It is uncertain when, but Rak eventually managed to climb down from miss Delil and take his seat on the large bench. He still sat beside Delil and across from Hormby. His stiff drink from earlier is already causing him to feel a bit numb.

Rak didn’t know it but his mind had been on a constant spiral of never ending thoughts. He hadn’t thought he needed a break, but now that he was taking one he was feeling relaxed. In hindsight, it may just have been the alcohol giving him short reprieve.

The entire night gradually became a blur only flashes of continuous drinking and uninterrupted fondling remained in Rak’s memory. When he woke up his body felt weaker than usual but worse than physical weakness, his mind was dulled.

You have died from choking

Rak read the message and was completely baffled. The confusion in his eyes was at an all time height but he can’t deny reality, every nerve of his body is screaming out to him that something is wrong.

“What happened?”

Looking around Rak felt relieved he was till in his own house, reassurance he returned to his notifications.

You have become inebriated

Pain reduction: 10%

You are in an increased state of inebriation

Pain reduction: 20%

Clear thought: Your thoughts are clear but unfocused

You are in an increased state of inebriation

Pain reduction: 40%

Clear thoughts: Your thoughts are clear but unfocused

Memory fault: Your capture of of memory is flawed

You are in an increased state of inebriation

Pain reduction: 65%

Clear thoughts: Your thoughts are clear but unfocused

Memory fault: Your capture of of memory is flawed

Weakness: Your physical self is suffering from bouts of weakness.

You have died from choking

“Who the hell choked me?”

Rak has never experienced death, and his memory of his first death has been washed away by the reckless consumption of alcohol. Rak´s body is now experiencing both a hangover and a weakness state, while the hangover will pass, the death penalty can only removed through rare consumable items or the more common, a doctor’s treatment.

After scouring his combat log, Rak found only the steady decline in maximum stamina, constitution and the percent decrease in clarity. After searching for a while he saw that somehow numerically, clarity increased for a period but the percentage value still decline in tandem.

Now his status window show his clarity’s percentage had recovered but the numerical increase remained. What this means is that through his endeavour, his capabilities for focus increased due to some factors and that this increase is permanent.

Character

Status

Constitution: 75/100%

Fatigue: 42/100%

Hunger: 9/100%

Clarity: 60/100%

Stamina: 74/100%

Abilities

Inventory

The most glaring thing to notice is that his stamina and constitution are at seven five percent and seventy four percent. This is because dying has left a soft cap on all capabilities and the nature of stamina is such that it can’t remain maxed out.

“First, I really need to eat.”

The hunger pangs become the only thing occupying Rak’s thoughts, only his appetite doesn’t seem to agree with him. Not being unfamiliar with a hangover, Rak was going to put on his clothes on when he noticed they were already on him.

The sunlight seemed the be there to punish Rak when he stepped outside of his house, he could only grimace and continue towards the Horseshoe Inn. On the way people greeted Rak but he only nodded, feeling his throat too sore to speak. People acknowledged his sickly look and made their own assumptions.

After stumbling into the Horseshoe in the first face Rak saw was Frank’s. Frank, being an experienced tavern owner recognized hangover at a glance and delivered Rak with a shot of a strong distilled alcohol from his own collection.

“Just drink it. It’s on me.”

Perhaps because of their business deal or Rak’s favorability in Alp town, Frank treats Rak with great care.

“Frank, I think I died.”

“Aye, so that’s it?”

“I was drinking and then I woke up at home.”

“Oof. It’s not too rare but I haven’t seen one in a while. Death penalty and alcohol recovery.”

“I need to eat but I’m not hungry.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Rak already knows what the death penalty is, this is his first experience with it but he still knows from various news reports in reality, and so, after eating Rak plans to head to Town hall to talk to their resident doctor. The cost can reach enormous figures but being his first death, Rak may not be charged too much.

“Here. Eat this.”

“Frank.”

“Just eat it, believe me, it’ll give you a kick.”

Slowly researching the hot mess goob in a large bowl Rak has his reservations.

“This is still considered food?

“Eat it!”

After letting out a long exaggerated sigh rak picks up the presumably dirty spoon and shoves the rough pudding like substance into his mouth.

“It’s not bad.”

“Alright, I got stuff to do, get better.”

The day slowly ticked on, Rak felt a bit of fire light in him after that drink and that heat only got bigger after eating a bowl of whatever Frank brought him.

“I got to get rid of this sickness.”

Even though he felt better, the unsettling feeling still remained. Rak repeatedly cursed the town for not having a taxi. Due to Rak’s slow pace it took him the better part of an hour to get to Town hall.

