Jayce hadn’t randomly decided to use Soul-Guided Forging that morning. He had been planning this before he woke up early and visited Stout.

Sitting beside his purple-tinged soul was the fading soul of that yak monster who he had helped butcher.

As he had predicted, Soul-Guided Forging could only show its true worth once Jayce found a teacher who could guide him through the basics. The more he understood, the less fuzzy his memory became while being guided by a soul. Because he lacked neither materials nor souls, Jayce’s refining skills were starting to advance rapidly.

Jayce even found refining to be fun. Unlike with fighting, where he was tied down by his low life order, Jayce only had advantages as a refiner. When a person discovered something they were talented in, it was easy for them to enjoy it. In this case, Jayce’s ‘talent’ was his special class and his bonded flame.

Jayce had used Soul-Guided Forging several times with the captured spirit of freedom, but because neither the soul nor his available materials were changing, Jayce felt like he was reaching the limit of his inspiration. This wasn’t entirely bad, as Jayce could practice making the same things over and over, but he wanted to experiment as well.

When his refining session ended, Jayce set down a large black weapon with a heavy sigh. “I didn’t expect that blob of lard to make something like this. I’ll have to take it to Marin before it can be used, though. A 10% chance of exploding in my hands is unacceptable.”

Closing his eyes, Jayce activated Soul-Guided Forging again, this time with his own soul. The ability failed again, but Jayce wasn’t trying to succeed. Until he could refine an artifact while fully conscious, it was impossible for him to use his own soul as a guide. He still made the attempt every so often because he wanted to create a shopping list.

Jayce could usually take random materials and use a soul’s inspiration to make something out of them, but living souls were less flexible. When he started to feel inspired by his own soul, Jayce sensed that he was missing certain materials. His soul’s requirements weren’t extremely strict, but he felt that he wouldn’t be able to follow his inspiration with what he currently had.

At the moment, he was missing materials with aspects of fire, blood and most frustratingly, flesh. Jayce finally regretted not pocketing one of Mize’s mana cores while he was in the Fragmented Ruins—where flesh blobs were as common as weeds—but he comforted himself by rationalizing that those low-level cores wouldn’t be an ideal choice.

“Well, even if I had the materials, I can't use them right now. I’ll just keep an eye out for them.”

The next day during afternoon training, Jayce saw that things were winding down and he looked towards a certain person. He hesitated for a moment before stepping close enough to get her attention. ‘Close enough’ was a very obvious distance, as no one got near this person without a good reason.

Sitting on an unnecessarily fancy cushion at one end of the training field, the doctor on duty raised her head and sent a glare Jayce’s way. Whether it was her face or her figure, this woman was the definition of a cold, mature beauty and her curled sheep horns somehow only added to that image. When Jayce thought about who her daughter was, he couldn’t help but wonder if animal features weren’t the only randomized part of their race's genetics.

“Oh, you’re that outsider who keeps getting thrashed by Naya and her friends,” the woman, Yara, muttered in a detached tone. “I figured your only redeeming quality was that you always handled your own treatment but maybe I overestimated you.”

‘The best refiner and the best alchemist in this village are both so difficult to talk to,’ Jayce grumbled to himself.

Though he only vaguely understood the job, Jayce knew that doctors in the Upper Bound studied both medicine and alchemy. Similar to how artifact refiners used the aspects in materials to create magical items, alchemists mixed aspects into consumable potions, pills and salves. There was some overlap, but if anyone asked which profession was more complex, they would have to prepare themselves for a lengthy dissertation from every alchemist and refiner in earshot.

“I'm not here to be treated. I wanted to ask if you had any materials with aspects of flesh or blood and see if you were willing to sell them.”

Yara raised an eyebrow. “You’re Verne’s new apprentice, right? What kind of creepy thing are you trying to make?”

“So, you do have them?” Jayce asked quickly, betraying his eagerness.

Initially, Jayce hadn’t been very worried about finding materials for the artifact his soul wanted to make. It was only after checking through Verne’s storeroom and village’s local network that he noticed a certain problem. It was rare for outsiders to visit Snowdrift, which meant any material that couldn’t already be found in Snowdrift would likely never come there. If Jayce couldn’t find what he needed now, then he would have to give up on that artifact for the foreseeable future.

“I have some of both. Thankfully, everyone this village is cowardly. Otherwise I’d be running a bit low on emergency materials.”

Yara’s grey fur coat ruffled as she stretched out a hand and pulled a tiny crystal chip out of thin air. This crystal was smooth and flat with faintly glowing veins cut into its surface. Holding it out to Jayce, she explained, “A lot of people ask me for favors, so I keep a list of things that I need. By the way, money is not on the list. Maybe you find this strange as an outsider, but Snowdrift hardly runs on credits. We use them, but everything here is dirt cheap and a lot of people prefer to trade directly or deal in favors.”

