Newman the Jeweler

John examined the slips of metal he had produced after he broke down the final gear.

“Let’s see,” he muttered. “Five units of steel, five of copper, six of iron and two of zilhavrum. Not too bad. I can’t imagine a bracelet taking more than two or three units to make, so I’ve got a good amount of spares."

He glanced at his nearly depleted mana bar.

"Cut it pretty close," he said. "If I hadn't taken that little break, I wouldn't have had enough mana to break down the last one."

John pulled his phone out of his Inventory to check the time, grimacing as he noticed the lack of network access.

"Can't stay in a Barrier for much longer," he noted. "Don't want Mom to try and call and not be able to connect. Should ask Vivian if I can borrow her computer and see if I can buy one of those Barrier SIM cards."

Placing his mostly useless phone on the table beside the slips of metal, John closed his eyes. He activated Bask and let the warm mana around him flow into his body, restoring his personal pool. A minute and a half later, he felt the flow stop and he opened his eyes.

"Back up to about thirteen," he said with a frown. "Senka cost thirty mana to make, so I can't imagine a bracelet will cost that much to make, but breaking one down to get a recipe before might mean we'll need to wait for me to recharge for a bit or just use the delayed crafting option.”

“Sounds like waiting will be in the cards either way,” Aeolia’s voice came from over John’s shoulder as she flew into the kitchen, landing on the table. “This all you got from the gears?”

“Yeah,” John answered, picking up one of the zilhavrum chips. “Eighteen from seven gears sounds like a good deal, all things considered. Plus I might get some metal back from the bracelets, so we’ll have a good supply to use.”

“Worried about failing to make this thing?” Aeolia lightly teased.

John shrugged. “Not really. I figure something like a bracelet will only cost two or three units. If I can make something like Senka at skill level one, a bracelet should be easy at level two.”

The mention of the possessed weapon caused Aeolia to frown.

“How are you feeling about the whole knife-spirit thing?” she asked quietly, her tone serious.

John adopted a pensive expression as he summoned the weapon, eyeing the small blade carefully. “I’ll be honest, the idea sounds a bit awesome. Those animal spirits Cammie summoned looked strong, and from what she and Mason said, Senka could be even stronger than them. And that’s not even accounting for what my powers could do to it. Does unlocking new abilities for the knife mean the spirit will get something, either now or after it manifests? I’m almost tempted to see if there’s a way to speed the process up.”

“‘Almost tempted’?” Aeolia asked.

John’s expression darkened slightly. “It’s about what Cammie said, the whole feeding it bad vibes thing. I feel like speeding things up will make the spirit turn out bad. Maybe that’s the wrong word to use but I think just letting things happen naturally is the best way to go. Just let Senka level off me and maybe spend some of the points on perks but don’t try to powerlevel.”

“I doubt you could make a bad spirit on purpose, let alone accidentally,” Aeolia asserted. “Unless you’re really good at hiding being some evil mastermind, you’re too good of a person to make some monster spirit.”

A smile tugged at John’s lips and he felt confident it was time to broach the relationship question. He returned Senka to his Inventory and opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m back,” Vivian shouted and John felt his words die on his tongue.

“Kitchen, Vi,” Aeolia shouted back, then noticed John’s open mouth. “Were you going to say something?”

John awkwardly scratched the nape of his neck. “Oh, was just going to say thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Just saying the truth,” Aeolia said as she flew off the table, reverting to her full height, and embraced John from behind again, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.

Vivian walked into the room, her steps halting for a moment as she took in the position her guests were in.

“Comfortable?” she managed to ask after clearing her throat.

“Yep,” Aeolia answered. “Got the goods?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds like I stole them,” Vivian retorted, lifting the plastic bag of jewellery up before placing it on the table.

“Going by the prices of things on our side, it was likely a steal,” Aeolia countered, prompting Vivian to nod.

“Fair point,” Vivian admitted, eyes drifting to assorted bits of metal. “Were those the gears?”

“Yep,” John said, picking up one of the steel units. “Five units of steel and copper, six of iron and two of zilhavrum. I figure it took ten units to craft my knife, going by the size of the ingot I used, so I think a bracelet won’t cost more than two or three.”

Vivian hummed as she withdrew one of the bracelets, eyes shifting between it and the slips of metal. “I think that makes sense. You think you have enough mana to break this one down?”

“I should,” John answered. “I levelled up Craftsmanship and the gears took fourteen mana to break down. I can’t see the bracelet costing more.”

“Won’t know until we try,” Aeolia chimed in, pulling away from John and moving into the seat next to him. John felt a little colder, a sensation that had little to do with the loss of Aeolia’s body heat on his back.

John took the bracelet from Vivian, tossing an Observe on it and finding it a simple sterling silver accessory, then cast Craftsmanship on it, bringing up the ‘Breakdown’ option.

Breakdown: Destroy this item to collect raw materials or discover how such an item was made. Selected item may yield: silver, copper. Cost: 10 mana.

“At least it’s cheaper,” John said. “And I guess sterling silver has copper in it. Who knew? Let’s hope I roll high and get the recipe.”

He confirmed the effect and the bracelet vanished into nothingness, replaced with a single slip of silver.

Disk Bracelet recipe discovered.

John let out a sigh, “Praise Gaia, got it in one.”

Aeolia snorted, “Trying to stay on her good side?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” John answered with a shrug, tapping the recipe popup.

Disk Bracelet Recipe
A recipe to create a bracelet with external decorative disks.
Minimum material cost: 2 units of metal.

John frowned. “I’ve only got four mana left and the recipe doesn’t show the mana cost. Looks like, unless the crafting cost is four, we’ll have to use my slow craft method.”

