Some say time flies when you’re having fun. It’s a cliché but in many ways, it was true. It could also be inferred from that, that time drags on when you’re not having fun…. Will wished that was the case but there was a clause to the second cliché, it only drags on when you don’t have an arbitrary deadline you needed to try to meet. Whether imposed by others or yourself.

“God damn it,” Will muttered and shoved his finger into his mouth to slow the bleeding a little, but more to keep from getting blood on the pair of pants he was working on. Diamond tipped sewing needles were incredibly sharp and Will had given up on trying to protect his finger with a mundane thimble. He would have to enchant one with some form of hardness to keep the diamond from penetrating through the relatively soft tin. But there was no real reason to do it quite yet.

Will was almost finished with the first outfit after two days of almost nothing but embroidery. It wore him down because it wasn’t quite as fun or interesting as engraving. Plus his sewing skills had been limited to sewing a button back on a dress uniform. So it wasn’t exactly something he was familiar with either, at least engraving felt like writing with a pen.

Because of his lack of skill and Skills, Will had learned a few tips from Herald about embroidery. Besides a small fee, Will had to actually sign a non-competition contract with Herald. It was a simple agreement that Will completely meant to honor, it just limited Will to only offering enchanting work, considering Herald’s plan to open a Tailor shop for some side money when they weren’t in the dungeon next door.

Not that any of Will’s work would ever compare to Herald’s. The halfling was a professional and really liked working with clothes. Something that Will didn’t have the patience or desire to learn. Or even the ability, he might get some Skills related to embroidery but most of the [Tailor]’s Skills were beyond him without a class change.

“Fucking finally,” Will let out a happy sigh and grinned at the pair of pants in his hand.

Upon completing the last few stitches, the light blue magical thread melded into the pants, showing the enchantment had been completed by becoming virtually invisible without a Skill. Which was good considering he didn’t think Kate, or anyone else for that matter, would like having a core rune decorating each cheek, with a variety of other runes spread throughout.

Profession Class leveled! Arcane Artificer Level 4

Will waited a moment but rolled his eyes, “No skills this time.”

It wasn't that much of a disappointment, he'd probably get one next time.

He’d had to go for the butt of the pants thanks to needing enough room for the more complex runes that were based on attributes of the enchantment. There was plenty of space there thanks to the lack of pockets. Kate's rear was shapely but not that big. From there the pathways went down the inner and outer seams to extend the effect to more than just the certain area. And thanks to having two different runic structures with their own enchantments Will had to put a few special joining runes that allowed the embroidered pathways to cross each other without messing with the other enchantment. It was his first time having to do that as everything to that point was a single hybrid core rune.

But the two runes seemed like a much better setup. Will could have combined them into a hybrid but chose not to. Largely due to the complexity of a hybrid necessary to complete two very different effects instead of a single one. But also because the two rune structure would have a more powerful, longer lasting enchantment than a single enchantment. It was more work and used more materials but he felt it was higher quality. At least until he was good enough to build a complex structure and pathways that could mimic the two core runes with a single one. But he was far from that, though he was improving.

Besides the two cores, the enchantments also had two different mana gathering runes a piece. Each was embroidered into the garment on the cuff of each leg and where the front pockets should have been. So four total. He also added a pair of storage runes on the thighs that would help hold the necessary amount of many in there.

There was a lot of doubt though because it was his first time embroidering an enchantment and it worked differently than engraving. for one there wasn't any way to put depth to the pathways. Instead the length and style of the stitchwork was what provided 'depth. A single long stitch would burn out if he tried it, while an overlapping pattern of short stitches would help carry the mana through a proper pathway. It meant a lot more needle work but it was necessary as far as he could tell.

Will was just glad it wasn't visible anymore.

Although, the entire thing wasn’t invisible. Will spun the outfit around in his hands to double check his visible work. He’d used a different type of thread that didn’t meld into the fabric to provide some design work. Mainly around the top of the pants and the mana gathering runes on the lower parts of the leg. Just something to show that it was enchanted and those particular runes had a bit of a starburst pattern to them that made them like artistic designs.

“Not bad... Still have that fucking dress,” Will huffed to himself as he looked back towards the doorway to his bedroom where the dress was still hanging. He was going to wait to see about that because of the slip built into the dress. He wasn’t sure if Kate wanted that part done or not. He hoped not because he wasn't sure how to tie in the enchantment considering the slip was removable.

