"Does anyone else think that means what I think it means?" I ask as I stare at the event going on atop my table.

Thirty seconds ago, Todd and I just put the feathers from the lullaby owl king on the table on my patio. Both Ventus and Collin's own magihawk familiar then landed on it and are now dancing and making sounds in a way that very much sounds mocking. They're shaking their bodies, heads, and wings as they hop from side to side in a way that's very unlike how they've acted before.

"I'm thinking…" Chance draws that out for a few seconds. "That certain magihawks were killing off the lullaby owls and that's why we haven't seen any."

"Okay, you two," Todd waves his hands at the birds. "We get it. Stop that. Shoo."

The magihawks let out their versions of laughter before flying off.

"All this worry over the lullaby owls going quiet," I say once the birds have left. "And it was just familiars hunting them down and not telling us. Anyone want to bet that Fea may have been the ringleader?"

"I'll take that bet," Collin says. "That dance was strange."

"Same!" Wyatt laughs. "That bird is really odd!"

"At least we finally know what's going on," I say. "And even managed to take out the king, so there shouldn't be much of a problem with them going forward. Oh, Chance! Topic change! Did you make more of the amulets?"

He'd mentioned earlier that it won't take as long to make a batch of them as it would to make them individually due to being able to craft the alloy all at once. It's cutting the crystals and setting them and making the enchantments that take up most of the time.

"Yeah," he answers as he pulls one out of his hoodie's pocket. "I already finished two of them and gave one to Collin to replace the one he gave to Grace. Here, this one's your replacement. I haven't managed to design them to not need us to charge them yet. It's a little bit different than a bigger enchantment, so I need to do some testing to make sure it's right."

We don't know what will happen if an enchantment that doesn't need very much Mana constantly draws in more than the item needs and can hold. At best, it simply stops working. At worst, it explodes in a spectacularly dangerous fashion.

"That's fine," I tell him. "I can wait for a better one, it just means we need to make sure the people with lower amounts of Mana have someone to charge them for them."

"Yeah," he nods, then looks at Todd. "I'll make yours and your dad's next, just let me finish my current project first."

It would probably not be a bad idea to give mine to Todd or his dad, but they're both fighters who have their own supply of healing potions. The amulets are also made with my materials. Giving ones to Trent and Grace was out of necessity to save their lives.

Chance's current project seems to be making more tables, which doesn't feel as important as making the amulets but I suppose he wanted a break. There's a new one already constructed and sitting in my yard and another that's partway through assembly.

"No worries," Todd says. "We can wait an extra few hours. How much will they cost?"

"They're made from Carter's materials," Chance says. "Mostly. But I already talked with your dad, and he's agreed to pay in trade of services. Butchering and tanning stuff for us that doesn't get sold to the shop but given to us. You can ask him for more details on that."

"Alright," Todd says.

"By the way," I say. "I want to head to the System Shop before washing up and stuff, so I'll probably do that if there's anyone who wants to come with me."

Todd and I spent quite awhile out of here, so it's already nearing time to start making dinner. While it'll be safer to go during sunset, the trips are generally pretty calm apart from the occasional weaker monster attacking on the path. Even that's not really a problem for us anymore.

"Me! Me! Me!" Wyatt bounces up and down while waving. "I want to sell some of my potions! The weaker ones I don't really need anymore."

"Alright," I snort.

"I'd like to go, too," Todd tells me. "To collect the reward for the Quest."

"Alright," I say. "Lucas?"

Lucas looks over from where he's brewing something at the alchemy station, then shakes his head.

"Alright," I say. "Would you mind waiting to start cooking dinner until we get back?"

"Sure," he answers. "How come?"

"Dunno," I shrug. "Just feel like it might be better to wait until after we return."

"Alright," he says. "I-I wanted to ask something about dinner."

The stutter came back? What's making him nervous with this question?

"Shoot," I say.

"I-is it alright if I cook it for e-everyone?" He asks. "N-not charging for it, j-just-"

"Sure," I tell him. "I think it's been a little bit of a long day for everyone, so we can do a group meal. Is there anything you want me to pick up while I'm at the shop?"

While I have plenty of food in storage, some things get used a little bit faster than others, like the stuff which needs to be kept cold.

"We're almost out of breakfast sausage," he tells me. "Both links and ground. And I was thinking maybe burgers for dinner? They sell buns there, and we'll probably need more ground beef after."

