After Lilith pulled the claw out of my back, I gave a pained yelp. Using the last of the rags dangling from my chest, I made a makeshift bandage to cover my wound. While Lilith worked to harvest the silk from the spiders, I was working to whittle down the pygmy spears as far as possible. “So, how did you do that trick with the plant?”

The dagger was still in the root off to the side, which was still lighting up the area as Lilith retrieved as much silk as she could. “Hmm? Oh, that’s something I learned in the thirteenth layer. I got trapped in a cave for nearly a week, and found this strange root. At first I thought I could cut it open and get some water or nutrients, but as soon as I stabbed it, it lit up like this. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to find one here or not, but it was our best bet to not have to go down another layer yet.” She offered me a comforting smile as she said that, obviously still wanting to spare me from the rapid deaths. And, I had to silently thank her for that.

“I see. Glad that you did, otherwise it might have gotten a bit messy.” I let out a dry chuckle, then winced when it caused my wound to flare up with pain. “Okay, note to self, laughing hurts. Would really like some healing magic about now.”

Lilith grinned dryly as she removed the last of the usable silk from the dead spiders. “Wish I had the chance to learn it before, but magic isn’t exactly a cheap art. You need at least ten thousand sin to hire a teacher, and that’s if you are lucky enough to pick it up in the first lesson.”

I nodded my head sadly at that. Sin was the currency used in Layers of Hell, and ten thousand was not a small amount. That was enough to pay for two months of rent for a nice house on the tenth layer, if the numbers were the same as I was used to. Looking over, I grimaced at the tangled mess of silk that Lilith had pulled out from the spiders.

With a sigh, I held up one of the finest wooden needles I had managed to refine.

Do you wish to equip Lesser Wooden needle?

I smiled slightly, mentally accepting. I wasn’t sure why it asked me this time, rather than simply doing it on its own like when I used my weapons. Either way, once I accepted, I felt a rush of information, and new options appeared in my mind. Ways to use this tiny splinter of a needle as a weapon, or more importantly as a crafting tool.

Refine Silk Thread. I really hoped this would work, but as soon as I thought the name for the skill, my hands began moving on their own. Within a few short minutes, I was spinning the thread into a neat spool of thread, rather than the tangled mess.

Each spider produced enough wool for several small spools of silk thread, and my hands kept moving with almost unnatural precision as I worked the slick threads. Off to the side, Lilith’s eyes had long ago widened to the point of looking like they were about to fall out. Her mouth was hanging so wide I was afraid a bug would fly into it.

Nearly an hour later, I had finished sorting the last of the thread, letting out a sigh of relief. My hands felt numb from the continued work, but I knew that I was just beginning. I didn’t have a loom to turn these into cloths, so the only option I had was to make the clothes by hand. Simple Shirt.

Again, my hands began moving by themselves, with abnormal speed and precision. At some point I had picked up a second needle, and lost track of my own movements. For the measurements and design, I naturally pictured Lilith, as this was intended for her. Time passed, and the light from the root began to dim. Lilith, panicking, ran around to find another such root to stab before the shadow lurkers could return.

Thankfully, she did find one after only a few minutes of searching, and we had bright light once again! This time, it took me nearly two full hours to make the shirt, and somehow it turned out decently. The glossy black fabric gave it a particular shine, and its size was just right to perfectly fit Lilith. She accepted it carefully, as if it was a divine relic she feared would break under her touch.

“W-wow, you really did it. I’m impressed…” She said with a small smile as she put the shirt on, finding the holes in the back to slip her wings through. It really was just a simple shirt, with sleeves going down halfway to her elbows.

“Don’t get too worked up yet, I still need to make you some pants…” By now, I was out of breath, my hands sore. I had pricked myself with the needles more than once, and had even broken a few needles. They were made of wood, after all. I had to use broken spider legs as the center for the spools, so none of this had been a good day.

“Oh… I guess that’s right.” She said with a nod. “Something small works. Just so long as it covers everything. Don’t push yourself too much.”

I couldn’t tell if my display of skill had simply amazed her too much or if she was really showing a softer side. Either way, after letting my fingers stretch for a few minutes, I got back to work. Like she said, something small works. For this, I simply made short shorts, black cloth pants that went halfway down her thighs. This did not take nearly as long as the shirt, but left my fingers feeling equally exhausted.

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After she put it on, I took a moment to look her over and admire my work. Really, black silk clothes on a red skinned girl looked very nice. However, I didn’t think I was ready to try making my own stuff yet. “So… can we get moving, see if we can find a city before we have to go down another layer? Making stuff like this would be much easier if I had proper tools.”

“O-oh, right!” She nodded her head quickly, turning around to look out at the horizon. “Hmm, that way should have one.” She pointed off to the distance, where there seemed to be a vague gathering of lights just over the horizon.

I smiled, gathering up what was left of the silk. There wasn’t enough here for me to make clothes for me as well as a bag, so I opted to just carry it by hand. “Think you can cut off part of that root to serve as a torch?”

