Mining, quite a boring thing to do, especially if most of the process is automated. Especially if you don't manipulate the world so the pleasure of slowly chipping away at something does not exist. I mean all I'm doing is slamming my obsidian rod into things until a get a notification, It's actually making me quite sleepy. As I hazily slap my rod, it snaps in two, something that has surprisingly happened a few times already. Because of my sleepiness I trip over as it snaps giving me a face full of stone. Ahh pain, it may become a dear friend at the rate I'm collecting injures. Although it's quite strange that I'm still able to move after treating my body like shit. No matter how many injuries I get, I am still able to move my body just fine. It's even making me rethink a few things about Rook. If he gets the same benefits "I" do he is not really as strong as I thought. Thinking about it, it's still somewhat admirable to fight through such a pain. A bit weird to do it purposely with no real benefit. What I am doing HAS actual benefit, I get a massive amount of stone that I can do... eh.. stuff with. You know what, I can make myself a fortress with a large spire so I can look down upon everyone else and pity them for not having a huge spire. Technically wasn't that what Rook was doing? I should probably do that, might make me feel better. I suddenly slap myself in the face to get away from daydreaming, and to wake me up a bit. I look at my inventory to see how much stone I have, "367" not bad, not bad. About 12 furnaces worth of stone. Enough to do whatever furnace type thing I want to do. Maybe even enough to maximize a line. Well actually when it comes to that I don't really know how fast the conveyer belts go. So such things can't really be applied yet. Thinking of conveyor belts, I look at the crafting recipe for it: 2 energy sources, 6 plates, 8 gears, and 2 pieces of support material. I'm not really sure how exactly to get a energy source, make a few steam engines? I know in the game you almost immediately make steam engines but I feel in this environment it should be a bit slower. Since i need such things, I immediately look at the ingredients for a boiler: 2 pipes, 1 boiler chamber, 1 burner chamber, and 5 pieces of support material. Also I check the recipe for the engine itself which is: 3 pistons, 3 steam chambers, 1 gear box, 1 generator, 1 turbine, 6 gears, 16 pipes, and 20 pieces of support material. Finally I checked the recipe for the water pump: 2 glassy material, 2 rubbery material, 3 pipes, 2 rods, 1 piston, 3 conductive wires, and 5 pieces of support material. Looking at these things I feel like I am getting ahead of myself. Like how exactly am I even going to get conductive material, or even a rubbery type of material. I have not found any metals when mining around so nothing of that sort. A rubbery material might be made from tree sap or something like that, but what are the chances we have that specific breed of tree on this island. Nonetheless I need to increase the range of materials at my disposal and a tree seems like a easy start.

Walking towards the tree is a bit easier since I have a obsidian Walking stick. It's heavy as all hell but better than nothing I suppose. Well actually It might be worse than nothing but I'm too stubborn to stop now. As I get to the tree I finally get to see the thing up close. It's bark is tropical in nature so it easily peels off. It's fruit is spiked like a pineapple but instead of a vibrant yellow. The fruit is mainly grey with blue frills on the end of its spikes. Being a fair bit hungry I try to pick the fruit from the tree but as I do so the frills suck into my hands stabing my flesh. I suddenly feel a absurd draining sensation. As my vision gets blurry a figure steps up and smacks the fruit out of my hands getting blood everywhere. Pushed to the ground I start feeling absurdly tired and weak so I decide to take a nap.

