Chapter 21

Stephen came by my room after dinner and stayed just long enough to describe the volume of his storage and a general description of how the skill worked before excusing himself so I could start working.

His pocket space was actually larger than I expected, though not by much. It held roughly the volume of a small coat closet, which I considered pretty generous for a ‘Common’ skill that I assumed he obtained via skillbook.

He didn’t specify that, of course, but it made sense considering his prior affinities were Zoki and Nature. Of course, just because a skill was rated ‘Common’ didn’t mean that it was actually common.

It would have probably been a little easier to just make the preservation bag, but I was experienced enough to craft an artifact capable of radiating an area-based effect with little real difficulty.

“You’ll need to replace the essence core occasionally since it won’t be able to absorb ambient essence from within the dimensional space,” I warned the archer when I gave him the enchanted token the following day.

With such a simple enchantment, it hadn’t taken long for me to create the artifact.

In the center of the small, round, wooden token was a core-sized slot, which I’d crafted to fit the size of the cores we were currently collecting from the dungeon, if a little loosely.

As we moved deeper into the dungeon, the cores would become bigger, so the additional space I’d added would serve to extend the item’s functionality. Eventually, the cores would become too large to work with the device, but at that point, I figured the space would probably need a stronger artifact.

I explained all of that to the archer, and he seemed happy enough with the product.

“Here,” he said, handing me a bundle. “I finished them last night. The leather is from the third-floor boss. It’s an alpha wolf, if you were curious.”

I looked over the bracers. The craftsmanship was excellent, even if the materials used weren’t the highest quality due to their origin. It was still better than most of what we’d collected so far.

“These look great. Thanks,” I said as I slipped the hard leather onto my forearms and tightened the straps.

He’d made each bracer out of a single piece of leather, which would make them a lot easier to enchant later.

“How long do you plan to spend on the third floor?” I asked.

“I’ll probably only do one more run of the floor before moving on to the fourth floor,” Stephen replied. “My leveling has slowed quite a bit, and the mobs aren’t really much of a challenge.”

“We’ll probably be moving on pretty soon as well.”

After Cora and Mike’s delve without me, they’d managed to reach level twelve, making us all the same level. Though we were a few levels weaker than Stephen, we were also working together, making us capable of fighting much more difficult opponents without too much risk.

I still felt strangely drawn to the archer, and I wasn’t quite sure why. It was an odd feeling – one that I didn’t really have experience with in my previous life. Sure, I’d had flings here and there, but nothing had ever been serious.

It was actually kind of sad, in a way.

Since I didn’t plan to avoid connections in this life, I said, “We’re heading into the dungeon the day after tomorrow. We should only be gone a couple of days. I’d like to check in and make sure the artifact is working properly when I get back, if you’re around.”

It was a lame excuse to see him again, but I didn’t care. I’d never find out what was drawing me to the man if we didn’t spend at least a little time together.

I was pleased when Stephen smiled brightly and said, “Sure. I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“You have a thing for the archer?” Cora asked later that evening when we met for dinner.

Her husband chuckled lightly as he looked away and wisely said nothing.

“I’m not sure what I feel toward him, honestly,” I answered. “It may be nothing more than a sense of connection due to our shared background in a Realm Dungeon. But he seems like a nice enough guy. I doubt that getting to know him would be a bad thing.”

“I agree. It’s just too bad that he prefers to work alone,” the rogue said with an exaggerated sigh. “I don’t think that adding a fourth would slow us down much at all. If anything, having another ranged damage dealer might even speed up our progression.”

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“I doubt it would matter much either way,” Mike commented. “We all have strong ranged options now.”

I ate my meal in silence for a few moments, observing the delvers around us as they went about their evenings. They all seemed so young. Aside from a table of Ascenders, everyone else in the room was very young.

I watched as they joked and flirted, boasted and argued. This was an aspect of life I’d largely missed out on for what was probably a millennium or more, subjectively.

In truth, I had no idea how old I really was. With all of the time dilation I’d subjected myself to, it was possible I’d experienced closer to two millennia.

While I was glad that I’d met Cora and Mike, and I appreciated how they included me in so much, I really didn’t want to forever remain a third wheel.

After a few more moments of contemplation, I asked, “Would either of you mind if I invited Stephen to join us on our next delve? Not the one we’re going on the day after tomorrow, but the next one?”

Feeling the need to clarify, I added, “And not for anything long-term. I just thought it might be nice to work together when we move on to the next floor.”

I had been mulling over the possibility of Stephen joining our party since Cora brought it up a few minutes earlier. I wasn’t sure why my mind was so fixated on the topic, but I figured it had to do with my own experiences operating as a solo delver.

It really was quite lonely, and Stephen seemed like a nice enough guy. If I could convince him to join us, I felt like he would fit in nicely with the group.

“I was wondering how long it would take for you to bring it up,” Cora said with a grin.

Sharing his wife’s expression, Mike added, “We don’t mind adding a fourth to the group, but I’m not sure Stephen will be willing. He seemed pretty resolved to work alone.”