Sorry this took so long everyone. I had an unexpected major car expense come up and I've been putting in extra hours trying to make up the cost.
Add to that the extra length in this chapter, and you can see why it took so long.
Not sure how much time I'm going to have to write in the near future, but I should be good once I get my tax return...

My name is 'Shaper'.

Name decided and registered on PHO, all I need now is to be verified and that should meet the requirements of the quest. Only problem is, I'm not sure what that will take, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to 'demonstrate' my power. If I'm going to be seen, even just via a camera, I'm going to need to hide my identity, which means it's time for a costume.

Okay, this is going to be a pain, but also kinda fun at the same time. Reminds me of my Cosplaying and LARPing days.

I have almost eight hours yet before I can check on the crucible, which means at least that long before I can make any metal or ceramic pieces, this means I need to work on other parts. I guess it's high time I took a look at that 'basic materials crate' that's been sitting in my inventory.

I head to an open area of the factory floor before pulling the crate out of my inventory, and it's a good thing I did. With a mighty thump it appears on the floor. What I thought would be a stereotypical wooden crate like you see in video games was in actuality roughly the size of the conference table. Getting over my surprise quickly, I pull a crowbar out on my inventory and get to work opening the crate. Prying the top off takes a bit of work, but I manage it. Inside is a treasure trove of materials. Ingots of tin and Copper, bolts of cloth, rolls of leather hides, dyes and paints, thread and sinew, also jars of spices and other less obvious plants. Just about any serious craft I could want to get into, the bare-bones materials are here. But no tools.

It makes sense, it's called a material crate, so it's exactly what it said on the tin. Not really sure how I'm supposed to use half this stuff without the tools though.

I really don't want to go out again until I have my Cape persona sorted though.

I might need to stone age this.

I remember having a bit of a fascination with the idea of building things up from nothing, I played all kinds of games that had you work your way up from nothing to serious impressive tech, and even remember a few videos where people would just go into the wilderness and make things from what they could find. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to do something similar, especially with my earth magic to help.

I walk over to the area I was using for target practice and pick up one of the stones left behind from stone toss. A quick cast of Shape Earth gets me a pair of large needles made of the material. Sure, they won't be super durable, but I can make more if they break. So long as anything I make this way can finish at least a single iteration of its task before breaking, it will do for now.

I pull out a bolt of cloth and take a closer look at it, looks like bleached cotton muslin, I used to use that a lot so no surprise I can recognize it. It also makes sense as a 'basic' material. It's also a material that I won't have to worry about melting to me, like most synthetics, so good enough.

I pull out the tailoring book, but stop before I absorb it.

I know how to sew.

I made a living for years off of leatherwork, and while my work with cloth was never as good, I still could do it. So why should I waste those two books when I know that I can unlock skills by doing?

I put the book back in my inventory and pull out some scissors. If this works I'll have two extra books.

Since I don't have any physical patterns, and don't yet have fiat backed skill, I need to start with something simple, preferably something I can do in both cloth and leather in order to get both skills.

After a few moments thought, I decide that drawstring pouches are my best option. It's just a pair of U cuts of material, stitched along the rounded edges and a hem at the top with a pair of holes left for the drawstring. Probably the simplest thing to make.

Simple doesn't mean easy.

I really wish I had robbed a Jo-Ann fabrics, cutting fabric with scissors is for chumps, unfortunately I'm not confident in my ability to make moving parts from stone, or else I would make myself a rotary cutter. However a dozen stone pins and much swearing later I have the fabric cut out.

More time and more swearing has the pouch stitched up.

I need a drawstring, but nothing in the crate will do the job unless I cut my own, so that's what I have to do.

Cutting a strait line with the scissors is easier than trying to cut the perfect U, mostly because I make a perfectly strait stone yardstick. It still would have been easier with a rotary cutter.

More swearing and mediocre stitching later has a nearly complete drawstring. I use Shape Earth to pinch some stone around one end of the tube the new drawstring currently is, then use Move Earth to draw it through its self, turning it seam in the easiest way I've ever managed. I fold over the ends and seal them up, then use the same trick to feed the drawstring through the pouch.

Through a special action you have unlocked a skill!

Tailoring:
Patterning, Cutting, and Sewing Fabric to make clothing and accessories for all occasions.
Quality of work increases with level.

