May 1627 - Day 37

These are Martti's items and this is his new sword.

There is no 'Manual on how to live your life'. Martti likewise, cannot plan in advance, what exactly he needs to do to realize his goals. In the age of 20, the life does not only present choices, it also closes the ones that were not tapped into, when it was the opportune time.

The above are possibly not the typical thoughts of a 20-year old who has just got his first sword worth 2 years' wages, but the thoughts serve well the purpose of the blog. Martti is still young enough to start fencing and riding, but the latter requires a horse. And a horse requires 0.5 mil worth of feed per year. And it may die. Or promote to a higher level. And it costs money to buy in the first place. (Luckily, it does not cause trouble: care in the public stables is included in the 0.5 mil, and also no gear is required, unlike carriage that needs 2*H3 in addition.)

Romance, marriage and children are planned into the game, in connection or after Skills, which in turn comes after Building, which is coming in less than "2 weeks". Since they are not yet there in an official way, Martti may practice them in the free time. This is a general gameplay principle. Just because we do not have "carts" implemented, does not mean they were not available. Things are moving, so obviously there are carts.

The new building module does not have interior walls (or - horror of horrors for the ones who treasured the previous voxel-builder - even exterior walls :o ). Yet, they are there. Also in few cases the narrative has mentioned physical relaxation - in one case in the 1440s, the King threatened to make a certain lot 'a public latrine' if nobody would appreciate it enough to buy it for 50 mil. (Now, the owner is about to change for the first time since then - 600 mil has been offered for the lot). Just that people don't talk about needing to leak, does not mean they don't do it. It means they are adults.

But the introduction was for Martti's next 5-year plan. It already feels there needs to be something more to life:

- Decent house in a good address is a natural goal, the fundamentality does not reduce its importance.
- Two high nobles have a Quest concerning slaying a dragon. Martti is ineligible for a quest yet (L6 required), and too young to probably be of much help in the team. (This will be easier to assess when the Skills module comes.) Martti is not so much into roleplay, so developing rare skills feels distant, not only as a thought but also in time (skills can only be rare if developing them is a long and large effort that does not pay back quickly - this produces rare skills).

- Becoming a manager of some company or other effort is desirable in the longer run, and these pay well. The King and NewCorp just yesterday appointed 2 farm managers who are calculated to earn ~10 mil per year in commissions. Starting a company of Martti's own is a possibility mainly in the advanced age. Companies require lots of capital.

But since each of those require money and social standing - going back to the grinding is what is needed now. So back to checking all bids, all asks, and (just a little) loitering to taverns to find out if new opportunities present themselves...