With both the map in his memory, and the path back quite easy to remember, he eventually came to the prairie where it all started. Of course, the first order of business was heading to its north end to confirm if that tin mine actually existed.

Unsurprisingly, it was precisely where the map marked, and with its sound supports he wasn’t the slightest bit worried about a collapse in the near future.

Before mining any though, he wanted to create the ingot cast through the cube and see what it unlocked.

It’d be pretty unnecessary to gather tin if it only asked for copper right now.

“Actually, I have the clay and sand on me. Just make it now and it’ll tell me straight away, although I don’t exactly have a fire.” Either way, with the idea planted he couldn’t resist just making the cast at that very moment.

He jumped into the cube and used three sand with five clay to make the cast, then immediately went to the first tree to search. Right beside the bellows and hemp shirt were two new recipes, and guess what?

“Copper ingots… Not bronze. Guess I’ll have to keep this mine waiting a bit longer. Still, why does a copper spear only sound worse than a bronze one?” He couldn’t make sense of the reason, but followed the box’s recipe, nonetheless. “I can make the spear now as well, right? Although… No, that’s not worth the risk, I’ll make a new glue stick.”

His concern came from a stark difference between the recipe’s and his own glue sticks. The former was significantly thicker, and he feared that if he didn’t provide enough, the recipe would fail.

Of course, he could easily prove this later by taking a half-full cup of sap and seeing if it converted into a glue stick.

Once back at the oak tree, he replaced the dry hemp reeds before crushing some of the wood inside his oven for charcoal. With more than enough sticks as well, he now had a fresh glue stick and saw that even though they differed in volumes, his cube allowed them to be placed in the same orb.

Didn’t this mean, in theory… He could store 99 of a house sized object in one orb?

“That’s such a stupid idea. But if it actually works!” He heartfully laughed at the idea as it followed on from how nonsensical the cube appeared at some points. Not that the logic wasn’t there, but rather that someone designed the thing to work this way! “Let’s just make that spear then, too bad I don’t have Sal to explain this to.” He mourned the lack of an inanimate object, but got over it soon enough.

The spear recipe was actually closer to the bellows in a way, but so much simpler that he couldn’t find a better description. Firstly, it required two rods in the lower diagonal, with a copper ingot at the top right. The glue resided in the northern slot, with a hemp rope in the eastern one…

And then he just pressed to receive a spear.

Of the more sophisticated recipes thus far, it was by far one of the easiest tools, but its use somewhat lacked outside of battle. Especially when compared to the other copper tool available in this level, a knife.

It instead required a rod and two ingots in the middle row, and then a similar amount of glue with a final hemp rope to keep things tied together.

But the fact a knife cost more than a spear surprised him.

It wasn’t merely a rod with a copper cap, like a pike, but a proper sharpened spearhead in the shape of a long, broad leaf. With this, he believed in himself to kill zombies, not that he desired that.

Afterall, he often reminded himself, “I’m a builder, not a fighter. I should run first, but fight if I absolutely need to.”

The wooden spear was no better than firewood now, although he decided to keep it in his room in case something happened…

“Fuck! I never asked about bronze making! What’s the ratio normally… I know it’s mostly copper, but how much? Is 75% copper fine? What about 80%?”

He asked himself over and over, hoping that just one thing sparked that memory which allowed him to have a rough figure, but nothing came in the end. He decided that he’d start with a 2:1 ratio, and increase it until the cube called the output bronze.

This was a massive waste of time, but it was the best way to ensure he didn’t miss the exact amount.

Anyway, if the volume was too low he could just re-melt the failed bronze and add more copper. The concern faded with that realisation but he still kicked himself over the missed opportunity. At least he’d asked about the fire clay, if not for that he might have been wondering how to use steel for days!

The creation of a copper spear did not unlock any recipes though, and without a better choice, he prepared all the other ingredients for a knife before starting up the oven once more.

Without the cold air or rainwater, he already poured out two copper ingots into the clean cast provided by the recipe. Unlike his dish shaped one, which he felt lucky the recipes counted, this cast was smooth with straight edges and more than thick enough to avoid cracking.

In fact, with its slightly greyish appearance, he wondered if it could hold molten iron as well.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

But that was a test for another day.

Two copper bars, a rod, hemp rope, and the rest of his second glue stick all vanished in an instant, and that left him with one copper knife.

As he held the thing in his hand, he plucked its tip once to see it bend rather easily. Made of two ingots, such a thick metal blade really shouldn’t have bent at all, and whether it was due to copper's malleability or the way its handle worked, he had to take care when using it. However, when it came to sharpness, stone simply didn’t compare in the slightest. With a sharpened, smooth edge, he tried shaving the bark off a stick and saw the blade slip beneath and peel it like an apple.

“I’m so close to bronze tools, I can taste it. Time for some new recipes then.” He still hadn’t made the hemp shirt, but decided to leave that for now, especially since it required an overwhelming quantity of fibres to make all the fabric it asked for.

