DTK 37.2

“It’s a [Windblade!]” Gerald said unhelpfully. “You just… swing it.”

He made a wooshing noise and gestured with his hands at the remains of the table.

“And it takes a mana point?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah. You have plenty, right?” Gerald turned towards Sandy. The wind picked up and blew hair out of his face. He had to push it out of the way; the water from the steam earlier made it cling to him.

“I have NINE now!” Sandy said.

“What did you use it all on?” Gerald asked, nonplussed.

I rubbed my face.

“When do you think you’ll finish the other half of the scissors?” I asked.

“Dunno. I’ve been at it all night…” Gerald paused, looked out into the empty village, and squinted. “All morning.”

“You should sleep.” I said.

“I’ve got to put out the forge.” Gerald replied, stepping up to the forge. He grabbed a shovel at the side and started pouring sand in.

“Should we start with the north dungeon?” Sandy asked, nodding the direction with her head.”

“Nah. Your dad is making dinner for us, right? We should wait until our mana soup is ready.” I replied.

“Then what are we doing until then?”

I pursed my lips.

“Let me finish off that outfit. I should be able to do it before dinner time. Then we can head to the north dungeon.”

Sandy shrugged.

“I’m gonna take Cinnamon for a walk then.”

“You don’t wanna come hang out?” I asked, turning around to walk toward the workshop.

“Naw. I’m gonna try this out.” Sandy said, gesturing with the knife in its boiled leather sheathe. It was the size of a regular chef knife; tiny. 

I wondered if it would even activate with her skills. It wasn’t a butchering knife, after all.

“If it doesn’t work you could always give it to your dad. I’m sure it will help his cooking.”

“Or destroy the kitchen.” Sandy scoffed. “It’s enough of a mess already.”

We split up down the road, Sandy circling back to head to her workshop as I headed to my own.

The half finished pieces of my third Hunter set sat on the table.

I hadn’t figured out how the system decides to names sets in progress; the first two had been randomly assigned the name Tacca, and this one took a new, weirdly latin looking name.

[Ophrys I]

►[77% complete]

►[Quality +1]

[Projected Skills]

►[Light Cloak III] ►[Random Hunter Proficiency III]

I’d probably never figure it out. I wasn’t even sure if latin existed in this world or if it was the equivalent of some older, archaic language that the system decided not to translate.

I burned a little bit of my remaining mana, bringing myself down to five as I worked through the afternoon to complete the outfit. But it was worth it.

[Hunter’s Cloak(Common, Light) completed!]

[Quality Assessment: (Fine)]

[Generating Skills…]

►[Projection III] ►[Trapsetting III]

[+2 XP]

Neat. All in all, I had gained twelve experience from the bear. And I could probably craft an entire second outfit from it. Or I could let my mom do it… but that would slow down my leveling.

I pulled away the remaining pieces of the outfit by sweeping my arm over them, burying them in my [Wardrobe.] I could feel the smallest twinge as my stats increased.

[Gwendolyn Tailor][Human, Lv14][Seamstress]

[Health: 28/28][Mana: 5/10][XP: 2/10]

[ATTRIBUTES]

►SPD: 10 ►WIL: 5

►STR: 11 ►DEX: 14

►CON: 14 ►PER: 10

[SKILLS]

►Crafting I ►Running Stitch I

►Hand Spinning I ►Thread Mastery IV

►Wardrobe X ►Quick Change I

►Embellishment III ►Pattern Mirroring I

►Always Prepared I

[PATTERNS]

►[Hunter Pattern] ►[Shell Dress Pattern]

[TEMPORARY SKILLS]

►[Bow Profiency I] ►[Shadow Cloak II]

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

►[Thread Mastery II] ►[Parry V]

►[Projection III] ►[Trapping III]

The sum of all the skills I had crafted was plainly listed. It was a mouthful. I would hate to have to read this aloud all the time; it was a good thing i could see the system entirely in my head.

I debated starting another outfit. I had four slots filled right now, but I was going to have to give Sandy the Stormcaller set back later. But my overall stats would be higher with the minute bonuses while wearing a set; not to mention the additional skills. The latest hunter set even boasted fifty percent higher stats from the raised quality.

Eventually I decided against it, heading out to meet Sandy at her workshop.

Cinnamon was chewing on… something, in their yard. Lizard meat, most likely, the cuts of it that weren’t any good for humans. But Cinnamon was crunching through bone and all.

Sandy stared out distractedly, petting the dog.

It was still early afternoon by now, the sun shining.

“Hey.” I said, walking up with my hands in my pocket.

Cinnamons tail sped up even though he kept eating.

“Gwen.” Sandy nodded. “You ready?”

“Yeah. How’s the knife?”

“Better fit for a lumberjack. Cut down a tree trying it out.” She pushed herself to her feet, brushing dog fur off herself.

Cinnamon barked.

Sandy directed him back to the pen — he jumped over the fence as she walked around to open the gate — and then we headed off north.

It still wasn’t early enough for Henri to have made dinner, so we were going to clear a dungeon before circling back.

“How much mana do you have left?” I asked Sandy. We stopped in the woods north of town to gear up. I dropped her Stormcaller outfit for her while switching into Spiderscale myself.

I felt more comfortable with a larger buffer of Health in a way that was hard to describe, though it wasn’t enough to counteract the uncomfortable leering presence of the Wild.

The forest paths outside of town were becoming more familiar to me. Now I could observe the long stretches where the trees were younger, stretches where paths and houses had once stretched beyond the tiny remains of our town.

Not for the first time, I wondered how large our town actually was. At some time long ago it must have been much, much bigger than most people now would believe. Now that I had seen how far the town had stretched in each direction, the shadows of were houses were marked by packed earth and young growth forest.

It was like seeing the fossilized remains of the town. As we walked along a tiny, hard packed rode with the shadows of buildings on either side of us, I imagined what the town must have been like. Was this a shopping center? Maybe once there were wares on display here in fine glass windows, magical goods and potions for sale. In my entire time in this fantasy life I hadn’t once seen a city; they told us that travel was dangerous.

It didn’t seem that dangerous now. But we still hadn’t ventured outside of the range that the town had once stretched to.

We came upon the north entrance, a wobbling hole in reality.

“You ready?” Sandy asked. I nodded, and she stepped inside, with me following only a second behind.

At once the itch of the Wild shifted, the comforting atmosphere of the monster filled dungeon displacing it.

I took a long, deep breath of thin air, taking in the horizon. We were high, high up. Mountains rose around us, thin patches of trees clinging desperately to the stone faces of cliffs. Rocks tumbled down as I took a step, falling down the steep incline beside me. Caves opened in the side of mountains like mouths.

There was no glow or indication of where to go from here. Sandy seemed pensive as she looked around.

“Well?” I asked, turning about to take everything in. “Where to?”