But either case, he intentionally left that alone as he was sitting at the counter in the front of the shop on his brand new stool because he was open for business. Kind of.

The owner of the General Store didn’t like him that much and wasn’t interested in selling his copies of the map and the barkeep at the Saloon already had his hands full with the growing number of adventurers in Silverstead, plus other newcomers. Such as the merchant caravan parked on Main Street selling stuff from wagons and stagecoaches. And of course a few new settlers, including an apprentice silversmith that had jumped at the chance to start his own shop next to a silver dungeon. Will wasn’t sure where he was set up but apparently, he wasn’t ready to start smelting down silver monster parts quite yet.

“Excuse me?” Will looked up from the pants at a trio of humans coming in his front door. They looked around a bit and seemed to be suspicious or just confused. Will had a store that didn’t visibly have anything for sale yet, so their looks were understandable. He also knew why they were there.

“Maps?” Will asked while hanging up the pants with the matching completed shirt.

“Yup, this the right spot?”

“Yeah, it’s the right spot. Five dollars,” Will informed them and pulled a folded up map out and set it on the counter, taking a quick count of his stocks.

I’m going to have to go to Gertrude soon. Only two left after this, not including the original.

“See, told ya we weren’t lost. That little Miss June said it were right cross the road,” a man carrying a slingshot of all things smiled. Will wasn’t completely sure who June was but he figured it must be one of the saloon girls if they were just coming from across the street. Whether a Silverstead native or Vicksby, he wasn't sure. He could ask Jakob if he really wanted to know.

“Five dollars is a bit steep though. Maybe once a bit more’s found but how much of the dungeon you seen mister?” a woman asked, she looked like she fought somewhat like Will had when escaping the snake pit. At least if he could judge just by her weapons, Will tried using [Identify] but still got nothing. She had a revolver on her but also a sword on her side. A cutlass? Maybe a type of saber?

Will didn’t know. He didn’t really care. It at least seemed like a better choice than having a slingshot.

“It’s based off the maps from the old mine. It shows all the tunnels and caverns, how they were. Some areas are a bit different but the layout seems to be the same. Shows the entire mine as far as I know. But there could be a few places they didn’t add for one reason or another” Will informed them, leaving out the fact he was standing on the hatch that led to one of the few places the mining company had left out.

“Can we see it?” The first one asked.

Will didn’t see why not. They might be able to get a small bit of detail from a glance but it wouldn’t benefit them for very long, nor would they have the map on them if they got lost down in the tunnels.

He opened it up and the two at the counter both started nodding while the third member seemed to not be as interested. Instead, he just looked around the empty storefront. Will watched him for a moment but the man was probably just bored or use to leaving his teammates to deal with purchases.

“Details good?”

“Yes, the details good. Half the Groups in town have a copy of this,” Will told them, starting to get a little annoyed but they weren’t the first Group from the Union to hesitate when it came to buying from him. Will folded up the map though, in case they were just trying to get a free look.

“How many ya got left?” the woman asked.

“Three, including this one,”

“We’ll take all of ‘em,” she said with a nod and gestured to all three adventurers.

Now, they could just want one for each of them but Will wasn’t sure about that. Herald had sworn that none of the adventurers would just make copies themselves, just out of courtesy for the one selling them. None of them wanted to get blacklisted if the seller came up with more information on the dungeon.

Which was apparently a normal occurrence considering adventurers would often sell back their maps with details and notes written down before moving on. A way to cover their travel expenses as they moved on to their next adventure. That meant that the seller, Will, would be able to sell more detailed maps of different zones or traps in the future.

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t buy out his stock and resell it. But-

“Deal.”

-what did Will care. He was still getting paid and he could just have more copies made up which could basically curtail any reselling if they upcharged too much. For anyone else that came by, Will would just let him know that he was replenishing his stock. The group in front of him had just paid enough to buy him twenty more if he wanted.

Will handed over the maps and accepted the money. It was a common practice it seemed to lay everything out on the counter so that both parties could see what was being bought and for how much. Thanks to the practice it only took a glance to ensure the right amount of bills were there.

