Aya's arm rang through her room jolting her from, sleep. She jumped out of bed in a panic, fearing she would miss the Seelim bus. She showered and had breakfast but whe to the rack her uniform usually hung Aya found it empty.

  Events fshed through her mind until she remembered she forcefully quit her job at Nue Corp and even said goodbye to the president, Aya scoffed.

  "He hasn't even bothered to call me, well he probably has other stuff to do. Other more important stuff," she said solemnly. It stung a bit that the person she was just learning to call a friend hadn't even bothered to reach out.

  "Whatever, I get to sleep in some more and that's better than a dumb phone call right?" she said to herself. In the silence of the apartment, no one answered.

  Aya ged bato her pajamas and flopped bato her bed for a mueeded rest. The rest of the building would no doubt be heading to their various jobs or errands.

  "I'm not going to ahe door until I know for sure it's Mars, I 't let Lydia know what I'm really doing," Aya said. She rested her head on the pillow and thought some more about her mother.

  Anything she thought about her now, was always ected to the game. Moon Valley was the st e she had to her mother. Aya wondered if her mother voiced a character.

  If she had motion captured for someone? Motion capturing was something she'd retly learned about the more she looked into the game the more fn it seemed.

  If the Goddess Selendriel who had her mother's face were to appear in the game did that mean she could meet her main? Even if it was a fial terpart who didn't know her?

  And what about her father? Was his fa the game somewhere too?

  Aya drifted off to sleep, when she woke up again she would do the mert's quest and try her best to restore the Rose Manor.

  ----------

  Aya was roused from sleep by a harsh knog she ko be Lydia's. She pced a hand over her mouth before she could announce her presehen rolled silently off the bed and crept towards the door to listen.

  "The brats not around," she heard Lydia tell someone, presumably over the phone. Aya wondered who the other person was but had no time to process it as the door knob started jiggling as Lydia tried to pry it open with force.

  "It's locked, I told you she had the locks ged!" Lydia yelled in a louder voice than any of the tenants she frequently accused. Aya snickered, ging the locks had been a lightbulb moment during one of the first months she moved in.

  She saved up her first few paychecks and had gotten some expensive ones, locks sure not to break any time soon. It was a risk she couldn't afford to take and now, it had paid off.

  Slowly, her aunt's footsteps receded and she could no longer hear the womahe phone. Aya breathed a sigh of relief.

  "She makes so much money from the tenants though, why does she want my grandma's house?"

  Aya felt there was something more to this, a piece of the puzzle she hadn't figured out yet.

  "It won't do me any ght now to pohis," Aya said. She chewed her lip, ay grew like a bramble in her chest as she stepped away from the door as quietly as she could.

  "I'll give her the illusion my work shift ged, that way she'll know I'm home more but not when," Aya whispered.

  ----------

  Yvlena found herself safe and sound within the Rose Manrounds, she didn't like spawning ireet where anything could happen even if Bloom Haven was safe.

  "I've got two objectives, meet Soren the Bcksmith and work on the mert's quest,"

  With this in mind, she examihe ores for more information about the old kingdom of Gliresea

  [Pin Ores of Gliresea

  ***

  Type: Rare Ore

  An ore from the bygone era of the old Rabbit Kingdom, Gliresea.

  Once mined in Quarries of the Old Kingdom, the rows increasingly hard to find and is even harder to obtain.

  Instilled with special properties, it be used to upgrade ons from the region.]

  After reading, Yvlena pushed the old gates of the Rose Manor open and ran towards the Artisan distriplete her task of finding the Bcksmith, she ran past the apothecary and into the crowd of elegantly dressed people.

  The cobblestone road seemed to go on forever, fnked by rows of shops Yvlena hadn't even bothered cheg.

  She khere were some clothing shops, maybe some furniture for the Rose Manor as well but she o get her sword sorted before any of that would i her.

  "I should probably see if the Floral district is doier, maybe I get some more seeds for the Manor,"

  In her haste she passed a man dressed in a rich blue suit who called out her name, Yvlena skidded to a halt nearly tripping over a stall of fresh fruit.

  "Oh Laurent it's you," Yvlena said, spinning around to face the man. The blonde man quirked his lips up in amusement.

  [Affinity with Laurent increased+1]

  "Where are you off to this fine m?" Yvlena asked.

  "There's a new mert in town and I wao see if he had any books I could purchase for the library," Laurent said. Yvlena gasped.

