Rittan raised an eyebrow at the name, and considering he’d come from a society where runes had played such a significant part, he probably had a far better idea of the possible potential.

“It gave me another skill to use, called [Etch],” August said, “It turns the tip of my finger into a carving tool. I was using it earlier to carve the Otrogon’s teeth into axe heads, and I’ve got a feeling I can use it on the Efkini’s chain spikes as well.”

“Which gives us access to an array of bone and metal tools, provided they are smaller than the material you start carving from,” Rittan said in understanding, “That certainly opens up some new options, doesn’t it? You haven’t tried it on the chains yet?”

“I’ve been avoiding it because I’m not sure how long it would take for either of them to regenerate new chains, and we have an expedition planned today that requires Ladybug and Morningstar to be ready to fight in case we get attacked.”

“Ah, I see; the best time would be right after our return to give them the maximum amount of time to recover,” Rittan said, nodding, “Well then, I believe everyone is now awake, and you seem to be well into completing our tasks for the day already, shall we start organising ourselves for the trip?”

“Yeah, but one more thing before that,” August said, nodding his head towards the lake. “There are fish in the water; I could feel them swimming around my feet while I was in there.”

Rittan perked up a bit at the information, turning to eye the lake with interest.

“I suppose I was making quite a bit of noise, wasn’t I? I must have scared most of them off last time I went looking,” Rittan said, curious. “That and I’d been quite distracted by the existence of the Mitikos at the time.”

“Right, so we’ve got another source of food now, but we will have to either make some fishing spears or attempt to make some kind of fishing rod; I’m not sure which,” August said, following his gaze to the water. “I’m not sure how the Mitikos will react to bait or a lure, though, so that might be off the table now that I think about it.”

“Yes, if they smell a source of food, it will likely attract everything within range,” Rittan murmured, “Perhaps we should focus on spearfishing for now.”

“You’re practically drooling, dude,” August said, amused. “Although you did say that you are particularly fond of fish.”

“The prospect of getting the chance to eat fish again is quite the motivating factor,” Rittan said, laughing out loud. “I’m flattered that you remember such an innocuous comment, August.”

After his talk with Haiko regarding expectation and interaction, the surprise that was written all over Rittan’s face—brought on by something as simple as recalling his favourite food—felt all the sadder.

“Yeah—sure,” August said, rubbing at his neck. “Listen, I made a few new axes for today, and while they work well enough for me, do you think you could test them out? I didn’t use any twine on them, so I want to see if they actually work alright without.”

“Certainly,” Rittan said, stepping back to get eyes on the axes still buried in the stumps on the other side of the camp. “I did notice them from a distance when I first stepped outside, shall we?”

“Lead the way,” August said, nodding.

August followed him across the camp, leaving the [Draft Furnace] to finish drying without supervision. Boko left the hut a few moments after they passed and moved to catch up to them.

“Morning, Boko,” August said, glancing up as he reached them beside the stump. “You’ve got some crazy bed hair going on right now.”

“So everyone keeps telling me,” Boko said, reaching up in an attempt to tame his hair. “Makes me wonder how I managed it while sleeping on the ground—must be some kind of secret ability.”

“A mystery, for certain,” Rittan laughed, pulling a newly made [Bone Axe] out of the stump. “I see what you meant by carve, August. It’s certainly shaped more like a wedge now, and the edge is far thinner, although there’s a bit of a wave in it.”

“Yeah, that was the first one I made,” August admitted, “I figured out with the second one that it’s better to go horizontally near the edge rather than downwards in parallel lines.”

Boko snagged the newer one, lifting it up to his face to check; he glanced down at one of the uncarved Otrogon’s teeth that were still sitting on the stump for a moment.

“You carved this?” Boko said, wrapping his knuckle against the axe head. “With what tools?”

“A skill that is supposed to be for carving runes into surfaces,” August admitted, calling [Etch] up for a moment before letting it fade. “It costs mana to use, so I can’t keep it up forever.”

“Huh,” Boko said, tilting his head. “For some reason, I don’t think you should be able to do that.”

“I think you’re right, but it’s certainly useful,” Rittan said, amused.

August stepped out of the way to allow Rittan to move close to the nearest target and then watched as he buried it a fourth of the way through the log without looking like he was putting in too much effort. He had to work it back and forth a couple of times before he could get it back out—and August realised that he’d probably need to lash it after all.

“I think these should be fine to use,” Rittan said, “We’ll just have to be careful about pulling them out.”

“I’ll make a stack of twine when we get back and then lash them together for next time.” August agreed, “If it becomes a problem while we’re out there, we can use vine as a temporary fix.”

“Works for me,” Boko said, tossing the axe up before catching it again.