Bone weapons.

When Reid thought about what a bone weapon should be, his mind ran away with ideas of barbarians holding bone clubs. But Reid was no barbarian, and while he had been using stones as projectiles to kill his foes, and he looked like a strongman - he wasn't some meathead. Or maybe he could be, Reid thought. He could definitely see himself fitting the 'bone club barbarian' mold. But a part of him had always imagined fanciful settings like the one he found himself in would have him fighting with a sword. That's what he wanted.

Reid wouldn't be a brute - he'd be a knight.

Reid worked his imagination on the weapon he wanted to create. It needed to be a long, sturdy, and sharp blade. He needed something that would be enough to withstand his strength, take down enemies with reach so he didn't suffer injury, and - ideally - something that looked cool.

He tried to will a bone blade into existence in his hand. His muscles shook and sweat with effort as he tried to focus and force the weapon to come into being. He kept at it for nearly an hour - cycling through different weapon ideas and different starting points to try to find something that worked. Nothing came from the attempts. A bit dejected, but undeterred, Reid decided to study his own bones. It was possible he was missing something fundamental about how the skill worked because he wasn't familiar enough with how his bones actually grew.

His senses pushed into his forearm and the image of two long bones appeared, connected to different points at his wrist. One was larger than the other, and that large one connected close to his wrist's midpoint. Reid focused on that connection point, and dove in. His bone had a thick and mostly solid outer layer, and bits inside that were more like the spongey matrix he'd grown into the marrow. Spongey structure wouldn't work for a bone weapon, as it might be too weak. A weapon also wouldn't need open space for blood vessels or other bits to travel through, and he definitely didn't need to make part of the weapon hollow to deal with the weight. So he needed - and could make - something solid.

He focused on the outer layer, and willed the section to extend.

At first, nothing happened. Reid concentrated and pushed harder until he felt something drain in his body. He opened his eyes just in time to see bone pierce up through the skin on his wrist. It extended rapidly, and grew out until it was nearly three feet long. His skin had stretched around it without splitting or cracking, so there wasn't a single drop of blood on his arm. It wasn't even particularly painful compared to everything else he'd been doing to himself lately. The growth was beautiful. A bone weapon. Not a club, but a sword. The tip had grown in first and was furthest away from his wrist. The bottom of the weapon was a round handle... that was still attached to his wrist.

Reid paled. Everything had happened so quickly, he hadn't really thought about the process. He had just focused on the sensation of the weapon growth. But of course, if he grew a weapon of bone from his own bones, they had to be separated somehow. That was definitely something to keep in mind for any future use. Reid would prefer to separate the weapons from the bones he wanted to keep inside his body as part of the growth process.

But that was something for the future. Right now, Reid was still stuck needing to actually separate his new sword from his forearm bone.

He sucked in a breath, gripped the boney handle, and twisted. The pain bloomed in his wrist and blinded him for a moment, then the growth snapped off with a disconcerting 'pop'.

In his right hand, Reid now held a fully realized weapon. The handle, a near perfect fit to the size of Reid's hand, felt absolutely solid. The sharp side of the blade ran straight from the handle to mid-weapon, then curved in towards the tip. The other side looked like some wide-mouthed beast had taken a bite out of a straight line, leaving the upper part of the blade with an odd hooked look. A notification popped into view as he turned it in his hand.

Calcification Weapon, Clip Point Radius created! Calcification weapon evolution paths unlocked.

On Reid’s left wrist, he felt his bone growth retreat back into his arm. Skin covered the area as if nothing had happened. It was good that he didn't have to spend time fixing his skeleton and stitching the skin back together to use the skill. If his body repaired itself automatically for this skill, there was a chance he could find more automatic healing options for other skills. That would save him from his current, painful self healing methods. He filed the information away for later.

Reid turned the sword over in his hand a few times, and decided he would test it by cutting into the salamander corpses.

His knife was unable to penetrate into the salamander's skull, so he was pleasantly surprised when his bone blade carved through the skull bones with little resistance. After that, it was still sharp enough to chop down grass.

He'd been relying on blunt force to kill salamanders so far. This weapon was his way to deal blows with better reach than his fists, and could strike at the salamander's brains to kill them while staying mostly safe from their claws. The new options the weapon offered him in those fights made Reid feel a hell of a lot better about his situation

#

Reid reluctantly stopped playing with his sword to finish up another project that had been sitting on his stone table - food storage.

As convenient as pocket jerky was for snacking, Reid had to admit it was not a very good solution. There wasn't enough room to store his current stockpile in just his pockets, and eating lint from his pockets had been really, really gross.

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

Instead, he would be carrying the jerky in a new, super convenient grass weave. Reid had attempted to make a woven grass bag, but quickly realized it was out of his skill range. Instead, he had settled on the idea of making a woven grass mat that he could then roll up like sushi with the jerky inside of it, which would then be secured with some strips of cloth from his shirt.

He'd also made himself a strap so he could wear the grass roll on his shoulder instead of carrying it in one hand. The strap was also made from strips of Reid's shirt, tied together and secured to the grass roll with a combination of knots and carefully re-used shirt buttons.

The fit tests and adjustments were complete, so Reid worked on the final piece of his meat transport system - making sure nothing fell out from the sides of the roll. He stuck thin whittled bones into the rolled up grass like wheel spokes, and shook the whole thing. Nothing fell out.