  "He definitely would, he's an Aruergo Mert and I hear they're a big deal in Moon Valley!"

  "Really, now?"

  [Laurent appreciates the information you've shared with him]

  [Affinity with Laurent increased+5]

  Yvlena nodded.

  "He's doing the mertile trials right now and Bloom Haven must have been on his list of towns to visit,"

  "Ah yes, those are very important to anyone cssed a mert, especially to a member of one of the great mert families of Moon Valley. It's an honor to be graced by his presence,"

  "Yeah!"

  Laurent threw his head back with a ugh, the first Yvlena had ever seen, he looked quite handsome when he wasn't so grumpy.

  "Your manner of speech is quite refreshing, where are you off to?"

  "I'm looking for the bcksmith,"

  "Soren I take it. Well, you're certainly on the right path, it's just further down from here shorter if you take a carriage,"

  "Thanks! I wao ask how you knew but you're probably the smartest person in Bloom Haven I'll bet," Yvlena said with a ugh. A fierce blush quickly spread across Laurent's face.

  "Oh...I," He stammered. Yvlena giggled and waved at him before rushing off again.

  [Affinity with Laurent increased+5]

  ----------

  Following the instrus of Risel and Laurent, Yvleually finds herself deep withiisant district's smithing quarters.

  Soon apothecaries and other food shops were repced with merts selling ores and smithing materials. As Yvlena walked further down, the mert shops began fading from view, repced with rows of smiths w on their metal craft.

  The g bangs of metal oal reached her ears while the location only she could see read, Artisan District Smithy.

  Yvlena approached a man who seemed free to speak with her. She walked towards a tall blond man with close cropped hair and a thick blond mustache above his lip that plimented his face.

  He sat on a bench with a towel around his neck, wiping off the sweat from a hard day's work.

  The man was rge, with a hulking muscled frame that could only have e from years of heavy lifting at the fe. The elven girl felt a wave of intimidation wash over her.

  What if he was as mean as Laurent was when they first met? In her hesitation, the man spoke first.

  "Oh my dear, we don't get many elves at the fe what I do you for?" he said in a cheery voice. Yvlena breathed a sigh of relief.

  "I'm looking for a bcksmith by the name of Soren, my friend Risel referred me to him," Yvlena said. The man ughed jovially

  "I am he, how may I help you, elf girl?"

  [NAME: Soren

  RACE: Human

  OCC: Bcksmith]

  "I'm Yvlena, I came to upgrade my sword and was w if you could help me?" she said. Yvlerieved her carrot sword and prese to the man who ied it.

  "I see, I see," he said, Soren ied the bde, squinting his eyes as he did. He focused intensely on the bde of the carrot sword itself.

  "The ores one would need for this are quite rare, the make of this sword has not been seen sihe war of the gods. How did you e by this anyway?"

  "I fought a giant rabbit for it," Yvlena replied. Soren ughed again, loud and raucous like Ricardo's.

  She wondered if the two of them would get along.

  "You're funny, I like you a lot!" He put his hand under his in thought. "There's still the matter of the ores, you could see if the new mert in town has some that would fit the bde,"

  "He did," Yvlena said taking the ores from her pocket and showing them to Soren.

  The bcksmith looked at the two lumps of mineral in Yvlena's palms in awe. He picked one up, the big rock looking ically small in his rge pns.

  The Gliresea ore ale e lump of rock as big as Yvlena's balled fist, it glistened even in the pale sun of the smithy obscured mostly by the smoke from various fes.

  "It's beautiful," Soren said. He looked at the ore with such affe a siear rolled down his cheek.

  "Soren, are you alright?" Yvlena asked in deep . She hoped she hadn't broken the game's character.

  Soren leaped up from his bench, the towel previously on his neck flew off in an instant. The excited man nded in a crou the hard stone floor, yelling as he puhe air.

  "Oh dear, what's gotten into Soren all of a sudden?" A voice asked from one of the fes behind them.

  [You've presented Soren with artistispiration]

  [Affinity with Soren Increased +5]

  [Soren siders you an acquaintance]

  "Already?" Yvlena said in amusement.

  "I'll upgrade your beautiful sword, Yvlena just give me a couple of hours and check back ter," Soren said running into the fe behind him.

  "Yeah!" But as he began work on the bde Yvlena was hit with a realization.

  How was she supposed to fight?

  AnnouChapter 46 now up on Patreon guys!