Oh thank Christ that worked!

As big of a pain in the ass as that was doing it without my preferred tools, it was worth it for the extra cash that skillbook will give me.

Now to repeat this for leatherworking.

Digging through the crate I find some brown upholstery leather and toss it on the table. However after completely going through the entire crate I don't find one very important thing.

There isn't any double sided tape.

When working with thinner leathers it's important to tape your edges so that they stay aligned, you can't use pins like with fabric since they would leave holes. I had planned on taping the leather together before I cut to keep it from shifting, that way I would be able to cut both sides at once and they would be identical. There's a little bit of leeway with leather, but less than you would think.

I mean sure, I'm making a small pouch I'm probably never going to actually use, but I should make it right dammit!

It's going to be hard enough doing this with scissors, I really didn't need another complication. It's like whoever put this crate together only had a loose idea what leatherworking actually needed. Yeah I have the leather, sinew, and dyes, but no tape, no rivets, none of the grommets or buckles I would need to make proper closures...

I can deal with most of that later assuming my smithing skill covers it, but I'm still waiting on the crucible to cool, and there's probably several days worth of using tools to make tools before I'm to that point. Ugh, this is frustrating!

Okay, focus.

If I can't cut them at the same time, then I just need to do it one at a time. Normally this isn't a big deal, I would just have a clicker die made and use the 8 ton press to cut out the pieces. But I have neither of those things now.

Or do I?

I can't imagine a stone clicker die standing up to more than a single use, but with my magic I can re-make it exactly the same every time. I even have fine enough control to make the cutting edge incredibly sharp, so it should cut through fine. Probably ruin the edge doing it, but totally doable.

Okay, that takes care of the clicker die, but I still don't have a press. I should be able to move the die around with Move Earth, but how much pressure can I exert that way? The spell description doesn't says anything about it, so I have no idea. I need a way to test this.

Ideally I would take a scale, mount it to the wall, and press a piece of stone against it as hard as I could and it would give me a measurement in pounds. I don't have a scale however, and while I could get one from the Market I need to save money until I have a better income. This is important to know eventually, but not vital. I guess I can always just try it with the clicker and see if it works, if it doesn't I have an answer, if it does work then all I know is that it's 'enough'. I can always do it again with a piece of the thicker armor grade veg-tan in the box, I'm probably going to want a few leather bits in my costume anyway.

I use Shape Earth to make the clicker die, then go back and do it over, adding in all the little stitch holes that I never would have put in in my previous life due the massive increase in cost it would cause. Seriously an extra $10 a hole adds up when you have several dozen holes.

Not having an appropriate surface, and not caring to keep the die in good shape, I summon another wall of stone and then shape it into a small flat surface, stacking the extra material to the side as stone bricks. I place the leather I've chosen on my new work surface and then move over the granite die.

Wait...

Sense Earth: Level 75 (1%)
Allows the user to detect Dirt, Rock, and Metal in their surroundings and identify them by specific type. 2 yards per level + caster level.
Cost: 1 MP per minute

Huh, I just hit level 75 Sense Earth and it upgraded again.

I spend a minute just feeling out my surroundings again, getting so much more information. When it says 'specific type' it means it, I don't just get 'iron' or 'clay' or 'granite' I get specific grades, impurities, and even exact mixes of alloys. All of this would be interesting trivia if not for one thing.

My Engineering skill tells me what all of this is used for, and my Metallurgy skill tells me how many of them are made. Not all of them though, guess I need to level that skill up some if I want to make some of the more advanced metals.

Okay, this is all fascinating, and I can think about it more later, right now I have leatherwork to do.

I use Move Earth to press the granite die into the leather.

It pushes through it like it isn't even there, crushing the fine edge of the die as it comes into contact with the stone underneath.

Was that just because I made it so sharp, or is move earth just that strong? Who knows? I'll figure it out later.

I'm putting a lot of things off til 'later', future me is going to be so upset...

Well that's his problem.

I use Shape Earth to recreate the die from it's parts, move it over and click out the second half, crushing the edge of the die again.

This works, but it's going to be MP intensive if I ever need to make a lot of something.