"Noted," I say. "I'll go see if Trent and Grace want to come with us. They're at their house, right?"

"Yeah," Collin answers. "I added on a second part to it and Chance enchanted it the same as he did their other but with a warming enchantment. Trent wanted to try doing some pottery in a little bit of a warmer space."

Trent's [Class Starter Kit] came with basic supplies for pottery, including eighty pounds of clay. Having heard from him and Lucas how he likes pottery, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he wanted to give working it a try.

"I made sure it's not as warm as in the tanks for the shower building," Chance tells me. "I fudged the enchantment a little there but know what I did wrong. And don't worry, it's not blazing hot or anything, it's just a little bit hotter than I intended. It's still viable for heating the water for us."

"Alright," I say. "I'll let check on them."

I head over to Trent's and Grace's house and first knock on the door to the house part itself. The pottery portion looks like it was just tacked onto the side, with its own external entrance and a stone path connecting the two doors.

"Oh! Hey, Carter," Grace greets me when she opens the door. "If you're looking for Trent, he's in the pottery workshop. Collin and Chance set it up while you were gone."

Grace is dressed in the clothes she bought at the shop, a pair of black pants and a light blue tank top. Since she's indoors and it's a little warm inside, she doesn't need a hoodie or jacket. A piece of twine holds her hair up in a ponytail, and she's looking much healthier than she did when I saw her first thing this morning.

"Looking for both of you, actually," I say. "Wyatt, Todd, and I are heading to the System Shop in a minute. Wanted to check if either of you wanted to come."

"I don't know about Trent, but I don't," she tells me. "Oh! But your brother gave me some ore from his run into the Dungeon. Want to see the extraction spell? I've already done a few crystals."

"Sure."

Grace steps aside to let me into the house, then closes the door behind me as I examine the room a little. A couple of things stand out immediately.

Chance must have done some additional work in here as well, as there's a hook in the ceiling with a lantern hanging from it. The design isn't the same as he's made before, as the lantern has a glass shell between two thinner pieces of wood, which the glow runes were set into. There's no visible power source, so my brother must have designed it to draw on the ambient Mana in the air.

I'm not sure how they'll deal with it during the night, but I'm sure they'll figure it out.

Another thing he did was set up a second enchantment on the walls in here, on the one opposite the enchantment to draw in Mana. It resembles the water-heating enchantment he used for the shower house, and the room is warmer than outside, so that's no doubt the enchantment to warm the room.

As I look back to Grace, she picks up a stone with small fragments of greysih-white crystal in it from a stone table set up against the front wall. Sitting on the table are eight more of magic crystal ore stones and four small crystals, all of which are air maginiite. All five of her [Basic Mana Potion]s are set out on the table, three of which are empty and one of which is partially used.

"The spell costs a lot of Mana," she tells me as I look from the potions to her with a raised eyebrow. "It costs 500 Mana to cast, which is ridiculous."

That makes plenty of sense, though I hadn't expected it.

"Probably because of what the spell itself is doing," I say. "You're drawing out magic from a stone and probably merging the tiny crystals together? I don't know how the process works. I can't imagine that'd be easy to do, though I had expected it to be cheaper. It's available in the [Starter Pack]."

"Oh, yeah, I thought that, too," she says. "Then used the scroll and was like… the fuck? Doing it the first time boosted my [Mana Manipulation] Skill up to Level 2. It's definitely a complicated spell. It also started with a casting time of 150 seconds, though I had enough Skill Points after getting the Class that I was able to raise that up to Level 2 and reduce it to 135 seconds."

"Know how to gain Levels for the Class?" I ask. "Is it just extracting the ore?"

"Might be other ways, but yeah," she answers. "Reached Level 2 in it after the third one was extracted. Ready to see it?"

"Sure," I answer.

Grace focuses, and a bluish-white spell circle five inches wide forms above the stone, which is about three inches at its widest. As the spell slowly forms, Grace's eyebrows furrow as her concentration increases. She grabs the open bottle of mana potion with one hand and downs some of it as she casts, to replenish the Mana she's losing. As she casts, she has to open another potion to restore more, due to running out of the other.

