At first, I wanted to find Claire and ask for their help straight away, but my door couldn’t stay open for the entire time. The room wasn’t much, but it was mine. I dashed in and lit the nearest lamp with all the speed I could muster. The room was illuminated once more, and no hidden assassins jumped out to take my life.

On the plus side, my experiments had made it clear that craft skills gave experience. That nugget of wisdom would help whenever there were no monsters to fight, but it didn’t help me gain any skill in combat.

On the other hand, someone had just tried to kill me. Well, he might not have tried to kill me, per se, but his intentions obviously weren’t pure. He could come back at any time, and my door wouldn’t act as much of a barrier.

I couldn’t stay here, not now. I picked up the processed materials and dumped them in the bag, locked my door behind me and rushed down into the guildhall. No one reacted to my appearance as they continued their usual activities. No one in the crowd wore an outfit even close to my attacker, so the next best person to go to would be the receptionist.

If anyone saw him run past, it should be here.

“Hey, did someone come through here not long ago? Dark cloak, weird white mask, creepy voice?”

“Uh, no. We don’t allow masks or helmets of any kind to be worn within the guild.” The receptionist frowned. “Did something happen?”

“Well, yeah.” I leaned in close to the receptionist. It wasn’t clear who had attacked me, they could even be in the room as we spoke. “Someone attacked me. The person I mentioned, I mean.”

“Oh, are you injured?” The receptionist pulled a vial from beneath her desk. “You can use this potion if you need to.”

“No, no… I’m fine.” I waved away the offered drink. Though my back did ache a bit, my staff had absorbed most of the impact for his attack. If I took the potion, she would expect me to drink it right now. That would just be a waste. “Can you keep a lookout for him, I have something I need to do.”

The receptionist nodded and turned back to her paperwork. She worked with purpose as she sifted through the piles of paper. Maybe she searched for a match to my attacker, or she could just be behind on her work. Either way, I left her to it and stepped out into the street.

There wasn’t much time left in the day, but my next target was clear. I ran over to the treatment centre at full speed. My hurried pace gathered a bit of attention, but that didn’t phase me. It didn’t take too long to reach the treatment centre, but what I saw felt like a punch to the gut.

It was closed for the day.

“Please, I need to speak to Claire. It's urgent.” I rested my hands on the receptionist's desk. He glared at my hands for several moments before I pulled them back.

“Rules are rules. We allow no late visits to patients.” He waved at his colleague, who lumbered out of the shadows at his call. The man was a head taller than me and almost twice as wide, though most of his bulk seemed to be made up of muscle. “It's for their protection… and yours. There have been incidents in the past. You can leave a message if you want.”

“Fine.” I spoke the word through gritted teeth. The large man frowned, as though he had been looking forward to my continued disobedience. “Tell Claire I have to urgently speak to her.”

“That patient is asleep. Do you have any other patients you wish to leave a message for?”

“Susan…”

“She is also asleep. Is there anything else I can do to help-”

“Damn it!” My balled fists whitened as I stormed out of the centre. This man and his hired goon wouldn’t let me see Susan and Claire, so that left John and Bryan. The only issue there was that I had no idea where they spent their time. The only places I had met them were the guild and the forest, and the latter was easily ruled out as a possibility at this time of day.

Before I made my way back to the guild, there was one final thing I had to do. It didn’t take too long to reach the town exit. My eyes fixed on the stall on the right-hand side of the gate before a slight smile peaked out. Karen had started to pack her wares away, but she would hopefully be pleased to deal with one more customer before the day ended.

“Hey, can I buy some things?” I asked in between deep breaths. The short run had winded me, though not as much as I had expected.

“Sure, what do you need?” Karen smiled at me as she unrolled the cloth on top of her cart. I pulled the processed materials out of my bag and laid them on the top of the cart. After a quick inspection Karen looked up at me, her eyebrows raised to the sky.

“Good work for a basic crafter. You want to sell these?”

“Yeah, and I want to buy other materials for processing. Do you have any?”

“I have loads of scrap materials, but you won’t make too much compared to the time it needs.” She pulled out a sack which clinked as she set it on the cart. “Are you sure-”

“Yes, I am. How much?” I eyed the sack. The meagre currency in my possession wouldn’t be able to buy all of it, which would lead to several wasted trips. It was a shame, but there were no alternatives right now.

“Well, I can pay a processing fee if you bring them back to me in the next few days. You’d make more than if you buy them and sell them back-”

“That’s perfect, thanks. Here.” I passed her the remainder of my money. She wanted to refuse but I closed her fist around it. “Insurance. I’ll get these back to you as soon as I’m done and you can give it back. Save any other materials you get for me. Use my money to pay for them, if you need it.”

I ran back to the guild with the sack slung over my shoulder. A quick scan confirmed that neither John nor Bryan had turned up so, after a hurried message had been left with the receptionist, I darted across the hall and up the stairs. Several people glanced at me, but I didn’t pay any mind to them. My goal was set.

If I didn’t reach level five, my combat ability would remain weak. Rose had it as a target, which gave me some hope it would increase my power significantly. The attack had left me driven and focused.

If a near-death experience wasn’t enough, nothing would be.

The door slammed behind me as I dumped the sack’s contents onto the bed. After the lock had clicked shut, I turned to view the materials Karen had provided. A motley collection of fur, fabric and chunks of metal covered the sheets of my bed. After a few minutes, they were sorted into three even piles of leather, cloth and ore.

