Civilization

I pick up my phone and open messenger, texting the group chats about my recent discovery.

"I have seen and met elves. 2 of them in fact." - Ian 

Almost immediately after I texted I get a barrage of replies.

"ARE" - Evan

"YOU" - Evan

"SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Evan

"HOW?" - Evan

"HOW?" - Evan

"HOW?" - Evan

"YOU GOTTA BE JKING." - Evan

"WHAT IS THIS BS?!?!??" - Evan

"WHERE ARE YOU! I'M GOING TO YOUR SETTLEMENT ASAP!" - Evan

"Wait, wait wait. Were they busty or slender elves?" - Evan

"Both." - Ian

"OH" - Evan

"MY" - Evan

"FKING GOD!" - Evan

"That's it. I'm done. I'm moving locations. You are in the middle of the continent and I am somewhere west, therefore, by moving east I will eventually meet up with you." - Evan

"Can. You. SHUTUP! It hasn't even been a minute since the game closed and my phone is constantly beeping because of your notifications." - Sabrina

"Well, young lass. You see there is a time and place for everything and right now. Yes, right now is the time to get excited." - Evan

"Whatever, dude. Was that all you wanted to say, Ian?" - Sabrina

"To be honest, more or less. I defeated a bunch of golems and found out Kronos creates Frankensteinian monster but like that is less important right, Evan?" - Ian

"Of course my brother. Now tell me their names, no tell me what they look like. No that's spoilers. Tell me nothing!" - Evan

"SIR YES SIR!" - Ian

"Okay, I'm done. BYE!" - Sabrina

I close the messenger and move to get changed into a simple t-shirt and shorts. I have an early shift for work so I needed to exercise now if I want to have time to eat breakfast before work. I had slowly increased the amount of jogging I did every day as well as added some simple stretches and bodyweight training at the local park. 

On the way to the park, I passed by a young couple chatting about Settlement while they were doing a morning jog as well.

"Yesterday was CRAZY! That battle with the red ogre was insane!"

"I can't believe you got me killed like that. Never come near me in the game again okay?"

"Wait, babe, it was an accident. Plus we all died in the end. That thing massacred us. Hopefully, the base is still okay. Rebuilding that would take a while even with all of us."

A red ogre? Is it the Blood Ogre I met ages ago?

"Excuse me, this red ogre can you tell me about it?"

"Oh, umm. Well, are you part of any guilds?"

"No, I'm not affiliated with any of the major guilds."

"Oh, then yeah I can tell you. Sorry just had to check if you were part of any guilds. The red ogre was huge. It had like a deep red skin with black tattoos on it and it was wearing this sick silver armor which covered about 50% of his body."

"Where was this at?"

"At the top side of the continent. We saw it sleeping in the forest and thought maybe it was a mini boss. Guess not, we got destroyed."

"I see. That must have been a terrifying experience."

"Yeah, but it's just a game, right babe."

"Yep, it was very fun even if we died." 

"Well, thank you for the information. I'll try to avoid that area since I am somewhere near the top as well."

I say my goodbyes and jog off. It seems like the Blood Ogre is busy on the top side of the continent. The monster had always been on my mind since that incident. What if it came back and attacked the settlement. It won't be just Oscar that dies then, everyone would be killed. 

Knowing that the monster is far away from HavenFall, lightens my mood. Construction of the road to the mine as well as mining will be underway when I go back into the game. I get back from my jog and change into my work uniform, my boring yellow convenience store work uniform with green vertical stripes. I get to work 10 minutes before my shift and greet the manager.

"Morning, manager."

"G'day mate. You're here early."

"Manager I come 10 minutes early every time I have a shift."

"Well, don't worry about it. I'm leaving the store so you can start working now since you're already here."

"Okay."

I watch as my middle-aged manager leaves the shop, putting on a brown coat over his uniform and placing a cigarette in his mouth. Once he leaves I go to the back to get my name tag and then work officially starts. The slow grind of filling shelves and serving customers. 

Hours passed and I continue to complete my job until someone I knew came in. Wearing a denim jacket with a black sports bra underneath and denim short shorts was Sabrina. 

"Yo!"

"What are you doing here, Sabrina? I know this isn't that close to where you live."

"I was going to hang out with Evan, but his parents are sick so he is taking care of them. Since I had nothing to do I decided to come to visit. How long until you finish work?"

"In half an hour."

"Great, after you finish let's have something to eat." 

"Sure, do you want to wait outside? I'll get you something to drink."

"Hmm, give me a coke. I'll be at the bench outside okay?"

"Okay."

