Chapter 3
The next day Jake set about to experiment with the paper more. He inferred that from the message when he made Crane v 500, that if he used the entire essence of the tree it would be significantly more than using part of the essence. How to control how much of the essence was transformed he had no idea. Jake made a single frame the size of an average piece of folding paper and chopped down another tree. Using the tree he took small pieces from each and every part of the tree from roots to branches. Placing enough in the pot to make pulp for a single sheet he cooked it and waited. The paper made from the different tree parts had no difference at all from regular paper. In fact it was a little weaker. He folded it and got a small crane like before where it could only flap a little. It had no strength at all.
'Maybe the secret is not where the paper is from but how do I get the entire essence of the tree into the paper without making a massive piece of paper. Maybe if I just make one piece of paper and fold as hard as I can?'
Jake did just that. He took his axe and cut a bunch of trees down and made cranes out of the trees but always got the same result. The amount of material used would always change the amount of power the crane got with the most powerful one being Crane v 500. Then Jake had a relatively crazy idea.
Jake went up to the tree and began feeling the bark. He looked at each and every crevice carefully. He smelled the scent of the wood carefully. He even tasted some of the sap. He inspects every detail out of the Iron Bark Tree.
In truth the skill Jake had made was not a craft skill. It was more of a god’s ability. It took life and gave it another form. By knowing the form of one life and knowing the form of another they were able to move it from one form to another. Jake's origami skill was however limited to the moving life from trees to his figures as these are the only things he observed carefully and paper has to be made from trees.
After looking at all the details of the tree he felt the aura coming of the tree similar to the time he made the giant crane. Jake immediately took his knife and made chips out of the tree and made that into pulp. Going through the entire process with diligence, Jake made a crane. When he put on the final details the light from the remaining wood faded and the light started shining from the crane in his hand. The tree started to disappear into small flecks of light and in a stream, flowed into the crane. As the lights moved, the tree slowly disappeared and the crane slowly expanded. It expanded until it was the size of Crane v 500. It floated off the ground and bowed to Jake.
You have unlocked a secret of Origami, Inheritance
By using your understanding of the origins of life and its destination you can make your figures have some of the traits of the life form used to make it.
You have learned the universal property of all trees: Growth, using unused resources the figure will increase in size when finished. This reaction is uncontrollable.
You have learned the property of the Iron Bark Tree: Iron Bark, the paper will be as hard as Iron.
You have made a paper crane using the entire life force of the Iron Bark Tree. The crane has the properties:
Growth
Iron Bark
Please name your creation
"Steel Wing"
Is "Steel Wing" alright
"Yes, its perfectly fine."
Jake was relatively happy with the results. He learned to conserve effort and strengthen his figures all in one. The growth property appears to be a little troublesome, but if there is no unused resource the figure won’t grow. The Iron Bark property appears to be exclusive to Iron Bark Trees but it would be very useful. Later Jake would discover that the properties are actually controllable.
The crane, Steel Wing has the property of Iron Bark and it sure does shine like its made of Iron. Jake took the blunt end of his axe and tapped the crane with it. It gave off a hollow metal sound as the axe bounced off it.
‘These properties seem to appear when I investigate the origin of the resource. I better find some more trees later.’
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The city was in a riot. The Cult of Askhan was brain washing the people into thinking they were doing gods work. They raided shops that sold luxury goods while destroying all buildings related to the royal family. Even the couriers were barred from entering the palace from the threat of lynching. The new high priest and his followers were swimming in their gold donations. They even had some jewelry that was meant for the princess.
Meanwhile the royal family and nobles where not much better. They kept having their lavish parties and fancy dinners while the people of the kingdom starved. The recent drought and famine where by no means alleviated by the tax raises. They robbed the countryside dry and when the people had come to peacefully ask for assistance they were executed for disobedience.
The city was burning inside out from the fires of the wicked human beings that had seized power. They were only looking for gold while the people suffered. The royal guards were no better. They only looked out for themselves. They wanted to keep their positions in the cities dying economy. With shops being raided and no one having money to spend the economy grew stale. All the money that had been stored by the powerful was bringing a collapse to the society. What on the outside was a war for religious freedom had a dark truth behind it.
