Once Regina and I are safely back in Diamond Lake, we reopen the shop, easily absorbing the work that the handful of people that had decided to wait for our return rather than purchase from someone else set aside for us. Per my instruction, Regina takes a few days to find some motivated and capable workers to manage the day-to-day operations of the business. She is finding and training her replacement.

I have been preparing for the last 6 months to leave. I have been earning money by producing and selling high quality goods, which would be time consuming and inefficient for most people, but due to the breadth of skills I already possess and the advantage that my manufacture schematics and magical crafter spells provide, are downright economical for me. The majority of my profits, though, continue to come from accepting commissions for customized work that I can deliver in remarkable time, and I am then able to turn those profits towards further preparing myself to do even more dangerous activities.

Now that I have some new abilities, my revised plan includes staying here for a while longer than I had expected to before. I intend to take advantage of the new capabilities that this level gave me both to keep my shop running after all, and to add some additional capabilities to my field arsenal. I immediately dive into creating Homunculi.

I buy the materials needed for a construct lab, and then get busy making clay crafters. The clay crafter is competent at 2 things, not as good at their skills as I would be, but they do operate at a professional level. Their skill will never improve unless I spend more time and money to improve them beyond the additional template, but since they are already competent I am confident in their ability to keep the shop in business while Regina and I are out.

Clay Crafters are tiny and ugly and look almost like the sort of gremlin one might expect to see in a 1945 animated short, wreaking havoc on an airplane. Despite their size and the consequent lack of efficiency, but since they work 24 hours a day their actual daily productivity is in line with what a human crafter would perform over the course of their own work day.

I build one clay crafter skilled in weapon smithing and tailoring, another for armor smithing and leatherworking, then another for bowyering and fletching, another for papermaking and bookbinding, another for alchemy and blacksmithing, another for potion making and fletching, and another for paper and map making. When I leave, the last 2 will come with me to save me the imbuement slots since map making, potion making, and ammunition replacement are jobs that never really end while you're on the road.

The first 5 though? They will continue to provide a manufacturing backend for the business, providing goods to keep it afloat. Next, I make 3 metal hounds, 2 of which will serve as guardians for the shop while I am away. As you might expect they are shaped and sized in a metal approximation of a Doberman Pinscher, except that they are made of iron and many of the rods used in their construction were flattened to create a spiky appearance, with the associated metal serving as a combination of heavy armor and incidental blades.

Next, I make 3 wooden crossbowmen, 1 of which will also stay to guard the business. I then create an Ashen Infiltrator, which will be coming with me to serve as a scout. And finally, marking the end of my Homunculi building craze, I make 2 walking chests, which are wooden chests that follow me around and can carry significantly more weight than I can, with arms built into the inside which can sort through their contents and hand anything I want that they are carrying to me.

The wooden crossbowmen are little more than a crossbow with arms attached allowing it to load, crank, and fire itself, with 2 small wooden pegs on the bottom along the "limb", with a third near the back of the stock, which serve as its legs. The ashen infiltrator is humanoid shaped but very small and constructed, as you likely guessed, out of ash. And for the wooden chest? It is just a chest, but with wooden jointed arms, and 4 wooden legs.

I haven't read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series in a long time, but it reminds me a little of "The Luggage" seen in that series, or perhaps somewhat like the prototypical mimic but without all the teeth. Walking chests are basically useless in combat, though theoretically they might be able to do something like feed me a potion if I get knocked out. In telepathic communication at least, that is a suggestion that it makes for how it can be useful in a fight. I didn't build the walking chests to fight though, so even that suggestion is more than I'd expected of them.

In total, by the time that I am ready to leave the shop in the hands of the 2 individuals, a brother sister pair that Regina found, liked, and trained, including the detour to collect what we could of Jim's remains, we have been in Diamond Lake for 249 days. Most of a year, with very little danger, and very little development when it comes to levels. But not when it comes to items.

