As the morning slowly passed and noon approached Nik continuously labored on, completing the bloomery. The early stages of construction had been a breeze; The only issues were the slowly spreading base which was stopped early on, an annoyingly long way towards procuring clay, and if he was honest a lack of foresight while building. The latter had come around and kicked him frequently in his now a lot more durable back. The real issue was the taper he had decided to include in the build to better trap the heat. Right now the clay structure was only being held together by a whole lot of sticks and leaves that Nik had clumsily arranged to create a working scaffolding. To Nik, it felt as though he had spent too many hours plaguing himself to create a support structure that in reality had only taken an additional 30 minutes.

The bloomery was basically finished. All that it needed was to properly dry and then it should be usable. The only issue with that idea was that Nik had used plant matter as scaffolding, which would burn up faster than the time it took for the bloomery to properly harden. Unsure about the properties of clay he decided to hold off on artificially decreasing the drying time to complete some other projects.

Grabbing an assortment of berries and nuts to snack on, Nik moved into the cave where he had stored some of the reeds he had gathered from the lake. Its identification tag had changed over the last couple of days working with it. Originally it had only shown the name and said it was a grass. Now it showed something a bit more involved.

Faun Poaceae - A partially hollow, flexible and sturdy grass.

This, in Nik’s opinion, was the first time the tag had lied to him. The Faun Poaceae wasn’t a grass, it was something else, at least it deserved to be called a reed, or something else. Having been a little too mad at the system already he did not let that perturb him, besides setting himself a mental reminder to not completely trust the system and he moved on to accomplish the first of his many goals for the day.

During his contemplations on how to best manage his future growth, he had discovered another large oversight. He had already prepared the stuff he thought he needed with the exception of bellows when he realized that he had nothing to grasp any hot metal with. He had tinkered around with some ideas of how to correct that issue, sticks had not done the trick and none of his other contraptions like a woven ladle would work due to the high heat. He had to somehow make tongs but real ones were made from metal to which he hadn’t had any access yet.

His newest idea was to fashion some from the faun poaceae. Halving the ends would result in a wider surface area for gripping metal, the concave structure adding to that.

“Identify said sturdy right, so maybe that means general sturdiness, not just mechanical sturdiness,” he thought. Though it was a far-fetched hope it was the best idea he had in the last few hours.

Having grabbed one of the flintstones he had collected over the days Nik started cutting up one of the sturdiest and biggest reeds. At first, he cut away some of the stem in the middle so that the hollow inside of the fantasy bamboo was exposed. After removing the elliptical cutout in the middle he continued with the formation of the tongs themself. Slowly and steadily he scratched his desired outline onto the exterior to be as straight as possible. Once he was satisfied with the lines he moved on to carve the marked lines out. His fingers hurt after a while, the small sharp flintstones not only scratching the poaceae but also his skin, causing him to lose a few health points.

Next, he moved around looking for a stone fulfilling his specifications. Quickly he found a stone that had a cylindrical shape and laid that into the middle cut-out.

Holding the stone in place the poaceae slowly deformed and subsequently became easier to warp. Not happy yet with the unwieldiness of the construct Nik gathered a few of the creeper plant vines he had gathered the day before and wound them around the Tongs and tucked them under themselves, reducing the angle of mobility but making it wieldier.

The last step involved cutting up a tree and spreading the resin over the vines to work as a sort of glue to adhere the vines to each other and the reed.

You have created |Flawed Poor Faun Poaceae Tongs| - 5 experience points gained

Having successfully created his first pair of Tongs he moved on to create three more following the same schematic to fit several different sizes that the bloom could have once it left the bloomery.

You have created |Flawed Poor Faun Poaceae Tongs| - 5 experience points gained

You have created |Flawed Poor Faun Poaceae Tongs| - 5 experience points gained

You have created |Basic Poor Faun Poaceae Tongs| - 6 experience points gained

The last had somehow improved in quality though it was still poor. He gathered that from the increase in experience and that “Basic” just sounded a lot better than “Flawed”. Together with his frequent coal refining, he had gained a small but solid amount of experience in the last couple of days without having to resort to violence, he mused happily.

