Chương 70: Chapter 71: Crafting and Sex

Ash is up in the tower, keeping watch in a slow patrol around the tower, looking in every direction. She seems to be taking it seriously. Gigi is going through the supplies for the fortress and eating whatever looks tasty. She's standing next to a barrel, munching on an apple, when I walk up to her.

"Morning," I say, wiping my eyes.

"Morning." She smiles at me, then offers me an apple. I bite into it, and it's delicious. Not as crisp as I like, but sweet and juicy. I munch for a few seconds, just looking around at the world we're in. It's incredible how different everything is.

"Do you miss it?" I ask her.

"Miss what?"

"The world. All the technology, the entertainment. The peace."

"You know," she says, "I used to feel like I was fighting for my life every day. Like I was just one mistake, one bad decision, from complete disaster. Like I was going to end up living on the street or worse if I wasn't extremely careful. I didn't have money in savings. I didn't have assets. I had a job that I didn't like, an apartment that was too small, and a general feeling of anxiety that the world was about to end around me."

She takes another bite of her apple, eating around the top so as to leave as little core as possible.

"Then it did. The world ended, and suddenly all my problems went away, you know?" I do know what she means.

"No more rent, no more insurance, no more budgeting."

"Exactly," she says.

"Suddenly, I'm thrust in a world where I am now literally fighting for my life every day, but it doesn't feel like it. For one thing, I know that death isn't the end. I'll come back and be able to just keep going even if I do die. But for another, it doesn't feel like these battles are really going to kill me. They don't give me the same anxiety I had.

"El, Ash and I used to play in a larp together. We told you that, right? Ash and I were friends before the larp, but we met El there. We used to fight together all the time, even between games, to practice. We wanted to get better so that we could keep up with the boys without having to go and play the route of damsels in distress or whatever. At the time, I thought we were pretty good. But now. My sword skill is almost fifty, and so is my shield skill. I know I'm good with a sword and shield.

I know I'm better than most. I don't have anxiety about looking stupid when I have a sword in my hand, and I don't feel like my life is ever in real danger as long as I have my sword and board, you know?"

"So what you're saying is that no, you don't miss it?"

"I mean, I miss parts of it. I'd love to be able to listen to music. I wish I had an iPod or something like that. I miss being able to watch TV. But at the same time, I don't feel stressed enough that I need that sort of thing. I don't feel like it matters. I've got music in my head, and that's usually enough. If it isn't, I know I can go to any inn and hear a minstrel playing something I've never heard before. I don't know. It's weird; we come from a world with so much more to do, but I'm not bored here.

I'm never bored here."

"Yeah," I say.

"I was just thinking about getting some crafting done."

"That's exactly what I mean," she says.

"If I'm ever without something to do, I can always just start crafting. I can get secondary skills. Or I can work on my primary skills. I can practice something. I've got a lot of skills. I bet you have a ton of them. You've always been all about the skills."

"Yeah," I say.

"I'm coming up on three hundred and fifty." She lets out a whistle.

"That's definitely more than I have," she says.

"And you've got a bunch of secondary skills too, right?"

"Yeah. Not nearly as many, though. I haven't spent much time crafting."

"Well, let's. I'll come with you." We find the forge with relative ease. There are only so many buildings in the fort, and this is the only one made of stone. There's a work table, an actual forge, and a smelter. Maybe we should smelt down some of the swords for their raw materials. While Gigi does that, I start heating up my sword, hoping to harden the steel a bit more, adding in some of the extra steel from the pieces of swords that I have to play with.

I don't know if hardening steel a second time is a good thing. I want to say that it will make the sword more brittle, even if I am adding steel to it. That may be how it works in real life, but in this gamified world, it improves the sword from 13 to 15, adding ten damage to the minimum and maximum. I start repeating the process while Gigi makes ingots.

"Do you miss it?" she asks me.

"I feel like I should," I say.

"I mean, it's like you said. There's no music, no tv, no video games. There's nothing that I used to do. But there's no job, either. I've got money in pocket, and it's enough to buy everything I want, I think. Most importantly, I'm not worried about food and shelter. I can hunt for my food, and I can build my own shelter. I don't have to worry about some cops coming and making me move, and I don't have to worry about the weather. I can move south if I need to, and just set up a new camp in that direction.