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Jake was about to mount Steel Wing but before he could do so he fell on the ground. His satiety bar was rock bottom. Jake had bought as many pieces of rye bread before he left town but he had forgotten to eat any of it because he was so focused on papermaking. Now that he had been out here for a few days he ran out of his bread supply. The fact that he was chopping down trees everyday didn’t help his hunger either. Looking around, the camp for anything to eat Jake realized he could eat wolf meat, probably. Jake had hunted wolves last night with Crane v 500 and whenever they defeated an entire pack, they landed and Jake collected all the loot. In that loot was the every so precious wolf pelt. There was also the wolf meat. Jake at the time was too possessed with the pelts that he never had a chance to look at all the other loot. Taking a look there was also wolf claws and teeth. Those would be saved for later but the meat would be eaten, after all the forums did say wolf meat tasted good.
At first Jake tried to eat the meat raw. That turned out badly as it was too tough, not to mention the horrible taste. Then Jake tried frying it over the fire on a stick. This also had extremely bad results. Due to the fact that Jake did not have the cooking skill the meat turned out black. Eating this resulted in food poisoning. After recovering from that Jake logged off and searched for ways to cook meat on Royal Road forums and cooking websites. Cross-referencing these resources, Jake decided it was best to use his skills with the pot to try making stew.
Jake placed the meat along with some water in the pot over the fire and tried cooking it like he would make pulp. With a little modification to his technique Jake made an adequate stew. His skills with making paper were related to cooking with fire so Jake had some boosts from there. Eventually Jake was able to get the cooking skill.
Through your repeated actions you have gained the Cooking skill.
Enhances the taste of your meals
With this Jake would no longer go hungry. As long as the wolves kept attacking Jake would keep killing them and making food. The wolves had jumped up a notch in Jake’s book from crafting materials to cooking materials. Then Jake remembered the teeth and claws that he also collected. Since he wasn’t an alchemist he couldn’t make potions from them. But then again they could serve some other purpose.
Taking some spare wolf pelts he cut them into small strips that would be suitable for making straps on armor. He took them and tied the teeth to Steel Wing’s beak and lined his wings with claws. Now Steel Wing looked something like a bird creature from hell with sharp teeth and claws going in every direction. Jake wasn’t sure how much damage they would do but they would sure as hell hurt a lot more than a paper cut. Carefully navigating through Steel Wings new weapons, Jake mounted Steel Wing and they lifted off in search of prey.
Jake felt the wind rushing through his hair as he skimmed past the line of trees, completely unaware of the situation in the city. The wolves of the forest were most active at this time of night. He would butcher them all and make many frames out of their furs. As Jake passed areas he had hunted in last night he noticed that they were filled with wolves again.
‘More for me.’
Jake thought as Steel Wing descended to wreck havoc on the ranks of wolves. By now Jake had thoroughly learned how to fight from the air. His skills at matching the timing of the descending bird and his axe were almost perfect. Also, since Steel Wing was significantly more durable than Crane v 500 he could attack to some degree. In each of their downward swoops, Steel Wing would impale a wolf with its beak and Jake would dismember it with his axe. By the time he cut down that pack of wolves Jake got a skill.
Through your unique repeated actions you made a skill, Mounted Combat
The art of combat while on a steed is common practice of nobles. You have earned the skill by riding a flying beast but it caries on to all mounts. Added 1% damage for every level the mount is. Added 30% damage for a flying mount.
With this skill Jake wrecked the wolf ranks one at a time. Unfortunately the wolves did not thin out, as one would expect. They kept coming and they came from a specific direction. On initial inspection one would expect Jake to not have a method of attack. However Jake was in fact flying the crane in a pattern to trace the origin of the wolves. The pattern he devised lacked efficiency but Iron Bark Forest was small. The trees were big but took a long time to grow. Also the trees only spread their seeds once every few decades. And so the ancient forest was still the size of a small town and Jake located the center of it.
In the center, there was a large tree. It was at least three times in width and four times in height that of a normal tree. Jake noticed that the wolves were actually coming out of the base of the tree. Not wanting to fight the spawning wolves, Jake headed straight into the leaves. As soon as he broke through the initial layer of leaves, he saw the entanglement of branches. Steel Wing had been hunting with Jake all night so he was able to navigate the sudden attack. They arrived in a clearing, which looked like the center of the tree. The branches that extended from the base all met here and weaved together to make a small platform with many outreaching branches and many gaps. The branches weaved together to make a circular dome, which Jake just broke through. In the center stood what looked like a tree Ent with a wolf head with the glowing name Guardian of Iron Bark Forest.
