Melody's eyes creaked open from her dried tears. "Thirsty." She sat up and saw it was morning. She had little motivation to move.

Shaking her head, "No! I can't. I have to live. It was Elder and Mom's wish. I have to survive." Her body ached, but her wounds had closed. Melody took out one of her two Orry Mushrooms and devoured it to deal with the aching.

"I need tools and weapons." Melody climbed out of the hollow.

Three things I need. Food, water, and shelter. I have shelter taken care of, for now, a little bit of food left, but I need water. Melody began identifying various plants, trying to find one that might sate her thirst immediately.

"What the?" She looked at some berries in confusion.

Maka Berries. Poisonous. Safe for personal consumption due to immunity. A minor source of water.

"What?! Wait! I'm an idiot!" It was then that Melody remembered that among her requests with Nova, she was immune to curses, diseases, and, lastly, poison. Since her birth, her mind had been plagued with just trying to not get killed or raped, so it slipped her mind.

She picked some of the berries and tried them. Hmm. Not bad. They have a sweet but spicy flavor to them.

She ate a couple of handfuls until she felt her thirst was sated. I should probably find a better water source than this…

Searching around her, she found a few solid stones and began smacking on with another. After some time, she broke one into a two-sided blade-like shape. Melody's dagger was taken when she was banished from the clan, so she needed a new one.

"Now to hone the edge. I am glad I got this on the first try." She used the flattest stone she could find like a sharpening stone and sharpened the edge of her stone blade until she could shave the bark off a tree.

After getting the bark off, she split it into thin strips, braided them, and created a primitive twine.

She raised it up above her head like she saw in a video game. Got twine!

Using said twine, the stone blade, and a stick, she combined them into a stone knife with a safe handle.

Stone blade has evolved into… Stone Knife! She giggled at her thoughts and continued making more twine.

You can never have too much rope in survival! She made several clumps of basic twine and one primitive rope.

Got rope! She raised it above her head, wishing it would spin on its own instead of her swinging her arm around like a goofball.

"Let's see. I think my list of things to make first went; Knife, basic spear, hatchet, bow, and arrows." Melody thought out loud.

Searching around the area, she found a nice straight stick she could use as the spear. Using her knife, she sharpened the tip to a point.

Melody gave her spear several test stabs into the dead tree.

Ngh. It's going to be hard to hunt with this spear… I need to get a better tip. But for now, I need to make the hatchet for firewood. Melody planned.

Several hours had passed, so she stopped to eat and forage for some more food and berries.

Melody returned to her base camp and started making her hatchet.

Finding a somewhat thin stone, in the shape of a rectangle with one side slightly wider, she chose that as the ax head. Using her knife, she sawed into a thick branch enough to break it off. This would be the handle.

Melody looked up to see that the sun was beginning to set, so she headed to the tree hollow to finish making the hatchet.

She used her knife to hollow out a vertical hole in the thick branch to fit the hatchet blade. It took a few times of checking it to the ax head, but she eventually got the hole right.

Melody wrapped twine above and below the hole to prevent the branch from splitting when using the hatchet.

Looking outside, it looked to be deep into the night. Melody did not feel tired at all, so after eating a bit, she turned to hone the edge of the ax head.

It took a few hours of work, but Melody got the edge to the point she wanted it. Inserting the head into the stick, she secured the hatchet blade into the handle with twine, she raised it up triumphantly. Doo. Doo! DOO! DOOOO! You got Stone Hatchet!

Now that the hatchet was complete, Melody poked her head out and found that the sun was not rising yet, so she decided to rest for a bit until then.

Once the sun was high enough, Melody left her camp to gather tinder, wood, and stones. She wanted to have a campfire for cooking any food that she could get a hold of. It did not take her long to find her needed items and load them into her pack.

Returning to her camp, Melody picked a spot near her tree and dug a shallow hole. She arranged her stones around the circular pit and loaded it with tinder and twigs. The larger pieces of dry logs she found she stacked them near the hole.

"Okay. The campfire should be good, but I need to find some flint." Melody had the steel arrowheads, so all she needed was some flint, and the fire could be started.

Melody walked west through the forest while blending with air in search of more useful items. She foraged a few things.

Brown Cap: Mushroom of medium nutrition. Mild taste.

Blue Berries: Sweet berries. A minor source of water.

Hard Berries: Mildly sweet fruit that grows on trees.

Durgan Root: Decent source of protein. The outer layer has a pungent flavor. Advise removal before eating.

