Chapter 13: My personal pocket dimension

Chapter 13: My personal pocket dimension

“Are you sure?” Miss Spencer asked. “Magical crafting isn’t the same as normal trade skills. You can forget everything you think you know about it. While it is true that you will use a thread and needle and that a spindle simplifies things, there is a lot more to it than that. Crafters with classes like Tailor and Seamstress get traits and abilities to make things easier. From what you’ve told me, you don’t have any. Wouldn’t it be better to focus and train what you do have?”

“I want to learn everything,” I said with, feeling a level of conviction I’d never known before.

Miss Spencer smiled. “It’s good to be ambitious. I’ll teach you the basics but let’s focus on your skills for now. I have some other items I’d like you to look at.”

It turned out that the robe she showed me first was the best thing in her inventory. Everything she made had basic bonuses that seemed miraculous to me. Underwear protected against the elements shouldn’t have been impossible. How did something that only covered my butt protect my nose from frostbite? They were also very hard to damage.

The disguise she lent me turned out to be a magic spell. Magic clothes never got dirty or took damage, so some wizards came up with a solution to make things look worn and ragged.

Every time she showed me a new item, Analyze presented me with multiple options to improve it. It provided me with ritual diagrams I could use as well as magic ingredients.

“In my experience, magic items always trump workarounds,” Miss Spencer explained. “Incorporating natural items found in monsters or around the world typically yields greater results.”

“Have you ever made a magic bag?” I asked, eager to have one of my own. “One that can store a lot of stuff.”

Miss Spencer sighed. “I can make bags, though you’re better off having a fancy one made by someone who works with leather. The quality is much better than cloth bags.”

“I’ll take anything for now,” I admitted, dreaming of a bag that could hold my bed while weighing less than a feather.

She went into the back and came out with a basic cloth bag with a pair of straps that looked like it could be used for grocery shopping.

“This is what I got,” she said, handing it to me. “You can have that one. If you mean to modify it, I suggest you save up and invest in a proper leather bag. It will serve you better.”

Small Cloth Bag

Grade: D

Created by Spencer

It was a shallow bag with a wide mouth. There was no zipper or other way of sealing the bag, along with no additional compartments on the inside. The eventual bag I wanted to make would have to have all of that. I took out the shadow hairs and set them on the table.

Miss Spencer picked one up and ran it through her fingers. “This is interesting. Do you mind telling me where you got it?”

“I bought them for a copper,” I admitted, leaving out the fact that I got it directly from my own shadow.

She let out a low whistle. “Interesting. These are a little short to do anything fancy but they appear to have some magic properties. Can you appraise them?”

Shadow Hair

Grade: B

Crafting Component

Suggestion: Can be synthesized into thread using an Arcane Circle.

Again the vision of a diagram flashed in my head. I reached for the notepad and started jotting it down.

“What did your skill say?” Miss Spencer asked, looking intently at the design.

“It says I can make thread using a ritual,” I explained.

She nodded and went into the back before coming back a few seconds later with colored chalk. “Does the ritual circle need to be any specific color?”

I had to think about it. “This one should be black.”

She smiled, selecting a black piece of chalk before sketching my diagram on the wood table. “That makes sense considering the material. What is this anyway?”

“Shadow Hair,” I replied offhandedly as I watched her work. “That looks perfect.”

She nodded before turning to stare at me. “Where did you get Shadow Hair? Those must be given willingly or they fade to nothing.”

“I bought it for one copper,” I replied, shrugging. “From my shadow.”

Together, we looked down at my shadow. It winked at me.

“That’s impossible,” Miss Spender said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Shadows hardly ever give willingly. And why would yours want a copper? That’s unheard of.”

My shadow and I both shrugged at once. For the first time since I got Monster Vision, we were in sync. “I don’t know what he wants it for. Shadows can’t talk.”

“You are very peculiar,” she said before returning her attention to the circle. “Would you like to try it this time?”

“Can I?” I asked, anxious to try my first ritual.

Miss Spencer backed out of the way. “This is only a small amount of thread so you should have enough at level three.”

“Enough what?” I asked, looking at the circle nervously.

“Mana,” she replied. “Crafting is broken down into two components. There’s construction then there’s synthesis. Construction is what you’re used to. People use proven techniques to create the items that we use in everyday life. Synthesis is different. We use life energy called mana to create things that shouldn’t be possible. Mana is consumed every time you do this. Here, allow me to guide you.”

Miss Spencer directed me to place my hands on the table, just inside the circle. She then placed the Shadow Hairs in the middle.

“Okay, close your eyes and feel what I am doing,” she instructed, placing her hands over mine. “This is how everyone learns to do this. Let my mana guide yours.”