“You have invaded the sacred forest which holds the trees planted by the gods. You have ignored all the warnings, prepare to die”
“Well at least you get right to the point. I wasn’t planning on asking for mercy.”
With that the boss battle started. Jake had gained levels from the wolf hunting and could take a pack by himself and so could Steel Wing. However the boss was not as high a level as one would expect. He had been placed in charge of Iron Bark Forest which had trees as hard as iron. No sane lumberjack would cut trees in this forest. Therefore the gods reasoned that an average guardian was all that was needed for the forest. No one would want or need to attack this forest, until Jake. After all there was a forest with only a few wolves and thinner trees down the road. As a result the guardian was not on par with the trees that lined the forest.
Jake and Steel Wing circled the guardian and rained down blows as the boss tried to hit Jake with random branches that grew from the tree. Normally Jake would be able to win by using the hit and run strategy he perfected over many wolf skirmishes but the guardian had an advantage. Steel Wing had helped Jake slay many wolves that night and had gained significant boosts in agility. Together they were faster than the guardian could hope to hit. The guardian was simply biding his time. If he kept raising sharp branches eventually some would hit. Especially if he slowly wore down the opponents and mass summoned some branches he would take them down.
Jake continued to aim for the sensitive parts of the guardian. He aimed for neck, joints, whatever he could see that Steel Wing could reach. Surely enough it was enough to bring the boss to half health. However, no matter how good the Iron Bark property was the crane was paper and when paper first tears it will continue. Eventually the guardian got lucky and struck the crane right on the wing and it tore straight off. Spinning out of control Steel Wing, loyal to his master threw Jake onto a nearby branch and went spinning out of the arena. As Jake was sailing through the air, the guardian shot a hand made of wood up from a branch and caught Jake. As the hand brought Jake closer, he thought he was doomed. He would have to fold another crane to bring him up to the tree and kill this guardian. No he would make an army.
Just when he thought he had no hope, a flash of white slashed down before him. The hand that was holding him disintegrated and Jake used his axe to grab onto an outreaching branch. His savior was Crane v 500. Jake did not know but Crane v 500 was his creation and it was still loyal to him. Also when he told it to fly away it had stayed at a high altitude to heal itself naturally and then fought small mobs to gain some levels. Normally paper figures would not heal or grow but the crane had life force in it. Therefore it is, in a way, alive. As it was loyal to Jake it returned one last time to save his life when he needed it most. Even though it did not have the Iron Bark property it still charged in to help Jake. As a result it took a lot of damage. The wings were broken and the tail crooked. Worst of all the main body had ruptured. It would never be able to heal from these injuries. The crane rocked back and forth on a branch trying to help its master again but it failed to move. Jake rushed over to the crane.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
He saw the life force of Crane v 500 slowly dimming down and finally disappear. Crane v 500’s life had returned to the forest as all things borough must be returned. In its last moments of life it served its master and it was happy. Even though it had low intelligence and no real attacks to speak of it had fulfilled its mission and could now rest in peace. But Jake was enraged; his companion that had accompanied him into battle for the entire night was dashed away by the guardian. Although they did not spend long together Jake had put his heart and soul into creating the crane from pulp and paper. Unforgivable thought Jake as he slowly got up. First Steel Wing and now Crane v 500.
Crane v 500 has died. Its life force has been returned to the forest where it came from.
“I will have my revenge!”
Jake picked up his axe and charged at the guardian who was a little stunned by the sudden intrusion. Jake tried to slash straight at the wolf ent who appeared to be relatively immobile. He missed as the guardian moved with surprising speed. The guardian summoned his sharp branches while he moved back, hopping from branch to branch. Jake gave chase. When branches appeared in front of him he simply plowed through them in his rage. He forgot he even carried his axe. Then again, the axe had one target, the one in front of him. The guardian summoned weaker and weaker branches in his hasty retreat. Jake was faster. His hours of folding had granted him a large quantity of agility boosts. Using his axe to hook on to the outreaching platforms Jake propelled himself in one last jump. Noticing that Jake’s leap, the guardian stopped its retreat and summoned a large club of wood from a nearby branch. Thus engaged the close combat.
Jake and the guardian exchanged blows. Jake had abandoned his original style of countering with the pole of his axe and started the swing savagely as the guardian also swung away. Not caring for the blows that rained down on him, Jake hacked away at all the guardian. All his experiences in Royal Road had leaded him to this point. Jake had accumulated stats and skills that boosted his weapon.
