After dismounting from a middle-aged man, Andrew leaned up against a wall. The man was completely confused about the request, but as Andrew passed him a small purse of ten silver, the man did not bother to ask questions.

He disembarked several blocks away after changing into proper clothing. He told Leya he'd be gone for the night and perhaps the weekend, but she did not seem to be all that coherent. She was on the verge of unconsciousness, after all.

Nevertheless, Andrew made it towards the Thieves Guild after constantly using his doppelganger to check for any prying eyes. It was simply much easier to move that than his own weary body. Several paranoid checks happened before he knocked four times on the door.

It was slow at first, but each knock sped up accordingly.

Dirge opened up the door and sighed. "Why is it you always do that backward? For the life of me, I've never know."

He was not all that disturbed that Andrew was in that shape; however, when he watched past Andrew mounted on a man's back moments before he did offer a confused glance. Nevertheless, he stumbled into the room and slowly shuffled into the storeroom.

"You're back I see," murmured the voice. "Leaving it for me once again?"

Andrew sighed, but said nothing. A cold wind blew around him before he could think to utter a word and the aches and pains were gone. The others always used only basic healing spells unless necessary. Therefore, he was usually left with aches and pains unless he could receive a heavy enough wound to warrant a high-level spell. He was supposed to learn from his failures, so said the teachers.

The Master used a darkness spell that mirrored the effects of healing. However, it served to predominately assist in recovering stamina and boosting the body's own functions. Therefore, while some healing existed, it was more focused on cleansing the body of substances like lactic acid.

Nevertheless, like before, Andrew was gifted six objects to modify. His blade was exchanged for a new one and it rested inside his scabbard. This time most were jewelry. While it was strenuous, the reward was dazzling. Therefore, he chose to accept the job last week.

He was still laying down listlessly on the floor rather than his comfortable, padded work bench, but he utilized his earth manipulation to start playing around with many different decisions. Of the six items, three were rings and the other three were pairs of ear-rings.

The purple one caught his eyes, but he chose to work it last. His first project was a ruby ring that was cut and formed into tiger stripes against the lavish white gold base. After coating it several times, he started to make the stripes look like natural, linear fissures in the earth.

Of the rings, all were based on nature itself. A sapphire was used with a silver base to form a backdrop for silver, defined etched clouds. Then a yellow topaz formed a mass of flowers atop thorny bushes, with a border of salvage rubies to act as a setting sun.

Each was immaculately created. And in response to his completed work, his Master gave him two things when she took it for herself. One was a spell-book focusing on Darkness-attributed spells. The other was another ring. This time it was emerald and silver so he made a flowing sea of grass atop the ring.

Like the others, he formed a singular mark, an x, underneath the gemstone and sent it off towards the darkness.

At this point many hours passed and he was completely asleep. When he finally awoke, he listlessly worked as he gnawed on soft bread. He yawned loudly, "Master, can I take the purple one as a present? Their market value of the book is lower than the likely value my cut on the rings."

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The voice rang clearly through the room, "depending on the quality of the other two. If they are exemplary then all is well."

Andrew nodded and began to work on the earrings with his entire concentration.

Since he had extra white gold and silver, he added it towards a black iron set. There was no jewels or endowments on this set so he clearly knew it was a test. They were obviously cheap to begin with, but he decided to play around with it.

Two thin triangles were formed using the mass of black iron. After shaping and stretching the ear-ring, he inverted one before he created a small, sturdy wire to attach the two. After each earring was formed, he split the white gold and silver in two and began to trace a small etching on it.

He upraised the surface with silver and used it as a thin cover around it entirely. After the side and back was formed, he used the white gold to depict two faces. One was laughing and the other was crying. It was a theatre mask that he had once seen in his world. However, the final stage required him to wait to regenerate his mana pool.

Several long minutes later, he had just enough to add the final touches. Using the black iron as a backdrop, he gave the white gold shape by slowly expanding the dense mass underneath. It lost durability, but the effect was created as he wanted.

"How are these?" Spoke Andrew as he clutched his head.

However, unlike his expectations, the voice was silent. Complete and utterly silent. Yet, the moment he craned his head, he noticed a silvery figure appear from the shadows. It was a woman. Her age and face hadbeenn indeterminate, but she seemed to be smiling.

He extended his hand and the earrings stood out on her silvery ears. Yet, she still did not mention anything.

'I guess that one goes into the collection too,' sighed Andrew as he imagined the loss of potential profits.

However, he had already judged it to be lost. In fact, he did not think much of it as it was commonplace in his old world. Yet, the woman remained quiet. After an indeterminate time period, the silver figure disappeared and he began work on the second.

This was treated in a similar sense as the nature motif and quickly finished with fine edges and etchings. However, when he thought of what to do with the purple and silver set, he was stumped.

'Swords butchering people? Killing me? Ligh- bah, no not that. Disgusting. Damn it all, swords it is.'

With the general idea in play, he started to create the base from the silver. He rested several times and ate unconsciously; however, the base soon was formed. After the rectangular base was created, he joined another underneath it all. As he attached them, the purple gemstone soon split and served to form the basis of eight swords. Each was the same as the last so the process was relatively simple, but it was demanding and required the finest effort to form hooks and mounts underneath its surface.

The moment he finished, he immediately lapsed into sleep.

When he finally awoke, he was greeted with a jovial looking, pale-skinned, blue-eyed woman who suddenly pounced on him. He was not sure what to say as she clutched him tightly, but he did notice the earrings were still next to him.

"These were perfect! Who would have thought you'd be able to make an item that mimics a hidden legend! Such is the legacy of a perfect craftsman."

Andrew was rocked up and down under her crushing hug and began to lose his vision. Yet, after a few seconds, she let him go just to do it all over again. By the third time, he dove away and pocketed the ear-rings and the book before he sprinted out.

"Wait!" Cried the more feminine, disembodied voice. "Present!"

Andrew saw the tavern hall and craned his head back just in time for a heavy purse to knock him straight on the back towards the table. He landed with a hard thump on the oaken table and felt a slosh of booze drench his body. However, as his mind slowly cleared, he looked and saw Dirge looking at him curiously.

"How'd you get her to show herself? It is quite rare for an auxiliary leader to show herself to any new members." He stood down and picked up the heavy purse that left a deep bruise on his back. "I think you dropped this."

Andrew scowled towards the now vacant door and groaned loudly in pain. "Dirge, I have a favor to ask. Can I hitch a ride?"

"You don't want me for the ride, you want an excuse, hey?"

Andrew laughed weakly and nodded. "It's about time for an early mother's day..."

He clasped the ear-rings tightly in his palm and slowly rose his body. As he did, he noticed a bone protruding in to his back.

"Did I land on a chicken?"

"Yes," smirked Dirge. "My chicken too. You owe me a drink, but I guess that cask of wine will do."

Andrew sighed, "then let's be off, okay? Though... that's not even comparable in value..."

Dirge nodded and stole an ale-soaked leg from a chuckling guildsman. It did not take long for Andrew to struggle back to his feet. The deep-tissue bruise on his back was likely to stay for awhile even with his meager healing spells.

As he waved weakly at the door, he felt winds blow off his cloak and replace it with a fresh one. He bowed his head lightly and the two finally headed out.