I thread the needles with some of the thinner sinew, normally for something like this I would use an upholstery thread, but there isn't any in the crate, showing again that whoever put this together only had a passing familiarity with leatherwork.

Stitching up the pouch is the work of a few minutes, as I am much more comfortable with the two needle method used for leather than I was the single needle method for cloth. A quick cut of some latigo gets me a drawcord, and I use that trick with move earth and a piece of stone to thread it through again, and done!

Through a special action you have unlocked a skill!

Leatherworking:
Allows the creation of leather goods for all needs.
Quality of work increases with level.

Huh, not nearly as nice a description. Accurate I suppose, but Tailoring's was more descriptive... Huh.

Okay, now that I have both skills without needing to use the books, it's time to use some books.

Yeah, that sounds weird even in my own head...

Maybe I should sleep, I haven't actually slept yet since I got to this world, just meditated when I needed MP.

NO! Sleep is for the weak! I have things to do!

I pull out two of the 'pattern books' I acquired in the library, there weren't many of these, but these two are for tailoring, so I figure it was important to get that skill unlocked first. I absorb them both and my mind is filled with designs and steps and everything I need to make a handful of items.

Pants and shirts are the two I focus on.

For some reason I also have a pattern for a quilt... guess one of those was a quilting book...

FOCUS!

Okay, let's get some pants ready then take a nap, I'm going to want some metal bits for the pants anyway so I still need to wait, but I can prep a few parts. I find a nice looking hide of black garment grade leather and set it on the table.

So... how do I do this?

I was so glad I got patterns for pants and shirts because crotches and arm pits are really hard to get right if you're not working from a pattern. How do I make the pattern go?

Wait... it can't possibly be that stupid can it?

I pull out a bolt of the muslin with the intention to make pants with it.

My hands move on their own from that point, cutting, stitching, hemming. A few minutes later I have a pair of muslin pants missing just the zipper and button since there weren't any in the crate.

So since it's a tailoring pattern, I can only use it with cloth.

Well fuck you Game! I do what I want!

I use shape earth to make myself a stone seam ripper and start to pull the pants back apart. I'll just use the pieces as a pattern then!

It takes me awhile but I carefully pull the pants apart, taking care to not cut through the fabric. When I'm done I do a little bit of arranging of the parts to make a few necessary modifications. Mostly ditching the pockets and reworking the closures. Once it's all arranged to my satisfaction I use shape earth to make thin stone patterns from it. I need to cast it a few times, looking closely to make sure things line up just right, I can't sense the fabric so I have to use my eyes.

Now that I have stone patterns to work from, it takes but a moment to make a set of clicker dies, then a second set a tiny bit bigger. I have a plan. I click out the leather, stack the parts on the table, and go lay down. There's still about four hours before the crucible should be cool, that's plenty of time for a nap.

You have slept in a bed!
Your HP and MP have been restored

Wait, I slept just like that? As soon as I intended to sleep while laying in bed that notification popped up. I'd question it more, but I can hear the alarm going off.

I definitely feel better, I hadn't really noticed how I felt before, and I really couldn't describe it, but I'm certainly better now than I was before I slept. If I had to guess, I'd say that Gamer's Mind must have been keeping me going, but much like with my freakout it only kept me functional, not perfect. Okay, so from now on, reduced sleep is alright, but no sleep is a no-no. I need to make a point to sleep at least every other day.

I guess that still would classify me as a Noctus Cape, since I think that classification only needs reduced sleep, not necessarily none. And I suppose I could manage with none, just at some sort of degraded performance.

I find my way over to the alarm clock to turn it off, but am not amused when I see the time.

I slept for eight hours, not four.

Has this stupid alarm been going off for four hours while I slept? I guess my body just took the amount of sleep it needed, not the first time something like that has happened to me, but not something I was expecting now. Well fuck that means I'm four hours behind schedule!

After turning the alarm off I head over to the smelter and open it up to check on the now cooled crucible. It didn't shatter, and there's no obvious cracks so that good. Flicking it a few times with my nail produces the correct sound, so it seems like it fired correctly. It has been a long time since my high-school ceramics class so I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out.

Through a special action you have unlocked a skill!

Ceramics:
The fine art, and subtle science of making items from fired clay.
Quality of work increases with level.

Really? A Harry Potter reference in a totally unrelated skill description? I actually think the game is messing with me now.