Will scooped up his payment and they took the maps, completing the transaction. Will gave them a nod and found his eyes going to the slingshot on the one man's hip.

“Explosive marbles,” the one with the slingshot said with a grin. Will wasn’t sure what that meant until he looked at a pouch that was glowing slightly on the man's belt. He pulled a small translucent marble that looked like it was actually a tiny vial filled with a swirling greenish, yellow light, “Saw ya lookin’, everyone asks ‘bout the sling. They do the job.”

He gave Will a chuckle and the three of them headed out the door. Will was a bit dumbfounded for a second at what he considered to be a toy throwing out explosive rounds but could only shrug with a laugh.

“If it works, it works,” Will said to himself while wondering if the man would be willing to sell him one so he could study them. There was a chance it wasn’t an enchantment but still… Maybe he could…

“Nah,” Will laughed and shook his head. He wasn’t going to waste his time supplying explosive marbles to a single person. If he wanted to make explosive weapons, he’d stick with proper grenades. Still a little strange to be using a slingshot instead of say, a crossbow or something to launch the marbles.

But it was just one thing and Will was getting more use to seeing a wider variety of fighters these past few days. The larger group of adventurers that had been waiting on the riverboat had made the journey and added new diversity to the people of Silverstead. Most still stuck with firearms but even then there was a great number of styles besides the traditional revolvers, lever actions like his carbine, and bolt actions like his rifle. Even if most just stuck with the normal ones.

Double barrel revolvers, up to a triple barrel, break action shotgun with the barrels in a triangular pattern, a wide variety of long guns most bolt and lever action but with different types of scopes, sights, and echantments. Will had even seen a hand cannon!

And not like his 50 cal but an actual hand cannon. It was a miniature cannon on a metal pole that an adventurer could tuck under their arm when they fired. The owner was just walking through town carrying it up on his shoulder.

Will wasn’t sure how well that would work but if all else failed it looked like it would make a pretty decent club. It had looked heavy.

But that was the growing reality of Silverstead. One that Will was only a small part of with all of his wares now sold.

As Will set a sign in his window reading ‘Maps- Sold out! More coming!’ in his window and locked the door behind him, he looked out onto Main Street to see the changes again.

“Mister Tempest,” A man Will barely recognized tipped his hat to him as he walked across the decking in front of Will’s store. Will gave him a polite nod, the man wasn’t going to Will’s. The decking acted like a sort of sidewalk much to Will’s frustration. It meant the newly cleaned deck was already filthy again.

“What now?” Will asked after scowling at the mess he'd cleaned up. His eyes went from the mud on his clean boards to look down Main at a convoy of wagons with a handful [Merchants] and [Traders] hawking their wares. Besides them were a few people who planned on staying longer. They were easy to spot because each and everyone was busy cleaning out a couple of empty buildings.

Will realized as he watched them that he did have something he needed to get to. He’d wanted a break from sewing anyways. So he walked next door and knocked.

“Ah, Will. What can we do for you?” Herald answered the door after a few moments and invited Will inside.

“Just seeing if Silvia’s up for going through an old building quick,” Will informed him while he looked around the room that was meant to be a waiting room for the lawyer/undertaker but he noticed that one of the walls was in the process of being demolished. The boards looked freshly cut.

“I need more space for my wares than this,” Herald explained while gesturing Will to the back, “Although most of the work will be done in the back I can't have an empty storefront... Silvia’s in the back. You said an old building?”

“Ah, yeah. There was an enchanter here once. I was going to dig through the building and see if there’s anything worthwhile in there,” Will said.

Technically anyone who claimed that building would be able to claim all the property abandoned inside but Will had a brief discussion with Teddy. As long as no one had claimed it, it wasn’t exactly stealing. Looked down upon, sure but not stealing. Teddy did understand why Will wanted to go through it though, it wasn’t like anyone else in town needed enchanting blueprints, books, or tools.

“I’ll be ready in a second!” Silvia yelled out as she zoomed past Will towards the front of the building. She’d heard his plan and quickly came back with her knives, “So what’s the split?”

