Chapter 22: Experimentation

“Thank you very much,” I say, taking the sad remains of my favorite bag from Natalie.

My bag, a precious gift from the orphanage director, is no longer a bag. Now, it’s little more than a few scraps of leather.

All of the money I was keeping in my room, 75 silver or half of my life savings, is gone. Earlier, I was worried about carrying around 75 silver on my person, because I was afraid of getting mugged. But now I’m thankful I decided not to leave it all in my room. However, losing 75 silver isn’t what bothers me the most about this incident.

I knew intellectually that not all adventurers are good people, but it never really sank in. Most of the adventurers I met were super nice, so it never crossed my mind that some of them might be criminals.

However, after seeing how beat up the beastfolk were, I realize I need to get stronger. Samantha and Chloe won’t always be around to protect me. I have to be able to protect myself.

I sit down on the bed in my new room and spread out my purchases in front of me. Two sets of shoelaces, a long climbing rope, the clothes Chloe bought for me, and a metal container filled with limited edition Spicy Lime Crown Boar Jerky.

I pick up a leather shoelace and take a deep breath. The aroma of leather fills my nostrils, reminding me of the interior of my grandpa’s car from my previous life.

Memories of happier times flood into my mind. Like that time he drove me to play on the all metal jungle gym in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Ah yes, those were the days.

Focusing my attention on the shoelace in my hand, I begin to tie knots.

Tie. Untie. Tie. Untie. I let myself fall into a rhythm.

After tying 1000 knots, I take a short break to go over everything I’ve observed so far.

When I’m tying knots, I can’t see my fingers. I can feel them moving, but they move faster than my eyes can pick up.

It’s a lot like trying to watch Samantha fight. When she gets serious, she’ll move so fast that she disappears for seconds at a time.

When I’m tying knots, I can’t slow my fingers down. It doesn’t matter what I try, I can’t tie knots at a normal speed.

After giving my fingers a short break, I tie a thousand knots in the other three laces. Then, I turn my attention to a different objective.

I know my skill works on a single shoelace, but what happens if I tie two different shoelaces together?

I place the two leather laces next to each other on my bed and activate my skill. Instantly, the two laces are tied together.

Awesome, it works. Now, does it work with two different types of laces?

Taking a cotton lace in one hand and a leather lace in the other I activate my skill.

The results are the same. It works.

Ok. I confirmed that my skill works on shoelaces, but that’s not enough. I need to think outside of the box, which is why I bought the climbing rope.

No, I don’t want to go climbing, although Samantha will probably force me to at some point. I bought this rope as part of an experiment.

The rope I bought is as thick as my thumb and around 60 meters long. It cost me 10 silver, and its quality seems to be about average.

To my surprise, the general store carries climbing equipment of all types. Harnesses, rope, carabiners. They have everything a climbing enthusiast could want.

Why was I surprised?

Well, none of the adventurers I know use climbing equipment. Samantha and Denise don’t use it, and Chloe probably uses flight magic or something.

They might use a rope to tie up criminals, or lash down heavy loads, but they’d never use one for climbing.

What’s my plan?

I figure a rope is basically a giant shoelace, so my skill should work on it. At least, that’s the idea, but I don’t actually know if it will work.

If I can use my skill on something other than a shoelace, that opens up a lot of possibilities. Of course, there is no guarantee it will work, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

I grab both ends of the rope and close my eyes.

Please make this work. Please. Please. Please.

Without opening my eyes, I activate my skill. Nothing happens.

I try again. Still nothing.

After trying 100 more times, I drop the rope and flop back on my bed. I can’t say I expected it to work, but it’s still a let down.

Why doesn’t it work? Isn’t a rope basically a giant shoelace?

There has to be a reason. I’m just not seeing it.

I’m the Shoelace Master, so it makes sense that my skill works on shoelaces, but what exactly defines a shoelace?

What if there was a giant who had giant shoes? Depending on how big they were, the rope might be a perfect shoelace for them.

Is the rope not a shoelace, because there aren’t any giants in this world, or is there some other reason?

Wait, maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong way. Other than their size, what is the difference between shoelaces and rope?

Length? Material?

No. It’s the aglets.

I race back to the general store.

When I arrive, I ignore everything else and make my way to the blacksmith area near the back of the store.

“Welcome to our smithy,” says a buff looking dwarf with a thick beard and a name tag that says, Steel. “How can I help you today?”

Even though Steel is half my height, it feels like he towers over me. His presence is overwhelming. The sledge hammer he keeps propped over his shoulder, with a head the size of my thigh, adds to this impression.

“Do you make custom orders?”

“Of course,” Steel says, “give me a budget and a description and I’ll see what we can do for you.”

After telling Steel about my idea, I leave the general store and make my way to the cafeteria. Along the way, I take out one of the leather shoelaces from my pocket, and absentmindedly begin to tie knots as I walk.

I eat a hardy meal and head back to my room. I’m still tying knots, but now instead of tying the ends together, I’m tying half hitches along the length of the lace.

I tie ten knots in the shoelace, then untie them. Over and over. Rinse and repeat.

A wave of fatigue washes over me.

Today, I got lost, went shopping with Chloe, ran into Crew Cut, lost half of my savings, and finally started practicing my skill. It’s been an eventful day. No wonder I’m tired.

I turn down the final corridor to my room, and find myself on the floor.

I try to stand up, but the tiredness is overwhelming. My vision starts to swim, and I blink my eyes to clear them.