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When the spell circle finally completes, Grace pulls her hand away from it and holds it over the circle, then releases the stone. She then moves her hand underneath and holds it there as the stone slowly begins to pass through. The stone seems to dissolve away as it passes through the circle, forming into a sort of mist for a moment. That mist quickly gathers together under the spell circle and turns into a crystalline state.

Once the stone has fully passed through and been converted into a small crystal, the spell ends and the crystal plops into Grace's waiting hand. That seems even more complex than I'd imagined. No wonder Grace has to spend so much on it.

"Here we go!" She holds it up to show me the piece of air maginiite. "Collin said he's not sure how much the shop buys them for and asked if I'd wait for you to say before he pays."

"It depends on the amount of magical power in the crystal," I tell her. "Size doesn't matter too much since two crystals of the same size might hold different amounts. Can I see it?"

"Sure," she hands it to me and I examine the crystal for about half a minute before handing it back to her. "Verdict?"

"That one would sell to the System Shop for about 8 syscre," I tell her. "And the shop does a forty-percent increase when selling things, so 11 syscre to buy it form the shop, since it'd probably round down on that. At least, if I'm right about how much air magic is in the crystal. My [Magic Sense] is only Level 1 so I'm not too good at sensing magic outside of me. Each one would probably need examined individually."

"Hm…" she thinks. "How much do mana potions cost? Do you know?"

"I tested it with some, yeah," I answer. "Keep in mind that the System probably buys things for less than their value and sells them for more than it, in order to encourage people to trade and sell directly with one another."

"Alright," she says.

"A crude one sells for 5 syscre per dose," I tell her. "So you can by it for 7 syscre per dose at the shop, but only in the containers sold there. So if someone sells three ounces of a crude one, that's 60 syscre for the bottle to sell to the shop and 84 syscre to buy it from the shop. How much Mana it restores doesn't matter for the cost. For basic potions, you can buy them for 216 syscre per three-ounce bottle."

"Damn," she looks at the bottle she'd drunk from. "It takes 500 Mana to cast this, and those only restore 20 Mana per dose. That's what, twenty-five doses? I don't have to drink that much for one, but…"

"Yeah," I say. "Kind of expensive."

"That, they are," she agrees.

"Yup," I say. "Crude potions seem to have less than 20 Mana restored per dose, and I asked at the shop and found out that the basic ones restore 20-49 Mana per dose based on the ingredients and the crafting quality. So if you're looking at a per-Mana cost… the shops are charging a little less than 0.4 syscre per 1 Mana. If my math is right."

It also means that the shops really are selling the lowest-restoring [Basic Mana Potion]s possible, just as I'd suspected.

"That'd be…" she thinks for a moment. "Wait. Easy math. Damn, that's 200 syscre per crystal if we go with the Mana cost."

"Yup," I chuckle.

"Well," she says. "I do get it a little cheaper than that, but still. But if I charge as much per crystal as might be estimated by that, it'd be better to sell them to the System Shop."

"Probably," I say. "Would only really be worth it for crystals worth thousands already."

"This Class is probably meant for that sort of thing," she says. "Trent and I have to rely on you guys for some stuff, anyway. I think I'll just charge 9 syscre to extract, a little bit less than the System Shop charges for you to buy them from there."

"Mind," I say. "There's a variance in how much magic they hold based on how far into the Dungeon the stones were taken from, so some will probably be worth than others."

Grace looks at the crystals and stones on the table, then looks at me.

"Fuck that," she says. "I'll have to work on my [Magic Sense] before I can get good enough for that. Just… any from that particular Dungeon, I'll do 9 syscre for extraction for now."

"Alright," I say. "Anything you want me to get you while I'm at the shop? We can deduct it from what I owe you when I bring you crystals to extract."

"Half off until it's repaid," she says. "Sounds fair?"

"Sure," I answer.

"And for the shop…" she thinks about it for a few moments. "I'd say mana potions, except those are too expensive for that for what I want them for. Though I guess until I get my Class up a little more, it won't be possible."

"What's your max right now?" I ask.

"I'm at 37 Mana," she answers. "It'll be quite awhile before I reach enough to do this from full."

"Keep at it," I tell her. "And you might want to check the shop for Quests related to this."

"Already did," she sets the crystal down. "Requires refining ten crystals of the same ore type. That's actually why Collin only gave me air maginiite ore. I do get [Basic Mana Potion]s from it, so that'll help some. And I don't have to turn in the crystals, I just have to extract them. There are different ones for different types, so I can technically repeat it, but I'm focusing on the air one at the moment."

