The next morning it was was raining. I was tempted to just lie around in bed, but I had things to do today. It was time to venture into the depths of the guild hall and enter the sanctuary of knowledge.

It was time for a book reading festival!

Okay, so not really a festival, but still, I’d been putting off catching up on the local knowledge base the guild provided. I’d learned about a good number of monsters and plants available on a wider scale, but each guild location had information compiled about their surroundings to assist the local adventurers, or the curious traveling ones, to maximize their potential.

Not only do the resources list the monsters and herbs available in the area, but because they are specially written by the locals, they include references to far more detailed tomes where readers can learn more in depth information.

For instance the information about the bear and wolf meat. They’re listed as being primarily used as monster feed, but the available bestiaries include additional information on how the less useful parts can be used or made edible, if in brief. More references are listed for books to expound on the subject.

Books referencing books with more references. It can get a little frustrating, but those who don’t care about getting deeper into subjects can get what they need from the first ones if that’s all they wanted.

It was the librarians who worked together to create this system, and many guild employees were responsible for writing the books involved, not just editing existing versions to include references.

It was into this forest of knowledge I delved for the next week. Following the branching paths of information from one point to another for anything that interested me.

During my exploration, I got friendly with some of the librarians, allowing me to get directions to additional resources that weren’t referenced, either for being difficult to understand, written in a different language, or for originating in regions where the same monsters behaved differently due to climate variations.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself. If it wasn’t for the fact that the library was closed overnight, I’d have never left the place until I was starting to push my limits. Superhuman stamina and skills enabled me to push myself for longer periods, although the backlash of doing so was irritating.

At the end of the week of feeding my mind, I took a break. Although reading and learning was enjoyable, my brain still needed to rest. Mental fatigue is no joke. It’s actually what was causing me problems following my arrival in this world, not physical tiredness.

For two days, I wandered the city. I not only browsed the street markets, but spent time investigating the permanent stores.

Among the stores I visited were tailors. I had tons of clothes, enough to go a few months without having to wear the same thing twice. But they were all different from the styles more commonly found in this world.

That wasn’t a problem, but it could lead to people showing interest in my garments that might lead to problems. Or just be annoying. A trend had started on Valla due to the clothes I’d been wearing when I was kidnapped, with people asking me about the fashions on my world. I’d gotten spirited away wearing sweat pants and a long sleeved t-shirt.

The shirt was nothing too interesting, but the sweats had been in camo, something that had not made an appearance on the world. Eventually it was all over the place, even being worn at the balls I’d been forced to attend when I’d rather be elsewhere doing something productive.

I did not want to make the same mistake on this world and stand out too much or start what ended up being atrocious fashion trends.

So I bought a new wardrobe. Or three.

I used several different body types, so I wanted clothes for each, and I already knew of three tailors, so I went to them all, each as a different person.

There was my slim Zelda body, my tall, slim yet muscled male body, and then there was one that was in between. An androgynous form not readily identifiable as either male or female. It was decently tall, slim, though with wiry muscles that didn’t stand out like they did on my male form. The chest was pushed out slightly, though without being disrobed one couldn’t determine whether it was because of pectoral muscles or something else.

I ordered several outfits for each form, getting the most for the androgynous one, since I wanted both skirts and pants for it.

It’d take them a while to be made, but that was fine by me, once I’d placed the order I didn’t need to return until it was time to collect them. I also had no plans for the near future.

For the farther future, I had some vague goals. I didn’t know if I’d ever leave this world, so I needed to find a place to stay longer term, but before that I wanted to explore. This world was different than the others, and included something I’d not been able to enjoy previously, dungeons.

After I soaked up the knowledge of the local library and made my way to third or fourth rank, I’d go find me some dungeons to crawl.

There were six dungeons in Merrow, at least that were known since they could pop up in less habitable regions. They were restricted to certain ranks due to difficulty, so I’d need to raise mine in order to venture inside. Orcs were great for that.

Heck, while studying I came across some information that was going to be very helpful in ranking up. The posted requests were not all there was. There were more that couldn’t be posted, a list that one had to ask to see.

That hadn’t really surprised me. What did was that when I requested access to the larger list I found that orcs were still listed as a rank three request, but the requirements for it changed. Instead of each orc being worth a point, it was changed to five.