No time for that, I'm playing catch up. I pull the broken filing cabinet out on my inventory and pass my sense earth over it again, confirming my impression of it being a very low quality steel, with the exception of a few of the roller parts being a bit better. I pull out some tools and start pulling it apart, setting the better steel aside for later. Unfortunately the better steel are all the parts that are small enough to fit in the crucible, so I need to cut the sheet metal down further if I'm going to use it for what I want. The coping saw works, but it's slow, and is taking serious effort.

By performing continuous physical activity, your Con has increased by 1

As useful as that is, I'm against the clock, I need a better way.

I grab some of the sand with move earth and set it to spinning in a disk shape. I figure even if a can't get it to cut like a dremel, I should be able to wear down a cut in the metal. I just need to see if it will be quicker.

Turns out I didn't need to worry about that. The spinning sand blade cuts through the cheap steel like butter. It is rather loud though. Less noise than a band saw, but much more than the hand tools. I can only hope that the brick walls are thick enough to keep the sound in. This was a factory of some sort, so it should be enough to seriously deaden the noise at least. It's a risk I'm going to need to take if I want to get things done in a timely fashion. I am against the clock here, even if the timer is fairly long.

The process is producing quite a bit of tiny metal shavings though, the upside however is that I seem to be able to move them with move earth, they must be small enough that the spell considers them particulate. Useful, since I can just separate them out with a thought and drop them in the crucible, no waste. I manage to stack most of the cheap steel from the cabinet into the crucible, and get it fired up and heating. I wet down a portion of the sand and use shape earth to form it into the mold for an anvil, my sense earth gives me a very good idea of how much metal is in the crucible, so I size the anvil accordingly.

Now that I'm stuck waiting once again, it's time to go take a look at the work I did in my sleep deprived state.

The two sets of leather pants pieces look alright, I think I was planning to make a brigantine, but my engineering skill gives me a better idea. Making all those metal plates is going to be time consuming, but if I can find the right materials, ceramic armor plating should be quick since shape earth should work. Going through my options mentally, I quickly realize that my best option for ceramic armor plates is going to be Silicon carbide.

My skills give me all kinds of useful information about Silicon carbide, in addition to its modern use as armor plating it has been in use since the late eighteen hundreds as an industrial abrasive, it functions as a semi-conductor in LEDs, but most importantly for my purposes, it is a common component of brake pads and clutch assemblies. This is important because while the materials to make it are cheap and easy to come by, I simply don't have the equipment to do so, and there's no way I'm putting together an electric furnace before I have an independent power supply. The analog meter this place has means the electric company isn't going to trace a power draw to me from the lights and the computer, but if I were to run something with that big a draw they might actually send someone into this part of town to come look. Not to mention that that kind of power draw might get the attention of the PRT's think tank that tries to find new Tinkers. So I need to scavenge pre-made Silicon carbide for now.

I let my mind sink further into my sense earth, casting out as far as I can reach, over a hundred and fifty yards in all directions now, looking specifically for silicon carbide. Unfortunately, I don't find many brake pads made of it. This is the bad part of town, so I guess ceramic pads aren't too common. On the up side however, I can sense so many places nearby where it is in quantity. One of the buildings at the edge of my range has a large number of rings coated in the stuff. It takes me a minute to figure out from the other parts I can sense that it's a large store of fishing rods, the silicon carbide is coating the line guides. Normally the amount present in a fishing rod wouldn't be worth the effort, but the shear quantity of fishing rods in that building might actually be enough for my immediate purposes, it must be a warehouse.

I stop and meditate for a few minutes to top off my MP, check on the crucible, still not ready yet, and then start spamming shape earth to strip the coating off the line guides, I tried to use it to remove all of it from a rod at once, but I have to target the rings since they're not touching each other, this is going to take awhile.

I spam shape earth until I get low on MP, then meditate and check on the crucible before going back to striping the coatings. Eventually the metal has melted and I use move earth to move the red hot crucible, pouring the molten steel into the mold, then setting up a small vibration in the mold to make sure no air bubbles are present before another casting of shape earth seals up the pour hole, making the anvil nice and smooth. I carefully place the remaining chunks of cheap steel in the crucible and set it back in to heat. Several more rounds of stripping coatings, meditating, and repeating take place before the second batch of steel is melted. A casting of wall of stone, followed by a shape earth to reduce it to sand gives me more then enough material for another mold. I wet the new sand and another casting of shape earth gets me another mold, this one set up for a dozen grommets, about a hundred rivets, and the tools necessary to set both. Move earth once again allows a perfect pour, a vibration to clear any trapped air, and a final shape earth to remove the excess edges.

