[center][h2][color=ec008c]Alisea[/color][/h2][h3]Day 4 - Genesis City[/h3][/center]
[hr]
Alisea's eyes sparked with excitement.  She hadn't honestly expected him to be a Tinker, but him knowing a Tinker was a wonderful surprise.  [color=ec008c]"Thank you for your offer, but I have too much to do right now.  If your group is staying here, though, perhaps I will see you at dinner tonight."[/color]  Alisea smiled at Reylan behind the marauder's retreating back and mouthed a silent, "Good job!" before hurrying off herself.

One quick bath, a final self-check she was presentable, and Alisea was on her way to the market.  Spells were her first priority, and 475 renn later she had a wonderful repertoire.  The magess would have loved to continue purchasing, but good judgment held the remnant of her funds in reserve--first for the daily cost of food, and second for the supplies their party would have to purchase for the next raid on the dungeon.  Pausing for a short time to eat a morning meal (purchased from a bakery at the edge of the market), Alisea evaluated options for earning more renn.  The first, most straight-forward method was completing quests.  The second, and the method the young woman favored most, was to practice crafting.  And the third option was, naturally, traditional grinding.

The best course going forward, then, would be to pursue all three in the same action.  Swallowing the last bite of scone, Alisea thanked Baker Josef and made her way to the city hall.  It didn't take long for the magess to find the familiar blonde head of the clerk who had shown her the first set of quests; and, upon inquiry, the woman informed Alisea that a number of new requests had indeed been submitted.  When she saw the request for defending the iron mine, Alisea's heart leaped; then it dropped when she read the details.  It didn't fit into the time frame she had.  That couldn't be helped, the magess supposed; the other pair of quests--talk to ten of the villagers and craft ten items--would have to suffice for the present.

Ever quick to find the shortest line between herself and her objective, Alisea began by thanking the clerk for the information.  She even took it a step further and asked if there was a way she could arrange to be notified when a new request was brought in.  That lead to a brief conversation with the virtual woman, but ultimately she arrived at the answer that there was no such kind shortcut--not even for a willing Adventurer trying to prove helpful.

Alisea waved a farewell and paused long enough to check the time.  The readout informed her the day had advanced beyond ten and was drawing toward half past.  That left much of the day to use--though she couldn't deny a bit of irritation at how much time she had lost sleeping through the morning.  With a resigned shake of her head, Alisea moved back to the market.

The young woman scanned through the shops and stalls until she found what she needed:  a Workshop, available for public use.  It was a little out of the way, but it had everything she would need to start.  From there she searched around until she found a stall selling ore from the mines.  Digging into her remaining coins, Alisea handed over the first two silvers she could grab; in exchange, the vendor returned a two copper in change and handed her a pair of ore.  Alisea moved to put them into her inventory--and immediately a tremendous fatigue gripped her body.  Everything felt heavy, as though gravity had multiplied and was determined to drag her to the ground.

It took a moment, but realization lit up the girl's eyes.  She opened her inventory again and withdrew the two ore.  As suddenly as it had come, the weight vanished. [color=ec338c][I]'Overburdened,'[/I][/color] Alisea thought glumly.  With only a pair of ore.  Such was the price of leaving her strength attribute with a single point.  [color=ec338c][I]'The trigger only comes from weight in my inventory, then?  I can carry the ore by hand, I suppose, but...'[/I][/color]  She looked back the way she had come.  The Workshop wasn't far, but it certainly wasn't right next door, either.  At this point, though, she didn't see any other option.  [color=ec338c][I]'Maybe I can call this training.  It might improve my Strength--with good fortune, it might improve my Agility, too.'[/I][/color]

With that simple thought in mind, Alisea wrapped up both ore in her arms and set off to the workshop.  She started at a walk, then sped up until she was as close to a jog as she could manage with the extra load.  On an impulse, she tried using the Air-Walker's Sandals.  Her next step landed on the air, as did four more.  It was a thrilling moment--until her next step didn't find the ground quickly enough.  Alisea fell headlong, her arms spilling the ore she carried as she crashed unceremoniously to the cobblestone.

She lay there for a moment, giving the embarrassment enough time to really sink in and color her cheeks.  The only positive Alisea could see right then was that nobody in her group was around to see that.  Resolving to practice with her new sandals later, the smith-to-be picked her head up to find where her cargo had gone.  They had landed just ahead, so she quickly gathered them up and hurried on her way.

Arriving at the Workshop, Alisea moved to a station and set to work.  Wondering where to start, she decided the easiest weapon to craft in a game was the dagger.  Hopefully that held true here.  Setting one ore aside and focusing on the other, Alisea set to work.
[right][sub][@HueMan][/sub][/right]