“Good morning mister Abstinence.”

“Morning Jiel. Can you help me set up a meeting with the doctor?”

“Of course. He should be free now, i’ll put it through.”

Rak sat down in Town halls adequate sized waiting room and let out a sound that told the story of his fatigue. He felt like he hadn’t sat down in years and finally he got his rest. It didn’t take five minutes before he was called up. The Town hall already has a few people waiting for miscellaneous things but none of them were waiting to meet a doctor.

The office the doctor stays in is larger than Town planner Ung’s office by a tiny bit. There is a table, a few chairs and a bunch of cabinets with murky glass hiding what’s behind. The woman wearing casual clothing points toward a chair.

“So.”

“So?”

“So, what can I help you with?”

“I died?”

“Ah. Well this’ll be quick then.”

A burst of light appeared from the doctors hands and they landed on Rak’s head and slowly made their way down until they reached his thighs.

“That should be it. Seeing as this is your first time, and apparently you have some standing in Alp, it´ll only be thirty eight silver, thirty copper. You can pay the receptionist or talk to one of the administration clerks.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Rak waves his hands about and shakes his head a bit before acknowledging that he does indeed feel perfectly fine, his slight buzz from the Horseshoe Inn is gone as well. Even though forty-ish silver seems forgiving, it has to be taken into consideration how often a person can die.

Currently Rak’s standing in Alp town is pretty good, while he still as some way to go, it does afford him some benefits and in this case, a discount. In addition to a discounted treatment, his low level, his first death and no job, means the price is already about as low as it can be.

This cost is still hard for many considering that majority of people spend their days doing their hobbies and not trying accumulate coin. People like Olric or Url, they do the bare minimum to keep food on the table and focus on their hobbies, this can be considered majority of people in Chaos theory.

The trouble is when people have to earn coin while bearing a death weakness penalty or when they are not in a place that has government doctors to remove their sickness. And if there are other methods available, they might be far steeper in cost.

“Since I’m already at Town hall I should rent a carriage to transport goods to Inte. I also need my own personal carriage.”

The more he thought about it the more it made sense. It’s true that he may not need to travel everyday and that he didn’t really need a carriage, but he also understands the convenience and the value of time.

If Rak was in Hampter he might be able to find an engineer to craft him an expensive tier one carriage but in Alp town the best he can do is ask them to commission an untiered one for him. He’ll have to deal people like Url for a horse to pull it.

Unlike the doctor, Town planner Ung is a busy man and Rak had to wait more than an half hour before Ung could see him, and he only agreed to squeeze him in is because him and Rak are on rather good terms.

After the niceties were over, Rak rented a carriage with no issues, although he didn’t get the same cheap deal as before. Once everything was taken care of Rak got Ung to commission a carriage for him. It would be ready sometime today, Ung told him he’d be notified once it was completed.

Just like Rak’s brewery, things commissioned through the town’s government system, they all take time. Most of the time the time required has to do with the the size of objects but it can also be affected by the materials provided for the commission. Not all commissions require materials to be commissioned many cannot even be supplemented.

“You’ll have to get one made or buy a tier one carriage if you want larger space.”

One of issues of the carriage isn’t just the weight it can carry but its dimensions as well. This being a virtual world, dimensional magic can be worked into things. In cases of transportation, such magic is invaluable.

“It’s not that I don’t want a tier one carriage, I just don’t know where to get it. And if I did, could I afford it?”

“Of course you’re right. Even a used carriage will probably put a dent in even the town’s treasury.”

Town planner Ung let out a laugh, he wasn’t too serious. Alp town can afford a tier one carriage, but was there a need for it? They have three carriages and they can easily serve all their needs, not to mention other places will transport goods to them as well. Buying a tier one carriage is just frivolous.

“If it wasn’t for the barrels large dimensions it wouldn’t matter, and who knows what else i’ll need to transport in the future?”

In truth, hiring three or four carriage drivers and buying a few untiered carriages would be enough but eventually a tier one carriage would earn back its large upfront cost. This has to do with the wage of a driver, the possibility of carrying more items per trip and its speed.

“Often people don’t know they want something until they are presented with it.”

After recovering, Rak was back to his old ways, thinking of business plans. He was a lot more ambitious now that he has the coin to invest with.

“I’m afraid I don’t have any engineer friends, but I can introduce you to someone in Trove that may be able to point you in the right direction.”

“Trove, huh. I don’t play on making the trip to a city any time soon, but I was planning on going to Kante to check things out and do some business.”

“If you do decide to go, I recommend a proper transport and not hitching a ride with one the merchant carriages. The trip will be much pleasurable.”

