Andrew awoke slumped against the stone table. His back ached and he had a crick in his neck, his feet were bare and cold and the firepit was dead and cold in front of him.

Back to full health though, that’s what's important right?

He got to his feet and checked on his armor. It was clean and dry. There were a mishmash of scratches and dents across the chest and arms. None of the scratches were deep enough to damage any of the runic circles though.

Alright. Last night sucked, I don't want to do something like that again. It was… I gained levels out of it, wasn't really in that much danger either, but that just didn't feel right. Seeing a crowd of crippled goblins running away isn't something I ever thought I would experience in my life, and not something I ever want to see again.

New plan is to stay clear of the goblins. Find a bear or some beast to trap and hunt again when I want to gain more levels, and hope that the goblins stay away. I probably left a blood trail straight back here. Shit. They stayed away from the bear, hopefully they do the same for me. I don't want to move again, and I don't know if I could stomach what it would take to make sure that isn't a problem anymore.

Still have to develop enough strength to travel those roads though. That explosive firepit was horrific, but incredibly effective. If I can find a way to reproduce that consistently, I should have a much better chance of dealing with something like one of those caravans.

I'll need to do some materials testing, figure out a way to reproduce the effect without a firepit, see if I can pump enough mana into a material that it explodes on it's own. I'll need to figure out a way to charge the circle's remotely though because this will probably involve a lot of accidental detonations.

Explosive materials, rocks, wood, metal, dirt? The rock is what I used last time. It was able to hold more mana than the metal armor could. It also exploded good, hard to say if it will actually ignite at any point though.

The wood will definitely ignite with enough fire mana, though the low durability and ignition threshold means it may not be able to contain enough mana for a large enough explosion. Less shrapnel as well.

Metal seemed to have the lowest mana capacity. Haven't overfilled a piece yet so I'm not sure what will happen when I do. Probably the best material for shrapnel, but haven't tested its ability to contain air mana or explode or anything.

The earth can be inscribed, it might be possible to make a ball of mud or something and inscribe that. Could try firing clay from the river into some kind of ceramic? I'll have to test the mana capacity. Closest thing to a grenade I could get would probably be a ceramic pot filled with metal nails, or a metal pot filled with nails I suppose. If I could find a way to infuse the whole thing with air mana all I would need is an ignition source to get the whole thing going. I'm sure I can figure something out if I work with the materials for a while.

Other options to increase strength without levels is improving my weapons or armor. Either a way to use rune circles to increase the damage potential of my melee weapons or improving my armor design to cover the joints and have higher mana capacity to increase durability.

Lots to do. Plenty of ways to build strength without slaughtering a bunch of little green men.

Andrew got to work on creating a number of prototypes for explosive devices. He gathered a bunch of similar sized rocks, comfortable enough to throw. He also gathered a few wooden boards, and began heating several ingots. He would form them into balls of metal slightly smaller than the one he used as a base to form his helmet. Just large enough that he was confident he could fit at least two inscription circles on them.

As the forge was warming up he walked up and down the river in his little valley. There was some clay low in the river bank. The last time he had done any kind of pottery was middle school, and that had been with industrially produced clay, not stuff dug from the wall of a river and mixed with dirt. Could try to mix ash or grasses with it as well. He wasn't sure about the mixture, and it would be the most labor intensive mix of the bunch, so he didn't have high hopes.

He dug a small hole near the riverbank and began filling it with clay and loose dirt. He used scoops of water from the river to form a muddy material, which he scooped out on a nearby flat rock and tried to form into a simple bowl.

It was not easy, and forming the whole mass into his desired shape wasn't going at all how he wanted it to. The mixture was always too wet or too dry and crumbly to hold it's shape. He could make some simple shapes out of it, but they were nowhere near the hollow rounded shape he was looking for.

He took a break to pound out a couple metal spheres, and when he returned he tried rolling the clay into snaky tubes and layering them on top of each other. He then let them dry a little, and used extra clay and water to smooth out the ridges between layers. It turned out to be much easier than trying to sculpt a lump of clay by hand, and he managed to form a round little mud pot.

