Spending My Retirement In A Game

Eisen looked at the Dragon in front of him as it gave off a light glow off of its body. The old man wasn’t sure why it tried to get Eisen’s attention just yet, but he would hopefully find out now.

He slowly opened his mouth and was about to inquire, but before he could, he was quickly interrupted, "There is no particular reason why I have tried to have you come to me, if that is what you were about to ask an answer for." The Dragon explained in a calm, feminine tone of voice. But it was different to when dragons normally spoke. Then, their voice still came out of their throats like normal, they actually moved their jaws, and it actually looked like they were speaking because, well, they were. They were just speaking normally, even if it looked a bit weird to see snouts like that produce regular sounds.

But with this Dragon, it just kept its mouth shut and the voice started echoing around Eisen, as if it wasn’t actually speaking but using some other means of communication. The old man crossed his arms and started to frown, "Then let me ask something else, who are you?" He asked instead, and the Dragon lightly chuckled, or so it sounded. The actual white, glowing dragon just closed his eyes and had a slightly pleasant smile on its face, or so it seemed to Eisen at the very least.

"That is a good question. I am the Dragon of Life, Lirgtur. Is that enough for you, or do you wish for me to continue?"

"I would appreciate something a bit more detailed. Just knowing what kind of Dragon you are doesn’t help me a lot." The old man pointed out, although he wasn’t entirely telling the truth. It did help him figure something else out. And that was that there were other sorts of dragons than just chromatic and metallic ones. A Dragon of Life didn’t seem like any sort of dragon that Eisen found so far, or ever heard of, really.

That must mean that this dragon must have died quite a long time ago... somewhat ironically.

"Then I shall say this, but not much more. I was the last of my kind, but I was viciously slain while trying to protect my unhatched eggs, and that was thousands and thousands of years ago. Tens of thousand, even." Lirtgur explained bluntly, and Eisen slowly let his arms hang at the side of his body, "Then I can’t believe that you didn’t call me for a reason anymore. Do you want me to promise I’ll find out who killed you? Or do you want me to find their descendents and kill them for you?" The old man inquired, but without hesitation, the Dragon of Life shook her head.

"Of course not. I do not wish death upon anyone. But I guess you are right, there is something I may have wanted you to do for me... But it was a sort of hope that I can’t tell if you will be able to fulfill for me." Lirgtur explained quietly, in a slightly sad tone of voice, and without a moment’s hesitation the old man sighed to himself, "I’ll try my best, don’t worry. So just tell me what exactly you want me to try, and I will."

"Thank you. You see, your words do truly hold a certain sense of truth to them. I do wish for you to find out what exactly happened to the man that has slain me, but not for the reasons you may think. I do not hope for vengeance and despair, but simply for... truth. It did not seem as if this man wished to kill me, but had this task forced upon him. He even shed a tear for me the moment I took my last breaths." Lirgtur explained, "As I lost my life, I ripped off a certain necklace of his, and while I do not know why, I was allowed to take it with me to the afterlife like many are allowed to do with mementos. It is a handmade piece of jewelry, carved out of a fine piece of wood. It seems to be the symbol of Zain, the God of Life. For a while, I was prayed to by men as his apostle, despite obviously not being one. Otherwise I would not be here, but in Zain’s realm instead."

"Alright... So you want me to investigate the church of Zain to find out things about your death?" The old man asked, but Lirgtur slowly shook her head, "No, I think you misunderstand. I would like you to find out what happened to the man that has slain me. A follower of the God of Life Zain is not allowed to take lives in this way. They strongly believe in the circle of life. They hunt their own meat, plant their own crops, and use everything from any life that they can so that they may be able to feed themselves or friends and family. They are a part of nature. But killing me should not have given him much of a benefit if that was the case. I have never before taken a life, as I cherish it too much, and I would never dare to attack others or put them in danger. And that man simply left my body to rot and made the place I died in cave in so that I would never be found. I want you to find the truth behind this event, as illogical as it may seem." Lirgtur explained quite bluntly, and Eisen slowly crossed his arms.

