Spending My Retirement In A Game

"There aren’t many living people that make their way to the heavens in the first place." Eisen pointed out as he kept slowly healing the wounds all over his body that came from the Champion stabbing into his skin with different blades so that she could get a proper grip on his body while climbing up.

It did hurt quite a bit, but luckily it wasn’t that bad. As if his pain-tolerance had increased a fair amount. Eisen looked at the woman in front of him before he remembered that he should probably try to check the quest information real quick.

[Quest Conditions Updated – Gonor’s Acknowledgement]

[Description] You are seeking to be acknowledged by the gods of heaven and made your way into the realm of the God of Combat, Gonor. As you are a craftsman rather than a fighter, you have been given the task to create full gear for ten different souls that fits them perfectly.

Alternatively, Gonor has allowed you to still show your combat prowess as a replacement for at maximum half the gear you were supposed to create for the souls of Gonor’s realms. If you manage to beat the champion of an arena, it will count as a replacement.

[Condition] Create Gear for up to 10 Souls in Gonor’s realm, or beat up to 5 Arena Champions (5/10)

[Reward] Gonor’s Acknowledgement

[Penalty] None

With a satisfied expression, Eisen waved the screen away again. Now he only had to fight three more people and then make items for two more after that. He was halfway there.

"I’m wondering..." The champion started just as the old man was thinking, "You are Eisen, the Craftsman, right?"

The old man looked back at her and nodded his head, "That I am. Why?"

"Well, obviously because I would like to ask you to make a weapon for me. You specialize in craftsmanship but are still such an intuitive, great fighter. The things that you can create must be truly masterpieces then." She pointed out, and Eisen slowly raised his brows as he looked back at her, "Well, my items are pretty great, as far as I’m concerned at least. Sure, I do have to make items for a few more people as well, so why not? Getting a bit more time to recover before my next fight would also be pretty good."

"Hm?" The Champion looked back at Eisen with surprise on her face, "You want to continue with fights?"

"Mhm. It makes things a bit easier for me. Why?" The old man replied bluntly, and the champion slowly pushed herself off the ground, now that her body had been properly repaired, "It’s nothing, I was just surprised to hear it, that’s all. Let me guess, you want to fight more champions?"

"Yes, that’s exactly it." Eisen nodded.

"Then if you don’t mind, I have a few tips for which arenas to head to for this." The woman in front of Eisen pointed out with a broad smile, crossing her arms while acting as if she hadn’t just been cut into pieces by this very old man that she was trying to help out right now.

Eisen raised his brows and thought about it for a moment. It wouldn’t hurt to try and listen to her ideas, especially considering that she did most likely spend a lot of time in this realm already. And as a Heroic Soul, she might have access to a lot more information about this place and how everything worked compared to anyone else that Eisen might be able to ask, "Alright, I’m listening."

"Good. How many more do you think of fighting?" She asked, and Eisen replied immediately, "Three more."

"Perfect then. Then, I would try and head to the ’Beast Arena’. It’s a bit far away from here though. While most arenas here are about different sorts of combat in the form of duels between two parties, that is something a bit different. Not everyone enjoys combat with other people, but rather focused their attention on fighting monsters. So within that arena, you can simply start a fight with different monsters that are chosen depending on your capabilities."

"Hm, interesting." The old man replied while moving his fingers through his beard in thought, although he flinched a bit when he noticed that there was still a deep cut on the front of one of his fingers when that one of his beard’s hairs rubbed through. Somehow, this was more painful than the whole fight just now, "Anyway... It sounds like you had more ideas than just that one arena. Anything else?"

"Yes, of course. Considering that you have the ability of flight, I suggest visiting the arena of aerial combat. I do not know how well-versed you are in that field, however, so this is just a suggestion. And then, I think you might be a pretty good match for the current champion of ’show combat’."

"Show combat? So it would be more of a performance?" The old man inquired curiously, and the woman in front of him nodded her head, "Yes, that’s exactly what it is. A portion of those that practice ’Show Combat’ made their way here, and the rest seemed to have reached the divine realm of Art instead."