He sat it out on a stone to dry and decided to make four more. His first was made with clay and dirt. His second would have ash mixed in, his third dried grass, his forth would have both, and his fifth would replace the dirt entirely with ash.

It took him several hours to mix the clays and form them into pots. He wanted to try forming them in a metal bowl inscribed to gather earth mana later to see if he could get a similar mana infused smelting like skill for creating the pots, but he needed an uninfused control to test out his explosive theories on first.

[+1 Dexterity for preforming precision work]

This is great for conserving resources, but is pretty time intensive. Much more work than just picking up a rock. More adaptable and reliable than trying to hollow out a rock or something though. Still have to figure out a good way of setting these off though.

He left the pots to dry out on one of his stone tables, he had created two more to avoid mixing clay mixtures during production, and turned to his other potential materials.

He wanted to start by testing wood, see if he could mix air, fire, and either earth or water mana to make some kind of incendiary explosive, but he would need a way to charge circles remotely to avoid setting himself on fire.

Could find myself a really long stick I guess, or try to empower several together. Tie a bunch of wood straps together and empower them to transmit mana? Oh shit, actually.

He jumped up from his workspace and rounded the wagon. He had rope! It had been sitting unused in the back of the wagon this whole time. It was far too thick to be used for straps, and he didn't want to unwind and destroy something he couldn't easily replicate himself.

He had about 30 feet of rope, a pretty solid pile of thick wound material.

Alright, so if I empower this to transmit mana, then I could lay one end on a magic circle and power it up just like how I would with my magic stick. 30 feet should be good enough for anything with less than two hundred mana or so I think. Probably should cap it at one hundred until I can do more tests, just in case. Should do this from behind a barrier of some kind anyways. Shrapnel is the goal here and the range on that should be pretty high for any kind of explosion.

He set the coil of rope on his lap and took each end in one hand. He pulsed mana through the rope, from one end to the other, then back again and began empowering it.

You will transmit mana. It will flow from me into whatever you touch. You will be durable. You will transmit mana.

When he opened his eyes the rope was mostly unchanged. It was a little smoother now, less fibers frayed off and the ones that did felt more like wire than fiber. It was slightly glossy, but more pitted than anything, and was a lot less flexible than before.

Alright now to prototypes.

He first grabbed his axe and headed out into the forest. He would need thicker pieces of wood to accomplish what he wanted and all the wood he had left was cut into boards or burnt up in the fire. It took him well past noon to chop the tree down.

[+1 Strength for performing physical labor]

It was much faster than last time, and the trees near the cliff were smaller. He attributed it to his ever increasing strength and the lumberjack skill. He spent the rest of the day working to process the tree. It was right outside of his crevice and closer to his camp then the last one had been. He pulled the wagon out next to where he cut the tree, and filled it with the branches he cut off. He worked late into the night to clear most of the branches then cut himself a few relatively short lengths of raw logs to carve down into explosive options.

[Lumberjack Skill lvl 2-3]

[+ 1 Strength for performing physical labor that pushes your limits]

[+1 Strength for performing physical labor that pushes your limits]

The bare tree was laid out across the ground a little way from the entrance to his crevice. It was missing about a fifth off it's end and was still more wood than he would need for a long time.

That’s about all the work I'll do on that today. Probably wont need much more wood than I've got in the cart anytime soon which is great. What's left of that tree will probably last me quite a while. Though I wonder.

If I can manage to turn a little wooden cube or whatever into a firebomb, what would happen if I tried empowering an entire tree?

Depending on how volatile the cube is I probably don't want to know. I could end up setting half the forest on fire and then I'd lose any shred of hope I have of remaining hidden out here. Still though, could be fun.

It was evening when he headed back into the crevice. He wanted to get the pots fired before he went to bed at the very least. Processing the tree to his standards took longer than he had planned and he wanted to get to explosives testing. It would have to wait till tomorrow either way but he could get the materials ready at the very least.

What I could really use right about now is a time management skill. Though it seems I have to establish a certain amount of competency before I can create a skill, fat chance that happens anytime soon.

