The scent of roasted meat filled the inn's common hall, mingling with the yeasty warmth of fresh bread. JP sat at a corner table, his new short sword leaned carefully against the wall beside him.
It had been too long since he'd eaten properly. Each bite of wolf stew and buttered bread grounded him, easing the weight of sleepless nights and the gnawing memory of fangs in the dark.
Across the room, Lyra sat with her hood up, speaking quietly with the guild clerk. She gave JP a passing glance, her expression unreadable.
He returned his focus to the food. First things first—fill the stomach. Then… test what I can really do.
Later, back in his small inn room, JP spread his satchel across the bed. The familiar glow of the Status Board flickered at his command.
Inventory:
Wolf Meat x2 (drained)
Wolf Hide x1
Moonshade Resin
Emberstone Fragments
Mana Lamp (Modified)
Short Sword
Leather Guard
His eyes drifted to the resin and emberstone. He tapped them thoughtfully.
Resin… flammable. Emberstone… holds heat. Wolf hide… flexible. What if…
A memory stirred—long nights repairing circuits, improvising with whatever was in the truck. "When in doubt, insulate, bind, and connect."
JP's hands moved with familiar confidence. He scraped moonshade resin into a bowl, mixing it with water until it thickened. Then he stretched a strip of wolf hide, coating it with the mixture to stiffen it. Emberstone fragments he embedded into tiny pockets, securing them with resin.
By midnight, something new lay on the table: a crude but serviceable heat band—a strip of hide that, when flexed, caused the emberstone to emit a low warmth.
"Not bad," JP muttered, slipping it around his forearm. Heat spread gently through the leather, warming his skin.
He grinned. Portable heat. Could sell to travelers. Or… keep me alive outside at night.
But he wasn't finished.
Next, he examined the Mana Lamp, still glowing faintly. The resin smoke from earlier lingered in his mind. What if I adjust the lamp's focus?
With careful tinkering, he placed a shard of wolf hide coated with resin inside the lamp's casing, narrowing the light beam. The glow became sharper, focused like a primitive lantern beam instead of a wide glow.
He tested it against the wall—bright enough to dazzle, even hurt the eyes up close.
"Flashlight mode," he whispered with a smirk. "Now that's useful."
The Status Board flickered again:
Alchemy/Engineering Progress Detected
[Beginner Alchemy Lv.2 → Alchemy Lv.2]
New Item Added: Heated Hide Band, Modified Mana Lamp (Focused Beam)
JP leaned back, exhaustion catching up with him, but a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
I'm not just some rookie adventurer swinging a blade. I can build. I can create. And maybe… I can sell.
His eyes drifted shut, the inventions laid neatly on the bedside table. For the first time in days, he felt a spark of control over his fate.
Tomorrow, the guild could wait. Tonight, JP was an inventor again.