Gwen weakly lifted her now much larger head and sniffed the air.

"There were more, but they're fleeing," the panther informed me from where she still lay.

I perked my head up and peered out into the deceivingly peaceful-looking mid-afternoon day outside of our cave.

"Why?" I asked her.

The cat scented the air once more, as if to confirm her previous statement. "I think, my lady, that they're likely only retreating temporarily."

I gritted my teeth in contemplation. Some of my previous relief at saving my friend faded as the reality that I was in a hostile, alien environment set back in.

"We need to make the most of what time we have," I spoke my thoughts aloud, "and then, well, I'm getting tired of being the one being hunted by those things."

With a favorable swoosh of her large tail, Gwen growled in agreement. "Shall we do the hunting next then, Lady Clarissa?"

I scoffed, not at the cat, but at the absurdity of the situation. "It's bigger than just that. I think we have a dungeon to clear, Gwen."

---

More [Skulker Pelts], four more [Greater Bestial Shards], and two unique items was the haul from the enemies myself and the evolved mana cat had taken down together.

I summoned the first of the two items that were new to me into my hand, so that I could better inspect it:

[Gem of the Hunter [C]: A unique, magic gem. Can be socketed into items during enchanting.]

I knew that soul shards could be combined into magic gems. I was also aware that the [Enchanting] skill existed, but I didn't know that enemies could drop their own variant gems.

The [Gem of the Hunter] was of common quality. That probably meant that it'd just provide basic bonuses and nothing too flashy. Still, it might have potential to be useful, if only as a stepping off point into [Enchanting].

I returned the unique gem to my inventory and instead summoned the next interesting bit of loot, which I felt might be of more immediate use.

I had to lift both of my hands up to grasp the strange, and superbly detailed, diagram and instruction covered piece of parchment that appeared in my hands.

The item description opened before me as I looked at the singular piece of paper.

[Monsterhide Armor (Crafting Schematics): Instructions to create a unique piece of armor. These schematics can be used once to create [Monsterhide Armor], or added to your crafting recipes with a [Leatherworking] skill of 100 or higher.]

As I looked at the crafting schematic's description, another window appeared beside it to better explain the stats of what it could create:

[Monsterhide Armor (Base Stats): Medium Armor, 15 Damage Resistance, Item Level 30.]

"System, why does it include the tag of 'base stats' in the item description?" I asked aloud.

[The materials that you use in the creation of the armor will determine its finished properties, but its base stats will generally at least be as high as what is listed in the Crafting Schematics.]

I looked down to my shredded clothes. To be honest, what I had to cover me could barely even really be called clothes anymore.

Following the same train of thought, I then inspected my currently equipped garb in my inventory.

[Simple Traveler's Garb: The basic, functional clothes of a traveler. No bonuses. Item Health: 1/10.]

As I hovered over the barely hanging on garments, the system offered me the chance to mend them:

[Mend Armor (Costs 1 Linen Spool): y/n?]

I definitely didn't have any linen, so fixing what I had was currently a non-starter.

Regardless, I could also definitely use an upgrade in the armor department.

If fifteen Damage Resistance meant that the proposed [Monsterhide Armor] would negate fifteen points of damage per hit, before I took the remainder of what was left over, then that was a massive upgrade up from literally no protection at all--especially when stacked with [Stoneskin].

Yeah, it somewhat sucked that I'd have to give up the crafting schematics in the process of using them, since I definitely didn't have the time or resources to power level my [Leatherworking] to one-hundred points.

I could imagine that being able to make armor could become quite the valuable skill under the realities of the new System.

Still, survival was more important than a lost future opportunity. You had to have a future first to worry about it after all.

I placed my intent upon the schematics.

[Open Crafting Menu: y/n?]

I selected yes.

[Crafting Menu]

Available Recipes: N/A.

Available Schematics: Monsterhide Armor.

Crafting Skills: N/A.

The crafting interface was definitely simpler than the spell-forging menu. Though maybe that was to be expected, or perhaps it was just a side-effect of my non-existent crafting skills.

I selected [Monsterhide Armor] from the schematics list.

The menu prompted me with a warning:

[You do not possess the required crafting skills to add this schematic to your Crafting Recipes. No skill bonuses will be applied to the final product if you proceed. Do you wish to consume the selected schematics to craft the desired item: y/n?]

Once again I responded in the affirmative and the crafting window shifted to heed my commands:

[Monsterhide Armor]

Required Components: 3 monster skins/furs between levels 30-50.