So I guess there's a whole lot less to worry about. That's a good thing.

"Plus, everyone is gorgeous. Like, if they aren't already, the way you three were, they'll get better looking over time. All they have to do is put points into charisma. Which eventually everyone will do, right? We'll all be hot, strong, and probably stupid."

"Why stupid?" she asks.

"There isn't an intelligence stat."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too. But that would be everyone's dump stats, I'm sure. I mean, nothing is based on that."

"Nothing seems to be based on charisma, either. Maybe that'll just stay a dump stat for most people."

"It actually affects a lot," I say.

"You can talk to monsters without killing them if you want to. And if your charisma is high enough, they won't attack. You can just identify them, talk to them, and then move on. You could in theory convince a dragon not to kill you." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"That's why you put those points into charisma, right?"

"Yep. I guess it was kind of a dump stat before that. I wanted to make sure it was high enough that I wasn't getting some kind of penalty for it, but I didn't really care about making it high. Now that it is, though, I really like having it. I get better deals on things, people are more likely to be nice to me, and I don't always have to fight."

"Plus, you got really good looking," she says.

"I suppose there is that," I say.

"If I decide I want to have sex, I can probably find a partner." She nods.

"I'd throw down with you, if you wanted." It's the most blunt invitation to sex I've ever had in my entire life. And somehow, I don't know what to say.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I say.

"Why? Because we're friends? It doesn't have to mean anything."

"What would the others say?"

"El would probably say 'my turn next.' Ash might not say anything, but she'd probably be thinking the same thing."

"I think it would ruin our friendships," I say.

"Suit yourself," she says, shrugging.

"Offer's on the table. Maybe someday I'll get you drunk enough to say yes."

"You mean drunk enough that I can't consent?" She laughs.

"Touche," she says.

"But maybe some alcohol will help you lower the inhibitions you have and let us have a good time. Think about it. You've had sex before, right? Well, that was before you had the stamina you have now. It was before you had the strength, the flexibility. Sex between players, especially as high level as we are, has got to be otherworldly."

"You think so? You sure you're not just building it up to impossible standards?"

"I have standards," she says.

"You just meet them, that's all."

"Thank you for that."

"Do you not think I'm attractive?" she asks. I look at her. She's full of feline grace, her body curving in the right places, the muscles clearly defined even through the shirt she's wearing. Dark hair, bright eyes. A curve of her lip. Smooth skin. She looks soft, even where she's hard as a rock. She looks like she'd be nice to touch.

"I've always thought you were attractive," I say.

"Even when I first met you. You have a beautiful round face and big eyes. You're cute as fuck."

"Did you want to fuck me when we first met?" she asks.

"I mean, in the way that all men want to fuck all women, assuming their sexuality lines up, yes. But I wasn't going to push it. I needed you to help me stay alive."

"And I've done that. So why not hop in the sack?"

"I just don't feel comfortable," I say.

"Okay," she says.

"I won't push. Just know that the offer's there, on the table, any time you get lonely."

"I don't really feel lonely with you guys."

"You sleep in my bed," she says.

"I know how you smell. And I like it. I feel lonely. I want to have sex, just to see what it's like. There. That's out there. You don't want to, and that's fine, I guess. You're not gay, are you?"

"No," I say.

"I don't think so."

"Do you want to sleep with Vincent?" I shake my head.

"So it's not personal? You don't want to sleep with anyone?"

"Not really," I say.

"I think you, El, and Ash are all incredibly attractive, but no, I don't want to sleep with any of you."

"Maybe I'll put some points into charisma. See if that convinces you." She laughs, but I don't think she's kidding. I'm starting to think that this is going to come up again and again, until I finally succumb and go to bed with one of them. Or with all three of them. Do I need to limit myself to one? Am I monogamous? I guess the first question to ask for that is how I would feel if I slept with Gigi and then she slept with Vincent. Would I be jealous? Would I care?

