Jeremy stared at the broken dagger. “Sorry about the knife. I'll pay for that.”

  “Don't worry about it,” Fizzlepuff picked up the pieces and put them in a pack that Identified as high-quality pack, thirty times the space inside as out. Slightly damaged.

  “I'm guessing you didn't get that pack from the dungeon,” Jeremy said.

  “It was my father's,” Fizzlepuff said with a sad expression. “I've been meaning to repair it. Why don't I show you how I do that, and then you can practice on your clothes, which appear to have seen better days.”

  Jeremy became painfully aware of the poor state of his torn and tattered clothes. “Yeah. They've been through a lot.”

  “I have a portable crafter's bench, but your smithy should be better for any low-level crafting you're likely to do.” Fizzlepuff got out a small box that opened into what looked like a sewing kit with different colored threads, needles, and two pairs of scissors.

  “What kind of crafting bench do you have?” Jeremy asked.

  “My crafting bench is for the repair of small appliances: clocks, watches, and, of course, gnome weapons.” Fizzlepuff strung some thick brown thread into a large needle from his sewing kit and proceeded to mend what looked to Jeremy to be tiny tears in his pack. “For more serious repairs, I'd need high-quality magic leather or cloth. But for minor repairs, this sewing kit is sufficient.”

  Jeremy did Identify on the pack. It was now high-quality pack, thirty times the space inside as out. Good condition. The sewing kit was magic sewing kit, medium quality.

  “Wow,” Jeremy said. “I have a lot of stuff that needs repairing.” He made a pile of his damaged items.

  “You are very hard on your equipment,” Fizzlepuff said, looking over Jeremy's ruined and damaged items.

  “My stuff got damaged when I was too busy trying to stay alive to care. How about teaching me how to fix them?”

  The gnome gave out an exasperated sigh. “I have a feeling I'll be earning that thousand dungeon coin. Some of this... well, most of it, is beyond repair. But the material from ruined items can be used to fix your mostly ruined items.” He held up a piece of what had been Jeremy's spidersilk cloak with two fingers. “This was very high-quality material. I propose to use this to fix the mostly ruined clothing you're currently wearing.”

  “Are you sure my spidersilk cloak can't be repaired?”

  “Positive,” Fizzlepuff

  Jeremy sighed. He and the spidersilk cloak had been through a lot together. “What do I do?”

  ***

  “Are you sure there isn't a better way?” Jeremy asked, awkwardly holding a threaded needle. “What if I use velocoduck tape instead?”

  “This is the only way to perform a lasting mend on your garments. Now, be careful to push a tiny amount of mana into your needle, thread, and cloth with the intent to repair. The needle and thread should know what to do. Too little mana is better than too much, as you should have learned when you destroyed my knife.” Fizzlepuff patiently talked him through basic mending, beginning with stray pieces of cloth that he couldn't ruin.

  He began by working with stray strips of cloth. It took several days of ruining cloth and pricking his fingers before he could do basic repairs, and another few days before he was able to mend his clown suit with the remains of his spidersilk cloak, giving him a clown suit that looked even stranger than before. The remains of his spidersilk cloak still had camouflage abilities, so his clown suit now alternated bright colors with sections that blended with the dungeon. He'd be wearing his armor over it most of the time, so it shouldn't matter much.

  And he had a new skill. Craftsman.

  To his disappointment, the gnomes were quiet, clannish beings, talking quietly amongst themselves and becoming silent when he came too close. They ignored Squeak completely. It seemed they had similar beings where they were from. Like most adventurers, they couldn't sense Flint at all.

  He used the first damaged dungeon pack given to him by Boggan to fix his second pack and his bag of holding. His repairs weren't perfect. His second pack and bag of holding went from moderately damaged to slightly damaged. But they were his repairs, and he was quite proud of them. Once he learned basic crafting, he fixed his boots and armor, and everything else that wasn't completely ruined. That is, his things went from moderately or severely damaged to slightly damaged.

  He also figured out how to use the smithy's grindstone to sharpen knives.

  Fizzlepuff used the smithy's hammer to turn the pieces of the dagger Jeremy had destroyed back into a low-quality dagger. “You're learning quickly, Jeremy.”

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  “Thanks. You've been a great teacher.”

  The gnome craftsmen had impressive skill and precise mana control that Jeremy could feel but not imitate. Thanks to his training, he knew the gnome could somehow feel the pieces of the knife he was working on and direct the smithy's hammer to fuse the pieces back together.

  “Keep in mind, the technique I'm using to repair knives only works on low to high-quality items. Anything above that, and I'd need mana-enhanced wood or coal for the forge.”

  “How about monster hearts?” Jeremy asked, remembering something he'd read in Book. “What are they good for?”

  “If you had a working forge and a lot more skill than I possess, you could forge magic weapons with them. Most adventurers sell monster hearts since they are quite valuable to the right people, and finding a smith to forge them into a weapon is very expensive and usually not worth the effort.”

