Insignia was a city covered in pure white snow that sparkled under the high risen sun. I was amazed and irritated by the shine. My eyes hurt when I came out and I barely managed to find my way even with the 5% light resistance I got from the shaded goggles. I know I was still calling them goggles but that's only because the item called itself goggles and not me. If I had a say in this, I would've changed the name to a half-mask or something similar.

Anyway, the city was bright and irritating. I thought it was bright enough in the church but damn this was even brighter.

I found a way to the nearest inn and bought a room for a week. With breakfast and dinner included. I had to sell almost all of my useless junk items to get enough money for the whole week.

I was sitting in the lobby of the inn and waiting for my breakfast when I saw the silhouette of a familiar pair of people. I smiled and waved them over. They were the bird couple from earlier, Vastay's, I think their race was called.

The girl was indifferent when she saw me but the guy behind her was obviously thinking I was a pain in the ass.

"Hey there, what's up?" she greeted me. The name was Eve I thought.

"Hey, nice seeing you here again. Could I ask for some help?" I got straight to the point. No sane person would want to interact with people she angered.

"Ugh, Eve, she's here just to leech of us. Let's leave." the guy cut himself into our conversation and urged his girlfriend to leave.

"Shut it." she said with a deadpan look and turned to me. "I'll help you." She was a nice person after all. "From one ranger to another." Oh so she was a ranger as well. Well, I wasn't one anymore.

"Right, well, let's just go with that." I laughed it off and continued. "It looks like you were here for a day longer than I, do you perhaps know where I could find a place to learn some crafting skills," I asked.

"Gem skills or passive ones? Got any on your particular craft on your mind?" She took a seat and so did the irritating guy.

"Is there a difference?" I asked when I already knew half of the answer.

"Gem skills take up a slot of course so that's that. Knowing you're a ranger I doubt you'll find a slot free for a crafting skill any time soon. Passive ones are harder to learn and may take from weeks to years to learn to do correctly. I recommend going for an easier craft like woodworking or tailoring if you're really interested in stuff like that." Eve explained. She was such a nice girl, what had she seen in that guy then for her to be his girlfriend?

"I was thinking something along the lines of woodworking as well, but I think wooden bows might not make the cut with damage outputs in the long run."

"You're still thinking of wood as the run of the mill stuff you had in your world right?" She smiled.

"Oh god, you're right." I held my palms together in realization. A habit I should've been ridden of in elementary school. "So..."

"So, you can find trees that are quite more durable or flexible in the towers. Also, there's a whole load of enchantments that people could make on your weapon as well. I already see your bow has an enchantment so I guess you found someone to enchant your bow in the meantime." She pointed at my bow with a smile.

Oh god she's amazing. I had to find a way to get her in my party. I lost myself in thought and was brought back with a grunt from that guy.

"Is that all? We need to get going Eve, our clan told us to reach floor 10 at least and we can return."

"You're not competing to be rankers?"

"Why would we want to have a deathwish? Rankers can be challenged by anyone above floor 25 and they could die during those challenges. Being a ranker means that you either try to rise as much as possible so the hunters can't win or to bury your own grave."

I almost choked due to the pressure his words threw at me. Rankers were amazing and scary. As I was lost in thought again he continued.

"Most rankers are psychopaths that have only killing on their mind, most forgot about climbing the tower a long time ago. We had someone in our clan lose his sanity after joining the rankers during his Grace Ceremony-"

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"Right, it was nice hearing that and all but can I get to know where I can find a woodworker's union?" I cut him off and asked Eve.

"Right down the street here is the Crafter's Union. You could try asking there. But Insignia is mostly a adventure center so the quality of the work might be a bit worse than you're used to if you come from a crafter family."

"My family is mostly architects so I have no right to judge the craftsmanship of such people."

"Oh, you're an architect? So you're a ranger, wannabe-tailor and an architect. Talk about a jack of all trades."

"Would you please stop talking? I am trying to make a friend here." Eve frowned at him and shut him up.

"Go to-" He opened his mouth wanting to finish his sentence but a claw hand covered his mouth and grabbed him by the collar.

"Nope, we're going now." Eve stood up and smiled wryly. "I'm extremely sorry about his attitude, he's in a hurry to finish this ceremony we are going through so he can return home."