Yara tossed the chip to Jayce, who promptly inspected it with his mental energy. Jayce knew this was the physical form of a data package, an artifact that stored one or more data files and could be downloaded onto an information console. Some data packages were heavily encrypted and could only be opened through special means while others, like this one, were completely open. Jayce didn’t even need to use an IC if he only wanted to check the list.

After storing the tiny chip, Jayce furrowed his brow. There were a lot of things that this sheep-horned woman wanted, but most of them were rare materials that Jayce couldn’t even recognize much less obtain.

Jayce asked, “Can anything on this list be found in Snowdrift?”

“Glass ice flowers and a couple other materials grow in the Frozen Expanse. Look it up your…self,” Yara trailed off as she watched something behind Jayce.

Turning, Jayce saw Naya admitting defeat in a duel against an adult villager. There was nothing noteworthy about the scene, as neither of them had more than a few scrapes. Even so, Yara rolled off her cushion and trotted over to the defeated catgirl. Jayce briefly watched Naya fend off the older woman’s fussing while the victor was shot a withering glare.

This kind of treatment was one of the reasons why people were afraid of dueling Naya. If either of them had needed treatment, the victor would have had it much worse.

‘I still can’t get over how her name sounds like Naya’s evolved form,’ Jayce thought idly.

When afternoon training ended, Jayce paid Marin a visit. He entered her workshop through the door behind the counter and was surprised to see her up and about. Not only was she moving, her bushy tail was waving happily while she hummed along to her music. Jayce stood in the doorway for a little while and grinned when Marin noticed him loitering. Freezing up, Marin quickly stopped humming and put on a neutral expression.

She gave him a searching look before saying anything—something that had become a habit of hers after Jayce returned from the Frozen Expanse. Jayce ignored her odd stare and spoke first.

“Congratulations on your recovery.”

“I told you it would only take a week,” she replied before mumbling. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you doubting me.”

Jayce didn’t bother with a rebuttal. He was genuinely surprised to see her walking around without a cast, since it didn’t seem like she’d used any medicine.

‘Then again, I’m the last person who should be surprised about fast healing,’ he thought, shrugging.

“Actually….” Marin folded her arms while looking a bit smug. “I have three reasons to be happy today. If you can guess two out of three of them, then I’ll give you a prize.”

“Shouldn’t I get the prize if I guess all three correctly?”

“I’m willing to give it to you for two guesses. Shouldn’t you be happy with that?”

“It’s bad design. If I guess the first two correctly, then I won’t be motivated anymore.”

“Putting it another way, you’d like to be motivated to guess perfectly,” Marin analyzed, shaking her head. “But I know you can’t guess the third one, so this is my way of being kind.”

Jayce let out a short sigh. “The first is your leg being healed and the second is that you’ve finished working on my artifact.”

“Correct~. Here’s your prize.”

Marin tossed him a set of five ring-shaped artifacts. Catching them, Jayce was pleased to see his Bands of Freedom. He hastily used his mental energy to examine them.

Bands of Freedom (Polished)

Energy Requirement: First Gate

A set of five bands created with inspiration from a lesser spirit’s desire to escape and be free. While active, these bands will protect the wearer with a barrier and increase the speed of their movements. As the wearer moves continuously, these two effects will become more powerful. When the wearer stops, these effects will slowly weaken again. This artifact’s charge can also be sacrificed to greatly improve its effects for 1 second.

“They’re more efficient and won’t break as easily now,” Marin explained with a hint of pride in her voice. “On top of that, you can sacrifice the momentum you’ve built up for a burst of power.”

Jayce stared at them in shock. “Wow, I can’t believe you turned it from a shoddy artifact to a polished one.”

Polished artifacts had essentially been improved to their limit and could compete with artifacts one grade above them. As Jayce had begun to learn from Verne, he was starting to understand just how rare polished artifacts were compared to normal and shoddy ones. Of the artifacts that Leon used, Jayce was almost positive that none of them were polished.

“Ah, that’s not really something you can praise me for,” Marin said, sighing a little. “They turned out so well because you used a grade 3 material as the core. In other words, this should actually be an artifact for lifeforms at the third gate. The problem is that most of the other materials are grade 0, and the forged vessel was made clumsily, so this was the best I could do.”

Jayce covered his face with his hands. “So that green staff really was valuable…”

The core of the Bands of Freedom were five wooden rings cut from a staff that Weiss had used to entice the spirit of freedom. Jayce couldn’t regret using it, since this artifact had saved his life, but it still hurt to see such a valuable material be abused like that. When Jayce considered that he had also ruined a master refiner’s protective bands while forging it, he could no longer bear to look at his own artifact.

Jayce slipped them on and pulled up his sleeves to cover his wrists. He then produced a stack of credits, but Marin shook her head.