Melody was quite happy with what she had found. She was amused about the hard berries since they were basically apples. Melody did have a few close calls during her travels, but she stayed safe thanks to her blending skill.

Dread Wolf: Name: None. Age: 42. Danger Level: Deadly.

Dread Wolf (male). It is known for its soul-shaking howl that will cause prey to freeze in place or drive its foes to flee in terror. Jaws capable of crushing metal armor. Claws carry a minor paralytic poison. Weakness to pitfalls.

Stampede Boar. Danger Level: Medium.

Using six legs to achieve high charging speeds. Difficulty changing directions rapidly. The front side of the skull, snout, and tusks hardened to take significant impacts. Susceptible to piercing damage to sides and stomach.

Other than those two new predators, Melody only found another Dangala Leopard and Falda Lizard. However, the lizard got hunted by the Dread Wolf. She almost got exposed when the wolf howled, nearly breaking her eardrums, but thankfully she hid behind a tree and did not get seen. After the Dread Wolf left with its meal, Melody went to check the location that the Falda Lizard called home.

It was a cave that led underground. The thought of using the location as a base crossed Melody's mind, but she nixed it immediately. Melody had had enough of caves and would rather sleep in the jaws of the Dread Wolf than living in one again.

Melody crept down into the darkness, her spear at the ready-to-attack.

"Hmm?" Melody looked over at the wall and saw odd lines in the rock face. "Identify."

Copper Vein: A source of raw copper.

Melody's eyes widened, and a grin came to her face.

Copper! This is great! All I would need to make is a primitive furnace, and I could upgrade to copper tools! Melody thought with excitement.

She now had the issue of how to collect it. The stone wall seemed too solid for a stone tool to work.

Then, something glinted from deeper within. Bringing her spear to bear, she waited for something to move.

The glint showed again.

Cautiously, Melody moved toward the back of the cave. There, to her gleeful surprise, she found several good items.

Falda Lizard Eggs: Eggs of a Falda Lizard (Unfertilized). Poisonous, but due to poison resistance, consumable. High source of protein.

Human Remains: The skeleton of a human (male). The bones seem to be old and chewed on.

Tattered clothes: Old, torn, and dirty.

Old Leather Bag: Has several small holes, somewhat useable.

Old Leather Backpack: Item nearly destroyed

Old Iron Pickaxe: Wood is rotted, and half of the pick is rusted beyond repair. The other half is partially usable, likely to break soon.

Melody wanted to dance. There was enough cloth and backpack that she could use to repair some of the furs she was wearing or make new ones. The pickaxe head could be used to gather the copper from the wall. All she needed was to create a new shaft for it. Inside the satchel was her answer to her fire issue.

Flint and Steel: Steel is rusted and unusable, but flint is still intact.

Melody had the steel arrows, so she was set. She wrapped the remains in the backpack with the plan to bury them. Melody knew very little about the world and did not want to risk a skeleton monster shambling after her. She stuffed most of the items into her pack and loaded the eggs into the old leather bag.

Melody left the cave and made her way back to her camp. She had work to do, and the sun was beginning to set, and dark clouds were moving in.

It took her a couple of hours, but she made it back to her camp, making sure to leave markers so she could find the copper cave once more. She stopped during her trip back and buried the human remains, and said a small prayer to Nova.

Melody climbed up into her tree and found it was a little tight with her new items. Using her stone knife and hatchet, she dug out a bit more of the hollow at the side to give herself a storage space. The remains she tossed outside toward her firepit. Turning to the other side, Melody carved out a big enough shelf on the wall and unloaded the eggs and other consumable items.

Popping a handful of blueberries into her mouth, she climbed out of her hollow to look among her gathered sticks to see if she had one good enough for the pick head.

After finding one that would work, she returned to her hollow just as it began to rain. Melody wished she had a bucket or something to catch the water, but she didn't think she had time to get something ready. Guess I am stuck with berries…

Melody was able to get the pick head attached to the thick stick with a little bit of shaving and lots of twine. Taking a couple of light practice swings, she felt it should be good to collect some of the copper. It was then Melody had an excellent idea about her water issue.

She had a decently sized rock in her camp area. Taking the pick, Melody headed back outside and approached the rock. It was about three feet tall and five feet at its shortest diameter.

