I’m awake bright and early, well before the morning. My mind races as I get changed and head into the main hall. But in contrast to most mornings, almost all of my thoughts today are about Chloe. I suppose being distracted by my… I’m not sure if she’s my girlfriend yet, or if we’ve not gotten to that point. In either case, I suppose it’s not so bad to be thinking about her and her warm, angelic radiance.

  But it doesn’t take away from the fact that I need to make preparations in anticipation for what’s still to come. We can’t just remain idle, not when a nasty cult with unknown strength and abilities is watching, lurking, just waiting for another chance to strike at us. A group who has not just resisted, but actively thwarted their efforts. And not just once, but twice. I have no doubts that Chloe and I are at the top of the [Cult Leader]’s shit list, and the only way I’ll be able to save us both is by getting stronger myself.

  I spend the predawn hour going through both my sketchbook and the book of glyphs I got after Chloe’s and my battle with Guardian Armosi. I delve into the pages, poring over for something, some new glyph or spell or insight that can help me protect us both.

  Right now, I think the best thing I can do is come up with new gear ideas. We haven’t really gotten much since completing the South County Dungeon, other than building my new arm. And it’s a damn shame too; there are so many ideas I already have even with the glyphs at my disposal, except for one critical problem. I still can’t replicate the self-powering nature of the gear found within the dungeon. This, the single biggest lack of information I have.

  I pull out an empty [Ether Canister], idle wandering thoughts and my [Tinkerer] skill suggesting that I might find an answer written within. And when I trace the pattern of glyphs on the inner lip of the canister, I see a few patterns repeating. One that looks like [Repulsion], which makes sense. It needs some sort of glyph to keep the otherwise free-flowing Ether suspended in a fixed region of space. More than that, however, I see a glyph I don’t recognize, even after all my research and study to this point.

  No, wait, this is… This is the glyph representing the concept of Ether itself. It is analogous to the ouroboros of our world’s lore, representing the infinitude of possibility, the cycle of existence, and the tendency for Ether to be self-destructive, causing one’s own ruin if one isn’t careful. A fitting depiction for a human’s mind, although I’m not sure what else that says about our universe more generally, as well as the other cultures contained on distant worlds.

  The glyphs, when written together, say something to the effect of ‘Fix Ether in space and hold it in a Repulsion…’ Fix Ether? Wait… Is it really that simple? Why didn’t I–

  No, it’s not that I couldn’t have known. It’s that I had been so focused on getting my arm just to work that I hadn’t had time and mental energy to devote to studying much else. And pretty much as soon as we finished up back in Ft. Still, we were on our way, back into the wilds. Another case of haste making waste and biting me in the ass.

  I find the first object that I think might make a suitable substrate material for my Ethertech experimentation. A small ring, made of copper. It’s not well-made, its width uneven and with numerous lumps and other imperfections in the design. If I had to guess, it was never a ring to begin with, just someone futzing around with a bit of copper wire from I don’t know where. A bit of handiwork later and… it doesn’t look great, but at least it shouldn’t be unworkable.

  I do have to be extremely careful, though. These imperfections are going to make the glyph transcription an absolute nightmare. I need six glyphs in total: [Attraction], [Ether], [Everywhere], [Compression], [Impulse], and [Absorption] to design the array I want. The idea is to take Ether from the ambience all around me with the [Everywhere] glyph, then compress it and push it into my body’s [Ether] channels. I admit the risks involved. Worst case scenario, I lose my hand but… Ah well, the first loss is the hardest.

  The front hall is growing noisier as people are waking up and gathering for breakfast and then the day’s excursions, but I’m able to tune the world out as I focus on my work. And it’s damned hard too, with such a small surface area on which to work. Thank the System— weird as it is to say— for this [Tinkerer] skill constantly going off and alerting me to the dozens of tiny mistakes I’m making due to the poor quality materials I’m working with. Both in that copper isn’t a good substrate, and that it’s not a particularly pure or well-made piece of copper either.

  But it’s not unworkable either. Just difficult. I’ll lose efficiency and effectiveness over crystal or purer, higher-quality materials, but I can do it. I refuse to accept otherwise.

  [Ethersight] working together with [Bullet Time] and [Intermediate Ether Manipulation] allow me to make the precise indentations I need to forge the tiny glyphs on a torus of metal mere millimeters tall and only an inch or so in diameter. Yeah, another limitation of advanced Ethertech: just how difficult it is to do the physical inscriptions. We had literal robots and computer software algorithms and 3D-printers all making the cuts to design and sculpt my arm and all the accessories within. And even they, with literal machine precision, weren’t perfect without my intervention to smooth out all the weird intricacies of glyphs and how they operate.

