"Bree, is there a good shop where I can buy high-quality paper? I'll make some myself at some point, but to get the skill it should be easier to work with pre-existing paper." Eisen explained before Bree began to think for a while.
"Hmm, we could go to a general store, they should have paper there, but we can also go to a Bookstore. The paper they have is more expensive, but also a lot higher in quality." The Fey-Kin told Eisen, and he listened curiously before nodding at her suggestion. "Alright, sounds good to me. Then let's go to a nearby Bookstore."
The old man smiled while nodding at his two companions, following Bree toward a small, but high-tier, bookstore that was just a few streets away. Most of the books that were sold there were leather-bound at the highest quality, and most had to do with some kind of technique, whether it was related to crafting, combat or magic, and Eisen was more than interested in some of the crafting and magic books.
Before he even got to taking a look at different paper, he grabbed about half a dozen books that each seemed quite useful to him.
Three of those were material guides, one for different metals, another for different woods and plants, and the last one for different leathers. Each of these included the rarity of each material, their worth depending on their purity or condition, and in what area of the world which could be found.
Another one of them a monster guide, simply listing the most common monsters found in different areas of the world and the way they reacted toward intruders or enemies. None of the information given on each monster was particularly detailed, as it seemed this was a general guide meant for non-combatants so that they knew which areas of the world to pass by so that they wouldn't unneccessarily put themselves in danger.
There were some bestiaries there as well that gave more detailed information together with useful combat tactics to use on each monster, but if Eisen wanted to have the same amount of monsters covered in these bestiaries as in the general monster guide, he would need at least a dozen more books.
Of course he could always ask Bree for this type of information, but Eisen preferred to actually have all of it in his mind than have to ask about certain things case-for-case.
And at last, Eisen also picked two books related to magic, one with general theories and information on magic, and one filled with different non-combat uses of magic, mainly focused on its use in crafting.
These two books were the ones that Eisen was most interested in, actually. The one filled with magic theories and information seemed to be talking about different types of magic that Eisen had no idea existed in this game, and the one filled with information about crafting was something Eisen really wanted in order to find ways to make magical weapons.
Technically, his Zweihänder was also a magic weapon since Eisen infused magic into it while forging, but there had to be far more efficient methods that he had no way of knowing about yet. Eisen basically knew everything there was to know about crafting methods, but when it came to magic, he knew near to nothing. All of the information that he gathered about it so far may seem a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, Magic had to be far more expansive than Eisen could even imagine.
Due to that, he wanted to at least figure out as much as he could where magic overlapped with his own area of expertise.
But for now, Eisen simply looked through these books quite briefly and would read through them later if he had the time. He still had four or five in-game days until Tony, Benji, Sean and Katy arrived at his house, after all, so he should have some time to at least start looking through them briefly.
So instead, the old man walked over to the shopkeeper and asked to see different types of paper to choose a good type to purchase.
In the end, Eisen chose a simple, smooth and high quality paper with a clean white color. The size that Eisen needed was double that of what a single page of the book would be.
So, Eisen bought a large stack of paper, enough for a few pretty thick books, as well as a few sheets of thin cardboard, before the group left the shop again.
"Do either of you want to buy something yourselves right now?" Eisen asked, and both Komer and Bree shook their heads after looking at each other briefly.
"Not really, no." Komer told him as he looked over at Bree, who was shrugging at Eisen's question as well.
"Really? Well, I still have to go to two other shops, and after that I'll just be crafting for a while. So just go ahead and have a fun day without me during that time." Eisen explained as he was stashing away the books and paper he just bought in Bree's backpack.
The Fey-kin nodded with a smile, "Hmm, alright… We could meet up with Evalia again and do something with her!" She said happily, and Komer agreed. "Yeah, let's do that!"
Next, the group made their way both to the Leatherworker and the Tailor, to buy different pieces of leather and fabrics not only meant for the bookbinding process that was to follow, but also for some other projects that Eisen had in mind for a while, before they then walked back to the Carriage, unloading everything that was just bought onto their respective spots in the carriage. Luckily, this time around there wasn't any trouble being caused in the stables that had to do with either Cabarum or Aulu, so Eisen could simply get to work right away.
"Alright, I'll start working then. Do you two want to stick around for a bit?" Eisen asked, before Komer and Bree both ended up nodding and saying that they would stay for a little while longer, while Eisen got to work.
