Spending My Retirement In A Game

that much?" Eisen said, pointing at one of the smaller mountains that was sticking out in the distance. He wasn\'t totally sure, but it should be roughly that much. It mostly depended on how much hollow space, in the form of caves, there was within the mountain, and what the quality of the actual stone ended up being.

"That\'s gonna be a task and a half, huh?" Silber sighed, and Eisen nodded his head, "That it will be," the old man replied. Eisen didn\'t like that he was going to need to permanently change the scenery here, but that was going to happen either way.

Either through the removal of that small mountain to create the new pillar, or through the collapse of the Mountain Gobbler, which would also lead to immense losses in life. It would be an incomparable catastrophe.

"I\'ll have to come up with something to transport all that stone first. Carrying it all by hand is going to take way too long," Eisen ran his hands through his beard, trying to think about what the best method was going to be. One that would not only speed up the stone-piling process, while also not taking too long to prepare beforehand.

Just as Eisen was finding a thread of thought, he felt something heavy hit his back. He turned his head behind himself, finding a crying Caria that had thrown herself at him, now clutching onto him without any plans of letting go. Melissa and Sal were also both there, joining in, even if they didn\'t jump at him. They still held him and didn\'t seem to want to leave.

"Eisen... Eisen!" Caria cried out, big tears falling down the sides of her face, "We... we thought you were..."

Eisen smiled lightly, reaching back and pulling Caria in front of him, as he dropped to his knee to properly hug the three of them, "I\'m sorry for worrying you. But you kids know I can\'t die, so even if it had been worse, I would have come back in just a couple of days."

He thought that this would help calm them down a bit. He understood how scared they were, considering that Eisen had never actually died here since he met these children, so maybe that reminder would help.

"No... no, it felt... it felt like you were gone..." Sal explained, slowly rubbing the tears from his face, "Usually we know where you are, how you\'re doing, at least to an extent... we can just feel it, you know? Even when you\'re... when you\'re in the other world, we still have a connection to you, but..." the boy said, but Eisen couldn\'t really follow what he was trying to say.

"It felt like you were... gone... just... disappeared..." Caria finished, "We were so worried... we felt really, really weird when that happened, we..."

"We felt really weak..." Sal said, "We don\'t know why, but... just don\'t do that again, okay..?"

Eisen was speechless. What was going on? The... connection between him and the kids disappeared for a while? Technically, these three were tamed monsters, so there was a permanent link between them. Eisen should talk to Jyuuk about this later to see if this could happen.

But even without that, he could tell that this was irregular. That it was different. While glancing over at the message window at his side, which still just wouldn\'t disappear no matter what he did. He doubted that the overuse of mana was what had caused the disconnect. That wouldn\'t make too much sense. But this...

this broken skill that made his skills act weird... that was the only connection that he could find.

[XXXXXXX (kil$ *ev+led "p!]

As though that system window realized that Eisen was thinking about it, it reacted. In front of his eyes, the letters changed. Some of the broken letters were revealed, and others were hidden behind random other symbols. He could tell, as a wave of discomfort ran through him, that this was a level up. And the kids felt it too.

They held onto him more tightly, as though they were worried that Eisen was going to disappear into this air if they let go for even a moment, "We\'re scared, Eisen..."

"Don\'t worry, you three," the old man said, "I\'m not going anywhere," he tried to reassure them, hoping that the kids didn\'t realize that he himself was just as confused and worried as they were. As he looked over the kids\' heads, he saw someone else approach. A certain half-dragon with crystal scales.

Silber, who had silently stood to the side until now, not wanting to intrude on that moment, looked at the young half-dragon with a broad smile, "Hold on, is that little Trygan I see there? You\'ve really grown up, haven\'t\'cha?!" he laughed loudly, and Kiron looked toward him confused. The kids also seemed to finally realize that someone else was standing there.

Kiron looked at Silber somewhat nervously, "\'Little\' Trygan? Ehm... Are you..?"

Eisen smiled lightly, "That\'s Silber. My brother."

"Brother..?" Sal repeated, looking up at Silber, "That\'s him? The \'God of the Mountain\'..? He looks so... normal."

"That\'s a compliment... right?" Silber asked with a wry expression, looking over at Eisen for confirmation, but he had something else to make clear, "And... I\'m sure this is going to sting even more than that nickname, but... that\'s not Trygan."

Silber raised a brow, "It\'s not? But I\'m sure he..."

Kiron cleared his throat and gave a slight bow to Silber, "My name is Kiron. Trygan the Crystal Dragon King is my father, and I have become my grandfather\'s honorable knight. It is an honor to meet you, grand-uncle Silber."

Silber looked over at Eisen, "Grand uncle? I mean, I guess it\'s been a couple years, but... really? That guy sure god busy, huh?"

Eisen smirked lightly, "Yup, you could say that."

After a few moments of thought, Silber stared at Eisen once more, "Hold on, why would that sting more than my nickname? Eisen, why would that sting more?"

The old man smirked silently, as Silber caught on, "You\'re kidding me, that bratty little stone dragon became a god?"

"B-Bratty?" Kiron repeated surprised, and Eisen laughed loudly, "Mhm, he\'s become the king of all dragons and the protector of justice."

Silber squatted down and let out a loud sigh, "Good for him. Yeah, honestly, good for him. Glad he managed to get there. For sure, for sure," he rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply, unable to properly and fully hide his annoyance. Figuring that he should give Silber a few moments, Eisen looked at his grandson.

"Kiron, how are you? Are you okay?" he asked, looking at Kiron\'s shoulder. Some of his scales were cracked.

"I\'m fine, grandfather. There\'s no need to worry about me," Kiron smiled lightly, but Eisen just locked eyes with him. He pushed his hand into the ground, having opened his item storage there, and quickly pulled out a container of high-grade healing salve and some bandages.

"Come here," the old man said, waving Kiron over. He quickly shook his head, "No, grandfather, I promise I\'m fine. Lady Xenia already healed me, so..."

Eisen locked eyes with the half-dragon, who realized that there wasn\'t anything that he could do to change Eisen\'s mind. Kiron knelt down on the ground next to Eisen, who, still having the kids cling to him, covered Kiron\'s wounds in the healing salve, "I know that Xenia is great at healing magic. Well, she\'s good at any magic, so that\'s a given.

But a lot of healing magic mostly recovers one\'s \'HP\', neglecting the actual body. You don\'t heal as fast as the five of us do, nor as fast as the artificials. You need to take care of your body more, alright? Your scales are your armor, and your body. I will neither let you walk around unprotected or covered in scars. And in this case, it would lead to both.

So stop whining and make sure to rest your shoulder, alright?"

Kiron slowly nodded his head, unable to stop himself from softly smiling as Eisen tightly wrapped some bandages around his shoulder. As he did so, Eisen asked about something else, "Did you see Parc and Rouge? Are they alright?"

"Yes, they are," Kiron said confidently, "They were out in the camp as the destruction occured. Once things settled, they came into the city and are now helping as they can."

"I see," Eisen smiled lightly, looking down at Melissa, "Could I ask you to call them for me?"

Melissa quickly nodded her head, stretching out one of her hands. A couple of small bees flew out of her sleeve. They were bees that Melissa had specially bred; instead of just buzzing normally, they could create a few simple words. It was a quick and easy way to send a message.

And then, once Parc and Rouge got here, Eisen would get started making some Golem Cores.