And so I now quest for trees I can harvest. Easier said than done surprisingly. Most of the trees around me are big enought I can barely put my arms around their trunks. No way I can harvest those with just this puny hatchet. The system even confirms it with the 'axe needed' mention. I need small trees. And those trees do not seem to want to be found inside the forest. Maybe the smaller and thinner trees at the entrance could be considered harvestable? It's worth checking anyway.
I retrace my way toward the entrance, using the 'Frend?' beacon as a reference and my compass to ensure my direction. Wait did it move down? Nah, must have been my imagination.
I also take the moment to look closer to many of the flora I passed on the way. Other than the mystical flowers, most are names that I am unfamiliar or vaguely familiar with, the unlocking memories simply give me details that do not pertain to my immediate needs. My immediate needs being finding food and water. Wait can I not eat grass? I mean... It's an organic compound. Maybe leaves could also work? I shrug and decides to try it once I reach the outskirts of the forest.
I am, I believe halfway out when I spot something odd. A bush was not given a scientific name. It has been named a 'Shaded garden'. Curious, I approach. Holy! This is a gold mine! It's... It's!!! IT IS A GARDEN! Okay yeah, the name did give that away, but I did not expect to find what I have just found! This large bush, reaching all the way to my stomach, contains both edible herbs and vegetables! that's... that's insane! That can't be natural. Hold on even the roots are vegetables! That... that might delay my food problem for a bit.
I quickly gather the edibles, ending with a non-negligible yield: three large sweet potatoes, a dozen spice leaves and four tomatoes. It might not be much, but maybe I can find more. This will have to do for now. I quickly resume my walk, keeping an eye out for more of the garden bushes. If there is one there has to be more right? Right?
...
I guess not... But good news, I have reached the forest edge and it was a good idea to come here! The smallest trees can be harvested! They all register as oak trees in my sight, but this one has the 'crude hatchet required' mention.
Now let's break a tree down. I prepare to strike when a though enters my mind. I quickly look up into the branches. Nope, nothing. No nests, no holes and no perched bird or bug pokemons. I nod to myself and ready my hatchet. And strike. My hatchet buries itself deeper than I expected. I dislodge it and strike again. And again, and again. Until I finally hear a creaking sound. The whole tree is moving, slowly bending on the cut I opened on its trunk. I push against it and it slowly swings the other way and topples over with a resounding crack. Dirt and leaves fly around.
Alright! One tree down... Now what? Actually... Yeah I just felled a tree, but... Is that it? Nothing really happened. No notification, no achievement... Can I even store the tree? No... Object is too big, upgrade required. Well... I look up, the sun is slowly setting. It must be almost late afternoon now, maybe even the beginning of the evening. No achievement for that deduction either? Do I need to guess the hour? The precise time? I sigh. I might as well collect the wood maybe I could start a fire? Do I even need to keep warm? The day has been rather hot in retrospect. Or is it my body just working? So many questions, so few answers. Alright, let's cut that wood in logs. Maybe I'll unlock something.
It takes me a few minutes, but I manage to clear the entire tree. And this gave me quite a few insights on my capabilities. First, I can only store items around a meter in length and I assume height too. I tried multiple size of logs and only the ones I made smaller than maybe 15 centimeters...mostly... I do not have any ways to accurately measure anything, were not considered as logs but as chunks. Anything else has been converted as logs. Which brings up another insight, and this one is both disturbing and amazing: my storage does not respects the laws of mass conservation. Or if it does, it does in a weird way.
As I have just stated, I tried to separate the trunk in multiple logs of different sizes to find out the size limit. The second realization came when I took out the logs. I made, in the end, ten logs of wood of multiple size. And when I took them out, I found out that they now all had the same size. Except there is now more length total that the entire tree trunk. I then tried with the branches and sticks and found the exact same thing. My storage unifies anything that goes in it. The tomatoes I found earlier are now all the same size and shape too. It is quite trippy.
The exercise also cost me more energy. And to see if I could regain power by simply eating grass, I took a handful of the stuff to try. The taste... was the taste of grass, bitter and earthy. It was not surprising, And I had difficulties swallowing it. And I gained nothing. I tried to eat more. Maybe it needed more, I though. That ended up as a mistake. I suddenly had a gag reflex and threw up all the grass along with some water. This actually cost me coolant! I lost two entire squares! So note to self, do not consume the grass, and my bio-reactor is picky. Fuck me I guess. I then tried a tomato and got a far better result. A single one gave me half a square back. It might seem like a lot, but I have barely done anything today. And the next tomato gave me nothing. I had to consume a third one to get another half a square back. Ouch, the efficiency of food drops fast. I am going to need a lot of those gardens. An absurd lot of them. Because if I don't I am going to run out of power real fast.