Optional Components: Crafting skill too low to utilize extra components.

Select Components: Skulker Hide x3, Mana Cat Pelt x3.

Okay, now this was somewhat more familiar. The text was different, yes, but what I was seeing was basically a reskinned spell-forging options list from what I could tell.

If I was following correctly, that meant that using either the hides of the skulkers or the pelts of the mana cats would offer different bonuses to my finished piece of armor.

Still, as I thought of wearing the flesh of the gross, troll like skulkers... the same strange revulsion I felt regarding the idea of consuming their meat welled up inside me.

I just couldn't do it.

I didn't really know why, but something deep inside me was telling me that it was a disgusting premise to craft armor from the skulker hides despite the System very clearly being okay with the idea.

I did my best to shift my mind from the oddly instinctive disgust and selected the mana cat pelts as my desired components instead.

And, just as with spell-forging, the moment I'd made my choices, the selected components shifted the text of the to-be-crafted armor's description.

[Manapelt Armor]

Description: A luxurious and soft feeling fur armor crafted from thick, mana infused hides.

Base-Stats: Medium Armor, 15 Damage Resistance, 10 Spell Resistance, Item Level 30.

Create Armor: y/n?

I almost selected yes, but before I could I did my best to fight back against the odd revulsion against using the skulker hides.

I at least had to see what they had to offer, I realized; this choice could seriously effect my survival.

I backtracked and selected the hides as my desired crafting component, just to cover my bases.

[Thickhide Armor]

Description: A rugged-looking and thick fur and hide armor.

Base-Stats: Medium Armor, 20 Damage Resistance, Item level 30.

Create Armor: y/n?

So if I were to make the armor with the skulker hides then it offered a greater level of physical resistance then?

Twenty damage resistance was a lot. So much so that it basically would've negated the weakened hit I had taken from the injured skulker back when I'd first been brought to the dungeon.

Still, twenty wasn't much more than fifteen and the extra ten resistance to spell damage was the numerically superior option in my opinion.

Even if I had yet to really be directly attacked by an enemy spell, I had a strong feeling that it was coming sooner or later.

Ultimately, I once again settled on creating the [Manapelt Armor], with some less than minor relief.

After confirming that I wished to craft the item, and re-confirming to the System that I was okay with sacrificing its schematic, the crafting menu abruptly closed.

The [Monsterhide Armor (Crafting Schematic) flared a bright gold in my hand and slowly burnt away into particulates of energy.

[Monsterhide Armor (Crafting Schematic) removed.]

[-3 Mana Cat Pelts.]

[+1 Manapelt Armor.]

The armor that I'd created appeared in the air above my hands and floated down softly to sit atop them.

The leathers and fur were incredibly soft and supple, just as the description had promised.

I felt a ping of guilt, however, as I looked over to Gwen.

The cat, perhaps sensing my emotion through our now even stronger bond, glanced over to me.

I met her gaze for a second, wondering what she might think of me wearing her kin.

The massive cat rolled her eyes at me and returned to gnawing on a cooked rabbit.

I guess that meant she didn't care?

Gwen was pretty utilitarian about survival after all. I'd probably been worried about nothing.

I selected the crafted armor in my inventory and then clicked to equip it.

My shredded shirt and trousers glowed a bright gold, much like the now-dissolved schematics had, and then said glow spread to cover my body before instead solidifying into the armor I had crafted.

In the end, everything but my hands were covered by a protective and cross-stitched mix of midnight leathers and fur.

[Congratulations! As the first soul from Earth to utilize the Crafting Menu, you have earned a reward.]

[+50 Leatherworking.]

[Familiar's Barding (Crafting Schematics) added to inventory.]

I would never grow tired of receiving the System's very convenient rewards.

For a moment, I wondered just where I'd be without the many bonuses I'd been granted.

The answer was too simple to ponder for long, though: I'd be dead.

A shiver ran through my spine as I opened the Crafting Menu again and selected my new schematic.

This time, the menu allowed me to add the schematic to my Crafting Recipes as it seemed to be an easier one to learn.

Though I did note that the schematic was still consumed in the process of me learning it, I would at least, presumably, be able to craft the item type more than once now.

[Familiar's Barding]

Required Components: 1 monster skin/fur of at least level 10.

Optional Components: Crafting skill too low to utilize extra components.

Select Components: Skulker Hide x1, Mana Cat Pelt x1.

"Ugh," I muttered to myself.

"Clarissa?" Gwen looked over to me.