"It's alright I understand." I waved my hand at her and watched her leave. "[Skill List]."

[Barrage Lv.1] - 10% towards level 2, fires a barrage of 3 spectrals projectiles after usage. [Spectral Enchant Lv.0] - 5% towards level 1, Enchants an item with a random enchantment. [Magic Missile Lv.0] - Add a +1-5 arcane damage modifier while active to any projectile fired. Empty Green Slot Empty Blue Slot [Spectral's Enchantment - Initiate Rank 0] - Each succesful enchant gives you a temporary buff, buff lasts longer depending on the SP stat

"Aight, time to find some gems as well." I stood up and went outside. I was temporarily blinded by the lights of the city which were even stronger in the morning than the afternoon.

I first went to the Crafter's Union and spoke with the person working on the counter at the entrance and asked her or him or it whatever it was where I can learn how to make bows.

I was sent down one of the least populated paths in the building and reached a tree garden with three people working on different items. One tatooed bulky man was working on a piece of furniture and the other two working together on a piece of black colored wood.

I greeted them by saying: "Hi." really shyly and waited for them to notice me.

The bulky man noticed me first and he came up to me and said : "Comission or looking for a job?"

"Latter."

"Guys we have another victim!" He yelled at the other two and I finally caught sight of their faces. They were...satyrs? Brothers I assumed.

"I want to learn how to make bows. Could you teach me?"

"It's going to cost you."

"I have no money, but I can enchant things. Not very reliable but it is an enchantment nevertheless." I tried my first plan. I already expected him to decline the offer but he smirked and threw a silver colored bow at me.

"Enchant. Right here." he sat down and...waited?

"R-Right!" I sat down and used my enchantment skill without even taking a breath. A burst of white light came upon the item and I checked its stats.

Silverwood Thaumatic Bow (rare]

level 5 short bow weapon

Durability:100/100 

Attack Power:1-98

Crit Chance:0.1%

Crit Multiplier:10x

Traits: [Thaumaturgy lv.1] [Growth lv.0]

[Thaumaturgy lv.1] - You can cast the lv.0 spells [Life Channel] and [Identify] from the thaumatic spell book

[Growth. lv.0] - Other traits have a miniscule chance to level up with usage.

"I-I did it! First try!" I stared at the short bow in my hand and was shocked by the enchantment.

"Let me see." the bow was grabbed from my hands by one of the satyrs. "Aye, this is decent for a beginner. But ultimately worthless for a bow."

"W-What?!" I thought I did good though.

"Spells are affected by spell damage and not physical damage. That's why you don't see rangers hurling fireballs around girly. Anyway, The damage was lowered by 2 so I guess the penalty is not too bad."

What about the growth trait though? Was it there before? I should've checked the bow before enchanting...

"Anyway now we have a decent product to sell to those weirdos that go with a spell slinger ranger build. Haha, my mates over here will teach you how to craft bows and some other stuff using some of the common wood types. Doubt you'll ever work with silverwood though, that material costed us a fortune already, you're lucky you didn't break the bow. We would've sent assasins after you girly." the other satyr which was holding the black bow from earlier explained.

"Does that mean I can become an apprentice here?"

"Yeah sure mate. First job is to cut down that tree. You'll enchant one item a day for us. Nothing too expensive though, I saw the worry you had in ya' eye when you were told that you had to enchant an item. Not really confident in your skills are ya?" He grinned.

"It's still level 0 so yeah, not really."

"That explains a lot, but not like levelling the skill would help the success rate a lot. Enchanting is different, no matter if learnt or from a gem, you need to understand the fundementals to guide the energy inside the item." The satyr explained.

"What are you talking 'bout you have no idea how to enchant." The burly man remarked from the sides.

"I read a few books here and there, at least we can read and not just go and fight like your race." the satyr glued his eyes on the burly man and said in a sarcastic tone.

"Aight. Break time over now, bring the girl a change of clothes will ya? Brother, you might go and get her an ax or something sharp, I'll be the first one to teach her the basics of woodworking and bowmanship." the other satyr cut in their little fight and ordered them around. I looked at him in awe of his social skills. And that's how my temporary job as an assistant of two satyrs and a burly man whose race I didn't know started.