When JP next opened his eyes, he was lying on a dirt path. Rolling green hills stretched around him, dotted with villages and forests. Birds chirped in the distance, and his clothes had changed to simple brown robes with a sturdy leather satchel at his side.
Groaning, he sat up. "Okay, JP. Either you're dead and this is heaven… or the afterlife is a bad medieval RPG."
Nearby, a broken lantern lay abandoned. Curiosity got the better of him. He picked it up and whispered, uncertainly:
"Appraisal?"
A faint glow passed through his vision, overlaying text like a diagnostic readout:
Object: Lantern (Iron + Glass)
Durability: Poor
Improvement Potential: High
JP blinked. "It's… like reading a spec sheet."
Experimentally, he touched the cracked glass, willing it to fix. His hand pulsed with soft light. The fracture sealed seamlessly.
JP let out a sharp laugh. "Alchemy, huh? Not so different from soldering."
As he stood, a thought sparked in his mind. If this world ran on crude tools and magic stones, then…
He grinned. "Time to do a little rewiring."