I groan as the alarm rings. Ugh. I feel absolutely terrible. Why did I even set the alarm…? Riiight. Psychologist appointment. The one I got because I did something kinda, well, crazy. I’m not even shapeshifted, in anticipation of this. Man, can I even use magic in this state? Ah, good.

Yesterday I set up a basic website for my business, but I will need to improve it, and also add some actual content. I also spun a lot of silk while I was doing that, and using that made a small magic pouch I can tie around an arm or leg, as well as the start of a couple magic bags. They will be combined experimentation, practice and goods to sell. But for now, food. Food and then today’s must-do thing. It’s like nine, which is waaaay too early, but I suppose that’s the only way they could’ve gotten an appointment on such a short notice.

Psychologist done. I am certified ‘not crazy’. At least, ‘mostly not crazy’. It’s not like my Asperger’s diagnosis has gone away, but now I have ‘minor sociopathic symptoms’ on top of that. Just lovely, but nothing new. Most of the time we just talked about the, uh, revelation I got yesterday, about loneliness and a place to belong.

After that, we discussed the topic of non-human intelligences. I argued that I should be open to courting Leda, given her intelligence. The psychologist agreed with my decision that I should definitely follow the law, but denied Leda being sapient, and therefore thought it would be immoral to court her. We both agree that laws must be made and/or changed, though.

Honestly, it’s not like I’m planning anything. But you know, non-human intelligences… ‘To bravely go’ and all that Captain Kirk stuff. Have to keep an open mind. If things happen to work out this or that way, it’s better know ahead of time where your values and limits are. Well, for now I’ll treat her like a younger sister. A very big, scaly, younger sister. And we’ll take care of the egg and presumed hatchling.

Leda herself said she has lived for two winters, making her around two years old in whatever place she was before. I tried to find out where this ‘other place’ was, but unsurprisingly, she didn’t know much about it beyond it being ‘old territory’. She’s plenty smart for a two year old, and with me teaching her she might grow to have something more resembling human intelligence. That said, being sexually mature at age two does not bode well for her growing drastically, nor for her lifespan. Well, with magic, who knows.

Back home I start on today’s two main projects: A new and better magic bag, and new armor for my upper body. There’s still some chitin left, which I have made sure is properly cleaned and such, but it seems to be so-so for being used in armor. For one, too clunky.

I have a few criteria for the body armor. It must cover my entire upper body, but not necessarily past my wrists, be light, flexible and breathy, and also strong enough to provide defence against simple attacks. Turns out, my own silk fits all of these. My body no longer aches, and I have swapped [Artificer] to the secondary class slot.

I am so butthurt right now. As in, my spider butt hurts from all the silk making. I found out that I can spin it as [Manasilk], so naturally I do that. It drains mana, but I have a ton of magic crystals I can drain from. I’ve gotten used to spinning web, to the point where I don’t need to concentrate on it (that much), so my hands are free to do actual crafting.

I have made two more magic pouches, usually large enough to fit little more than my hand, but with the spatial expansion they can hold maybe three times that much. I also made a simple magic bag, about the size of a medium-sized woman’s handbag. It easily has three times the internal volume though. Turns out, the larger the original volume, the easier it is to get higher ratios.

After a few more tries I got a similar size bag to at least four times volume. I decided three times increase should be standard for medium bags, and a two times increase for small ones. Of course, I can make bigger ones, but that will be on-demand, and thus more expensive. For myself I made a backpack that I can fit in, in my regular form. Being inside one of those felt really weird, and I had to lie down afterwards from queasiness.

At that kinda size, a simple [Mana Absorption] enchantment will struggle to supply enough mana. So I added a second mana crystal. One is the ‘main core’, handling the functional enchantments, and it is fed by the secondary ‘absorption core’. That turned out to work well. Not in that the enchantment can absorb more mana, though it does that as well, but in that the main core became more effective in using the mana. The two crystals also store more mana than one does, and I can inject more mana if need be.

Having made two pouches and the backpack for myself, as well as three bags and a pouch for selling, I had improved a lot, and more importantly learned a lot of new things. In order to let that stew in my head for a bit, I start working on the armor.

I have a lot of silk, but for my own sake I don’t think I should spin any more today. At least not very much. So doing this might be very stupid and end up ruining my largest piece of manasilk. Mmm. I’ll do it. I could make the armor another day, but there’s not time for learning like now.

I crouch in the shower, in case I spill, mixing a fine powder I made from grinding down the broken mana crystals into one of the bottles of wyvern blood. When it is suitably mixed, I extract it magically. While it has lost some of its mana, it is still so potent that my own mana is burnt away by simply containing the ball of blood, causing the surface to bubble.