Then it was time for the real work to begin.

At least I understood the basics of the procedure. The occasional failures didn’t leave me disheartened, but rather spurred me on to do better on the next attempt. My mind wandered as the materials were processed one after the other. The various situations I had been through rushed through my mind as my hands were kept busy.

The battle in the forest, my near-death experience against the wolf, the last second save by the party, the betrayal and ambush by the bandits. And, to top it all off, the masked man and his ambush.

Sleep would be a good way to recuperate, but how could I do something so wasteful.

I shook my head to dispel the tiredness and continued my work. My eyelids drooped as if a huge weight pulled them down towards the floor. The lethargy became harder to bear with each passing minute.

I rotated between the leather, metal and cloth to keep myself fresh. If my mind became too accustomed to a set task, it would be easy to nod off. The finished piles grew larger and larger, but the bin beside me was also filled with discarded scraps of my failures.

I worked on. Harder, faster. Each successful product was a victory, each completed item another step towards my goal. The voice echoed out repeatedly to congratulate me for the increase in the craft skill level, but it remained silent in regards to my own progression. It was like I was running a race, and the end was always just around the next corner.

I have to make it. The next one will be the last. I can feel it-

My head dropped to the table with a thunk as the chunk of metal in my hands shattered. I had failed, but my brain failed to recognize that fact as I sunk into the depths of sleep.

“God damn it, Rook. What the hell did you do?”

I jerked awake as someone shook my shoulder. In a panic, I rolled off my chair onto the floor. Unfortunately, the bed stopped me in my tracks as I slammed into it. After my head had cleared up, my visitor's laughter echoed through the room at my exaggerated response.

“What’re you doing here?” I pulled myself onto the bed. Bryan smiled down at me as he stifled his laughter.

“I came to check up on you. Karen said you had taken all of the materials she had, so I knew you would do something stupid.” Bryan stared at the finished piles on my desk. “You must have been working for most of the night, I see.”

“I need to get to level five.” I glanced at the bin which held the results of my failed attempts. “I don’t know how close I am, but it can’t be far off-”

“Wait, level five?” Bryan kicked my door closed before he turned to face me. “What do you mean, ‘level five’?”

“Uh, that’s the next level I need.” I sat up straight as I answered. It felt like he was a teacher who had demanded I turn in my homework. “Ro- I mean, I want to get there to unlock some skills.”

“Can I look at your guild card, please?” Bryan held out his hand. I struggled for a moment before I passed the card over to him. If I didn’t trust someone who had saved my life multiple times, then who could I trust?

Bryan picked up the card and smiled at me before he read its contents. His frown deepened as he read through the statistics written on its surface. It wasn’t sure what had worried him so much, they must have known I was low levelled, right?

“Thanks.” Bryan passed the slip back to me. “When did you get to level four, if you’re OK to tell me that?”

“Well… just before I started this.” I waved at the piles on the desk. I had already revealed the truth about my level, so there was no real reason to hide the exact details. “I hoped I would level up, but it seems like I overestimated myself.”

“Why did you do that.” Bryan picked up a square of processed leather and rubbed it. “You could have just asked us.”

“Well, the treatment centre wouldn’t let me in and you two had vanished off the face of the planet.” My hands gripped into the mattress as I tried to contain my irritation. “After that man attacked me, I didn’t know what to do.”

“Oh.” Bryan nodded, though he didn’t seem surprised at the fact someone had attacked me. “We need to speak to the others. Get your things, we’ll go together.”

I nodded and collected the processed materials. Whilst the guild had good security, as far as I was aware, someone had invaded my room once before. It was possible they could make a return visit, and this place didn’t look like it would have something as advanced as insurance. It would be awkward to explain the lost materials to Karen.

I had promised to return them, after all.

But, after they had saved my life in the forest, I had promised myself to trust these people. We left the guild, walked down the street and into the treatment centre without any conversation. It was clear Bryan had information to share, but that discussion would need privacy above all else. We walked past the receptionist, who gave me a friendly nod, and entered Claire and Susan’s room.

“Hey, Rook. How are you holding up?” Claire waved at me from her bed. She had regained her liveliness but, from the fact she was still laid in her cot, it was clear wasn’t fully healed. Susan nodded at me from the far side of the room. Oddly enough she was sat in a chair and looked less injured than her colleague, despite the fact an arrow had been embedded in her chest the day before. John opened his mouth to comment before Bryan cut him short.

“He’s fine. Wait a sec, will you?” Bryan pulled out a set of peculiar objects from his bag. The others watched on as he laid one in each corner of the room. After they had been placed, a thin sheen shimmered into view across each wall.

“What’s going on?” John moved beside Susan and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Is someone tracking you?”

“Don’t worry, John, we just needed some privacy.” Bryan glanced at me. “Rook, are you OK for me to tell them the truth about you, or do you want to say it yourself?”

I stared at Bryan in confusion. He waited for my response, but his question didn’t have an obvious answer.

What the hell is he talking about? This can’t just be about the man who attacked me, right?

“Wait, you probably don’t know yourself.” Bryan chuckled as he dropped into a chair. “You got transferred to this world, right? I guess you got split off from your party somehow. Am I missing anything?”