The power of the crystal gently started filling his body with the usual feeling, until suddenly, his breath caught in his throat, a roaring heat bellowed from his core, traveling along his veins, burning them from the inside out.

  It felt much more intense than his last Fire Essence unlock, or any unlock previously. As the feeling finally passed, he managed to catch his breath and look upon the newly acquired skill.

  You have unlocked the Fire Essence Skill: Crimson Impact (Common)

  Crimson Impact (Common)

  Empower your next strike with unruly fire mana. On hit, detonate in a small blast, dealing additional fire damage and lightly staggering nearby enemies.

  Scales with Strength

  Cooldown: 12 seconds

  Fire Essence skills unlocked: 2 / 2

  Your bond with the Fire Element has deepened.

  Fire mana now flows through you with greater ease and intensity.

  Leo looked at the skill screen before him, he could have definitely used this last night.

  If only the tutorial store had appeared before the bloodmoon.

  He shook the thought away. There was no point in dwelling. Instead, he looked to the future, he thought of the potential synergy this skill gave him with his style. He could dash in, land a few hits then BAM, explosion of fire. Or use it as an initiation tool—a surprise attack of sorts.

  Although he was veritably itching to test out this skill, combined with his new Call of the Storm, he didn’t overlook the second message the System gave him. The one about his bond to fire. It gave him a thought he needed to confirm.

  Getting into a meditative pose, Leo delved into his soul-space. The sudden shift didn’t alarm him, but the feeling he got from the place was… hotter? He looked to his Fire Essence, the orb that gently pulsed red and connected to the egg was now surging with a burning heat.

  The heat was not wild and uncontrolled, it felt completely in Leo’s grasp. He drew on the heat of the orb, swirling it gently around the soul-space as fire started to form in the air around him.

  Immediately, the mana flow from the orb to the Dragon Egg began to weaken. Realizing quickly, Leo carefully reconnected the egg to the stable, unused mana flow of his Ice Essence.

  The fire surged around him. He was swishing and swirling it around him like a fire dancer, grinning the whole time at the power he felt in his hands. Before now, this would never have been possible. Hell, it may still be impossible to do out of his soul-space, but even this was not possible before the second skill unlocked.

  Too excited not to try it, he left his soul-space, and tried conjuring a flame. It had been a while since he had tried to do this, not being able to get in his usual nightly practice with all the chaos that had been happening lately, definitely not because he’d forgotten.

  The small flame didn’t ignite, it roared into being, surging into his open palm like he’d just set the air on fire. It didn’t burn him, no matter how he touched it. The heat felt alive, but completely under his control.

  He tried to launch it. No luck.

  The fire clung to his hand, stubborn and twitching like it wanted to fly, just not yet.

  Maybe with practice, he could pull off an actual fireball. Hopefully without some ridiculous chant like; By the fires of judgment and all that which burn, guide my flame into the dawn, etcetera, etcetera...

  He’d much rather just yell, “Fireball!”

  Or, ideally, say nothing at all.

  Finished playing with his newly improved fire control, he went out to seek Cecelia. With her being the now self-appointed leader, he thought it right to ask her permission to go out and fight some things.

  ~

  While Leo burned with new possibilities, others were discovering theirs more quietly.

  Walking off to find a quiet place, Lena tried not to think too hard about the world shaking story that Leo had described.

  Gods existed.

  And one of them was a Dragon.

  She supposed it made sense that there was some kind of higher power out there. With this System and all, but it was still a lot to take in.

  She hoped that Ron would be okay. Lena thought he was a bit odd at first, being so quiet, but he was starting to open up to people. Sure, he was still a bit rough around the edges when it came to being polite but that wasn’t a big deal.

  Lena was no longer feeling like she was living on the edge of a cliff, especially after today’s revelation of tailoring items appearing in the store. Despite what her sister said, her hopes had been sky high the moment Leo mentioned that it might be a possibility and hadn’t come down since.

  Finding herself a quiet corner and an unused table, she held her own starter manual and tried to activate it the same way Ashley had done, hands shaking.

  She focused on the idea of being a tailor, of crafting intricate items with thread and needle, the joy of seeing someone in their prom dress that was perfectly altered. The gasp of a perfect wedding dress.

  She absolutely adored making and altering clothes and the reactions it came with.

  The book seemed to respond to her passion and started to morph, the dull, ancient tome changing to a purple-grey texture. The book’s cover looked almost like silk, embroidered with golden lining surrounding words that were written with eloquence and purpose. The words read; Threadwright starter guide, written by Vesna, of the Silver Loom.

  Her initial confusion at the title quickly faded as awe overtook her.

  The craftsmanship was stunning. It was as if someone had stitched the book together page by page using nothing but fabric. The words were sewn into the pages as she opened it.

  “The time and effort someone must have put into this…” Lena muttered.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  As she looked through the pages, her earlier frown of uncertainty was slowly changed into a smile of intrigue and delight. She was at first worried when reading the title, as while it contained the word “thread” it didn’t seem like just ‘tailor’ as she was expecting. Her fears were for nothing thankfully upon seeing the first page.

  Crafting tutorial for item: Imbued cloth (Common)

  Imbued cloth is the most basic item for those beginning their work with cloth, often used as a test for one's aptitude. It is a recommended starting position of this guide.

  This guide will teach you the step by step process to create your own imbued cloth.

  The guide went on to describe exactly how to create it from just simple thread, needle and one’s own mana.

  Lena was excited to start, quickly opening up the store and using what remained of her SC to purchase the Tailor starter pack.

  Tailors starter pack

  Contains the items needed to unlock the tailoring profession should one have the aptitude and creativity to do so.

