Chapter 4

Bending back down to reconnect his bond with the wood, Matt immediately went to work. Running his hand down the branch's length, Matt willed the bark to start stripping away. Wherever his hand passed, the bark and fibers fell off the wood like it was shedding and Matt smiled as the pure wood was left bare for him. Much like the bark, the raw wood itself was also startlingly white, which was an interesting color for wood to be. Moving forward, he did the same trick of separating branches from the base and he was left with a pile of bark and fiber, a pile of smaller branches, a pile of leaves, and the long bare main branch.

Taking hold of the main branch, he knew he wouldn't be able to Shape the entire thing at once. But he didn’t need to. Starting from the thickest end, he traced his hand down four feet. Severing the length from the rest of the branch, Matt took hold of the much more reasonable chunk of wood and lifted it up. This was still heavy for a branch, maybe a bit more than three pounds, but that was within his Scale.

Taking a deep breath, Matt extended his connection through the wood. This was a bit of a different application of his powers, but he focused and willed the wood to flow around him. It was weird, seeing something like wood behave this way instead of blanks and carved Shapes.

The wood wrapped around his arms like it was gel, flowing along his arm and flexing in and out. From Matt's many, many hours of searching for information, he read quite a bit about camping and tool making. Because of this, he knew that there was a bit of preparation needed to make wood usable. Namely, it needed to be treated with heat to remove any moisture that was trapped in its fiber.

Now Matt didn’t have any fire at the moment, but he had the next best thing. Incredible shaping powers!

By twisting, folding and squeezing the wood around himself, he worked out any moisture that would have been present, this also kept all the natural properties of wood intact from not needing to risk fire changing the material. After ringing it out, Matt moved the wood back into a straight stick, compressing the material as hard as he could squeeze it, until he had a rod that was thinner at one end, and wider at the other.

Matt smiled at his new club. Once upon a time, Matt played sports in school. A very popular sport played with a ball and stick. And of those two positions, Matt was very good with the stick.

Indeed, Matt used to play Baseball and he was a batter. A quite good one he would say if Matt were the bragging type. If there was an opportunity to keep playing he might have gone pro, but unfortunately life didn't always advance how you believed it would. But that experience would serve him well now, as he looked at his new bat. It was a bit longer and heavier than a standard bat, around 3 and a half feet and three pounds, but regulations would have to understand his situation. The system warned him of dangerous monsters, so he would have to be prepared.

Standing up and waving the bat with a smile, Matt suddenly stumbled as a wave of vertigo overtook him. Doubling over and planting the bat into the ground to steady himself he clutched his head as the feeling passed. Trying to think while disorientated was a little difficult, but he still managed to find out what was wrong.

When he was shaping, it took energy to move the wood. He didn’t notice it yet since he was still new to this whole Shaper thing, but now that he was low he could feel that new energy, the Connection, and how that energy left him and traveled through the bond. And boy was it a blow to be low on that energy.

Thankfully he could feel it regenerate itself and the disorientation fade away. Noted, that was something to look out for. Carefully sitting down, Matt held the bat in his hand and looked at it with pride. This was the first actual thing he made in this new world, and the fact that it was something from his old world just felt fitting.

New Achievement!

You have fully crafted and Shaped your first weapon! Not only have you created your first weapon, but it is of high quality and will last a long time.

Reward: Small Level Progress

And it looks like the system agrees with him. Still no way to track level progress, but that is fine. Laying back and feeling the smooth wood of his bat, he frowned a bit. The entirety of the bat was smooth, thanks to his work, but so was the handle and that wouldn’t be good if it was slipping in his hand. Feeling his energy reserves fill back up, Matt lifted the handle to his face to inspect it and bonded with the item again.

“Could you shift a bit here for me?” He asked as he moved his Connection through the wood. Talking to the wood wasn’t necessary, but his bond felt stronger when he did. Like it was responding better. The material didn’t have any actual sentients to it, but he could feel that the material could understand him.

The wood along the handle rippled slightly as he Shaped grooves into the handle's length. Giving it a swing, his grip was immediately better. It felt good even. He would need to find something to make a proper wrap grip, but the grooves were enough. He wished that there was something more he could do, but there wasn’t anything else he could Shape.

That was until he remembered that he still had something to unlock. Opening his status, the blinking box was still there under [PROPERTIES]. Thinking on what would be important, Matt was conflicted. There were tons of things that could be useful, but what was the most important? Well, the worst thing that could happen to a bat would be snapping mid swing, so probably Durability…

Solidifying the intent, Matt watched as the box filled out with the word ‘Durability,’ leaving Matt with all the powers that he would get for now until he leveled up. Feeling the pressure of his situation settle on him, Matt shook his head slightly to clear his mind as he stood up. His Connection had refilled itself, seems like he didn’t have all that much yet so he would need to keep a closer eye on it. Or, a closer feeling he guesses.

Feeling the new property settle into his soul, he could feel how durable his bat was through the bond, the same way he could feel the wood around him. Taking a deep breath, he pushes his understanding of ‘Durability’ into the wood and while noticing how the Connection energy leaves his body, his bat has been further Shaped. Visually it looks identical, but he can feel how it has been innately strengthened.

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Remembering what the system said about how he could also shape a properties inverse, Matt bent down and picked up a small branch. Carefully applying pressure, he flexed the twig until it was on the verge of breaking. This new sense on how much stress wood was under was very helpful, but a bit strange to get used to. Letting the branch relax back into place, he bonded with it and Shaped its durability, but this time he made it weaker.

