Perhaps the most relevant unlock was the [Draft Furnace Blueprint]—it made him realise that he’d been surprisingly on-point with the design he’d gone after. The height at which he’d been an attempt to reach, on the other hand, was overboard—he was pretty much at the optimal height right now. He would need to close in the opening he’d used to feed the fire and create a crucible to hold the iron he wanted to melt as well.
It brought with it auxiliary knowledge of the process going on inside of the Furnace as well, and that told him that if he wanted to melt down the iron from the chain spikes, he was going to need to reach temperatures of at least 1300 degrees—something that should be possible with the Furnace he’d built, provided he continued building up their supply of charcoal first.
It was possible that the iron created using runes was different from the naturally occurring ore or that it might have a different melting point—although he didn’t really expect that to be the case, given that the knowledge of the blueprints was presumably Gaian and had taken that into account, to begin with.
If they couldn’t meet that melting point for whatever reason, he could always attempt one of the other types of Furnace that the blueprint had auxiliary knowledge of—he had a vague idea of how to create a set of bellows that would help here. Either way, he tabled the thought, for now, moving back to investigating the [Etch] skill.
August opened up his inventory and then removed one of the Otrogon teeth that he’d collected. The dense piece of bone appeared in his hand, and he carefully laid it down on the ground of the hut.
“[Etch],” August murmured.
He drew his finger across the side of the tooth, watching as it carved a line of material away without any kind of resistance. Wary now of the damage he could cause to himself, he shaved one side of the tooth down, moving quickly but carefully. He flipped the tooth over and then started working the other edge inwards.
With about half of his mana bar remaining, he started working on the actual edge, tapering it down to a sliver. His inexperience with the process left it a bit wonky, but it actually looked like an axe head now and not a massive tooth. He ran out of mana before he could completely finish tidying it up, so he decided to finally actually get off his ass for the day.
August crawled out of the hut and into the early morning light, scanning the area for any signs of giant boulders, but found nothing particularly worrying. Morningstar and Ladybug greeted him in their own ways, and he set out towards the pile of offcuts they’d made yesterday while cutting down the logs.
He searched through all of the branches they’d left there, seeking out a bunch of the thickest ones to use as handles. August found a dozen or so that would work and dumped the majority into his inventory for later use, leaving just two of them out to work on. Snatching one of the completed axes up, he stood the first potential handle up on its end and started shaving it down. It took him about ten minutes of consistent chopping, rotating and considering before he figured it was about as good as it was going to get, and then he moved on to the second one.
By the time he’d finished that one, his arm was burning from holding the too-heavy axe in such an awkward position for so long. He buried the axe into the stump he’d found it in and then shook out his arm for a minute to try and clear the build-up of lactate acid. He considered the next step while he recovered, and then instead of using his chisel to start carving out a hole for the axe head, he decided to use the new skill again.
“[Etch],” August said.
He pressed his finger down into the handle, the consistent pressure enough to slowly sink it the entire way through the piece of wood in a few moments. August stared at the hole in something, approaching nirvana, coming to the realisation that so long as he had mana, he’d never have to spend hours carving out holes again. He scrunched his face up in annoyance as it occurred to him that if he’d chosen [Runecrafter] as his first job, he’d have been able to use [Etch] at half the mana cost.
He worked at the handle with his index finger, slowly widening the hole and using the back of the axe head as a guide to make sure he was on track for the right shape. August found himself left with about ten mana when he reached the right size.
It took a few moments to actually work the axehead into the handle, the fit far tighter than any of the previous ones, and he was honestly pretty sure he could forgo having to lash it together at all. August took the finished axe and then struck down at a nearby branch—the edge he’d carved out sunk into the wood with far more ease than either of the Incisors he’d used for the prior ones. It was also about half the weight due to all of the bone he’d carved away, and while that probably wouldn’t make a difference for the others, it certainly made it easier for him to use.
“I’m an axe crafting god,” August decided.
August sunk the axe into the stump next to the other two and then left them there, needing to wait for his mana to regenerate before he finished the second one. He crossed past the huts, treading quietly on his way towards the lake, unwilling to accidentally wake the others yet. He dipped his toes in the water and nodded, tolerable, if only just.
Neptune came to greet him as he slipped out of his fragile leafy vest and pants, leaving them in a pile by the edge of the water. He was left a bit uneasy at being naked again, but he’d put off having a proper bath for too long at this point, and it was starting to annoy him.
“Neptune, I’m going to need you to make sure nothing sneaks up and bites my willy off,” August said, carefully moving forward into the water. “Stop me if I’m getting too close to something, yeah?”
Neptune gave a clack of his jaws in recognition of the words and ambled back into the water, moving slowly ahead of him. August followed behind him, wincing as the water quickly rose up to his waist. He came to a stop soon after and dropped beneath the water level, head slipping under.
August raked his hands through his hair, over his face and behind his ears, trying to wash away all of the accumulated dirt, debris and sweat. At this point, his hair was starting to pass the length he usually kept it cut at, but he wasn’t quite willing to try hacking away at his hair in an attempt to maintain it.
He twisted in the water as something that could only be a fish passed through the edge of his life-sense. It swerved past his legs and continued past without stopping. Neptune must have seen the fish because he made an aborted attempt at catching it in his jaws before immediately giving up. August surfaced a moment later, sweeping his wet, tangled fringe out of his eyes before wiping at his mouth.
