After finishing her third meal of the day, Carl finally extinguished the smelting furnace.
The rusted metal parts were smelted into sixteen metal ingots and some slag.
The ingots would be processed into the armor components Carl needed in the future, while the slag would be mixed into clay to make sturdier pottery or firebricks.
Before that, however, Carl decided to make a few harmless little things.
"This is for me?"
Looking at the exquisitely crafted pocket watch in her hands, Hopp blinked. She actually felt somewhat overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
This was the first time anyone had given her a gift since she could remember.
"Of course! And with this, it'll also be easier for us to keep track of the time, so we won't spend the whole day without knowing where the time went."
Carl opened the pocket watch and pointed at the blue-glowing markings as she explained to Hopp:
"This pocket watch uses Dragon Crystal as its power source. When the markings glow blue, it means night has fallen. When they glow orange-yellow, it means it's daytime."
"It has a completely mechanical structure. Its raw material is Mithril Alloy, so it's lightweight and highly durable. But try not to use it to crack nutshells or prop up a table leg."
Hearing this, Hopp glared at Carl in displeasure.
Who would use the first gift they had ever received for something like that?
"Right, if sleeping on the floor is uncomfortable, I can forge you a bed tomorrow after I fire up the furnace to smelt iron. We have enough timber to make you a spacious double bed."
"No need for now. Make your room first tomorrow. The longer you sleep in the hall, the guiltier I feel."
Hopp stuffed the pocket watch into her trouser pocket, but the tight leather pressed against it and made her frown.
Seeing this, Carl hurried over, clipped the watch chain to the left side of Hopp's chest, and then tucked the watch itself into the breast pocket of her shirt.
Although the fabric was pulled even tighter there, Hopp no longer found it as uncomfortable as before. At least, keeping the pocket watch there did not hinder her movements.
"Your civilized people's stuff is really troublesome."
Hopp tried taking the pocket watch out of her pocket to look at it, then put it back into the left breast pocket and made this vaguely meaningful remark.
This was probably some unique form of self-mockery among people from Zhuomu.
"It could actually be made into a wristwatch. Then you could wear it on your hand. But a wristwatch should have a pane of glass installed over the dial for protection, and we don't have the raw materials for glass right now."
Due to the material limitations, Carl's pocket watch was the kind whose hands could be adjusted directly by hand. Without a cover, it could easily lose time if the hands were accidentally touched.
That was why she had made it into a pocket watch.
Actually, she had originally wanted to make a wall clock in the hall, but after remembering that a wall clock could not be carried around, she had switched to designing and making a pocket watch.
"All right. According to the time shown on the pocket watch, it's almost midnight. Go to sleep quickly. We still have work tomorrow morning."
Without giving Carl a chance to argue, Hopp pushed her out of the right-side room, closed the door, and pressed her palm against the place where the pocket watch rested. Her heart pounded.
"If I kept living here with her, maybe..."
She murmured her thoughts under her breath, but before Hopp could finish, she suddenly shuddered and clamped her mouth shut.
"Phew~, it's only been a few days of comfortable living. How did I become this weak? Sleep! Sleep! Staying up late must have ruined my brain!"
After grumbling a few times, Hopp took off her clothes and folded them neatly. Then she spread a piece of leather on the floor and went peacefully to sleep.
The enclosed, sealed environment made her feel especially secure. When she opened her eyes again, she hurriedly took out the pocket watch to check it, only to find that it was already ten in the morning.
"This thing really is accurate, right?"
Hopp, who had never once slept in, now developed deep doubts about Carl's creation.
But when she got dressed and went outside, not only was there a plate of lizard steaks in the living room that was almost cold, Carl had already gone outside and started tinkering with that lousy brick kiln of hers again.
"Have I... been getting a little too lazy lately?"
Thinking back over everything that had happened since the two of them arrived in the dungeon, Hopp sighed. She felt that things could not continue like this.
Thus, she could only devote all her energy to training.
Whenever her muscles grew sore, she would stretch her bones and muscles according to the health exercises Carl had taught her.
Once she felt she had rested enough, she would continue training even harder.
This sort of life continued for roughly three days. During that time, Carl finished building the left-side room and the bed for the two of them.
Then, the morning of the fourth day arrived...
"Mmm~, it's ten o'clock again. I don't want to get up..."
Hopp turned onto her side, picked up the pocket watch, and glanced at the time. Then she helplessly closed its cover, her voice carrying the utterly listless air of a wage slave.
Unlike Carl, who had a clear path for advancement and a defined development plan, Hopp had obtained the Barbarian class by accident. Aside from the wild fighting ability and throwing skills she had developed in the wilderness, she had no systematic training method.
Rather than training her body, her exercises during this period were more like "torturing" herself so she would not forget the bitter days she had once lived through.
But she also knew that the past was gone forever, and she could now live a good life.
After slowly putting on her vest and shorts, Hopp listlessly rose to her feet, only to lie flat on the leather again moments later. She stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling completely unmotivated today, like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
After a while, Hopp stretched her right hand toward the sky and loosely gripped the air.
Looking at her well-proportioned yet powerful arm, she pursed her lips, then raised both thighs and the arrow-tipped end of her tail as well.
She kicked both legs twice in midair, and this meaningless behavior somehow brought a smile to Hopp's face.
Outside, Carl was firing new crucibles and firebricks again.
Hopp closed her eyes and quietly listened to the sounds made by the bricks as they began transforming under the high temperature.
"Crack, crack..."
Accompanied by those sounds that seemed to be right beside her ear, a faint orange-red glow lit up inside her chest.
It was as if a fire had ignited within her body. Even the temperature of her skin began to rise.
Suddenly, Hopp opened her eyes.
The firelight in her chest continued to grow stronger, giving her the feeling that she was about to release it.
Hopp pulled open the door and ran outside at the fastest speed of her life.
She casually chose a direction with nothing in it and, following her body's instincts, thrust both hands forward.
The firelight extended from her chest into both arms. Then, a burst of flame surged out from between her palms.
The flames lasted nearly four seconds before finally dissipating throughout the fifteen-foot cone-shaped area in front of Hopp.
After doing all this, Hopp staggered and collapsed onto the ground.
Carl also hurried over after seeing what had just happened.