Raising her pick, Melody brought the damaged side down and chipped a bit out of the top. Smiling, Melody continued chipping away at the center of the stone. She wanted to save the other side since her skill told her it was soon to break, so Melody continued to smash, chip, and scrape away at the surface of the rock.

The rain was coming down at a decent rate, helping to keep Melody cool as she chipped another piece from the rock. It had taken her a few hours, but she now had a three-wide, four-long, and two-foot-deep stone basin to collect the rainwater.

Melody was overjoyed that her idea worked out so well. She got worried a few times when it seemed like either the rock or her pick would break apart, but she was thankful they both held. Though the back end of the pickaxe was now more of a rough nub than before.

Placing her pick in the hollow, Melody went over to the stone basin and splashed the collected water out of the small reservoir several times to clean out what was left of the stone chips.

Once content with it, she picked up a somewhat flat stone with a round top and bottom. The stone was about a foot and a half wide and five inches tall. Melody put the rock up into her hollow and climbed inside herself.

Melody was surprised that even though she had been working so hard, she was not tired or exhausted at all. She felt that she should rest and eat a bit, but other than that, she was good to work more.

Picking up one of her Durgan Roots, she peeled the skin off the root revealing a bluish inside. She sniffed it, not smelling anything from it. Melody was apprehensive about eating something unknown and weird-looking. Still, she decided to trust her skill and bit into the root.

Tastes like… a really bland potato. Melody wished she had some salt or butter, but she finished it off without issue.

Out of curiosity, she sniffed the skin, which caused her to cringe, recoil, and frown all at once. Melody would definitely trust her skill more. The smell, though challenging to pick up at a distance, was definitely repugnant. It smelled three-day-old sweaty socks of a professional athlete with foot fungus, and Melody was sure it would probably taste like it too.

Durgan Root Skin: Has a pungent taste. Advise burying or burning. A decent addition to compost as it helps to decompose things around it.

Melody would bury it away from her camp. She was unsure if the stench would affect anything she would grow and did not want to risk tasting what she smelled.

After placing it on the shelf, Melody decided to lay down and try to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's coming your way!" Lucas yelled.

A black rabbit with short white horns charged out of the brush and toward the young party.

Annabel stood ready in her leather armor, wooden shield, club, and dark blue habit of the church on her head.

Lala was mostly wearing cloth but had a leather vest over her chest. She had a short bow, and an arrow notched.

Mina stood over at the side, holding a small wooden scepter with a yellow stone in the top.

"Yah!" Annabel swung her club, but the nimble rabbit moved to dodge out of the way, only to bounce off an invisible barrier.

Annabel's club struck true, killing the rabbit. "Yay! I got it!" She cheered.

"You almost missed," Violet commented with a sly smile.

"But I didn't!" Annabel stated.

"If it wasn't for my barrier, it would have dodged." Violet pointed out.

Annabel looked away, a bit upset and embarrassed.

"It's okay, Miss Anna. You are the only one who can even attack." Mina tried to comfort the priestess.

"Not to mention there is no way I would hit it," Lala added.

Lucas came out of the brush to find that they had got the rabbit.

"Sweet! That's number three, mission complete!" He said with a proud smile. Lucas wore camo pattern clothing and had a couple of daggers and a short sword on his belt.

"You guys would have been at this for days if not for me." Violet teased.

"Must you be like that!?" Annabel complained, which got a laugh from the dark-haired girl.

"Melody would have caught it super easy..." Mina said with sadness. Lala moved over to comfort the young girl.

"Was she that good?" Violet asked.

"She was! When she was carrying us through the forest, you could not hear her movements at all! Melody could have been walking right next to us, and we wouldn't even know!" Lucas replied happily.

Annabel looked toward Hallfen in the distance, her mind going beyond it to the North Gaian forest.

They were currently east of the city in the farm fields. The rabbits they were hunting were a common nuisance for farmers, nibbling at crops.

"You guys really liked her, huh?" Violet asked as Lucas collected the rabbit corpse.

"You would have loved her, Violet. We might have known her only for a night, but we could tell that she was a very warm-hearted person." Annabel replied with a warm smile.

"This will get us up to gray-rank right?" Lucas asked, putting his pack.

"Yup, well done, you four. Though like I said, the further up the ranks you go, the slower the progress and harder the difficulty." Violet lectured.

"Yes, mom," Lucas replied, annoyed by Violet's incessant reminders.

"Mom? Maybe I should clean your room then? Find any embarrassing things you want to keep secret and expose it to everyone here?" Violet asked with a mischievous smirk on her face.

