Chapter 9: A Bucket and a Tray

Looks like I might have hit quite the lucky break. I go back to the axe, and finish it, leaving me with 14 mana. This time, instead of laying against the pile, I pick up one crystal, and grip it. It feels hot for a few seconds, then cools down, below the temperature I'd normally expect. When I check my mana, I'm back to full again, but the crystal is at about half the brightness it was before, and I thankfully haven't lost any more hp.

I set it aside, away from the rest of the pile, and use my mana re-writing my stats wall. Then I go back to my pile, and this time select as small of a crystal as I can find, again, gripping it in my hand. It feels hot for only a second, and when I open my hand, the crystal has lost almost all brightness to it. It didn't recover all my mana either, so I grab another crystal, to recharge my mana.

I repeat the process a few times, fixing all my wall stats, and the todo list, while testing different crystals. Previously, I was supposing I'd have almost no mana, but now, it seems like I have nearly infinite mana, which lets me change my priorities slightly. I'm living in a cave, with a rough floor, and it's more tubular than flat, although a large portion of the floor area is flat, albeit uneven. I could work on that. The first things I'll need for that though, are some tools. Tools I can make with stone.

I can make an item approximating a level by making a long, straight stick that is capable of holding a small amount of water in it. If the water inside is touching both sides of the stick, then it is approximately level. It's nothing like modern engineering, but for the purposes of leveling the floor in this room, I can use it as a start. Stone shaping is fairly convenient as well, so as long as I'm envisioning what I want, I can make it, if I keep focused while I'm using it. So after the level is made, I should just be able to roughly level an area of ground, then slowly shift its angle until the water inside sits level.

Speaking of water, I'll have three options for that. I could go all the way to the ocean for it, which is obviously very dangerous, especially at my level. Option two is to find a stream, which is honestly just as dangerous as option one. Option three is less risky. Make a bucket, and set it outside until it rains. Which sounds like the best method to me.

So, I begin the first step to making a more livable area, making a bucket. Stone shaping only needs one hand to cast, so I decide to try something this time as well. In my off hand, I hold a larger crystal, and in with my main hand, I begin casting stone shaping on an empty section of wall. My goal is to cut out a decent chunk of stone to work with. Normally, my mana would run out before I isolate the whole chunk, and then envisioning where I left off would probably be impossible, since I'm removing a small amount around the edges at a time, including behind it.

As I cast, I feel the crystal growing hot, but not unbearably so, and after quite a few seconds, the stone block makes a clunking sound as the remaining amount in the back breaks, and the chunk is now free. I made the space around the block enough I could reach to the back of it so I could pull it free from the wall, which is partly why it was so expensive to do this. Before I pull it out though, I need to move all the little chunks of stone I removed from around the block. I can't destroy stone with my magic, only shape it, so I essentially just shaped the pieces around the block into small spheres, so they'd roll free, and act like bearings for moving the block.

Once I've sufficiently cleared an area, I move the stone out from the wall, and slide it to where I can work on it. Now, for a stone bucket, I don't think that there is anywhere I could safely attach a handle, and expect the stone not to break, so I'm going to just go with a design where my arms have a good place to rest under a lip near the top of the bucket.

As I begin shaving away areas of the block to make the bucket, I run into a second problem. This is igneous rock, which means it's not necessarily solid throughout. There are empty pockets in it. So I attempt something new with stone shaping, which has mixed results. I imagine removing small pockets from the rock, and shaping it such that it's more closely packed. The first thing that happens is the block breaks into many smaller pieces, basically fracturing through many points. The second thing I notice is that the stone looks a little different than it did. Before there was an unevenness to its coloring, but it seems to be more uniform now.

So I attempt a second experiment, fusing stones together, starting with similar stones. The similar stones in fact do fuse together. I then try to break them apart at the fusion point manually, and have difficulty doing so. Next, I try two different stones, and repeat the process. This time, although difficult, I do break the stones at the fusion point with some force. Well, at least for now I can finish the bucket.

After going through a few more crystals, I've completed my bucket, to be honest, it's a bit heavy, and I'm a little worried for how heavy it will be when I've got water in it, but I'll have to make due for now. Although I'm feeling a little tired, I make my out to the cave exit, and find a place off to a side where it'll gather some water if it rains, but out of the way enough that it won't be spotted unless it's being looked for, and then I head back down into the cave to sleep.

---

The next day, I make my way back up to check the bucket, but unfortunately, it's empty. That's ok though, I have other things I can do with my time now. Although the idea of making furniture in my room is appealing, I'd rather build it into the room when I actually have the floor and walls done, rather than making furniture that doesn't sit on the ground properly.

What I decide to work on instead is making some trays for carrying out the charcoal, and for bringing roots back with. It'll take a little trial and error, because I want to make them as thin as I can without them breaking, but once I get it to that point, It should make moving the charcoal and bringing the roots back that much easier.

Speaking of the roots, the original test group is still doing well. They haven't had any issues so far after 15 days. Which means I can bring even more back in the future, which is all the more reason to have a carrying device. Because the tray will be carrying solids, rather than liquids, I'm not as concerned with it being made out of rock that has small gaps in it, which should actually help with the weight of it. In fact, I have one other thing I want to try as well as making test trays normally. I go an grab some of the concentrated igneous rock from before to do my test with, as well as a new block of regular igneous rock.

By the end, I've made 7 trays to test. It took a better part of the day, but I don't have much of a choice. All the trays are the same width and depth, and have the same handle shape, all designed to be comfortable for me to handle. The first 4 are made of varied thicknesses of regular igneous rock. The next two are made of different thicknesses of the concentrated igneous rock. The last one is the one I have the highest hopes for. It's in the thicker half of the trays, but it took longer to make than all the other trays combined.

I started with concentrated igneous rock, and made a relatively thin layer. Then I filed out the bulk of what would be the tray with a honeycomb pattern of rock material, and covered the outsides of it to hide the inner honeycomb.

As I test the trays, the two thicker plain igneous rock trays are the only regular trays that don't break. That said, they were still lighter than the thicker concentrated tray. The honeycomb tray also needs a little bit of fine tuning. Although it's actually relatively light, in fact, it's as light as the thinnest igneous rock tray, one of the coverings cracked part of the way through as I carried it. Considering its weight, I can do with thickening some of the parts of it, if just to see how it holds up. If I can make it stable while keeping its weight under the second thickest igneous rock tray, then it's a win.

I set a time frame of testing and perfecting of this for 2 days. If by then it is still giving me trouble, I'll resort back to the regular tray. I say this mostly because I want to make a few trays before I go out, so that I can take the time to load each tray up in advance, to minimize how long I'll have to spend in between trips outside. For now though, it's time to experiment.

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