"I see..." The old man muttered quietly. He tried to think about whether or not all these were really good fits for him. He was pretty confident in his ability to fight monsters, at least more confident than when he was fighting against other, very skilled people.

The aerial combat would also be interesting, but Eisen didn’t exactly know if that was a good idea. He didn’t exactly practice something like that yet. He usually did just use his flight ability to get from point A to point B, or sometimes to support his movement during regular combat. And sure, it wasn’t like he never fought like this, but fighting someone who made this their expertise while Eisen wasn’t particularly good at it... That sounded a bit cocky. But Eisen could still look into it, maybe watch a fight or two in that arena. It might be a bit better-fitted for him than he thought.

And then, there was this ’Show Combat’. Would Eisen really be able to turn his unrefined combat into something visually appealing like that? He could use magic together with it, but his swordsmanship wasn’t particularly high-tier. Eisen was good at it, but he wasn’t at the level where someone that knew what they were talking about would be incredibly impressed. And in this realm, basically everyone knew what they were talking about, since all that they were talking about was combat.

"Although... The ’Show Combat’ one wouldn’t actually be a fight to the death, right?" Eisen muttered quietly, and that’s when the champion right next to him immediately nodded her head.

"Indeed! It is only about judgement from an unbiased jury. The winner wins and gets to advance within the arena, and the loser receives the same punishments as if he lost in any other arena. So just like normal."

"Hm... Then it might really be worth looking into..." He muttered quietly. The Quest only said to ’beat 5 champions’, not to kill them.

But considering that this was the case, Eisen was actually wondering how it would end up being possible to beat the champion in that arena with the monster-combat. Maybe they could make it a hunting competition?

"That sounds pretty interesting..." The old man was trying to figure out good ways to make use of the tips given to him by this champion next to him, before he moved on to the other, more imminent topic that they had to discuss.

"So, let’s get to it now. What do you want me to make for you?" Eisen inquired curiously, his mood slightly improved compared to what it was before, while the champion just smiled at him, "How about we find you a place to work first? There aren’t really that many smithies you can borrow around here."

"Oh, I just need an open space, that’s all."

"An open space? What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I just said. I just need a relatively large open area with enough actual space to place down a moderately-sized structure." The old man pointed out, and the champion simply smiled at him a bit more, "Well, you surely must have your reasons. I can arrange that. When would you have time to start working on the weapon then?" She asked, noting what exactly the old man told her he needed in her mind. Eisen looked at her with his arms crossed after finally healing the cut in his fingers.

"Right now. That was the plan at least. I’m hoping to be able to finish my business in this divine realm as quickly as I can, and that involves getting everything down whenever it comes up to make sure I finish everything as early as possible." The old man pointed out, "Come on, let’s just make our way to an open area that I could make use of, and then I’ll get started. It should just take about... Well, let’s say about seven, eight hours to finish a full set of gear for you." Eisen stated after looking the champion up and down to get a closer look

The champion raised her brows and quickly shook her head at what the old man said, "No, no, I’m not asking you to mkae a full set of gear for me. You just need to make me a weapon. Also... Are you sure you could even finish a full set like that within that short amount of time?"

"Of course I can. Otherwise I wouldn’t be saying it."

"...Sure." The Champion sighed. She figured she should just accept what this old man was saying as granted. She did hear that his crafting abilities were amazing, but it still seemed like an extraordinarily short amount of time to claim that you were able to create a lot of different, rather complicated items within.

But nonetheless, it seemed like the Champion was pretty curious if he was telling the truth, so she quickly led Eisen out of the arena toward her property. Like with Gran, it included a lot of open space within it, although the Champion did have to clear a few things out in order to create that open space, and Eisen swiftly set up his portable shop there.

He opened the door and stepped into the building, quickly followed by the Champion before Eisen sat down right behind the counter with a curious smile on his face as he started creating a rough visualization of his idea for the Champion’s items, "Now, let’s get started, shall we?"