He grabbed a pile of the A4 paper he bought and began creating smaller piles of each six sheets of paper. These were then folded in half to create small packets with pages in the A5 format. After about 10 of these packets were put together, Eisen made small markings at the fold of one of these packs as guidelines for the stitching that would following in a bit, before stacking the packets on top of each other and drawing lines across the spine to transfer these markings to all the other packets.
These markings had about an inch of space inbetween each other and half an inch of space to each end of the paper and had an even number. Next, Eisen onfolded each of the bundles and punched small holes into the spots that were marked, before folding them back up.
He then grabbed some waxed thread and tied it through the hole of one of his needles before activating as many skills as he could, including his Tailoring Crafting space, although it didn't seem to make any difference in this case, his elemental transformation moved toward flames for speed, and luckily his hands didn't burn the paper he was touching, as well as his two racial skills that he always had active when crafting.
Eisen first pulled the thread through the hole on the lowest end from the outside and then back out through the next hole, then back in, and so on until he pulled the thread through all holes, before placing the next bundle on top and pulling the thread through the hole above the one that Eisen was currently at.
When he got to the other end of this second bundle, he pulled as much thread through the two bundles as he would need for the other eight, and then bound the loose end at the very first hole that Eisen pulled the thread through to the last hole of the second bundle, before adding a third bundle in a similar way.
Just this time around, when he got to the end of the third bundle, to make sure that both ends were equally tightly connected, Eisen quickly moved the thread he had through the thread that went from the end of the first bundle to the start of the second bundle, and then repeated this until he sewed all 10 bundles together.
Next, Eisen placed these sewed-together bundles of paper onto his worktable and grabbed a small plank of wood together with the books that he just bought, placing the plank on top of the paper and then weighing this down with the books, spreading glue on the back of the paper's spine.
While this was drying, Eisen grabbed some thin fabric and cut it into the right shape he needed, about an inch shorter and three times as wide as the spine, covering one side of the frabric in glue before removing the books and the wooden plank and placing the piece of fabric around the spine so that it covered the whole spine, except two small half-inch strips at the top and bottom, and part of the front and back, before placing this back under the plank and the books to make sure everything was being pushed together while the glue was drying.
As Eisen was waiting for the glue to dry again, he cut out two sheets of slightly more durable, thicker paper to perfectly fit on the front and back of the paper, before he grabbed some of that thin cardboard that he bought before as well, cutting out three pieces. Two that were basically identical and the same size as one page of the book would be, just about half an inch taller, and then a thin piece that was as wide as the spine and once more about half an inch taller, before grabbing a piece of leather, simple cow's leather in this case, and glueing these pieces of cardboard onto that leather with about a quarter inch gap between the spine piece and the two front and back cover pieces.
Eisen then cut away excess leather to leave a 1-inch border of leather around the three pieces of cardboard, and then cut away the four corners of the leather, coming as close to the corners of the pieces of cardboard as possible.
Next, Eisen took the bound pages and covered the cardboard with glue, first attaching the paper spine to the cardboard spine and then the front and back covers to each other, before unfolding the front and back covers to lay flat on the ground while the main body stuck straight up, and placed his books on the covers to make sure everything was going to tightly stick together.
After the glue dried, Eisen put glue on the excess parts of leather that were left as a border around the pieces of cardboard before and folded them over onto the front and back covers.
And at last, Eisen glued two pieces of thick and strong paper the same size as the pages onto the front and back cover parts in the inside of the book, before placing the whole thing under the wooden plank weighed down with books once again.
With a smile, Eisen now leaned back against the wall and waited for the glue to finish drying again while talking to Komer and Bree who were still curiously watching Eisen work during the whole time he made this book, and a short while later the old man took the books and the plank off of the newly-crafted book and inspected it to make sure everything was alright with it, before nodding in satisfaction.
"Done." Eisen said, and in response to his acknowledgement that this item was finished, a notification popped up.
[You made an Blank Leatherbound Book]
[Bookbinding Skill Learned]
[Blank Leatherbound Book]
[Quality – Perfect][Rank – 0]
[Description] A simple leatherbound book created by the Omni Craftsmaster Eisen. Every single page of it is completely blank and yet to be filled.
[Pages] 120