Chapter 7: A Stone Tool

Thankfully, I don't end up with any kind of rash, or for that matter hp loss, from rubbing the vine or leaf yesterday. So today I'll be going to gather some vines, and I suppose looking for some good rocks. You would think that on the edge of a mountain, you'd have access to some good rocks, but actually, there are very few. Plenty of boulders, but very few rocks that are the right size and type for what I want to do.

Well, that's why I'm still searching I guess. Thankfully, I do come across a place today. It's a little further than where I've been searching recently, I find the location of a rockslide. While it'll take some time to sort through, I'm sure I'll be able to find what I'm looking for here. Which means I'll actually need even more wood.

Why? Because I need a really big fire if I want it to get hot enough to potentially fracture the rock. Normally, a furnace of some kind would be used, to reduce the fuel necessary, but since I don't really have any way to build a furnace, I'll have to make due with a bigger fire. I could try to build a primitive furnace out of earth near the entrance of the cave, but right now I'm trying to avoid unwanted attention. I consider myself lucky that I haven't run into any goblins or anything near the cave so far. If there was suddenly an earthen structure here, I'm sure they would investigate.

As for potential smoke, part of the way to the entrance of the cave a lot of the smoke dissipates before getting out. A very small amount does, currently, but you need to have your eye out for it. I'm assuming that the rock is porous, or maybe there are small other tunnels in the dark area that lead into new areas. I suppose the smoke could be cooling and depositing as soot as well. If that's the case, I hope I don't slip on soot in the future.

Whatever the case, my plan is to build a big bonfire with the rocks I want to crack in the center. Since I have no guarantee they'll crack in a way that is useful, my only hope is to bring a lot. Each failed fire is a lot more effort, and potentially more smoke billowing out of the cave, although hot fires tend to produce less smoke. My understanding is that more of the particles are completely burned by the extra heat, meaning there are less particles in the smoke.

It took all day, but I gathered about 20 rocks that I think will be good, but I didn't get enough wood. That will be what my plan will have to be for tomorrow. I need more roots anyway, and this time I plan to gather 10 days worth, rather than the five I gathered before. The test roots in the side of the room are still doing quite well, and I even tried eating one, with good results. I suppose this cave is like a root cellar, so it's probably actually quite good for storing food.

---

A whole day of gathering. First, lots of food. Next, lots of wood. By the time I'm feeling tired, I've gathered nearly all the wood I'll need. I push myself a little bit to finish the gathering today, plus, I can get two birds with one stone. When I exited the cave, the suns were just peeking over the mountain, which means it was mid morning. When I started feeling tired, one sun had almost fully set, and the smaller one was just starting to set. So my "days" are probably a bit shorter than the actual day. I came out here as soon as I woke up, but I still have no clue how long an actual day is in absolute time. All I know is my internal clock isn't synced with the suns.

When I finish hauling everything into the cave, I'm exhausted. I eat and check my status as I fall asleep.

<RARE IMP>
Level: 86
HP: 381/381
MP: 77/77
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation

---

The first thing I think when I wake up is that I need to be prepared soon for my upcoming prestige. Judging from the pace I've been leveling, it's only three more days until I cap out at level 100 again. Which means the next three days are about the strongest I'm going to be for a while. I should really make sure I get the bonfire burned and put out today. That way if anything comes to look over the next two days, I'll have at least some fighting chance against them.

So, I have my meal, and I get to it. I build up a huge pile of sticks, trying to make a decent pyramid shape to it, to help with air flow, putting bigger pieces towards the center over the rocks. It takes a bit of time, but finally, I'm ready to start the bonfire.

I've chosen to build it closer to the exit. There is still plenty of room to go around it, but if there is a bunch of smoke, I want it to go out, rather than in, plus this will likely burn a lot of oxygen. I'm not certain that I even need oxygen, but considering I do take breaths, I assume I do. The cave entrance is pretty big, so I just need to be ready in case I need to flee the cave in order to breathe.

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With the proper preparations made, I go back and grab a flaming stick from the campfire, and bring it over, to start the bonfire.

It takes a little while for it to grow over the whole pile, which is unfortunate, because that entire time, it's billowing out smoke, making me nervous. After about a half hour though, it's finally burning full force, with little smoke coming off. I'm doubly glad I got 10 days worth of food now, since I really don't want to go outside if I can avoid it after there was likely a column of smoke. Who knows what might come to investigate. I just hope the column was gone before they could pinpoint the cave as the source.

As a result, I'm nervous the whole time the fire burns. Constantly keeping an eye on both my breathing, and the entryway. Thankfully, nothing dangerous comes of it, and by the time I'm tired, the massive fire has been reduced to some small fires, and a lot of black coals. I probably won't be able to dig through it until tomorrow, and even then, it'll probably be hot still, but stage one is complete at least.

---

The next morning, I'm still slightly paranoid about anything coming into the cave, but at least nothing has so far. I go through my morning routine before making my way over to where the large fire was. The coals are in fact still hot to the touch, but not so hot I can't work through it. I push them aside over where the rocks were, eventually getting down to them.

I'm glad I gathered as many rocks as I did. Many have broken in ways that aren't useful to me. Some just breaking in half, others, fracturing into too small of pieces, but one has broken just right to be able to be shaped and bound. It's also still very warm, but I delicately pick it up, and take it over to where I normally do my work, and place it next to the would be handle and and binding.

Now, while I would prefer to work on the stone tool immediately, I've actually had a bit of a good idea after noticing how soot covered my fur is. I head back to the charred coals, and start sorting through them. Although rare, I occasionally find decent sized chunks that don't break easily. I gather them, and set them aside as well. Although they might not be useful immediately, within this cave with no water, I've acquired a writing implement of sorts. Unfortunately, the walls are darkly colored already, so I'll have to either find light colored stones, or something else to write on, but at least I won't have to scratch into stone.

I decide that the cleanup of the leftover mess can be saved until I've made my stone axe. The axe might actually improve my abilities to fight once I prestige, should the need arise, and I can bother with cleanup after I prestige.

I carefully take the rock that is to be the axe head, and begin carefully sliding it back and forth across the stone floor of the cave. I apply very little force while I do this. The goal is to slowly wear down the head in places to finish shaping it, although its blade edge is already pretty good, what I'm trying to shrink down are some bulges on the side that would hinder its use.

---

It took a lot longer than I hoped to do, namely about a full day, but I flattened the sides down some for the axe head. Then I wedged it in the V of the stick, and used vines to bind around it, to keep it in place. It wasn't that easy to do with my claws, but I made it work. I finally have the axe, although I have no idea how functional yet. And not a day too soon I think as I check my status.

<RARE IMP>
Level: 98
HP: 417/417
MP: 83/83
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation

I suppose by tonight, if I stay up, I'll probably prestige.

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