“It’s fine. I fixed it because I was bored. Plus, I don’t usually get the chance to work on grade 3 materials, so you don’t need to pay me.”

“I didn’t become your friend to take advantage of you.”

“It’s not that big a deal.”

“If it’s not a big deal then just take the payment.”

The pair haggled back and forth before Jayce eventually handed half of the money he’d prepared to Marin. He also gave her the next artifact that he wanted improved. Jayce certainly didn’t need everything he made from Soul-Guided Forging to be useful, but there were a couple items that he wanted to elevate.

Now that the Bands of Freedom were back in his possession, thoughts of reentering the Frozen Expanse started creeping into his head. Jayce hadn’t forgotten that the Frozen Expanse was a wild dungeon where powerful high-level monsters could appear out of nowhere. However, that risk wasn’t enough to deter him. With his new and improved Bands of Freedom, Jayce could outrun most threats. Most importantly, he could level up much faster by fighting monsters than training in the village. Jayce didn’t want to spend years raising his level to 40 when he could potentially reach the second gate in months.

After some thought, Jayce decided that he would keep his trips into the Frozen Expanse short for now. His main priorities at the moment were training himself and learning refining, raising his level was secondary. The Nexus system could only improve on a person’s base. If Jayce was better trained and better equipped, then his levels would be more meaningful.

Glancing at Marin, Jayce suddenly thought of a way he could reduce the risk of hunting in the Frozen Expanse.

“You haven’t had many customers recently. How are you doing, financially?” Jayce asked innocuously.

Marin shrugged. “I’m not about to starve, but I don’t have nearly as much as I want. I had been hoping to save up money because of the third thing.”

“The third reason why you’re happy? You could always hunt in the dungeon to make some quick credits. You’re definitely strong enough, and I could back you up…if you want.”

Marin crossed her arms much more tightly than before and her tail drooped. “I don’t really want to raise my level any higher. Do you know what the second gate is called?”

“It was…the Gate of Fortune, right?”

“Exactly. That gate has you reconcile with the blessings and misfortunes you’ve encountered during your life. I’m not afraid to tell you that if I challenge it, I’m guaranteed to fail. I know there are ways to suppress the gate’s challenge and wait at the threshold, but I’d rather just keep my level where it is.”

Thinking about the second gate’s challenge, Jayce couldn’t help but sigh. “Misfortune, huh? Now I’m a little worried.”

“I’ll listen if you want to talk about it, but don’t expect too much from me. I’ve never encountered a single day of misfortune in my life.”

“If you really think that, then you have to be setting your expectations too low.”

Jayce didn’t bother to ask why Marin would have trouble with the Gate of Fortune if she was always fortunate. He was well aware that sometimes, good fortune could be a heavy burden to bear.

Marin chuckled. “Haha, maybe. Anyways, you got us on a tangent. The third reason why I’m happy is because the head sent out a message saying that the Resplendent Earth Festival is coming up. The Auspicious Lord should have already burrowed out of the planet’s core and he’ll visit this area in about a month.”

“…What?”

“It’s a planet-wide holiday. The Auspicious Lord Peregria is a unique being like lord Sky-Swallower. He lives near the planet’s core and comes out to circle the world every 2-3 years. Everyone celebrates when he passes by because he’s seen as a symbol of luck and fortune.”

“Why does he circle the world?” Jayce had several other questions about this strange creature, but many of them likely wouldn’t get an answer.

“Either it’s a mystery or people like us aren’t qualified to know,” Marin shrugged. “You’ll likely be able to see him from Snowdrift because his body is enormous. Some people try to follow him around the world, which means we’ll definitely have some visitors show up here. That said, most holiday travelers will either camp out or stick to cities and towns.”

Jayce asked a little more about the Resplendent Earth Festival and learned that it was essentially Christmas…Except that Santa was a giant beast and he gave out luck instead of presents. Ultimately, it was a holiday where some people traveled the world while the rest of the planet got drunk and partied in a cascading pattern.

‘This holiday might be a good way to find Mize,’ Jayce thought to himself. ‘Unfortunately, it came too early and both of us are too low-level to travel like that. Plus, I’m not sure if I want to do something so risky just to learn about my Bloodrager abilities.’

Leaving Snowdrift wasn’t easy to begin with and Jayce planned on staying in this cozy place until his level could at least match an average adult’s.

As he lost himself in his thoughts, Jayce subconsciously clenched his fists. Snowdrift was cozy, but it was also a tiny speck in the middle of nowhere. If he wanted to become strong in a place like this, he could only rely on his own hard work.

Back in reality, Marin pursed her lips as she looked at Jayce. “By the way, you look kind of tired. Are you sleeping alright?”

“Hmm?” Jayce cocked his head. “I don’t feel tired at all, though.”

“Well, your eyes are a little…Whatever, I guess you’re fine.”