The healing potions sell like hot cakes, and custom crafted full plate armor, sometimes including special materials and engravings and so on, is firmly in the luxury goods category where the sales are few and far between but extremely lucrative. My little business has been making a small fortune, and that fortune was greatly assisted by the discovery that outside of the rewards for the commission itself, the amulet One Eye had been wearing was both powerful and expensive. It increased the defensive value inherent to a person, which is a highly sought after benefit, and consequently is far more valuable than the degree of improvement really merits. For that reason we opted to sell it and use those earnings to purchase additional materials for other things I perceived as carrying greater benefit.

That is basically what I have been doing since our last return to Diamond Lake: reinvesting much of this businesses earnings into additional magical items. During this time I created a magical torch for Regina and myself, which floats above our heads when active, casting light all around. A small bead that creates a constantly burning campfire within a designated area until you retrieve it, a cauldron that magically blends ingredients in nonmagical alchemical concoctions to increase their effect (which I will be leaving at the shop in the hands of the clay alchemist for use in a variety of alchemical concoctions), bracers that make Regina's arrow fire more effective, an amulet for each of us that provides a series of bonuses to skills and fortune, boots which greatly increase our movement speed, goggles that Regina can wear to see as well as I do when lighting is limited, a belt that makes us more flexible, a regenerating rope, some anklets which we can activate for a minor teleportation effect, magical bedrolls that allow us to gain the benefit of a full night's sleep in only 2 hours, another set of bedrolls where we will be protected from even harsh environmental conditions, a waterskin that when activated continuously refills itself, a spoon that when activated continuously refills itself with a nutritionally balanced stew, and a magical cloak for each of us that provides protection against unconventional attacks such as magic and traps.

Beyond that, I have been making additional schematics; One to Locate Cities, another to determine the lay of the land in a large area around us, one to read and understand the contents of books very quickly, another spell to copy some nonmagical text to another book, a series of schematics that grant 24 hour boosts to everything from movement speed to alertness to jumping ability and which have a synergistic effect towards your awareness, a spell that conjures a permanent small stone wall, and another that allows several people to be more resistant to designated energy attacks, as well as a second schematic for almost all of the old schematics I had used, excluding only suggestion, which is only useful against sentient creatures and which loses its utility quickly as levels progress.

Throughout the course of this time period running a business to fund my magical item creation tendencies, I never had more than 16,000 gold on me at any given moment because I continuously reinvested it, but I shudder to think how much money all of this has cost me during that time. I do question if I all of my decisions were the best choices, but I am keeping my gaze directed towards the long run, and my item creations tend to reflect that. Those homunculi alone totaled over 26000 gold to produce, but courtesy of how long it took to create them and having had several high spenders waiting as much as a month to put their custom orders in, I was able to generate a rather absurd amount of revenue in a limited period of time, which allowed me to afford them.

If I could craft magic weapons and armor, I certainly would. I still lack many capabilities; especially when it comes to direct combat. But I feel far stronger than I did when we went to take on that last Orc commission. It's not just my imagination, either, I truly am far harder to kill than I used to be. It probably doesn't sound like it based on how many of the things I've made are relevant towards utility rather than combat, but I have little to fear from most people or monsters anymore. Due to the homunculi I can fight most things now, and if I can't fight whatever the threat is, I should be able to run away from them now. I believe the greater danger at this point will relate to environments where my ability to function properly is impaired, for instance if I find myself needing to go underground, where night vision is inadequate because it can only amplify existing light.

After the level up, and after nearly a year spent crafting, it is time to go and do something stupid. It has been long enough that I occasionally find myself getting nostalgic and wanting to do something to help out my tribe, but I don't have unlimited resources, and I would prefer not to divide myself further yet.