He set the first two pots into the center of the forge, it should get plenty hot enough to fire them even with an open face. He slowly pumped mana into the forge, watching the clay pots to make sure they didn't crack. He would pump a point of mana in and wait, watching for cracks for a minute or two before putting another point of mana into it. When he had pumped enough mana into the forge to work iron he stopped.

However hot pots need to be to form properly, it can't be much hotter than iron takes to get bendy. Can always make a new one and try firing it at a higher temp if this doesn't work out.

[+ 1 Wisdom for sustaining constant mana control]

He gave the pots plenty of time to cook, keeping the two of them in while he worked on shaving the section of log he brought back into manageable chunks. He used his axe to separate large pieces and then the handsaw to carve them down into cubes. He ended with three rough cubes, each about as long and wide as his forearm. He didn't want to make the chunks too big, the more mana they held the larger the explosion was sure to be.

He left the forge to slowly cool after he was finished, worried that a quick quench or the impact of iron tongs on a hot pot might break them. He would mess around with the pots in the morning, it was well into evening and time for bed.

As he drifted off he imagined customizable explosions, impervious armors, and literally anything better than bare wood to sleep on.

When he awoke he rolled over and headed straight for his forge to check on the pots. He even skipped stretches.

The pots were now a spectrum of powdery redish brown and felt solidly ceramic. They chimed slightly when he tapped one with a fingernail. There wasn't much of a visual difference between the clay-dirt and clay-dirt-ash mixtures once they were fired, a slightly darker shade, almost indistinguishable. He would have to pay attention to see if one or the other could hold mana better though.

He set his next two pots in the fire and slowly warmed the forge while he worked on inscribing the finished pots. He put a pair of mana gathering circles on both, one for fire, one for air. He wasn't confident that the pots in the forge were done by the time he finished so he also inscribed circles on the wood cubes he had cut the night before.

On the first he put a fire and air circle, on the second he put fire, air and earth, on the third he put fire, air and water. He wasn't sure what effects water or earth mana would have, but he hoped they would allow the cubes to hold more mana before igniting and therefore create a potentially more potent explosion when they finally went off.

When he finished those he moved on to his metal balls. It was a little before noon now, and he was pretty sure the pots would be fine, but he figured he might as well finish up inscription while he was already on a roll.

He inscribed one with an air and fire circle, and the other with air, fire and earth. The rocklike texture the metal took on with his previous earth infusions had looked a little brittle, which was basically what he was looking for here, exploding into shards would make the metal balls easily the most dangerous of the set.

It didn't take him too much longer to find workable stones and inscribe circles into those as well. He created two, one with an air and fire circle, the other with air, fire and earth circles.

[Rune Inscription lvl 4-5]

[Mana Inscription lvl 5-6]

Alright. Alright alright alright, bombs, done.

Mana infusion cord, done.

Grenade prototypes, done.

Now where to set these off?

Clearing just outside of the crevice is probably the best bet. Cliff walls are probably as good as it gets when it comes to defenses. I'll probably want to beef up the barrier wall a little too, just in case.

First things first then I guess.

He headed over to his wood barrier and carved a earth mana gathering circle into it. He pushed mana into it until he had to seriously strain to move it back and forth across the opening to the crevice. The planks had all melded together into a single lump and it now had a dark stony texture to it.

Now it's time for the fun part. Wood first.

He grabbed the first of his wooden cubes and headed a little ways from the entrance to his crevice, trailing his mana conductive rope along behind him. When he reached the end he laid down the wood cube, coiled the rope around it slightly, so that it was touching each of the mana circles, and headed back to safety. Once within the crevice he shoved the wood wall mostly closed, leaving only a small gap for the rope to stick through. He sat back against the wall and began pumping mana into the circle. It would have to be evenly distributed along the circles as he wouldn't be able to do fine control through the rope.

Ten.…

Twenty….

