DTK 45

I finished the Houndsmaster set without the emergence of another memory. I felt conflicted. In a way, I was happy that I had managed to finish it. But I also craved more; I wanted to see inside of the strange world of those Seamstresses. I wondered just how far into the distant past those memories really were. I felt them like hundreds of threads pulling away from me.

Were there others out there like me?

There must have been. More than just one or two, too; there must have been entire towns beyond the reach of my own country.

I finished the Houndsmaster set before sunset, stretching it over one of the open mannequins in the room.

I had covered the outer edges in the red scale-leather of the boss lizard. Tight packed crimson scales shined where they reflected light. Once they were cleaned their surface was dazzlingly bright and smooth. The arms extended into huge, leather padded sleeves made to absorb bites. Hopefully the lizard scale would help it resist cutting as well.

The pants were straight cut, finished with cuts of red-scale leather. A huge hood and cloak draped over the back, contrasting starkly with the bright red; it was covered in shadow wolf fur.

I blinked as I looked at it a second time. The cloak wasn’t entirely black; it featured streaks of red scale that ran from the hood, terminating at a shining red bottom for the cloak, stitched together. Memories pushed themselves to the forefront of my mind: I had done that, and I had done it mostly while under the influence of the second set of memories.

The quality of the set bumped up.

[Houndsmasters Uniform(Uncommon, Fire) completed!]

[Quality Assessment: (Good)]

[Generating Skills…]

►[Befriend III] ►[Wildspeaker I]

[+2 XP]

I brushed a hand over it, stowing it away in my [Wardrobe] before stepping beyond it. Despite the set my mom working on being many times as complex, and despite that I had started on mine days ago, mom looked done as well.

She was wearing her stitching gloves. My eyes traced the silver filigree on them. Mom sighed contentedly.

“Is it done?” I asked, stepping cautiously behind her. Calling it an outfit would be a misnomer.

It was a knight’s armor. Shining white, with a triangular head, embellishments of spider web patterns spread across it.

“Yes.” Mom said, still admiring her own work. Her hands were folded over her lap. A neck guard rose out from the chitin to block the neck, embellished with the pattern of a central spiderweb that snaked out from the center of the breastplate. Every single section of my skin would be covered in it. The web was made of the colorful pieces pulled out of the legs; it was a glittering purple that contrasted with the white.

I grabbed one of the gauntlets in my hand. It was made of segments of chitin. There wasn’t even any sewing visible. This was stretching the definition of what a seamstress could work on.

“Would you like to try it on?” My mom asked.

I stored the gloves in my inventory first, then the rest. Since I didn’t make it, I wouldn’t know what skills it would give me until I wore it. So I fit it on piece by piece.

It was simultaneously hot and stuffy and freezing cold. Near the joints, padding pushed down on and insulated me, while sections of it pressed cold chitin to me that radiated heat away.

This was outfit number seven. Seven outfits in my storage. Three more and I’d have the stats of two separate outfits, plus all of the skills. I was growing bit by bit. But not as fast as a noble, who would have the advantage of finely made, high level clothes on top of all of this.

Even the garbage scraps from Valjean’s outfits were valuable enough to keep.

I felt myself make a fist, the chitin covering my right hand clicking as it came together. Then I pulled open my stat menu.

[Gwendolyn Tailor][Human, Lv16][Seamstress]

[Health: 66/66][Mana: 10/10][XP: 0/10]

[ATTRIBUTES]

►SPD: 25 ►WIL: 5

►STR: 29 ►DEX: 8

►CON: 33 ►PER: 11

[SKILLS]

►Crafting I ►Running Stitch I

►Hand Spinning I ►Thread Mastery IV

►Wardrobe X ►Quick Change I

►Embellishment III ►Pattern Mirroring I

►Always Prepared II

[PATTERNS]

►[Hunter Pattern] ►[Shell Dress Pattern]

►[Houndsmaster Pattern]

[TEMPORARY SKILLS]

►[Bow Profiency I] ►[Shadow Cloak II]

►[Tracking Proficiency I] ►[Thread Sensing III]

►[Thread Mastery V] ►[Parry VII]

►[Projection III] ►[Trapping III]

►[Befriend III] ►[Wildspeaker I]

It might not compare to a noble.

But I was already stepping beyond the human threshhold.

“Thread mastery seven.” I practically whispered.

Mom folded her hands together, smiling.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” She asked. “You have a dungeon to clear.”

***

Cinnamon was a very, very stealthy boy. He laid on his belly between two houses, tracking Olivier back to the circle of wagons that had been set up in the middle of the town.

The third noble worked to do a hackdash repair of the wagons, hammering to drive nails in, securing wooden planks to the gashes in the side of the middle wagon. Cinnamon’s ears popped up as Olivier spoke.

“Probably hurting more than helping, yeah?” He asked, slinging the bow off from over his shoulder as he sat on a wooden bench pulled up in front of the fire. Sparks kicked off the flame, the wood crackling.

Cinnamon knew this was his moment.

He charged forward at full speed.

Olivier flinched and cursed as Cinnamon’s mouth opened, slobber whipping out as Cinnamon’s mouth locked around Olivier’s bow like a throwing stick. Then Cinnamon jumped, clearing the wagons and landing hard on the other side.

He whined as the fall hurt his legs, but it only took him  a second to recover and keep going. He ran between the houses, ducking and weaving to reach the bubble that kept the town locked in. Then he plunged into the Wild.

Cinnamon jumped as an arrow landed near him.

He spun around, looking back to see Olivier holding a much less ornate bow and panting.

“Bring. That. Back.” He said between panted breaths.

Cinnamons tail waggled. He adjusted the bow in his mouth, shifting it over and covering it in slobber.

