Chapter 22:

I woke up as the sunlight started to reach through my window, the warm light dancing on dust motes in the air.

I drowsily rose from my bed and started to do some small stretches, after continuing to do so for the next 10 minutes, I stopped and walked out my door.

I was greeted by the bright light of the rising sun, I then walked down the stairs and went over to the water pump.

After I lightly washed my face, my drowsiness was washed away, I wiped my face down with a small rag that was lying next to the pump. I swiped my brown hair to the side, out of my face, I looked down at the ground. I watched as a few crickets leaped in different directions, I felt for their moisture, as I did that I could vaguely feel their position. After a few seconds of feeling the water in the insects, I felt around to see the surrounding area, I saw the slightly wet grass, glowing in a light, almost neon, blue. The world looked so entrancing that I felt my face draw into a smile.

I stopped, and opened my eyes, before I turned towards the lab. I waltzed right into the kitchen, and noticed that we were running a bit low on food stuffs. I thought to myself, "I'm going out shopping today, so it should be fine." That thought was the only thing that crossed my mind before I ate a small but sumptuous meal, ate some fried rice and some boiled rice.

After I finished eating, I returned to my room to prepare myself for my journey to the village, I put on my adventuring gear, as I hadn't thought for a second that I will be completely safe. "Who knows, maybe someone will try to mug me." I thought to myself with a slight goofy smile on my face, I laughed silently to myself.

Even though deep inside I think that anyone who tries to mug me is going to lose a finger, even though I'd probably try not to kill child thieves.

I finished my preparations for going out, I had a dagger at my left thigh, and the broadsword I recently collected sheathed at my left wait.

"Maybe I should invest in a crossbow?" I thought to myself, it would be more concealable than a long bow.

I was wearing a loose fitting cloak over my hunting gear, it had several slightly armoured sections: I had bracers, small shoulder pads, padded torso armour, and thick brown pants.

The cloak was a dark blue, my armour was a deep blue, and my sword sheathe was a normal, if not slightly bad quality, leather sheathe.

I walked to the side of my bed and collected my blue flame, I laughed at how cute the flame acted when I picked it up, it acted like a puppy that met their owner after not seeing them for several days, and I threw it a twig for being so cute. If it had a tail, I'm sure it would be wagging.

AN:(Though I think it would be weird to think of a flame as something cute, it makes sense in Joseph's case, as he is only alive because of said flame. Also, I'm trying to see if adding author's notes would make it seem more interesting.)

After I finished laughing at the flame, I picked it up and fastened it to my right waste with a spare leather strip. I walked down the stairs and went into the main lab.

After a few goodbyes, I started to walk down the hill. You might be wondering "why are you walking?" well you see, I don't own my own horse or any form of transport, and why bother bringing a cart when I can hold all the shopping items in my inventory.

"I hope my map like knowledge of my surroundings has teleportation, otherwise this is going to take ages to get anywhere, maybe it's because the shrines aren't properly active yet. *hmm*" I said out loud while thinking to myself.

I make plenty of progress while walking to the town, it only took me 43 minutes to get to town by foot, I thought it would take less. But damn, were my legs sore by the time I got there, you'd think with all the training I went through, that I'd have plenty of stamina, but no, years of living an unhealthy lifestyle with minimal exercise, does not change within a few months.

And I just happened to have the genius idea of not resting.

When I arrived at the city gates I was breathing hard, so I sat down along the road leading down to the village.

After a few minutes of resting, I wasn't exhausted anymore, sore yes, tired no… maybe a little bit. I walked up to the gates of the village and was stopped at the gate, mainly for formalities, I was shortly afterwards let inside the town.

I looked around with a small smile on my face, as I walked through the large crowds of the town, after doing some site seeing, I made my way to the general store. I walked for a couple minutes, and then the store came into sight, it was exactly as I recalled from my last visit, I walked in through the front door and went over to the counter.

"Do you stock oil, I mean cooking oil?" I asked at the counter.

"We should have some in stock, look at the bench on the far right of the store." The store clerk said from behind the counter. I took his advice and found some vegetable oil, picked it up and looked around the store for the rest of the stuff on the list.

After I purchased all I could from the store I made my way to the next store, in a search for eggs, I found a store that stocks them. After purchasing a few cartons worth, I made my way outside and stored it away, I eventually decided to go visit the horned statue, after all I do have a few essence orbs that I could trade.