Chapter 50- Comical Misunderstanding

It was currently 5:40 am on Luminara, Abel had just logged out of Faeron.

He had forged 4 more Rat-Tooth Dagger's with 3 of them being slightly worse than the one he got from the chest. He had gotten a perfect result on his third attempt and made a minor mistake in his last try.

He wasn't too disappointed at the result. According to what Coinweaver had said, the current local blacksmiths were barely making useable products. He had to thank his nifty forging hammer along with his own memories for his ease in getting such great results.

After stepping out of his room, he made his way into the main house and got started with preparing breakfast for the day.

He decided to make some savory crepes with a variety of stuffing. He'd cover the crepes in cream cheese and leave an assortment of different stuffing on the side so each person could roll it however they wanted.

Xiaowen used to love eating them on his way to school from a food stall near his home, but in the country he was living in on that Earth, they were called Jianbing.

He prepped the batter with melted butter, flour, eggs, milk and some salt. He left it to sit for 30 minutes and went to check up on the pelts that were getting soaked and salted.

The rabbit pelts still needed another day in the solution but the boar hide was dry and needed to get rehydrated before he could place it in the tub for tanning.

This time, he planned on using the hair-off tanning method because the fur was quite ugly. He patted off the salt and put it in another tub of lukewarm water, he'd start the next step after the hide was no longer dry.

When he came back from Frankie's old room, he checked on the bacon getting cured and tossed the meat around to cover the parts that had dropped its outer layer of spices.

Once he placed the bacon back into the fridge, he took out a pan and brushed it with a thin layer of olive oil to prevent any sticking. He started pouring the batter into the center of the pan over medium heat, swirling it slowly to spread evenly, cooking each crepe for not more than 2 minutes.

While he was spreading some cream cheese over the crepes from the small pile he had made, he saw Melly walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning"

"Morning Abe, you need help?"

"Yeah just slice up those strawberries and banana's. Where's Frankie?"

"He's teasing your chickens, where else would he be?"

She rolled her eyes at her boyfriends' silly ritual.

Frankie told her he did so in the beginning because he enjoyed their clucking but it had slowly turned into a habit. Now, it was something he couldn't change as it had long become a ritual he had to follow when feeding them.

Abel chuckled at her response and got to squeezing the juice after he layered every crepe.

"Abe… I'm sorry about yester-"

"It's fine Mell." Abel cut her off and then further reassured her when he saw her still giving him that skeptical look. "Really. Look, when the time comes and it's with the right person, then I'll be ready. But until then, I'm perfectly fine and happy being alone."

"Mmm… alright, if you say so. But how could you meet anyone when you're cooped up in that pod all day long!"

"Mell… are you sure you washed up before coming down? Did you forget I'm connected to an entire world, I see and meet a lot of people every day."

Melissa's face turned beet red as she realized how silly her earlier statement was. He started chuckling at the sight but didn't push her further.

After he finished squeezing some fresh orange juice, he started tidying up the counter and pulled out some dried ham, smoked turkey and arugula. He started slicing them up real thin, making quick work of them while Melissa got to brewing the coffee pot.

By the time they set up the table, Frankie waltzed into the kitchen looking pleased at completing his morning ritual. The look on his face earned him another scornful eye roll from his girlfriend. They sat around the table and were enjoying their breakfast when Frankie said something that caught Abel off guard.

"By the way, Sam called yesterday asking about that dinner."

Abel looked muddled, not understanding what his best friend was talking about. The only "Sam" in his memory was sleazy Samson the manager.

"Why would he be coming here for dinner?"

"Because I invited him."

"WHAT! Why would you invite him of all people?"

Abel's reaction shocked the couple as they couldn't understand what he had against the technician. They parted on good terms and didn't seem to have any further interactions after that day.

Melissa thought over Frankie's words and realized how a misunderstanding took place, she laughed herself into a convulsion when she realized who Abel was thinking about. Her sudden laughter confused her boyfriend and caused Abel to think it was all a joke.

"Ahahahaha… Abe, Frankie isn't talking about Samson!"