Lilith blinked at my suggestion, but immediately gave it a shot. Luckily, the root did not lose its glow after being severed, so we were able to carry it with us as a source of light. Which was nice because it kept a lot of the monsters from this layer at bay. Otherwise, with me already limping from a stab wound that I had to devote one hand to in order to apply constant pressure, we never would have made it if we actually had to fight something.

Still, the walk took us over six hours, having to stop and find new roots to use as torches four times before we were close enough to that distant light source that the torch was unneeded. What we saw there was a tall wall of stone, and glowing bulbs placed along its base every three meters. Some distance away there was a large gate, which seemed unattended until we arrived closer.

Standing on the interior side of the gate were two well armored soldiers. Due to their heads being obstructed, it was hard to tell their exact race. However, what little exposed skin there was appeared to be a very dark grey, so I suspected that they were of the dark elf race.

Upon seeing us approach, the two guards stepped forward, lowering their spears to point at us. “Halt!” They called out. Naturally, we did not want to argue with two armed soldiers. If I was in top condition, with enough gear, I could probably take them. But, limping with only one usable hand? Not likely. “What is your business here?”

Likely because she knew that I was not used to life in Hell, Lilith stepped forward to talk. “We just arrived in this layer earlier today, and we were attacked by some spider-like creatures. My friend here was stabbed by one before we managed to kill it.”

It was at this time that they seemed to notice the clothes she was wearing. “Shadow lurker silk?” Lilith was taken aback by her question, but nodded her head. “You must be pretty lucky to manage to get something like that.” They then glanced at our weapons, and the rags I was wearing. They looked to each other and nodded, then stepped back to their normal posts. “Just try not to cause any trouble while you are here.”

We nodded to the guard, and passed through. With this, we were one step closer to getting fully geared up. Now we just needed to find a job. Well, with my crafting ability that shouldn’t be too hard, right?

There was still the issue of the stab wound in my back, but let’s take this one problem at a time, okay? I’d like to go just one day without dying, if that’s not too much to ask. “Let’s find a tailor, see if we can trade some of this silk for an actual bandage.” Lilith nodded at my suggestion, and we navigated our way through the town.

Honestly, after six hours of walking with the wound held closed by my hand and some rags, I was starting to feel light-headed. I was tempted to glance at my status window to see how much health I had lost, but at the same time I was afraid of what I might see. It’d be better to wait until I was properly patched up.

Thankfully, the tailor easily agreed to the trade, even insisted on patching me up himself when he saw the wound, and all the dried blood around it. When he heard we had been walking all day like this, he seemed like he might have sewn me up even if I didn’t offer him a couple spools of silk. Nice guy… really wish I could remember his name. But, after we got into town, the rest of the day was a dizzy blur.

All I remembered was waking up in a bed in a room I had never seen before. My head was pounding like someone was beating it with a drum, but I at least knew the room wasn’t my own. I never remembered having a glowing bonsai tree, anyways.

A few minutes after I woke up, a stone door opposite of the room opened, and Lilith walked in slowly. Seeing that I had sat up, she rushed over to me quickly. “Are you alright, Grim?” She asked, a trace of worry in her voice. “Does your head hurt, do you feel sick?”

“Yes, yes, and… ugh, yes.” I said, realizing the growing feeling of nausea in my stomach. “What happened, where are we, and how long was I out?” Important questions, Grim. Focus on the important questions.

“We’re at Devon’s house. You passed out in his store after he stitched your wound, so he said you could stay here for a bit. You were pretty out of it, you know? You actually told him that you sewed my clothes from scratch with nothing but toothpicks.” She grinned wryly at that. “Anyways, he said that you lost a lot of blood, so it will probably take you a few days to get back into top shape.”

I furrowed my brows, trying to think past the orchestra in my head. “How are we going to pay for this?”

Lilith chuckled slightly, avoiding eye contact. “Well… I said that you told him you made these clothes, right? He was impressed, and said that once you are better, you can work here for a little while to pay him back.”

Oh great, just what I needed… I reached down and felt my stomach. If I lost a lot of blood, then I need to eat something, right? “Can you get me something to..?”

“Huh? Oh, right! I’ll be right back.” Lilith nodded, jumping up from her chair and racing out the door. For the first time, I actually took a moment to look around the room I was staying in. It looked like one portion of a hollow dome, the wall near me curving up towards the ceiling until it abruptly dropped at the wall Lilith had vanished behind.

As for decorations, they were sparse. No doubt this was simply a guest room. The most impressive decoration was the glowing bonsai tree next to the circular window. I was tempted to get up and look out the window, but the shooting pain in my back the moment I tried to do more than sit up convinced me that bedrest was a wondrous thing.

Soon, Lilith came back with some thin soup, and I began my recovery. Yay, I didn’t have to die this time. Now if only recovering the hard way didn’t suck so much.