“I’ll take it into consideration.”

Rak’s have turned away from Ung and into the air, appearing in thought. Being used to such things, Ung sat back and took up his cup.

“I’ve been wanting to try out hunting, is there somewhere in Alp I can try it out? Inte looked a bit. A bit intense.”

“Of course. But if you want to hunt something large, you’ll still need to travel a bit.”

“I see. Where do I go then?”

“There is always Url, you already know him. Though he doesn’t hunt too much and mostly tames beasts.”

“Right. I got business with him away, but I’m not sure he’ll have the time if i hire him.”

Ung let out a small laugh at Rak’s plight.

“Well here is Georg, Alley, Jain and Opfer. They all own their own little hunting lodges and should be accustomed to hunting, only I don’t know if any of them are willing to take people hunting with them.”

“Can I ask for their information?”

“Sure, I’ll transfer the details to you.”

“With this, I should only have to get Olric to produce another batch, after all the tier one beer doesn’t exactly expire quickly.”

Rak’s thoughts swirled about, he even entertained the idea of letting Olric experiment a bit so he could begin selling tier one strong alcohol. Currently Olric can only create a few varieties of tier one beers and some miscellaneous untiered drinks. Only from Rak’s perspective, untiered drinks are barely worth the trouble, considering the transport cost.

Something yet to occur to Rak was to embolster himself. It is still a possibility to live a lavish life while spending his time on creating a financial empire, he would still become subjected to the strong in the long run. In the end he’d have to either hire or bow his head to those that pursue strength.

“I’ll be in touch Ung, as always you’re invaluable. I owe you a meal.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Not only Rak, but Ung felt a rare sort of comradery. Maybe it was because of the way they talked, the way they conducted themselves of because they were similarly ambitious, whatever it is, they felt like kindred spirits and took each other as friends.

“I’ll go see Url and then check on this Georg person seeing as he lives the closest to Url.”

While on the road to Url, Rak once again searched his logs but found nothing indicating that he had been physically attacked. What did happen was with increased levels of alcohol, Rak’s muscles became so numb and weak that he could no longer sustain his breathing and was therefore technically suffocated to death.

It is the systems fault for identifying this as a choking which indicates a second party involvement. This is made reasonable seeing as nothing on him was robbed, even his simple clothing with very low durability remains entirely intact.

“I guess I can drop by the Withered fox and check if that vagrant is still there. Can it be that woman was a pervert and choked me to death?”

Rak had tried not to think of this option but eventually it crept up on him and when it did he felt a cold shiver run down his back. It wasn’t until he arrived at Url’s animal infested hunting lodge and residence that the feeling subsided.

“Url!”

“I don’t even know if he’s going to be home.”

After squinting his eyes for a good minute trying to identify the manner of creatures roaming Url’s property Rak decided to shout once more. Supposedly Url is supposed to receive a request from Town Hall for the carriage and in turn that assumes Url will be needed to drive it.

“He should be here, right?”

“Url! You in there?”

“Yes!”

“Huh?”

“Can you come outside?”

“No! Come inside!”

For a moment Rak was stunned into silence and followed by a deep frown.

“He can’t be expecting me to barge through this flood of creatures?”

After a few back and forth shouting, Url and Rak agreed that Rak would wait outside for some time. After fifteen minutes passed Url finally stumbled out of his hunting lodge with a small fluffy creature in tow.

“Well, what is it?”

Rak didn’t expect the rude greeting but he brushed it off as a part of Url’s character.

“I need to do more deliveries for me, as we talked about last time. Thought it be best to talk to you again rather than hire someone else.”

“It’s fine if you hire someone else.”

“This guy.”

“It’s just to Inte and back, can you do it tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow works.”

“Good.”

“Anything else?”

Seeing Rak standing awkwardly staring at him, Url surprisingly asked Rak.

“Ah. Well, I’m interested in trying out some hunting, but I was going to see George as you must be busy.”

“I am busy.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But you shouldn’t go to George. Not him, I recommend Alley, she’s good with people like you.”

“Like me?”

“Timid, weak, unexperienced.”

“Ah.”

It seemed that Rak has to get used to being looked down. In Chaos theory he doesn’t have the background or wealth to barge his way to what he wants. So hearing Url’s remarks, which didn’t seem to be out of malice but genuine honest guidance, Rak can only swallow his pride and let it slide.

“Strength, wealth and influence. I need plenty of one these.”

