NOVEL NEXT Naomi’s Crafting Event
Shortly after Eri and the Goddess left the girls and I, we soon logged back into the game to get ready for the end of the first week’s events. I was excited about getting to next week’s events and do the dungeon crawling thing. I wondered why it was called a dungeon crawl. Hopefully we don’t actually have to crawl in a dungeon.
After logging in I made my may to the tavern area of the inn to wait for the girls. The tavern was busier than usual. There were a lot of other players standing and sitting around excitedly talking. I felt a hand grab my shoulder. Startled, I turned around to face the person who accosted me. Turns out it was just Alex.
“Whoa easy there flying woman. It’s just me.” Alex said in a teasing manner.
“Ah hello Ale…wait? How did you know I was the flying woman?” I asked her.
“Wasn’t that hard to piece together. Even though the videos were crap I could still tell it was you.” Alex said as we sat down at one of the few empty tables.
“I suppose that makes sense. I had a visit from Eri and the goddess scarlet earlier too. Showed up as we were watching TV.” I then explained to Alex the events of the morning.
“Holy shit!” Alex exclaimed as she sat back in her chair. “I knew you said that the game world was merging with reality, but I guess it just hammers it home more with the appearance of a goddess and your physical changes.”
Alex let out a long sigh before continuing. “The changes will cause pandemonium. The world will be thrown into chaos and anarchy will rise. We should use the time in between events to get stronger and gain new abilities. The PvP matches will be good to test our strength to see how we match up against other players.”
I nodded in approval of her ideas. I think after these events we need to do some serious training, maybe even tackle this world quest that I initiated. Soon after we were joined by Yuki and Naomi. We decided to go to the event area to see what times mine and Naomi’s events were at.
As we walked to our destination, I heard several other players point at me and say things like “Potion Queen” and “Ridiculous Potions”. I am just glad that no one tried to solicit me today. We made it to the event ten easily and checked our times for today. It seems Naomi had her event in one hour with mine following soon after.
We were going to show our support to Naomi and watch her event, no matter how boring it may be. We walked back to the big ass coliseum where the events were taking place. We parted ways with Naomi who went to the contestant waiting area. We went and found some available seats to watch the event.
The wait was annoying, and it made me think we should have wasted a bit more time before it started but we got good seats because of it. Soon the announcer walked out onto the arena with his used car salesman smile.
“Good morning, everyone! Today is the last day of our lifestyle skills contest. We have some crafting skills and a fishing contest, just to name a few for you today. Our first event of the day will be the leather working skill. Today our guest judges are back.”
Gordon went on to explain the rules which so far are the same as they have been for the previous contests. The contestants eventually poured out of the waiting area and onto the field to their designated crafting areas. I spotted Naomi nearby and tried to wave to her, but she didn’t notice me. I also recognized Artemis, the spider girl from yesterday.
“Alright contestants! You have ten minutes to collect your materials then you have one hour to craft one chest piece and one other item of your choosing. Get ready! Begin!” Gordon shouted loudly as a puff of colored smoke popped from behind him.
The players rushed to quickly collect the materials they needed to craft their items. Naomi looked a little lost as she tried to figure out what items she wanted. I noticed that Artemis was already at their station with the chosen materials.
Watching this contest was a bit more enjoyable for me than yesterdays. I found it fun to watch the other players try and make their items. The commentary from Gordon was mildly entertaining too. I watched Naomi as her hands danced around the leather pieces as she sewed them together. Even though we were sitting far away from her, my eyes could see every detail Naomi was doing. The sudden shift in my vision was disorienting but I quickly figured out how to adjust my eyesight.
I wanted to test my eyesight some more, so I focused on the smaller details at Naomi’s station. My vision I found was crazy good. I could see the ridges in the small rivets she was using for her armor. I feel like I could go further but I wasn’t wanting to test it anymore today.
“Hey, Alex.” I nudged my sister trying to get her attention. “Try to focus your eyes on Naomi’s stuff. Look at all the details.”
Alex was squinting at Naomi’s station for a moment before her eyes widened in surprise. She continued looking in Naomi’s direction for a while. “This is amazing! I don’t know how this works or how it’s possible, but I love this.”
Yuki tapped me on shoulder, drawing my attention away from the excited Alex. “What are you two talking about?”
“I discovered Alex, and I can see very distant objects with crystal clarity. We can see individual scratches and stuff on the armor that Naomi is making.” I explained to Yuki.
Yuki looked at us in surprise before her face turned into a pout. “No fair. You guys get the cool magic eyes.
Alex turned to Yuki and smiled mischievously. “Get good scrub.”
“Aunt Alex! No one says that anymore.” Yuki said with indignation.
The three of us continued to watch the event while joking around. Alex and I were still experimenting with our magic eyes. Eventually the event ended, and everyone turned in their items. We were then given a small intermission while they looked over the items.
The break ended and Gordon then spoke to everyone. “The winners for this event have been selected! It was exciting to see what everyone made, and we will now announce the winners and runners-up.”
Naomi didn’t win but she was one of the runners-up, so she got a small consolation prize. Her armor was not the best, but she had made a really cute cat themed shoulder bag that got the attention of the judges. I might commission her to make me one. It was too adorable to not have one.
Surprisingly or maybe unsurprisingly, first place went to Artemis. She had made this elaborate spider themed chest piece. It was solid black with silver trim in the design of a spider web. It also had a sort of cape attached to the back. The item had a regal look to it. From what Gordon said, it was a close toss up between first and second place, but she was chosen in the end.
We exited the arena to find Naomi and congratulate her on her small win. I was getting myself prepared for the enchanting event that was coming up.