The guardian however could also not afford to lose. The gods entrusted him with this land. The land may be plain but if he were to leave it, the ancient trees would be chopped down and powerful monsters would invade the area. He could not allow this to happen. Wagering all they had the two combatants swung blow for blow in their war of attrition.
Eventually Jake noticed cracks in the club. As it came down, Jake regained some of his reasoning and used his axe to change the angle of the guardian’s swing and made the club hit straight down into hard wood. As the club made contact with the wood, it splintered into infinite pieces and Jake finished the job by stomping it, rendering the makeshift weapon unusable. Before the guardian had a chance to summon another weapon, Jake began his one skill that would help secure his victory.
Jake turned his body around while leaving his axe in the counter position. Then using the elasticity of his body, he swung the axe directly from the counter position and activated Tornado Swing. The axe was fast and ferocious. The guardian tried to get out of the way but he wasted too much energy already. The axe stuck clean through the immobile guardian. Then the axe kept coming. Jake rained blow after blow on the guardian not giving him rest. Head, Shoulder, Knees and even his toes where chipped away by the swinging axe.
With the sound of splintering wood, the head of Jake’s axe and the guardian’s head flew off in opposite directions. Holding a broken stick Jake collapsed on the ground. The blinking red bar in the corner of his vision signified he was all out of stamina. The other red bar was almost completely empty; Jake had just barely survived the battle. His fight for revenge and freedom was over. Jake logged out and immediately thereafter, fell unconscious on his bed.
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The next day Jake awoke to lights glaring in his eyes. The sun had risen and he remembered the events that occurred yesterday. Trying to forget Jake covered his eyes with his blanket. Just as he was about to fall asleep again, he felt some one kick and punch his side repeatedly.
“Wake up Jake!”
“Tell me what city you started in.”
“Come on its been over a month now.”
Unfortunate as it was, the demon that hates sleep had come into his room disguised as his sister. Jake would rather face eternal punishment rather than answer his sister’s torment. Jumping out of bed he dived into the capsule and shut it tight. Most people might not know but there is an option to install the internal lock. This invalidates all claims of safety Unicorn holds but Jake had gotten one just for this type of scenario. Locking the capsule Jake re-entered Royal Road.
After a flash of lights Jake was back in the place he logged off from. He looked in his hand to see the axe that had broke from last time. Everything was the same as last time but for the light streaming in through the gaps in the leaf barrier. Jake shielded his eyes and looked around the arena. Crane v 500’s body was in the decrepit shape he had last seen and Steel Wing was no where to be found. Jake looked over at the guardian and saw what was left. There was a large pile of coins with an axe in the center. Jake might not have realized it but Guardians where the highest level mobs in Royal Road forests. That means Jake killed the highest level monster in the forest. Even though Jake had much lower level, with the assistance of Steel Wing, he had won. Unfortunately the aforementioned was missing. Jake would look for him later.
Picking up the axe he examined it. It was a little different from the axe Jake usually used. This axe had a much shorter handle and the blade was attached throughout. Also this axe was much more top heavy. Jake may not have realized it but his axe was special. It was purposed for combat. The pole was long so that it could counter and deflect on coming blows and the blade was created in a way that it could grab onto enemies weapons. Also the top was weçhted less then that of a wood cutting axe because it relied on speed and timing rather than brute force.
Through your unique actions you have gained the Identification skill
Allows you to identify items. Higher level items need higher skill level.
’Well that will come in useful’
Then Jake realized that he had an unchecked message.
You have slayed the Guardian of Iron Bark Forest. You have earned the title Iron Bark Slayer.
All monsters in Iron Bark Forest will fear you.
50% increase in axe related skills
If you choose you may become the next guardian of Iron Bark Forest
‘Hell if I become a guardian. I don’t want to protect trees, I want to cut them down.’
Jake equipped the title anyways because he needed the axe skill boost. He then looked for a way to get down. It didn’t take long as there was a stairway built into the tree. It was in a rather obvious place and must be the path normal people would take to get here. Jake cautiously made his way down, as there could be traps or mobs. Oddly enough there was not a single wolf.