Reid was ready to travel once again. His first goal was to find running water. Then he'd push on towards the beacon.

#

He hiked for three hours before he found a water source. It was a brook that looked clear enough to drink. Reid washed himself off, drank as much as his belly would hold, and was just about to redress himself when he heard the telltale sounds of salamanders.

Screeches and water drop pops echoed out from different directions all around him. Reid frantically shoved his briefs and pants back on, and quick-tied his boots. He shoved a few rocks from the river into his pants pocket and surveyed the area.

The brook was at the bottom of a small valley, lazy inclines on each side had sparse tree cover that let in plenty of light. Downstream, the valley and brook curved and disappeared into thicker tree cover. Upstream, it was more open, and continued nearly straight for almost half a mile.

Reid wanted the open field more than he wanted trees if he had to fight. The trees wouldn't stop salamander claws, and the lack of clear line of sight would prevent Reid from using any thrown stones effectively. He didn't like the idea of fighting on uneven ground too much, so he decided to stick on the flat near the water.

He jogged upstream, flinching at every screech. And then he saw them.

At the top of the left ridge, six salamanders stared down at him with their yellow slitted eyes. Their claws gleamed in the sunlight as they shifted, and waited. Another six were on the opposite ridge, with a single salamander in their center that was almost twice the height of the others. Its eyes glowed like orange embers, and where its brethren had opaque crystal claws, this one's were distinctively a light shade of aquamarine blue. Its status as leader was confirmed when its screech sent the rest of the groups forward to attack. It alone remained behind, eyes still intently fixed on Reid.

The groups descended, tails lifted high behind them to balance them as they ran. Reid scooped a handful of rocks out of his pocket and threw them at the larger group. Even as they whistled through the air, he dropped down to the brook and grabbed for more rocks. His hand scraped through the sand and muck, and he whipped the few rocks he'd snagged at the smaller advancing group. Bits of mud and debris spiraled off the rocks as they flew towards their targets.

The first thrown handful impacted, tearing small holes into multiple creatures. One stumbled and rolled forward after a rock punched straight through one of its hind legs. Another was missing part of its lower jaw. The rest sported holes in their abdomens. Reid frowned at the lack of kills.

The second group was a better outcome. His stones lanced through arms, shoulders, and heads. One cried out when its arm was torn off completely. The severed appendage spun off and hit the next creature in line, claws-first. The limb buried itself into that one's neck, and it sputtered and slowed in response. Another salamander was dead on the ground, a trio of quarter-sized holes giving away where smaller stones had entered its skull and obliterated its brain.

Reid didn't have enough time for a third throw. The first of the left group was upon him, lunging forward with claw and tooth. He brought his bone sword down in a diagonal strike, and the force of the blow cleaved through a skull - and through brain. The notification confirmed the kill. He spun out of the way of another lunging creature and slashed at it as it passed. His strike bisected it through its midsection, and its lower half flopped motionlessly to the ground as its top half screeched and flailed.

The next salamander reached him, and bit down hard on his left leg. Then another lunged at his arm. He dodged the one lunging, and thrust down with two blows at the salamander that was biting his leg. Blood geysered out of its head, coating his pants and part of his torso as the freshly minted corpse dropped to the ground.

The right-side group had reached Reid, and the first of their number - the salamander missing one arm - sliced a deep cut open on Reid's lower leg as it passed by. The cut was deep, and Reid could feel the crystal claws scrape against his bone. An angry, flailing sword strike took off its tail and one of its hind legs as it retreated. It was an emotional reaction, and left him open to the next attacks.

A salamander bit down on his torso, and another grabbed his arm. The two attacks sent Reid stumbling, and he narrowly avoided a third lunging bite. Reid sliced through the arm-biter with his sword, then used his left hand to crush the head of the salamander still attached to his torso. He took a deep breath and surveyed himself.

His left arm and left leg were sporting puncture wounds from bites, his abdomen was bleeding quite a bit from where he'd been chomped on there, and his right leg was growing weaker as blood flowed out of the claw wound and down to his boot.

Seven salamanders were still alive - including the still-stationary leader watching from the ridge. Of the six smaller creatures, the bisected one was still writhing on the ground. The salamander now missing one leg, one arm, and its tail was similarly incapacitated for the moment. The one that had rolled down the hill and the one that had taken the neck would both seemed to have recovered and were charging from range. The last two were close enough to strike. They spread out to circle him, then attacked from opposite sides.

Reid slashed one through the abdomen as the other chomped down on his neck. He screamed when it plunged claws into his back to hold itself in place. Reid raised his sword up and over himself like a back-scratcher and shook it like a whisk. It connected, and the neck biter fell away - though its claws were still lodged in Reid. He stomped down and crushed the skull of the one he'd sliced through the abdomen as he stood, then picked up its corpse. He cocked back and threw it at the two on approach. The body glanced off one and completely ensnared the other. It screeched as it tanged with the body, while the other flew forward. Reid lashed out when it was close enough, taking it straight through the skull with his sword. He walked over to the other, still disoriented on the ground, and crushed its skull with his boot. The sound echoed through the valley.

Reid walked to the other wounded salamanders and ended them with a series of stomps, but his focus wasn't on the wounded creatures or the kill notifications flashing into view.

The final, large salamander was motionless at the top of the ridge, watching him with its glowing orange eyes as he executed its brethren.

Reid stared back.