[Hemp Rope] = 3 Twine (Hemp+1, 10-20m) + 2 Twine (Hemp+1, 0.2-0.3m) + [Workbench] (Any)
----------------------------------------
Jay sprinted through the underbrush as the barrage continued.
Don’t stop… Need to get out! Another volley zipped by. Mud and wood exploded like shrapnel where the projectiles struck through. He took cover behind a fallen log before more could land, his lungs screaming for air.
This scouting mission was a really, really bad idea. After acquiring his first Boon and spending days on the move, Jay had finally left the little bubble of territory that had been his starting point. The bonus movement speed he’d gained from his Boon wasn’t substantial, but it added up for longer treks, and he figured that if worst came to worst, he’d have more than enough to run away.
But no movement speed was enough. Not against this.
Jay’s eyes widened as a projectile sprouted from his cover. Thin and sharp. Ecru striped against dark brown. A chunk of keratin packing enough punch to put a modern rifle to shame.
The barrage paused. Jay launched back into escape mode. His enemy barreled onward, less than fifty feet away.
He caught a glance while it recharged. Though this monster wasn’t much larger than him in body mass, rows upon rows of razor-sharp quills grew out from its form, more than thrice the original size in scope. A pair of frenzied, chestnut eyes crisscrossed over an otherwise miniature face. It hissed again, and another set of quills emerged to replace those lost.
Jay shuddered as his enemy unleashed a fresh volley. Pain spiked where his joints took the hits. He again dove into cover, this time behind a thicker palm.
The memory of what he’d seen in the Guide when he’d uncovered this beast was still fresh in his mind.
Quickfire Quill Pig (level 34) – A giant porcupine capable of shooting its quills at a rapid pace. This monster is weaker at close range.
A lot of good that does me! Another quill pierced his shoulder. At the rate this beast poured out projectiles, he’d be reduced to shredded meat before getting halfway up to it, if he made it that far at all. Only the 9mm pistol could end this fight, but he was still down to five bullets. Not enough to justify when he could run and hide.
Snap.
Jay stumbled, expecting the weight to shift as another piece of gear broke. But his weight didn’t change, and it took a moment to realize where this breakage had occurred.
The Guide lay on the ground behind, in the dirt, where it had been after its leather satchel had finally broken.
His heart skipped a beat as he recalled one of the most important Rules. But the moment he started to move back, more quills exploded into the ground beside him.
6) Do not lose this Guide. It cannot be replaced.
Everything in there… All his recipes… And research… And data about Annwyn and everything it contained… Shit, he couldn’t even know his current Stats without consulting the Guide! Would he last a day without its power?
The quill pig continued its advance, uncaring for the pitiful creature in front.
Jay [Leaped] forth, straight for the Guide. Before the quill pig could open fire again, he curled his body around his coveted book and [Leaped] back.
But it was too late. Between the closer range and time spent expending his skills, the monster locked straight onto him.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Half of Jay’s armor shattered against its fury, and his axe became lost in the crossfire. He cried out as the quills roared through his flesh. It took everything out of him to stumble into some semblance of cover. His enemy marched on.
Jay kept hobbling to safety, clutching the Guide tight. A river flowed by the side, with a cliff at its edge, its waterfall spilling into the lower plains beneath. More quills zipped by his head as he moved through this opening. If he could just make it a little further…
But then other quills shattered through the mud in front, right next to the river. Jay froze in place, realizing the trap he’d wandered into.
A second quill pig had joined the chase, this one coming in from the other side of the river. With the first recharging and no cover in sight, Jay watched powerlessly as the noose tightened evermore. The second both unleashed at once, it would be over.
The waterfall thundered louder.
And Jay knew what he had to do. There was no way he’d keep his loose cores, but none of his gear mattered compared to the Guide.
As the barrage began again, Jay used the last of his strength to [Leap] into the river.
The result was immediate. The current yanked him downstream, over the cliff, and into the lower plains beneath. Once again, Jay closed his eyes and embraced the chaos…
* * *
Jay rolled out of bed with a groan.
