Spending My Retirement In A Game

"I don’t think so, no. I wanted to try crafting something with my Mana Hands, remember? I just want to see if it has any effect on the item and if it will help with the Skill proficiency."

"Ooh, right! Do that, I wanna see you make something with them!" Bree replied excitedly and got a soft smile from Eisen in return. "Of course."

Eisen closed his eyes and began compressing his Mana. After he formed it into a sphere he slowly split it into two halves, moving one of them to his right and the other to his left hand. He let the mana spread out into each of his hands, and soon enough Eisen noticed he could let his concentration go since the Mana Hand skill activated.

In front of Eisen, there now were two snow-white hands that gave off a light glow.

"Ooh! So pretty~!" Bree muttered out, causing Eisen to simply laugh.

Eisen took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then stood up and walked back a few steps so that he wouldn’t get in his own hands’ way.

Carefully, Eisen moved his right mana hand to the exacto knife and slowly picked it up. With his other mana hand, he then picked up the template for the purses and pushed it down onto some of the red fabric still on the table, and cut out the teardrop shape twice.

Next, Eisen grabbed the end of the remaining thread and put it through one of his needle’s holes before trying to tie a knot into it so it wouldn’t slip out. Up until then, Eisen was able to prepare everything like normal, but something like tying a knot into the thread was harder than Eisen expected, and he was only able to tie it after trying for a solid minute.

"This might be harder than I thought... I’m not sure if my Mana Hands are nimble enough to sew the purse... or maybe..." Suddenly, Eisen got an idea, but didn’t know whether or not it would work.

He concentrated on activating his racial skill, A Dwarf’s Hands¸ and immediately felt and saw a change in the Mana Hands. The biggest visual change was that something like a thing thread of mana grew between his actual hands and the mana hands.

Eisen felt his mana slowly draining immediately after this happened, as if he was fueling the movement of his mana hands.

When he moved his hands again, he could see that the mana copies moved basically instantaneously. With a grin on his face, Eisen began to sew the two halves together before the time he could use his skill ran out. It was a lot harder than one might expect, considering that the mana hands did the exact same thing as Eisen’s normal ones. But while they acted the same as Eisen’s hands, there was one big difference.

He couldn’t feel what he was doing. He couldn’t feel the cold metal of the needle, nor the fabric along his fingers as he held it down. These were all important details, and since Eisen always had these sensations all his life, it was hard to get used to not having them.

However, since this wasn’t that hard of a hurdle to overcome, Eisen still managed to finish the purse within the half-hour that he had, albeit barely.

[You made a Simple Red Purse]

[Simple Red Purse]

[Quality - High][Rank - 1]

[Description] A simple red purse made with special means, as it was made with hands made of pure mana. This act alone took an immense amount of control.

"Huh, not overwhelming, but still surprisingly good," Eisen muttered out and nodded his head, then turned over to Bree who was looking at him with big eyes, and he laughed lowly and handed the purse over to her.

"Here you go! It’s not a dress, but at least it’s better than nothing."

Bree’s eyes opened up wider as she took the purse into her hands. "R-Really? Thank you so much, Eisen!"

"No problem, Bree. But I think for today, let’s head back to the Inn. I’m feeling pretty tired after using so much mana."

That was only an excuse, of course. Eisen wanted to get back to the Inn as early as possible so that he could log off the game for a few hours to eat something and take a shower. And maybe Melody called again and he would have to deal with that and calm her down. It would also be a good idea to call Tony or Natsuo and see how they’re doing.

After cleaning up the table, Eisen grabbed his new pants and shirt, as well as his old shirt, and slung his backpack over his shoulder, before Eisen and Bree left the workshop. When Folmirra turned at the sound of the opening door, she narrowed her eyes and leaned forward.

"You were wearing something else when you came in here, right?" She asked and carefully inspected the shirt Eisen was wearing from a distance. He laughed and scratched his beard while replying, "Ah, yes, how I said my plans for the day were to make some clothes. I’ll be doing that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow as well, haha."

He held up the Red and Black shirt he was holding to show it to Folmirra, and she happily took a look at it. She ripped open her eyes and looked back and forth from Eisen and the shirt repeatedly, before starting to stutter.

"Wh-what is this? Your... your skill rank, d-don’t tell me it’s still one... Denmir mentioned you broke through your Blacksmithing skill, but to think you did the same for your Tailoring skill... I-I don’t believe I can somehow convince you to become a Tailor?"

[It is possible to change your occupation to Tailor. Do you accept?]

Eisen carefully read through the notification before shaking his head. "Sorry, I’m sure Denmir told you already, but I don’t want to make such a choice yet."

"Haa... I understand... But if you change your mind, the option will always be there! Just come to me, and I will instantly give the occupation to you!"

