The locket in my hand waves back and forth as I raise it up to eye level, even though it's mostly made of wood, its design can rival the more expensive jewelry, I'd even go as far as to say that nobles would buy this at a high price even without knowing the locket's effects.

  "I've really gotten better at making stuff huh?" If I ever decide to check the part of my system that lists all my skills, there would be so many that I'd struggle to read them all. "The gem turned out so well too, and this is the first time I made one."

  The gemstone inside the locket is a pulverized monster core, after leaving it in the open air for half an hour, the mana inside got released back into the atmosphere, creating this white powder that can absorb magic.

  After a minor alchemical tampering, the powder's storage for magic expanded and became more stable, then I just used my transmutation to make it solid again. I can manipulate it so well that the gem's shape is a heart, I felt it was appropriate since this thing is technically keeping me alive.

  Putting it on for just a second already made me feel its effects, the itch all over my body disappeared and I can feel the magic inside of me again. My eyesight has gone back to normal as well, although there are still hints of black in it, the color doesn't fill my vision anymore.

  The relief that comes after the locket absorbs the remaining corruption in my body almost made my knees give out.

  "That... Is great." A shiver crawls up my spine and my body shudders. "It's like getting a cleansing, which I guess isn't wrong, just different in a magical sense."

  Now that I can finally move again, it was time for me to start working on becoming an inhuman. In Firelight Chronicles, reaching this particular stage of your character creation often means that you are either a whale who likes to spend money, knows someone with higher levels, or have a higher level yourself.

  Inhumans were the replacement for "standard" fantasy races that people crave when playing similar games and they don't look all that different from said races. Of course, the real ones also exist here, albeit in a weirder form than normal.

  Lorewise, inhumans are people who have reforged their body and made it superior, to do so they need a lot of stuff, from rare items to low percentage mob drops to body parts of the race they want to become.

  Who would have thought that naturally increasing your strength costs a lot of resources? It makes sense from a gameplay stand point and realistically, something so important would naturally be expensive and time consuming, otherwise the risk of becoming an abomination is high.

  Or something like that. I still hate it though.

  Anyway, inhumans, how do I become one with my current— non-existent. — resources, bad season, and a body that's actively going against me?

  The answer is simple: I have no idea.

  This is why I'm currently making my way towards one of the cottages, this one isn't the same as the first two that's already been found and I can mess with it as much as I want.

  Asking Wardcruncha about the cottages should have been my first option but the opportunity never showed itself. I'm kinda pissed honestly, knowing more about the purpose, function, and secrets of the cottages would have been a game changer.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Now I have to figure all of it by myself, which I wouldn't have minded if my body wasn't in a time limit.

  My chances of recovery would be even higher if I start gathering the other pieces of the mender's set and these cottages will be the key to that.

  Oh, and I guess the one that I'm currently going into is close to the [Mender's Gloves], which is the second best piece of the entire set.

  As for the cottage itself, I guess it's pretty useful, I felt something happen to me when I entered the building's range of effect and since this never happened before, I'm guessing that it must have something to do with corruption.

  The mender was working against it? Was working on it? She was doing something related to corruption back when she was alive, was this the reason why she was working in Misery Swamp? An easy access to aberrants and monsters would be incredibly useful in completing her goal.

  Assuming that my guess is right, that is. For all I know the cottages resisting corruption was just a side effect that the mender put on them and not their main function. I wouldn't put it past the mender— or anyone working with magic. — to have some kind of contingency against corruption.

  The cottage soon comes into view and I stare at it for a moment. "No changes, just like always."

  Now that I know the similarities of the cottages is so that they can keep functioning, seeing them isn't so uncanny anymore.

  Entering the entrance caused a chill to come over me, I rubbed my arms while shivering, a misty breath came out of my mouth. I couldn't help but scowl, seriously? Did the mender not add any kind of heat retention to her cottages or do I have to do something to activate it?

  The thought made me pause.

  ... Can the cottages be activated?

  So far the only thing I've done with them is to treat them as some kind of landmark to help me find the mender's set and even back in the game I didn't think they're important. Have I been unintentionally ignoring the real potential of the cottages all this time?

  Gut instincts say yes! And I for one will listen to them, and since this particular cottage won't be used by me in the long run I will use my time here to figure out how to activate these things.

  Starting with the floor and its fractal like patterns sounds like a good idea so I'll go with that.

  Tracing it is easier for me to do now that I have my [Artifact Scourer] sub class, I'm not sure if the added perk where I can easily find treasure through it will help me with activating the cottage but I do know this thing counts as a ruin so I can navigate it pretty easily.

  I still need to get the results myself though, which means thinking while moving, which isn't fun. I mean, I'm already pre-occupied with searching and now I have to connect the clues I find while I'm at it?

  "Maybe I should work on getting some kind of detective sub class next? The perks it can give me should be useful in situations like this right?" Which is definitely going to happen more frequently from now on.

  Cupping the walls was the first thing I did, the help of my intuitive navigation only went as far as telling me where secrets are possibly located so it's not omnipotent, of course the chances of me getting good results is high because of it but you know...

  The walls are strangely flat, perfectly even, and yet the patterns marking them give off the opposite impression. My hands trail a runic line, because what else is it supposed to be? "If I was the mender, I'd put this cottage's circuitry on the walls too."

  Where they lead is another mystery all on its own however, and I need to solve that first.

  "At least the cottage can actually be activated," the confirmation was a welcome one, once I figure out how to do it I'll do the same to the other cottages. "Hm... How do I activate you?"

  For a while, I just stood in place, thinking. Most of the mystery has already been figured out so all that's left is to put the pieces together and then use them to my advantage, and the first piece is right in front of me.

  "Maybe I can..." The idea that comes to mind when messing with circuitry is usually: don't put magic into them, especially magic that belongs to you.

  Since I'm suicidally stupid, I am going to do that.

  The flat of my palm meets the cold surface of the wood, when every inch of my calloused skin is touching the wall, I push my magic out and let it flow into the wall.

  Power fills the cottage as I increase the output, the walls are glowing now and I can feel the changes being done to the local mana with my senses, it is healthier, energetic, and purified.

  "This place is a proper laboratory." I say in awe as the cottage finally shows me its true purpose, "so much for a medieval setting... Just who was the mender? No, what she was should be the thing I'm asking."

  More importantly, what did she do here?