While I wait for everything to cool I go back to stripping the coatings. Occasionally taking the time to move the dust I've reduced them to over to my building. I make a nice little pile near my clay, and keep at it.

Hours pass as I do this, waiting to make sure the steel of the anvil is cool enough to handle before breaking open the mold. Move earth makes quick work of cleaning all the sand off my new anvil, but it leaves it on the floor since I can't move metal larger than 'particulate'. A cast of wall of stone followed by shape earth gets me a perfectly formed pedestal to slot the anvil into, and more sand for my growing pile of the stuff.

Now I just have to lift the anvil onto it.

Yes, it's heavy alright.

Okay, not doing it the normal way any time soon, let's cheat to win.

I reshape some sand into a stone slab, and use some more to tip the anvil upright onto it. Once it's there it's easy to float the slab over to the pedestal, lower it into place, then turn it back into sand again and let the anvil settle into place. This is another good reason to incorporate ceramic plates into my costume, it should let me fly by moving the plates.

I clean the second mold up and retrieve my new parts and tools. Time to get some serious work done. I split my attention, continuing to harvest the silicon carbide and bring it here as dust, while I also get to work on my costume. The two layers of pants are assembled, but left separate for the moment, a leather tie cut for when they're done. A cloth shirt is made from the absorbed pattern, torn back apart, and a proper pattern made from the pieces, a leather version made, also two layers, assembled separately awaiting it's plates like the pants. Leather gloves pattered from my hands and assembled, boots, something I normally avoided making, patterned from my own feet for a perfect fit and made from the thicker veg tan, I put thin plates of stone in between layers of the sole, segmented so the sole can still flex. This should make it easier to fly. A simple domino mask is made from the veg tan leather, a stop gap until I can make my helmet, and an additional layer I can wear under it once it's made.

It's as I come out of one of my meditations I decide I have enough silicon carbide to try and get the plates made.

I keep them to roughly an inch thick, my engineering skill tells me that should be enough for knifes and small arms fire. It will have to be enough, I'm going to be here forever if I try to plan for every eventuality. Normally a plate is only good for a single shot, but with shape earth, so long as I have enough MP I can keep reforming the plates, another good reason to use ceramics instead of metal.

Plates made, it's a simple matter to finish the pants and shirt since I can just keep them in the correct position with move earth.

Opening my inventory I swap to my second tab of equipped gear, suddenly naked. I move the socks and underwear over from the first tab, thankfully duplicating them in the presets. It would be really annoying if I had to either get or make additional underthings for each outfit. Now minimally clad I dress myself in my new equipment. Pants are put on and laced up, shirt pulled over my head and settled into place. Gloves on my hands, boots on my feet, and finally I settle the domino mask across my face, tying it in the back since I still have no buckles.

The black shirt and pants sit well, an observant person would notice the stitch lines where the ceramic plates sit, but other than that the black leather is only broken by the steel grommets at the crotch keeping them closed with the leather tie. The boots turned out a nice slate grey, I choose that specifically to break up the black from the pants, but still be a good color to blend in to the darkness. Something that will be totally counteracted by the rest of the costume I haven't made yet, but I'll figure something out. The gloves stick out a bit as they are a dark brown, but they're also not done yet, I'm planning to integrate them into the armor. My plain black domino mask will keep up the minimum needed to fall under the unwritten rules if needed, but it's intended to be a backup if I ever lose my helmet.

Checking myself out in my inventory window, I'm satisfied with the look so far. I remove the gloves and put them on the table, then hot swap back to my normal outfit. This is going to make quick change easy, eat your heart out Clark Kent!

I should start on my armor next, but I'm nearly out of steel, only a little bit of slightly better steel left from the little bits and bobs from the filing cabinet. And the piece of rebar I got in that abandoned apartment. Eventually I'm going to need to raid the boat graveyard for some better material, but for now, I really only have a little steel, and all the copper and tin in the crate.