"Thank you, Folmirra. We’ll see you tomorrow then."

Smiling, Eisen left the shop with Bree directly behind him. The two of them made their way to the Inn, ate Dinner together, and said goodnight before Eisen paid for a room.

He walked through the door and immediately set down his things, taking off his shirt before lying down in bed.

---

"Fucking... shit... I’m so old..." Benjamin swore as he stood up from the capsule and held his back while stumbling across the room. His joints cracked as he was walking to the kitchen to make himself some food. It wasn’t anything grand, just simply some buttered toast. He didn’t really have that much of an appetite lately, besides when he was in the game of course.

After he finished his small breakfast, he went over to his phone and sat down on his couch.

"Ah, Hey Dad! How are you?... -Katy, leave your brother alone and eat your waffles!- ...Sorry, I’m a little stressed. -What? Katy, I just said leave your brother alone! No, stop- stop biting him!-" Tony, Benjamin’s youngest son, was the first one that was called. He seemed to be tired and annoyed, yelling over to his youngest daughter while talking to his father.

Benjamin couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. "Are you busy? Because if you are, we can talk another time. I just wanted to chat a bit anyway."

"No no, it’s fine, Dad. How are you? Benji keeps telling me to ask you how that game is, what was it again? World of... something or another?"

"World of Magic, yes, son. And it is truly a lot of fun. You know how I-"

"-Jesus Flipping Christ, Katy! If you don’t stop biting Sean I’ll get the muzzle!- Sorry, Dad, what were you saying?" Tony apologized, trying to get his kids under control. "Are you really alright? If you need some time to yourself, you can come visit with the kids for a bit. That’s been a long time coming anyway."

Benjamin suggested, worried about his son. It hasn’t been long since Jennifer, Tony’s wife, passed away, and Benjamin oh so much knows the feeling of having to raise three children on his own.

"...Thanks, Dad. I’ll have to see how much time I have left before I need to get back to work. I can’t afford to-"

"Tony, I told you a thousand times, if you need money, I’ll lend you some. I really don’t need it! I’m old, my house is paid off, and diapers for old men aren’t as expensive as they used to be." Benjamin stayed quiet for a few seconds, waiting for the reply he wanted to hear. And when Tony finally laughed, Benjamin calmed down again.

"Thanks, although I’ll never get your humor. I’ll see if we can come sometime this or next month. Should I tell Melody and Natsuo as well? So we could throw a little family reunion?" He asked and Benjamin leaned back to think.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. I’ll call Natsuo myself, I wanted to talk to him as well. Melody already called me a few times yesterday and-"

"-Completely freaked out? Yeah, I know, she called me as well to see if I heard anything. Well, I really have to go now before Katy officially becomes a cannibal. Love you, Dad."

"Love you too, son." Happy that he could help his son out a little bit in such a hard time of his life, Benjamin smiled. Next, he dialed the phone number of his oldest son, Natsuo.

"Good morning, Natsuo. How are you?" He asked, excited to hear what else his son created since the last time they talked. While Melody chose to work as a teacher and Tony became a software engineer, Natsuo took after his father and decided to create things. He became an engineer specialized in robotics and kept fiddling with different things to create interesting inventions that Benjamin always loved to hear about.

"Good morning, Dad! I meant to call you, actually! Melody was freaking out about something yesterday. I knew you were playing the game, so I wasn’t too worried, but that reminded me to ask you about how the game feels! Some of my colleagues kept speculating on whether this is all just a sham to pull research money out of rich guys. If this technology really works, you have NO idea what that’s going to mean! Just imagine prosthetics that are indistinguishable from a real limb after they are placed on the patient! Blind people who will be able to see again by giving them prosthetic eyes!"

"Haha, I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic about this. Once the game is accessible to the public, you should also consider playing." Benjamin suggested, and immediately Natsuo answered, "Yes! I definitely will! You’ll have to show me the ropes then, haha!" He laughed out and Benjamin smiled.

"Well, anyway, do you have any big projects coming up? Because Tony and I were just talking, and we figured it would be a good idea to come over here with the kids for a while, and he suggested that you all also come by. To have a little family reunion." Slowly, Benjamin explained the situation and instantly Natsuo agreed.

"Oh yeah, definitely! It’s been a while since I’ve seen Tony and Melody as well! And I’m sure Lola and Lyla are also going to be happy to see their cousins! And Christie will be ecstatic that she can relax a bit as well. Is there a date yet?"

"No, not yet, I’ll keep you updated though. And talking about Christie, greet her from me!"

"Will do! But sorry, gotta go Dad! A colleague needs my help with something. Talk to you later, love you!"

"Love you too, Natsuo!"