I was a fool; the powers of this world had taken notice of me from the very beginning, and everything that had happened so far was a part of their plan. Even this seemingly normal human femur bone had hidden traps within it.

  How could I not have noticed?

  'Wait, how could I even notice?'

  I wasn't a paranoid person by nature; I didn't suspect everything around me for no good reason. But, even if I was paranoid to the extreme, I couldn't have known; even my cheat didn't pick it up until I fused it with something.

  But, why?

  Why did I now have two distinct creepy tools on my being? One was that accursed book, and the other was now this. A part of me wanted to get rid of the bone machete and get a new one, but that would require another human femur.

  'Not a bad idea, to be honest; you could probably get one at the market for a fairly cheap price.'

  True, true.

  But, for some reason, I didn't want to part with it; even though it was potentially a trap set up by some high-level scheming entity, it was also very useful to me. With my cheat, I could probably claim it as my own in due time, and reverse the situation.

  'It almost feels like two different beings; the machete gives me a completely different feel from the diary I got from Asmondo.'

  I couldn't quite explain how I felt about the two; one felt cold, predetermined and set, while the other felt...free? I don't know, It just didn't give off a sinister and dreadful feeling.

  But why?

  I don't know, and I doubt I'll ever know, but it was something to note in case I got strong enough to investigate further in the far future. For now, I'd continue using it; it was very useful, and lethal, which suited my current needs perfectly. I had no desire to go through the hassle of acquiring another human femur bone to transform it into a weapon. I could also use the highly mutated rat bones, too, but those were too precious.

  Perhaps one day, when I didn't have to be thinking about my life and if I was being used as a pawn by two unfathomable entities lurking in the dark.

  But, if I was going to keep and use Primal, I needed to carry it around properly, so I decided to make a scabbard for it. To protect myself when drawing it, and to conceal it. Walking over to the medium wooden chest, I opened it and took out a small piece of leather, a piece of highly mutated rat bone, and returned to the oak wood table in the center of the house, sat down, and began contemplating the design.

  It couldn't be anything eye-catching, long, or big; it had to be sleek, thin, and concealable.

  I also had to factor in where I'd place it, too; it had to be somewhere where I could access it easily, and without a lot of effort.

  But, could I design such a scabbard with the current level of my skills? I doubt it; they were simply too low, and I had zero experience when it came to making anything. Though my memories were gone, I had the feeling that I never did anything like this in my old world, and I decided to trust that feeling.

  But anyway, I couldn't get all of the traits I desired, so I might have to compromise.

  'How about giving up on hiding it? I could make it viable underneath for the intimidation factor, but is that truly fitting for someone who wanted to remain low-key?'

  Appearing too low-key isn't necessarily a good thing, either; it would have the opposite effect. People who seemed too ordinary often hid extraordinary things, and I did not want people to form such a perspective around me, it'd only invite endless trouble. Fitting it would be the best method.

  'It's settled, then; it'll be placed on my waist.'

  With my mind made up, I got to work in an instant, editing the two materials to fuse into the perfect scabbard for Primal.

  The end product was a sleek, smooth scabbard that seemed to be made out of high quality black leather, with polished crimson bone at its edges and tip.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  [highly mutated leather machete scabbard:

  A scabbard designed for the bone machete known as Primal.

  Traits:

  None]

  Good start, now to add more to it.

  [highly mutated leather machete scabbard:

  A scabbard designed for the bone machete known as Primal. Due to the special technique used to treat the leather and highly mutated bone, its durability, flexibility, and resistance to various things.

  Traits:

  Cut, stab, tear, and force resistance.

  Extreme flexibility

  Extreme lightness

  Extreme durability

  Force redistribution

  Myriad River Water resistance

  Acid resistance

  Heat resistance

  Filth resistance]

  After copying the traits of the rest of my equipment and placing them onto the scabbard, I was feeling quite pleased with myself; I was almost done with my preparation for entering the Movematch gang. A part of me thought I was going overboard, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with the Movematch gang and the rest of the first floor, so I wasn't going to leave anything to chance.

  'This entire world is wrong, and its every man for himself; I can only rely on the things I've made and my power.'

  There were simply too many mysteries surrounding the Movematch gang, myself, the diary, and now Primal, too.

  'If I'm not careful, I might truly end up without freedom, trapped in endless schemes until I go mad.'

  The mere thought made me shudder; why, dear unknown being who sent me here? Why this world? Couldn't it have been a low-fantasy slice of life world or something? Heck, even a cultivation world would do.

