"Hi Allan, can I come in?" Jake asked from the door.
"Sure, come in"
When Jake entered the apartment, he couldn't help but recall Allan's financial situation, the apartment was almost empty, apart from the bed, a table and a chair there was nothing but the kitchen and the bathroom.
Being here would only cause him to get emotional, so he turned around and said:
"On second thought, let's go to a bar, I invite"
At Jake's sudden gesture of generosity, Allan couldn't help but be surprised. He approached him and touched his forehead.
"Are you OK? Do you have fever?"
"Ahh, what are you doing? Get lost!" Jake said as he pushed her hand away.
"Huf, don't scare me like that man. For a moment I thought something had happened to you"
Jake looked at Allan reproachfully and asked:
"Is my invitation that surprising?"
"Yes"
"Then forget it, it's not like I don't have better things to do" said Jake while twitching an eye.
"That reminds me, what did you come here for?" Allan said as he tried to change the conversation.
Apparently, it worked because Jake said:
"Oh, I almost forgot" he replied as he pulled something out of his pocket.
"Here you have"
In his hand was the money Allan had lent him, not a cent less.
"Ohh, you didn't have to give it back to me so soon, I wouldn't have minded waiting a little longer"
"Of course, I had to get it back to you as soon as possible! Who are you taking me for! " Jake said as if offended.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Allan knew that Jake had great pride, so if he continued down that route, he would end up offending him for real.
After a bit more chatting, at Jake's insistence they both went out for a drink.
It was quite entertaining; Allan hadn't dated his friends for over a month so he missed them a bit.
"By the way, how are you doing in the game?" Jake asked while they were having a few beers.
"What's wrong, are you curious about the game too?" Allan said smiling.
"I think there is no one who has no intrigue about the game right now, and you haven't even told me what race you have chosen"
"The human race"
"Pff, cough, cough."
(Maybe it wasn't the best idea in the world to tell him while he was drinking) Allan thought.
"Are you OK?" Allan said as he helped Jake.
"Forget about it, the human race? Really? Aren't you kidding me? Why would you choose that race out of all the others there are? "
When Jake recovered, he began to bombard Allan with questions.
After Jake calmed down a bit Allan began to explain his situation to Allan.
"HAHAHA, I can't even imagine how you've won that title, unlucky! HAHAHA "
"It's over," Allan asked with no expression on his face.
"Sorry, sorry, but I imagined that at least you would be in a city learning from someone, it is surprising" said Jake when he finished laughing at Allan's situation.
"Well, you're not entirely wrong."
"Ah, the guards, you think their training will be effective."
"I don't know, so far I have only trained with Tom but it is obvious that whoever taught him did a good job"
"I don't mean that," Jake said with a more serious face than usual.
"So what do you mean- Ahhh, the skills" Allan said understanding what Jake meant.
"So, have you tried it?" Jake asked.
"No, not yet, besides, it's not like I can do it anywhere," Allan replied.
"But you've been training for four months, you must have noticed some change"
"No, not really" said Allan
"Are you not curious if the skills you've practiced in the game can be used in real life?" Jake said strangely.
"And why am I going to need to use a sword in today's world?" Allan said without caring much.
"I don't understand, you told me you entered the game precisely because you thought skills could be transferred, why now you don't care?"
"The reason I went into the game is because I thought and still think that it will be the next big thing, joining sooner will allow me to have an advantage over others, also if I had not chosen to use the sword what should I choose?"
Jake was amazed, but what Allan was saying made sense.
Idle Online is a game of swords and magic, the skills that can be learned in it, while interesting, are obsolete in today's society.
Why would someone use a bow or a sword when there are guns, the same happens with blacksmithing, carpentry and other skills, with the exception of certain artisan workshops, most of the processes are mechanized to be more efficient.
From this point of view, Idle Online is like any other video game, entertaining, but with no practical uses in your daily life.
"Well, as long as you enjoy it, I guess it doesn't matter if the skills can be used or not" Jake said giving up on understanding Allan.
"Enough talk about me, how was everything with the ring?" said Allan
"Well, thanks to you I was able to get it back in time so my parents didn´t find out about the incident, but I think I'm going to stop dating women for a while," Jake said casually.
"Are you sure you don't have a fever?" this time Allan was really surprised.
Jake's friends have tried on several occasions to get him to stop finding girlfriends but they couldn´t. Jake saying that he is not going to continue, surprising is little to show how Allan feels.
"Don't tell me that the incident has left you so traumatized that you have moved to the other side?" Allan asked as he slowly walked away from where he had been.
"FUCK OFF!" Jake yelled angrily, making all the bar patrons turn to look at them.
Seeing this Jake knew that he had made a mistake, so he shut up.
When they saw there were no problems, the patrons went back to their business.
"It's not that, don't look at me like that," Jake said in a low tone as he faced a cautious Allan.
The sight of Allan looking at him like he was a stranger made him want to punch him and start fighting but he held back.
"Then why? Allan asked after finishing the joke.
"I am working on a project that occupies me a lot of time, I cannot distract myself doing other things"
"What project?" Allan said curiously, for Jake to give up women it must be important.
"Hehehe, do you want to know? You just have to beg me and say- "
"Forget it, I don't want to know" Allan said when he saw where the conversation was going.
"You sure don't want to know?"
"Sure"
"Really?"
"You are not diverting the conversation because you have really become gay, right?"
"FUCK OFF"
After joking a bit more and chatting about old times Allan and Jake said goodbye.
Maybe this is what he needed, although the game is fun Allan had accumulated some stress, this was just what he needed.
When Allan got home it was late so instead of going back to the capsule, Allan took a shower and fell asleep in his bed.
(Today was a great day) Allan thought as he fell asleep.