“There are several containers ready to be fired,” Haiko said, breaking the silence between them. “I’m still working out the kinks in the different material, and I am unsure if it will reliably survive the drying phase.”

“Why is that?” August wondered.

“It needs to be heated uniformly, or else cracks can form in the material,” Haiko said, “It’s caused by the amount of water present and heat being applied unevenly to the piece.”

“I suppose you’re used to using something more advanced than what we managed to pull together,” August said in understanding. “We’ll just have to work with what we have for now.”

“Yes,” Haiko said. “In the meantime, would you like me to make some clay tablets to use for engraving runes?”

He’d actually forgotten about that, between all the things that had happened since he’d asked.

“I—yes, please,” August said, dropping the core of his sad apple back into his inventory. “Trying to get a battery up and running should be a priority. Do I have to engrave them before they go into the fire?”

“Yes, it’s much easier to work with wet clay than to attempt it afterwards,” Haiko said, “How many would you like?”

“Ten, at least,” August said, “If that’s too much work, I’m fine with making them myself if you show me how.”

“I can handle that many,” Haiko said before tilting her head. “There should be enough surface area to engrave as many runes as you want on a single one.”

“Thank you,” August said.

He dumped his mana into another [Tame] and watched the progress bar increase again—[23/80]. The black material continued its growth around the cube, with several nodes protruding up out of the surface in little bumps that would later become the cords of black he’d seen before.

“This is going to take way too long, and there’s no point in sitting around, waiting for my mana to come back,” August sighed, working his way to his feet. “There’s a bunch of stuff I want to get done today—may as well get started now.”

Haiko followed him up, and the complicated dance of her six arms pulled at his mind as she retrieved the rest of the Sad Apples. He stepped through the door and away from the hut, the sensory overload falling away as he crossed the invisible threshold. Haiko emerged, only a few steps behind him and just skirting the edge of his range.

“Then I shall find something to busy myself with; the tablets, I suppose,” Haiko said, eyeing the other hut for a moment. “Although perhaps I will wake the others first—I’m sure Kalter will be terribly shocked to hear about her unfortunate snoring.”

“I was awake for most of the night,” August said, blinking. “I didn’t hear any snoring.”

“Neither did I,” Haiko admitted with a smile.

August blew a breath out of his nose in amusement as she stooped down and vanished into the hut. He turned, taking a wide berth around the entrance, and started towards the furnace. Ladybug lept forward to land by his side and then forward again, overshooting him. The monster landed on one foot and spun to a stop in front of him with a little flourish.

“Showing off, are you?” August said. “Don’t worry; once I’m done with your friend here, I’ll be sure to give you some mana as well.”

Ladybug let out a trill that was best interpreted as something like tortured excitement but let him pass without further obstruction. He dropped down in front of the furnace and checked it—the sticks on the inside that he’d used as bracing were burned down to basically nothing, except for the parts that were too high for the fire to reach.

The walls were hard to the touch on the inside of all four layers, and when he checked the outer edge, he found it was dry except for the outside of the fourth layer. He dumped the materials he needed for the next four layers on the ground. A lot of ash and charcoal was building up from the repeated fires at the bottom of both the furnace and the [Kiln].

The [Kiln Blueprint] actually had some auxiliary knowledge in it about the charcoal that was produced as a byproduct of its use. For one thing, it burned hotter than wood and did so without a flame—the ash, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as useful here.

August dug into the mess at the bottom of both fires and set about scooping out as much of the ash as he could while leaving the charcoal behind. He set about rebuilding both fires but left both of them unlit for now.

He checked on his mana and then dumped it into the cube—[32/80]. The cords of black were growing longer now, like jet black fingers reaching out into the air around the core. He considered it for a moment, wondering if he should tear them off or not.

“Sorry if you can feel this,” August murmured, coming to a decision. “I can’t risk you attacking me before you’ve been tamed.”

He removed his chisel and then started severing the protrusions—they started to melt away as soon as contact was lost with the cube. Once the cords were gone, he placed the cube back down beside him. August took up some of the clay and began setting up the fifth layer, working his way around the top of it until he reached the starting point again. Then he went back over it and tidied everything up as best he could—then he went ahead and relit the fire at the base of the furnace.

The sound of voices reached him, and when he glanced back over his shoulder, he found Rittan emerging from the hut like some great blue spider crawling out of a hole in the ground. The spider smiled at him and then started forward towards him with a wave.

“Morning, Rittan,” August said, pushing himself up to his feet.

“Good morning to you, as well,” Rittan said, clapping two of his hands together to punctuate the greeting. “Haiko mentioned that your sudden egress last night was due to the unforeseen nature of a skill? How are you feeling now?”

That hadn’t taken long to get around, not that he’d expected otherwise.

“I’m good so long as nobody gets within two meters of me,” August admitted.

“Most troubling,” Rittan said, glancing down at the ground between them as if measuring the distance. “I shall endeavour to keep to a distance.”

“One person at a time is probably fine,” August said, “More than that, and I’ll probably throw up on you.”

“A fate most dire,” Rittan agreed. “August, Kalter and I have almost finished collecting the trees for the undercover area—I suspect we will finish the task in a few short hours.”

“Nice work, man,” August said, glancing past him towards the rough pile of downed trees. “How are your axes going?”

“Both have broken twice over,” Rittan admitted, “I was hoping to enquire about the blueprint sharing you spoke of last night. But if I cannot approach you—”

August stepped forward, and Rittan burst into existence without his mind. He held his hand out towards the Voithos, and Rittan ducked forward to take it. August tilted his head for a moment, trying to figure out how to actually share the blueprint—something like a spark ran down his arm and into Rittan’s hand.

“Oh, I see,” Rittan said, surprised. “That does feel quite odd.”

“Like you took a class on something, but you don’t have any memory of actually going,” August admitted, “I’ll give you the other tools as well—god, does everything have to be uncomfortable with this?”

August finished by giving him the blueprints for the [A-Frame-Hut] and the [Greatbow] before retrieving his hand from the taller being’s grip.

“It is a strange feeling, the overlap between each of the blueprints,” Rittan said, “Almost like a puzzle or a few pages of a book.”

“A few pages are great and all,” August said, stepping back out of range once more. “But I kind of wish it would just give me the whole damn book to begin with.”

“Yes, that would make things much more simple, wouldn’t it?” Rittan smiled, “Thank you, August—for the extra ones, as well.”

“Don’t worry about it,” August said, nodding. “You got a better idea of what I was talking about with the undercover area now?”

“I think I do,” Rittan nodded. “We will need to mark out the exact area for the uprights—would you like to do that?”

“I’ll get started on it as soon as I’m done here,” August agreed. “Shouldn’t be too long.”

“Then I shall continue my own battle against the environment,” Rittan said, lifting a hand in parting. “Wish me luck, my friend.”

“Good luck, man,” August said, giving him a two-fingered salute.

Rittan spun on his heel, aiming for the pile of trees, and August returned his attention to the still burning furnace.