His head was bald. Almost too bald, like... it was perfectly bald. There wasn't even a sign of hair.
His head reflected all the light that came through the clearing of trees around us. Straight into my eyes too.
Really, I just had to take a moment to appreciate how perfectly bald that head was. It was practically spit shined.
"Want something?!" The man slurred to me. It was like he was drunk on something.
His tone was quite hostile too. Not that I really minded though.
There was a quiet whimper behind me. I looked back and found people with their arms wrapped around their bodies.
They shivered like the dead.
"I do."
It took me a moment to formulate my thoughts.
Was what I lied to myself about.
It actually just amused me to feel the glares of people as they froze to death.
I brought my hand out of my pocket and flipped a bronze coin towards the man. He followed it with the gaze of a hawk.
It wasn't a huge amount. Barely just twenty bucks if I were to convert it to real money.
The fact remained that not anyone was able to get their hands on the local currency. It would also just make their lives easier to trade in currency rather than digital currency that only players had.
"It's been barely a day. I want to know how those coats were made so fast."
I didn't mince my words.
The man sneered and took the offered coin. He rested it over his knuckles and weighed it for a moment.
Then with a flourish he put it into his own coat's pockets.
"I could say the same to you."
He dragged his gaze over my things. The rifle slung over my body to the winter cold that gave me protection from the cold.
He sighed and closed his eyes in this resigned way.
"You're paying, so I'll talk. Though it's not much of a secret."
"Talk, stop dragging this out."
"Alright… alright…"
The man waved his hands in front of me. It wasn't worried but enough to try and display his grumpiness.
"We," he pointed to the other stall owners. "Took a loan from that building and bought a stall and some cheap hide to make some coats out of."
I flipped him another coin.
"It's obviously made from a skill, how'd you get it?"
The reason that it was so obvious was that the stitches seemed both professional, in their placement and make. But also, so amateur at the same time.
Like someone tried to copy a professional. Yeah, it turned out fine, but it was also clearly bad.
"It gets harder for everyone after the first. Like I was the first and unlocked it by just sewing some stuff. But the next guy had to sew more and the next had to actually make something wearable. Not sure what you'll have to do."
I nodded.
"But as long as it's about sewing, I'll get the skill."
"You should."
I nodded and thanked the man for his advice.
It was all hush hush as there were people behind me. But I could hear it all as clearly as if he had shouted it.
After all my hearing was as precise as any other part of my body.
I dragged myself to the general store. There wasn't a specialized one and that was expected.
I left satisfied.
They had all the stuff I needed to sew myself something usable.
The needle and other needed things were fine. They weren't great but what was I expecting. It was a general store after all.
/./
I opened and closed the door with my feet. My hands were completely full as I had to haul all the stuff I bought.
Honestly, thank God Adrien gave me pay for slaughtering all of those beasts. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to actually do this.
I placed all of the stuff I needed onto the table and started with some stitches.
Never had I ever stitched anything. I hadn't even watched a video that I could remember.
Not even late at night when I was curious.
But as my hands looped the needle through the cloth and brought the string into usable shape there was something that just clicked.
It was then when the thought came to me.
Precision
The word, in the context of a skill, was just so vague. There were so many things that it could mean. But as I continued the skill became much clearer.
My fingers looped through once more and created what I would call decent. A simple scarf that fit my neck perfectly.
I had to stop several times to remember the measurement of my neck but in the end that was all I needed to do.
My heart beat in my chest. So loudly too.
To others it might have been a minor achievement marred by the fact that it was simply subpar.
But to me it meant the world.
With only the help of my hands and my own brain I had made something that was actually useful.
/./
[Skill: tailoring acquired]
[Gabriel]
[Lv2]
[Skills: Precision(MAX) | Tailoring(MAX)]
/./
I swiped down and let the screen fade from view. I wiped the sweat from my brow all while a small smile etched itself on my face.
Like a particularly unruly child, those same words repeated themselves again and again.
I had asked another player on the street after I had bought what I needed.
Their answer was quite simple. Their skills had a little bar to the right which indicated progress to the next level.
But not me.
There was only the big bar that read MAX.
They complained about how slow it was to improve even a single percentage point. When for me my skills appeared absolutely perfect and with no room for growth other than the skillful use of their effects.
I couldn't help but just laugh at the absurdity of it all.
For all of the glory and pride I felt in the scarf I had made. My new skill immediately went to work and picked apart each and every flaw.
I let a sigh fly out of my mouth and shook my head.
There was no way for me to leave without fixing the scarf.
Immediately I got to work. The scarf was dissected down to the thread and reworked stitch by stitch until it was made into the exact image I had in my mind.
Had I not made it, I would have thought it was made by a machine with how precise it was. The stitches matched each other row by row without a single imperfection.
The scarf fit me better than any other clothes could.
Like some sort of personal space heater, the scarf absorbed heat so well.
I went outside and it was like I was next to a fire with how nice it was.
Even my breath came out warm. Even in the terrible cold it didn't turn to frost.
I smiled and tittered my way into the forest. There was a certain confidence in my gait. Almost like I was guided somewhere.
Like there was some distant object that just begged for me to come and explore it.
Trees parted around me and revealed a grove of perfect nature.
Creatures of such small stature and build were camouflaged into the environment. They had hide and fur that seemed utterly alien.
But amongst them were wildlife that I recognized.
Deer and doe pranced this way and that. A bear scowled as it watched the spring water for any fish.
There were even bunnies that hopped around the bear with no fear.
In the middle of this slice of wonderland a prompt appeared in my eyes. As if to remind me that this was a game rather than life.
[Verdant forest dungeon]