“Ah…” Will bobbed his head while he thought, he wanted Silvia there because of her Skills. It was possible there was stuff hidden through magical means that he could find but from his own perspective, wouldn’t that be the first thing people looked for in an enchanters shop if they could see magic? A suspicious metal plate with runes on it would stand out even if they couldn't. But a loose stone or floorboard? That was a possibility and who better than a [Rogue] to take a look.

“Well, we can’t take much. I talked to the Sheriff about that, valuables are fine as long as it's not too much but any furniture or parts of the building have to stay or be bought from the town or the owners if someone claims it. So we’ll say even split on anything we find- Anything except enchanting stuff. That’s mine,” Will held his finger up in front of her when she started to nod before he was finished. It wasn’t like Silvia could use any of that and by her Group's standard policy that meant he could claim it since he could use it. But Will wasn’t actually an official member of the Group, so felt the need to stress the point.

He probably should look into what benefits there were to joining the Adventurer's Union.

“You get the ‘enchanting stuff’ but we’re doing an even split if we find enough. If we don’t, I keep everything but the enchanting equipment,” Silvia countered.

“Enchanting stuff includes anything unenchanted that’s obviously meant to be enchanted,” Will pointed out and jumped. Silvia had poked him in the side of the stomach again after quickly stepping around him.

“Well come on,” Silvia said, accepting the terms and giving Herald a wave as they walked out the door, “So where’s this place at?”

–

“What in tarnation?!” Samuel Landry exclaimed as he rode into town with his big sister. He gave her a glance and even though she knew a bit more about what had been coming thanks to her time in Fairpoint, even she looked a little surprised.

Samuel had never seen Silverstead that busy before. Nor had he seen it that clean! He wasn't even born yet when the town had been a thriving mining settlement. Even Kate had been a baby when the town had started dying.

It looked like a major improvement, or at least on the bridge side they were coming from was the start of one. Samuel glanced around at the clean [Artificer]’s shop, their destination. The saloon halfway cleaned with a fresh coat of light blue paint going up on one side across the road. The boardwalks looked cleaned and swept, any filth in the street was removed. Even a lot of the abandoned junk lying around had been picked up and tossed into a pile.

Although it wasn’t all exciting... Samuel spotted an unfamiliar man walking around with a star on his chest. That didn’t sit right with him at all. He stared at the man that was walking down the street with Deputy Jakob and groaned inwardly.

“Come on, let’s get this over with,” Kate said and turned Marigold towards the shop on the end, putting an end to Samuel's staring contest with the new deputy before the man had even noticed them. Samuel snorted a bit while shaking his head at the sight before ignoring the annoyed leer Kate shot him when she looked back. She knew the reason.

The two of them rode down the road and she passed the Marigold’s reins to him while she hopped off and knocked on the door to Will’s shop. She sat tapping her foot with her arms crossed but it became obvious he wasn’t there. So she knocked on the next door and after a brief conversation with a short, well dressed man, she came back.

Samuel stared for a moment at the miniature person. He'd seen the girl but it was still a strange sight. There had been talk about it around the dinner table after the incident and it sounded like all the littlefolk lived up north or out west beyond the mountains.

It did make him forget about the new deputy that was wearing a badge that could have been his.

“He’s just up the road,” Kate mumbled before climbing up and straightening out to proper posture on Marigold’s back.

It didn’t take them but a moment to get there and they tied Marigold and Harper up by the reins, giving them both a feed bag with dried meat chunks to keep them occupied although they couldn't leave them like that for long.

“So?” Samuel asked while Kate looked up at the various buildings. Both of them ignored the various looks they received as best they could.

Still, Samuel noticed a large, rough looking man with a shotgun slung over his back come walking up. The man’s eyes were clearly on his sister and not anything above the neck neither. Samuel locked onto him and stepped between them but before the big guy arrived someone grabbed the adventurer by the hand and quickly whispered something.

Samuel shook his head as the man walked away. He knew why but it was still a bit disheartening to see an adventurer that was that afraid of a name, “Pathetic… just pathetic.”

Instead, Samuel looked at the laborer that had noticed the man’s gaze and warned him for a moment. He grinned as the older laborer spotted the look and quickly turned away. Samuel always got a kick out of that. Still, someone who fought monsters shouldn't have acted the same way as a farmhand.

