Leaning back in my chair once I returned my main attention to myself, I sighed. "So," I quietly told the empty air, "Gone are the days of ages past."

  A bit romantic and dramatic, perhaps. But there was no denying that if we were to continue alongside the same assumption that this was the world of Shin from FLOW, then my goodness. This wasn't just a reset- it was regression.

  At the game's launch, from how the developers had framed it, we were entering an era of adventure. One marked by the emergence of fantastic champions from every walk of life- us. Those who not only could fight stronger than any existing characters in the setting, but in a much more versatile manner where we could even swap our specializations on a whim. That was something stressed upon, that we could do anything if we put our minds to it and shape the world itself.

  Now, I considered what if all those people had suddenly vanished one day. Like a server shutdown which meant no more adventurer would ever log online. And it still didn't make a lick of sense.

  Shin had been chugging merrily along when adventurers came along. And it should too have been advancing even when adventurers left. I honestly would have been less surprised to find it something akin to a late renaissance era upon my arrival, not something that actually looked maybe early middle ages. But I think I knew why.

  Their everything looked very poorly made, at least to Noel's- my- eye.

  Clay bowls which broke so easily. Swords that chipped on the regular. Leather armor for city guards instead of the more valued plate. I had spied very few of those, and all of those had been in the possession of the castle's inhabitants. So only the presumed ruling nobility could afford it? Or was it rather that the amount of resources made to build one was scarce? You did need far more resources to make one compared to just a sword, and that was before you considered quality.

  I hadn't gotten a close enough to gauge quality, but I was going to say it probably wasn't good given what I'd seen so far. No, wait, I think there was one which had stood out. Likely the city's ruler, his plate actually looked half-decent. And next to him- ah. That was undoubtedly the attire of somebody who practiced the arcane. Likely the one who had tried using [Detect] to catch me.

  But compared to the one besides, her cloth was also of quite low quality. Maybe some basic protection and enhancements? A far cry from what one would expect of a presumed court wizard with the best on hand, being something more like a common practitioner. But come to think of it, I don't think I spotted many other magic casters in the greater city either. Maybe a few among the mercenary groups but they were equally as roughly clad, if not worse off.

  I could make one better already with those hemp stalks I'd collected. In fact, I was tempted to do even right now to maybe clad myself with some better protections. I supposed I should, just in case my walls were breached.

  Plus, I wanted a change of clothes. These ones I had awoken in were definitely on the verge of falling apart from age by now.

  For the moment, I gave one last thought to that fortress city to the east, wondering how they would receive somebody like me showing up at their walls. Tempting as it was, I think I wanted to keep laying low for the moment.

  It hadn't escaped my notice that there were no puppets anywhere to be seen in the entire place.

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  I briefly left the workshop to check on Kuch's progress on the outer wall. About two sides had been finished, so I reinforced them with [Foundation] before returning to the manor. Hopefully by the time I was done doing a little stitching, the rest would be finished and I could send them back out to collect more materials.

  Now it was time for me to dive back into another intensive crafting session. Though before I start, I probably needed to set my expectations. Just so I didn't descend into another round of self-criticism for what was realistically the best I could make with what I had. I wasn't going to make raid boss gear tier equipment, let's get that right.

  I was probably going to make something about as good as basic clothes in FLOW. Actually, maybe even a little better. It would be capable of at least withstanding blows from launch day mobs and up to the first expansion. Anything more was beyond what I could do.

  So maybe something around a two hundred grade.

  That alone should help give me a second chance to get away instead of breaking at the first hit.

  The clothes Noel had been wearing at the time of shutdown didn't have any of that, having no reason to don any protections while Mikel was around. They did have multiple crafting enchantments too, but those unfortunately did fade away without proper care for. So everything I was making so far was without those, which did probably also contribute to my continued dissatisfactions. I'll need to build those back up through continued crafts in proper clothes-

  No, no. Set. Low. Expectations. These common clothes didn't need to be the very best just yet with those powerful craft enchantments. I could make better ones later once I got better materials.

  So keep it simple. Just basic protections. Was that really all I wanted? I considered it for a moment, then glanced at the workshop mirror. No, I…

  ...I guess I also wanted to look stylish. And maybe a little cute.

  In Lighthouse, being powerful wasn't just enough for us. You also wanted to look stylish doing so. Maybe it was even why our feat had become so popular. I never tired of watching the fight, seeing my own character weather blows from the boss like a stylish knight of old. It absolutely matched the image I had for him.

  I hadn't make Noel like that though. Where Mikel had been strong and dashing, his retainer was definitely softer and more gentle. I wasn't joking when I mentioned they could be interpreted as either gender. Was I maybe like that in the real life even?

  I screwed my face up in thought briefly, then shook my head. I did still lean mostly masculine in heart and spirit. In some cerebral reality games I did pick making a female avatar, but mainly because I loved how they looked in their own regards. But if the male one looked better, I wouldn't hesitate.

  I guess I was thankful this puppet body was versatile. I could swap between either and honestly, that was what Kai had done themselves. Fashionably too. I supposed I wanted to emulate how they did it then, being able to freely swap between at a whim. I could appreciate- and be- both sides.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  So that was my resolve: to continue confusing everybody, even myself!

  With that decided, I got to work. First, I began to gently pry the hemp stalks apart into individual strands. Those were then wrapped around a stick, all the way until I held a thick roll. Now came what would ordinarily be a tedious interlacing to make cloth, except that there thankfully was a skill to speed it up.