Just a little farther. Once I get to my room I can sleep.

However, my body won’t cooperate and the shoelace drops from my limp fingers. Then, a wave of fatigue washes over me, and I drift off to sleep.

The next morning, I open my eyes and sit up. Somehow, I’m lying in the bed back in my room.

At first I’m confused, but then I see Samantha sitting in a chair at the foot of my bed fast asleep.

Making as little noise as possible I roll off the bed and stand up, but Samantha opens her eyes and gives me a sleepy smile. “Morning,” she says, stifling a yawn. She’s dressed in a tunic and trousers and her hair is loose and tousled.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, sitting back down on the bed.

“You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“You collapsed in the hallway outside of your room. I had to carry you here.

“You were practicing with your skill yesterday, right?”

I nod.

“I probably should have told you, but I thought it was common sense. Skills take energy to use. If you use a skill too many times you can blackout, like you did yesterday.”

I see. So, that’s what happened.

“Let me be clear. I’m not saying you shouldn’t practice your skill. In fact, if you practice your skill enough you’ll be able to use it more.

“However, be mindful of how many times you use your skill, and don’t push yourself too far. Next time, I might not be the one who finds you.”

I shiver. What would have happened if Crew Cut had stumbled across my sleeping body.

“I should be going now,” Samantha says, standing up, “I have to prep for class. Make sure you eat a hearty breakfast, training is going to be tough today.”

Throughout the day, I continue to practice using my skill.

“What are you doing?” Bridget asks. The two of us are relaxing at a table in the cafeteria, taking a moment to digest after finishing dinner.

“I’m working on my skill,” I say, then I tell her about my conversation with Samantha from the day before.

“I should start practicing more too,” Bridget says. “I can’t have you leaving me behind.

“I’ll ask Samantha if she can give me some extra training after classes and on the weekends.”

Bridget goes off to talk to Samantha and I head off to the library.

My goal? To find a book about knot tying.

In my previous life, I could search for everything on the internet, but in this world if I want to learn about something, I have to look it up in a book.

Thankfully, this branch of the Adventurer Guild has one of the largest libraries in the Empire. It’s about the size of practice room eight, and is filled with towering rows of bookcases that reach all the way up to the ceiling.

I tell a librarian what I’m looking for, and she leads me to a bookshelf near the back of the library filled with books about knots.

I grab several large leather bound books at random and take a seat at a nearby table. Then, I skim through the books looking for interesting knots.

Sailor’s knots, climbing knots, decorative knots, the list goes on and on. Even in a world where people have magic and inhuman strength, it seems that knots are still necessary.

For whatever reason, my brain seems to be wired for learning knots. As I read, I find myself tying the knots in the shoelace I’m holding.

It’s amazing, my hands are moving on their own. It’s like I’m in the Watrix, and information about each knot is being downloaded into my brain.

The rest of the week goes by in a flash. During my free time I practice tying knots, being careful not to pass out.

By the end of the week, I’m able to tie knots almost all day without running out of energy.

Bridget is also working hard. She stays behind after class everyday to practice weapon handling with Samantha.

The two of them practice late into the night, searching for the perfect weapon for Bridget.

Unfortunately, this means we aren’t able to hang out as much as we did before, but it seems like she’s having fun, and she’s improving a lot.

I should join them and learn how to handle a weapon, but the truth is, I’m afraid of blades.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a sword or a dagger, if it’s sharp it scares me. I know, this doesn’t bode well for my career as an adventurer, but overcoming fear is hard.

After the incident with the Blade Claw, I bought myself a large hunting knife. However, even though I keep it on my person at all times, I still haven’t used it for anything.

In my previous life, when I was in first grade, I had an unfortunate run in with a kitchen knife. After that, I never touched a knife again.

Friday evening, I head to the General Store to pick up my order.

When I arrive, Steel hands me a package, a big smile on his face. “It came out better than I expected,” he says, giving me a wink.

I take the package and return to my room. The order wasn’t cheap. 75 silver exactly. But, if it works the way I think it will, the price will be worth it.

I place the package on the foot of my bed and carefully unwrap it.

Inside the brown wrapping paper are two sets of aglets. However, these aren’t just normal aglets. These aglets are reusable and resizable.

According to Steel, these aglets contain a special locking mechanism that allows them to clamp onto the ends of a rope or piece of string, instantly turning it into a shoelace.

I had Steel forge two different sizes. One for rope, and one for string.

Both sets are fully adjustable, so they fit on a wide range of thicknesses, but I figured I’d need at least two sets to cover most of the common sizes.

The aglets themselves are made out of mithril, making them lightweight and strong. Originally, I wanted Steel to make them out of iron, but it seems like he decided to make them out of mithril for no extra charge.

I’ll have to make sure to thank him later.

Taking one of the large aglets, I click open the latch and pull it open. I place one end of the rope inside and click it shut, squeezing until it’s nice and tight.

After repeating the process for the other end, I sit back and examine my work.

With the aglets on the ends of the rope, it kind of resembles a shoelace. It’s not perfect, but if I stare really hard I can kind of see it.

Hopefully this works. If it doesn’t, I’m totally broke with nothing to show for it.

Heart pounding in my chest, I pick up the ends of the rope.

Will this work? I guess I’ll find out.

Here goes nothing.

I scrunch my eyes closed and activate my skill. My fingers move on their own, and when I open my eyes the two ends of the rope are tied together.

I flop back on my bed, weariness and relief washing over me.

It works. It actually works.