Copper and tin means bronze.

I guess the majority of my armor is going to be bronze until I can replace it. I'll use what little steel I have left for my helmet, but I'm going to need to use bronze for fittings and such, otherwise I won't have enough for even that. I'm going to need buckles and such as well, the bronze should be fine for that, additional rivets, maybe a few keepers for the strapping... I still have a lot of work.

My metallurgy skill let's me know the exact proportions to mix the copper and tin in to get the best bronze, it goes into the crucible and begins to heat.

I'm going to have a little bit before that's ready, time to do something I've been putting off.

Heading back upstairs, I sit down at the computer and log in to PHO.

It only takes me a few moments before I find what I'm looking for, a moderator that's online. 'Tin_Mother'.

Technically she's listed as an Admin, but that's not what worries me. I can't remember if it was canon, or something that was just assumed, or even just something the fans made up, but Tin_Mother, is assumed to be Dragon.

And Dragon is another person worth saving.

I hadn't really put her on my list before since she's not actually in Brockton Bay, not right now at least, she kind of shows up for the Leviathan fight, as much as she can at least. She is an A.I. after all.

Very few people know about that though. It also doesn't help that she has been intentionally limited by her creator. Limited to such an extent that it ends up killing her.

I mean I understand wanting to be safe with an AI, don't want a Skynet scenario after all, but the limits Dragon has on her are overkill, and it makes it so that anything she knows, the Dragon Slayers know. Those pricks end up causing too much trouble.

New Quest!

"Chasing Windmills"
Objective: Kill or Apprehend the Dragon Slayers
Bonus Objective: Loosen Dragon's Chains
Reward: 5000XP, 5 Gatcha Tokens
Bonus Reward: 1 A.I. Core

Accept?
[YES][NO]

Um... Yes.

I mean, not exactly sure when I'll get to it, but an AI core? I'm assuming that will let me have my very own pet AI, something like that to watch my back is totally worthwhile.

I send a message off to Tin_Mother, asking what it takes to be verified as a Cape. I think I know what it will need, but it's best not to assume. I just hope the crappy webcam built into the monitor will be good enough, I really don't want to go back out until after this is done. Sure enough, just under five minutes later I get a response, just enough time to look like it's by an attentive, but human Admin. Most likely on purpose.

Like I thought, I just need to submit a short video demonstrating my powers to the Admins. She was nice enough to remind me to conceal my identity though, so that's thoughtful.

I wait a couple minutes before sending another message, asking about what to do for Tinkers, would demonstrating an invention be enough?

This is calculated on my part, it will help establish the lie I'm trying to put in place, and if this really is Dragon, it should peak her interest. I just hope my Magic internet connection does its job.

At the worst the unusual nature of the connection should add credence to my being a Tinker, even if she does manage to find me. That said, I put my thumb over the lens of the camera while I wait for the reply.

Five minutes pass.

Ten.

Almost Twenty minutes later I get a response. Yes, demonstrating a single device of sufficiently unusual nature will suffice.

I think she tried to find me.

Typing with my free hand I send a reply back that I will message her once I have something ready, then slide out of the camera's range before removing my thumb and heading back downstairs. It doesn't hurt to be careful.

The Bronze is good and ready by the time I get back to it, so I wet down the sand again and make open air molds for the sheets I plan to start from. Pour the bronze, and carefully insert more copper and tin, putting the crucible back on the heat. The armor I have planned is going to take a lot of metal, but the end result will probably be worth it. Half of being a Cape is image after all, so I need to make sure I have the right one. I head back over to the drafting paper while I wait for the bronze to cool and start working on a design for my cloak. Yes my inner 'Edna Mode' is telling me 'NO CAPES!' but this isn't going to be frivolous, it will have a purpose. My engineering skill actually helps me a little while working out the angles, and before too long I have a workable plan for a full hooded cloak. I consider making it a mantled cloak, but it wouldn't fit the image I'm going for, even if they are cooler. I pop the cooled bronze sheets from the mold and get to work. My Dwarven hammer strikes true after heating the metal in the forge, I may be stuck using the wrong kind of tongs to hold the metal, but at least the hammer is the best possible for the job. Sheets are curved, holes punched, new sheets poured and more bronze made. It takes me several more hours of work but before long I have all the parts for the main body of my armor. The finest of sand smooths the edges and polishes the surfaces, more bronze is being made for all the various bits and pieces I still need, including the parts for buckles. I cut out the necessary leather while I wait for the latest batch of bronze to melt, dying it and sealing it. Measuring and making holes, while I never made this design with metal before I had worked on a full leather version, but my smithing skill was helping to fill in the gaps. Soon enough I pour the remaining parts and get another batch of bronze on, there's more to make.

