Chapter 3: You Actually Have Crafting Skills?

A few hours later, Victor saw that his blue mana bar still had nine-tenths remaining and finally abandoned the idea of exhausting his magic completely.

Now, he truly believed that Veya was a god.

Veya nodded in satisfaction. Perhaps Victor’s various operations had piqued its curiosity.

‘Truly interesting. Should I let you continue for a few more hours so I can further study the mysteries of your spellcasting?’

Victor silently protested against Veya’s suggestion.

Seeing Victor’s deadpan expression, it decided to let him off.

‘Let’s end it here. What are you planning next? Are you going to stay in this backyard all day?’

Its deep eyes stared at Victor, as if trying to uncover more secrets from him.

“I’m going to the market to buy some things.”

Victor replied coolly. The crow still refused to leave his shoulder.

‘I’ll keep following you to see what you’re going to buy.’

Hearing this, Victor sighed and called for a servant to prepare the carriage.

…

Victor strolled through the shops, browsing the dazzling array of materials before heading straight to a counter.

“What would you like to buy?”

Seeing a customer arrive, the shopkeeper hurried forward to greet him.

Victor tapped the counter and spoke lightly, “Lizardman tail, harpy feather, beetle shell… give me a bag of each of these thirty materials.”

‘Oh! Quite the generous customer.’

The shopkeeper cheerfully responded while tallying up Victor’s purchases.

“These add up to thirty bags in total. Would you like them delivered to your home?”

Victor waved his hand, rubbing the ring on his finger. Instantly, all the materials vanished.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper’s smile grew even wider.

“Haha! The customer possesses a precious artifact.”

“Be sure to visit again!”

After Victor left, a store clerk approached the shopkeeper and asked, “Boss, who was that guy?”

The shopkeeper smacked him on the head and sternly replied, “Don’t ask. Anyone carrying such a high-grade storage ring is certainly someone important!”

Only Victor knew that he didn’t actually have a storage ring. The ring on his hand was purely decorative—he had stored everything directly into his player-exclusive inventory, something even Veya couldn’t understand.

The crow flapped its wings and croaked in its signature hoarse voice next to Victor’s ear.

Victor listened quietly, his full attention on the glowing interface displaying various craftable items.

Buying so many materials was all for crafting essential early-game items.

In the game’s settings, every player, regardless of class, possessed an extensive and specialized crafting compendium. As a player, Victor naturally had full access to this system.

Satisfied with his purchases, Victor returned to his residence and went straight to the mansion’s basement, rummaging through corners to gather a pile of glass bottles.

‘What are you planning to do?’

Perched on his shoulder, Veya shuddered. Its instincts told it that Victor was about to do something outrageous.

Divine intuition was rarely wrong. As Victor’s hands began mixing materials together, his palms glowed with increasing intensity, accompanied by a crackling sound that grew louder.

‘What are you doing? Stop it now!’

Veya felt like it was going insane. What was he doing in a basement? Making gunpowder?

Victor completely ignored it and only worked with greater enthusiasm.

A bright flash later, the once-empty bottles on the table were now filled with a red liquid. Seeing the large batch of healing potions, Veya grumbled,

‘You really are something else. Why does making healing potions seem as dangerous as making bombs?’

Victor chuckled softly, nodding in satisfaction as he examined the pile of red potions.

[Recovery Potion (Small)]: Restores 300 HP per use.

Indeed, nothing reassured Victor more than seeing game mechanics materialized in numbers.

Veya’s single eye glowed with a deep blue light as it observed the pile of healing potions.

The red liquid was slightly dark, indicating its potency—the richer the color, the stronger the healing effect.

Veya hopped off Victor’s shoulder, flew to the table, pulled out a cork, and took a sip.

It felt a wave of warmth wash over it, smacked its beak, and looked at Victor again.

‘Did you really make this yourself?’

Victor admitted as much, and Veya fell into contemplation.

‘This kid… The concentration and effectiveness of these healing potions are comparable to the low-tier healing magic of the Goddess of Healing. Does he have some hidden divine power?’

After a moment’s thought, it decided that Victor possessing such skills wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, they had already signed a contract. At the very least, it now had a capable alchemist by its side.

Veya suddenly asked, ‘Why don’t you consider selling some? This quality would fetch a great price.’

Victor shook his head and refused. These were for his own use. He wasn’t short on money, so there was no need.

His hands suddenly released a radiant blue light as he crafted another batch of mana potions.

Every time Victor crafted an item, Veya felt a tiny shock in its heart.

Creating items by hand—something even master alchemists couldn’t do.

Could he have awakened an extremely rare Creation-type magic?

It had been drawn to Victor’s soul, but now, it found him increasingly incomprehensible.

As a mage, mana potions were even more essential than healing potions.

Though Veya had an unlimited mana cheat, helping him wasn’t free of charge. Victor had no idea what the cost might be.

Better to have his own supply—relying on others was never as secure as relying on oneself.

After a while, a notification popped up:

[‘Crafting’ skill level up. Current Level: LV2]

With the skill’s improvement, Victor paused his potion-making and noticed some new additions in his crafting menu.

He looked up at Veya, who was perched on the table, and remained silent.

The crow felt uneasy under his gaze, but before it could protest, Victor spoke:

“You’re technically a crow, right?”

Veya: “Huh?”

Victor, satisfied, plucked a jet-black feather from its body.

[Magic Beast Feather and Six Magic Stones Required]

“So, I need magic stones.”

He remembered clearly that magic stones were rare items capable of recording and storing sound, even preserving spells.

However, stored magic would slowly dissipate over time. Some had attempted to use magic stones as bombs, but they had all failed.

Magic stones were incredibly expensive. If one had the money, they might as well just buy real explosives.

Once he gathered enough materials, he began crafting an item.

The components melted together into liquid form before rapidly solidifying. A glove began to take shape, embedded with six transparent magic stones.

A fingerless, single-handed glove appeared before Victor’s eyes.

The crow shuddered again. “You can even craft equipment by hand?!”

Victor ignored it, focusing on the newly made glove.

The magic stones embedded in it were crystal-clear.

[Mage’s Hand]: A Level 2 crafted item capable of storing six different elemental spells and releasing them instantly without chanting.

This was a vital piece of early-game equipment for mage players.

Victor infused different magic spells into the stones, each turning a distinct color.

Watching all this, Veya was no longer surprised. “It can store multiple spells and release them without chanting? Just how did you create this?”

Its single eye burned with blue flames of curiosity, but Victor merely shook his head.

“Confidential.”

‘You’re so stingy.’

Veya grumbled. Imagine—a dignified dark god having to ask a human for knowledge. If the other gods knew, they’d mock it endlessly.

But Victor wasn’t ignoring it to be petty—he simply couldn’t reveal his player abilities.

If word got out that he could craft items by hand, he might attract the attention of dangerous individuals, leading to unwanted trouble.

He had to be careful.

Just then, a voice sounded from outside:

“My lord, Miss Gwen has arrived.”