Completely unaware of what kind of fiasco he created, Kael pushed himself for a full 6 hours before slowing to a walk. Fuck, carrying this hammer is rough. Holding the hammer in front of him as he walked through the forest, he stroked the beautiful hammer. Thinking of how happy everyone would be again when he broke through brought a smile to his face.

Near nightfall, he realized he overlooked a few things. Next time I have to remember snacks, a blanket, a tent, cutlery, and a freaking knife! Going out to hunt, he made the mistake of using the flat end of his hammer. The first thing he ran into was a normal deer. Smacking it with his hammer left him nothing but a pancake of gross. Quickly leaving the area due to the stench of blood, he soon found his second target. The same thing he helped his father kill so long ago.

Charging straight at it, he used the spike side of his hammer during his swing. Whistling through the air, it cleaved the creatures entire head off like it was nothing. Kael thought, Assuming a major league batter has a strength of about 7 to 8 and their swing is an average of 80mph. My strength is 8 times theirs, so 1600 pounds is hitting at 640 miles per hour. That’s like getting hit by a cow that was thrown out of a jet fighter. Ouch.

Using the back of his hammer to chop off a leg, Kael left the rest of the carcass as he dashed further into the forest. Making camp and skewering the leg with a branch, Kael quickly had a moose leg kabob going. He was really happy he remembered to grab flint and steel, otherwise, he would be rubbing wood together for a fire forever. After the leg was roasted, he was also super happy with his talents again. The 50% taste bonus and the auto cook timer in his head were amazing. Unfortunately, it was considered a failed creation and gave no experience. After eating, he leaned up against the tree and fell asleep.

Waking up in the morning, he was covered in random bugs. Remembering his father saying he should sleep in the trees, he felt like a dumbass. Deciding he needed to make knife before he could take care of anything else, he started looking around for a tree of hardwood. Finding one, he used the back of his hammer to lop off a branch. He Chopped the branch into four, foot and a half long sections. Looking down at the wood Kael thought, I guess my lack of camping experience is biting me in the ass now. How the hell am I going to make a knife?

I guess I will just power through it. Putting his hammer on the ground, face down, he sat down and wrapped his legs around it. Grabbing the first chunk of wood he began shaving it with the bladed part of the hammer. Being a cultivator made it much easier than he thought. His massive strength with the sharpness of the blade cut through the wood like butter. He still screwed up and broke his first attempt. The second attempt was better but still not functional. On his third attempt, he heard.

Congratulations, you have taken your first step into Carpentry.

Soul has unlocked true control over talents, all talents have been merged into one.

Soul has not allocated a percentage to be split into talent points, all points given to the artisan skill, Carpentry.

Congratulations on stepping onto the path of a carpenter, make persistent efforts! Soul’s current standing is Mortal Rank 1, (10/100).

Congratulations you have created a new object: Wooden Knife. Mortal tier carpentry production.

Item creation, initial durability of 10. Bonus 50% materials. No durability wastage, remaining durability of 10(+50%=15).

Base sharpness of 10(+50% due to talents =15) soul granted 10 experience to the carpentry profession.

Well, I never even considered carpentry. Maybe it will help out later, I should try to get a crash course from someone at some point.

Finishing off the last chunk of wood for another impressive 10 experience, he decided to bake them in an attempt to harden the wood. Making a small fire and reducing it to coals, he inserted the two blades into the coals for a few minutes. Taking them out to sharpen them by grinding them against a rock, it seemed to work ok. He ended up repeating the process a few times. Eventually, they were dried out, and the blades seemed much harder and were pretty sharp.

Heading out to look for some large animals that he could skin to make a canvas he was sorely disappointed. Remembering his father's teachings about the forest, he realized he was in a transition space between two ecologies. The perk to areas like this was that they were fairly safe. The con was that it meant he was most likely heading into an area with stronger beasts.

Traveling about 20 miles, the trees began to get larger and the canopy became denser. A little concerned, Kael slowed down to a walk as he continued into the depths of the forest. About 30 minutes later he found some huge prints. Each print was about the size of his chest and had 5 claw marks extending from it. Even though the ground was not extremely hard, it was impressive that the prints were about 6 inches deep.