I wake up in almost pitch black nothingness I can't really see much other than some flickering light a bit of a ways away. Getting up I notice that my hand has been miraculously healed. And not only my hand all the bruises and scratches I collected are gone. Quite rude to whoever stole them but I guess it's somewhat helpful. Wandering towards light I start to notice that it's a campfire with 5 figures around it talking and whatnot. Noticing I am awake one of them, I think David, waves me over to sit by him. They seem to be siting on logs like a proper campsite. Sitting down I enter a conversation half way through. [You know lord if you know how to make traps you should be able to make a net] Lord angerly states [what? there's no real grass on this lowsy island what do you think I would make the net out of] Blackjack responds [you are being uncreative, you know there is a whole world out there and you are limiting yourself to just this island] Lord reputed snarkly [what do you want us to do? Make a boat?] Blackjack replys seriously [we are going to have to make a boat at some point, But what I meant was that there is seaweed growing nearby. You could easily swim down there and take the darn stuff.] Lord reputes [Blackjack, you know seaweed is not really the thing to use for stuff like that. How about you give me some of your rope. such a thing would probably be the easiest solution.] Blackjack suddenly noticed me, it's questionable if he is trying to avoid the current conversation or not, but he states [Skelly, man of the hour, can you tell me if those stone rods are yours by chance] I tell him honestly [yes those rods are from my power.] I decide to go straight to the point [what exactly do you want] Blackjack rubs his hands together for a brief moment before saying [Well, well, it's all coming together, with your crafting skills we can finally start making progress. My skill needs tools and workstations in order to function. Things I can't find myself, or really make, as not much of use is on the island. So Skelly what things do you need to empower yourself.] Mulling over Blackjacks offer I feel a bit suspicious. But I say what I need anyway [I need 1. a conductive metal, 2. A rubbery substance, and 3. A Glassy substance.] Blackjacks eyes brighten up and he summons a object to his hand. [You know Skelly what about gold] Blackjack then has a look of inspiration, instead of just throwing a gold coin he also threw a strange strand of blue rope over to me. The gold coin is fairly stereotypical, but the rope has a similar texture to silicone gel almost perfect for what I need. Blackjack motions to the silicone [eat it]. Reluctantly I decide to take a bite only to be pleasantly surprised. It's incredibly tough so I can't really bite through it, but tastes like blue Liquorice. I give my appreciation for such gifts [Blackjack, this is exactly what I needed. I will try to figure out how to make your workstations as quick as possible.] Blackjack nods smugly well Lord and Rook looked fairly frustrated. Blackjack went in for the kill [I will give you these things on the condition that I will be the only one who will get your items] I quickly respond [Well Blackjack what you offer is nice but what about group cohesion, we will need to find a better middle ground.] I intend to at least be able to service Darkhare and Lord, bit questionable when it comes to Rook though. Rook sarcastically adds [Yes, Blackjack, why do you want to separate the group in such a way.] Rook stands up from his chair and puts a hand on my shoulder, startling me a bit. He tries to look intimidating before saying [how about we just go our separate ways, and let bygones be bygones] Blackjack says in a fairly grave tone [Rook... Put your hand off the Asset] as Blackjack and David start to rise out of their chairs. Rook takes me under his shoulder and starts to book it, saying [Little Skelly! Blackjack already thinks of you as property!] I respond justly [do you really think this is a good way to get me to your side? Kidnapping me and convincing me afterwords!] Rook replys in jest [well you better get comfortable, as I'm getting what I want no matter your wants!] I try to peer through the darkness to figure out if Blackjack and David are coming. Well shit, i can't see a dam thing, and their footsteps are getting distant. Since it seems grim, I begin to struggle violently and start summoning obsidian sticks to jab Rook with. With the disposition of being pricked like a mosquito Rook slaps my head knocking me out for the 4th fucking time today.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

----------------------------------------

I once again wake up only to find myself tied down with blue silicone rope in a fairly dark cave. There is only one lightsource I can barely make out. With Rook nowhere to be found I put my slowly building rage towards flailing about a bit. After I get tired and calm down I start thinking about weapons. Particularly because it seems I need something to defend myself. Looking up a gun in the crafting menu I can make a pistol using, 1 metal plate, 1 metal rod, and 1 piece of material. Looking at bullets I need 1 piece of material, and 1 propellant for caseless amunition, or 1 metal plate, 1 piece of material, and 1 propellant for cased amunition. There does not seem to be a option to build a gun that uses specifically either so I assume the pistol uses both. Looking at this menu is once again a sign of avarice. I have no real idea about where to get these things and the convenience of Blackjack has been taken away from me. Something I wonder is, if I didn't try to argue and upsell with Blackjack, would Rook have not took me from the camp or wherever I was. But, more importantly, I have no real idea where on the island that is. I did not even have time to get my bearings before being taken again. I was there for at least a minumum of a minute or 2 so I had no real time to ask questions. Really I'm not the type of person to be active in a conversation so maybe I would have not done anything. I should probably figure out how to escape this current situation first before looking at water under the bridge. Desperately, I look for anything In the menu that could help my situation. The machine section has things that are way to expensive so I go immediately to the parts section. A lot of things in this section are blanked out leaving only 2 parts that could be made, that being rods and gears. Looking back at the military section there is nothing that could be made. Although I do notice a rifle being there, rifles require basic military research in the game so having that Is quite strange. This system seems to be a absurdly butchered version of the main product, which is kinda confusing as rooks system seems to be stupidly literal. Should we call it a system? Or should we call it powers? It seems like people are calling it powers so It might be fine to just go with that. Well I guess I don't really have anything to do. I could take a nap I guess, wait for whatever Rook wants to do with me. I wish I had a knife or any other tool really. Once I get out I guess I could make a knife, fracture obsidian till you get a good bit, sharpen the pointy end, wrap it in blue rope.