Being done with the first task he had set himself besides finishing the bloomery, he took a small break and enjoyed the afternoon sun on his face. His slightly sweating body had grown a bit darker over the last couple of days, making Nik less worried about the frequent issues he had with sunburns in the past.

Enjoying the rays of sun caress his face and undressed torso he worried about the future.

“There is so much stuff I will need to pay attention to out here. Will the weather change and are there seasons here? What should I do if the big flying thing comes back here? I really should have some backup plans, but I guess I will work on those, once my primary plans are done,” musing further about the future and completely ignoring his past he got up again stretched a bit, and sat down in front of the entrance to the small cave. “I really should make a pickaxe and improve upon it a bit. It has the potential to be better than my tree, especially for crafting. I could build a nice underground smithing area, though ventilation would probably become an issue.”

For a quick second, he considered whether he should start the construction of the bellows he had designed in his mind but decided to wait further on that front. What he really wanted to do was work some more on magic. Particularly one of his self-taught tricks. He filled the smallest basket with a combination of stamina and mana replenishing berries and considered his next steps.

He had managed to expel minor amounts of mana through his body a few days back and wanted to progress in that line of thought. It had hurt him somewhat back then, but his energy manipulation had grown a bit, maybe enough to reduce the strain on his body.

As he had discerned some time ago that higher stress and complexity increased skill growth he began taking longer steps, slowly increasing his pace, and started running. Not sure why but he had started to feel comfortable running now. It was so much easier than in his old life, and maybe due to that success, his body seemed to release serotonin frequently.

Once he had picked up a nice pace he followed the path towards the lake and began his lap from the cave to the lake to the charcoal pit between the mountains. While taking care to not trip over fauna and other obstacles he slowly cast his [Internal Energy Sight] to familiarize himself once again with his internal energies.

Once he had finished the first lap he began using [Haste] in combination with [Running] and [Internal Energy Sight], occasionally snacking on the berries he carried on him. On the third lap, once he had gotten the hang of the previous combination, he added [Internal Energy Manipulation].

Slowly he began expelling mana where he had stopped the last time. There was no pain associated with the experience and the mana left his body at around one point per 10 seconds. Steadily he began increasing the area of mana expulsion. It felt as though thousands of small needles were poking his arm from the inside but he moved on, the slight stress from the running keeping him distracted. Quickly he added the second arm and moved along towards the shoulders. His Healthpoints had started to drop away but Nik didn’t care, somehow the feeling was oddly pleasant. It hurt but in a good way, it felt freeing as though he was finally able to breathe properly, as though some constrictions around his skin had been removed.

Nik stopped once his health points had dropped to half. It had only taken him 15 minutes to reach that point and he was hoping to get another run in today. He had managed to cover around 70% of his body surface area, leaving his legs, private zone, and head for the next round.

He decided that he would once again start with the mana expulsion once he reached 70% of his health points. Meanwhile, he might try to do some proper mana expelling and maybe get a skill for that or even something like [External Mana Manipulation].

Before that he went off on a quick tangent, having checked on the status of the bloomery which had been satisfying. It wasn’t completely dried, though most of the exterior seemed to be. The issue with it sinking down and widening had successfully been circumvented. He quickly gathered some clay and patched up the cracks that had resulted from the drying process.

Elated by that, he thought that he should delay on the mana skill for a bit and take a mental break. To make his future easier he would look for another component he would need for efficient metal heating and working.

Looking around the forest he didn’t find what he was looking for. The body of the bellows would ideally be made from a tree with a largeish diameter. To save time he wanted to use a tree that had naturally died but the only two he found that were large enough to fulfill his specifications. Sadly both were too massive and thus would require a lot more work and effort to be invested into them than he was willing to give.

Disappointed, he went back and sat down, focusing inwards once again, enticing his mana to follow his commands without using the corresponding skill. While it was a lot easier to use [Internal Energy Manipulation] it, on the one hand, felt like cheating, on the other, it took some fun out of making and working magic. Sure if he wanted to make complex mana constructs like the skin reinforcement he had created developed in combination with [Energy Veil] it was extremely useful, but simple stuff like moving around mana felt too easy.

