12***Life Outside (Part 2)

*

Beginners Area

'Eh! Why am I back at the Beginners Area? Is the fight between the Gremlin Hoard still going on? Still, I can't believe I died in that though!' Thoughts were going of in my head like rapid fire and I couldn't contain them!

'Wait, calm down! I need to assess my situation!'

After a quick scan of my stats I found that my Masteries were reduced by three levels each and my level dropped by 2. Also, all of my exp. from killing monsters and leveling up my masteries were gone! Also, I had nothing but my beginner suit on me. 'All of my stuff and exp must still be at my death point.' Well I have to go there anyway so why not.

I had one major problem though. A problem which I forgot about until I tried walking out of the village.

*bump!*

"Darn it! I almost completely forgot about that!" I said after rubbing my forehead. Even with the vast amount of pain absorbers that have been integrated into the game terminal, you can still somewhat feel pain for a few seconds after it has been inflicted. In the view of the public, this would be a good reason to take the game off of its pedestal, but in my opinion this is a good reason not to be reckless and get yourself killed like I did.

A notification showed up shortly after impact, saying:

Due To The Death Penalty You Are Now Blocked From

Leaving This Safe Zone For A Total Of 5 Hours.

Time Left: 3:37:21

Man!! Darn it all! Jeeze!!! The fact that you can respawn immediately after death, and still have to wait for 5 hours in game time so still have to wait some before I can continue training, is annoying!!! Now what am I gonna do? If this was a different town, it might have been different, but in here there's almost nothing to do.

Well there's always the Training Grounds were I can spend the time getting some levels on my masteries but that wouldn't get me nearly as much exp. points as fighting monsters.

Plus all of my loot and gear are in Hobside Village so I can only train in unarmed combat!

Well, it might do me well to train here, but it looks like now would be a good time to go buy some milk.

So I checked to see if the Hunters made any more posts, found none, then logged out to go the convenience store!

*

Home

After I signed out I checked up on Mom to see if she was still playing, which she still was, got into some gray Mercury Archer sweatpants (rank 23 and the only female archer in the top 30. Uses alchemy to make a bow and arrows from metals, but prefers mercury) and a Thunder Beast Knight T-shirt and left the apartment after ensuring it's secured.

"Yap yap!!!!!" I heard the moment I left the moment I left the building. Soon after a furry missile came straight for my feet and started doing figure-8s around my feet.

"Hey boy, how are you doing." I asked, mentally reprimanding myself. I can't believe that I forgot that I now have a dog! Mom must have put him out for me.

I also take note of the fact that she put some food and water bowls out as well. She even got a collar and nameless name tag for him!!! She really took to him fast huh.

"Okay boy, wanna have a walk with me?" I asked, bending down to give him a pat on the head. He's filled out pretty fast since he came here! While his fur was anything but righteous, and his legs were still sticks, he didn't look as sickly as before!

He seemed to get excited at the idea of a walk and bolted off! I was about to call him back when I then realized that he doesn't have a name yet. So instead I ran to catch up to him.

"Alright boy. Before we start, you need a name." I say coming to a stop and squatting beside him. At this He stops and looks up at me with what seems to be... interested? It's a dog, why would it look interested in anything I say? I must be imagining things.

"Okay, how about Fido?" I start. The look he gives me at that name makes me wonder why I even bothered. "Alright then, how about Bruno?"

He gave me the "rejected" look again.

"Sam?"

Rejected.

"Max?"

Rejected.

"Spike?"

Rejected!

"Ugh, this is frustrating! What could you possibly want to be named?!" At that statement realization slapped me in the face.

"Fine, how about Crash?" I asked, reference to the incident I saved him from.

At that name he started yapping excitedly, tail wagging so hard it cause its tiny little body shake with it. "Very well, Crash it is then." I said, surprised at the reaction!

'I wonder who's puppy this was before?' I thought to myself. 'He couldn't possibly be a stray if this is how he acts around a practical stranger.' I scavenged around my pockets and found my trusty paper scraps and spare ink-pen. Almost all of my pants have these, thanks to my discretion. I can't bring My holo-pad with me everywhere after all.