Thirty-

He heard a muffled *ffphwump* from behind him and stopped pushing mana through the rope. He peeked through the crack and saw a little scorch mark on the dirt, and some small embers littering the area close by it. None had made if more than ten feet from where the scorch mark was. He headed out to inspect the blackened end of his rope and put out the little fires.

Seems like thirty mana is the limit for this setup. Wall worked great, explosion worked out. Still need to work on a way to set it off remotely but it's good to have a baseline.

The rope had lost a few inches and was burnt up pretty good for a couple feet after, but most of the damage was surface level. It could still transport mana just fine. He grabbed his second wood cube and set it out in the same configuration. Fire-Air-Earth this time.

He retreated to behind his wall and began infusing it once again.

Ten..

Twenty.

Thirty…

Forty…

Fifty…

At fifty five it exploded with a crack almost as loud as the tree coming down and the sound of falling hail. He could feel a number of tiny thumps from the wall his back rested on. He peeked around the corner and saw the scorched earth now had a small divot in the center. Little shards of dark grey wood littered the ground all around the clearing. There were no fires this time though. Exploring the test site he found little shards embedded into trees as far as fifteen feet away, but anywhere further than that they just rested at the base of the trees, bent or broken by the impact.

Very fun, not enough to damage the wall, definitely enough to kill a goblin at close range. I'd probably be in serious trouble as well.

He set out the next cube, air-fire-water. He hadn't lost any length on the rope this time so he coiled it and returned to his protection once again.

It took a full seventy mana to set this cube off. He heard a crack followed by a hiss and was slightly alarmed when he peeked out of the crack and felt hot, wet air flowing through. The rope had been flung away and there was no sign of the cube, but otherwise the area looked undisturbed. When he strode out to investigate further the air felt damp and warm, and everything around was a little wetter than it had been before.

Did that create a steam explosion then? Makes sense, heat plus water makes steam. Hard to tell how useful it will be though, most of it dissipated instantly. Judging by pure mana alone its probably at least as effective as the first cube. Less chance of a forest fire as well.

Okay, next up, stones?

He grabbed the air-fire stone and laid it out with the same setup. Then returned to his cover and began powering it up.

Ten..

Twenty..

Thirty..

What was that?

He could hear voices. It sounded similar to the goblin language, the voices were deeper though, muffled.

Fourty..

Shit, Should I stop, or?

He peeked out the crack to see five of those tall, leathery skinned humanoids he saw on one of his first nights here. They were wearing a mix of leather and metal armor, and all were armed with short rectangular swords and bows on their backs. They were clustered around the rock and glancing from it to his shelter. One looked up and pointed at him, face clearly visible in the crack.

[Hobgoblin Level 38]

Shit, oh shit oh shit oh shit. Those are the things that were keeping humans captive before. Definitely not friendly, shit.

He pumped mana down the cord as quick as he could, and swung back around to put his back against the wall.

Fifty..

Sixty.

A ringing crack sounded out and heavy thuds impacted the wall behind him. He could hear them pinging off of the cliffside around him and thudding into the nearby trees.

He could also hear the hobgoblins shouting out to each other. Screaming with rage. They sounded weakened, and confused, but there were enough of them still shouting to take him out. He wasn't wearing his armor or anything.

He rushed to grab his next prototype, the stone with air-fire-earth inscribed. He began charging it as he rushed back to his wall, gathered up his rope and began to coil it around the stone, tying it tight and pouring mana in all the while.

Fourty….

He peeked through the crack again and saw a significant divot in the earth, some of the hobs were laid out on their asses, slowly climbing to their feet bleeding from a dozen small wounds. One was standing already, bleeding but in better shape than the rest. He was ignoring the complaints from the hobs under him and was walking cautiously towards Andrew's hiding place, sword drawn.

Sixty Five…

He threw the stone over the wall, making sure the rope coiled through the gap to avoid it swinging back. He grabbed the end with one hand and continued to push mana in even as he heard the crunch of boots speed up towards him.

Eighty

The explosion was much louder this time. He could feel the entire wall behind him vibrate, before shaking with a number of smaller impacts. He felt a sharp pain in his back accompany one of the impacts and jerked himself away from the board to find a shard of stone sticking halfway through the wall, wet with blood. There were a number of little shards imbedded through his wood wall all across the surface.