I go to the fridge and get a can of coke for Sabrina. It felt different, I never had anyone visit me at work before, nor have I had someone invite me out to eat after work. I was used to working, getting my pay, going home to play games, and then repeating that the next day. It was different, but it was a good difference.

Feeling reenergized at work, I finish up as quickly as possible and once the manager came back to take over the shift, I said goodbye and walked out of the store.

"Sabrina, what do you want to eat?"

"MEAT! Maybe barbeque?"

"Hmm, there is this Korean BBQ place that is not too far away. Shall we go?"

"Of course, it's almost dinner time and I am hungry."

"Alright."

We walk together down the footpath with Sabrina asking about my day. Since it was just another boring day at my job I instead told her about some of the worst customers I had to deal with. Including customers that wanted discounts on food items, rude customers that threw food at me when they got upset, and even customers that tried to beat me up. I had some pretty rough times during my working days as a convenience store clerk but I guess it makes for funny stories as Sabrina was laughing at a lot of them.

We got to the restaurant at 1900 and waited another 10 minutes for our table to be ready. It was quite packed today but luckily for us, we got a seat relatively quickly. We ordered ox tongue, beef intercostal, short ribs, pork belly, and pork neck as well as some kimchi pancakes and vegetables on the side. 

"So, tell me, Ian. Are you feeling okay in the game? Like ever since that incident?"

"I'm fine now. Dying definitely shook me and I prefer not to die again but I think I'm okay."

"That's good. By the way, have this pork belly it's SO good."

"Will do. How about you? How's the game treating you? I realize you don't talk too much about the game unless it is something important."

"Hmm, I'm doing okay. My technology tree is slowly improving especially after I expanded the scouting radius."

"Oh, what did you find?"

"Horses and cows."

"You found actual animals? I thought the game only had monsters."

"Well, I say horses and cows but they aren't like the ones we see in real life or like the ones we see on the internet. However, the game company designed these monsters to be the replacement for horses and cows." 

"So, you were able to unlock animal husbandry by taming those monsters?"

"Yea, how did you know?"

"I progressed to the next era for the technology tree. With it, I was able to see what I was missing and that technology was one of them since I haven't seen anything that might resemble an animal."

"Interesting. By furthering your technology you can see what technology is needed to potentially go to the next step from a different angle."

"What do you mean by that? And are you gonna have that pork neck?"

"Take it. I mean think about it. I had to unlock animal husbandry by taming the animals right? After that, I tried riding and got used to riding the horses which in turn unlocked another technology called horseback riding. The technology is linked in some way because you can't get to horse riding without first unlocking animal husbandry."

"So the technology tree is some sort of guide then."

"I think so. Evan should have a better understanding of this since he said he got into a new era as well but since he only briefly mentioned it over the phone I didn't get a chance to talk about it. Oh, and horseback riding is part of the classical era. I already knew what happens when you progress into a new era. Guess you are the slow one this time Ian. "

"What can I do, I can only work with what I have. Have you unlocked any other technologies, Sabrina?"

"Nothing new. It's very hard with my environment. I can't progress on the mining side since there is nowhere to mine and I am nowhere near an ocean to complete sailing. The only thing I can do is expand my scouting radius since I acquired a means of transport. "

"You will eventually meet up with players as well as Kronos's army."

"Yeah, I'm afraid of that. Eat the rest, I'm full. Aren't you in a tight spot as well?"

"Okay and not really. There was an explosion on the other side of the forest but nothing has happened since then. I also found out that one of The Hordes general's completed massacred a Bones base."

"Oh, what happened?"

"Some players that the Blood Ogre was a mini-boss or a field boss I guess. Tried to attack it and well, that guy is stronger than anything I have seen so far. "

"Right, because you saw it fight against that wolf thing a while back."

"Yep, and knowing that it is very very far away has put my mind at ease."

"So what's your plan for your place?"

"Build a brick path toward the mine. Mine the copper and tin and create bronze."

"Bronze working technology right? Damn, you are gonna be so far ahead."

"I'm just working with what I'm given."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, since you look like you are finished let's go. I need to head home as well before midnight."

"Okay, I'll go pay the bill. Meet you outside."

I go pay at the counter and met Sabrina outside.

"Are you going?"

"Yep! I'll talk to you on messenger if something comes up."

"Alright. Do you know how to get to the station?"

"Turn left at that corner then right at the next light right?"

"Yep."

"Okay bye!"

I watch Sabrina walk away until she reached the corner. Noticing that I was still watching her leave she waved her hand at me ushering me to go home. I wave back and turn around walking back home. I smile to myself, having enjoyed my dinner as well as my time with Sabrina, I was in a good mood.. I whistle to myself all the way home and once I got I took a shower and relaxed until midnight when I once again enter the game.