His limbs still ached from that fall, and the past two nights were rockier than he’d liked, but at least he’d lived to see another day.
Should’ve just used the gun. He would’ve gotten some good cores out of it instead of spending the previous day regaining the ones he’d lost. Thankfully, copper gear behaved like they were level 20 on their own, even without monster cores themselves.
Jay wasn’t drowning yet. He was no longer thriving either, but at least he’d learned the boundaries of his world. That scouting mission had yielded the results he’d needed.
He now had a rough idea of the size and scope of his F-Rank island. By his general count, it could not have covered more than a hundred square miles total. Bigger than the city Jay had grown up in, but still feasible enough to traverse in a day if he put his mind to it.
Unless he got murdered by a bunch of monsters first.
Jay had known that inland would be more dangerous than the outer rim where the creatures were weakest, but he had greatly underestimated how quickly that threat would escalate. Within a couple miles of going straight for the center, level 20-30 creatures were the norm, and 30+ monsters weren’t uncommon either. Those quill pigs weren’t even the most difficult he’d seen evidence for. Some flirted near the forties. Because he had no level himself, everything was centered around his gear, which made it difficult to ascertain just how hard those monsters could be until he got smacked in the face.
And still, so much territory remained to the center…
Thus, Jay was back to grinding out his foundation. Upscaling mats to make better tools, harvesting more for research, and combing through the Guide and all it contained to develop new synergies. His copper pickaxe, axe, hammer, knife, and shovel were all bumped to +3 before long, and after researching other gadgets, his Tool Crafting level had been raised to 3, increasing passive durability further. Now, he could craft rope, copper-tipped spikes for base defense, and even ball bearings made from pig iron. With the addition of Alchemy and the ability to break down mats into their associated essences, he could make basic potions for healing, movement speed, and stamina. More complex recipes existed, but almost all of them required research.
Despite the power of his pig iron cutlass and his skills, so much of the Crafting tree remained off-limits because of this handicap. Though he now knew where to farm extra monster cores for his weapons and armor, those would only boost him up so far. The cores mattered most in Primal Age because they added a flat buff across all facets of gear power, along with unlocking new levels and skills. However, reaching Copper Age technology let him modify his gear individually, so long as he upscaled the mats before the craft. His recent addition had come from his copperplate armor, now “Buttressed” with extra posture to reduce knockback, all because of using upscaled copper for the plates.
But just about everything was on the table too. Extra hardness, durability, damage, skill affinity…
It was that last that was so appealing to Jay. As he’d uncovered through research, pig iron existed as an adjacent tier to copper, and raised the power of his skills at the cost of durability. That was the next logical step, now that he could hold his own against level 20+ monsters.
Jay strolled through the caverns, his coal torch burning hot. This would be a longer run. His Bag ‘a Mats could hold 10,000 kilograms of raw materials, and he planned to fill it to the brim with ore before heading home.
Firelight flickered ahead. Jay lowered his own and closed in slowly, cutlass in hand. The sound of metal hitting ore echoed as he reached the bend.
Jay squinted. “That you, Kevin?”
“Oh, hey!” he called out.
His friend hacked away at a copper vein as he drew near, his long-blonde hair drenched in sweat. His lizardscale had been replaced with full copper plate armor since they’d last met, and it glimmered with that same metallic sheen. A minecart sat half-full behind, with wheels reinforced by crude leather, and a track made of stone.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you so far in here,” Jay said, frowning.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Kevin wiped some coal from his forehead. “I was gonna say the same for you. I’ve been going straight down this tunnel after uncovering the better veins.”
“Better veins?”
“You haven’t seen any yet? Not all copper and iron ore are equal. The ones deeper are all upscaled from the start! They take longer to break and need stronger picks, but it’s totally worth it.”
Jay gaped. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I found some looking for new gems, and I’ve been trying to work my way down there since. I think the deeper you go, the better it is.”
Jay considered the possibility. Upscaled mats could be dismantled into their original components, but with a heavy material loss. He didn’t think there would be a point in wasting time that way.
