NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32 - Life isn't a Game
Once I was safe standing in town near the merchants, I logged off to catch to the kids. I messaged Tristan to say he better log off Seconds-Over soon because it was late. I used the parental controls on his capsule to give him a twenty-minute timer before shutting it all down. More than enough for him to finish up whatever he was doing in the guildhall. Where he was safe from me and the goddess Leith.
Twenty minutes might be enough time for me to talk to Elaine. I had to get moving. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
A man in his forties lying down for hours gathers joint pain in a gaming capsule. My neck was stiff from the hours of play. The capsule needed more lumbar support. As I crawled out of the apparatus, my knees popped as much as popcorn in the microwave.
The lights in the hallway were off, allowing for the light to peek out under Elaine's bedroom door. I walked toward her room, shoving more trucks and cars to the side of the hallway, a fidgeting movement to help me organize my thoughts. The words on what I had to say weren't coming to me.
Elaine was rightfully mad at me.
In the real world, I couldn't get little heart notifications for ramping up my reputation with her. I had to apologize for yelling at her and raising my axe. Explain how it's a game, how I didn't mean to scare her. I was caught up in the moment, and I was wrong and would fix my priorities.
As I approached her door, my phone buzzed. A message from Beth letting me know she had a better day and was coming home soon.
There were also multiple notifications stacked on my phone from the streaming service.
And from payments.
Lots of them.
"Holy crap." I thumbed through the information.
My stream hit the top recommended for Seconds-Over today. Even if it was only there on the list for fifteen minutes, before "The Great Alcender" climbed back. Still, I pulled in a ton of new subscribers. Paid subscribers and people tipping me.
I leaned up against the wall, steadying myself and taking the pressure off my knee. There were multiple spikes in the data from yesterday and today like a mountain range, and those prime moments I had to repeat. The first spike happened when the goddess of Leith tried tricking me into entering her temple yesterday. A paid tip message was associated with that time.
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[BlueFins4412: Hey man, how'd you get Leith to entice you like that? Was it because of the seeds from Nitia?]
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Another message came from that player another hour later. They were paying a lot of money to talk to me like this.
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[BlueFins4412: Guess it wasn't those seeds. I'm going to check out the portal.]
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Multiple messages guessed about the seeds and how I by passed the mushroom quest everyone got from the temple Leith. The view numbers dipped with the bakery break and then climbed when we entered the portal to hell.
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[JollyRodger42: Loser, I took the stones you left by the tree.]
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There were trolls, there were people telling me to get the balaclava people wore. There were theories and support.
More people were watching me.
They supported my choices and were curious about what I would do next. I was becoming a legend. The smile plastered on my face couldn't stretch further with the joy I was feeling.
Each thank you note I wrote back to the tipper was genuine, especially to BlueFins4412. He messaged four times for over a hundred bucks.
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[Bardoum6874: If you want to throw something, throw the shield and never pick it up. Stick to double axe and find a tank. Get rid of the archer.]
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Four other people agreed with sticking to my axes. If I needed quick cash, I could troll these viewers again by pulling out my shield and fighting with it. A few others cheered me on.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was a lot of cash.
Not one person said I should keep the shield. I was doing the right thing there.
"Dad?" Tristan loudly spoke, turning on the light and blinding me.
I dropped my phone. It landed in a toy car trailer hitch.
"Hey bud. You got out quick."
He shook his head. "I was working on a vision potion. Help me see far and notice monsters sooner. But the game turned off before I could do anything like that."
"Vision potion? Where did you get that idea?" I glanced at Elaine's door, but with the hallway light on, I couldn't tell if she was still awake. "Wait, you mean the timer kicked you out?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Can you give me just enough time to go back on right now to check it?"
It was already late, twenty minutes past very late. Beth was on her way home and would wonder why a six-year-old was up near midnight on a school night.
"Make it again tomorrow. Go brush your teeth and get to bed."
"But Dad! I'll be quick. Please."
I sighed. At least he was showing excitement about the game. "No. I can't let you get back on this late. I'll make it up to you tomorrow and get you some more ingredients."
The kid's shoulders lowered. "Please. I want it off the burner."
Ugh, I'm weak to his pleas. "Go quick, before your mom gets home, then go straight to bed!"
"Thanks Dad!" he ran off.
I bent down and picked up my phone, squeezing it tight at seeing the big money drop on the screen again. I was going to be great if I kept up with this path.
Walking over to the nearest switch, I turned off the hallway light. Elaine's light was off, which meant she was asleep.