As he began with his training he tried multiple mindsets to move the mana. What finally worked was to entice the mana with his own curiosity of what lies beyond. To discover the world and its wonders. It worked. Somewhat… The mana left his body just like before, though a lot faster than what he had managed while using the skill, something that surprised him. A quick glance towards his status showed him a two-level increase of [Internal Energy Control] from this simple action.

“Woow, what the hell,” he mumbled, shocked. “That is almost unprecedented, right? So getting my mana to move faster gains me so much?”

Grinning, he continued working on gaining an external spell, though unsuccessfully. The speed with which the mana left his body made him unable to exert his will or magic onto it. It was as if leaving his body made everything he previously exerted on the mana undone. As though his skin was a filter that removed any information or instructions he gave the mana.

As his health had reached 90% he sighed and stopped. Standing up he stretched once again, having been seated for several hours, and moved to fill up his berry basket to make a couple of laps and to finish expelling mana throughout his whole body.

This time he got into the rhythm quickly and started expelling mana all over his legs and nether regions. Sighing, he stopped at the lake and looked into the water. The hairs on the back of his hands had not grown back in the two days he left his hand to recuperate. He didn’t know if it ever would. Shaving had always resulted in him having visible hairs after a day or two, maybe this was more akin to waxing, though the feeling it gave him was that the process was something more permanent.

In conflict with himself, he stared out onto the lake, his gaze frequently catching a glimpse of his mirror image. He didn’t have a great hairstyle nor particularly cared for how his hair looked, only its existence and the fact that it was a full and dense head hair mattered.

In a decisive move, he pushed mana out throughout his face, burning off his eyelashes, eyebrows, and beard. He hesitated further. His face already looked like a barren landscape. Just like his mother had looked when she had gotten her cancer treatment. He didn’t want to delve further into that direction, he wanted to forget those memories.

He also wanted [Expel Mana]. Quickly and looking up at the sky he pushed with energy manipulation through his scalp and felt his hair lightly touch upon his shoulder. With a few tears in his eyes, he stared into the distance behind the hairs that drifted away in the gentle wind. Not having received a skill he pushed mana out throughout his entire body. His disappointment growing by the second for not receiving the option to pick a new skill.

His mana drained completely in just a few seconds and he got a little dizzy. Staring beaten into the distance.

Disgruntled, he made his way to his sleeping net and climbed up, contemplating the loss of his hair.

During the night he awoke shocked to realize something had changed about him. His health was full now and a notification was pending in his mind.

Greater Deed Unlocked:

[Mana Pores]: You have restructured your skin to allow mana flow.

New Trait developed:

[Mana Pores]: Your body can now expel mana at a greater speed than before without hurting you. Familiarity with the Trait increases efficiency.

Nik Thems: {(Evolving) Extraterrestrial Human} Level up! You have accomplished the Greater Deed [Mana Pores]. 14 Stat points have been awarded. One General Skill Slot unlocked.

“Fuck yes! At least something,” he exclaimed, resulting in a strong reaction from the shrubbery below him. After some amount of waiting and carefully observing his surroundings with a big smile on his face he relaxed.

This reminded him, he hadn’t distributed the stats from the last time. He desperately wanted to spend them on strength as he had seen the highest effect there, additionally, it was already being boosted by [Lesser Intrinsic Strength]. However, Wisdom was really interesting too, and investing there would reduce the frequency with which he had to take breaks and snack. The same could be said for Willpower, especially since he had not invested anything there yet.

Maybe it would be smarter to invest in Willpower instead of spending points on Wisdom, as a high enough mana regeneration would be the same as effectively having more mana.

“What a shitshow. I have literally no idea of what I am doing out here! Can’t there be a guide, a nice grandpa that tells me how everything works and what the most important stuff is,” he ranted, not having made up his mind?^.

Nik looked around patiently but no grandpa appeared.