But this… This would need scrutiny. Would he be able to cram ore more efficiently into his Bag ‘a Mats? So long as mats remained unprocessed, the sky was the limit as to what could be shoved inside.
“I’m going to check it out,” Jay decided.
“Be careful,” Kevin said. “I killed my share of monsters, but they only get stronger from here.”
“Thanks for the heads up.”
With his torch at the ready, Jay delved deeper beneath the earth.
* * *
It just keeps going and going…
Stalagmites danced in the shifting light of his torch as he moved deeper through the caverns. Howls and hisses echoed throughout the tunnels, but with so many snaking around, it was impossible to say where they were coming from or how close. Most monsters seemed to avoid the light, anyway.
Like the overworld above, Jay had greatly underestimated just how far these tunnels went. After weeks of mining near the surface, he had been able to navigate the familiar web that proved most efficient since it was closest to his home, but that network was also being shared with Kevin, and none of the ore they mined ever respawned, unlike the plants and animals above. It was inevitable that both would have to go deeper, sooner or later. Jay just assumed that the mine would come to a natural end before it was time for him to move on and build another.
But it just… Didn’t. The further he went, the more apparent it became how sprawling these caverns were. The tight-knit corridors of the upper caves quickly spread the further he went in, and it wasn’t long before he got lost in the sheer scope and for every path that reached a dead end, two more forked out into somewhere wider and longer. If it wasn’t for his coal to mark the way, Jay would’ve been lost entirely.
And the mining evolved from there. Just as Kevin had explained, the ore was upscaled by default, and after hacking a few pieces away, Jay discovered that his Bag ‘a Mats could hold them too. His research would greatly progress the moment he got back home, so long as he focused on these upscaled ores above all else.
But that wasn’t his biggest discovery. Crimson light glinted back where his torch caught the lip of a tunnel, and his pickaxe was fast in action to dislodge it free. With a few well-placed whacks against the wall, a ruby the size of an egg clipped free.
Buzz.
Congratulations! You have uncovered your first [Gemstone], Expatriate. These dazzling prizes can be socketed into weapons and armor for elemental damage or resistances, or crafted into jewelry to provide more passive buffs.
Jewelry Unlocked.
New recipes added.
This gemstone was merely a “Crude Ruby,” but coupled with his other discoveries, it could be cut down, inset into basic rings and necklaces made of hardwood or stone, or broken down in Alchemy for essence. He peered into the ever-expanding darkness and could not help but wonder.
How many more were out there?
With renewed focus, Jay lit another torch and went ever deeper. This path was directly where Kevin would be going anyway, and it wouldn’t be fair to rob his friend of all available ore. Plus, Jay didn’t need to go here. Not when his Bag ‘a Mats rendered any infrastructure for minecarts or rails obsolete.
Everyone else was forced to do it the hard way. Jay could spelunk like a pro.
So, that was how he proceeded. Jay marched further into the deep with resolve now buoyed. This subterranean world expanded more from there.
Underground creeks and rivers tore through the granite walls, their crystalline sheets a beauty to behold. Grottos formed where more extensive networks converged, their vacuous space larger than could be captured by a single torch. Where the water collected into pounds, mushrooms and moss rose up. Stalagmites and stalactites jutted out from the roof like an ever-expanding maw.
It wasn’t long before he faced monsters. Bats, slimes, spiders, snakes, beetles. Most were easy to defeat at this depth and his copperplated armor and pig iron cutlass, but that was only because they were in the level 1-15 range. Jay went through the familiar routine of collecting and harvesting their cores, only tossing the mats that were too heavy to be worth upscaling. The cores remained in his pocket since his Bag couldn’t hold them anyway.
Hours came and went as Jay mined more away. He aimed primarily for upscaled iron and gemstones, but some of the copper was too juicy to resist. The Guide exploded with more recipes as he discovered gems, mushrooms, and herbal roots, each with their own recipes and utilities at the most fundamental levels.