“I still have to finalise the array,” Vivian stated. “And having the finished product would make that easier.”

“Production time it is,” John said. “Which metal should I use?”

Vivian hummed, biting her lip in thought. “Steel would be best for longevity, but it isn’t the best material to hold a charge. It’ll work fine, but…”

She trailed off, pulling a notepad and pencil from her choker’s pocket space. She quickly began to jot down an array, pencil rapidly forming lines and mystical symbols.

“Okay,” she said once she had finished her work, “from what I understand of your crafting ability, you put raw materials in and get out a finished product, right?”

“Yes,” John answered, briefly wondering where she was going when it clicked. “You think if an array is included, it’ll get inscribed?”

“It’s a good idea, no?” Vivian asked, her tone showing slight uncertainty.

“It’s brilliant!” John announced, causing the redhead to perk up, a flush crossing her cheeks.

“Definitely is,” Aeolia added.

Vivian bit her lip and cleared her throat, sliding over her sketch. “Well, this is the rough idea of the invisibility array. I figure if the costs aren’t too high, you can try this first, see if you can get it inscribed and test the effect.”

“Even if it costs more, it’ll probably be good experience,” John said. “Only way to find out is to give it a go.”

John placed a pair of steel slips atop the array sketch and cast Craftsmanship upon them, selecting the ‘Craft’ option. All three vanished and a display popped up.

Select the item you wish to create:
Disk Bracelet( 2 units of steel, 1 array of invisibility)

“So far, so good,” John commented as he confirmed the item.

Select Crafting Method:

Instant Craft: Create selected item instantly for 25 mana.

Slow Craft: Create selected item over time. Spend 1 mana every 5 minutes for 125 minutes.

“Looks like we’ll have to play the waiting game,” John informed the girls before tapping the ‘Slow Craft’ option, starting the process. “Got to wait two hours to see if it worked.”

“So we wait,” Aeolia said. “Any other bits of upkeep?”

John mulled over the question and slapped his forehead. “I completely forgot about spending my level up.”

John opened his sheet and considered his options.

“I wanted to invest in Endurance,” he muttered, eyes shifting from his second-lowest stat to his highest, “but I’m only two points away from getting Intelligence to thirty and getting another reading point.”

“What does Endurance do for you?” Vivian asked. “Besides obviously making you last longer.”

Aeolia snorted and John had to fight to not crack a smirk.

“Endurance increases my hit points,” John answered, sparing her from learning of her double entendre. “Five points for every one invested. I think that I should boost it by two, to get my health up to sixty-five, then two into Intelligence to get to thirty. That leaves one point I don’t quite know where to put. Torn between Wisdom and Strength. I keep running low on mana and even a minor boost would cut the regen time. On the other hand, Strength would make me better with my weapons, and since I don’t have enough mana to just fire off Evocations, being able to fight with melee is a must.”

Vivian rounded the table and peered at John’s character sheet over his left shoulder.

“I think you should put that last point into Wisdom,” she advised. “Your evocations are your strongest way to deal damage, and your other skills would be more available to use if you had more reliable mana recovery.”

John glanced to Aeolia, to see if she had any input. The winged woman shook her head.

“As much as making you better as a fighter sounds appealing, Vivian’s right,” she said. “Things like your goggles or the fire crystal are really too useful.”

His companions’ input received, John took their advice and put one point into Wisdom and two each into Endurance and Intelligence.

Dismissing his Character Sheet, John leaned back in his seat.

“Well, that took all of two minutes,” he said. “Any ideas on how to pass the next two hours?”

“How about,” Aeolia chimed in, “we move somewhere comfortable and just chat?”

“Chat?” John and Vivian echoed.

“You know,” Aeolia continued, “sit down and talk. Not about the bad guys, not about training, just whatever comes to mind. It was how we relaxed after jobs. Get some drinks, food and just shoot the shit.”

Vivian looked a touch uncomfortable at the notion. “I don’t think I’ll make for a good conversationalist. I’m not that interesting.”

Aeolia scoffed, “Oh come on. Don’t put yourself down. You don’t want to talk about anything? Hell, even if it’s something boring, lay it on us.”

“Unless you want to hear about detailed trade ledgers or the latest breakthrough in seven-layered spell matrices, I think this idea is doomed to fail,” Vivian deadpanned, eyes determined to not meet Aeolia’s or John’s.

That took some of the wind out of Aeolia’s wings but her face grew more resolute. “Do you have any hobbies? That aren’t reading the business section or the latest bits of research? If you’re worried about it being weird, I can share first if that makes it easier.”

Vivian’s discomfort grew and John worked up his courage to say, “Aeolia, I don’t think…”

“Origami,” the wing woman stated, cutting off John. “I like making origami. Cranes, lotuses, all that stuff. Picked it up from Selma.”

That name pulled John back to the Dawnseeker’s meeting room and the elven bust shattered upon the floor. The same melancholy colored Aeolia’s voice, though compared to yesterday, it had lessened in intensity.

Aeolia’s openness had its intended effect on Vivian, her expression softening as she chewed her lip in deliberation. Her eyes flickered between her guests before they gained a resolute look.

“Dancing,” she said, her voice firm. “I like ballroom dancing. Haven’t had a chance to practice in a while though. ”

Aeolia blinked, processing the information for a moment, then a smile blossomed on her lips.

“Well, seeing as how we have time to kill, how about we get in a little practice?” Aeolia asked, not waiting for their host to reply before she got up, sauntered over to the stunned redhead and grabbed her by the wrist. Her other hand quickly sealed around John’s arm and her greater strength easily let her pull him to his feet.