“Looks like we’re going to need fishing rods,” August mumbled.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
Perhaps the most relevant unlock was the [Draft Furnace Blueprint]—it made him realise that he’d been surprisingly on-point with the design he’d gone after. The height at which he’d been an attempt to reach, on the other hand, was overboard—he was pretty much at the optimal height right now. He would need to close in the opening he’d used to feed the fire and create a crucible to hold the iron he wanted to melt as well.
It brought with it auxiliary knowledge of the process going on inside of the Furnace as well, and that told him that if he wanted to melt down the iron from the chain spikes, he was going to need to reach temperatures of at least 1300 degrees—something that should be possible with the Furnace he’d built, provided he continued building up their supply of charcoal first.
It was possible that the iron created using runes was different from the naturally occurring ore or that it might have a different melting point—although he didn’t really expect that to be the case, given that the knowledge of the blueprints was presumably Gaian and had taken that into account, to begin with.
If they couldn’t meet that melting point for whatever reason, he could always attempt one of the other types of Furnace that the blueprint had auxiliary knowledge of—he had a vague idea of how to create a set of bellows that would help here. Either way, he tabled the thought, for now, moving back to investigating the [Etch] skill.
August opened up his inventory and then removed one of the Otrogon teeth that he’d collected. The dense piece of bone appeared in his hand, and he carefully laid it down on the ground of the hut.
“[Etch],” August murmured.
He drew his finger across the side of the tooth, watching as it carved a line of material away without any kind of resistance. Wary now of the damage he could cause to himself, he shaved one side of the tooth down, moving quickly but carefully. He flipped the tooth over and then started working the other edge inwards.
With about half of his mana bar remaining, he started working on the actual edge, tapering it down to a sliver. His inexperience with the process left it a bit wonky, but it actually looked like an axe head now and not a massive tooth. He ran out of mana before he could completely finish tidying it up, so he decided to finally actually get off his ass for the day.
August crawled out of the hut and into the early morning light, scanning the area for any signs of giant boulders, but found nothing particularly worrying. Morningstar and Ladybug greeted him in their own ways, and he set out towards the pile of offcuts they’d made yesterday while cutting down the logs.
He searched through all of the branches they’d left there, seeking out a bunch of the thickest ones to use as handles. August found a dozen or so that would work and dumped the majority into his inventory for later use, leaving just two of them out to work on. Snatching one of the completed axes up, he stood the first potential handle up on its end and started shaving it down. It took him about ten minutes of consistent chopping, rotating and considering before he figured it was about as good as it was going to get, and then he moved on to the second one.
By the time he’d finished that one, his arm was burning from holding the too-heavy axe in such an awkward position for so long. He buried the axe into the stump he’d found it in and then shook out his arm for a minute to try and clear the build-up of lactate acid. He considered the next step while he recovered, and then instead of using his chisel to start carving out a hole for the axe head, he decided to use the new skill again.
“[Etch],” August said.
He pressed his finger down into the handle, the consistent pressure enough to slowly sink it the entire way through the piece of wood in a few moments. August stared at the hole in something, approaching nirvana, coming to the realisation that so long as he had mana, he’d never have to spend hours carving out holes again. He scrunched his face up in annoyance as it occurred to him that if he’d chosen [Runecrafter] as his first job, he’d have been able to use [Etch] at half the mana cost.
He worked at the handle with his index finger, slowly widening the hole and using the back of the axe head as a guide to make sure he was on track for the right shape. August found himself left with about ten mana when he reached the right size.
It took a few moments to actually work the axehead into the handle, the fit far tighter than any of the previous ones, and he was honestly pretty sure he could forgo having to lash it together at all. August took the finished axe and then struck down at a nearby branch—the edge he’d carved out sunk into the wood with far more ease than either of the Incisors he’d used for the prior ones. It was also about half the weight due to all of the bone he’d carved away, and while that probably wouldn’t make a difference for the others, it certainly made it easier for him to use.
“I’m an axe crafting god,” August decided.
August sunk the axe into the stump next to the other two and then left them there, needing to wait for his mana to regenerate before he finished the second one. He crossed past the huts, treading quietly on his way towards the lake, unwilling to accidentally wake the others yet. He dipped his toes in the water and nodded, tolerable, if only just.
Neptune came to greet him as he slipped out of his fragile leafy vest and pants, leaving them in a pile by the edge of the water. He was left a bit uneasy at being naked again, but he’d put off having a proper bath for too long at this point, and it was starting to annoy him.
“Neptune, I’m going to need you to make sure nothing sneaks up and bites my willy off,” August said, carefully moving forward into the water. “Stop me if I’m getting too close to something, yeah?”
Neptune gave a clack of his jaws in recognition of the words and ambled back into the water, moving slowly ahead of him. August followed behind him, wincing as the water quickly rose up to his waist. He came to a stop soon after and dropped beneath the water level, head slipping under.
August raked his hands through his hair, over his face and behind his ears, trying to wash away all of the accumulated dirt, debris and sweat. At this point, his hair was starting to pass the length he usually kept it cut at, but he wasn’t quite willing to try hacking away at his hair in an attempt to maintain it.
He twisted in the water as something that could only be a fish passed through the edge of his life-sense. It swerved past his legs and continued past without stopping. Neptune must have seen the fish because he made an aborted attempt at catching it in his jaws before immediately giving up. August surfaced a moment later, sweeping his wet, tangled fringe out of his eyes before wiping at his mouth.
“Looks like we’re going to need fishing rods,” August mumbled.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
