It took about a week to work out the process to where Teril could make magisteel consistently. Between the new steel production and now the magisteel Teril gained a couple of levels in his Smelter profession. He gained a spell that allowed a furnace to burn hotter for longer without extra fuel, so it improved their charcoal efficiency. Even still, Joe went out to get more charcoal after a few days. After experimenting before and finding the result worked, Joe went to the Bopa Nut trees on the other side of the mines where he first woke up. They were taller so he could get more charcoal out of them, along with a nice supply of the Bopa Nuts.
Joe had already used some Bopa Nuts when learning the basics of alchemy. Bopa nut oil mixed with bone marrow was the base of simple healing potions. They wouldn't heal much, but they could mean the difference between life and death, so Joe handed several out to each of the different residents of Rust's Edge.
Joe also took some time to forge some new throwing knives. This time he purposefully introduced mana powder into their creation and ending up with what he wanted. All of his time spent forging brought his Smithing skill to 3 and his Heat Tolerance skill to 2.
Spell Knife (Simple)
This throwing knife was created with a small amount of mana powder. The wielder of this knife can cast a touch-based spell into it that will remain imbued for up to 5 seconds, or upon impact, whichever occurs first. At Simple rank the spell imbued in the knife will only reflect its level 1 version.
He made 5 of the new Spell Knives and spent time raising his Throwing skill all the way up to 3 to make use of them. They wouldn't be as strong as using his spell normally, as it would do three times as much damage, but maybe the electricity will cause them to lock up so he can advance towards them safely.
One evening while relaxing in his cabin Ferric came by to visit him again carrying a bundle. Joe invited him in to sit at his table as before, and Ferric put the bundle down, not unwrapping it yet.
“Ferric, to what do I owe this visit?”
“I've decided something, Joe. It's time to start rebuilding Rust's Edge, but we're not ready to reveal our hand yet, of course. That means I don't want to work with our normal traveling merchants for this course of action. Although you're young, you've done a lot of training in the three and a half months since you came to us. I think you can do this.”
“What are you asking of me, Ferric?”
“I want you to travel to the capital city of Trenos. It's a long journey, you'll be gone for half the year at a minimum.” Ferric unwrapped the bundle he had with him revealing 3 ingots of magisteel and a scroll of parchment. “I want you to sell two of these ingots and see how much you can purchase and arrange transport for off this list. The third ingot is your payment for this job. Sell it and use those funds to buy whatever you want for yourself.
“One other thing. The things I'm having you buy will improve our quality of life here, but they won't make much of a dent in rebuilding the town. I also want you to look for people looking for a new start, skilled workers would be great, but I'll take anyone willing to come that you feel we can trust with the secrets we now have in Rust's Edge.
“Speaking of which, the rest of our supply of magisteel ingots are being stored down in the cavern. While you're gone we're going to go back to our old ways to reduce suspicions that anything has changed here. Although if you could leave your magic axe, we can still prepare our own charcoal and Teril says he also knows how to make more quicklime for his steel if we bring crab shells to him.”
Ferric looked at his now empty hands and grimaced. “I wish we had more supplies to give you for your journey. Our lack of proper traveling supplies actually means you're the only one of us who could make such a long journey. With your Harvest spell you can probably make a lot of what you need along the way if you find the right animals and monsters. With the list of supplies is a crude copy of a map that should help you get to Trenos.
“Oh, and try not to bring up your CGS windows in front of anyone. You're already going to draw attention when people find out you have magisteel, you don't need extra scrutiny.”
Joe spent the next two days preparing. He couldn't get a real tent from a deer, but he got a large waterproof tarp made from deer leather. A single wooden pole and twine made from the fibers of oak bark went with it so he could have something he could tie between trees, with a pole to keep it raised to prevent rain from collecting in it. A wolfskin blanket completed his sleeping supplies, although he'd be on the lookout for upgrades as he traveled.
The first week of his trip was pretty uneventful. He wanted to stop and examine all the plants and rocks he came across, but he knew that would take way too much time. He wanted to get to Trenos and back before winter. If his trip took too long he'd have to winter in Trenos and that would likely cost a lot of money.
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Joe made sure to use his time well and constantly trained his skills. Every morning he would run until he ran out of stamina, reacasting Deflection Field as it ran out, climb a tree, cut himself with a knife, then meditate to restore his resource pools. Afterwards he would jump down, gather a bunch of rocks in his pockets, then throw them at trees as he walked the next leg of his journey. By the end of the first week several of his skills had leveled up, namely Running (+2), Throwing, Climbing, Stamina Growth, Regeneration, and Meditation. Deflection Field also increased to level 3, making all his spells now level 3.
