Rather than ruin a piece of Otrogon bone with his first attempt, he searched through his inventory for the largest shard of flint he could find—he eventually found the piece he’d recalled, a shard that was about twice as long as his palm. August spent a few minutes just turning it over in his hand, trying to figure out the best way to create a series of teeth and the angles he’d need to hold in order to get the most out of his limited casting time.
He ran his finger across the edge, imagining where each of the teeth would be, a tiny wavering line. Once he thought he had it figured out, he pressed the shard flat against the stop of the wood-cutting stump, hanging just off the edge and lined his finger up against it.
“[Etch],” August murmured.
He carefully drew the tip of his glowing fingernail through the edge of the flint, creating a line straight through the material, and then added a second cut at an angle, removing a triangle of stone for the very first tooth. Then he sped up, relatively assured that it was going to work; he ran down the length of the shard, cutting tiny triangles out and leaving a serrated edge behind. He cancelled the spell and then brought the serrated edge of the flint up to his face, doing a closer inspection on how exactly it had worked.
The teeth weren’t exactly uniform, and the shape of the shard itself meant that some of them were thicker than others. He’d need to shave down some of the edges. There really wasn’t a good way to use it, but for all intents and purposes, the concept had worked—but he hadn’t received a blueprint for it.
“What else then?” August murmured. “A handle?”
He eyed the general shape of it, figuring out how to cut it down to a long rectangle that would look more like an actual handsaw—one of those tiny ones. August did a few practice runs with his unspelled finger, figuring out the fastest path to use for cutting it down to size, and then nodded—[Etch].
He burned through the end, squaring it off, cut through the middle of the thick, rounded edge of the flint that he’d been using to hold it, and then made two quick cuts to shave off about a quarter of the teeth and left it with a thin rectangular handle.
Handsaw Blueprint Unlocked
“Easy,” August muttered.
He held the tiny thing up by its squarish handle, ignoring the way the edge dug into his palm—it was really only as big as a comb, and it looked more like one than an actual handsaw, but apparently, that had been enough to trigger the system. As far as a concept piece went, it was close enough to work. August left the prototype on the chopping stump and removed the Otrogon bone.
It was straight, roughly three feet long, about as thick around as his wrist and curved pretty heavily after the first foot—he was relatively certain it was one of the creature’s ribs. He placed it down on the stump, roughly in the middle, and then started working out how he was going to shave it all down. It was pretty obvious to him that this was going to be a much bigger task; there was far more material to shave away.
He measured roughly a foot and a half before pulling up [Etch]. August started burning through the material and managed to just cut off the unneeded amount. He did a single pass across the top of the bone, attempting to flatten out a bit, but by the time he’d finished that, he’d pretty much run out of mana entirely.
“God dammit,” August sighed, sitting back against the stump to wait. “I need more mana.”
He held the curved piece of bone up in front of his head, turning it over in his hands and imagining each of the steps involved in getting it to completion. At 1 mana per five seconds, he had about eight minutes of use with a full bar of mana. Given the rate at which his mana returned and how much he was going to have to shave away—this was probably going to take him a few hours of work. He’d probably just bring it with him on the commute to the Bamboo Forest and do some work on it whenever he had enough mana for the spell—no reason for the travel time to be wasted doing nothing. August glanced up when the hanging shade that was covering the entrance to the hut lifted up into the air. Boko emerged, letting the shade fall behind him and then taking a moment to scan the area. The Voithos snagged a few of the Sadapples off the pile and then spotted him.
“You always get up this early?” Boko said.
“I used to be the kind of person who had to be dragged out of bed, kicking and screaming.” August admitted, “The last week has changed me—what about you, Boko?”
“I’ve got my off days, but most of the time, I’m up pretty early,” Boko said, biting off another chunk. “Making something?”
“A handsaw—like this, but bigger,” August said, reaching over his own shoulder to get a hold of the miniature flint version. “I want to be able to make planks; that’s my driving force at the moment.”