  Jeremy wished the gnomes were friendlier. Fizzlepuff talked to him about crafting, but very little else. “You say you were forced to enter this dungeon? What happened?”

  “It's complicated, and I'd rather not talk about it,” was all Fizzlepuff said. This was a lot more than the other three would say. They pretty much ignored him.

  ***

  “By now, you should have a Craftsman skill,” Fizzlepuff said. “With practice, your skill will improve over time. I've been crafting since I could walk, and I am only a journeyman. When I arrived in this dungeon, I selected Craftsman as a profession to improve my crafting skill. But it doesn't appear to have helped much. I'm still a journeyman.”

  “So, making a skill a profession improves your skill?” Jeremy asked.

  “Ideally,” Fizzlepuff replied. “You level up at a slightly slower rate, but your levels supposedly go in part to improving your profession as well as your class.” Fizzlepuff sighed and looked away, seeming oddly gloomy and nervous. “I believe it's time for you to tell us about the secret section of the dungeon. I'm amazed the dungeon guardians haven't shown up to kick you off the third floor.”

  “You mean Boggan and Banxi? Yeah. Me too.”

  ***

  “So you see,” Jeremy said, speaking above the drone of insects as he led the four gnomes through the dungeon to the secret entrance. “I put this statue together from small pebbles. I found one pebble in each passageway I cleared. When I leave this floor, I'm sure this statue and the entrance will vanish, and you would have to clear this part of the dungeon to duplicate this. Something I do not recommend. I'm lucky to be alive.”

  There was an agreeing snort from Flint.

  The gnomes studied the fat praying mantis statue and the closed door behind it. Pufflepop had produced what looked like an antique typewriter and was typing on a long, narrow paper sheet. Flint, of course, stood off to the side, sulking.

  "We saw the statue, but no door was visible while you were inside," Fizzlepuff said. "It would seem only one group can enter at a time?"

  "I guess," Jeremy said with a shrug.

  “And what lies behind that door is dangerous?”

  “Extremely,” Jeremy said. “Much, much more dangerous than what you find out here. But I'm sure other adventurers would pay well for this information.”

  “Tell us what you found in this secret section,” Fizzlepuff said.

  Jeremy did, giving them an abbreviated account of what he went through and of the two boss monsters he'd killed.

  “Impressive,” Fizzlepuff said.

  “Yes. I'm curious, did you encounter kobolds and goblins on the second floor?” Jeremy asked. He'd asked them about this before, but they seemed reluctant to talk about their experiences on the first two floors of the dungeon.

  “Yes,” Fizzlepuff responded, looking unhappy. “Our kind and goblins do not mix. Lard Lump and her kobolds were nice, though we couldn't afford her products. The goblins were the reason we rushed to the third floor.”

  Jeremy laughed. “When we first met, the goblins tried to kill me. Lard Lump convinced them I wasn't a human.”

  “Lard Lump may have mentioned something about that. She was quite fond of you.” Fizzlepuff nervously pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time. “The dungeon day will end soon. If we're going to teach you about your gun, we should start now or wait until morning.”

  “Wait,” Jeremy said. “Do you have a working watch?”

  “Of course,” Fizzlepuff responded. “I am a gnome after all. It's not as useful as you might think since it measures time based on my world's days, and you could put ten of this dungeon's days into six of my world's.”

  “Would you sell me one? The most accurate timepiece I have is an hourglass.”

  Fizzlepuff seemed to think before pulling out a second, more plain-looking pocket watch and handing it to Jeremy. “This watch isn't as nice or valuable, but it will keep decent time. You must wind it once a day.” The gnome showed him how.

  "How much?” Jeremy asked.

  “A gift,” Fizzlepuff said, handing it to him. “I will add it to your shooting lesson.”

  “Wow, thanks,” Jeremy said, studying his first alien timepiece. The palm-sized pocket watch had a circular dial, four hands, ten alien-looking symbols around the dial, and it emitted a surprisingly normal ticking sound.

  “If the goblins bother you, tell their one-eyed leader that Jeremy said, 'if you bother my gnome friends, I'll shoot him in his other leg.'”

  “Gnome friends,” Fizzlepuff said, looking like he'd swallowed a dungeon insect by accident. “You consider us to be friends?”

  Jeremy shrugged. “Why not? Besides, the goblins did try to kill me, so if you're having goblin trouble, I can relate.”

  “But you spared them,” Fizzlepuff said.

  “Yeah. I still wonder if I made the right choice.”

  “You didn't,” Fizzlepuff responded. “Goblins are treacherous creatures. Get out the Piff Snizzle, there are things I need to show you.”

  Jeremy pulled his gun box from storage.

  “Look out!” Flint shouted.

  Jeremy heard a thunderous bang. His head exploded in pain, and the last thing he thought before oblivion was that he'd let the other three gnomes get behind him, and he was such an idiot, he hadn't suspected a thing.