This time when he bent it, it broke apart almost immediately, falling out of his hand into several pieces. Matt just stared down at the bits of branch for a moment. That would be very useful. He wasn’t sure how much more difficult Shaping stuff that belonged to others was, but if he was ever in a fight with someone he could weaken their gear and give himself an edge. He wasn’t sure how many Shapers were fighters in this world, but he could imagine how terrifying a high Bond Shaper could be to face.

Looking around the forest, he can’t see anything besides trees, bushes and grass, no obvious paths or landmarks. Matt sighs as he evaluates his next priority. He has made a weapon, but will that be enough to get out of this forest? And if the forest is huge and he is trapped here for the time being, will he be able to have enough resources to survive? Dying from hunger or the elements would be a pretty terrible way to go after getting reincarnated.

New Quest! Find Civilization.

You are in a forest, separated from civilization. Dangerous creatures share the territory with you, so be on the lookout as you make your way to the nearest town.

Objective: Travel north and find the Town of Jylen.

Reward: 2 Points, Large Level progress

Well, that settles that. And a direction! That is incredibly helpful. Walking past the shade of the tree he's been working under, he spied the sun almost directly above him. He wasn’t sure where it was when he got here, or how long he's been working, but he still had a lot of daylight. Looking back down at the pile of branch parts he still had, Matt thought about his options. There was still lots of wood just in his pile alone, and plenty more where that came from in the tree.

Thinking, Matt bent down and started to sort through the scraps. He read a lot about how different plants and natural materials could be turned into something useful, and feeling all of the bark fiber he already peeled off the branch gave him a smile. People used to say he was weird for reading pages upon pages of outdoor survival guides when he never wanted to or planned on going camping, but he would show them!

Extending his Connection into the wood fibers, he pulled them together and began twisting them with his shaping. Most people don’t know this because whenever they think of would, they think of hard and inflexible, but a lot of trees’ fiber can be turned into cord and rope. Spinning the fiber with a grin, he made the thin rope about as thick as a straw. Keeping his pace a bit slower so the shaping didn’t cost more Connection then he could make, the length of rope grew.

When he ran out of already peeled fiber, he started to break down the rest of the bark and smaller branches. He couldn’t bond with any of the leaves so he just left them to fall on the ground but after shaping all of the scraps from the big branch he had around fifteen feet of wooden rope. It was an incredible feeling, getting to see and use all of the fibers from the wood. Usually it wasn’t feasible to separate them by hand, but here he was, making rope from solid wood.

Finishing up the rope by running his Connection to Shape its durability, Matt turned his attention back to the log. He had a weapon, he had rope, now he needed armor. If he had time and material, he might make a whole suit but even Shaped wood would still be too thick for that, so plating would have to be good enough.

Taking a chunk from the log, Matt began the same process of preparing the wood that he did with his bat, if a bit slower to keep his energy up. Stretching it into a large plate, he held it above his chest and formed the plate to cover his vitals and front. Satisfied with the feel, he severed some bit of rope and held it to parts of the plate. He was about to Shape some holes on the plate before he had a thought.

It was all wood, and the way he Shaped the material didn’t have to follow the normal rules of physics or anything, so what if he… Holding the two pieces together, he bonded with the wood and feeling how it was all the same material, he Shaped them together and fused the rope directly into the plate.

Smiling even higher now and with a new excitement, Matt began attaching pieces of rope folded in half with the ends directly into plate to make loops. He made these along the edge of the plate, two on each end of the top and two on each side, one at the bottom and one under where his arms would be. Hitting the front plate with an increase in Durability, he moved on to the back plate.

Much the same as the front, he molded the plate to be comfortable on his back and attached loops in the same way and places as the front. Grabbing some more small blocks of wood, he Shaped the two plates so they held themselves up against his torso and willed the straps into position. Taking the wood, he Shaped it into clasps that held the two rope loops together, and with a bit of Connection he could Shape the straps directly until they fit properly.

Moving around and doing a bit of Shaping modification, the chest piece fit perfectly and adequately protected his torso. “Aha! Yes!” Jumping a bit in satisfaction and raising his hands into the sky triumphantly, Matt revelled in the feeling of power he had in Shaping. It was truly something that spoke to who he was at his very core and felt like he finally had what was missing in his life.

New Achievement!

You have fully crafted and Shaped your first piece of Armor! Not only have you created your first armor, but it is of high quality and will last a long time.

Reward: Small Level Progress

And the system also rewarded his accomplishments! Waiting a bit of time for his Connection to fill, Matt began right away to Shape more armor. The chest piece used up the rest of his big log, but he was in a forest so had plenty to work with. Moving to another tree so as to not take too much from place, he quickly severed another log. Turning the bark and fiber into another fifteen feet of rope, he stripped the log before shaping the wood into upper arm plates and lower arm bracers.

Ensuring they fit and were Shaped with more Durability, he did the same to his waist, legs and feet. Finishing the whole set off with a wooden bucket helmet, padded with the rope fiber. He had made a face plate for the helmet as well, but had it taken off at the moment and hanging from his belt. Moving around, Matt was overjoyed with how well everything turned out. It all fit perfectly and was very durable. Matt hoped that he wouldn’t need to rely on any of this, but just having it made him feel better.

Grabbing his bat and strapping it to his back with a bit of Shaped rope, the rest of which was coiled and hanging from his belt also made from Shaped rope, Matt looked up into the sky and could now see that his several hours of shaping had let the sun move further down the sky. Orienting himself back at his first tree when he first looked up, Matt hoped the sun set in the same direction as his world and started walking in the direction he hoped was north.