Lucas tensed. "Um, no thanks. I can, uh, clean up after myself... hehe..."

The two younger girls narrowed their eyes at him.

"We're investigating tonight, right?" Mina whispered to Lala.

"You betcha. This is revenge for his peeking last month."

The two young girls conspired for their revenge as Violet giggled.

The group traveled to a farmer's house and showed the rabbit corpses to the woman.

"Yup, that is three of the little demons. Thank you."

Annabel handed the woman a form, and she signed it.

"Thank you for hiring from the Hallfen Adventurer's guild. If you have any more issues or your neighbors, let the guild know." Violet pitched, which got the woman laughing.

"Ever the poster girl, huh, Violet?" The woman chided as she returned the form.

"More business means more jobs and coins. This lot has a goal, and I aim to help them as much as I can." The raven-haired girl smiled.

The woman thanked them once more, and their group headed toward the city.

They arrived in the guildhall and turned in their mission to Sammy.

"Alright, well done, you four. With this, you are now able to take the gray-rank test." Sammy informed them.

"Can I just attest that they have the necessary knowledge?" Violet asked.

"Now, now, you know that the test has to be done by a copper-rank, and I remember you are a blue," Sammy answered as she went to the back to get their reward.

"It's okay, Miss Violet, you taught us well, we'll pass with... um, with..." Mina was trying to remember something.

"Pass with flying colors," Violet replied while ruffling the girl's hair.

A worried-looking man approached the counter next to them.

"Here's the mission completion." The man turned a paper over to the receptionist.

Annabel and the three kids were pulled away to take their test. Sammy found a bored copper-rank available to perform the test, leaving Violet with the man.

"Everything okay, Sam?" Violet asked.

"Huh? Oh, hey Violet." Sam replied.

"You seemed bothered by something." Violet tried once more.

"Ah, it's nothing you need to worry about. Just the worries of an adult." Sam replied with a strained smile.

"Try me. You know I am a prodigy and genius. I might be able to help." Violet boasted.

"Heh. Fine. Linda's pregnant." Sam answered her. He looked both happy and apprehensive.

"Oh! Congratulations, Sam!" Violet happily said.

"What's going on?" Sammy returned to her desk.

"Sam's wife is pregnant!" Violet stated.

Sammy joined in congratulating him, but at the same, seemed concerned.

"What is with you two? Why does this seem like a bad thing to you?" Violet asked.

"Adventuring is dangerous work, especially when you are copper and up. He is concerned over his family." Sammy replied.

Violet's expression shifted to one of regret, then deep thought.

"Hey, Sam. If safety is your concern, I might have an idea." Violet said.

"What is that?"

"It will be a pay cut, but the pay would be steady, and it would be much safer. I can speak to my father about helping you to join the city guard." Violet offered.

"That... That might work. We still have several months before our baby is due. I should be able to move up the ranks easy enough... Okay, Violet, I will take you up on your offer." Sam replied, a fire in his eyes to move up the ranks as quickly as he could.

Violet smiled and headed off to talk to her father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melody tossed and turned, a pained look on her face.

"No… Mom… MOM!" Melody screamed, her eyes shooting open.

Melody curled up, her lips trembling and tears coming to her eyes. She had a nightmare where she saw her mother die from injuries, then Rul dove for Melody, intent to make her Alui's replacement.

Sunlight poured in through the hollow opening. Melody didn't feel like doing anything, but she knew she had to keep her mind busy, or it would be plagued with the nightmare.

She looked at the stone she brought up and decided to do the work outside in the sunlight.

Checking on her stone basin, she was pleased to see it filled with clean water. Melody pulled out her small stone bowl she used as a mortar and scooped some water to drink. The water tasted nice and crisp.

Taking up the pick, Melody got to work on her next project, a stone bowl for cooking. The broken side of the pick was rough with jagged bits. Melody took her time chipping away at the stone, wishing she could do the same about the nightmare.

It took her a couple of hours of careful work, but she finished the rough-looking bowl. Melody felt an excellent sense of satisfaction with her work and luck of not breaking the bowl in the process.

Returning to the hollow, Melody retrieved her flint and steel arrowhead. Going to her firepit, Melody wanted to smack herself when she looked inside. All of her tinder and sticks were too wet to start a fire, so she had to forage for some more.

Melody returned twenty minutes later, cleaned out the wet items, leaving them in the sun to dry for later, and loaded her new things into the pit.