I actually looked back at the hidden rank one requests, and found that goblins were listed there, with two of them for a point. It also included a warning that it was not recommended to try and solo them since they were known to almost always act in groups.

Getting back to the orcs, though, they were known to act alone or in small groups, but because they did form larger communities, there remained an open request on them at higher ranks with increased requirements.

Noticing that also reminded me of the portrait I’d drawn of the elf woman from the orc village. I wanted to turn it in, but would I be able to do so inconspicuously? My rank was a little low for me to have disposed of a village without drawing unnecessary attention to myself.

I decided to play messenger with it.

Writing a letter, I enclosed it and the portrait in an envelope and sealed it shut with wax. Then I found an isolated location, and shape shifted.

The form I took wasn’t one I used frequently, but it allowed me to have fun every now and then. I became a child who looked to be roughly eight years old. It was a great form for having a good time wandering, though it could also get me in trouble, since there’s a reasons for the word kidnapping. Works great as bait if I need to find human trafficking hideouts.

Anyway, disguised as an androgynous little kid, I dressed up in some nondescript clothes and visited the guild hall.

I got stared at. Why would a kid be in this place, after all.

I ignored the looks and comments and lined up to speak to the receptionists. Fortunately no one messed with me. When it was my turn, I handed over the envelope and gave the story I’d come up with: A strange person in a cloak paid me to bring this here.

After handing it over, I turned to leave, but was stopped. They wanted to know about the person I’d met, but I told them I couldn’t describe them, the cloak hid everything. Unhappy, they let me go, and so I disappeared into the city.

I wound up hanging out with other kids around my apparent age until it was getting dark. Goofing off was a lot more fun when you’re a child. Form influences the mind, so when I’m a kid, I act like it.

‘Twas a good day.

---

The next two months I set up a schedule to follow. The first three days of the week I spent in the library. Wednesday was spent hunting. Thursday was dismantling day, I did it in a private room, clearing out my storage then spent any extra time in the library. Friday was a day of rest. I’d relax, go to the theatre, stroll though the city and check out anything interesting.

Heck, I even went to gambling houses a couple times. Learning this world’s games was fun, though I had to be careful. I’d been blessed by a god of fortune, so I had to cheat to lose so I didn’t rake in too much money and draw people’s ire.

Saturday was the most interesting for me. It was the day I spent crafting. I’d been summoned to this world with a title called The Creator. A title that gave me an amazing crafting skill. I loved the thing, and while I didn’t only use it on the last day of the week, this was the day I focused on it.

I have no idea why I’d be given something like that, but I trialed and errored the heck out of it to figure out its limits so I could make amazing items.

My first was a mechanical alarm clock.

It might not be amazing on Earth, but here they were unheard of. There were extremely rare and expensive mechanical ones, but because of how difficult they were to make they were never available. Or so I was told. They can make appliances, enchant equipment to give benefits like poison, temperature resistance, even making stuff self-cleaning, but they couldn’t make something that would keep track of time? I call BS.

With my skills and knowledge of my homeworld, I… failed.

Again and again and again, failure after failure to create a magical timepiece. What the heck? Was it against the rules of the world or something?

So I dropped the magical part of the clock and focused on just the physical portions. I’d come back to trying to make a magical version later. Preferably one that’d sync up automatically when pulled from storage. If I didn’t do that, then I’d have to manually reset it every day…

Actually, wouldn’t it be easier to just create a timer?

That was my thought as I was putting the finishing touches on the clock, creating a case so all the bits and pieces wouldn’t be exposed to the air.

Shaking my head, I finished the clock, then created a timer. It took a fraction of the time. All I needed to do was make a dial that’d put pressure on a spring for the amount of time I wanted, with it setting off another spring connected to a bell once time ran out. The clock had been harder since it had to also keep track of time, not just be a countdown.

Woot! Now I had two devices to wake me up, so I don’t have to use the annoying pair of spells as an alarm.

Now that that problem was solved, I went on to make other stuff. Like a whisk, a grater, and other kitchen gear I’d been unable to make due to lack of time or difficulties due to the low level of technology. I’d tried making whisks before, but the wires had always been floppy, making them usable, but only just.

I ended the day very satisfied with what I’d accomplished, going to bed with a smile on my face.