Presumably, she'd be thinking about me when she was with me, so it doesn't really matter all that much. She's a free woman. She can do what and who she wants. I have no claim over her. Do I want a claim? Do I want to claim her as my mate, so none other shall touch her? If I do, what about Ash and El? Obviously, if I'm going to claim Gigi as my mate, I can't also sleep with the other girls. It doesn't work that way. If you're monogamous, you're monogamous. One partner. But for how long?

Maybe we should consider until death do us part. That might not be too long at all. Death could come for any of us at any time. And it's not permanent, but it could be the end of the relationship. Maybe we need to get to know some other people. Maybe date outside the pack. That sounds like a better idea. I don't want to disrupt what we have. I improve my sword two more levels, then get to work sharpening Gigi's. Her sword is awesome. Crusader's Long sword. Very rare weapon 21/30. Base damage: 240-252. +4 strength.

That's just better than my sword. Hands down. Unless I get some kind of bonus stat when I get it up to level 20. Then they might be close to the same level of deadly. I sharpen her blade, working burrs out of the blade and smoothing it down, grinding a bit of the metal off the blade to make it lighter, adding another level to it. My smithing goes up by two for all the improvements I've made. But then I turn to all the leather I have and decide to make something.

I haven't made anything since the bracers that El is still wearing, with the lynxith claws worked into the leather and steel. It's time I made something else. I have recipes for lots of things, but I decide I'm going to try for Wanderer's Boots. If I can make four pairs, then the five of us will all be able to travel at the bonus 20% speed, and we'll cover a lot more distance in the same amount of time. It's good to be able to move faster, even if it doesn't extend to combat.

From what I've seen, no one has magical boots. Gigi's still wearing boots from our world, I think. They're supple leather, and they go up halfway to her knee, laced tightly and with a light rubber sole. Probably cushioned for walking. I wonder if she has inserts. Those would've been a good thing to grab from the stores during the tutorial. I wish I'd thought of it then. El has boots from this world, but they're more like leather lashed to her legs than formal boots. The only person I have to worry about is Ash.

Her boots are metal, like the rest of her armor. But maybe they're big enough that she could wear boots underneath the greaves, and still get the bonuses from both.

"What size shoe do you wear?" I ask Gigi as I start putting the leather, steel, and other materials together.

"Eight and a half," she says. Is that in inches?

"Can I see one of your boots?" She stops smelting and unlaces one of her boots, pulling it off to reveal a thick sock that goes up her ankle. She hands it to me, and I use it to measure out the boot I'm crafting, trying to use it both as a size model and visually as a model for what a boot should look like. This should take me hours. Maybe days.

It should take a long time for me to bend the leather in the right directions, to stitch it to the sole, to make the sole, to cut the leather, and to rivet everything together. It should take me a really long time. But my hands seem to have a mind of their own, and after maybe an hour, I have not one but two boots made. Boots of the Wanderer. Uncommon boot 1/10. +1 armor. +20% movement speed.

I keep working on them, trimming away leather and working an arch into the boot, wearing them in so that they'll be more comfortable. Slowly the boot goes up to level five, and I present that to Gigi.

"I kind of like my boots," she says. Then she shrugs when she looks at the ones I'm giving her.

"But they don't give me this kind of bonus. I can keep my old boots in my bag, I guess. Thanks."

"You're welcome," I say. Then I go back to work, trying to make another pair, though I'm guessing with size. I make the heel of six boots by the time El wanders into the forge to see what we're doing. Gigi has moved on from smelting ore into actual smithing, making herself a dagger. I have El come and get sized for the boots, then I finish them up, using some of the leather from her current boots to complete the pair of wanderer's boots I'm making for her.

"I was going to ask what you're doing," El says.

"Seems like you're getting all cozy with our feet." She laughs.

"I'm just kidding," she says. Then she shrugs.

"Unless you're into that. In which case, no kink shaming. You can totally play with my feet when we screw."

"We're not going to have sex," I tell El.

"Sure we will," she says.

"You just have to get comfortable with the idea. It hasn't been long. Take your time." I roll my eyes.