Spending My Retirement In A Game

Eisen placed the Dungeon Core down onto the floor, merely holding it up a little bit so that everyone could properly see it. "When we were down in the mine, I was using my Magic-Sight to look for places with a high concentration of mana to find High-Iron Ore more easily, and when I did, I found a place with no mana at all. I dug that direction and found a completely cut-off room, with this Dungeon Core floating in the center. It was pulling in the mana it needed, so that’s why there wasn’t any mana around for me to see." The old man explained, before continuing with the rest of what happened in that room, including his conversation with the Ghost of the person that seemingly created all the Dungeons in this world, as well as how he found the Blueprints for the Core Guardian.

"That’s so cool!" Komer exclaimed without being able to hide his excitement, although for a slightly different reason than why the others were getting excited and astounded. "Imagine! If we make a dungeon, we can control who goes in! If it becomes an awesome Dungeon, then there’s probably going to be a lot of people that want to go into it so that we could set a small fee. It doesn’t need to be a lot, but it’s surely going to add up... And we could set up a shop directly in front of the Dungeon where we stock up everything that’s needed... Like Health or Mana potions, depending on the monsters inside, and things like antidotes... Oh, and of course maps of the dungeon layout!" The young merchant continuously muttered, merely thinking about how much money they would be able to make using this Dungeon Core.

"Let’s first figure out where we should put this Dungeon Core. But until then, keep those ideas in mind." Eisen chuckled, before he placed the Dungeon Core away again, taking a closer look at the blueprints for the Core Guardian. While Eisen was trying to figure out what he was seeing and what he would need to do to make this, the others added some of their comments as well.

"A Dungeon Core is more amazing than just that... Just due to the concept alone..." Sky pointed out, and Eisen began to think about something when he read about some Golem-Aspects within the Core Guardian, slowly muttering out his idea.

"Could I maybe turn the Dungeon Core into a Golem Core...?" Eisen asked himself quietly, not thinking that the others heard him. But it seemed like he was speaking a bit louder than he thought he was, and everyone clearly heard his words.

"A Dungeon Golem...?" Sky whispered in response, trying to figure out whether or not this was possible. "Maybe you could do that? I’m not sure, but it would definitely be unique..." The Fey-Kin pointed out, and the others swiftly agreed without much thought.

"Hmm, well there’s no reason to think about that yet. I’ll only try that out once we established a good base on the islands. Before then, it doesn’t make that much sense to." Eisen pointed out before he leaned back against the wall behind him. "We’ll figure it out with the other Originals when I wake up again. For now, I think it’s about time for me to sleep." Eisen explained with a tired sigh, before crossing his legs and slinging his arms around the crystal core so that nobody could possibly remove it while the old man was sleeping.

And as he did so, Eisen looked at the others currently in the carriage with a smile. "Goodnight, everyone."

---

"Good morning, Dad!" Natsuo exclaimed as he saw his father step toward the living room. Lola and Lyla were sleeping on the couch, and Christie was getting the last things ready by packing the girls’ backpacks.

"Morning, Natsuo. So you’ll be off this early?" Benjamin asked his son, who slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah, it’s best to do that. The earlier we drive, the earlier we’ll be home, after all." The middle-aged man chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose, before Benjamin nodded his head, sitting down on his armchair.

"I guess so. Will you at least wait until the others are up?" Benjamin asked, and Natsuo immediately answered, "Of course, don’t worry Dad. I think they’re up already for the most part though. At least Melody and Kyle should be, they’re heading off in a little while as well, after all. And I heard a bit of rumbling from everyone’s bedrooms." Natsuo explained as he brought his father a cup of coffee, which the old man gladly received.

"Thank you. And I’m glad you all came over again, it’s been a while." The old man said with a smile as he took a sip from his coffee before Natsuo quietly laughed so that he wouldn’t wake up his daughters. "It has been a while, yeah. But it was a lot of fun, especially seeing everyone from town again, and taking a look at Prime Industries yesterday."

"Yes, yesterday was more fun than I expected it to be," Melody said as she came through to the Livingroom as well, with her suitcase in tow, Sophia directly behind her, although still in her pajamas, since she would be staying at her grandfather’s house for a while, as her mother figured things out with her father at home. "It was fun for the most part, although I think Grampa’s friend’s assistant was coming onto me the whole time..."

"You think? Wasn’t that pretty obvious? Hell, he tried giving you his number." Kyle laughed as he came up with his suitcase as well, and Sophia sighed loudly. "He didn’t try, he did... He was pretty nice and all, but at some point, he just took my phone and added himself on Instagram..."

"Urgh, he’s that kinda guy?" Benji added in as well as he tiredly stepped through the small crowd of people toward the kitchen to get himself a coffee.