“There it is,” Kate said after looking up and down the street for a business that wasn’t there anymore. She led the way and quickly found the front door was sitting open. Spider webs around various old shelves and cabinets cleared away while there were two sets of tracks in the dust and dirt on the floor. Samuel didn’t need to be a [Hunter] and a [Wrangler] to see that. Both his primary class and his profession class had tracking Skills. Although for completely different purposes. One was to hunt and kill animals, the other was to find and drive or rope animals. Break them if necessary, although he wasn't allowed to do much of that until he was a little older.

His other class was of course a shooting one, just like almost everyone in his family.

“Will?” Kate called out as she looked into the building. It was one of the few two story buildings in town with the downstairs likely being a storefront, office, and workshop with larger living quarters upstairs… Although no one was going to be living up there anytime soon.

“Will?!”

–

“Will?!” the voice came from down the stairs and Will jerked.

“Gods damn it! Will you please hold still down there?” Silvia admonished him from above Will's head. He'd shifted when he heard his name.

“Up here, Kate!” Will called out loud enough for anyone in the building to hear, “Careful on the steps… and the floor!”

It was a fair warning. By the time he made it upstairs with Silvia he pretty much knew that the enchanter that had once lived there had been among the first to leave Silverstead all those years ago because the building was in far worse shape than many of the other ones. At least on Main Street where there was a 'higher' quality of structure.

In fact, the only reason why Will hadn’t fallen through the floorboards yet was a bit of luck and Silvia pointing to the line of nails where the boards were nailed directly to the floor joists. As long as he kept his weight on that part, he should be fine.

“Almost…” Silvia said and Will glanced up to her as she messed with a wall safe that was set on top of an interior wall. It was hidden in the ceiling technically, so they had to move a few boards in the ceiling to get at it. Of course, due to the height, Silvia needed to stand on Will to even get up close enough to attempt to break into it. Will watched her work for a second but he quickly looked down when he realized he was basically staring up her shirt that had come untucked at some point.

“Will?” Kate’s voice reached him and he turned his head to look at Kate and her little brother walking up the steps. Kate looked a little confused at the sight while behind her, her brother had a bit of a shit eating grin that only grew wider when Silvia decided to boost herself up higher by stepping on the top of Will’s head. He was apparently amused by the situation.

Although it really wasn't exactly the most serious sight Will guessed. With Silvia’s feet on either shoulder, it meant she was straddling his head. Though he was more concerned with grabbing Silvia’s ankles and putting her forcefully down on his shoulders.

“You have heels you know!” Will snapped. On his shoulders, it wasn’t too bad but a heel drilling into the top of his head wasn’t pleasant. No matter how light the halfling was.

Will was also glad that Silvia wasn’t using his head as a convenient seat anymore now that they had company. No... just in general. It was an awkward position for her to sit in, like him sitting in a stool that was a little too short. It was even more awkward for him. But that hadn't stopped the halfling from taking a seat when she was studying the safe.

“I know. Hello, Kate! Also, hello... whoever you are. How’s the ankle?” Silvia asked.

“Fine… Quite fine, thank you,” Will saw a sharp but brief glare go up to Silvia.

“Samuel,” her brother introduced himself, he was still grinning while looking at the spectacle.

“She kicked you too?” Will asked and then snatched Silvia’s ankle again before she could climb back up on his head.

“Yeah. Numbing and everything,” Kate said. Will noticed that she was a bit quieter than he’d expected. But that could have been because she was waiting patiently. He gave her a nod and lifted his own foot to shake out his ankle. Showing she wasn’t the only one that had suffered-

“Damn it! Silvia,” Will let out and grabbed her again. She’d tried standing on her tip toes on the pressure point in the soft spot of his shoulder. Right behind the collar bone. It was worse than standing on his head!

“Oh, would you calm down? I’ve got it! I just needed a boost to see what's inside. There could be other traps in there. So would you prefer your head or your shoulder?” Silvia asked and Will just grabbed her by the calves and lifted her up, “That works too.”

It was a bit strenuous but Will's Strength stat had been rising. It wasn't considered that high but he could hold up a halfling for a little while.

“So…” Will asked and glanced up at Silvia, getting an eyeful again and quickly looking away, “I said I was sorry and-”

“I know… I’m-” Kate started.