... A grey bird with a grey ending orange beak, a starly, flies above me... Maybe I could... No! Bad! They are far too close to sapient to even consider it... Although some might be able to help me find food if I find some ways to help them... That could be an option.
An option I will consider when I really need to. Right now I have to figure out how to make a hammer, a saw and pliers with only wood. First of, what can I do with the logs? I can make plank. Four per logs. Interesting. I do just that and after a little whine and a ding, I now have planks. Next, one plank. Nothing. Two logs, vertical configuration, a stripped log... Do I need one? I make one just in case. Also where did the bark go? Why do I need two logs to make one? Mass conservation still goes right out, I guess.
Next, two plank, horizontal configuration, a pressure plate. I do not make it, it might become useful later but I do not feel like it is right now. Two plank vertical configuration, four sticks. Good to know I can make more of those, but I have enough. Next the diagonals, up down and down up configurations, give nothing. Conclusion? I need to combine different materials.
After much experimentation, I find the configuration for the hammer. It was the stripped log with a stick below along with a stone. why a stone? No idea. Next I stumble on the pliers, a pair of planks on the upper row, then a rock and a stick in that exact order on the lower row. Reversing the rock and the stick do not make a valid recipe. Finally, after much experimentation, I find the recipe for the wooden saw. A stick followed by a plank on the upper row and then a flint on the lower row, either left or right was fine. With that, I am done with the quest.
These simple quests gave me a surprising amount of informations. They are more guidelines than straightforward goals. Following them is helping me understand my body more and more. I get the rewards and look at the next.
Complexity up Part 2
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
... But 3x3 will carry you to endless possibilities!
Craft a 'grid extension' wooden chip: 0/1
Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating recipe dependents hints systems
Uhuh... Wait recipe hints? That could be useful in the long term. Because I must have spent at least an hour or two figuring the recipe tools! The sun is even starting to set! I can see the sky turning orange, night will be coming soon. I guess I will spend the it under the stars. Actually... I do not feel tired... Do I need to sleep? I guess I will know when I actually feel tired. Now how do I make that chip? I would wager the three tools I have just made and a plank. Nope, that gives me a crafting table... A cube-like tool-station with a grid on it... That might be a component though. But I only had one flint, so I cannot remake the saw if this is not the way to make the chip. And with the night falling, It might become harder to look for things.
Let's think... A wooden chip... What would that even look like? Clearly it is something that will go into the upgrade chip slot screen.
Let's start there then. I open the previously unopened tab and look. I have twenty slots, all empty. There is an option to add a new chip and that's mostly it. However, on each slots, the icons for what I assume to be the different chips the system accepts are looping over and over. And one of the icons do catch my attention. A square of brown material with holes in it. This might be... How do I make that? I have planks, sticks, logs... Wait! If it is a chip, then it might be a small one... No but is it small enought? I might as well try.
I craft the crafting table and then I craft a pressure plate. Clearly law of mass conservation is NOT considered here, so... YES! Crafting table on top, pressure plate below and Voilà! A 'grid extension' wooden chip! I giggle to myself in joy! I take the chip out... And almost drop it. It is the size of an microSD card! WHERE DID ALL THE WOOD GO??? I did not get the table out but it must have been a one meter cube! And all that is left is what must be a one centimeter by oh-five centimeter strip of wood? The holes are barely visible!
I look at that small chip, stunned... My joy seems to have evaporated. So much ressources for only... that? What will the next recipes need of me? I might as well install it. I open the chip tab again and click the add new chip. And almost jump away from my left arm.
The armor segments on the upper parts of my arm rise up and then fold under each other, revealing a two by ten row of chip slots. they all rise in unison and open, ready to accept the new chip. I push my wooden chip in one of them and my arm quickly closes back. The weirdest part was the sensation. It was like I was unconsciously using a muscle I did not know I had.
That makes me curious. I concentrate on the feeling. And nothing happens. I try for a few more minutes and nothing moves. I am certain I could do it! A hooting cry sounds nearby and I look up. The sun has almost set. And the early nocturnal wildlife is stirring. Now what is the next quest. I need to keep going.
Your first real tools
Crude hatchet, tools of wood, will not last. Grow, and grow fast.
Craft a 'Stone sword': 0/1
Craft a 'Stone pickaxe: 0/1
Rewards: 15xp; 2 Exp. Candy XS
No more features uh? Maybe for now. Now how do I do that? And why would I need a sword? It's not going to fend off the physic defying monsters that live here with me! A distant growl answer one question.
