Dressed to kill 7 (Patreon)

He assessed the box, his expression showing a rare focused seriousness. He seemed to count in his head, then grimaced.

“Maybe. Fine. I can try to make you a cleaver. It’s going to take a couple days. And it’s going to be unwieldy.” He warned. “The weights going to be totally unbalanced.”

“It’s fine. Just make it.” Sandy said.

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 4/10]

[+2 XP] [Level up]

[Hunter’s Cloak(Common, Darkness) completed!]

I sewed the last of the hood together, earning another level up as I did so. Level 3, reached in a day and a half of work. How many more levels would the wolves provide me before I had to switch to other methods to level up?

[Quality Assessment: (Ragged)]

Hey… system! The quality of this was way beyond just ragged; the fur and leather of the wolf was plush and handsomely dark like a robe made of shadows. The fact I had to stitch multiple pieces back together and cut them apart, as well as the quality of thread I was using, must have reduced the total quality. But if this was ragged, I didn’t know what the system considered high tier. I would have to ask.

As for it being a [Darkness] cloak… I could only assume that was because of the elemental aspect of the wolf monster I killed. It must’ve possessed a darkness related stealth skill.

Sandy had her arms far apart to demonstrate the prolific size of the blade she wanted him to craft. Gerald rapidly nodded in disagreement.

“When does the next floor of the dungeon open?” I asked aloud, interrupting Sandy and Gerald arguing over the design of the cleaver. Sandy side eyed me, her arms dropping.

“Dunno. Took a week or two last time. Wasn’t clearing it daily, though. Couldn’t keep up.” Her eyes scanned the pile of wolf carcasses as she said that last part.

“Can you keep up now?” I asked her.

“What are you going to do with the bones?” Gerald asked.

“What?” Sandy turned back to Gerald.

“The bones. I think I can use them.” Gerald said. “No, just the teeth. Can you give me the teeth?”

“I guess so. You’re not putting them on the cleaver are you?” Sandy made a disgusted face; as if cutting apart the monsters and sorting their insides was completely normal but pulling out their teeth was gross.

“Not on the handle.” He said, staring intently at the wolf sprawled across her workshop desk.

I packed my cloak up into my rapidly filling backpack. At this point, I was going to have to make a bigger one, and it wasn’t included in the pattern for the hunter outfit.

“Deal.” Gerald said. His eyes were growing hungry.

“I’m heading back to my workshop.” I said, standing.

“You can crash here if you want.” Sandy said, looking over.

“No; I still have four mana left. I need to finish more of our order.”

“What?” Sandy asked. “You’re still doing regular sewing work on top of all of this?”

Gerald stared at me intently.

“I have to keep my moms shop running.” I said. “Besides, it’s still good for levels.”

Sandy nodded at that.

“I’ll bring more food by tomorrow morning.”

“Isn’t it going to cause a yelling match with your dad if you show him all these corpses?” I asked.

Sandy only shrugged. Gerald loaded his box of old knives and tools onto the cart and followed me out, sounding like a rolling cart of thunder.

“How are you going to pass that off to your dad?” I asked Gerald.

“I’ll just be honest.” He shrugged. “Dad doesn’t care what we get commissioned. He makes weapons all the time.”

“Huh. Okay.” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked.

“Might take me a couple days to finish the cleaver. I have to help with other orders in the shop too.” He replied. His eyes didn’t leave the metal on his cart. “Soon though!” He called out as we split off.

I rushed back to the workshop, moving the door quietly to avoid its creaking protests waking anyone. Stuffing my backpack into the cabinet, I got to work, picking up some already cut patterns from the crate mom had left them in as well as a sewing kit from a desk.

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 3/10]

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 2/10]

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 1/10]

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 0/10]

I almost finished the patterns as I ran out of mana. There was just one left. Exhaustion set in, making me bleary eyed. I tried to rub the tiredness away. None of these would give me any experience until mom put the finishing touches on.

When I had exhausted my mana, I worked by hand, leaning over my chair and onto the desk for support. The exhaustion made me prick my fingers more than I would’ve liked, but I finished every precut piece that had been left behind by the end. I set the needle down and leaned down at the desk, appreciating my work.

Content and exhaustion warred through me. In the end, I didn’t even work up the willpower to walk upstairs to my bed, passing out then and there in the workshop.

My mom whispered me awake. I winced as I felt the backpack from sleeping in such a contorted position, then shot up as I smelled the food.

“Good morning my light.” She said, sliding a plate of food to me on the desk. “When did you sneak down to the workshop?”

“Last night,” I mumbled, and then I was shoveling food. Sandy had been by already, because breakfast was strips of meat.

My eyes scanned the workshop. I had always seen the place as beaten and worn down. How long would it be before I had the resources to improve it? To make it better? To replace the tiles and the furniture and the windows?

Mom worked on finishing an item, glancing up at me when her hands moved supernaturally fast as I finished eating.

