Spending My Retirement In A Game

Eisen sat down on one of the chairs that were brought out, in front of the tent that was built for him earlier. He wasn't sitting underneath it because he wanted to enjoy the view from here. He didn't have a lot of chances to simply stargaze lately, so a moment like this was as good as any.

The bright constellations were shining down onto the camp, onto the laughing soldiers are they were relaxing before they were going to head to bed. The old man leaned back and took a sip of his drink, before glancing at the people near him.

Some of the kids from the Nomad Giants' wandering town had come out here out of curiosity, and were currently playing with Sal, Caria and Melissa. Sal was spinning some iridescent threads around the area, forming small magic circles. Once activated, they created small balls of light that were floating around the area.

One of the other kids was curiously looking at the hive-pattenrs on Melissa's arms, while Caria was just tolling around with some of the other kids, as energetic as ever. That was when one of the kids came up to Eisen, "You look like my pappy."

The old man raised his brow, "Do I?"

The child nodded, "Yeah, but your beard is a lot longer! And more gray!"

Eisen chuckled, "Well, there's a good chance I'm a little bit older than your pappy, so I've had all the time in the world to let it get this gray."

"How old are you?" The child curiously asked, and as she did, some of the others came up too, "Hmm... how old do you think?"

One of the boys quickly replied, "My grandpa is eight hundred years old! But you look younger, so maybe seven hundred!"

"What? Only seven hundred? No, he said that he's older than my pappy, so he has to be at least nine hundred!"

The boy scoffed and shook his head, "Never, your pappy has wrinkles all over his body, but he doesn't, so he has to be younger, right?"

Surprised, the girl looked at Eisen and tilted her head, "That's true... Why don't you have wrinkles if you're that old?"

Eisen chuckled and leaned forward, so that the kids could get a better view, "It's not like I have none at all, don't you see?" he said, pointing at his crow's feet and the deep wrinkles on his forehead. It was true that his skin was a lot healther in this world than on earth, though even there his skin was getting tighter by the day.

But even so, when he ran his hands over his arms and face, Eisen could feel his loose, aged skin.

The boy and girl didn't seem convinced, "My daddy has more wrinkles than that... but why is your hair that gray then?" the girl asked, and Eisen smiled as he placed his hands onto both of their heads, "Some parts age at different speeds. I guess my hair is simply a lot older than my skin."

The pair of kids looked at each other, before shaking their heads in unison, "I guess he's embarrassed at how young he is, then," the boy suggested, and Eisen couldn't help but smirk. Kids that age were fun to talk to.

Eisen thought for a moment, and then looked at the kids with a smile, "I guess you're right, I'm a little embarrassed at my age. Though, since I'm still so spry, I'm pretty good with my hands. Do you two want me to make you kids a toy?"

Immediately, the pair looked at Eisen curiously, and at the mention of the word 'toy', most of the other kids came rushing over too. Sal seemed a little annoyed since he was actually enjoying the attention for once, especially from some of the older kids that were around his age appearance-wise.

"Toy? What kind?!" the kids immediately asked, and Eisen smirked, "Well, what do you kids want me to make for you? I can make anything you want."

Immediately, the kids started to think and discussing amongst themselves. From what he could tell, they wanted different things, like kites or small figurines, but in the end, they settled on one thing: toy animals.

The old man smiled, and quickly nodded his head, "Toy animals, huh? Well, I'll get right to it. I'll probably not be done tonight, but since we'll be travelling with you... come back to me tomorrow night, and I'll be done, okay?"

The kids quickly nodded, but still seemed a bit disappointed that they wouldn't be able to play with a new toy tonight. Seeing that, Eisen placed his thumb and index finger onto his lips and let out a loud whistle that surprised some of the soldiers and was so loud that many of the kids were startled and held their hands onto their ears.

Though, it wasn't damaging of course, any many of them just did it to play along.

Before they were able to ask what Eisen just did, two large creatures came jumping over the tents, dropping their heavy behinds next to the old man's seat. It was Fafnir, as well as the Wolf Golem that he had created as a playmate for the artificial dragon.

The moment the kids saw the two of them, their eyes turned wide and excited, "Play with these kids for a bit, alright?" Eisen asked of the two, and immediately, the children started running at them, climbing up their large bodies.

Fafnir and the Wolf were both a bit hesitant and wanted to get away from the children, but soon, too many of them were covering their bodies, so as to not injure them, they had to just sit still and let it happen.

Eisen got out of his seat, when another child-like figure appeared next to him, even if it wasn't a child at all. It was Sigurd, who had come jumping out of the dungeon inside of Fafnir, "Finally he's sitting still for once..."

"For once? Usually, all he does is sleep. Be happy that he's healthy."

"At the end of the day, he's still technically a golem! Of course he's healthy!" Sigurd replied, rubbings its neck annoyedly, "Seriously, you have no idea what it feels like to have him jump and twist around like that... Whenever the dungeon's rank increases, the more connected I become with it, and Fafnir as well, so when he does things like that it's like I'm feeling whatever he's doing..."

Eisen raised a brow. That was interesting, Sigurd hadn't told him about that before. Though it did make sense; it knew everything that was going on inside and outside the dungeon after all, and when talking to some of the other Core Guardians, they described that phenomenon as as if the area they guarded really were their own body.

So it wasn't a far stretch to say that Sigurd and Fafnir would soon share a lot of senses.

Eisen smiled and placed his hand onto Sigurd's head before looking down at it, "Could you go get some materials from the dungeon's storage?"

Sigurd hid its disgruntled expression under its hair, and then just nodded, "Fine, what do you want?"

Eisen thought about it for a moment, and then took a look at the kids. He figured until tomorrow they would tell the other kids, and then might show off their new toys to even more... meaning that he would probably end up having to make something for most of the kids in this town.

"Bring me five A4 Cubes of Tier 2... no, Tier 3 magic stones. Two medium bags of silica and limestone... pick out six or seven containers of differently coloured pigments as well. Then twenty bars of Tier 3, low-carbon steel... and then...

for now, let's just go with a hundred of the 10-inch Ash Beech Cubes," Eisen told Sigurd, who quickly took mental note of the materials. They were curious, but first started getting everything that Eisen asked for out of the Dungeon. The old man quickly created some duplicates that helped him carry everything. Eisen smiled at the guardian, "Thanks. I'll show you what it is that I'm making later."

"You better!" it replied, as Eisen quickly made his way to the outskirts of the camp. He waved his hand and spread his magic over the area in front of him, creating a stone platform for him to stand on, and then quickly used his custom spells to create a magical workshop around him.

He figured that instead of setting up the portable workshop, he might as well work out here and enjoy the breeze and fresh air.

"Then let's get started," the old man whistled as he grabbed the first of the magic stone cubes, when two young men stepped onto the platform. It was Parc and Rouge, looking at the old man hopefully.

"Erm... we were wondering, could we..." Rouge half-stuttered, and Eisen smirked at the two of them, "You're my apprentices, so obviously. Sorry that I've been busy lately, let's work on some more things together on our way to the council."

Excited, the two friends looked at each other, and quickly placed their bags down onto the stone platform, putting on their own aprons and getting out their tools. Rouge used a bandana to tie up his messy hair, and Parc popped a piece of candy into his mouth.

"You two ready?" Eisen asked, and the apprentices excitedly nodded their heads. And with a smile, Eisen got to work, with his apprentices helping however they could.

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