“Status Window”
NameJakePrimary ClassN/ATitleSlayer of Iron BarkHealth450Mana100Level27Strength65Agility54Wisdom10Intelligence10Vitality22Endurance34Art50
Axe Mastery [7] 67%Tornado Swing [3] 25%Mounted Combat [4] 43%Wood Cutting [6] 98%Herbalism [3] 63%Handicraft [5] 75%Origami [4] 54%
Secrets:
1. InheritancePaperMaking [4] 23%Identification [1] 0.5%
After a few minutes of climbing he made it down to the base of the tree. There he saw a scene of mayhem. There was a large pile of wolf bodies and on top of them was a battle worn Steel Wing. The last time Jake saw Steel Wing was when his wing broke off and went spinning out of control. Steel Wing was loyal enough and still had enough control to throw Jake at a branch even at his own sacrifice. What Jake didn’t know was that even after Steel Wing fell he continued to help Jake. After an uncontrolled decent, Steel Wing made a distraction and attracted all the wolves away from the tree. They battled for hours until the sun rose and the one winged Steel Wing stood victorious. While Jake fought the guardian Steel Wing had been creating trying to help Jake in any way possible. Otherwise the wolves may have reached the top of the tree to help the guardian overwhelm Jake.
Oddly enough Steel Wing was a high enough level to keep the wolves occupied. Then again the wolves lost all command structure when the guardian was busy fighting Jake. Each and every pack took direct orders from the guardian and when he was in a personal fight they had very little order. Normally this is a bad tactic but the guardian is usually the last boss so Jake skipped a few steps and rendered their command structure obsolete.
Jake rushed over to Steel Wings side. He had been fighting this whole time for him and now he was in ruins. The once Iron hard paper was now falling apart. Steel Wing rocked one time to the left and once to the right before the light streamed out of its body and returned to the forest. Left tattered remains Jake cried for vengeance. The guardian had struck again from the grave.
Steel Wing has died. Its life force has returned to the forest where it came from.
Jake dug two graves at the base of the large tree. One for Crane v 500 and another for Steel Wing, the two noble warriors who had fought for him to the bitter end. Jake gave a solemn speech in remembrance of his creations and stood in silent vigilance. After some time passed he promised his diseased cranes that he would get stronger so that instead of being protected he could protect the figure he made. On his honor as a craftsman he would survive.
Making his way back to camp on foot Jake had little resistance. All the wolves were afraid of him and the trees weren’t going to do anything. Just as he reached his camp, he realized he was not alone. Standing in the middle of his camp were three armed men. They were all had swords at their belt and shoddy plate armor shining with the insignia of a red bear etched across their breast plate in questionably red paint. For all intents and purposes Jake named then Thug 1, 2 and 3.
“Hello there stranger. It’s a bit strange to see one all alone in the forest” says Thug 1.
“Who are you?” replied Jake.
Thug 1 carried on, “Well we are knights of the Askhan Church. We have come in search of some donations for the revolution.”
“Go away I have nothing for you.” Jake replied curtly.
“Who the hell do you think you are?....”
Thug 2 began to speak but was cut off by Thug 1. He carried himself with the air of a leader. He is probably the most dangerous one.
“Come now, we have a noble cause. We are trying to stop the tyranny of the noble family. They have pillaged the poor and still raise taxes.”
“Leave me alone.”
Jake braced himself. Raising his new axe he assumed a defensive position.
“Well this is some fine paper and we can’t really let that go. Why don’t you tell us where you got it?”
Thug 2 and 3 were beginning to circle around him.
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you thieves go back to your cult and forget I was ever here.”
“You will regret dishonoring the name of the Askhan Church in front of its knights.”
As he finished his line, the “knights ” attacked at once. They had terrible quality equipment and low level skills but they had number. Also Jake still had low stamina and multiple injuries from the battle with the guardian. In fact his right shoulder was probably dislocated. Jake tried to deflect all the incoming attacks but the cornered him and he was stabbed repeatedly. He even lost his coin purse.
After he fell to the ground in exhaustion, the “knights” started kicking him. Today was not Jakes lucky day. They kicked him until he was black and blue all over. Eventually they got tired and left. But not before they ripped up all the paper and burned all the frames. They left his axe because it was just a wood cutting axe. They hadn’t work a single hour in their lives and they planned to keep it that way. Such was the way of scummy players.
Sitting up he silently wept for his comrades that he sorely missed. But after while Jake steeled his heart and stood. He vowed vengeance against those who wronged him. They and their entire cult would pay, but first an army.
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Author’s Note
So this chapter was one full of sadness. I almost cried myself. But he will definitely get better. It’s always messy before it gets better. Also does my status window look all right? I’m not to sure about it because I don’t like micro managing skills and stuff.