With the spell costing her 450 Mana thanks to being at [Mana Manipulation] Level 2, she needs to restore 413 Mana from potions while extracting, or roughly 20.5 doses' worth if my math is correct. The potions from the [Starter Kit]s only have 32 doses in them. That's not enough for her to finish extracting the ten.

This Class is probably meant for someone who's already got a fair few Levels to their name. She'll probably gain more Levels from extracting the other eight ore on the table, which will help reduce how much Mana she needs to restore during extraction by a little bit…

"I'll get you ten more," I tell her. "They'll be eight-ounce ones as those are the only size the shop carries by default. That means the price is going to be high, but we can discuss separate repayment for those later. That should help you get some Class Levels and complete a couple of the Quests for the Class."

"Any tips for boosting my Mana pool?" She asks. "I know that it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to raise [Elemental Mage] as well for the added Mana, but I'm not really fond of the idea of going out to fight."

"It's not purely a combat Class," I tell her. "You can gain Levels in it by doing more complicated tasks than you're used to. Just experiment around with the magics and figure out new things, and you'll manage."

"Alright," she says. "Would you mind buying us some more food? Trent and I are glad for the kits, bars, and pouches, but want a little bit more variety and don't want to mostly eat the meal packs for awhile. Though I guess nothing which needs refrigerated, since we don't have those."

"I mean," I say. "You could just make a stone building for storing cold stuff right now, considering the temperature outside."

"Yeah, but if it freezes, some stuff might be out of luck."

"Talk with Chance," I tell her. "He made the warming enchantments, so he's probably figured out how to make refrigeration boxes."

"Oh, that's a good idea," she says as I look at the enchantments on the wall in here. "Chance added in a warming enchantment in here, too. I'm pretty grateful to him. It's more comfortable in here without having to deal with that burning sensation or a persisting cold. These amulets are wonders, too."

"They are," I nod. "Chance is turning out to be damn good at enchantments. Like I said, ask him about a refrigeration box. He might not be fine with worrying about the cost later on that, but it won't hurt to try."

"I'll do that," she says.

"Cool," I say. "And yeah, I'll pick up some more food for you two. Speaking of food – Lucas is going to cook for everyone once I get back from the shop, if you and Trent want to join us."

"Alright," she says. "Thanks."

"No problem," I say. "I'm going to go check on Trent now and see if he wants to come with."

"Okay," she says as I start to leave. "And Carter?"

"Yeah?" I look at her.

"I know you don't trust me a whole lot," she says. "I understand the reason behind it."

"I didn't know you that well and the situation was suspicious," I shrug. "I'm still not sure how you two were able to survive the monsters with what you two claimed and while I know Trent well enough… well, if you're really trustworthy, then I'll get to see that over time."

"Thanks for giving me the chance," she says. "Instead of just shutting me out without one."

"You're welcome," I say. "See you later."

I leave and head over to the pottery room, knocking on its door.

"Come in!" Trent calls from within.

When I enter, I find multiple stone shelves set up in here, along with a pottery wheel and a bucket of what looks like water mixed with clay. Another stone table is set up next to that with several tools on it, and Trent's sitting on a stone stool at the wheel while making another bowl. Is he not able to manipulate clay with [Earth Mastery]?

Jars of glaze sit on one of the shelves in here, and a table has been set up. Multiple bowls and cups have already been made and are sitting on some of the shelves as well.

Two small wooden crates sit against a wall, though they seem like they're sealed against air entry. Do those hold the clay that he was given in the kit?

I don't know what was in Grace's [Class Starter Kit], but Trent clearly had plenty of supplies and a pottery wheel with a step pump.

Enchantments like the ones in the other room are on the walls in here and an enchantment for light is set on the ceiling. Since no one's sleeping in here, Chance probably felt it was better to just make that instead of a lantern. The light coming from it is still silvery, though, so I'm not sure how good it is for this kind of work.

"You look like you're having fun," I comment as I look at some of the bowls he made.

"A little," he confirms. "I actually do like doing pottery and missed it. Your brothers helped set up the room, and Chance said he'll try to figure out how to change the color of the light… eventually."

"Make sure to pace yourself," I say. "You're still recovering and it's a physical job."

