The new couple spent the next several hours enjoying their time together. After lunch, Ray showed Erith around the parts of the city he had explored. It wasn’t until the sun had started to set they finally made their way back to the castle.

“I had a great time today. Thanks for showing me around. I haven't had much time to get out since we got here,” Erith said as they walked hand in hand back towards the castle.

“Yeah, this city really is amazing. I wish our home could be like this,” Ray said.

“It will be. Once we take care of those hordes, we can make our home just like this place.”

“I hope so.”

Ray stopped momentarily and looked up at the castle in front of them with a frown. Erith turned to face him.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

Ray let out a long sigh before responding.

“I have been throwing myself fully into anything I could this past month to avoid thinking about what‌ I did back in that cave, but I don’t think I can anymore. I killed that man, Erith. I… I know I didn’t have a choice, and I thought you were dead and-”

Erith pulled him closer and planted her lips on his. Ray’s heart rate spiked as he returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her. They stayed like that for several moments before their lips broke apart. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment longer.

“I…” Ray tried to speak but couldn't find the right words.

“Listen Ray, I know how you feel about what you did, but that man deserved it. He tried to kill me and you and Orlin. He took your arm and if you didn’t stop him, he would have done worse to all three of us. You did the right thing.”

“I know I just..” he sighed before continuing. “Thank you, Erith. I needed to hear that.”

She smiled and gave him another peck on the lips.

“That's all the thanks I need.”

They talked for a while longer until the sun had fully set and darkness covered the now quiet city. Seeing how late it had become, the pair said their goodbyes and went their separate ways after promising to go on another date when their schedule allowed for it. Ray awoke the next morning and could not stop smiling as he looked back on his and Erith’s first date. He quickly got dressed while whistling to himself. He made his way down to Freia’s workshop, taking the steps two at a time. With any luck, today would be close to as good a day as yesterday. With the recent crafting sprees, Freia had him helping with, he had reached level 29 and today he had a feeling he would finally be able to complete that personal project he had been working on.

“Damn it!” Ray yelled, throwing yet another failed product to the side of the room.

It was his 10th attempt today and still no luck. His practice had paid off, but he was now struggling to infuse the correct spell into the carvings on the sphere.

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“I told you how hard it was to infuse an object with a spell without access to the invocation system and panel, and that's when talkin’ about fire or ice spells, not teleportation,” Freia said looking up from a small wind-up toy she was making for Orlin’s birthday coming up in a few weeks.

“Then what should I do?” Ray asked.

“You're almost level 30, right?”

“Yes,”

“Then it's simple. Just wait and get your second class evolution, specializing in some form of enchanting.”

Ray thought about it for a few moments before shaking his head.

“I don’t want to take a specialization if I can help it. I don’t want to give up on any crafting methods yet.”

“Nonsense, I have a specialization and I can work with wood just as well as any other crafter can.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have access to the carpentry system, which will always make your products a step below any skilled craftsman who does. I am already in a special position, so why not try to maintain it?”

“Hmm, you have a point there.”

Ray picked up another sphere and carved the necessary runes for his project.

“Think about it. If I can obtain access to all the crafting systems, then I would never need to order a high-quality handle, blade, or engravings from anyone else. I could do it all myself.”

The sphere was fully engraved in seconds, all while continuing his conversation with Freia. He had successfully carved that pattern over 50 times already and could almost do it in his sleep. He held the sphere tight and began attempting to create the magic circuit within the ball-shaped object. Ray understood why Freia was hesitant to work with spacial or teleportation magic as it would destroy the engravings if done wrong and you would have to start from scratch. Concentrating, he slowly implanted the first ring then the second, but when he completed and went to infuse the third and final ring, something went wrong again and the ball fell to the ground as a dark purple energy ran wild inside of it. He muttered a few obscenities under his breath, retrieving the next sphere and beginning the process again. He was unsure why he was continuously failing on the last step. The last five times he was able to successfully form all three rings, but every time he moved to implant the third ring into the object, he would lose control of the mana, causing it to fail.

“I think I can see your issue,” Freia said after observing his last attempt. “You're lettin’ the mana of the first two rings settle in before the third has a chance too, causing them to run wild while they are missing the control circuit. Try doing it the other way around.”

“I guess it's worth a shot, but the guide on the gate spell I read said to form those two first.”

“Yes, but that is for a spell where your intention is maintaining the shape of the mana while in an item infusion. You lose contact with it as soon as it enters the item.”

Ray finished engraving the item before again sitting and beginning the enchantment process. He formed the third ring first and was able to insert it into the item. Next, he formed the first and second ring. He carefully maneuvered them into place and prepared to throw the object onto the growing pile of failures, but stopped as the energy stayed in control this time and a slight humming noise emanated from it. He jumped to his feet with a triumphant roar, activating Draconic insight to confirm the object was truly complete.