It really did seem like there was something going on here, but... Eisen didn’t understand why exactly he was supposed to try and find things out about it. Nearly everyone and everything that was alive at the time was dead now, so even if Eisen was somehow able to figure something out... It wouldn’t do anything. It was unlikely that Eisen would find anything in the first place, so why did he want to do this so badly?

"I’ll help you. I will try and uncover this when I return to the overworld." The old man explained, "I-"

But suddenly, Lirgtur interrupted the old man again, "Oh, what I am asking of you is not to do anything after you return. What I am asking of you is to delve into this item’s memories to see if you can find out what exactly happened that that man had to slay me."

"... What?" The old man muttered. What was she talking about. This item’s memories? It didn’t seem to be an ego-item, so Eisen wouldn’t be able to interact with it in any way. And it wouldn’t have any sort of memories then anyway. Sure, he could try and figure out a few things through damages on the wooden necklace, but it seemed rather unlikely.

However, just as Eisen was thinking this, Lirgtur seemed rather surprised, "You can not see the memories of things like this? I thought you were a great craftsman... all the masters of the past were capable of such things. I had seen you create beautiful and amazing tools for the souls of this realm with absolute ease, but could I have been wrong..?" She asked with a complex tone in her echoing voice. Eisen just stared back at her with confusion written on his face.

"The memories of items..?" The old man muttered, "I don’t even have most of my own memories." He laughed awkwardly as he slowly looked at the necklace that was hanging onto the Dragon of Life’s claw that was held toward the old man.

He slowly extended his hand toward it and grabbed it, pulling it away from Lirgtur. He held it in both of his hands and with a deep sigh, chose to sit down cross-legged on the ground. It would be worth a try. He didn’t doubt Lirgtur’s words, since he doubted that a being capable of reaching the realm of a God of Truth and Law would blatantly lie to him like that. And so, Eisen tried his best. And with that, it seemed like he received a quest that confirmed exactly what the Dragon of Life had told him.

[New Sub-Quest – Memories of Life and Death]

[Description] The Dragon of Life Lirgtur asked you to do her a favor by looking into the memories of a necklace she took from the one that killed her. But you said you did not know how to do so, and now have to try and see if you can actually unlock this special ability of the greatest craftsmen in the past. After all, you yourself are the greatest that has ever existed.

[Conditions] Unlock the \u003cItem Memories\u003e Skill; See the \u003cZain’s Symbol\u003e’s memories

[Reward] Advance in the Quest \u003cTrygan’s Acknowledgement\u003e; Receive \u003cDragon of Life’s Scale\u003e; Receive the location of \u003cDragon of Life’s Bones\u003e; \u003cZain’s Symbol\u003e

[Penalty] The Dragon of Life will not answer any of your questions

The old man immediately ignored this notification as he concentrated on the item in his two hands. He let his mana flow into it and out of it, circling it through the religious symbol while meditating. It seemed like diving into the memories of an item would be something pretty spiritual, so the old man figured it would be something like this.

He tried to copy the feeling of when he went into a soul to figure out the soul’s shape to maybe figure out something like this. There were certain religions that believed that everything had a soul in it, even inanimate objects, so this could be something similar.

The old man tried to feel every small part of this item, and even visualized it deeply inside of his mind while running his fingers over it. And as he did, something started to change. His perspective started to shift around, and all of a sudden, the old man stood inside of his own Soul Realm, inside of the crafting-room that he created inside of his mind to access with his Deep Visualization.

And inside of the old man’s hand was a small piece of wood as well as a knife that Eisen didn’t recognize, or even thought up himself. Weirdly enough, it seemed like it wasn’t really a direct knife... Like he was holding a concept in his hand. Something undefined. And that was the same with the wood in his other hand, actually.

Immediately, different thoughts flowed into the old man’s mind, "The young wood of an oak-sapling crushed by an elderly oak that fell over due to natural causes. And a knife made out of a reforged armor that a dead ancestor left behind, with a handle made of a Stag’s antlers after the Stag had been fed on by wild wolves." He muttered quietly. This information just flowed into his mind, and Eisen immediately knew what to do. He had to recreate the creation of the religious Symbol that he was holding in his actual hands.