"Jeez." I hissed under my breath.
I felt my trigger finger tap away on my phone, trying to get my click rate up… my nervous tick was back. I needed to react faster, like it was a game.
"No. I'm not slipping. My life isn't a game." I whispered the therapy mantra.
But crap, life felt like it was. In order to get the best gear, you need money. To get money, you need fame, which comes from glory and performing well at a job, just like in a game.
I squeezed my phone tighter to stop the twitch.
Twenty minutes passed because I was looking at the phone too much. The streaming money would be fun money for the family. It couldn't only be for me.
It couldn't stop me from fixing my relationship with Elaine. There was at least a chance for a conversation in the car tomorrow morning, and on the way home.
If she didn't put headphones in. I would find a way around that barrier.
The garage door made a rumbling noise as Beth pulled in. My current quest appeared to me mentally.
[Unique Quest!: Distract your wife ;)
Description: You were naughty and let the youngest child stay up way past his bedtime - heck, even yours! She was worried about you yesterday. She will be distraught today if you fail. Failure: Will lead to minus reputation points.
Reward on success: A happy wife, which means happy life for you.]
I ran into the slob mess hall, living up to its name with all the dishes again. Didn't I do that yesterday?
The dinners were out from earlier, scavenged by our dog Ghost. Ghost whined at the back door. Just as I closed the door to let him out, Beth walked into the house, feet from me. Habitually, she organized the shoes and turned off all the lights without noticing me. Keeping her head down.
This wasn't supposed to be a stealth mission.
"Hey, welcome back." I called to her gently, still failing to not startle her. "Want to vent or hangout while Ghost finishes up out there?"
With the lights flipped back on, she looked at her analog watch, a gift I bought her when she passed the bar. "I appreciate you staying up late to see me, but you could just say hi in bed instead."
She walked over to me. Phase one of the quest was a success; she avoided the hallway. Phase two was going to be the harder part.
I took a chance with my charm stat, using my good relationship status with her as an advantage, and put an arm around her, kissing her. She rested her head on me and sighed.
I layered it on with a cheese effect. "It's always worth it to see your beautiful face."
Beth's deep brown eyes rolled at me as she nuzzled closer. "Thanks. I really wish this lawsuit would be over. They moved up the court date to be next week. Trying to get the last document in order." She sighed, pulling at her braid. "I'm sorry, you don't care about this."
I gave her a kiss again. Quest or not, she needed support. "No, please go on."
Ghost barked at the door, wanting to be let in. She pulled herself away from me and opened the door. Petting on the dog and hugging him, even giving him a kiss. Man's best friend.
Beth told him, "I miss you too, Ghost. I'll take you on a pleasant walk in the park when things settle down."
At the "W" word, his ears perked up. The dog was ready to go no matter the hour of the day.
With an ear scratch, his hopes dashed. His joyful tail didn't stop as he got loved on by Beth. He was better at words than I was.
"Is gaming becoming… a lot again?" Beth didn't look at me, afraid to actually challenge me.
My hand slipped to my phone in my pocket, holding it tight to avoid twitching. "No, I just need to slow down. Think things through. Hard to slow down as a parent, though, right?" I forced a chuckle out.
Loud footsteps running down the hallway proved my point.
"Mom!" One very-up-late-child squealed and tackled his mother.
Beth gave Tristan a big hug, and then pulled him back to notice that he was still in his day clothes. "Why aren't you in your pajamas yet?"
"I was cooking a vision potion!" Tristan answered.
"A vision potion… Was this in the game?" Beth asked in a calm voice, but I saw the dynamite she put down.
"Yeah, Dad let me get back on to take care of it before it burned." Tristan earnestly answered, starting the spark of my demise.
I put a hand on Tristan, hoping he would get the subtle hint to stop yammering. I tried to smooth the conversation over. "Making sure he learns to leave nothing on the stove. Preventing house fires like Smokey the Bear."
"He prevented forest fires." Beth explained. She grabbed Tristan's hand, like he was still a small child. "Why don't we take you back to bed? You can tell me all about it come morning."
As they walked by the kitchen, Beth used her free hand to point to the mess. "I want this cleaned up if you have time to game with the kids this late into the evening. Tomorrow."
I rubbed my forehead, a tension and fatigue headache building. "I promise I will. Sorry, we got caught up in the game and lost track of time."
Beth didn't hear me. She gave her full attention to Tristan as he went on about how he learned the best way to sell potions was to go cheaper than the listed prices.
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Quest failed.
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