Did Olivier think they were playing fetch? Cinnamon was playing his favorite game instead. Keep away.

He turned and ran into the forest.

***
Henri had multiple flasks of soup. I was already starving after spending most of the day toiling away.

But the results were worth it.

I strapped the flasks of soup to my belt. I’d have to pull it off and put it over the spider armor when I put it on later.

“Have you seen Valjean?” I asked Henri.

He shook his head.

“Haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“Thanks, Henri.” I said, touching the flask at my waist.

He nodded.

“Thanks dad.” Sandy said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

We crossed town to the other side, watching with extreme paranoia. Neither Valjean nor Olivier were anywhere to be seen. The third noble was at the center of town, guarding that dungeon’s entrance. But that didn’t matter to us. We would slip by later with stealth.

First, we moved towards the ocean dungeon, stepping out in the wild.

Sandy changed beyond the towns edge between the foliage and trees, and only minutes after that we stepped from a forest onto a beach. We were starting with this dungeon first.

“Are you ready?” I asked Sandy. She nodded in her armor, not talking aloud.

I was worried about her mental after we cleared this dungeon this second time. The timer was at 60 hours. We couldn’t afford to mess up.

We were going to do this in one clear.

The wind blew drifts of sand over as we stepped up to the crab along the beach first. I stabbed into the monster, parting its chitin easily and killing it. Then we killed the fish. We didn’t even use a skill. I stabbed the needle down, my enhanced stats allowing me to part its scales and end it.

We weren’t taking any corpses home with us tonight. We left them in the sand.

The octopus like monster in the tidepool died as easily as ever. Then the portal in the middle of the ocean flashed to life.

I looked at Sandy. Her expression couldn’t be read, covered up as she was by the Stormcaller helmet.

The waves lapped over the edges of the portal to the next floor where it stood in the ocean of the beach. I wondered what would be across this sea if I sailed it.

Probably just another wall.

As I took a step forward, the entrance to this floor of the dungeon started to warp.

A noble stepped through.

“Gerald?” Sandy asked.

“Sandy…” He said.

He was dressed in head to toe in his set of armor; not a single piece of him was showing. He sunk ankle deep into the sand. In his hands he held a gigantic pair of scissors.

“Do you guys have time to go mining soon?” Gerald asked.

I was about to say something. Sandy choked out a laugh, leaned over and rested her face in her hands.

“Maybe next week, Gerald.” Sandy said.

Gerald held the scissors out.

“What do they do?” I asked before taking them. He pulled them back into his chest.

“It’s not very impressive. Some stats. Plus they — “

Gerald grunted, and the scissors shrunk, flying out of his hands like an opened balloon before falling onto the beach. His armor creaked as he grunted to pick them up.

“It does take mana, though.” He said. “When I heard Valjean was back in town, I rushed to finish the other blade and… this is what happened. The other half of the scissor is just enchanted with sharpness.”

He held out the now tiny pair of scissors. I took them gently, afraid of the general stability of Gerald’s productions. But they didn’t expand. I willed at them just like with the thrown needles and they exploded outward in size with a tiny sting to my finger.

[Mana: 8/10]

“Gerald, you didn’t mention the enchantment took mana…”

“Is that the ocean?” Gerald asked, looking out over the beach.

“Yes… how did you find us?” I asked, frowning and finally processing as my thoughts recovered.

“Oh, I just followed the pull of my equipment. I can sorta sense it.” He said. He wasn’t paying attention. He had taken his helmet off. And now he was stepping towards the sandy beach. He was mesmerized.

I put a hand on his shoulder, yanking hard to make him stand still. He flinched.

“We’re in a dungeon.” I said.

“Ye — yeah.” Gerald replied. His helmet reappeared. “Let’s go mining again soon, okay?”

“Sure. Do you want to kill a giant crab with us?” I asked.

“No. Not even a little.” Gerald rushed out of the exit.

I dragged the giant scissors with me through the sand, carving a line in the sand as I stood before the gate to the next floor. Sandy said nothing. I looked over to her.

“I could take this next floor on.” I offered. “You could stay up here.”

“No.” Sandy said, seemingly upset at the suggestion of me clearing the next floor without her. “Let’s go.”

She unsheathed her wind knife and we stepped from the open fresh air of the beach to the hot, humid air of the caves. Sandy put a hand on my shoulder and stepped in front of me, eyes scanning the water as we plunged deeper into the dungeon.

The monster was obvious now.

An irregularity in the burning hot coral at the bottom of the watery pit highlighting the monsterous crabs shape. Sandy held up a hand to me, telling me to wait, before circling around to the other side of the watery pit.

She flicked her knife. A wave of wind cut through the brine, splashing it up and out of the pit. The monster breached the surface of its little pit, splashing saltwater through the entire cavern.

It circled around, gigantic claws snapping menacingly. I knew that my needles weren’t very effective against the crab. So I didn’t try. Instead, I activated [Pattern Mirroring,] snapping out with the scissors at one of the monsters joints.

[Pattern Mirroring I] [Mana: 7/10]

As the scissors blades closed on one of its legs, the pattern for a section of the Shell Dress appeared, overlaying my vision. A second one of the crab’s legs lit up on my left.

Both of them were sheared in half.

“Yes!” I said as the crab staggered to the left, clicking its claws angrily. On the other side of the crab, I could hear as Sandy swung twice, the mana blades of her knife erupting with cracking noises that sheared through more of the crabs legs. It collapsed back into the water, claws flailing about.

Sandy put a hand up to cover her face from the splashing water as she stepped closer to the monster. Then she thrust her knife down once, stabbing into the water, and the thrashing stopped.

[+3 XP]