I would have used an E-pad (electrical-pad or a mini holo-pad if you will), but I never saved for one and I never got around asking my mom for one either, so I rolled with paper and pen as a substitute.

I wrote on his name and slipped it into the gap of the tag, and then, newly named and tagged dog in tow, we finally started off on the short walk to the convenience store.

____

Edge of Town

'Ah, it's been a while since I had such a relaxing stroll in the morning.' All of my time went into school and finding odd jobs so that I could buy BMO. Every ounce of free time that I had from school went into either working or studying so that my mom wouldn't get suspicious about my whereabouts. With BMO and MMORPG research thrown into that mess, I could barely remember the colour that the sky is in the mornings!

Now that I finally have it and school's out for the next 3 months, I can take my time and enjoy the crisp, cool air of a Canadian summer, and nature at its finest, like I used to do.

'Before everything happened.' I thought to myself. When the usual barrage off emotions came flooding in, I stumbled and realized that I drifted off somewhat. I pulled myself back to the present to find that I reached much closer to the town than I thought. In fact, I was only a few blocks away from the convenience store. Wow, how long was I buried in my thoughts!

"Nynn? Is that you?!" A voice called to me.

"Hmm? Is that you Mrs. Patterson?" I said in surprise. I wasn't expecting to see anyone today! Wednesdays are usually dry spots around here.

"Come here child let me take a look at you!" She said, calling me over. She was always a very jovial woman for being over 50 years old.

"That's okay miss, I actually don't have time..."

"Nonsense boy! Now come over here let me see how you've grown!" She interrupted, practically dragging me into her small store by now! She runs a flower and herbal medicines shop that I help out with on the weekends when I'm not working with Mr. McFarlly.

. . . Thinking about it now, just where did I find time to play games?!

"But I just saw you two days ago! I couldn't have possibly grown since then!"

"Did I mention that you are such a lovely young boy, always helping us out?" She barreled on, dragging me from the front of the foliage-thick shop to the back rooms where she held her herbs. I'm confident she hears me. Just that she's always been like this. Yet still I try...

"Like I said before, I did those for money! You don't need to feel indebt to me!" I reminded her. I mentioned once that I was doing odd jobs for money to by the game right? Well that campaign and me practically solve all the problems in our town single handedly! I was working minimum wage after all - being a minor and everything - and the devices skyrocketed in prices when VR tech came out for it, so it was only inevitable, but the people who employed me are taking it too much as an act of kindness!

In Miss Patterson's case, I helped her with her laundry every day for three years for 2 dollars per every load washed. . .

Hey, when you're broke, what can you do?

"Oh? Nynn is here." Another elderly female's voice sounded from Miss Patterson's house. Crash walked in like he owned the place before I could stop him, and the ladies didn't even bat an eye at his behaviour, so I decided to just leave the matter be.

"Hello Miss Robins..."

"It's Aunty Robins to you welp! I see you still have no manners!" She snapped immediately! She's at least 10 years older than Miss Patterson but says I have no manners for calling her with an honorific... You can see the bind I'm in here, right?

"Sorry Aunty Robins." I corrected. As you can see, she's a rather strict, very closed off and stubborn individual. And also miserable, thought that's more self proclaimed by her. I cooked and cleaned for her for 4 months so I should know.

Only Miss Patterson and I can handle her though, so she spends most of her time with Miss Patterson attached to her hip.

"Well don't just stand there child! Come in and have some cookies and Jasmine tea!" Miss Patterson broke in as she walked from the kitchen with a tray of goodies.

'When did she...?!' I thought to myself in surprise, 'She was right beside me a second ago!!!' Wait, I don't have time for this!!!

"But Miss, I've gotta..."

"Nonsense child! Now come sit and have some." She insisted, locking my arm in a vice grip when I tried to slowly shift my way out! You know, If I did do this just about every day already, I wouldn't have had a problem staying...

'*sigh* Where the elderly of the previous generations like this, or did this just befall me!!!' I silently sobbed to myself.