Chapter 5: A Goal [Part 1]

Sometimes good comes from bad events. Never before did Jake truly believe it but luckily for him, it was true.

With a grin on his face, Jake left the office of the innkeeper with Argus on his heels. Not even a week had passed, and they were already set for the next two months for soul gems.

Of course, they would not go around loud and proud about it else someone become jealous and took action.

Especially since a lot of poor victims were now set behind with no soul gems to their names. Unfortunately, there apparently was no reimbursement for the ones less fortunate.

Thousands of individuals had a high cost to reimburse making it unrealistic to do so. Though it truly was a shame, nothing could be done except to wish them good luck.

Even though Jake thought it was a sorry ordeal, he owed none of them anything. And, even if he did when he found out that a single gem would cost seven silver to buy, he already foresaw the uphill struggle he faced. It did not matter that he had a head start.

Returning to his cot, Jake forced himself to sleep since his plans began tomorrow bright in early. A job was the first goal to make sure his future was secure.

With the moon rising into the sky, [The Last Barrel] opened its doors to the weary souls looking for relief from their day's work.

For Jake, it meant more work. After two weeks of job hunting, the inexperienced teenager found a job willing to take him in. Though it was only as a busboy, a job was a job. They still paid good money for a low-level job, ten silver coins a month. Now that might not sound like much to some people and they would be right, especially since the minimum wage was ten silver coins. However, it was enough to make by for the time being.

Jake was not hurting at the moment for soul gems. This gave him a better starting point, which meant he could put his money elsewhere to gain better profits. Plus since the night of the attack, he and Argus had become good friends.

They split rent as roommates, though Jake had to admit he was getting the better of the bargain. Not only was Argus a powerful friend to have, he also got a great job.

Argus found a job at a soul gem store as a guard and with his strength and size, he was definitely a deterrent to troublemakers. Which meant he would pull in the big bucks.

Pulling himself back from his thoughts, Jake continued with his work. His boss Shelline was a fair but strong boss and she did not like people who slacked off, lied or stole in her establishment.

With her level at or around level five from what he heard from the other employees, Shelline was one woman you did not want to piss off. She would turn in to something awfully scary when mad.

She somewhat reminded Jake of his mother when he had gotten her mad once, his ass hurt for a week.

Thinking about his bosses level while he cleaned up a table, Jake shook his head in amusement at the memory he had when he found out she was level five.

To him who played MMORPGs or any other level based game, level five was trash.

Though that is still the case here from what he had gathered, it takes many years for people to advance levels. Due to difficulty in leveling, you would mainly see low levels.

Moving to the next table that had just been cleared of guests, Jake pulled up his stats window. He had learned about it the other day.

{Stats}

[Health: 100/100] [Health Regen: .01 HP/s]

[Mana: 0] [Mana Regen: 0 MP/s]

[Strength: 6] [Agility: 7]

[Vitality: 0] [Intelligence: 8]

[Luck: 10] [Spirit: 1]

[Attack: 1] [Defense: 1]

{Elemental Affinities}

[Fire: N/A] [Water: N/A]

[Wind: N/A] [Earth: N/A]

[Light: N/A] [Darkness: N/A]

Looking over his stats Jake grimaced again, which had become a habit of his since learning about the window.

This was what he was working with. His stats reflected the properties of his body before he died. From his investigation apparently, his strength, agility, and intelligence were at the average for a teenager.

For comparison, apparently, a grown man who worked out a lot would have a strength stat around nine or ten.

This was the same for the agility speck if they had trained in running or other agility sports.

There were exceptions to this where the stats would be above ten, but those apparently would be rare cases.

When he first learned about his weak points, Jake barely contained his curiosity and asked Argus what his base stats were. This was a major oversight in his thinking which he regretted shortly right away.

Argus had pulled up his window and dropped the bomb on Jake. He had double Jakes stats, which rivaled even his bosses stats and she was level five. Knowing this one could only agree that the soul gem store was geniuses to pull him into their group.

The only consolation prize was that his luck was awfully high to start off with, this was obviously a mistake since well he was dead and all. How lucky could he be?

But, there it was and comparing it to Argus's who had a measly two for luck, one could see the obvious winner. Future friendly gambling matches were his for the taking.

Still, his stats didn't matter so much. Regardless of what level he was, Jake could still earn a living and gain soul gems and live for a long time.

Though he may struggle here and there at the beginning, who knew what the future would hold. He might own his own bar one day or something else and then he could have a good life for eternity.

