August’s first thought was that it might have once been a quarry—a massive crater in the ground with thick flat ridges ringing the entire thing, dropping in elevation towards the center like stone steps for a giant. It was mostly overtaken with grass, trees, and other plant life, and at the lowest point of the crate was a large blue lake.

The flat land surrounding the lake was clear on the west side, but the side closest to him was completely overtaken by a forest made of tall, thick trees. The leaves were thick enough that he couldn’t see the ground. It looked like it would have been impossible to occur naturally and that someone had to have done this with a purpose in mind.

August eyed his mana bar for a moment—it had regenerated back up to about ninety percent since the last time he used it, more than enough for—[Analysis].

Freshwater Lake

Status: Healthy

“Healthy?” August voiced.

Did healthy mean the water was drinkable? Or did it mean that the ecosystem that lived in the water was thriving? Both were potentially a good thing unless that ecosystem included piranhas or some kind of water monster. Monsters or not, a freshwater lake was the single most important thing he needed, and he’d manage to stumble onto one.

Taking that as a sign that his luck was turning around, he began plotting a route to the bottom. The slope to each lower-tier was at a steep enough angle that he’d need to walk carefully not to send himself tumbling down. He would also have to walk around the entire thing to the other side or pass through the forest below him to get to the lake. There were thousands of trees between him and the lake, and he had no idea what could be inside.

It was something he would need to check at some point anyway because he would need to go in there. Sticks, branches, logs—all of that would be in the forest, and he’d need them to make a shelter and a fire. He could either go in now or later today—and wasting any more of the daylight walking around before going into the forest when it was dark seemed like a bad idea.

August stepped over the ridge and onto the slope; the angle was just enough to be uncomfortable. He had to choose his footing cautiously, but he could see where it flattened out below. The slope itself was covered in small rocks, sticks, and other plant life that might have been weeds or just tufts of particular vibrant grass.

August ducked down to snag one of the rocks as he passed, dropping it into his inventory. He’d have to start making a habit of picking up useful objects—he found an assortment of sticks and rocks as he continued downwards.

A few sparse trees were growing out of the slope he was on, and he stopped in the shade of one of them, sitting down beneath it. The temperature was starting to heat up now as the sun rose higher in the sky.

He was starting to notice his feet hurting as well; between the tiny rocks hidden in the grass and everything else, he was slowly destroying the skin of his feet. Creating some kind of shoe was going to be something he needed soon.

He was getting close to the first flat section of the ring now, and beyond it was the next drop off into the forest. While he still had the time to do so, and he wasn’t under attack by some monstrosity, it was probably worth trying to make his length of bamboo into something more useful.

“Alright,” August murmured, grimacing at the way the grass tickled his nuts.

August removed several of the larger rocks from his inventory and set about using his newfound flintknapping knowledge to create some shards of stone. He prioritized being careful over speed, doing his best to avoid cutting his fingers as he struck them together.

He slowly increased the power until, with a crack, the larger of the two stones he’d been working on split into two pieces, and a jagged shard of stone the size of his palm broke away. August turned it over in his hand, trying to find the best place to hold it without stabbing himself on the edges.

August hooked the length of bamboo under one of his legs and held the end of it over his knee. He ran the shard of flint over the end of the bamboo, carefully shaving off the tiniest flake. He continued slowly shaving away at one side of the end.

It was harder than he expected, his awkward grip on the rock causing problems with generating enough force while shaving away at it. Even so, he continued until the entire right side was worn down to a slant, then spun the bamboo over and started filing away the edge. After a few minutes more, his hand and wrist started to hurt, the awkward grip on the rock requiring muscles he hadn’t used before.

He took a break, just studying the treetops below and trying to figure out how long it would take him to mess up badly enough for him to die. The reality was, he might die even if he did everything right here, and the likelihood of getting it all correct was low in the first place.

August knew his chances against a bear were non-existent and that Otrogon looked like it could have bitten a bear in half without much effort. Here he was sharpening the end of a piece of bamboo to a point as if it would help him against something like that—he was a David on an island filled with Goliaths.

He returned to the task regardless, filing it away until one edge of the bamboo cylinder was pointed and sitting higher than the other lip. It didn’t exactly look sharp to him—in fact, the rock looked more dangerous overall. However, it didn’t matter because the force he could generate while thrusting the pole was leagues over what he could do with the awkwardly shaped rock.

Basic Spear Blueprint Unlocked

August stared down at the spear in his hand like a master reviewing the work of a child. He could suddenly see all the ways he’d messed up and all the ways to avoid it in the future. There were half a dozen ways in which he could improve it as it was. Tens of different materials he could use to upgrade it; a precisely shaped shard of flint settled into a grove as a spear tip or a vine wound around the handle for better grip.

Is that how this system worked? Could he make something else and unlock more blueprints? What if he made a—August blanked on something he could make. A bow and arrow, maybe? Fish traps? Traps to capture the monsters?

August began attempting to salvage his poor attempt at a spear and found the process remarkably easier this time around. Intuitively he knew how to best carve away the layers to provide the sturdiest and sharpest tip. Within ten minutes, he’d managed to turn his weak attempt into something dangerous—as dangerous as a sharpened piece of bamboo could look anyway.

He’d never had much interaction with bamboo, but it seemed easy to work with. Attempting to create a spear out of wood might have yielded different strengths, but it would have taken several times as long, and stripping the bark first would have been annoying.

Having an actual weapon made him feel much, much better—not enough that he would be approaching one of those Otrogons—but better than he had before. The forest sprawled out below him, and August wondered if he’d get to see the other side.