Jay even took breaks to rest and eat after so much time in this hole. With his stores of wood and flint, it was easy enough to start a campfire, and the monster meat he collected could be upscaled and cooked into meals that wouldn’t impact his vitality too badly. The underground rivers gave him a source of water, and for once, it didn’t need to be purified before use. The taste of its cool embrace was a welcomed shift.
Not a bad day. For the first time in weeks, Jay finally felt like he could ease up and relax in these sprawling, unexplored caves.
But then his eye fell onto another vein. This one shimmered in the light of the fire, a vibrant display of specks that twinkled like stars in an underground sky. A waterfall fell down a pit beneath the vein, well out of arm’s reach to excavate safely.
Jay closed the distance and leaned forth. The Lexicon adjusted to accommodate the new data.
Silver Ore – This ore type can be smelted into [Silver Bars] to be molded into weapons and armor, enhancing their elemental properties.
Research is available.
Elemental infusions and now this? Just a single day of spelunking further into this cave had yielded options he’d never considered before.
Jay thought about calling it early and taking his wins. Silver weapons were gated behind research, and he’d been collecting iron and copper like nobody’s business. Why risk mining this vein when he could come back later?
But then he also considered that Kevin would be scouring these mines as well, accomplishing the same thing. Sure, it would be a while before he got here, and the mines kept going without end, but could Jay afford to walk away when it was right there?
It’ll be fine. Jay had a tool for this as well. He unwound this latest one which he’d kept strategically wrapped around his Bag ‘a Mats. Sixty feet worth of Hemp+1, with more wrapped around the ends to ensure it did not break. Even if this was the most basic rope, he’d already tested it before.
He wrapped the rope around a nearby stalagmite with a grin, then tied a knot around his midsection to lock his body in place. The torch lay behind, lighting the way.
Jay leaned over the edge of the vacuous pit with the waterfall beside and gripped his pickaxe tight. His other palm laid open for the price it would soon make.
Whack. Whack. Whack. Wh–
Snap.
Time slowed to a trickle as Jay became weightless. He looked behind reflexively. Though his rope held firm, the same could not be said for its anchor.
The stalagmite itself had snapped in two.
Jay opened his mouth to scream, but the air got sucked from his lungs as he plunged below.
Then there was nothing but darkness…
Name: Jay Reis (Copper Age)
Vitality – ??/43
Hunger – ??/72
Thirst – ??/24
Fatigue – ??/48
Sanity – ??/100
Main Crafts: Alchemy 1, Armor Crafting 2, Base Building 2, Cooking 1, Medicine 1, Tailoring 1, Tool Crafting 3, Weapon Crafting 2.
Weapon Crafts: Axes 3, Bows 4, Clubs 3, Daggers 3, Spears 5, Swords 7.
Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 5, Light Armor 2, Medium Armor 6, Shields 6.
Character Skills:
[Forbidden Knowledge]
Armor Skills:
Heavy Armor: [Push], [Stampede]
Medium Armor: [Recover], [Leap], [Waterform]
Light Armor: [Dash]
Shield: [Brace], [Track], [Break]
Weapon Skills:
Axes: [Chop]
Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot]
Clubs: [Bash]
Daggers: [Slice]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash], [Rend]
Cursed Items:
[Bag ‘a Mats]
Armor:
[Copperplate Hat] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Coat] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Leggings] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Shoes] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copperplate Gloves] (Buttressed+2), (Reinforced)
[Copper-banded Roundshield] (Buttressed+2), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced)
Weapons:
[Pig Iron Cutlass+1] (Sharpened), (Affinity+1)
[Wooden Bow+3] (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+2)
[Basic Leather Quiver]: Contains 20 [Flinthead Arrows]
[9mm Semi-Automatic Pistol] (Accurate+2), (Quick): Contains 4 [9mm Cartridge] (JHP)
Tools:
[Copper Knife+3]
[Copper Axe+3]
[Copper Hammer+3]
[Copper Pickaxe+3]
[Copper Shovel+3]
Boons:
[Minor (Speed)]