Carefully following them for a few minutes Kael began to hear the sounds of a river. Being as sneaky as he could be, about 5 minutes later the tree line opened up to show a river. The river did not seem to be flowing too fast, but with its width of at least 40 feet, Kael wasn’t so sure how safe it was. Looking around, he saw what he initially thought was a small dirt hill and realized it was a bear.

Staring at it he thought, That’s not a bear, that is a prehistoric beast. Shit, that thing has bone protrusions on its elbows and fucking boar tusks. While pondering if he should run away or not the beast stood up, looked directly at him and gave a bellowing roar.

With his ears ringing, the only thing he could think of was to climb the tree. Scurrying up it as fast as possible, he got about 40 feet off the ground before the bear got there. Taking his hammer off the back of his pack where he liked to keep it, he stared down at the beast. Still thinking if it was worth it or not to fight it, the bear looked up at him and he swore it snorted.

The beast pulled its arm back and gave the tree a smack that tore out about a quarter of the 6-foot diameter. Hearing the tree crack, Kael gritted his teeth and prepared to jump. Waiting for the bear to hit the tree again, he jumped towards the back of the bear just as it took its swing. Turning 180 degrees as he fell so he was now facing the same direction of the beast, he swung his hammer down with all his strength. The hammer struck the base of the skull as Kael landed on it’s back. The vibrations from the strike almost ripped the hammer out of his hands. Thanks, Raen!

The strike did not cause any visible damage to the bear, but it certainly pissed it off. It never thought its afternoon snack could pack that much of a punch. Roaring out in anger again it sent Kael flying with a quick toss of its head. Flipping in the air to right himself, Kael landed in a crouch with his left hand balancing him on the ground. After sliding back for a few feet he came to a stop. Deciding he needed to slow this thing down, he dashed towards its rear leg.

As he ran past the rear leg he jumped into the air and spun around from his right. Swinging the blade like spike at the beast it ripped a large gash just below its knee as he flew past. The next few minutes would have been funny if he wasn’t the one being chased. Running in circles around the bear he continually smashed and sliced at its rear legs. From a distance, it would have looked like the huge creature was chasing its stubby little tail.

All good things come to an end. The bear eventually was really annoyed that its size stopped it from eating the thing chipping away at its legs. Coming to an abrupt stop before standing up. This maneuver landed Kael directly in front of it. The bear looked down at him to lock his position, then dropped its entire body weight into a vicious diagonal swipe of its claws.

Seeing impending doom, Kael sprinted into the bear. Swinging his hammer behind him, then down and around to the front like a cartoon style wind up, he jumped in mid-swing to ensure his ballbuster would reach its intended target. Flying through the small area between its legs was the first time he was happy he still had a child's body. The bear dropped almost simultaneously with Kael flying between its legs. As it landed on all fours, Kael spun, turning his upward strike into an arching overhead strike. With the new position of the bear, the spike directly exploded its chrysanthemum. The incredibly sharp blade continued the hammer on its path, ripping it right back out of the crotch area.

With a wail of pain, the bear instinctively kicked back with its leg, connecting with Kael and sending him hurtling through the air into a tree. After its kick, the creature took off into the depths of the forest roaring in pain.

Bouncing off the tree, Kael coughed up a mouthful of blood. Rotating his torso back and forth he could feel he cracked some ribs. Looking down at his chest, he peeled his shirt away and looked down into the neck of his shirt. Seeing the five puncture wounds in the middle of his chest, he was a little worried. Hoping his powders were still wrapped after that impact, he dropped his pack and scrambled through the inside of it. Pulling out a small vial of a potion and two sets of powders, he downed one powder, washed it down with the potion, and rubbed the other powder on his wounds.

Taking 2 vials of a reddish potion out of his pack, he put them in a little pack on his waistline before slinging his pack back on. Walking over to get his hammer, he picked it up and began walking in the direction the blood trail from the bear led.

About 10 minutes later he looked down at his chest to find the wounds had closed. Twisting his torso around he thought, This is going to hurt for a few days. Reassured his wound was not going to reopen, he picked up his speed to that of a light jog. After about a half hour, a steep mountain wall suddenly showed up through the trees. Following the trail around the base of the mountain for another 20 minutes, he came to a stop as he saw a huge cave ahead.

Taking his pack off, he put it up in some low hanging tree branches. Taking a vial out of his waist pouch, he drank the minor phoenix flight potion on the off chance he needed the speed. Gripping his hammer, he slid up to the side of the cave entrance.