The second week's journey brought Joe into the territory of some actual monsters. Joe didn't see them until he made camp for the night two days into his second week. He was eating the last of the deer jerky he brought with him from Rust's Edge when he heard movement from behind him. He quickly stood up and turned around, a Spell Knife in hand. His Night Eyes ability let him see it clearly enough. It was a purple lizard the size of a Great Dane, with ten eyes, five matching pairs identifiable by the five different colors on each side of its head.
Deflection Field went up, quickly followed by Read Aura and Inspect.
Oculasaurus. This lizard is a great predator. Once it catches sight of its prey, it can always find it no matter where it goes or what it does to try to hide. The various eyes of the oculasaurus grant it different kinds of sight to aid in tracking down its prey. Once it finds its prey it has sharp claws and teeth to make short work of it.
Thanks to his level 4 Reading skill Joe was able to take all of that in and dismiss the CGS window in an instant so the lizard couldn't attack him while his vision was obscured. Nothing in the description mentioned an unusually tough hide, so Joe took a chance and cast Lightning Jolt into his Spell Knife before launching it towards the lizard. His angle was off and the knife only bounced off the lizard's scales. Fortunately, the Spell Knife doesn't require piercing its target to discharge the stored spell, simply impact, which occurred.
The lizard squealed as the lightning coursed through its body. It was kind of loud, too loud for Joe's comfort level. Joe rushed forward before it could recover and again cast Lightning Jolt after touching it on the shoulder. Still no chime indicating its death, so Joe cast Lightning Jolt again. This time he got the chime, but not before the thing had been yelling loud enough to alert the whole forest. The sizzling lizard fell to the ground and Joe quickly recovered his thrown Spell Knife, looking around at all sides.
Not trusting his luck, Joe decided to scramble up the nearest tree and wait to see if the lizard's cries brought any extra attention. Sure enough, three more lizards came into the camp Joe had set up. True to their description they wasted no time locking onto Joe up in the tree. Based on how much damage the previous oculasaurus took before it fell, Joe would need at least all 5 Spell Knives to take down a single one of his three hungry and now angry guests.
They were lizards with claws, so Joe had no doubt they could climb trees just like he could, so he knew he wouldn't be safe up there. Joe had a full pool of stamina, so he climbed up ten meters higher and started making his way out onto the largest of the branches at that height. When he felt the branch start to bend more he stopped and turned back to the trunk of the tree and launched a normal throwing knife at one of the climbing lizards. He aimed at its back and got a direct hit.
The lizard squealed a little in pain, but not nearly as much as the previous one did from his level 1 version of Lightning Jolt, so he knew the dagger hadn't done too much damage. It also didn't lose its grip on the tree and continued its climb towards him. A charged Spell Knife went to the second lizard. Another glancing blow before it delivered its shocking content, but still not enough to make this lizard lose its purchase on the tree's bark.
Joe threw another regular knife at the lead lizard again. He missed this time entirely and the knife ended up lodged in the tree. The lizard made it up to the branch Joe was standing on and moved to climb out onto it. The narrowness of the branch made it move much slower than it had on the trunk of the tree. Joe backed up slightly, further onto the branch away from the trunk of the tree.
There wasn't enough room on the branch for all three lizards at the same time, so Joe would have to adjust his plan. As the lead lizard got to him, Joe hoped his level 3 Deflection Field would be sufficient to protect him from the lizard's attacks. The oculasaurus swiped at Joe with one of its strong claws, it barely resulted in a scratch thanks to his magical spell of protection.
Before the lizard could react to the unexpected minimal effect its attack had on him, Joe reached out to its head and cast Lightning Jolt on it. The lizard seized up and before it could regain control over its limbs Joe braced himself and shoved it to the side and it fell off the branch, releasing one of its usual squeals as it dropped to the ground with a sickening thud, then fell silent. A chime in his head notified Joe with what he hoped was a combat experience message.
The other two lizards were now on the branch and the second one was almost within range to attack him. Joe started jumping up and down on the branch like it was a springy diving board. His momentum and location further out on the branch brought it lower and lower with each successive jump, while the lizards tried to grab hold of the branch to keep from falling off like the other one. At the low point of another jump Joe hopped to the side, the sudden release of weight at the end caused the rest of the branch to shoot back upwards and the lizards lost their grip.
Moments after Joe landed relatively safely thanks to his Land on Your Feet ability the other two lizards landed with thuds and cries of pain. They were both still alive, but had multiple broken bones. Joe moved towards them and put them out of their misery with his Lightning Jolt.
In addition to the normal notifications of Combat experience for their deaths, he got another Strategy experience for facing multiple enemies and coming away with resounding success. He also had a window informing him that he gained a new level in his Mage class.