"Mhm... He sent me like three texts yesterday night alone, an hour apart every time." The teenage girl sighed loudly, and now the last three people came into the living room as well, Tony, Katy, and Sean, with Tony looking at Sophia surprised.

"I feel bad for the kid..." He sighed and sat down on a spare couch space, with Katy jumping onto her father’s lap.

"Don’t. That guy is a bit creepy..." Sophia sighed before Benjamin smirked at his granddaughter. "C’Mon, don’t say it like that. He seemed pretty nice, didn’t he?"

"Yeah, I guess, but he seemed more like a ’Nice Guy,’ rather than actually being a nice, guy." She explained, and the majority of the people here seemed to understand somewhat what she meant, but Benjamin helplessly looked at Sean to figure out what was going on.

"Did you hear any difference in what she just said?" He asked him before Sean stared back at Benjamin for a short while before quickly shaking his head. "So you don’t know either, huh? Well, at least I’m not alone in that." The old man chuckled, before Natsuo took a look at the clock and looked at Christie, who slowly nodded back at him, so Natsuo swiftly spoke up.

"Alright everyone, we’ll be off now. Morning Traffic should be just about over, so it’s a good a time as ever." He said with a smile before Benjamin quickly stood up to properly send his son off.

And after giving him and his daughter-in-law tight hugs, he helped bring the two half-asleep little girls to the car. "Be careful on your way back, alright? And call me when you’re home!" Benjamin told his oldest son, who nodded his head with a smile as he sat down in the car after adequately saying goodbye to the others as well.

"Of course, as always, Dad," Natsuo said as he started his car’s engine and pulled out of the driveway, waving at everyone as he and his family drove off.

Soon, the rest made their way back inside the house and began to eat breakfast together. Natsuo, Christie, and the twins already ate together before the others were even up, so they could drive off like that just now.

And after they finished eating, it was time for the next ones to leave. Melody, and Kyle. Sophia felt pretty bad about letting her best friend sit in silence with her mother for hours, but the boy swiftly told her that it was okay and that he didn’t mind at all. After a bit more convincing, Sophia finally conceded and sent Kyle off with a relatively good conscience.

Just before Melody and Kyle made their way to Benjamin’s Car, which the old man chose to lend to his daughter for a while since Michael took his car with him when he left, Benjamin decided to talk to Melody a little bit in private. It wasn’t anything special, just him reassuring her that she could speak to him whenever she needed to and that he would support her through everything that would happen.

Once that heartfelt moment between a man and his daughter was over, Benjamin turned to Kyle. "It was a real pleasure meeting you, Kyle," Benjamin told him with a smile, and the boy scratched the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Likewise. And I guess we’ll see each other again in a few weeks in the game, right?" Kyle asked before Benjamin slowly nodded his head. "Of course, I’m sure we will."

After saying this, Benjamin smiled at Kyle and gave him a good handshake, before the teenage boy sat down in the car before he and Melody soon drove off as well.

"And then it was just six." Benji sighed, still incredibly tired, before turning around and making his way back inside, where he immediately dropped onto the couch.

"Get off your butt. We’re going out for a while." Benjamin told him with a loud sigh before Benji looked at him with disgust at the sheer concept. "Outside? You mean the garden or something, right?"

"Nope, I mean we’re going out to town. I want to take a look at some stuff at an acquaintance’s place, and you’ve turned into a lazy bum over the last week. And you’ll need some moving around first before you start playing the game next Monday because I know how you immerse yourself in games." Benjamin told him before he then turned to Sophia.

"And I think you mentioned something about getting a haircut?" The old man asked before Sophia look back at him, confused before slowly shaking her head. "Erm... not really? Why would I...?" She wondered, self-consciously looking at her hair, before Benjamin sighed.

"Kim works at the Barber, Sophia." The old man explained, and Sophia slowly crossed her arms in response while closing her eyes. "Hmm... Yeah, a little trim probably won’t hurt..." She admitted quietly before Benjamin then turned to his son.

"And I’m pretty sure you’ve got some calls to make. We’ll take Katy and Sean with us so that you can deal with everything in peace." Benjamin said, and Tony quietly nodded his head.

"Thanks. I’ll do that then. I’m also going to prepare Dinner later then. By the way, how’s your arm, Dad?" Tony asked, concerned before Benjamin smiled at him. "Don’t worry about it. It’s still not that much better than before, but I’m sure it’s going to get there soon."

After explaining this to his son, the old man sent his grandchildren off to their rooms so that they could get dressed, while Benjamin himself got adequately ready for a day outside as well, by merely braiding his hair and beard, and putting his hair into a ponytail like usual.

Then, after his grandchildren finally joined him in the living room again, the five of them made their way into town on foot, talking about this and that, as they did so.