Boko took hold of the flint saw and lifted it up to get a closer look at it.
“I ran out of mana, though, so I’m kind of just sitting around waiting for it to regenerate,” August admitted, “Boko, did the four of your figure out who was going?”
“You’re looking at him,” Boko said, “I’m pretty much ready to go whenever you are.”
August nodded at the words, twisting onto his knee and then pushing himself up to his feet, using the chopping stump to manage it. There were a few things he needed to do before they could leave, but it wouldn’t take more than a minute to handle.
“I’m just about ready; I just want to take out all of the plants we collected yesterday,” August said, stepping past. “I’m not sure how long they’ll last in my inventory, so it’s probably better to let them get some sun while we’re gone.”
“Rittan was talking about your garden last night,” Boko said, following along. “He’ll take care of it while we’re gone.”
It was a bit sad that he wouldn’t even get to finish the garden he’d started, but it was more important that the plants survive than him getting to feel like he was contributing.
“That’s probably for the best,” August offered, stopping next to the unfinished mess. “At the rate, I was going, they probably would have died before I finished.”
August removed the three Regalis Bushes and the rest of the Garlic, making an effort to avoid catching himself on the thorns—he’d had enough of people fretting over him, and he could do without the reminder. Once everything was out, he made one final trip over to where the small stack of wooden spears was lying, taking one for himself and watching as Boko took three of them.
“I’ve got a pair of the bone axes in my inventory; I’ll leave the other two here for the others to use,” August said, “Ladybug, where are you—you’re coming with us. Morningstar, I’m counting on you to protect Rittan, Kalter and Haiko from anything that tries to hurt them.”
Morningstar gave a trill at the words and then dashed back towards the hut to carry out his task. August caught Ladybug before she could land on his shoulder, and then once he was more certain of his balance, he placed her there himself.
“Time to go,” August said.
“I’ve been super curious about what this place actually looks like from up on the ridge,” Boko said, holding up a Sadapple up in salute. “Lead the way, bossman."
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.
Rather than ruin a piece of Otrogon bone with his first attempt, he searched through his inventory for the largest shard of flint he could find—he eventually found the piece he’d recalled, a shard that was about twice as long as his palm. August spent a few minutes just turning it over in his hand, trying to figure out the best way to create a series of teeth and the angles he’d need to hold in order to get the most out of his limited casting time.
He ran his finger across the edge, imagining where each of the teeth would be, a tiny wavering line. Once he thought he had it figured out, he pressed the shard flat against the stop of the wood-cutting stump, hanging just off the edge and lined his finger up against it.
“[Etch],” August murmured.
He carefully drew the tip of his glowing fingernail through the edge of the flint, creating a line straight through the material, and then added a second cut at an angle, removing a triangle of stone for the very first tooth. Then he sped up, relatively assured that it was going to work; he ran down the length of the shard, cutting tiny triangles out and leaving a serrated edge behind. He cancelled the spell and then brought the serrated edge of the flint up to his face, doing a closer inspection on how exactly it had worked.
The teeth weren’t exactly uniform, and the shape of the shard itself meant that some of them were thicker than others. He’d need to shave down some of the edges. There really wasn’t a good way to use it, but for all intents and purposes, the concept had worked—but he hadn’t received a blueprint for it.
“What else then?” August murmured. “A handle?”
He eyed the general shape of it, figuring out how to cut it down to a long rectangle that would look more like an actual handsaw—one of those tiny ones. August did a few practice runs with his unspelled finger, figuring out the fastest path to use for cutting it down to size, and then nodded—[Etch].
He burned through the end, squaring it off, cut through the middle of the thick, rounded edge of the flint that he’d been using to hold it, and then made two quick cuts to shave off about a quarter of the teeth and left it with a thin rectangular handle.
Handsaw Blueprint Unlocked
“Easy,” August muttered.