“No, just wait,” Will cut her off, he wasn’t done, “I think I know what my issue is and I had a talk with Silvia about it-”

“Yep, and I don’t care,” Silvia said before dropping an old book down to the floor.

“She doesn’t care,” Will reiterated Silvia’s statement, “See…”

Will took a moment to explain a bit how Silvia had reminded him of home without actually mentioning where he was from. He also left out the part about her touching his butt and continuing to torment him in various ways, like untucking her shirt. Will was pretty sure Silvia had done it on purpose, her underclothes were just enough to cover her chest but only barely. Not exactly the corset she had been wearing in the dungeon.

Kate just stood there and let him explain. Thanks to their positioning and the fact that he couldn’t really move, he couldn’t see her reaction all that well. Silvia’s foot was in the way and even though the halfling [Rogue] was annoying at times, he didn't want to risk dropping her.

“Now can I say my piece, Mister Tempest?” Kate asked while Samuel started moving into the room. Will was going to warn him to stay on the joists but the young man seemed to already get that.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t get to explain much before,” Will said and cringed but quickly stopped as Silvia pulled herself up into the ceiling with the safe.

Will’s brows crossed as he looked up at her as she got in position and smiled down with a shrug to finish emptying the contents of the safe. She could have done that the entire time! Why didn't she?

But Will knew the answer. She was hazing him again, just a little bit. Will wasn’t the only one that noticed as he heard a snort from Samuel.

“Ah…” Kate started as she looked up at Silvia and quickly cut off any chance Will could have to get after the mischievous halfling woman, “Before you get into that... What I was tryin’ to say was that I am sorry, William. I spoke with Miss Silvia when we done found her and she explained that Void did scare her a bit but she was having a…”

“An issue. I told you I was having a private issue. Then I kicked you,” Silvia called down while dropping a few things out of the safe. Will caught a few of them but quickly let go and stepped out of the way when he realized that Silvia wasn’t just dropping things from inside the safe. It looked like some sort of critter had made a nest up there she was clearing out. Nesting materials and other things were starting to rain down through the hole... Will took half a moment to wonder what was in his own attic. He hadn't checked yet. The thought hadn't crossed his mind at all.

“An issue…” Kate repeated, “I shouldn’ta yelled like that and should have let you say your piece… Now I ain’t gonna say that I approve of usin’ Void to scare folk but… I guess if I had let you talk I mighta realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought... Ya still should tell folk if you're comin' up behind them like that though. But I am sorry, William.”

With Will having a chance to look at her now, he locked eyes with her and decided she sounded genuine. Not only did he not receive the telltale sign of a Skill being used on him he could tell that he was talking to Kate and not Miss Kate. There was no telling why but that would be for a later discussion he figured if at all. If they were both willing to bury the hatchet then it didn't matter.

And after getting some information over the past few days he could at least understand it wasn’t completely a kneejerk reaction. It’d be like if someone had been going off about how dangerous enchantments could be or rigged a wand to backfire. Either way would hurt his business.

"Pa chewed her out for jumpin' to conclusions on somethin' like that... Well, that were after they found the little Miss and had a chat with her," Samuel informed Will and then hopped from one line of nails to another to avoid what looked like a bird's nest being lobbed at him, "He also said ya do that again, he'll knock some sense inta ya if he has to. Auction's comin' up and trust me, better he gives ya a whoopin' than granny gettin' ya. Even if she don't shoot, she's got a mean way with a wooden spoon."

Samuel grinned a little but it was directed towards Kate. But he dropped it when his older sister met his gaze.

But that explained her apology. Will wasn't sure if it was as honest now if she was being forced to make one but then again he was willing to apologize to Silvia regardless of someone telling him to. The best he could do was accept and see where things went from there.

“We’re good,” Will told her and quickly dodged something being thrown down with a laugh, “Silvia, will you please stop? You can go back to making yourself a little nest later!”

“You should pay attention next time and catch that... Also, that was derogatory. Halflings don't live in nests. We live in burrows. They're not holes in the ground, they're actually quite nice burrows AND we actually have furniture. Unlike a certain [Artificer] I know!,” Silvia said and Will watched her for a moment to make sure she didn't throw anything else before turning to see what she’d just thrown.

“A ring?” Samuel asked and picked it up from the ground. He held it up before shrugging, “Well, since you and sissy here are all done with you’re little feud… Whatcha doin’ in here?”