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Mewtwo is gently floating a couple hundred meters above the ground. He is trying to evaluate how fast he could go. And theoretically, he could go faster than his own body could survive. He did not try to go that far, but he did try to get high as fast as he could. He stopped after almost passing out from both speed and lack of oxygen. He did not reach the floating island littering the sky above him. After that, he returned to a more confortable altitude and now looks around. The sight he gets is breathtaking. The green plain he is in does not extend forever up there. He can see rivers and mountains in the distance. A splash of uneven brown, not too far away, might even be a village.
He stays there for a few minutes, then slowly drift back down. A look toward the marker tells him the other user has stopped moving. Did it notice his flight?
Would it even matter? He asks himself.
he gently floats above the ground and start to make its way toward it. The colored crystal each orbit him in a different way. The more he experiment, the more he can feel how far he could bend his powers. But he also feels like he has yet untapped capabilities.
His flight is uninterrupted for several minutes. Then he notice the marker starting to move. It is getting closer on roundabout way. The user must be making its way out the forest. They will be able to meet at its edge. A sudden fearsome cry stops his thoughs and advance.
A massive brown bird lands some ways away. His red punk-like crest sways around as he cautiously and vehemently look around. The fearow is afraid, but more importantly, he is hurt. An arrow sticks out from one of its wings. He looks around once more, seemingly ignoring or not seeing Mewtwo. He then starts to tear apart a little bush close to him. Blue fruits quickly disappear into his gullet. Once he is done eating, he removes the arrow in his wing with a cry of pain. Blood spurts from the hole, but after a few seconds, the wound stop bleeding and closes altogether. He then takes off and flies away.
Mewtwo looks at the bird disappearing in the distance. He look toward the destroyed bush, and decide to investigate. If he is not that eager to see me, he can wait a few more minutes. He gently land next to the bush. The fruits, similar in appearance to oranges but with blue skin, litter the ground in different states. Some are broken open, their pale yellow flesh oozing juice into the ground, other are crushed into paste, but a few are still intact. Mewtwo picks one up from the ground. An oran berry.
This could be useful. He bites it and immediately feel some of the strains from his previous confrontation vanish. This will definitely be useful.
He picks up the few intact fruits scattered around and munch on a couple of broken ones.
The feeling of healing echoes with something within himself. It feels like he could replicate this aspect. He frown, then closes his eyes. The feeling is similar to one of the aspect of the blue crystal. He concentrate more and then feels something course along his right arm. He opens his eyes and witness a singular drop of shimmering blue condensing above his three fingered palm. This is... a life dew. This could heal me!
Happy with his breakthrough, Mewtwo let the tiny drop splash onto his palm once it is done gathering. He feel little in term of effects, as the orans have already healed most of the damage, but he can feel the potential for emergency first aid. He nods to himself. And then concentrate on the crystals he has brought with him. The blue one gave him a hint for the life dew, could the others also give him hints? He concentrates on each. Neither the red, the green, the yellow or the black one truly resonates, but the white one does. He can feel something, two paths actually. He concentrates on the first, and a feeling gather upon his eyes. He tries to unleash it, but nothing happens. He tries again, but obtain the same result. A small headache do start to manifest, so he let this one go for now.
He then attempts the second path. This time, the feeling courses through his entire body. He curls himself up and then extends all his members. Yellow stars shoot from him in every directions, swiftly homing on nothing. Swift! Those are the moves I know! Then the previous one was Disable. I did not have a target, so it failed. I see... He quickly looks at the screen and confirms it. He has just used three of the four moves he possesses.
Satisfied, Mewtwo resume his way toward the marker location. His orbiting treasures now more numerous. Then again... These moves feel more like pathways. Maybe I can alter them? He ponders, but decides to leave that for after he meet with the other user. he hopes he has some more inkling as to what the quest is.
The sky is losing the last bits of orange and stars start to appear above him when he hears it. The low growling sound he had once heard in the cave. He turns around and witness a single humanoid being, dressed in tattered clothes, his skin a greenish hue. As he look around, more beasts raise from the ground. Most are humanoids like the first, but here and there, other appear. A spider almost as large as he is tall crawl out from thin air, a human skeleton armed with a bow rise from the ground. Strange green creatures, with four little legs, a long neck and a bobbing head walk aimlessly.
A few turn toward the same direction and Mewtwo gulp. It is in the direction of the marker. The direction of the other user. Oh no!