He held the tiny thing up by its squarish handle, ignoring the way the edge dug into his palm—it was really only as big as a comb, and it looked more like one than an actual handsaw, but apparently, that had been enough to trigger the system. As far as a concept piece went, it was close enough to work. August left the prototype on the chopping stump and removed the Otrogon bone.
It was straight, roughly three feet long, about as thick around as his wrist and curved pretty heavily after the first foot—he was relatively certain it was one of the creature’s ribs. He placed it down on the stump, roughly in the middle, and then started working out how he was going to shave it all down. It was pretty obvious to him that this was going to be a much bigger task; there was far more material to shave away.
He measured roughly a foot and a half before pulling up [Etch]. August started burning through the material and managed to just cut off the unneeded amount. He did a single pass across the top of the bone, attempting to flatten out a bit, but by the time he’d finished that, he’d pretty much run out of mana entirely.
“God dammit,” August sighed, sitting back against the stump to wait. “I need more mana.”
He held the curved piece of bone up in front of his head, turning it over in his hands and imagining each of the steps involved in getting it to completion. At 1 mana per five seconds, he had about eight minutes of use with a full bar of mana. Given the rate at which his mana returned and how much he was going to have to shave away—this was probably going to take him a few hours of work. He’d probably just bring it with him on the commute to the Bamboo Forest and do some work on it whenever he had enough mana for the spell—no reason for the travel time to be wasted doing nothing. August glanced up when the hanging shade that was covering the entrance to the hut lifted up into the air. Boko emerged, letting the shade fall behind him and then taking a moment to scan the area. The Voithos snagged a few of the Sadapples off the pile and then spotted him.
“You always get up this early?” Boko said.
“I used to be the kind of person who had to be dragged out of bed, kicking and screaming.” August admitted, “The last week has changed me—what about you, Boko?”
“I’ve got my off days, but most of the time, I’m up pretty early,” Boko said, biting off another chunk. “Making something?”
“A handsaw—like this, but bigger,” August said, reaching over his own shoulder to get a hold of the miniature flint version. “I want to be able to make planks; that’s my driving force at the moment.”
Boko took hold of the flint saw and lifted it up to get a closer look at it.
“I ran out of mana, though, so I’m kind of just sitting around waiting for it to regenerate,” August admitted, “Boko, did the four of your figure out who was going?”
“You’re looking at him,” Boko said, “I’m pretty much ready to go whenever you are.”
August nodded at the words, twisting onto his knee and then pushing himself up to his feet, using the chopping stump to manage it. There were a few things he needed to do before they could leave, but it wouldn’t take more than a minute to handle.
“I’m just about ready; I just want to take out all of the plants we collected yesterday,” August said, stepping past. “I’m not sure how long they’ll last in my inventory, so it’s probably better to let them get some sun while we’re gone.”
“Rittan was talking about your garden last night,” Boko said, following along. “He’ll take care of it while we’re gone.”
It was a bit sad that he wouldn’t even get to finish the garden he’d started, but it was more important that the plants survive than him getting to feel like he was contributing.
“That’s probably for the best,” August offered, stopping next to the unfinished mess. “At the rate, I was going, they probably would have died before I finished.”
August removed the three Regalis Bushes and the rest of the Garlic, making an effort to avoid catching himself on the thorns—he’d had enough of people fretting over him, and he could do without the reminder. Once everything was out, he made one final trip over to where the small stack of wooden spears was lying, taking one for himself and watching as Boko took three of them.
“I’ve got a pair of the bone axes in my inventory; I’ll leave the other two here for the others to use,” August said, “Ladybug, where are you—you’re coming with us. Morningstar, I’m counting on you to protect Rittan, Kalter and Haiko from anything that tries to hurt them.”
Morningstar gave a trill at the words and then dashed back towards the hut to carry out his task. August caught Ladybug before she could land on his shoulder, and then once he was more certain of his balance, he placed her there himself.
“Time to go,” August said.
“I’ve been super curious about what this place actually looks like from up on the ridge,” Boko said, holding up a Sadapple up in salute. “Lead the way, bossman."
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.