I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling of her hands. They were cold to the touch. I noticed some girls were like that. Always cold. My hands always felt warm to me. Suddenly, something warm came out of her. It felt almost liquid as it passed out of her hands and onto mine yet it wasn’t wet at all. I tried to pull my hand away but she held me steady. The sensation eventually passed when the circle beneath gave off a sucking sensation and siphoned the strange substance between the gaps in my fingers.

“Now you,” Miss Spencer whispered, “Feed your mana to your design. You made it. Give it life.”

I concentrated so hard that I felt like I might pass out. Still, nothing happened.

Suggestion: Mana transfer can be achieved by pulling at the eternal flame within your chest and feeling it through your hands.

The words made sense to me…somehow. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and concentrated. There was something in my chest just behind my heart. It wasn’t exactly fire but it felt hot. It was the source of every emotion I ever had. I focused on it and ripped a chunk right out of it.

You have gained 100 experience points.

Once I had it in my mental grasp, getting it to my hand and out to the arcane circle was a piece of cake. From there, it was as simple as she said it would be. A second after it emerged from my skin, the circle sucked it in as it had Miss Spencer’s.

“Well done,” she announced once I’d given it all it would take.

I opened my eyes to find a spool of jet-black thread. While I’d expected it to work, I hadn’t expected to find it neatly packaged with additional ingredients that shouldn’t be there.

Shadow Thread

Grade: B

Crafting Component

Made by: Spencer and Evans

Miss Spencer smiled at my confusion. “What you see there is a result of your mana. Not only did it combine the hairs in a usable fashion but it created the spool out of mana to make using it to sew easier. Don’t ask how the magic works. I don’t think anyone has ever been able to explain that.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” I said, laughing to hide my apprehension. “What can we do with this now?”

She looked at the bag she’d given me. “Well, you could use it on that bag. I believe Shadow Thread creates a pocket dimension with additional space and weight reduction. How much depends on the quality of your shadow.”

I looked down at my shadow and it winked at me again. Was I going crazy or did I have the cockiest shadow of all time?

“Let’s do it,” I said, scooping up the thread and moving toward the bag.

Miss Spencer hesitated. “Are you sure? We can always wait until you get a better bag. This one is a little basic to be using precious thread like this one.”

“No! I want to make a bag now,” I replied, picking the bag and thread up and taking them both to the work table. “I’ll just make a better one later.”

She sighed. “You know, sometimes it’s not that easy to get rare components like this. You really shouldn’t be wasteful.”

“How do we do this?” I asked, wishing I’d brought the book along with me.

Miss Spencer shrugged, taking a step back. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

I looked at the two items together.

Small Cloth Bag

Grade: D

Created by Spencer

Shadow Thread

Grade: B

Crafting Component

Made by: Spencer and Evans

Suggestion: To create a Void Bag, you must line the bag with Void Thread so that it is touching when the bag is closed. This will create a void space whenever it is opened.

“I’m going to need more thread,” I muttered to myself, looking down at my shadow again.

Did it just lick its lips?

I scooped four copper out of my pocket and offered them up to the shadow. A sharp pain in the back of my head told me it worked. I rubbed my new bald spot and felt wetness there. My shadow made me bleed.

When I looked up, I found Miss Spencer staring at the ground just in front of my shadow where a clump of Shadow Hair sat.

“If I didn’t just see that, I never would have believed it,” she said in disbelief as she picked up the hairs.

Together, we worked to draw another Arcane Circle so we could transform the new hairs into thread. After preparing four more spools, Miss Spencer took the bag over to a table with a sewing machine built into it.

“I’ll teach you how to use this later,” she explained. “Since we’re using fancy thread, I don’t want to run the risk of you making a mistake.”

“That’s fine by me,” I replied, taking a seat so I could watch her work.

As advertised by her class, Miss Spencer was a professional Tailor. She ran the thread in a full circle along the lip of the bag before pleating the sides to allow it to close flush. She opened it and looked inside before handing the bag to me.

“That’s strange, it doesn’t appear to have worked,” she sighed, looking frustrated. “You did use your own shadow, though, so it might work if you try it yourself.”

I sucked in a deep breath before opening the bag. Instead of seeing the cloth interior of the bag, all I saw was darkness. I held it out to Miss Spencer and she just shrugged.

I then reached into the darkness and felt around. There was nothing where the side should be. It wasn’t until I had my entire arm in the bag that Miss Spencer smiled.

“That’s incredible, Oliver,” she said, patting me on the back. “Not only did you make a proper void bag but you personalized it with your hair. Only you can access the contents of that bag. It’s your own personal pocket dimension.”

Void Bag

Grade: A

Made by: Spencer

Owned by: Evans

Usable by: Evans

You have gained 500 experience points.