Abel woke up naturally just a few minutes before 1 pm.
The first thing he did was grab his phone and check his coalition account. After making sure the money was really there and he didn't just dream his experience in game while he was asleep, he smiled to himself in relief.
Although he calmly related the story to Melly and Frankie earlier at breakfast, he was still feeling like the entire ordeal was quite unreal.
After a few moments of happily rejoicing about his situation, he remembered his current chores and quickly got out of bed. Once he was done washing up, he grabbed a bowl of cereal and decided to plan out his day.
He still remembered his promise to Frankie about dinner today and he also needed to set up the burrow for the rabbit's he caught. He couldn't just leave them living in the basket.
Once he dug out a small burrow and blocked off a section in the yard, he'll order some barbeque and log in to the game for a few hours. After having dinner and relaxing with his friends, he'll log back in to see if the dungeon had updated. It should have by then so he planned to clear it out through the night.
It would probably be much faster with his increase in level and strength. Although he wouldn't gain as much EXP, he'd do good by leveling up his sword proficiency. It was kind of sad how his pick axe proficiency was the highest at the moment.
After finishing up his little lunch, he washed the bowl he used and went out to the yard with a shovel. He planned to dig a 30-centimeter deep burrow and barricade the area around it with the wood. He didn't want the chickens to come pecking at the rabbits.
After marking out a section, he quickly got to work. The hole wasn't too big or too deep, he first dug it out uniformly before packing in certain sections.
He made it at an incline but also left 2 deeper gullies to filter out the water in case of rare heavy rain. He planned to fix up a better home for them before winter came around, but this would do for the time being. It would definitely be a big step up from the basket.
He took an hour to fix everything up, while muddied and dirty, he started fixing up their fence to close it off from the fowls in the yard. After placing the newly wed rabbits into their new home, he fetched an elongated wooden container that was kept in storage to use a water trough. He had no idea what it was originally used for, but it was laying around and made for a perfect water dispenser.
He took advantage of his current dirtied state and fully cleaned out the chicken coup. He'd have to get some clean straw for them on Sunday but seeing as summer was inching closer, he wasn't in too much of a hurry.
By the time he was done, it was nearly 3 pm. He scrubbed himself thoroughly in the shower and got back into the pod.
After connecting to the virtual world, he didn't log in to the game straight away. He browsed the internet through his user home and ordered 1 kg of mixed barbeque platter from a nearby shop along with an assortment of appetizers, scheduling its arrival at 7 pm. Only after that did he click onto the portal for Realm Quest, entering the world of Faeron once more.
Woooosh
He found himself standing outside the Universal Bazaar, the place he had logged out from after selling off the rest of his loot. He had sold off all the remaining monster parts for 4 silver and 10 copper coins. After spending 20 silver coins on the pact, he was left with a slightly less than 41 silvers.
It was currently close to evening in Veridia, the setting sun was casting the last of its rays over the land.
Abel strode through the streets, bypassing several districts before finding himself at the old guardians' fountain. He walked up to the old door and made his way inside.
Creeeeeeaaaaaak
"Excuse me… Sir guardian…?"
Abel called out to old man Rye and this time, it wasn't long before the latter showed up.
"Child, you figured it out already?"
The old man seemed expectant but not too surprised after hearing Abel's answer.
"Unfortunately, not yet sir. May I please have a look at the records you mentioned…?"
"Of course, follow me. And just call me old man Rye, no need for guardian this and guardian that."
The old man seemed friendlier after Abel got his older brothers inheritance and increased favorability. He followed behind the old man as he led the way to the back door where he saw it lead to the rest of the building that apparently had a yard with a water-well in the middle.
Once they crossed the corridor and made a turn, the old man led him to a room in the building that seemed to be an old study.
"This was my study long ago. After Branthor went missing, I put all his notes and belongings from his workshop in here. By the way, his old forge... seeing as you're his inheritor, you can use it as you wish. These are the keys to the front door and the forge is at the opposite end, you don't have to enter through the shop from now on."
The old man pulled out 2 keys which Abel respectfully took. He thanked him but the old man just waved him off as though it wasn't a big deal.
Abel had been thinking about renting a forge to test out his blacksmithing skills but he wasn't sure how expensive it would be.
The blacksmiths guild would offer such spaces for rent to any travelling blacksmith or players but he hadn't been there yet. He was planning on stopping by after clearing out the dungeon but the old man's suggestion would save him both time and money so he agreed right away.
"This shelf here is all the notes my brother left behind while that shelf holds some schematics to the weapons he would think up, experimental designs that were never created. If you can explain the prophecy then I shall gift you all of his lower grade schematics. Don't think I'm being stingy child, Branthor would never leave schematics to higher grade weapons laying around. Only the ones that were deemed average or low-grade would be penned down and sometimes sold to others."
Abel wasn't sure if these weapon designs were part of the quest reward or a plus point because of his rising favorability but he would welcome help of any kind, especially the type that would save him some coin.
"The rest of the books and scrolls are my own, you can view them but I am sure they wont aid you in your quest. If they were of any help, then I would have long figured it out after going through my brothers notes."
The old man's words seemed sincere but Abel was wary of this being a hint to actually explaining the prophecy. Maybe the old man wrote something down years ago but he forgot about it. Perhaps it could be from a record long ago that he didn't view with much importance.
Anyway, Abel looked around at the dozen books and many scrolls before taking a deep breath. He felt thankful for his increasing cognitive abilities. If it were before his memory improved, then this quest would have been of A+ or even S grade in difficulty for him.
After thanking the old man, he dove right into the pile of books and scrolls before him. He started off with the records and writings of Branthor as the probability of finding something here was more likely.
While the majority of books were just records of the time, the current happenings of the world, Abel enjoyed enriching his knowledge and understanding more about the game's lore.
He learned a lot of things that weren't revealed by the game developers such as legends of certain NPC's, their deeds and achievements. The tales of dragon hunts and holy wars that took place all over the world. Even the founding of the kingdom of Veridia was mentioned.
Apparently, the Stonebinder family were nobles of the kingdom and their first ancestor was a Master blacksmith that aided in forging weapons for the royal clan in their battle for supremacy over the island.
It wasn't until Branthor and Bryen were born when their family finally took off and outgrew even the kingdom itself. But being loyal citizens and men of honor, they didn't disgrace their ancestors and chose to remain in Veridia, guarding it and arming it throughout their lives. It was a pity neither of the brothers ever got married so it was likely for this long-lived line of nobility to end with them.
A few hours passed by as Abel went through one scroll after another and one book after the next. When he thought he'd have to carry on after logging out, he came across a passage in an old diary that caught his attention.
It was some musings of Branthor, he was wondering where the birth place of the first divine weapon of the land came to be and he seemed anxious to find out. While it was hard to tell the tone of a writer from text, Abel noticed the writing seemed rushed, as though he was either anxious or angry about not knowing the details.
He turned the page to read the next passage but it seemed to be from the next day as the writing was about something else entirely without mention of his earlier questions. After going through the whole book, Abel sighed and put it aside.
It was the first clue he found, although seemingly useless, it could come in handy later on. He took note of the date at the start of the page and marked it so he could reach it quickly in the future.
After taking a look at the time, he realized it was nearly 7 pm on Luminara. The delivery should be arriving soon while Frankie and Melly would be home shortly after so he chose to log off where he was. When he logged back in, he could carry on reading for a couple of hours before he headed out to the dungeon.