Looks like we've got someone reliable for crafting our weapons and staves. Now we need a leatherworker.

  "Would either of you recommend a leather worker for armor?"

  The dwarves were already going over the materials and arguing who would get to use what. They were currently engaged in a tug-of-war over one of the smaller bones. Robby seemed to be winning. Carving was tiring work, but wielding a hammer was more so.

  Donna had also taken out the materials they had gathered in the dungeon, but neither dwarf was much impressed by them. They hadn't climbed that high into the Spire before everything started...

  "Just use Jimmy Lee over there." Robby pointed at a lanky human who was fussing over the furs laid out by Lorenzo. He was awfully young for a supposedly experienced leatherworker.

  "Isn't he awfully young?"

  "Aren't you awfully young?" The dwarf retorted.

  "Fair enough." Damian left to see if Mr. Lee would take on the work. From the way he seemed to be excited over the ape's skin, he could convince him easily enough.

  "Excuse me, Mr. Lee?"

  "... ..." Stars could be seen in his eyes as he stared at the furs.

  "Jimmy, excuse me. I'd like to hire you to have some armor created using those furs!" Damian raised his voice.

  "... ..." Jimmy was still off in his own world, like in a trance. Damian was starting to get a little impatient trying to get his attention.

  What he didn't consider was that he'd done the same, and it didn't even need an exotic material to trigger it. His team had tried numerous times before to wake him from his own thoughts, but after repeated failures, they had given up.

  "Oi, laddie! You've got to use his full name, or he won't notice you!" Dobby hollered over.

  "Why the hell did you tell him that! Now that lad's going to compete over the materials!"

  "He's going to compete with you over the materials. I've already found what I need for the staves." Dobby taunted.

  "Gosh Dammit! You traitor!" Robby yelled while kicking up more ash.

  "Jimmy Lee!"

  "!!!" Jimmy Lee jumped up from his reverie.

  "Ah! What can I help you with, sir?" He said in a meek voice. He was bending slightly, one hand cupped on his leg. His other hand was brushing his short black hair back.

  Jimmy Lee was doing his best to look presentable amid a disaster. A classic image of a store front cashier appeared in Damian's mind.

  "Sir? *cough* Robby and Dobby over there said that you could make armor using the ape leather. I want to commission your work. We earned some during the battle and are looking for someone with experience."

  "!!!" Jimmy Lee's eyes started to sparkle, and he grabbed Damian's hand, shaking it rapidly.

  "Really! You mean it!! I can work with this?!"

  "Ahwawawa, yeess yoouu caann," Damian said in a shaky voice as his body started to vibrate from the prolonged handshake.

  Jimmy Lee stopped shaking his lone hand, pulled out a tape measure, and began taking Damian's measurements. There wasn't even a moment of rest in between the handshake and work.

  "Um, I'd like to commission five pieces of work. Possibly three gambesons or other under-layer armor pieces designed for mages, one armor set for myself, and another for the giant lady over there. The other members of my party are right by our loot pile, talking to the dwarves."

  "Oh! Also, make sure to account for my other arm. I'll have it back... eventually."

  Jimmy Lee didn't seem to be listening as he was taking measurements.

  "I was wondering what that would all cost. It seems that your fellow crafters hold you in high regard." Damian waited for him to finish his measurements before checking if he had heard his request.

  The hyperactive leatherworker finished measuring Damian and darted off to measure Alex, who was standing closest to the manic man.

  "Whoa, I'm a spoken-for woman." Alex was smiling while looking at Damian. She clearly knew what the man was doing.

  "Could you crouch down for a minute, miss?" Jimmy Lee seemed immune to teasing while working. Alex crouched slightly, and he made quick work of measuring her upper body.

  The leatherworker didn't even write down any of their measurements. He either had a perfect memory or a skill in place that helped with the work.

  If it were a skill, Damian would have assumed that he'd know their measurements by just looking at them.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Jimmy Lee had finally come to a halt over the pile of bones, skin, and sinew after quickly measuring everyone. His eyes were sparkling like a child in a toy store.

  "It's mine! You can't take it all, Jimmy Lee! I need to make two masterwork swords! You'll have to fight me over it!" Robby was hovering over the materials, doing his best to defend them. The dwarf already had a separate pile behind him with parts he had decided to use.

  Like a strict mother taking away a bad child's toy, Jimmy Lee bent down and ripped the skins from Robby's clutches. "No! I was going to add a fur line flair around the hilts! You can't do this to me, Jimmy Lee! Think of all the times I helped you out!"

  Jimmy Lee didn't seem to hear or care for the dwarf's plight. Plus, the dwarf didn't seem to have the skill set necessary to turn the skin to leather. The one-track-minded leatherworker had already taken a tanning rack from his own personal storage.

  He quickly got to stringing up the numerous skins. He didn't even need to use a fleshing knife since Lorenzo did such an expert job separating the skins.

  Next, Jimmy Lee took out a brush and started to comb the hair from the ape. As he did so, it seemed that any tears or scorch marks on the skins began to heal, making them perfectly intact.

  He then proceeded to hold his hands to the stretched-out pieces and channel his mana. You could see the skin harden into sturdy leather sheets. The entire process was magical and saved the leatherworker an incredible amount of time.