"It's not really a big deal, Gwen, but I think I can make you some armor," I replied. "Thing is, I only have a pelt like... well, what I used for my armor and those from the Skulkers to do it with."

Gwen slowly studied me, as if contemplating. "How much would this help us?"

"Probably a lot," I admitted. "I'm getting a pretty big bonus to my damage resistance from the set I made for myself. Something about using the Skulker Hides just feels... wrong, though."

"Why?" the cat asked. "We killed them fairly. The spoils are ours."

"I get that," I admitted a bit hesitantly. "You okay with it then?"

I still wasn't sure I could personally bring myself to wear armor made from the weird troll-like monsters, on account of the wrong feeling I got from them that I couldn't place, but if it didn't bother Gwen then I didn't see it as too much of an issue I guess.

"It's fine with me," Gwen said. "I'd rather not almost die again."

Her last comment bit a little deep into me.

I owed her the same level of worry I gave myself, uncomfortable and irrational feelings be damned.

I selected the [Skulker Hide] as my desired component to craft the barding.

The Crafting Menu, as always, shifted to suit my selection:

[Thickhide Barding]

Description: A rugged and thick looking armor for your familiar.

Base Stats: Medium Armor, 20 Damage Resistance, Item Level 30.

Create Armor: y/n?

I selected yes.

[-1 Skulker Hide.]

[Thickhide Barding added to inventory.]

[Equip Thickhide Barding onto your familiar: y/n?]

"Hey, Gwen, you ready for me to equip the armor on you?" I looked up from the menu and asked. "It's ready."

The cat growled in confirmation.

Hearing the panther's reply, I then answered in the affirmative to the System's prompt.

Much as it had when I'd equipped my own armor, a golden light shone over Gwen and spread to cover the majority of her torso.

When the armor had solidified just as mine had previously, the panther's vital points were largely covered with thick, grey armor. Her head remained mostly unprotected, but a plume of black skulker fur did rest threateningly atop the leather above her powerful shoulders.

The panther stood and stretched her limps.

Gwen took a test swipe into the air with her massive, dangerous paw, and then growled in approval.

"This will do nicely, my lady," she said. "I feel ready to hunt."

I smiled. "I'm glad you like it. I have a few more things to do though."

I felt the cat's acquiescence pass unspoken along out emotional bond. The panther laid down and returned to her meal, seemingly unperturbed by the constriction of her new barding.

Feeling some further curiosity about the possibilities of what created items could offer, now that I'd better equipped us both, I summoned the [Gem of the Hunter] into my hand.

"System, distribute one skill point into [Enchanting] and open the enchanting menu," I ordered, taking a guess as to how the skill related to the gem might work.

[-1 Skill Point.]

[+1 Enchanting.]

[Error: A minimum of ten points in [Enchanting] is required to access the Enchanting Menu.]

Well damn, it could have told me that before taking my singular point.

But I guess I had phrased the command in the sequence that the System had executed it.

"System, distribute nine skill points into [Enchanting] and open the enchanting menu," I corrected myself.

[-9 Skill Points.]

[+9 Enchanting.]

This time, though, the System carried out my second command as well and the menu I'd wanted to access populated:

[Enchanting Menu]

Available Gems: Gem of the Hunter [C].

Available Items: Manapelt Armor.

Enchanting Skill: 10 (Novice).

Getting a feel for how the System's menus worked now, I selected the [Gem of the Hunter] and my [Manapelt Armor] rather quickly. Not that I was spoiled for choice.

The expected sort of pop-up appeared next:

[Manapelt Armor of Muffling]

Description: A luxurious and soft feeling fur armor crafted from thick, mana infused hides.

Base-Stats: Medium Armor, 15 Damage Resistance, 10 Spell Resistance, Item Level 30.

Enchanted Effect: Your movements are muffled to near-silence when wearing this armor.

Create Armor: y/n?

Near complete silence, huh?

At first, I'd been pretty intent on figuring out just who between myself and Gwen would benefit most from whatever the gem had to grant to us.

However, the cat was pretty much already completely silent in her movements, whereas I was not.

And, if we were still being hunted by at least some of the denizens of the dungeon, it could only benefit us both if I was able to move just as undetected as my friend.

I confirmed to the System that I wanted to enchant the armor.

[Gem of the Hunter [C] removed from inventory.]

[Manapelt Armor has become Manapelt Armor of Muffling.]

[Congratulations! As the first soul from Earth to utilize enchantments you have earned a reward.]

[+50 Enchanting, +5 Greater Mana Shards.]

[Soul of the Enchanter [R] added to perk list.]