[Research unlocked simple recipe "obsidian knifes" progress 1%]

What? So I can just make recipes, how does It work? I have not actually really looked at the research menu so I will go check that real quick. The menu was blank with only the obsidian knife recipe being displayed in the current research slot. The menu has no real way of telling how I actually unlocked or created it. Is it simply just because I thought of knifes. Obsidian knifes. obsidian knifes.. obsidian knifes? Maybe it's thinking about how to make the knife. So if I would make a proper dagger, I would have 2 wooden plates that I would connect to a knife piece. The knife itself would be made out of a obsidian rod with one end cut flat for the plates. With a perfect point to rod it makes it a perfect stabbing dagger. The knife would have no sharp edge just a well made sharp point. As I have no training with daggers this makes the dagger quite effective. Anyone knows how to stab something, and a dagger made to stab can easily pierce through armor. Although I am not sure if it would be effective enough to stab Rook, It will be a interesting experience to try.

[Basic recipe "Obsidian Knifes" has progressed by 14%]

[Unlocked prototyping for the recipe "Obsidian Knifes"]

So that seems to work, but now I have a new feature just as I somewhat figured out how Reaserch works. Prototyping eh, it does not actually exist in the base game so I have no idea where this came from. My first thought is to look in crafting menu to try and find what may have been unlocked. Looking at the parts section I find obsidian knife piece 1 and obsidian knife piece 2. 1 simply requires a piece of obsidian to make 6 knife pieces well 2 needs 1 obsidian rod to make 3 knife pieces. I craft obsidian knife piece 1 and summon one of them into my hand, and start cutting at the rope. Since its the knife part and not the finished product I feel the knife slowly cut my hand a bit well working. Cutting away my bindings I gain my freedom. Standing up and stretching I find that my hand is actually quite bloody. Putting the knife piece back into my inventory I sit down on the pile of blue rope. My hand is fairly bloody so I need to do something about that before I take another forced nap. What exactly healed me back at the camp? In factorio you would be able to heal from eating raw fish. But they couldn't have force fed me, would they? No. I think factorio has a automatic regen mechanic so that might be it. Well anyways I don't want to wait so I do need to eat something. I look around only to remember that the rope I was tied with is somewhat edible. Standing up I put the rope into my inventory, only to realize that I probably could have done that from the beginning. Trying to simmer down the rage building up from realizing such a mistake I take out a small bit of rope to chew. My hand heals at a slow pace making me somewhat frustrated. After waiting a bit the wound is fully healed although the blood is still covering my hands and a bit of it has already caked over. I remember being fairly clean when I woke up at camp so I guess one of them cleaned the wound which is quite nice. I do stop to realize the absurdity of magicly healing myself. I have been ridiculously reckless the last few days haven't I... wait it has only really been one day. Maybe because I have been basically meandering this entire time I did not really pay attention. Technically shouldn't I be thinking in terms of it being a fairly short amount of time? I have blacked out quite a few times already, so the amount of time spent awake should be less than a day. I have really wasted my time, I should have been more active in trying to figure out how to survive. I am in the middle of nowhere in some weird elf world... I... I should have had better priorities. I should have made a furnace once I had enough resources to do so. Then experimented with that, make everything I can possibly make with stone. Dig trees, dig fish, I have a weird form of telekinesis through my inventory, figure out what I can pick up with it. Technically I have a 3rd person perspective I could use that a lot more efficiently. If I figured out the prototyping system sooner. I could have made plenty of weapons to defend myself. I wouldn't have just been carried by the scruff like a weak little kitten. I should not trust my Associates even though we were hired, no forced, to do this. They are not allies, nor coworkers, they are a free anarchistic people, and should be dealt with as such.