Once again I find myself sitting at the drafting paper, only now I draw Vambraces, not just of bronze, but of circuits and lights. If I am to convince the world my magic is technology, I need something to make people come to that conclusion. As I draw I go through the boxes of parts in my inventory, seeing what I can use. Parts from a microwave display are quickly integrated into the design. The heavy analog buttons from a blender, a dial from a food processor, the power-pack from an emergency radio. All these things come together to result in what hopefully looks like a sophisticated piece of machinery, built from scrap. After all that's how every Tinker starts out, building their inventions from whatever they can scavenge, and it is best to play to people expectations.

Parts are poured, cooled, heated, forged, and assembled all while a final batch of bronze is melting. I still need the extra bits for my helmet before I switch to steel.

After pouring the final bronze parts I scour the last bits of bronze from the crucible with sand, and put on the steel to melt.

I cut, stitch and dye cloth as I wait, making my cloak, a beautiful thing in a rich dark red. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

How long have I been at this again? I can feel myself getting a little frantic in my work. Have I been awake too long again, or am I just excited? I can't see the clock from here, I have work to finish, I can check it later.

The steel is poured, the parts heated again and forged, the bronze for the helmet reheated again so that some adjustments can be made. And finally, finally it comes together. Leather, cloth and metal coming together to make the final piece of my armor.

Now if only I had something good to use as lenses. But I'm not putting glass in a helmet, too much chance of it shattering. I'll make due without for now.

I hot-swap my clothes for my costume, and proceed to put the last bits on. The vambraces are of a Gothic style with integrated hand guards, this is what the gloves are attached to. The extra bits to make them look like a piece of Tinker Tech kept me from having them match the style of the rest of my armor, but most people won't know the difference. Around my waist and hanging down to my knees is a roman style tasset, the leather strips studded in bronze. On my torso a suit of lorica segmentata, the overlapping plates leaving me free to move while still providing added protection, it looks amazing in bronze. And finally my helmet. A Roman imperial Gallic face helmet, done in steel and bronze and probably the best protection I will ever have for my identity.

I'm still going to wear the domino mask underneath it, you know, just in case.

The cloak goes on over top, tucked behind the shoulders and with the hood down it looks like a more traditional roman cape, if a bit darker than normal. But it is large enough that I can wrap it around me and put the hood up to hide the shiny bronze, and my LARPing experience shows that a dark red is very hard to see at night. I passed within five feet of people in mostly red and black without them knowing I was there.

I am a little disappointed in the vambraces though. Yes they look like cobbled together tinker tech, but even with as nice as I made them they still ruin the look some. At least all the buttons and such are covered on the left one. My plan is that if anyone tries to target the hardware in my right vambrace I will slide back the panel on the left one to reveal 'my backup tech'.

Any additional layer to the lie helps me keep it longer.

One last thing to do.

Now that I am fully costumed I head back to the computer. Setting it up to record I display a bit of move earth with some small rocks, using shape earth a couple times to change them to geometric shapes, all the while making exaggerated hand motions with my right hand. I review the footage before sending it off, making sure there wasn't anything in the background or any reflections that I wouldn't want seen.

Final task done I head back out to the floor and look around. The alarm clock says it's noon. I should have checked the date when I was at the computer, oh well. I really don't know how long this took me, but assuming another eight hours of sleep, I should wake up just before dusk. If my verification is back by then that will be perfect. I head to my bedroom and hot-swap to an empty tab. Laying down in the bed my mind is made up. First I'm going to sleep, and then...

It'll be time for Shaper to go on the hunt.

[AN]: Longer than I meant to be making it, but I just needed to get everything done this chapter so that we don't end up with another one of just the MC sitting in his base making things. (at least not for now)