A week passed in the blink of an eye. Though I had managed to catch Temrin and crew once more at the bar, I hadn’t gotten anything from it, and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to. With each new day, I considered reporting to the king that I had no idea how to help, and with each new day, I became more and more nervous that he’d kick me out of the palace.

I could probably do a tag team kind of thing? God’s Eye could find the thieves and the king’s people could take it from there?

As a last resort, I’d consider it, but going with such a route felt like admitting defeat. If I settled for half-measures, I wasn’t sure the king would help out with the builders, nor did I really want Temrin to get dragged off and interrogated.

I sighed. When did life become so complicated?

Thankfully, not everything was complicated. Me and Nadja, for instance, were pretty simple. It was the day we’d agreed to meet, and I only had a little left to do before I was ready.

Scattered about the room was a mish-mash of chitin and wood, with nearly two dozen bracelets strewn about. Some were frankly hideous, while the most recent were actually quite passable. Making them all had raised my Woodworking skill up to 5 and granted me the Jewelry Making skill on top of that. As byproducts of the crafting process, wood shavings and blue dust had managed to get just about everywhere.

Really hope the cleaning staff has some sort of magic vacuum. And is there a tipping culture within the palace? I think I kind of went overboard here. In retrospect, even if it would have been a bit odd, maybe I should have kept all of my crafting to the shower for easy clean up.

Ah well. At least it turned out pretty well?

Resting in my hand was the nearly complete final product. The only remaining steps were the lacquering and the setting of the chitin. According to God’s Eye, I’d even done an acceptable job so far.

Mana-Infused Styled Wooden Bracelet (Unfinished)

This wooden bracelet has been carved from wood infused with life mana. It contains room for a gem which has not yet been placed.

Quality: Good

It was my first attempt working with the mana-infused wood, but luckily the practice I’d put in on the standard variety had paid off. Just about perfectly rounded, it was something I wouldn’t have been remotely ashamed to sell at a flea market back home.

On top of that, in contrast to the geometric patterns that adorned the bracelet Nadja had bought for me, I’d opted for a more graphic route. Spanning the entirety of the bracelet were small carvings of cocktail glasses rotated at a 45 degree angle, giving the appearance of them clinking together in pairs. On an earlier iteration, I’d attempted to carve a design that incorporated a flute, but it’d been beyond me. Hopefully Nadja would enjoy it just with the cocktails.

Ready to put the finishing touches on, I removed my jar of lacquer along with a thin brush Holga had given me. Wary of dripping it onto the floor, I heeded my own advice and retreated to the shower.

I applied the substance liberally, making sure to get an even coat over the entirety of the wood. In the end, in lieu of any gaudy colors, I’d chosen to make a dark, chestnut-brown lacquer, leaning into the wood motif.

Once I was done, I had a slight urge to speed everything up by using the shower’s drying gem, but I stopped myself. There was no telling if that would mess everything up, and I doubted I’d have time to start from scratch before meeting up with Nadja.

Thankfully, the drying process was fairly quick, leaving me with only one step left. I stored the lacquer in my inventory, swapping it out with the bottle of glue. After rinsing and drying the brush out, I dipped it in the sticky solution before coating the portion of the bracelet that would house the chitin.

I retrieved the chitin in question, doing the same to its underside. I would have liked to say it was some fancy, multi-faceted gemstone shape, or that I’d managed to carve it into the form of a cocktail glass, but the truth was that I’d had a rough time with the material. It was a square, and that was going to be okay.

A simple square though it may have been, I had painstakingly measured it out so that it would fit perfectly. I was relieved to see my efforts pay off as I pressed it into place and it fit snugly within the wood.

The natural sheen of the bright blue chitin matched well with the dark brown, popping in an eye-catching manner. As the glue went about drying, I turned the completed work about in my hands, satisfied with what I’d created.

Moments later, a series of prompts popped up, offering up a deluge of information.

Congratulations! You have crafted an item: Mana-Infused Styled Wooden Spider Prince Bracelet. The quality of your work is: Good. Due to the life mana contained in the bracelet, this item grants the user +1 to Constitution.

Note: This item was made using components looted or created by the crafter. Components include: Wood, chitin, lacquer, glue.

For creating an item using your own materials, a vertical bonus will be applied: Quality upgraded to Great.

This had originally been something I hadn’t understood, but there was apparently a reason Holga had been so adamant about me making my own lacquer and glue. For whatever reason, crafted items in this world received boosts to their quality if the crafter was involved in making or acquiring the materials that went into them. As everything I’d used had been looted or made by me, I got a nice vertical bonus for the bracelet.

It wasn’t just a meaningless label, either: I could see the bracelet morph in my hand, a few of the errant nicks I’d made smoothing themselves out. I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the world modifying my creation like that, but I had to admit the result did look a tad nicer.

The notifications, however, did not end there.

Note: This item has a unique design! Due to the Prestige of the crafter, the unique design, and the full vertical bonus, this item has been upgraded into a named item.

Calculating…

Congratulations! You have crafted an item: Bangle of the Cocktail Princess

Though most of its materials originate from a forest far to the south, this bangle was crafted for a particular bartender in the city of Ftheran. Made from the chitin of a spider prince and wood infused with the life-mana of a dryad, it imparts a small piece of the forest’s vitality unto its wearer.