If I went back to Metro to try and set up my business there I would need to completely abandon Diamond Lake, which is far more profitable than the Lizardfolk village could be. As much as they would benefit from having me on hand to make things for them, they'll need to keep waiting. With my Diamond Lake business running in the background continuing to earn money, albeit much less of it since I will not be around to brew magical healing potions and instantly accomplish custom requests, I will eventually have enough resources to bring the profits back to them as well. As I get ready to leave, I look at my current status:

Name:

Braza

Class:

Architect

Level:

4

Race:

Lizardfolk

Derived Attributes:

Defense:

Health:

Attack:

9

38

3

Primary Attributes:

Strength:

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Agility:

Toughness:

Intelligence:

Wisdom:

Willpower:

8

10

20

17

13

13

Languages:

Common

Draconic

Goblin

Giant

Orc

Canid

Special Qualities:

Cold Blooded

Night Vision

Claw

Bite

Natural Armor

Exceptional Lungs

Natural Swimmer

Exceptional Balance

Simple Weaponry

Medium Armor

Architectural Comprehension

Disable Traps

Variable Item Creation

Scroll Manufacturing

Potion Brewing

Craft Miscellaneous Magic Items

Magic:

Imbuement:

4

Skills:

Operate Magical Devices

Spellcraft

Investigation

Arcane

Architecture

Engineering

Concentration

Appraise

Blacksmithing

Weaving

Stonemasonry

Leatherworking

Carpentry

Weapon Smithing

Armor Smithing

Bowyer

Fletcher

Open Locks

Balance

Sculpting

Cobbling

Poison Making

Alchemy

Herbalism

Navigation

Shipwright

Wheelwright

Glassmaking

Talents:

Efficient Architect

Craft Schematics

Construction

Equipped Items:

Quicksilver Full Plate

Superior Light Crossbow

Magical Torch

Retractable Quicksilver Light Shield

Hat of Disguise

Amulet of Fortune

Boots of Travel

Belt of the Acrobat

Flash Step Anklets

Minor Cloak of Safety

2 Potions of Healing (T2)

Schematics:

2x Competent Crafting (1)

2x Competence (2)

2x Divine Inspiration (2)

3x Invigoration (1)

2x Manufacture (3)

2x Invisibility (2)

Suggestion (2)

Locate City 20 km (1)

Know Terrain 100 km (1)

Knowledge Transfer (2)

6x Copy Text (1)

Stone Wall (3)

Group Energy Resistance (3)

Primitive Instincts (2)

Primitive Sight (3)

Primitive Speed (4)

Primitive Hunting (1)

Yes, yes, I know that some of the things I mentioned are not present in my status window. Why on earth would I have multiple bedrolls physically on my person unless I had to? No, my bedrolls, my rope, my water skin, my spoon, my magical torch, and my bead are all in my walking chest, along with other basic supplies such as flint and steal, a tent, a fishing net, a spare healing potion, and most importantly for me, a limited quantity of spare crafting materials in case I need to craft in a hurry are all being carried by my walking chest.

Aside from carrying spare adventuring gear, my plan is to use the walking chest primarily to help carry loot. Hauling that Shaman for hours on end was miserable. The walking chest might not be able to carry an Orc, encumbrance alone would make that difficult, but it could handle their weapons and armor with little difficulty. And besides, it might be able to carry an Orc. I have not had an appropriately sized subject to try it out.

You probably remember that I made 2 walking chests, right? Well the second walking chest is there for Regina to use, and she uses it in much the same way I do, to carry the things she thinks she might need to use immediately on herself, while putting the things she should have a bit of notice before needing into the walking chest. The walking chest only listens to me, but all I have to do is tell it to listen to her and it follows her vocal instructions without issue. Since she cannot communicate with them via telepathy, her walking chest cannot predict her desires the way mine can, but needing only to ask for another quiver of arrows, or to have it sort a loose bundle of arrows into a quiver, or to pull out a bedroll, or to give her a potion… It is still very convenient for her.

Finally, I attend my third in a series of appointments with bureaucrats of increasingly high position. This time around, I am speaking to the man I was trying to reach all along, the mayor of Diamond Lake. He is nowhere near as conventionally powerful as Marzan, but his authority within the city is real.

2 Hours later, with our immediate concerns handled as well as they can be given our current skills and abilities, we have a nice meal at the poshest restaurant we have found that will not kick me out due to a “no claws, no tails, no teeth” policy, and then we set out. It'll be nice not to have to pay for the herbs we use making healing potions again. It will be even nicer to stretch the legs out and do something aside from building for a little while. It is time to find some dwarves.