Somehow, the gloves were unchanged. And that's weird because the cloak is different, I mean, the gloves are also different but it's just... I thought they'd change somehow? The cloak looks different for me and—

  Okay, I know I'm just complaining senselessly, I'm a bit stupid for doing that. The gloves look good and they are much better than I expected, pretty comfortable, too, I have high expectations for the rest of the mender's set.

  The gloves are by far the best piece as well, and what makes them so great compared to say, the cloak, is that it gives the wearer a 15% boost to their spells.

  Which, okay, to be fair, a 15% boost isn't actually that good, especially when you're weak. 15% of 10 is less than 1, but I'm not weak, far from it, my magical stat is on over 600 and my spells are on the lower end of mid-tier, even if it's less than a quarter, that kind of boost is as powerful as me back when I was at level 5.

  Equipping the gloves gives me around 2 levels or so? Which is a lot, especially when compared to the standards of this world.

  The gloves also have the unique effect called "green thumb" which is perfect for alchemy, actually, alchemists and casuals used to prefer the gloves even when their characters have leveled up past the point of them being useful, and gloves are one of the worst items to have a unique effect as well.

  Rings and other accessories were the meta for chasing unique effects because they didn't hinder someone from using a full set of armor and getting bonuses. I think the only exception to this were the fire mages, back then equipped a hat that, while ugly, gives fire spells the [Hellfire Debuff], which deals true damage and ignores immunity.

  But enough about that! The gloves! I have them now, the next thing would be the pants, and I think there's another cottage close to their location, re-activating it would be the first thing that I'll do and after, I'll place a hammock.

  Modifying the cottages is surprisingly fun, I mean, it's an open space where I can do whatever I want— after I learned it's harmless at least. — so it reminds me of some of the life-sim games I played in my past life.

  The whole thing really scratches that weird itch in my head you know? The one that wants to build stuff and just live life without consequences or worries.

  I shake my head and reach forward, the corner of my eyes catch sight of the gloves and I feel giddy, getting them had been harder than expected.

  A small colony of monstrous ants were living in the cave that the gloves were hidden in, I wasn't sure if they were placed their by mistake or had just moved in because they were attracted to the plant life that grew in abundance thanks to the gloves, either way, they were a pain in the ass to fight.

  Fighting in a small cave for the first time made me realize that my dagger had its limitations as well, the amount of times I had almost died because rocks fell down on me was more than I was comfortable with.

  "Guess it doesn't work." I say in disappointment as I take my hand off the walls of my cottage, I thought that I'd be able to use my new gloves to do something with the cottages but nope, "was I expecting too much? Definitely not right?"

  The mender probably had different ways to dial the effects of the cottages, or maybe it doesn't exist and I'm just being stupid, one of those things.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Laying down on my bed with my full gear wasn't great, but I was too tired to take them off so I endured it. I closed my eyes and planned my next steps, the difficulty of obtaining the pants is centered around movement, the same goes with the boots.

  Now, I can do it how it should "normally" be done and just parkour my way up to it or I can make tools that will help me climb, which I can now do because reality doesn't run on the limitations of video games.

  Grappling hooks are kinda cool, and climbing aids are even cooler. The thought of using them is making me feel excited, "I have to make them first though." I murmur while trying to get my body to move, it simply refuses to, I'm too lazy. "Well, maybe they can wait after I'm done sleeping or something?"

  Still, no matter how much time I spend laying down, I simply couldn't sleep. I get up, this is probably for the best, laziness is only going to make me waste my time anyway. And god knows I can't afford to do that.

  While making my way over to my workbench, I had one question in mind: how does one make a grappling hook? My blueprints aren't giving me anything because it isn't a trap and a trap for rope doesn't exist, traps for air though? They do, and I can use that for the firing mechanism.

  But before that, I needed to work on actually making a grappling hook. I grabbed ropes, my dagger, and small blocks of wood.

  Designing a pulley system wasn't easy, I'm not an engineer, this kind of thing was beyond me. Measuring the wood so that they fit into my design is almost impossible as well, and shaving them into gears might as well be a pipe dream.

  This didn't stop me, whether or not I finish the grappling hook depends entirely on my efforts and goddamnit, I'm making this thing even if it's the last thing I'll do!

  ...

  Laself backed away, "why do you keep doing this?"

  She recognized some of the adventurers in front of her, they were her customers back then, people who came up to her stall to buy food. Now? They're her enemies who wanted nothing but to break her, ruin her.

  "It's nothing personal," one of them stepped forward, he carried a short-sword and a flintlock, the gun was aimed directly at her. "You know how it is with us adventurers, we get paid, then we do our job."

  "Your job is supposed to be protecting villages!" Laself screamed, continuing to take slow steps backwards. "Not... Whatever this is!"

  In response, the men only laughed. "Protecting villages? You think we're heroes or something? Kid, life isn't some bed time story your mother tells you before bed, the world is harsh and people in it are even worse."

  Bed time stories? Laself scowled, did they think she experienced that back when she was still living with her parents? They never cared about her enough to sit beside her bed, even when she's sick they're too busy screaming at each other to nurse her.

  "And just because that's the case you think that it's right for you to take advantage of others and be selfish?" Laself spat, she prepared to take out her scroll and use it. "How pathetic, you're so weak that you can't solve anything, isn't it? Or are you so stupid that the only idea you can come up with is hurting others and helping yourself?"

  "What about you?" The adventurers took great steps forward. "You're just some girl about to get murdered... After we have our fun."

  Laself wanted to run, they're getting closer to her and she feared she won't be able to defend herself if they get close enough. If she wants to use her scroll, then she has to do it right now.

  She took out the rolled up papyrus and unfurled it, with jerky movements, she ripped it in half and cast the spell inside.

  A fire ball gushed out and shot towards the adventurers, one of them ran forward and blocked it with their shield, but as they were recovering, Laself took out another scroll. A second fireball shot out, hitting the back of the group.

  Men started burning, she didn't let up, more fire came down on them.

  Snow starts to melt, the adventurers were now in panic, Laself grabbed her fourth scroll and ripped it in half.

  Even their shieldsmen started to burn, the houses around them were being affected as well, Laself felt a knot tie itself within her heart. Her lungs worked hard to take in air, she was panicking even worse than before.

  Her vision narrows, she grabs the fifth and last scroll, rips it in half, and shoots another fireball.

  Then she runs, not towards the forest, but back home. She no longer has scrolls and more adventurers will only ambush her if she goes too far, she wouldn't be able to defend herself if another confrontation arises.

  But more than that, she just killed people, and she knows she wouldn't be able to live with the guilt once things calm down. She needed someone to talk to, even if only for a moment, to get some peace of mind.