"I know, I know," he says. "I'm almost done for the day. Was going to make this one and another, then get cleaned up and see what Grace wanted to do for dinner. We got different things for our food options. Figured it'd be better for variety."

"Lucas is going to make something for everyone if you want to come," I tell him. "Most likely burgers if he actually wants to prepare and grill that many patties. I just let Grace know, too. But I'm heading to the System Shop with Wyatt and Todd first and wanted to check if you wanted to come."

"Nah," he says. "I don't have any money yet and this stuff won't be ready for awhile."

"I'll get you guys some stuff," I say. "You'll just have to repay later. Grace already asked for a couple of things."

"I guess a little extra food, then," he says, causing me to laugh. "What?"

"Grace said the same thing," I tell him. "Yeah, I'll get some. Oh! Just realized, but I forgot to tell Grace. Can you let her know? Todd and I came across the lullaby owl king while we were out and killed it, so we shouldn't worry too much about them coming after us."

"Really?" His eyes widen a little. "That's good news. Did you manage to figure out what was going on with the lack of attacks?"

"Not while we were out."

"You figured it out after coming back?"

"The magihawks were mocking the feathers that Todd and I showed the others," I tell him. "So we're making a guess in that it was that the familiars were hunting the owls and just not telling us. We're also suspecting that Fea might be the ringleader behind that."

"Those birds are weird," he snorts.

"That, they are," I agree. "Anything else you want me to get from the shop? Again, we can discuss the repayment later."

"Not that I can think of at the moment," he answers.

"Alright," I say. "Someone will let you guys know when it's dinnertime, if you're not over there by then. Oh! Also, you can ask one of the others about learning [Water Mastery] if you don't already have it."

I glance at the bucket that's filled with the water-clay mixture, then look at him again.

"Chance filled that while he was in here doing his enchantments," he tells me. "It's slip, a mixture of clay and water. Uh… a pottery thing. I was planning on asking for a lesson on the spell so I don't need to constantly ask others for more."

"Actually," I say. "I was thinking it might be useful for drying the clay faster. I don't know if drying quickly will cause it to crack if it's an even dry, but I've been using [Water Mastery] to draw out the water of wood at an even rate and it doesn't crack."

"That'll probably work for clay," he says. "And I can probably use [Earth Mastery] to seal it back up. I can manipulate clay with it, I just feel like doing it by hand."

"I'd wondered that," I say. "Might be worth practicing on wood first if you want to remain 'by hand' for shaping your pottery. You'd need to get a feel for how to draw the water out so the internal level remains consistent. Anyway, I'll be heading out now. See you later."

"See ya," he responds.

I leave and head over to where Todd and Mr. Baxter are setting up their home. Todd's talking with his father at the moment, who is probably the one who constructed the stone building that's set up, since he's got plenty of Mana to spare. It looks like it has two parts to it based on the doors set up for it as well. A decent amount of the trees in the area he wants have already been felled and moved off to the side and they're currently in the process of removing underground in the cleared zone.

"Hey, Carter," Mr. Baxter greets me. "I know we'll be getting a builder in within the next week or so, but Todd and I can wait for a house. They'll probably want to get settled in as well."

"Yeah," I say. "I'm going to make a temporary one for them and one for Tessa tomorrow so that we at least have them ready by the time they arrive. I'll get Chance to enchant them as well. Did he do your guys'? I think we should at least have the one for drawing Mana out of the air as a standard, just to make the houses safe in that regard."

If Chance wants payment for doing that, then I can work something out with him. This one's more of a basic safety feature, so that we don't have to constantly use the amulets.

"Already done," Mr. Baxter tells me. "Todd and I already have [Mana-Infused Body] as well. I received the knowledge of how to earn that as part of Quest incentive, so Todd and I worked on it for us first thing."

"Ah, cool," I say. "Did Chance make you one of his new lanterns?"

"He did," Mr. Baxter answers. "We'll have to cover it at night, but it lights up the inside pretty alright. Not a fan of the silver… but things are as they are."

"Knowing Chance, it shouldn't be more than a few days before he can change the color," I say. "It'll annoy him enough that he'll take a break from whatever he's working on at the time to fix it. Anyway! Todd, I'm going to head back to the house and grab some stuff and Wyatt, then head to the System Shop. If you're planning on coming with us, make sure you're ready to go by then."

"Will do," he responds.