Pausing his footsteps on his way back to the kitchen, Jake felt a disgusted feeling brewing from the depths of his heart. Was this the extent of his desires, to exist and live a long mediocre life? Bussing tables, opening a store of his own and maybe finding a partner to live with for eternity.

Unfortunately for Jake, his thoughts were interrupted abruptly when he stopped because he had stopped in the middle of the room. Jake not paying attention led him to be in the path of a drunkard who was also not aware of his surroundings.

Though, the drunkard was a huge man with rippling muscles and an air of danger that circulated around him.

Shortly after pausing in thought, the drunk man bumped into him and spilled the beer he had got from the bar counter.

"Bloody hell!" cursed the drunk man as the beer spilled on to his body drenching him and causing his skin to feel sticky.

With a crazed look in his eyes, the drunk man gazed at Jake with hate and anger as he sized up his victim.

Sudden fear crept into Jake's heart, he knew he was at fault for this. He should not have been distracted during work, "I am so sorry sir. Let me get you another beer and a rag to clean yourself."

Hoping to appease the angry customer, Jake offered his help as he made for the counter. However, before he could get two steps away the drunk man pushed Jake on the floor.

"You thought you could... hic... just make everything better... hic... with a rag and a new beer?" snarled the drunk slurring his words as he spoke.

The room quieted down as the patrons turned to watch the show.

"Oh, this should be fun! Mark always makes things bigger than they are when he is mad or drunk and now he is both."

"I am taking bets on how long the little one lives, do I have any takers!"

"I bet thirty seconds!"

"I bet ten seconds!"

"Poor child, RIP!"

Around the room chatter about him reached Jake's ears, causing him to shiver once more. Was this big idiot really going to make a big deal about this and possibly kill him?

Jake hoped the boss would come out and save him if the drunk would really do that, but so far there was no sign of help. From the corner of his eyes, he could see none of his coworkers moving to get help.

"Frack it," cursed Jake softly.

Without warning, the drunk swung on Jake taking him by surprise and knocking him to the floor. With the force of the hit, Jake slid back a few feet before stopping. His head swam in a sea of stars as the sound of footsteps approached him. Soon he was lifted off the floor and into the air before his face was brought towards the drunk man's.

"Give me all... hic... your gems and... hic... maybe I will spare you!" snarled the man causing Jake to blanch from the stink wafting from his mouth.

Anger and frustration built up inside of Jake, but what could he do. Though he knew how to fight a little from before he died, he was only level one here. The man, even if he was level one, was built like Argus and more than likely had stats that reflected that. With Jake's luck, the guy was probably not level one so it did not even matter.

Subconsciously his hand reached for his pocket where he stored his gems. Knowing these were the items needed to keep himself from dying, Jake had been worried to part with them. Now that worry would cost him two months of life if he even made it out of this predicament alive.

"Fracking catfish what kind of good luck stat is this!" cursing again his hand found the gems and began to pull them out to present to his captor.

Yet, before he could a sweet yet frightening voice purred from behind Jake, "Ah, there seems to be some fun going on in my humble little store. But, I don't recall being invited to the fun?"

Jake's hand froze when he heard his boss speak, while a small breath he had not noticed he had held escaped his mouth.

Though, it seemed the drunk was too stupid to notice the danger. For in the next moment, he slung Jake across the room causing him to slam into a table and almost fainting. The drunk then approached the lady that dared to interrupt his business. "Oi little lass... hic... How about you come with me to my chambers tonight... hic... And I will forget about your rude interruption. Otherwise, things might get unpleasant for you if don't... hic."

No one in the bar could tell you how she did it, but all everyone could agree on was how frightening her smile was before the idiot drunk disappeared from the bar with a loud crash in the street.

Again the room became so quiet a needle falling could be heard, "Ah, why is my bar so quiet?" mumbled Shelline to her self. Though before her words even disappeared, the bard in the corner started playing again while everyone went back to what they had been doing, acting as if nothing had happened.

This brought a grin to the boss's face as she appeared before Jake, "Thank you, boss, I thought I was a..." before he could finish Jake saw her dropping three silver into his lap. Confused, Jake looked at the silver then at his boss before looking back at the silver, soon his confusion was cleared.

"Grab your stuff and leave. I do not need worthless ants that are going to cause trouble in my bar instead of working." with that Shelline sauntered back off to her office without so much as a second glance at Jake.