Spending My Retirement In A Game

The man looked at the unique paint brush in his hand, and ran his fingers over the small, carved scales and the bristles that looked like waving flames to him.

"It is beautiful. Amazingly so." The Soul said with a light smile on his face as he properly placed the brush into his hand to hold it. He pushed the bristles into a small cup of water and ran the bristles over the canvas in front of him a few times to see just how it would feel if he were to paint something using it. The man looked at the thin lines that were created.

With a satisfied expression, the man slowly turned his head away from the canvas and gently smiled at Eisen, "It is incredible. Truly something worthy of creating a work of art with." The Soul laughed, and the old man quietly chuckled, "I am glad to hear that you like it." 

The man kept looking at Eisen for a little bit longer, expressing how happy he was that he managed to acquire the sort of brush he wanted so quickly, and at the same time managed to get one that was far more incredible than he could have ever thought. And the moment that he did, the old man saw a notification appear in the air right in front of him while the man slowly stood up.

"I must thank you. And I don't know if something like a mere coin would be enough for that. This here item is a small memento of mine from when I still lived. It seems like you are allowed to take a single important thing with you after death." 

[Sub-Quest Completed – A Painter's Brush]

[Description] A soul wishing to paint has asked for a new brush. A brush that can be used to draw thin lines and intricate patterns.

[Condition] Create a brush to the liking of this soul

[Reward] Advance in the Quest <Trygan's Acknowledgement>, 1 Heavenly Gold Coin, Soul's Memento

[Penalty] The soul will be disappointed

Eisen stretched his hand out and was soon given not only the gold coin, which he had declined in his short conversation with the man just now, although it seemed like the man insisted on it, saying that he would feel bad if he didn't give it to Eisen.

Besides that gold coin, which took the form of a small golden dragon-scale with patterns and Trygan's insignia carved right onto it, the old man received a small, old dagger placed into its sheath. Both the handle and the sheath were made of naturally dark-colored wood. At first glance, it may not even seem like a dagger, but just a decorative piece. 

But when Eisen pulled it out of the sheath, he quickly realized that it was more than just that. There were small scratches and nicks on this item, and it was completely blunted. Eisen wasn't even sure if this would be able to cut through butter anymore. 

Eisen looked at the soul in front of him and pushed the dagger back toward him, "I'm sorry, I cannot accept this. I know how important memories are, so this is not something that I can take from you." The old man explained, but the soul in front of him smiled even more, "I see. Now, I wish for you to have it even more. You see it as it is, an item that holds the vast memories of those that used to wield it. Other souls are not interested in things that hold sentimenta value, but only things that look pretty or that has a worth to them themselves. An old, rusted, nearly broken knife is anything but that. A living man like yourself is the only one that I can see who may appreciate memories more than the monetary value these days." 

"... I would have thought it may be the other way around. That the dead appreciate memories more than anyone else."

"What makes you think that? What are we supposed to reminisce here? Beautiful sceneries? There is beauty here that no living person, beside the few like you that managed to pass the gate, has ever seen. Events of greatness you have lived through? The only time when such events hold true value is when there is an inevitable end to your life. When it is finite, and short. Then memories of events are valuable, but not if you have all of eternity to dwell on them." The man explained quickly and bluntly, and Eisen slowly looked down at the dagger in his hand, before the man spoke again.

"And then, there are the people. For me, that is the exact reason why I am giving this dagger to you. It was a means to remembering my parent. But when I died and ended up here, I had no need for such things again. Like me, my father was a devote believer in Lord Trygan, and we have been reunited. If dust was a thing here, then it would just catch it for eternity And I don't want that. Please, take it." 

Slowly, Eisen looked at the man in front of him and nodded his head, "Alright, I will take it with me. Thank you, I will take good care of it."

"I'm sure you will." The man said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put this new brush to use for a little while.

Eisen quietly laughed and nodded his head as he slowly turned around, "It was nice to meet you." And with that, Eisen made his way through this part of the town as he looked at the item in his hand. All this time, Ambriel had been staying silent, but now, it seemed like was slightly curious about something himself.

"Why did you do that?" Ambriel asked, and Eisen slowly turned around toward him, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you try and do him a favor without even knowing about the task yet, and why did you choose to make something so... incredible, if all that you had to make was a simple brush that he could paint with? You would have been able to do this within maybe ten minutes if you hurried up. But you spent much longer to make something so... uselessly artistic." The Angel pointed out, seemingly genuinely perplexed at why Eisen would ever do something like this, and the old man looked back with his brows raised.

Slowly, Eisen looked back forward while Ambriel kept walking slightly behind him, "He helped me out, so I did the same, to answer your first question. And to answer your second question... Then, well, it's just because I never do anything half-assedly." 

It seemed like to an extent, Ambrel was satisfied with this answer. At least he didn't say anything else about it and just kept following Eisen a bit while he went around trying to find other people that he could help.

And every single time, Eisen could just make small items for the different souls that he encountered here in the divine realm, or he was supposed to tell stories of what it was like for someone that still lived during this time.

Every time, he got a few coins or a small trinket, and then, he managed to complete a total of 9 different tasks for the souls of this divine realm, meaning that only one task was left. And while Eisen was trying to find another person to help out a bit, he also took a look at the few stores that were randomly scattered around this divine realm. 

He tried to ask a few questions, and the only ones that he answered were those where Eisen asked things relating to the connection between the heavens and the 'mortal realm'. For one, Eisen couldn't take the money from one divine realm out of it, that meant he couldn't take it back out of heaven or even to another divine realm to trade with it. It basically just instantly disappeared if he were to do that.

But at the very least, it seemed like Eisen would be allowed to take other things out of this realm, different materials or items that he would buy or receive here that weren't money, which was directly made of Trygan's magic.

So that meant that Eisen would at the very least be able to take back the three small trinkets that he received from people he helped. But this also meant that Eisen should spend all the money that he managed to earn through all of this today. Eisen wanted something that was unique to this realm, something that he couldn't get anywhere else. If he wanted to gather certain special materials, he would wait until he got to the realm of the God of Craftsmanship. There, the heavenly materials he could procure should be of much higher quality and quantity for the same price, while of course offering a much higher variety.

So Eisen didn't want to waste his money and this chance he got, and tried to buy something that he could really only find here, in the realm of the Crystal Dragon King.

But no matter what he found that could be worth buying, it just wasn't right. He couldn't find anyone else to help out right now either. So, the old man figured he should try something else, and transformed into his Draconic Demon King form so that he could take flight.

He looked around and tried to find another place here in town where he could land and look around, but instead, something else caught Eisen's eye. Quite literally, actually, as a flash of light momentarily blinded him.

The old man held his hand in front of his eye and tried to find the source. It seemed like one of the giant crystal towers was reflecting the light that was radiating off a dragon that just flew past behind it.

With a bit of curiosity, Eisen figured that it should be fine to try and follow it for now. Maybe it meant something that he was blinded by this dragon exactly while trying to figure out where to go next.

He flew behind it, just following it for a little while. It was incredibly fast, actually, and was constantly giving off a dim light. Although, a dim light shouldn't have been enough to blind him. Maybe it was trying to catch his attention before, then.

The dragon flew somewhat erratically in different directions, as if trying to race the old man. For twenty whole minutes this continued, until it landed at the flat top of a mountain's peak, just waiting for Eisen to get there as well.

And the old man landed right next to it with a light smile on his face.