He could still hear voices. They were quieter now, less words, more shouts or moans. He ran to his camp and grabbed his spear and hammer. No time for armor now. He could feel a trickle of blood running down his back and pooling briefly at the waist of his pants.

He charged back over to the wall and peeked through to see they were all on the ground now. The one that had been heading his direction before was face down, shifting slightly. It's back was shredded, bits of leather all that was left of its armor, coated in shards of rock sticking from its back. It looked barely alive, arms pushing weakly against the dirt below it in a vain attempt to regain its feet. The ones closer to the explosion were worse off. Pierced by splinters of stone and rolled a few feet back by the explosion. Some were twitching slightly and making noise, but none looked like they could put up a fight.

He scanned the area around as best he could before pushing the wall open just enough for him to slip out. The rope was ruined. The end he tied around the rock missing entirely. It was burnt at the tip and now probably closer to ten feet than the original thirty.

Might as well finish the job. Shit. This sucks.

He took his spear and finished off each of the hobgoblins on the ground. He could feel a rush of strength and a warm glow from the injury on his back as he did.

Probably just leveled a few times. I'll check the log when I know I'm safe though. Too much to look at, too distracting. Why are they here now?

He returned to his camp, pushed the wall shut and began putting on his armor at a rapid pace. He was glad he had spent so much time practicing with it before. It only took him a handful of minutes to get it all secured and he was pushing the wall away once again and heading out. He took a second to lay the metal binding circle in front of the entrance to his crevice, and empowered it before leaving. At least it would be protected for a little while if a lone hobgoblin managed to find their way to it.

He headed off through the forest as quietly as he could. Keeping an eye out and around. The last caravan he saw had six hobgoblins, he already killed five here. Hopefully there wouldn't be many more around. Hopefully he got them all already.

Are they even from the caravan? They looked like the same type. What if they were hiding out with those goblins I slaughtered the other day? Their equipment is so much more advanced though. Did they hear me testing explosives earlier? Not exactly subtle. Idiot.

It was a long walk to the roadside where he hoped to find an empty caravan and he couldn't resist checking the level notifications he had ignored earlier. Anything to distract him from the reality of walking through the forest to kill more humanlike monsters.

[Hobgoblin level 32 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Hobgoblin Level 30 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Hobgoblin Level 36 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Hobgoblin Level 34 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Hobgoblin Level 38 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

[Scavenger leveled up]

Way more than I gained killing more than triple the amount of goblins. Level gaps seem to make a big difference. Feels a little more justified this time. They were coming to my home after all, and if these are the same guys then they weren't interested in being friends. I'll have to check out scavenger skill options soon, I'm sure I've earned another by now, but I don’t want to get that distracted yet.

He made his way through the forest until he reached his old camp. He thought it looked a little more messed up than when he left, but he couldn't be sure. He hadn't exactly tided up when he left the first time. He was a ways away from the incident now and seriously hoping there were none left. He made his way to the nearby tree line and was disappointed to see the two hobgoblins standing by the wagon. Two more humans still chained to its back.

They were looking his direction but hadn't seen him yet.

Two, probably better trained and equipped than I am. If I throw an explosive rock anywhere near there those people are dead. They have no armor and I have to assume are nowhere near as sturdy as the hobgoblins I dealt with before. Shit. Okay.

He ducked back around the tree and found a clear stretch of dirt near his old burrow. He quickly carved out a binding circle which he empowered. Then he carved another. It only took him twenty minutes to get both running.

When he returned to the tree line he could see one of the hobs was already walking his way up the hill, apparently tired of waiting for those who had left the caravan to investigate.

Andrew grabbed a nearby stone and hucked it at the hobgoblin. It fell short but certainly got its attention. The one on the hill began running towards him while the one behind began hiking up the hill at a decent pace. Andrew grabbed another stone and this time managed to wing the hobgoblin in the shoulder. It didn't seem to mind too much.

[Hobgoblin Level 36]

Okay, okay, here we go.

