Darius drummed his fingers on their new table. They had found a stack of logs in the yard, so after Josh caught them up he made some furniture. It was rough, but it would serve.

“There are quite a few implications here, I hope you understand.”

Josh shrugged. He continued making another chair, this time without using his spells. His hands followed the blueprint, making it easy to multitask. “There's a lot, sure, but I'm not sure how much of it is important, you know?”

Ruth, also making furniture, looked up in surprise. “Not important?”

He held up a hand for peace. “I'm worried that the dragon has minions coming after us. I'm worried that he's willing to kill an entire town to get to us. Other than that? It all seems to be just fluff and background.”

“Really,” Darius said, his voice dripping with condescension. “You don't think evidence of non-human sapients and alternate worlds is important.”

“Not non-human, remember?” Mary put in. “Josh said the elf said he didn't like being called an elf.”

“I just mean it doesn't seem all that important to the problem of, y'know, not dying,” Josh said. His chisel slipped on the wood, and he almost cut himself. He focused and started using his techniques again. “I don't know if there's, I dunno, a multiverse or whatever.” He paused. “All I know is they're not helping. I'm not going to worry about them before they get off their asses and do something.”

He didn't want to think about it too much. Because... what if they could help? They didn't need to bring armies or anything like that. It had already been proven that at least one person could travel here from another world. Was there any reason he couldn't stuff his pockets with bloodstones before he came here, share those with the locals?

Josh's own experiences demonstrated how valuable a new bloodstone could be. What if they had something more? A Gatherer bloodstone would make the logistics of supplies easier on all fronts. A Scholar bloodstone would solve most of their information problems. And an Explorer bloodstone...

He closed his eyes and sighed. The things he could do with an Explorer bloodstone... Mapping and treasure finding at lower levels. Full teleportation at higher levels. If they had an Explorer bloodstone, they could have found any others far faster. The Woodcrafter bloodstone in the factory proved they were out there. A mid-leveled Explorer would have found it years ago.

Even a common Combat bloodstone would be invaluable. A Gunner bloodstone would save everyone loads of time and effort, since they wouldn't have to go through all the effort of advancing through the Archer class first.

The Eight Immortals were looking for bloodstones, he knew, but none of them had the right abilities. They were specialized for combat and survival, not finding lost treasure. That was, after all, why they were the only ones who had survived the Last Raid.

Mary clapped her hands, interrupting his thoughts. “So, what's the plan?” she asked. “I don't think anyone wants to just sit around waiting to get killed by some elf guy.”

“The elf is dead, Mary,” Josh said flatly. But he was grinning. God, he thought he'd never get a chance to take the piss with her again.

Darius frowned. “If we are not going to discuss the multiversal implications, then...” He sighed. “That's fine. I suppose.” His tone made it clear it wasn't fine, but he was willing to put it aside for now. Josh genuinely appreciated that. “But we can at least call him something other than elf.”

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Mary laughed. “You really think that's what's important now?”

Ruth pointed a carving knife at her, face firm. “There's no reason to misname people, especially if they've asked us not to!”

“He said his name was Mizuno Masahiko,” Josh said. He had mentioned that before. It had likely been lost in everything else that had been going on.

Mary frowned. “So, was he, y'know, Japanese?”

Josh shrugged helplessly.

Mary thought for a moment. “How 'bout we call him the Tamer?”

Darius sighed. “Fine. Simple, straightforward, easy to remember.” He adjusted his glasses. “Now, what is the plan?”

Josh leaned back on his hands. “You've met the mayor. What are the chances of setting up a similar system as in Gilroy Crossing? We give up the bloodstones, they give up the materials, fortify the village?” He didn't say so aloud, but they'd avoid upgrading the citystone, at least right away. He was certain that was what had drawn the monster horde.

All three of his friends grimaced.

He chuckled. “Wot, it's that bad?”

“The mayor... wasn't helpful,” Darius said at last. “It took a great deal of difficulty to even receive these homes for the refugees. I do not believe that we will be able to extract any more concessions from him.”

Josh sighed. “Well, bollocks.” After a moment, he shook his head. “Sod it all. I didn't want to do that again anyway. We've got to go harder this time. Sort out how to power-level.” He looked at Ruth. “Any chance you've made Rune Architect yet?”

She winced. “Not... exactly.” She paused, then removed her mask.

He frowned, but scanned her. She identified as a [Level 34 Attacker].

He blinked. “Wot? How did you—” It only took a moment for his brain to realize the logical solution. “You went for Rune Warrior, didn't you?” He didn't know where she had found an Attacker bloodstone, but it wasn't as if they were rare.

She looked surprised that he had figured it out. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

He waved her apology off. “No troubles. You've still got your runes, and you can still enchant junk. That's what matters most.” Rune Architect would have allowed her to do large-scale enchanting, from enchanting buildings to mass-enchanting items. Most importantly, it would have allowed her to upgrade citystones further. Since that wasn't part of the plan any more, it wasn't the end of the world. If they decided they needed that after all, she should be able to advance to Rune Architect next time using a Crafter bloodstone.

“What about you two?” he asked, looking at Mary and Darius. “Mary, you get yours?”

She nodded and pulled off her own mask. He scanned her, which confirmed what she said. “Level 35 Mage Gunner.”

“I am still a Shroudcrafter,” Darius said. Josh scanned him, and at least confirmed that he was level 35. “At level 32 I received an interesting ability to drain magical items and materials so that I could infuse items directly. It should improve my crafting considerably.”

Josh nodded. He had known about that ability, but he hadn't known if Shroudcrafters got it. “Did you learn any new shroud blueprints?”

“Just one. It is a minor improvement. I believe that I will need to learn how to craft stronger shrouds myself, through trial and error.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Even Crafter classes didn't give all that many blueprints on level up. You had to figure them out yourself. It made sense that a hybrid Defender class would be worse about it. “At least you'll have an easier time with that, with your new spell.”

“Perhaps.” Darius didn't seem convinced.

Josh took that as evidence he hadn't managed to test out his new spell yet.

“What about you?” Ruth asked, leaning forward with wide, eager eyes. “You said you're still a Stonecrafter, right? Did you get anything good at level 32?”

“I got an aura I can't use,” he said with a grunt. “My mana is too low. It reserves five, and I've only got five.”