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  It’s almost as though the System itself is designed in such a way that only people with crafter-type classes, as well as the Skills, Skill ranks, and levels necessary, can actually craft anything but the most basic of System-registered gear. Probably the same idiocy that makes me unable to wear Chloe’s [Spellcaster’s Hat] and gain any benefit from it. Or why I can’t cast spells the way that she can, using pre-defined System-registered spells. All to keep classes and their abilities separate and our choices meaningful, I guess.

  Bit by bit I continue my work. And then, when I get halfway through, I realize that I’ve made a terrible blunder. The glyphs, together with the linking runes necessary to carry the meaning across, are taking up too much physical space. I choose to keep the [Ether] glyph itself alone; it’s the most intricate of the glyphs, the hardest to craft, and the one I have the least experience working with. I have it working, and I want to keep it that way.

  It’s taking about twenty percent of the space of the outer circumference. That leaves sixteen percent for the other five glyphs… Better call it thirteen percent, to leave margin for error and the rest of the linking, along with any other modifications to the basic forms of the glyphs I’m using. Heaven forbid I overestimate the space I have again.

  I continue my work. The hall is starting to get noisy; must be the peak of the breakfast rush. For a moment, it seems like someone is tapping my shoulders, but I shrug it off. Probably just a trick of the mind at play, or some discomfort from wearing my [Brigandine] all morning. Smaller, smaller, tiny movements. Hardly noticeable, like trying to write the width of a human hair. But not impossible. The power of Skills defying all logic and basic sensibilities.

  And it seems to be working, once I link the [Attraction] and [Ether] runes together. I run a tiny bit of [Ether] into the pair to activate them, and, unlike everything I’ve crafted until now, the sluices continue to glow the color of patina even after I stop pouring my own [Ether] into the ring. Was it really that simple the whole time?

  Not quite. The glyphs do fade, but over minutes as opposed to seconds. I’m definitely on the right track. I need to push further, further and–

  A piece of cantaloupe slips into my mouth. Sweet, not too soft, no overpowering taste or scent that happens when it gets overripe and mushy. But not hard and bitter either. I turn to my right and see Chloe sitting beside me, smiling wistfully. Damn those eyes are gorgeous. She leans in and pecks me square on the lips.

  “Are you forgetting to eat breakfast?” she asks.

  It’s clear from her stern yet caring tone and demeanor that she already knows the answer and isn’t going to brook any objection that I might try to make, no matter how well-reasoned my logic and important my work is. The more important matter, of course, and the one that destroys my attempts to object, is that she’s right. Healer’s Orders and all.

  “So what were you working on?” she asks while I munch on sausage patties. “Something good and exciting that you can tell me about? Or is it something super secret that you won’t share until you’ve figured it out?”

  I feed Chloe a strawberry. Red juice seeps down her face, and though I’m half-tempted to kiss it off her, I grab a nearby napkin and wipe it off instead. She looks at me and her eyes and cheeks both lower slightly. Shit, she was setting me up for exactly that reason, wasn’t she? A quick peck on the lips seems to calm her down and improve her mood.

  “I think I’ve figured out a way to finally make my Ethertech not drain the [Ether] out of me to use. Right now, I’m trying to test a new array on this ring. I’m short an accessory slot and it will go a long way to helping me not spend six to twelve hours incapacitated after every battle.”

  “Oh? Darn.”

  “Darn?”

  “I won’t have a convenient excuse to carry you off in my arms and into bed.”

  I can’t help but laugh. Here I am wanting to take things slow and not rush into things I’m not sure I’m ready for, and Chloe’s over here teasing and joking about dragging me off to her bedchambers. She must not have been kidding when she said she’s had a crush on me for a couple years now.

  “Just please, Sera. Make sure you’re pacing yourself, taking regular breaks, and staying hydrated. You were telling me last night about how you get too hyperfocused sometimes and how it blinds you to taking care of yourself. I’m not your mother!”

  Well, for our first spat as an official couple, it’s definitely both lighthearted and well-intentioned. I feel happy, maybe not confident that I’ve made the right decision by taking that step with her, but happy for what we have and will continue to build in the future.

  “I understand. Do you have any plans for today?” I ask.

  “I think I’m just going to stay here with you. Be your… what was it, your rubber duck?”

  “Yeah. And if you can find any amulets or rings or bracelets that might be better suited to being enchanted, I’d appreciate it. I think this is going to work particularly poorly, given my lack of experience and the cheap materials used. More a ‘proof of concept’ than anything actually useful in battle.”

  “Can I have it when you’re done?” she asks.

  “Uh, sure. Or you can wait and I can make you a better one later.” I do want to give her my most powerful accessories, to better protect her when I’m physically unable.

  “I would appreciate that too, but I want this one, as a memento of you, and of us.”

  Her words are like a song in my heart, a muse and an inspiration to work that much harder. Chloe, as if reading my mind, shoots me a pointed glare. Just as soon as I finish breakfast, I correct.