Joshua opened his eyes as he looked at the dragonkin that had become his lover and wife. Yet she was much more, his teacher and confidant. The person he trusted most in this world. As always when he woke up she was already awake waiting patiently with a plate of food ready for him.

  “ You know you don’t have to cook for me everyday you know.”

  She gave him that subtle facial change that her kind does when they smile. Something it took months for him to learn the sign of.

  “ Fortunately for you, someone skilled actually did it this time.”

  It takes him a moment to remember he was no longer in the Resort but in a noble’s carriage large enough to be a highrise penthouse apartment. In fact, it only takes him a moment to see one of the guild representatives constructs over a magical stove frying up some bacon while the pantherkin and said representative were sharing a plate of food while looking over some maps and discussing dungeon diving strategy.

  “ You think it be a good idea for us to dive a few times as well?

  Sarsa, his dragonkin lover shook her head.

  “ No, learning to defend one’s self is never a bad thing, but there is a reason why common folk do not go to such places, especially crafters like us. It does us little good. We gain more experience failing a common item than would be gained from a full-day dive. What we should do is focus on our craft while the good dwarves guard us.”

  Joshua meekly nodded in acknowledging this as he rolled out of bed and went to get his breakfast, or rather lunch by the system menu. He was half way through it before he blushed and moved to where the bathroom was and got dressed. This got a chuckle from the girls in the room. Even more so when they discover that Jake is deliberately trying to avoid the topic. After a few minutes and the rest of the meal done, Jake called the others to the table.

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  “ Right, as we discussed before, we will be going to our first planned dungeon, but as requested by our dwarven friends outside, we will be taking the road west first toward the Lurmire Provance until we hit the trade hub of Dirkson. From there we will head straight south until Moonrow. Any questions?”

  None say anything as they look over the map and it stays like that for nearly a minute before Sarsa comes up with something.

  “ As I understand it, one of the reasons why me and my partner are coming along is to seek out materials, so why are we going to Dirkson, their prices are nearly twice of that of the capitol.”

  Jake chuckles at that.

  “ If not for the fact that half of the items we got from the capitol has some kind of tracking attached to it, I would take the direct route, but I need you two to work on making new sets of everything we bought. I know you can do high quality, but I need it to be limited to uncommon quality equipment if that means...”

  Sarsa raised her hand to stop him.

  “ Let me stop you there, we can not guarantee any quality of equipment. I remember the briefing you gave on your summons. This will be a good opportunity for us to focus on the level of gear over quality. I assume you want similar specs or better?”

  Jake nods to this.

  “ Correct, in addition, I hope to sell everything you replicate for as much profit as possible. I hope to unload everything that is tracking us in the trade hub. I am pretty sure most of the rations we have are in some way tainted or poisoned as well. Someone is definitely trying to set us up for failure. If I had to bet, it is the backer of those pricks in the Association, which is why we are making the detour.”

  This caused Joshua to scratch his chin in thought. All he wants to do is make stuff, He knew the concept of level requirements very well in video games but he did not think they applied to real life. Before he could decide to proceed with things further however Sarsa put her hand into his.

  “ We will do what we can, but we will need supplies first, and tools. Truth be told you should have a dedicated leather worker and enchanter here as well.”

  Joshua turned to her a little surprised, she knew he can work leather and enchantments just as well as steel. In fact funny enough, his best work involved the time he added using glass into the visor of a helmet, making it fully enclosed around the head. Add in some clear air enchantments and a simple light enchantment to illuminate at least twenty feet even the darkest caves. An epic that he spent about a single gold on netted him over a hundred times the investment in return. That is with his wife’s merchant skill in play.

  “ We have worked with some of the others in the guild to arrange for those there as well. Pain in the ass to keep it low key. Better to pay two weeks for storage than all the fucking markup. Adventurer guild insurance top notch as well. So learn all you can from the tainted goods before we get rid of them.”

  Sarsa nods to this then looks to Joshua with that gentle smile of hers.

  “ Shall we get started then? It would be a good idea to take a look at the stuff before we start working on our own.”

  Joshua just looked at her and smiled before nodding, going to the storage chests to fish out the first project. It seems today was going to be a long day, but one he would be happy with.