  Does not include a guide on how to begin a Tailoring Profession

  Items included:

  Needle set (Common)

  Measuring ribbon

  Whet-clamp shears

  Spools of Common Thread x10

  Scrap Cloth (Cleaned) x5

  Leather Strips x3

  Lena opened the pack, the items spilling onto the small table in front of her, which she quickly organised to her liking.

  She started following the guide, glancing over to it now and again as she began to modify the scrap cloth in the way the book described.

  She almost cried with joy when her needle first penetrated the cloth. It was like the needle was born to be in her hand. Her eyes were burning with passion and concentration as she worked, swiftly altering the cloth perfectly to the specifications.

  When it came to the part of mana imbuing she was a little stumped.

  So far she had only used mana when casting her magical spells. She’d gained a couple spells from hitting level five and ten, first a small shield of water and then a skill that improved her mana reserves. Those didn’t feel like something she could modify or control in a way that the book described could be done with mana.

  She recalled the time where Leo tried to describe how he used his mana to just push a creature away from him. She giggled slightly at the thought. He meant well, but wasn’t all that great when it came to teaching.

  “He said something about just grabbing all the mana and pushing it out at once,” she said to herself.

  Lena tried to focus her mind on the feeling of when her mana was used on her spells. She stood up and closed her eyes, forming the water bubble shield around herself.

  As she did, she could feel a thread of sorts coming from inside her where the mana traveled from in order to create the shield. Dismissing the shield, she repeated the process. Each attempt made it easier to feel the subtle threads of mana weaving through her, guiding her spell.

  They’re like a spool of thread running throughout my body.

  She then gasped as her consciousness shifted, finding herself in a space much unlike the one she had just been in.

  The building of stone, lost in time and covered in moss was replaced with a gorgeous, open landscape filled with swirling colours and floating fabrics. A large pool was in the centre, gently shifting with the breeze. She saw a floating orb sitting in the middle of it with a small thread reaching to the sky.

  “Where am I?” Lena said, awestruck. It felt so peaceful here.

  After no one answered, she precariously made her way forward to the large pool and subsequent orb.

  On approaching the pool, she gently put her foot into the water. But when she expected it to pass through, instead she felt it as solid as the ground from which she was currently standing on.

  Giving it another few cautious taps with her foot, she took a deep breath and jumped onto the lake.

  The water held her weight as she balanced herself from toppling over. A surge of exhilaration filled her chest, and she laughed brightly, running across the surface without fear.

  For the first time in this strange new world, she felt truly free.

  She was starting to get why Leo enjoyed this new world so much. She was literally walking on water!

  This was definitely a skill she needed to unlock somehow.

  Refocusing herself to the reason she was on the water, she walked towards the orb in the middle. It was pulsing gently, almost as if ebb and flowing within itself in a watery blue colour. She reached out and touched it.

  The realisation came instantly. That this was the origin of her Water Blade, and was what she was following when using her Bubble Shield spell. She gazed up into the sky where the thread flowed and her consciousness went along with it.

  She was taken from her soul-space and back into the real world. She looked down at her hand with a grin across her face.

  Inside her hand sat a small orb of water that she could freely morph and move around. It wasn’t large but it was beautiful to see. She felt like a true magician.

  Now, how do I make this water, or my mana in general go into the cloth? Lena frowned.

  First, she tried picking up the piece of cloth she had been working on before and just dipping it into the water. All that achieved was the creation of a piece of wet cloth.

  Regretfully dismissing the watery sphere she managed to summon, she held the cloth, but instead of conjuring the sphere again, she channeled the watery mana into the cloth itself.

  To her pleasant surprise the cloth responded, soaking up the mana and changing into a quiet blue colour.

  She used Identify on the cloth.

  Perfectly Imbued Cloth of Water (Common)

  An item of perfectly imbued cloth created by a crafter beginning their journey. It was created to the most perfect of specifications and was fully infused with water mana.

  Although this creation was made following a basic recipe, this item surpasses the general item.

  Has many crafting uses

  She squealed in delight as she read the description. She had done it! She created her first tailoring item! Lena jumped up and down in the small room, clutching the cloth to her chest.

  She was excited to turn to the next page in her book but before she could, a System prompt appeared before her.

  You have unlocked the Profession: Threadwright

  Threadwright

  While many approach tailoring as a skill of necessity or idle interest, you follow it with genuine passion. Your technique and dedication mark you as more than a hobbyist. Should your fire continue to burn bright, your hands may one day shape garments worthy of legend.

  Stat bonuses per level: +2 Wisdom, +1 Agility, +1 Intelligence, +1 Will, +1 Free point.

  Warning: Accepting this profession will lock the ability to change professions until your profession evolves.

  You may only have one profession

  Would you like to accept this profession?

  Yes/No

  Lena goggled at the screen in front of her. She didn't know whether to cry or scream as she read it.

  She briefly hesitated, considering asking Leo’s advice on if it sounded good, but she couldn’t wait. Plus, she already knew his answer.

  This was her choice.

  After giving her mental assent she felt the knowledge flow into her as the profession took hold.

  You have gained the Profession: Threadwright

  Threadwright skills unlocked:

  Create Garment (Common)

  Scan Fabric (Common)

  Material Intuition (Common)

  Soulstitch (Rare)

  She was absolutely delighted.

  All of the fighting.

  All of the killing.

  All of the suffering.

  All of it was worth it for this moment. The moment where she could dream once again, letting her imagination flow freely as she envisioned the garments of legend the profession described, each stitch filled with purpose, passion and hope.

  If this world demanded blood to survive, then Lena would answer it with thread and will. And she would not be left behind again.