Quality: Great (upgraded from Good)

+1 Constitution

+1 to Drinking skill

+1 to Bartending skill

For crafting an item of Great quality at the Novice tier, you have been awarded 3xp.

For crafting an item of Rare rarity at the Novice tier, you have been awarded 5xp.

For crafting a named item at the Novice tier, you have been awarded 50xp and 2 Prestige. Further copies of this item will not grant this reward.

Jewelry Making has reached level 3!

Jewelry Making has reached level 4!

While the vertical bonus had been expected, the subsequent upgrade had assuredly not been. My brows shot up as I read over the details, taking in the item description and the increase to the alcohol-related skills.

Part of me was ecstatic that a week’s worth of crafting had paid off. The other part, however, was feeling a bit miffed.

Is this too much now? It was one thing to give a friend a bracelet in return for a bracelet. It was another to meet up and say “Hey, I made you this fancy named item!”

Ah well. Too late to worry about it now. Hopefully Nadja would enjoy it, and in the end, that was all that mattered.

Plus, I’d accomplished what I’d originally set out to do: Find some hobbies and figure out how to pass my free time. For all that I’d never gotten into anything remotely similar back on Earth, I found that I really enjoyed making things with my hands. Maybe when there weren’t as many gods trapped in a dungeon, I’d find some time to slow down and work on more of the professional skills.

Done with my crafting, all that remained was to wait for the time I’d agreed to meet Nadja at. Exiting the shower and taking in the state of my room, I amended that: Maybe I can do a bit of cleaning too.

It was early in the evening when I arrived at the plaza to wait for Nadja. While she didn’t keep me waiting for long, when she did arrive, I found myself at a loss for words.

What… What happened to Nadja?

There was no doubt that it was her, but she seemed to almost glow in a way that she hadn’t only days before. Had she gotten, for lack of a better term, hotter? I tried and failed to figure out exactly what had changed, but it was something indescribable.

Belatedly, I realized I was staring.

“Cat got your tongue?” she cooed.

Honestly, it had. “Did… did something happen? You already looked great last time I saw you, but why do I feel like I’m standing next to a model right now? Like, you’re blinding me here, and I’m not sure what’s going on.” If it weren’t for God’s Eye’s ability to see through illusions, I would have almost wondered if there was some magic at play.

You have learned a new skill: Flirt

Prerequisites: 15 Charisma

Sheesh, you tell one compliment and suddenly you’re flirting. Hopefully Nadja wouldn’t take it that way — I hardly wanted to make a friend uncomfortable.

Thankfully, instead of being put off, she seemed to bask in the praise. “Flatterer. If you must know, though, I leveled up! Finally hit that 25 Charisma mark.”

That certainly explained the overnight difference, although it was pretty shocking to see what a single level could do to a person. How much Charisma had she even gained?

I waved the thought away — this was clearly a time to celebrate!

“Congrats! That actually makes this kind of better, honestly! You bought me that bracelet, so I ended up getting you a gift too. I guess now it’s a level-up gift.” I pulled out the bracelet, which I’d since inexpertly wrapped in some leather and some twine.

She seemed taken aback, and for a second, I was worried I’d done something wrong. After accepting the present from my hands, though, despite a trace of shock still lingering on her face, she smiled. She unwrapped it immediately.

“Wait, awww. It has little cocktail glasses on it. I love it.” She brought the bracelet up to her eyes, turning it in a full circle before slipping it onto her wrist. “Thank yo-” Her eyes unfocused before widening to the size of saucers. “What the h- Where did you get this?”

I grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that. I took up woodworking and thought I’d make you something, but it turned out a bit fancier than I thought it would. I’m not even that good at it yet, but I used some of the wood from those root golems I was telling you about, and you know… magic.” I’d been right, hadn’t I? It was a little too much.

She looked at me as if I’d grown a second head before seeming to come to her senses. “You made me this? Why are you sorry? This is incredible. I told a few friends that I leveled and got my class, and they just bought me a few rounds. This though? I love it.”

She pulled at the bracelet, fiddling with it until it sat more snugly on her forearm. “I’m sure you probably got your class a long time ago, so I don’t know if you remember what it felt like for you, but… It’s kind of a big deal, you know? Glad I have something to commemorate the memory with.”

Wait, she’d leveled up and gotten her class? I could have sworn she’d been level 8 when I’d met her. Offhandedly, I replied while pulling up her info. “Hmm? Oh, no. Still waiting on mine. Really want one, but I haven’t hit level 10 yet.”

God’s Eye worked its magic, showing me her updated information.

Nadja: Level 9 Bartender, 180/180hp

I froze.

It was true. She had gotten her class.

She hadn’t, however, hit level 10.

As far as I knew, there was only one explanation.

If she noticed my inner turmoil, she didn’t show it. Instead, she just looked confused. “You really don’t have a class? I figured with all the Luck and Charisma you had points in while still being able to fight… Weird.”

A host of emotions played across her face in a short span. She rubbed her thumb against the bangle with pursed lips, until she finally nodded, seeming to come to some sort of decision.

Then, before I could process anything further, she leaned close into me. “I might… know a way to help you, if you want. Pay you back for this?” She paused with her mouth open, the words caught in her throat until she forced them out.

“Would you like to get a class?”