“This!” Silvia yelled out from above and with a crash, a crate fell from the hole in the ceiling. Will had moved so he was out of the way but he ended up moving even further when the crate cracked the floorboards underneath it and sunk halfway to the floor below.

“What the hell?!” Will asked right before the safe fell down too. It wasn't very big so it bounced off the side of the crate while only leaving a dent instead of smashing the wood further.

It was now a mess and Will wasn't sure if throwing heavy things on a rotting floor was a good idea. No infact anyone with two braincells to rub together would know it's a bad idea!

But still, Will could see what Silvia had found and it was something good! When the crate hit the floor and the floorboards snapped, the floor had met the crate and done the same. Dozens of metal rods rolled out of the crate stuck halfway into the floor.

“Wands? Why would anyone leave behind a crate of wands?” Kate asked the obvious but no one was willing to stick their neck out far enough to look because that meant they were within drop area for anything else that Silvia decided to throw down.

But it did look like wands. Will stuck a foot out and pulled one towards himself while keeping an eye on the area above for more falling debris.

He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It was an uncored wand. Will used [Zoom] on it and looked it up and down for a second. Spotting tiny cracks and divots in the metal, "They're damaged... Probably can still enchant them but I doubt they'd be that effective or last that long."

Will had learned that it wasn't just the rocks that crumbled from extensive use but all materials started to degrade after having mana pushed through them. Or his board experiment that was a bust, the enchantments had warn the boards to the point it was like each of them were completely rotted.

The simple truth was the lower quality of material, the more imperfections in said material, imperfections in the pathways, a greater number of pathways, and a greater amount of mana being pushed through were all variables of how long an artifact could survive the enchantment. Some passive enchantments wouldn't do anything unless they were stressed, like a durability enchantment taking a hit or Will's strength enchantment test that had failed before he could really get results due to the constant stress put on the enchantments.

But things like Will's Hydrocutter wand had active enchantments and that particular wand did have a few microfractures in it due to the sheer amount of magical force Herald had put through it. It still had plenty of life left on it but if Will wanted to put a more powerful enchantment together it meant the wand would wear out faster or he would have to get a better material to work with.

He knew all that now after a bit of studying but Will wasn't about to turn down even making a large batch of mediocre quality wands, maybe light wands or something. It would also let him experiment with shape and other devices, like powering a wand with a reloadable mana crystal, without having to spend money on it.

“Anything else up there?” Will called up but he got his answer when a moment later the nimble halfling swung herself down while holding onto the framework above and dropped the rest of the distance to the ground. Her shirt billowed up in the process but the only thing Will saw was that she had a tattoo on her back. It was just a glimpse but it looked like something with wings. Maybe an hour glass?

It was right above her waist but Will shrugged it off. If it was more publicly visible he'd ask but he almost expected Silvia to make a joke and moon him if he brought it up. Either that or kick him again.

“All done!” Silvia grinned and walked over to the broken floorboards, “You get the wands. While I keep the safe, blank ring, and the ten dollars I found up there. You're getting a lot more, so you owe me a wand that does something. Maybe a shower wand. Deal?”

Will didn’t answer and instead, he gave her a shrug. She took that to mean his acceptance and quickly started gathering things. He could do a shower wand easily enough and it would give him the chance to gain experience towards his next level. Maybe a few of them would be smart, people in town sort of smelled ripe at times but also it was a good tool for adventurer teams.

“What about the book?” Samuel asked and pointed to the book on the floor before tiptoeing from where he was standing. It was a bit of a risk considering the state of the floor near the book. It was actually lucky that Silvia had sort of tossed it aside or else it would have been crushed.

“What’s in it?” Will asked while looking at Silvia but she shrugged.

“Numbers mostly. It looked like a ledger,” she answered and Will reached out his hand but Samuel was flipping through it.

“Shorty there’s right, nothin’ but prices the fella that lived her used ta charge. Cost of some of the things he bought… and a few doodles,” Samuel said and tossed it to Will, who eagerly opened it.

It was old, tattered, and probably outdated but he grinned as he looked at it. He had at least an idea of how to price his wares. Between that and a crate full of uncored wands, it was definitely worth it.