  'Wait no, never mind, I retract that thought; cultivation worlds are far more traitorous than this one, at least I'm alive and mostly well here. I don't think I could do what I did here in such a world.'

  Even in the face of great problems, one had to be grateful for the small things in life; at least I'm still alive, could think, and grow.

  But anyway, back to reality.

  Time to test, and optimize what I had made.

  Taking Primal off the table, I placed it into the scabbard, watching as it slid in perfectly.

  Now all I have to do is craft a pouch, and I'll be ready.

  Ideally, a storage pouch would do, but that was impossible for me; my skill levels were simply too low. Even attempting to warp space would lead to severe backlash; I just knew it. For now, I had to make due with a large pouch, one similar to Asmondo's. Of course, mine would be different; only the best materials would go into it. With that in mind, I took out yet another piece of leather, bone, and a piece of wood from out back this time.

  Then, I placed them onto the table, and edited them to fuse into a storage device common to this floor.

  The result was a large black pouch, made from rat patchy rat fur, teeth, and bones with a string made of rat fur and hair. The string was opening it, and attaching the pouch to surfaces, which was pretty convenient.

  [Highly Mutated leather pouch:

  A leather pouch made to look like a common serf pouch, but made from highly mutated rat bone, and fine leather, has quite a bit of space on the inside due to the design, too.

  Traits: None]

  Hmmm, not bad.

  Time to awaken all the innate traits of the materials used to make it!

  With a thought, I copied all the traits from the scabbard and edited them into the pouch.

  'Now I'm basically set; all I have to do is go join the gang and start the investigation process.'

  I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation; I was plunging head first into enemy territory, with no friends, or help.

  'If only that blasted book had information about the process of joining and fitting in!'

  But, it shouldn't be too hard, right? As long as they didn't have a complex identification system, joining under a new identity shouldn't be too hard.

  Anyway, time to stack up on supplies.

  I'll need water and food, that's about it, right?

  'Not like I have anything else, anyway.'

  The first thing I did was gather the two wooden cups I had made, and edited them to transform into wooden water bottles, filled them with water, and placed them into the pouch. After that, I grabbed two handfuls of jerky, edited it in a special pocket within the pouch, and placed them into it. After some consideration, I did the same for the wooden water bottles, too.

  'But two bottles of water won't be enough; I should carry four just in case, as you never know what might happen.'

  With that in mind, I went out back, made two more wooden water bottles, and filled them with water before placing them into the pouch. After that, I made a simple wooden belt, attached the scabbard for primal to it alongside the pouch, and stepped outside into the narrow, dark, foul-smelling wooden alley.

  With a nervous sigh, I headed out the alley, reteaching my steps until I was back at a familiar wooden alley, near a bustling market filled to the brim with roped people going about their business. Some went into the hut complex, some were busy haggling, selling, busying, and even trading with each other. Some, like me, stood motionless, watching the masses from within similar alleys.

  The entire place was well-lit, bustling, and incredibly noisy; if I hadn't been here before, the sheer amount of chaos would've left me in a daze.

  'Focus, watch the people going in and out of the hut complex, how do they get in and out? Is there anything different about them? Pay attention!'

  Right, right.

  To do that, I needed to get a better angle of the entire hut complex; the alley I was in was located to the left of it, so I could only see that people were indeed going in, but nothing more. Stepping out of the alley and into the darkness ahead of me, I got a much clearer view; the people going in and out didn't look much different from the people in the market, at least, not outwardly.

  'Figured, couldn't be that easy.'

  'Do they have a member system at all? Was I overthinking things?'

  The only type of security I saw were the guards at the gate, aside from the, nothing else stood out.

  Maybe I really am over complicating things.

  But what do I do from here? Do I just go over to the hut complex? What's even in there? Housing? But what would be the point of that?

  Shaking my head, I decided to go and see for myself, as that was the only way to put an end to my confusion.

  At a brisk pace, I made my way to the 'entrance' of the hut complex, blinking as I got closer. Following the people I saw going in, I arrived at a particularly large hut, one with a large wooden double door that swung back and forth as people went in and out.

  Pushing it open, I was greeted with a sight I wasn't particularly prepared for; a bustling tavern filled with robed people, a task board, and an empty reception desk filled with suspicious white stuff, wooden mugs, and human skulls.

  'What in the world? Did I join an adventurer's guild or something?'