I felt a flow of discrete, almost barely noticeable energy tingle along my flesh as soon as the System acknowledged my choice.

I took a step forward and then another back.

And, to my surprise, no matter how much I tuned my sensitive ears in to listen I could not hear myself walking against the cave floor.

"Gwen," I looked to the cat, who was strangely also already looking at me closely once again. "Uh, can you hear me moving?"

"Did you create another spell, Lady Clarissa?" she asked. "I can hear you, but only barely and I suspect this too would become impossible if you weren't right next to me and also quite bad at moving silently in the first place."

I dropped my mouth in disbelief at the casual insult towards my stealthiness.

"No, Gwen, it's not another spell," I admitted. "I just enchanted the armor."

The cat purred and took another bite of her food. "That will be useful; we won't have to move slow to keep you from giving us away to everything nearby."

"Thanks, girl," I said, realizing she really didn't mean anything by her frankness; it was just how she was.

In the panther's mind she was probably actually complimenting my choice to shore up what she saw as a weakness in my skills.

My blunt friend had brought up a good point, though: I could use a few more spells, especially with the addition of the [Greater Mana Shards] the System had just granted me for my foray into [Enchanting].

[Healing Hands] already made up for some of my need for healing. As long as I had mana, I should be able to heal myself and Gwen.

Though, I would need to continue to increase my Spell-Control, or to train my Radiance-Manipulation skill, if I wanted to unlock higher tiers of healing spells in the future.

Of course, our armor should now provide a much needed buffer between us and the damage of our enemies.

Still, it couldn't hurt to be a little more careful.

One of the biggest issues I'd encountered, even after increasing my health pool, had been that of bleeding effects. Even if an attack itself wasn't too grievous, a number of bad bleeds could rapidly drain through my health.

Still, I had an idea to solve that.

I channeled my intent towards opening the [Spell-Forging] menu.

I selected fire as my element of choice, allowing me to rely on my rather high [Fire-Manipulation] skill to craft the spell I wanted to make.

I then imagined my desired effect for the spell.

When the System asked me what level of spell I'd like to create, I selected 1st, and offered up three [Lesser Physical Shards] to the menu as payment.

[Cauterize Wounds [1st] added to spell list.]

[+5 Spell-Forging.]

I repeated this process a few more times and ended up with a total of three other new magical tools in my mystical toolbox:

[Cauterize Wounds [1st]: Stop bleeding with the power of your fire magic. Mana cost dependent on the severity of your bleed.]

[Flame Cloak [3rd]: Surround yourself in an aura of fire that causes fire damage to anyone who touches you. Costs 15 mana per minute.]

[Wall of Fire [3rd]: Create a flaming wall of fire. Mana cost dependent on length, height, and power of wall.]

[Rune of Flame [3rd]: Create a hidden rune that explodes when tripped by the caster. Mana cost dependent on the strength of your rune.]

All in all, I lost three more [Greater Mana Shards] and gained another ten points in [Spell-Forging] on top of the previous five.

After finishing that, I distributed my skill points from reaching level twenty-six into [Soul-Synergy] as I had a hunch that getting it to level one-hundred would greatly strengthen the bond between myself and my familiar to provide further benefits to us both.

I put my Core-Points into my Mana.

My stat-points, meanwhile, I once again split between Intelligence, Agility, and Perception.

Now all I had left to do was to brew some potions and pack away food for mine and Gwen's upcoming foray back into the outside world.

---

Sunlight shone upon my and Gwen's faces.

The panther's bright, glowing blue eyes flared with a powerful light.

My long ears perked up to scan the air for the sounds of the surrounding woods.

Some fifteen new [Greater Mana Potions] now filled my inventory--along with another fifteen [Greater Stamina Potions] crafted from bestial shards.

I would have liked to produce more health potions also, but I lacked the ingredients.

That said, between [Cauterize Wounds] and [Healing Hands], I could pretty much just use mana potions as healing potions with extra steps.

"Can you track the Skulkers back to their home, still?" I asked my feline companion.

The panther licked her lips and opened her nostrils to the wind.

Gwen rumbled a low growling in her chest. "It's faint, but as long as it doesn't rain we should be able to catch up to where their trail grows stronger."

"Okay, good," I replied and looked down to my familiar. "Let's go then."

The panther growled again in the affirmative.

It was time we became the hunters.

Because, as much as this Dungeon wanted to kill me, I wanted to go home more than this place wanted to keep me here permanently.

Of that I was sure. I had to be.