Something Rak’s father taught him was that with strength, wealth and influence followed. And in that same vein, with wealth, strength and influence could be obtained. He went on to say that with great influence, strength and wealth are there for the taking. In short, focusing on one aspect gives access to others.

Even after dealing with Url’s brazen attitude, Rak decided to follow Url’s advice and seek out Alley instead of George for a consultation on hunting. It might seem odd that Rak would be willing to accept the disrespectful attitude from someone like Url when in the real world he felt slighted by the mere thought of sleeping in what he considered commoner’s accommodations.

What it really is, is a disconnect from reality and Chaos theory. Just as a person doesn’t treat their mother like they treat their best friend, people do not treat Chaos theory like they do reality. In addition to this, Rak’s experience so far in Chaos theory has molded his perspective to be surprisingly humble.

“I hope this Alley is a reserved person.”

Rak didn’t notice himself but he was slowly developing a rather odd suspicion of women, he had thoughts that could only be considered vain or egotistical. His thoughts were along the the line that he was just too handsome, too charming and to amazing. This is due to his two recent romances. While only one bore fruit, the other was certainly ripe only not plucked.

“It’ll be good if she’s not too good looking.”

While pondering such inane things, Rak slowly made his way to Alley’s hunting lodge that looked eerily similar to Url’s hunting lodge only without the farmhouse. Beside the hunting lodge is a small house fit for perhaps two people.

“There is always large scale farming as well. But is there a market for it?”

Unlike in real life, practical things like vegetable farming and animal rearing, were not a necessity. Sure they were appreciated and in widespread use, but they are not irreplaceable. A large hunting guild can easily provide enough food for an entire town or two, not to mention a few hunting guilds or numerous enthusiast.

For example, the four hunters in Alp easily provide the town’s requirement for meat, but outside of them there are still others that hunt and there is still more food coming from farms and even food imported by Town Hall. In short, food is not an issue in terms of survival.

“I should just knock, right?”

With great care Rak knocked lightly on the hunting lodge’s door, choosing to ignore the house next door, assuming Alley would stay in her hunting lodge rather than house.

The snapped open violently making Rak out an undignified shriek. The shriek made Alley shriek in turn and leap backwards. After a seering moment of complete confusion, Rak’s face turned scarlet red while Alley became even more confused.

“Why did she have to be this beautiful.”

There is a whole slew of unattractive people in Chaos theory, and yet Rak seems to stumble and somehow attack rather gorgeous women.

“Who are you? What do you want? Why were you shouting.”

Despite Rak’s very red face and the awkward encounter he still recovered in a flash and put on an umassiming expression that hinted at a smile.

“Hello, I am Abstinence and I’m looking to try out hunting. Url told me you were the better choice than George.”

Alley’s expression was rather annoyed when Rak began speaking but perked up when she heard that Url put her above George.

“Url said I was a better hunter?”

“Did he say she was better?”

“Yes.”

“At least that dog still has eyes.”

“That’s right, he still has eyes.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What?”

“I know he still has eyes, it’s an expression.”

“It is?”

“Yes it is! Forget it, you want to try hunting?”

“Yes I figure it’s a way to become stronger.”

Alley’s expression turned foul quickly when she heard Rak’s reason for hunting.

“What do you mean stronger? Hunting isn’t a game. Its hunting not a sport. Go train with those braindead warriors if you want to become stronger.”

“What warriors?”

“Those warriors. You know warriors. It’s an expression.”

“Is it?”

“Yes it is!”

“Okay, but I don't know any warriors. Do they live in Alp?”

“No. I said it’s an expression.”

“Uh. I see. So what about that hunting?”

Not only was Rak confused, but somehow Alley had confused herself in her hate for warriors. Only after giving it a moment’s thought did she realise she was being a bit strange.

“What do you want to hunt?”

“I was thinking something stronger than a Igorra.”

“Stronger than an Igorra? A child could kill an Igorra.”

“I’ve never hunted anything.”

“How’s your bow skill then?”

“I have never shot a bow.”

This time around Alley was not confused but curious. There is a reason Url sent Rak to Alley, it was that he recognized Rak’s talkative nature and knew Alley would similarly blather to no end.

“Never shot a bow. Never hunted. Are you even a man?”

“You don’t have to-.”

“Forget it! I’ll make a man out of you. You are at least tall. Your body looks okay. Bit of a pretty face but we can work with it.”

It was now Rak’s turn to frown. He had a bad premonition when he heard her say ‘pretty face’. He was a bit tired of being treated like a plaything, especially since he was used to be the one playing with others. Even though he adopted a more humble personality in Chaos theory, he was still the same person deep beneath.

“Hold on, I’ll get the bow.”