The young woman was barely able to wheeze out her words at the end of her laughter but it cleared up Frankie's confusion.

"Why the heck would I invite that sleaze ball to dinner. I was talking about Samuel, the technician!"

"Then make things clear, how would I know you were talking about the technician. Wait- you guys hit it off pretty well if I recall, did you invite him back then?"

"Since when did we ever call that sleaze ball by 'Sam' in such a close way. We don't even call him that to his face, much less here at home and behind his back. It should've been obvious I was talking about someone else…"

Frankie grumbled in reply before he carried on, "and yes, we added each other's contact information after I invited him to have a home cooked meal of wild meat. It's good you caught that boar, we can roast its leg alongside some fried fish if we do go fishing tomorrow."

"That's fine, he can come whenever. Also, we can go fishing if you want. I'm guessing you managed to switch shifts?"

"Yeah, I did. That's why I told him to come by tomorrow evening, he's bringing along his new girl as well."

"Uhh… why don't you guys turn this into a double date sort of thing and just leave me out of it?"

"NO"

"NO"

Abel was stunned at the simultaneous response from the couple.

"Abe hang out with us, come on!"

"Yeah bro we barely see you anymore. Just take a day off from gaming, you made enough to meet your payment deadline and it's not like the world would end if you spend a few hours offline."

Abel let out a sigh and decided to take a step back. He really hadn't been seeing them as often, only at the kitchen dining table for breakfast and sometimes for dinner.

"Alright, I'll hang around for a while and have a drink but I'll leave after that. Old man Rye should have gotten my passage to the palace cleared by then so I have to log in"

"Yaaaay sounds good!"

"Yeah that sounds better man, just relax for a bit. You never know, it might help in your quest."

Although Frankie's last statement was obviously a lie, he didn't call him out on it. He knew his brother simply wanted him around.

They finished off their breakfast and cleaned up together since the couple had a bit more time before they had to head off to work. Abel made his way back to his room and slipped into bed, falling asleep within a minute.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already 10:45 am. He shook his head to get rid of the lingering sleep fog he felt.

'I slept for less than 4 hours, but I feel more relaxed than when I used to sleep for 7!'

He found it a little terrifying how great he felt with the few hours of sleep he had. His need for sleep was decreasing bit by bit till he reaches a point where he'd only need 2 to 3 hours of sleep every day.

He eventually got out of bed to brush his teeth and wash up, then stepped out into the yard to get started on his daily exercise.

'I should slowly increase the amount of repetitions for each form when I feel I've reached my limit. But I shouldn't exceed 5 reps. Once my muscles get accustomed to my thoughts, I can slowly start on the other styles.'

Abel got right into it without further delay. He chose to do 4 reps of the Yang style 24-step form and 3 reps of the 108-step long form.

By the time he was done, the sun had reached its peak and was high up in the sky. He was sweating from both the exertion and the heat of the midday sun.

'I should find a shaded area, it's getting a little too hot now. Either that or I change my exercise time…'

He slowly thought of such things as he was carrying out his cool down exercises. After a quick and refreshing shower, he fixed himself a simple sandwich for lunch and hopped back into his pod.

When he connected to his user home, he took the time to order a custom rug pad for that boar hide that was starting to gather dust.

He searched for a few minutes and found a reputable company that could meet his custom needs. It was a bit pricey at 30 credits after delivery but he was feeling pretty good after checking out his current account balance in the top corner of the screen.

User: Abel Hawthorn

PNC-ID # 102255999100

Date-Time: 01/05/1036 Pax Novus New Calender (PNNC) – 12:53 pm

Current Balance – Savings : 2,969.78 CC – 0 CC

Device: NeuroNex- VirtualScape Innovations VRX1000

Once he saw the order went through with the estimated arrival in 2 days, he clicked on the Realm Quest portal on the side.

'I should carry on reading those books'

Whoooooooosh

After walking through the door in his user home, he was back in the forge at old man Rye's. He made his way back to the study and dove right back into the ocean of knowledge before him.