It took her several attempts, but Melody finally got her tinder to catch and begin to smoke. Lightly blowing on it, the smoke increased more and more until it turned into a tiny flame. Melody smiled widely and lowered it into the small pile of tinder she had in her pit. As the rest of the kindling began to catch, she added small sticks and twigs to build up the fire.

Melody turned from her strengthening fire and built a frame for the stone bowl to sit on out of sticks and twine.

She continued to bounce her work between the fire and her frame until her fire was strong enough for the logs. Melody dropped three into the firepit to let them catch.

In the meantime, she finished her stand for the stone bowl. She tested the bowl with the frame for a bit before she was satisfied and set up the posts to hold the rack and bowl above the fire.

Adding another log to the fire, Melody got her stone bowl above it like she wanted.

Melody took out her small bowl and transported water from her basin to the cooking bowl until it was almost full.

She headed up into the hollow and returned with a Durgan Root, Brown Cap, and one lizard egg. Checking her cook bowl, the water was beginning to boil.

Melody made sure to double-check her frame for the cooking bowl before returning to the hollow for more items.

Her fur clothing was in rough shape and required patching and repairs. The fur cloak Elder had given her a while ago was still in good condition, so Melody decided to repurpose it into a new set of fur clothes.

Taking her stone knife, Melody roughly cut several long strips of the leather pack to use as string. Using her small bowl with some water, she cleaned the cloth scraps as best she could. She could get it reasonably clean and hung the pieces on a branch pole to let them dry in the sun.

Checking her cooking bowl, the water was boiling nicely, so she added the egg. It was not completely submerged, but all she had to do was turn it often to get an even cook. She tossed a few mushrooms in, and two pealed roots.

Melody lightly scratched the pattern she needed into the cloak's surface and double-checked that the size would be just right before cutting it. Before long, Melody had a fur vest that was tied at the front and a pair of shorts that were tied at the sides.

She frowned as she moved with the new furs. These are chafing my… sensitive areas… Melody thought.

Finding that the cloth had dried enough, Melody got to work linking the intact sleeves into a wrap for her budding chest that used a leather string to tie it at the front. She had a bit of trouble getting the bottom to neatly tie shut, but she could complete it. Melody now had an elementary pair of underwear.

Donning her fur vest and shorts, she found it was much more comfortable.

Melody checked her meal to find the mushrooms and roots were done. She picked the egg out with a rough set of wood tongs she fashioned and lightly tapped the surface. Sounds like it is done. Identify.

Slightly Over-Cooked Falda Lizard Egg: Poisonous, but due to poison resistance, consumable. High source of protein.

Nodding, Melody cracked and removed the spotted shell and cut the boiled egg in half. The chicken eggs Melody was used to in her previous life were white on the outside and yellow in the middle. The lizard egg was yellow on the outside and purple on the inside. Melody bit into the yellow part.

Hmm. Not bad. Melody continued to eat the yellow part, but when she bit into the purple, she had to spit it out.

SPICY! Melody scooped some water into her mouth, swished it around, and spit it out.

"Ugh. What was that?" Melody focused her skill on the purple part.

Slightly Over-Cooked Falda Lizard Egg Yolk: Highly poisonous, but due to poison resistance, consumable. Low source of protein.

"Huh?!" She used her skill on the yellow part.

Slightly Over-Cooked Falda Lizard Egg Albumen: Consumable. High source of protein.

Armed with her new information, Melody scooped out the purple part and tossed it into the fire. It created a poisonous-looking cloud, but she was okay because of her immunity. Melody actually hoped that it might get her a bird or something else to eat, but to no avail, nothing fell into her lap.

After Melody finished her meal, she checked the sky to see she still had a decent amount of time in the day, so she decided to return to the copper cave to try her luck.

Grabbing her pack and pick, Melody, made her way into the forest.

Her trip was uneventful, but she collected a few more Hard Berries and found a couple more Durgan Roots.

She arrived back at the copper cave and used her sense danger skill, and picked nothing up. Cautiously, Melody descended into the cave and made sure it was still clear before standing before the copper vein.

Winding the pickaxe back, Melody swung the pick, only for the metal to snap on her.

"NOOOOO!" Melody fell to her knees in despair. "I wanted shiny copper tools…." She sniffled in sadness.

Melody tried a few more times until the pick looked more like a rough-ended hammer. Depressed that she would not be making her shiny tools, Melody trudged back to her camp.