Honestly, hunting a cow and preparing its leather sounded easier.

Disregarding that Joey never learnt how to boil and tan hide…

Once in front of the trees, he quickly checked on the nature magic one, but a confirmation of no new recipes made it clear that the lens of nature was integral to future unlocks.

Meanwhile, he found three new recipes above the copper and they weren’t what he expected.

“Fire clay and sand? More fire clay and sand? And… Oh, I wasn’t expecting to jump straight to bronze like that. Not that I’m complaining.” He certainly enjoyed that he got to move past a crummy stone pick this quickly, especially since he feared it breaking so often.

However, with the first recipe being a cast for pickaxe heads, and the second a cast for an axe head… It seems he’d be skipping the bronze age almost entirely!

Not that he disliked this. The sooner he got to wearing steel plate, the happier he’d be.

He got off his butt and headed back to his room to drop off the notes and grabbed his pet rock. While he could spend time pouring over the new totem he had to create, it sounded a lot more enjoyable to go mining once more, and with a bright day he saw no reason to refuse.

The necklace made it pretty clear that it’d be a couple days until more rain came by. So, it was time to head off.

At the coal mine, he wandered around the base and said, “Now, what does fire clay look like?”

All around he saw a sort of dusty yellow and red substance as well as some layers of rock which encased this coal vein. However, none of it really ‘looked’ like clay, and without much choice, he simply used the trusty method of chipping away to pull off pieces of the walls.

The grey rock was, unsurprisingly, just stone.

And the black rock was still subbituminous coal, that hadn’t changed in the slightest.

“Surely it’s not…” He stared at the yellow-red ground and how it also extended into the caves as well as the walls. This stuff looked nothing like that white clay, although it was as dry as dust, but he just couldn’t believe that.

If fire clay was such a common thing, surely he’d have heard of it? Maybe it just got drowned out when people talked about other types of clay for forges?

With the help of the partially blunted chisel, he was able to pull away part of the yellow-red wall and saw how it easily collapsed into dust when no longer under pressure, into a form he recognised from the recipe images as well. The cube ate it up like the sand, and he entered to check the name, although he already knew the result.

“So it is… Why the fuck was I told to get sand before this stuff then? Did I just miss some sort of obvious source?” Naturally pissed, he shut up eventually and left to collect enough clay for both the casts.

The pile he collected, about four or five handfuls, was only about enough for three units of fire clay. And that meant slowly digging out a load more, fortunately an easy task overall. With 37 units in his inventory, he used 12 for the two casts and considered it a finished matter.

“But seriously, where was I meant to find sand? No way it expected me to go all the way east… Maybe I should’ve followed the stream?” On the way to the tin mine, he questioned himself about the oddity of the recipes as a whole, as it clearly didn’t account for his trip to the village.

After all, if that was the case it might as well have skipped straight to iron ingots and glasswork.

Once at the tin mine, he pressed on the wood beams to see them spring easily, showing their solid state. Timber which bent too easily meant rotting, and that’s the last thing you want when under thousands of tonnes of rock.

Unfortunately, things only worsened from there as he realised just what a tin mine represented.

After no more than a minute of walking, his lantern found itself at a dead end, and all that showed was a pair of long, hefty ropes. One of which was anchored to the ground but extended to a pulley attached to the ceiling, whilst the other wrapped around a rusted anchor by the pulley.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How far down is that even?” He kicked a nearby pebble down, but his lantern light was wholly insufficient. In seconds it vanished and even the pebble’s clattering died out soon after. “One to pull up the ore, and another the workers? It looks durable enough…” His voice did not inspire any confidence.

Given the descending tunnel’s tight space, he could use the walls as supports for his feat and reduce stress on the rope. He swore the moment he got enough rope, he’d replace this disgusting thing.

And so began the descension.

His arms stressed to the point that skin turned white, and he took shaky breaths with nearly every small step down. It felt like forever until he reached the bottom as well, not to mention he was forced to use one hand for holding the lantern. If not for the ability to pin himself against the wall, he’d have died from this. But with every step down, switching the lantern between hands carefully so as to not touch the frayed rope, he grew a tiny bit more confident.

And then he saw it. A large wooden bucket with rusty iron bands and rivets holding it together, attached to the second rope as a way to bring tin back up.

How much tin would he need? Probably not much, but he never wanted to go down again. Not unless he gained something to survive falls of any height.

“99 sounds good. Let's just go for 99…” He said in between pants, picking up the lantern and beginning a movement through the snaking tunnels in all directions.

He’d only descended a short distance into the planet and it already felt toasty in here, like the trip he took to Africa in the summer. Dehydration wasn’t technically a thing for this body, but that didn’t account for such temperatures with low moisture content. Could he stay down here for more than a few hours without dying?

Well, finding tin proved easy at least, the whole place was littered with it in a native form. And with the pick and chisel, he messily collected whatever he found with speed. Breaking the stone pick didn’t even matter in his eyes, as a quality bronze one would replace it soon enough.

Now… Was 47 tin enough for him?