I move the potent mix over to the manasilk, completely drenching it in the red substance. With a bit of maneuvering, I ensure the silk has absorbed as much as it can, and deposit the rest of the blood in the bottle. At this point, I can sense the [Aspect of Blood], but controlling it is just out of range. I stay like this for a while, focus one hundred percent on the bloodied silk, slowly drying. The strong stench of blood mixes with the faint residue of the cleaned out chitin.

My sense of smell must be greatly improved if I can smell that over the blood; I didn’t really smell much when I first cleaned the things, and I have cleaned the shower area afterwards. I might’ve missed a spot and let some bug goo fester, though. One more thing to do.

But not now. Slowly, excess blood drips away, and the silk dries. I regularly rinse the shower, and draw blood from the silk, and after about fifteen minutes, it’s dry enough that I think I can hang it to dry in the sun. The sun is high up, so I can hang it within the low walls of the balcony with no danger of it falling down or anything.

With that done I turn my attention back to magic bags. While preparing the silk, it struck me that the spear, awesome as it is, is a bit too big for the bag I have, and the shape is impractical for any usually shaped bag. The soldiers didn’t mention it probably on account of me having killed basically a dragon, but carrying around bladed weapons is kinda illegal.

I checked the official website listing laws. Specifically, carrying knives or other ‘similar sharp tools which are suited for harming a person’ is illegal. There is an exception for tools carried for ‘work, outdoors hobbies or other legitimate purposes’. I’d say self defence and monster hunting is pretty legitimate, but I also think I shouldn’t tempt it.

Therefore: A cloth to wrap around the spearhead, and a long thin bag that I can store the shaft in. Heck, without the spearhead I can just flip it around and have a magic staff. I’m an accidental genius! Wait, that just makes me lucky, doesn’t it? No matter. If I can direct the spatial expansion in one axis, as opposed to all three spatial axes, a three times volume increase will mean I can get away with a bag the size of a usual wooden bat. Hm yeah, Let’s do it.

Making the bag is supremely easy, and I don’t even bother using manasilk. I do, however, grind down some more flowers to use as dye. A light, grayish blue will be nice. The fact that the Mist will make the bag harder to notice is also nice. Well, it’s more of a floppy scabbard, really. While that dries, I make a simple, non-spatial bag, about the size of my torso.

I check up on the drying silk, and while the long strip of recently dyed silk is not ready, the bloodied experiment is. According to the [System] I have made [Bloodsilk]. It is still flexible, but seem to conduct mana a little bit better. The main goal was a nice red color, in addition to see what would happen. And now I know. Using magic blood might be another way to imbue materials, at least cloth. And of course, better magic properties are nice.

Since the experiment worked, I repeat the process with the other pieces I had set aside from the armor. Well, it’s more of a padded tunic, really. I will try to enchant it to both keep my body at a comfortable temperature and more defence, but most of the protection will come from the second part to my armor: A wyvern-scale vest.

I have already cleaned the scales, which are of varying sizes, so to get started I sort them by size, then group them into areas, in total fourteen areas. I use pieces of manasilk as a base for each part, and sew on the scales, making sure every scale is connected to at least two others, as well as the base, and that some silk are left over at each outer edge. Then I start connecting the parts using the edges, ending up with a front and back portion, as well as the two sides.

I ‘try them on’ by holding them in place with magic to ensure my measurements were right. Finally I attach the sides to the back, and then connect everything in the shoulder area. To finish off, I draw a silken rope the thickness of my little finger around the lower edge. Voilà. Armor vest that I can use in the flight forms, or connect up the sides for that extra defence when I have arms. For now I will keep my arms, and also find out how long it takes to fasten it.

The answer is a ‘bit too long to do in combat’, and also, the vest feels a bit loose. Neither of those are a problem. The first is, eh. If I need to connect the sides and have entered combat, I have screwed up and should probably turn and run. The looseness is intentional, because I want to wear it over the soon-to-be blood red tunic, which is kinda thick. Happy with the outcome, I enchant it for further toughness. I use an enchantment which combines {mage armor}, which covers yourself or an object in a small barrier of mana, and [Body Enhancement] together with Earth.

The bag for the spear is probably dry now, but have one more thing I need to make: My own personal magic bag (v2.0). For this version, instead of being a shoulder bag, the design I decided to go with is as wide as my waist and a bit more than half as long, while arching slightly downwards. Like the previous version, it has two straps, though one is more like a belt to go around the waist.

In use it should hang over my butt, where it won’t be in the way, and I will attach the two smaller pouches to an attached belt. Overall, it should more aerodynamic than the previous version, and made specifically for hanging behind or at the front instead of on the side. Purr~fect.

Before I head out, I just gotta make the spear shaft bag, and while I’m at it, I should dye some silk for making a new, not completely white, kilt. Hmm, this might be a little more than ‘while I’m at it’ level. Oh well.