  I set down the spindle on the desk and cleared me throat. "[Weave]." Magic flowed and the string came to life by itself. Then, with lightning speed, it wove into itself until the extracted strands were exhausted. It amounted to a rather small cloth square and I picked it up, checking the results.

  Hemp Cloth (Item Quality: 67) (Infuse Level: 174)

  Looking good so far, but still lower than what I wanted. But barring finding better stalks, what could I do? Let's see. If I couldn't increase the ingredient quality, then I should add something of equal or greater value, to turn Crude into Fine grading.

  Aha. Alchemy could do so with dye treatment!

  I swapped tracks and got to work making some. Using [Brew] with some individual plants gave me basic color dyes that I soaked my test cloth in. It did take a bit to bleed through so in that time, I made more spindles and created actual rolls of fabric from bulk use of [Weave]. Now I could just cut them to my liking instead of needing to stitch them together, though I'd need to do that still.

  Hm, I needed something sharp and precise for a needle then. Stone wouldn't cut it. Maybe I could use a stick- hold on. I had wolf bones I could make with instead.

  Crude Bone Needle (Final Grade: 70)

  Bad tool quality grumblings aside, it'd do.

  By now, the test soak was complete and I checked the results. It looked quite good, I especially liked the shade of red I had. There were some blues and greens too, and I guess I could mix some solutions to achieve the full spectrum. But something about that red coloration spoke to me and I paused, wondering why. Then I realized it with a wistful smile.

  It had been the backing color on Mikel's coat of arms on his shield. It matched the shade found with Cordelia's flower. A nice crimson tone that was so emblematic of my FLOW account then. Guess I'll make it the primary color of my first outfit for now.

  I made sure to have twice the number of rolls soaking in that mix compared to the others. Now to just wait for it to soak.

  Okay, I was bored now. I needed to do something still with my hands.

  I glanced at my nearly exhausted supply of hemp, then shrugged. Might as well make paper. A use of [Brew] turned them into a pulpy mess, then I laid them out into rough thin squares with the sieve in the workshop. Once it was slightly less moist, I hung them over the fire pit to dry. They finished quicker with the heat, so I had the complete product in my hands before the dye process was finished.

  Parchment (Item Quality: 56) (Infuse Level: 131)

  Useful utility paper. Terrible crafting material. I wouldn't make a grimoire with this. But still, it was a better medium than the now-rotting wolf pelt. I copied my rough map onto one of the larger sheets, which would now keep far better. I still wanted to make a better one someday to hang up and refer to, preferably with ink even instead of charcoal scribbling.

  Was it still not done? Argh, I guess because it was entire rolls instead of small pieces, it took more time. If only I had some temporal spells, but Kai wasn't here. I poked my head out to see Kuch had at least finished the outer wall, so that was finished once I used [Foundation]. They were sent off to collect more hemp, just in case I got a bug in me to make a second outfit for whatever reason.

  Almost done, but I really hated just sitting on my hands doing nothing. Argh, I had to find something to do! I was about to leave my workshop again when my eyes fell on the parchment and charcoal I'd set aside. Inspiration struck and I picked up the charcoal to begin making rough lines on the paper.

  I was going to design my clothes before I started to cut and stitch them together. That way, I wouldn't waste any cloth!

  Finally, just about the time my very crude sketches were finished, the dye had proper permeated and soaked every thread of cloth. I pulled them out and made sure to let the excess drip out until it was wet no longer. Then, with a stone knife, I roughly cut sections out and used the bone needle to begin stitching them together.

  This time, there wasn't a skill to speed up the process. I had to thread and connect the material together myself. But I didn't mind, because this was where it shifted from tedium to artistry. Where I actually could absorb into and get lost in the activity without ever thinking twice, because this...was fun.

  I finished the last stitch and ran my hands over the finished clothes in my hand. They felt a bit rough to the touch, hemp wasn't as smooth of a material compared to cotton. The grade the system assigned reflected that, and also acknowledged the effort I made in actually also properly coloring it.

  Fine Commoner Attire (Final Grade: 162)

  Unfortunately short of my stated goal of wanting to at least meeting the first expansion, but actually capable of handling FLOW's launch content. I supposed it'd do for protection regardless. But now came the big test that actually made me slightly nervous.

  I slipped out of the old tattered attire for the last time, then apprehensively put on my newly made clothes. Then I looked at myself in the mirror and blinked. Oh no.

  Oh no, this was bad.

  This was addicting.

  My lips really couldn't hide the glee I felt at just how adorably Noel- my- puppet body was. Even when I had cut the dimensions exactly, the thin frame meant that anything naturally looked a little baggy. Just enough to leave that slight doubt as to whether I was a guy or gal when the truth was neither!

  Even though it was just a simple tunic with shorts, I couldn't help it. I spun around to take it in from every angle, mind already churning with ideas. What if I went with a skirt instead? Did my hair up?

  Kai, I can hear you cackling maniacally! Don't you dare break out the makeup set!

  Well, at least I knew I could play dress up all day for fun to pass the time. But I'd definitely need more hemp to make that skirt for, um, a spare set. Yeah, definitely just so I had a change in case of anything. I better also look into seeing if I could find cotton or silk somewhere, all the name of fashion!

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