  'sigh'

  "Hey Robby, I couldn't get a quote from Jimmy. Do you have a guess on how much he'll charge for all this?"

  "Probably nothing. He's still an apprentice at the guild. He's been dying to work with better material, but the petty bastard he's been under has been keeping him only to prep work."

  "!!! Didn't you say that we could trust him to make great use out of the material?"

  "Aye, you can. The boy's a genius when it comes to leather. The whole reason he got picked up was that he was selling rat leather arm braces on the side of the road as a child. His master was impressed and picked him up."

  "But the bastard grew jealous of his talent and wouldn't let him work on finishing a piece. Some of the other guild members tried to interfere, but the contract the lad signed prevented it... along with some greased hands. He still had five more years under it before he could make it on his own."

  "What about the contract? Is he breaking it by doing this?"

  "His old master is dead. He was one of the best in the country and got brought to that fancy castle. The boy let me know when he felt the contract expire. Hmm, hope the old guild master made it..."

  Ah, shit... that's heavy...

  "So how much do you think we should pay for his work? Given that it seems he doesn't have a financial sense?"

  "Somewhere between nothing at all and all you've got. It'll depend on what he produces. But the lad's going to need a bump with buying his own materials from the dungeon. With the guild hall going up in flames and all."

  "Maybe you could pay him in those scraps you showed us earlier. He'd probably take that as a bonus on top of getting to work with such fine material. Hell, he's probably going to break tiers from this work. He's been held back for far too long."

  "Huh, sounds good to me. Thanks again, Robby."

  "Ah! I hope your guild master made it out ok. They did manage to kill that tier 7 wraith after all. People had to have been able to make it out."

  "Aye, I hope so, laddie... So where's that bastard Steven! He has a spatial skill for his smithy. I'll be able to get to work right away!"

  'sigh' Damian didn't understand crafters.

  Looking away from the workaholics, Damian turned to look toward the entrance of the Earthen Spire. An ethereal Higgins was directing the healing staff and people with spatial skills to create a makeshift healing center off to the side.

  It seemed that Ms. Sanderson was planning for the dungeon to serve as a gathering place for those affected by the disaster. Damian looked back at his campsite and didn't see Lieutenant Higgins sleeping there. Looking around, he didn't see her. She isn't the one directing people right now, right?

  Damian was sure that similar safe zones were popping up all around the city. He looked down at the piles of ash scattered in a couple of places in the teleportation room.

  They still had plenty of time until those unfortunates came back to try and kill them all. There were surely going to be more wraiths and undead making their way through the city.

  Damian had Donna offload her storage of crafting materials next to Jimmy Lee. He told the focused man he was free to take the materials for his own use and that they'd pay him in gold after he finished.

  The young man seems to have had it rough and needed every advantage he could get, but didn't they all need the help?

  sigh – We'll pay him his fair due.

  As they walked back to their own little corner of the giant room, Damian noticed that after the dismantling show, Finn's Spell Slingers had moved back near the entrance of the tower. They were already conversing with another party about something.

  Alex moved around their campfire and started dropping her boulders and larger rocks in a half-circle around their site. Any extra amount of protection helped.

  The coffin was also added to this makeshift wall, although it wouldn't do well if it took a hit and the body ended up turned to ash...

  Fergus was setting their silent alarm so that when anyone not keyed into the device approached, they'd be woken. Meanwhile, Donna was getting out their outdoor sleeping gear. Just some small tents, rolled up mats, pillows, and plenty of blankets.

  "Hey Donna, has your storage space expanded a lot since you tiered up?"

  Taking a moment of focus, she opened her eyes. "Yeah! It's almost a quarter bigger than it used to! I took a look at my level, and I'm already tier 4 level 15!"

  After checking with all the other members, they were at similar levels, except for Damian and Alex. Both were at the 20th level of their 4th-tier.

  That had been an incredible growth spurt in such a short period of time. They had only been at tier 4 level 1 earlier that day. However, the early levels of each tier went by the quickest.

  A tier 7 would go from level 1 to 2 many times faster than a tier 1. This is in part due to the strength of the enemies they faced. But a tier 7 would also grow many times stronger with that one level increase.

  Other than gaining a new skill and having existing skills gain positive or lose negative aspects during a tier up, you actually didn't get that much stronger in base stats. The strength of their bodies, skills, and the pool of their mana would only increase with levels.

  So there would be no miraculous increases in strength in the midst of a battle. One might gain a new skill to turn the tide, but to use a new tool in the middle of combat could prove just as deadly.

  For some reason, although later levels were more difficult to grasp, they didn't actually grant greater strength than levels gained earlier in the same tier.

  One conclusion for this is that the reason later levels were more challenging to acquire was that your body was storing the extra potential for the future skill changes you'd receive upon tiering up.

  The higher tier you break, the more grand the skill you would receive or changes to existing skills you'd have.

  'sigh'

  "I'll take first watch, then Donna, Frey, Alex, then Fergus."

  ""Sounds good.""

  Damian waited for them all to fall asleep. There was one more thing he needed to do before he could truly feel at ease...