He retreated back from his tree towards the circles he drew. The hobgoblin reached the tree line and was closing on him quickly, squarish sword drawn and shouting at him in an unfamiliar tongue. He backed around the circle and watched with satisfaction as the Hob took the opportunity to close distance and stepped right into it. Freezing briefly before slowly starting to move within. Faster than a goblin, but not by much.

The second one arrived and sprinted towards him, huffing from climbing the hill. Andrew backed up again but this one spotted his frozen friend, and the circle glowing at his feet. He also saw the one between him and Andrew and slowly started circling it with a sneer.

Shit, well, had to happen eventually.

Okay, I can do this.

He thrust his spear out but the hobgoblin caught it on his sword and pushed it away. Andrew stumbled back and raised his shield to block it's next swing. The force of the blow surprised him and he was almost spun around from the force of it. He lost his grip on the spear in the process and scrambled to pull out his hammer instead. Trying to back around in the direction of the binding circle again. The hobgoblin followed, pressing its advantage and swinging aggressively, he didn't have the speed to attempt a counter attack, hell he could barely keep his footing straight among the roots and brush of the forest below.

He had to jump and dodge and block as he scrambled backward to avoid the hobgoblin's swings, he could feel his arm throbbing from where he blocked with his shield and each time he blocked with it he felt less confident in his ability to maintain his footing the next time.

When he was close to the circle again he took a risk. He ripped the heat-binding plates from his belt and threw them in a mass towards the hobgoblin. It flinched back from the hail of metal and raised its arms to defend itself. Andrew dove low towards it and grabbed it around the waist. Using all his strength the picked it up off it's feet and tackled it sideways towards the circle.

They both fell in.

He felt the hobgoblin stiffen up a moment before he did. It felt like he was swimming in the clay he was working with just last night. Thick and binding. He couldn't move and was almost floating above the circle, arms still wrapped around the hobgoblin below.

Well shit. Not the best, not the worst. But also, maybe the worst. If I wait until this one wears off, the first one I trapped will probably already be out. And I can't beat even one of them in a fair fight. Gotta get out of this.

How do these work anyways? They take a bunch of mana and do…. What? Solidify the air? The symbols don't look related to the air runes though.

Okay focus.

Solutions.

Mana, what can I do with that.

He started pulsing mana through his body. Not trying to release it into his hammer or the goblin. Just, flowing it through himself. He sped the pulses up. Increasing the speed as much as he could. He could feel himself moving ever so slightly faster in the circle, doing his best to pull his arms away from the hobgoblin.

He tried to push the mana out from himself. Not through his hands, but through his skin. All of his skin. With every pulse he just pushed out. With every pulse of mana outwards he could feel himself moving a little easier, and a little easier. He slowly dragged himself up and away from the hobgoblin, out of the circle. It took him too long, and it felt like a dozen minutes had passed, though it was probably less than one.

[Mana Control lvl 5-6]

He sent mana into the circle binding that hobgoblin, then rushed to do the same to the binding around the other.

Expelling mana lets me move through the binding circle. Good to know, though it means other creatures can probably figure it out too. Gotta watch out for that. Stay in the moment, I can mess around with circles later.

He grabbed his spear and went to work stabbing at the bound hobgoblins. It felt as cheap as it always did, but he wasn't about to complain after trying to face one down just one a minute ago. He had been confident in his fighting skills but that hobgoblin had made it clear he was nowhere near 'skilled'.

It was over before he had to recharge the circle again.

[Hobgoblin Level 36 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Hobgoblin Level 32 defeated. For defeating an opponent above your level you gain additional experience]

[Scavenger leveled up]

Okay. Alright. Done. Survived. Hobgoblin caravan officially down.

Holy shit though. Didn't think I'd be able to take one of them on anytime soon.

I mean granted, I got incredibly lucky blowing most of them up before we even fought but still. Holy shit.

Focus, Focus. Congratulate yourself later. There are still people tied up to that wagon down there.

He headed past the tree line and down the hill. Armor clinking with spear in hand.