[BL] After SSS-rank mage reborn as the Legendary Craftsman

Sora looked at the box, then looked at Kei’s serious expression.

”Where do we test it?”

Kei glanced around awkwardly.

”Can we do it here? There aren’t any customers right now anyway?”

”Inside the store?”

Sora immediately put the cake down, her eyes becoming wary.

Kei stayed silent for a few seconds. He looked up at the ceiling, then looked over at the neatly arranged shelves around them.

”Maybe... we should go to the back of the store.”

Sora let out a small sigh of relief.

”You’re finally thinking straight.”

Kei ignored her teasing. He opened the wooden box, took out the newly crafted space ring, and placed it in the palm of his hand.

A faint silver light immediately reflected off the surface of the ring.

One hundred and eighty points of mana were flowing through Kei’s body, quiet yet full of vitality.

It had been a long time since he could feel his own mana so clearly.

Kei gently clenched his fingers.

He held the ring and walked with Sora toward the room behind the store.

In Kei’s mind, a bold idea was already taking shape.

An idea that, if successful, would make this F-rank space ring no longer just a simple F-rank item.

Kei and Sora placed the ring on the table. He didn’t immediately get to work, he just sat there with his chin resting on his hand, quietly staring at the object in front of him.

In Kei’s mind, countless pieces of magical knowledge began surfacing one after another.

An F-rank space ring could originally only hold a very small amount of items. If one wanted to upgrade it, the simplest way was to expand the space inside. But with his current mana reserves, Kei couldn’t create a space that was much larger.

He needed something else.

A need strong enough to determine the direction of the item’s evolution.

Kei turned to look at Sora.

”Hey, Sora. What does a low-rank hunter want most when they step into a Dungeon?”

Sora pondered for a moment.

She thought about the hunters she had encountered during her few weeks working at the store. Most of them were low-rank hunters. Some spoke loudly about how they would quickly become strong, some eagerly calculated how much money they could earn, and others dreamed of the day their names would be known throughout the city.

”They want to become stronger, earn a lot of money, and seek fame.”

Sora said as she glanced at the ring on the table.

”But above all... every single one of them wants to survive and come back.”

Kei said nothing.

Sora leaned back against her chair, her voice gradually slowing down.

”I’ve only been working here for a few weeks, but I’ve seen a world completely different from the lives of ordinary people. The hunters who walk into the store all try to act tough. They laugh and talk, brag about the monsters they’ve defeated, or discuss how much money they’ll make this time.”

She lowered her eyes.

”But if you look closely enough, you can tell they’re afraid.”

Kei looked over at her.

Sora was silent for a few seconds, then continued:

”There was a new E-rank hunter who came here once. When he walked into the store, he kept looking at the entrance door. When he was buying stuff, his hands were shaking so badly he almost dropped his money pouch.”

”What did you say to him?”

”I wished him a safe return.”

Sora smiled very faintly, but that smile quickly faded.

”He bowed his head, thanked me, and left. I thought he’d come back again like the other customers. But he never returned.”

The room behind the store fell quiet.

Sora looked out the window. The late-afternoon sunlight cast a pale layer across her face.

”Maybe the first time I met him was also the last time.”

Kei could see the sadness in Sora’s eyes. It wasn’t intense pain, but a heavy feeling that quietly accumulated every time a customer didn’t come back.

He had seen that look many times in the old world.

Young adventurers standing and waiting in front of the Dungeon gates. Families forced smiles as they saw their loved ones off. Healers quietly pack away their tools after realizing they had arrived too late.The Dungeon has never been a place where people enter just to seek treasure. It is where they gamble their lives in exchange for power, money, and a chance at a better life.

Kei lowered his gaze to the silver ring on the table.

A convenient storage space could help hunters carry more items. The things low-level hunters truly needed... perhaps were not a bigger bag.

But a chance to return.

Kei’s eyes gradually grew serious.

”Kei?”

Sora called softly.

Kei looked up, his expression calm again.

”What are you thinking about?”

”I’m thinking...” Kei said slowly, ”if an item could help them survive and return, then it would definitely be far more useful than a ring used just for storage.”

Sora looked at him, then back at the ring.

”Are you planning to craft an item like that?”

Kei did not answer right away. In his mind, the concept of the ring had already begun to take a new shape.

A spatial ring that could hold items, allowing its owner to carry healing potions, food, and essential tools.

If the space inside was stable enough, it could even become a place to store life-saving items in emergency situations.

Kei smiled faintly.

”First, I need to test how much this ring can withstand.”

He reached his hand toward the item.

Sora did not stop him, but a trace of worry still lingered in her eyes.

Kei placed his finger on the surface of the ring. The small amount of mana in his body immediately stirred, flowing into the tiny engravings along the ring’s band.

A silver light flickered again.

Inside the ring, a strange change surpassing the understanding of every Craftsman in this world was gradually taking form.

And for the first time, Kei began to think about crafting an item not just to prove his own ability, but to help those who entered the Dungeon make it back home.