I laid back down on the desk.

[+2 XP]

[Miner’s Shirt(Uncommon, Null) completed!]

[Quality Assessment: (Fine)]

Mom looked between what she worked on and me, eyebrows raised in a question. I sighed. I should climb back up the stairs and throw myself in bed, but I wasn’t sure if I really had the time. We would need to do more work in the workshop.

“What time is it?” I asked, looking out the window. The sun was already well into the sky.

“Oh, I don’t know, afternoon sometime.” Mom said.

I must have worked late into the night.

[+2 XP]

[Miner’s Shirt(Uncommon, Null) completed!]

[Quality Assessment: (Fine)]

Mom stopped this time, staring at me. After a pause, she spoke.

“I thought that would be enough for a level up.” She said, walking over to me and dragging a chair across the tile. The scraping noise filled the room. I turned over onto my other hand, looking up at her as she sat.

“Oh. Oh!” Right, the XP for crafting would probably be worth a level… if I was still level one, and not level three already! “You know, I think I did get a level up.” I said.

Mom grimaced, as if my lack of excitement was a condemnation. Of course anyone who had just gained access to the System, who had just gained access to magic would be excited beyond belief. I pulled my System open with a thought.

[Gwendolyn Tailor][Human, Lv3][Seamstress]

[Health: 10/10][Mana: 10/10][XP: 4/10]

[Points available: 1]

[ATTRIBUTES]

►SPD: 10 ►WIL: 5

►STR: 5 ►DEX: 10

►CON: 5 ►PER: 5

[SKILLS]

►Crafting I ►Running Stitch I

[PATTERNS]

►[Hunter Pattern]

My eyes flicked to my mom and my mouth dried up at the look on her face; pained compassion mixed with grief.

“You know,” She started, “It’s not too bad being a Seamstress. There are worse professions. It’s not bad even in a city. We can find jobs almost anywhere, once the town shuts down, we can get a job in a big workshop. The pay will be… enough to live on. Maybe we could find a town by the ocean.”

“Mom. I’m not upset about being a Seamstress! I promise! I was just awake all night.” I said.

She leaned back. The grief in her eyes didn’t lessen.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the wolf pelt cloak I had made hanging out of the bottom of a cabinet door. Shit, did I leave it like that last night? Or did she notice it and stuff it back in? I did my best not to look at it, pulling open my skill options aloud instead. I read them to her.

[Skill Shop]

►Hand Spinning I

[UNCOMMON] Allows user to rapidly thread together fibers by hand. Also grants one point in Thread Mastery I. Additional levels will increase speed of user and quality of final product, but do not increase Thread Mastery.

“That one.” Mom interrupted.

“What?” I asked. “Why? We can buy all the thread we need.”

“Not for the skill — no, for Thread Mastery! Its a passive skill you can’t even put points into. The only way to gain the full skill is to grab all 10 of its subskills. Thread Mastery is a legendary skill. It’s vanishingly rare, especially at level 1!” She continued.

“At least let me read the rest.” I replied, continuing down the list.

►Quick Change I

[UNCOMMON] Allows user to instantly exchange a piece of clothing with any article they are in physical contact with, or is stored in their Inventory. Additional levels allow changing up to an entire outfit. [Seamstress inventory skill: Warddrobe]

►Mending I

[Common] Allows user to repair clothing from patterns they are unfamiliar with. Additional levels increase quality of final product.

Mending would be perfect for if I damaged my clothing fighting monsters. I took a look at my mom.

“Hand Spinning. Please, my light.” She said.

“What can thread mastery do?” I asked.

“Free control of threads! My ability to merge two pieces of work together is just a subskill of Thread Mastery III! Seamstresses with Thread Mastery above V are coveted. There are myths of seamstresses who can use them like a spiders webs, even of — ” Mom cut herself off, looking away awkwardly. My eyes flicked to the cloak falling out of the cabinet. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it falling further.

“Of what?” I asked, mostly just to distract her. I pushed my plate towards her, standing and walking past her.

“Killing monsters.” She said.

I staggered forward, stopping before I reached the cabinet.

“What?” I asked, turning around. Mom was still looking away, fumbling with the plate. I shoved my backpack upright inside the cabinet and closed it.

“Well, it’s… the story ends with him dying, so.”

“Who dying?” I pressed.

“Sorry, I don’t want to give you any stupid ideas.” She turned around. “Alex was a Tailor who was rumored to have Thread Mastery VII. There is a story, a fanciful story, of him beheading a monster that set on a caravan he was traveling in.”

“With string?” I asked, incredulous. He used thread to garrote monsters? Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“It sounds… fantastical.” She sighed, taking my plate with her towards the house. “A fantasy story. An escape from reality. Stupid, too. No Seamstress will be killing monsters.”

“No stories are stupid.”

I selected the Hand Spinning Skill.