God Of Crafting

Chapter 22: Home invasion?!

'So that's how it is...'

To say that this was my most productive crafting session thus far would be a gross understatement. An understatement of a level where it had so little left to do with the truth, it was no different than an outright lie.

And all of that... while I only had some scraps of materials left and no greater idea what to craft with them!

'Maybe that's why it feels so... natural?' I suddenly got a thought, momentarily losing the focus on the process of crafting itself. 'Because rather than adhering to the strict rules and recipes, I'm just doing whatever I feel like doing?'

This feeling was truly... magical.

To just grab whatever I could get my hands on and turn it into something else. To pick scrap and create something actually useful... even if I couldn't really tell its purpose yet.

But it wasn't just that. It wasn't even the fact that crafting, the process I currently had little to no control over, felt better than ever before.

The best advantage that this session of crafting offered was the fact that, for as long as I kept my focus, I could somehow peer into both the intent of my meditative state and the means through which said intent was taking form.

[Arrange the functions and stack them in sequences.]

My hands moved the small pieces of cardboard filled with tiny runes to the brim. First, organizing them into three different groups and then lining them up one by one.

[Establish the argument escalation process.]

Next, I've brought out a total of seven different materials, all with different conductivity for Qi.

[Secure the escalation by varying the resistance]

I moved the crystals I'd bought during my first visit to Claire's shop, placing a different one at the end of each of the seven materials I'd prepared before.

Step by step, I could somewhat peer into the general idea of what I was doing, before deducting its actual purpose from the actions of my hands.

Sure, I had yet to regain proper control of my body or proper control of my thoughts... But my current situation was infinitely better than just going to sleep whenever I entered a meditative state only to wake up with some weird effigy that I couldn't get the first clue about!

Step by step, the huge mess of different materials, half-products, and crystals started to take shape.

'Well, it's still merely the first part of the process,' I thought, relaxing my mind for a moment I stared down at the current result of what could very well be ten minutes as well as it could be five hours of work.

Despite those thoughts suddenly causing my mind to explode with worry for my actual, physical health... I continued.

Thump, thump, thump!

'No, this is too loud to be my heart...'

Finally, right as the whole piece of this damn-expensive tape started to near its end, I completed the task and turned the thin strand of hardened-cheese-like material into a relatively thick cord...

Only to then reach out for the sculpting knife from the runesmithing set and notch the cord in a total of four, evenly spaced-out places on the cord, before using all my considerable strength to bend the sturdy cord all the way to the point where its two ends met, turning it from a straight line into a simple circle.

'Just what the hell am I doing now?' I thought, only to watch how my hands moved the cord down to the resin-covered cardboard before pressing it down and...

"FUCK!"

A sudden shout reached my ears, right as the lock of my doors exploded only for said doors to heavily swing in, opening the way for the home invader to step right in.

'What the...'

The shock of the sudden robbery or something was so great, that I night instantly broke free from my meditation...

As, fucking, if.

"What the hell?!" the robber spoke out again, completely unbothered by seeing me inside the apartment they just broke into. And as if this wasn't enough... Save for the very edge of the door, in my position, I couldn't even see who it was!

The sounds of steps followed as my insides revolved, images of all kinds of harm that would soon befall me flaring up in my mind as I slowly but surely started to break free from the chains of my meditation. I just... wasn't there yet!

"Please, don't tell me..."

As the robber came closer and closer, they finally the edge of my field of view, pretty much right as I finally regained control over my head, swinging into the side to see the likely coming attack and hopefully have enough time to dodge it...

"... that you've kept going throughout the entire damn night?"

Freed from the chains of my meditation, I was finally ready to defend myself...

Only for all of my adrenaline to go to waste since the invader was no one else... But Claire!