'm also looking to buy a full-body chair that has a built-in massage function and any accessories that go with either." Raphael listed out.

The employee blinked a couple of times, baffled that somebody so young could afford such purchases, before turning to his computer display.

"Jago, Jago…, ah yes! We seem to have a few in storage, I can go get you one. It doesn't have any accessories per say, but it does come in two hardware variations. We happen to have one of the superior helmets left. Its processing and graphical units have a 20% increase in productivity and its internet ports support a higher bandwidth."

"I'll take it!" Raphael hastily said, filled with joy at the prospect of better gear. Even the basic Jago helmet was much better than any alternative, let alone the superior version.

"Wonderful. As for the chair, we only have one by Seismik eSports. It's a fairly new model, we got it a few months ago, it's used by a lot of professional gamers and it uses a lot less electricity than its competitors do. We can order you something else, but it will take a week or so to get it delivered. Would you prefer the Seismik?" the employee looked confidently towards Raphael and smiled inwardly when he saw him nodding. "Great. Since you're making such a big purchase, the store will give you a 5% discount and I'll deliver your purchases right now, if it's convenient."

"Thank you for the consideration. It would be very hectic to have to carry so many things." Raphael said, as he took out his card. The cash register in front of him blinked, showing the cost of his purchase as 7600 euros, after which he touched his debit card to the side.

A small display popped out of the side, with a numpad clearly visible. Raphael furrowed his brows, before trying his usual code.

BEEP! BEEP!

The register flashed in a soft red, as Raphael started to grow annoyed. 'Please don't tell me I never changed it and used the default code…' he silently prayed that his past self had some sense.

The employee looked on, trying not to react to the situation that would only typically occur with customers over 50. Raphael thought for a few second, before trying his birthday.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Oh for the love of Cth–!" Raphael started, but immediately stopped himself, a blush forming on his cheeks. He had not meant to blurt that out…

At this point, the employee was finding it increasingly hard to stifle his laughter, his chin visibly swaying from the effort. Raphael sighed, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable trip to the bank.

'Please, pretty please, let it be this one!' he implored, as his index finger pressed 1-3-3-7 on the small numpad.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The cash register rolled out a 'Purchase confirmed. Have a lovely day! ☺'

The employee lowered his head, a hand covering his mouth and nose, but he quickly regained composure. He tore out two receipts and signed them, before handing them to Raphael.

"These will act as your warranty, don't lose them and place them somewhere dark that isn't humid. The car is up front, the gray van with our logo on it. I'll be back in a minute with your purchases." the employee said and left the counter, turning around the corner and out of sight.

Raphael left the store, gingerly waiting outside next to the old van. It was an old Rolksvagen model from the early 2000s, practically an antique in the making. Most cars nowadays were electric, and hybrids like this one were a dying breed.

'What a day…' Raphael thought, utterly exasperated from all of the ups and downs.