DRIFA

“…So How-“, I started only to be interrupted by Abs as I tried to talk to him.

“Time to camp!”, He said spinning around and sitting down in the deep snow.

What?

I gave him a confused look. He didn’t seem very interested in resuming our conversation, just… digging.

I looked over to Ismund, it seemed like he’d just accepted that we weren’t walking any further seeing that his tent was almost assembled.

How’s he that quick? Also, I like that we’re having a break sooner than usual. Ismund usually makes me walk for a lot longer. Basically pulling an all-nighter. Maybe after we’re done with Abs he’ll take more breaks?

I thought for a moment.

I doubt it. Whelp, nothing for it.

I took a look around our camping sight. We had plopped down in the middle of the path winding throughout the forest. It was fairly pretty, all things considered. The densely populated, dead, spindly trees were covered in a heavy layer of snow, arching under its weight. As the sun was going down the snow was glittering gorgeous pink’s and reds. It seemed very serene and peaceful with the little breezes making the branches shiver, little snowflakes dancing down afterwords.

The future wasn’t all that bad. There we’re plenty of horrors, sure, but it was still awfully pretty and still had some nice people in it, like that tailor, Marcella. I just enjoyed the view for a bit longer before moving on.

I was hungry.

Well, we have a lot of food, but I don’t know that we have any jerky, so we can’t just eat on the fly anymore. I think, I think I’ll start cooking a lot. Maybe I can get a skill? It’s not combat related… but neither is eating toothpicks, so… maybe there is a cooking skill and I just don’t have it yet since I haven’t been able to cook since I’ve gotten here. I like the idea of that a lot.

I looked around tapping my fingers scheming like some sort of cheesy TV villain.

Well, first I want a pan and I’m pretty sure we only have a pot. I could use it but I didn’t have to. Once I merge that gem with my knife I’ll be able to have a pan, I’m pretty proficient with cooking so I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to make my knife turn into a pan.

I spun my bag-sling-thing around so it was at my front and rummaged through it for a while before carefully removing my gem. I then reached out to the System to change the settings.

> [Error. You cannot change the settings for an additional 4 hours.]

Right…

I looked around helplessly.

I’ll just cook breakfast in the morning.

When I looked over to Abs again he was building his fort. It had tall walls and a roof made of pine branches he had snapped off and covered with more snow like a bunker.

I could’ve been doing villain like that this whole time. I’m gonna try now…

I looked around, all the nearest branches had been broken, presumably by Abs.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Well, I’ll be fine without those. I don’t really want to head into the woods either. I could get last or… run into wolves or something.

It was a little far fetched but that didn’t change anything.

I also didn’t want to look like too much of a copy cat.

I dug myself a deep hole and used the snow I was digging out to make walls.

Maybe I can make an igloo.

I was able to make the walls curve in a bit, but not by much. Before I could try anything more it collapsed on me.

Fump!

I could get out if I wanted, but in all honesty it was pretty cozy, like a nice weighted blanket. So I just laid down for a nap. I could cook breakfast when I woke up.

System make we wake up early enough that I can make breakfast, have enough rest and also have the ability to change the settings on my bandana.

> [Affirmative.]

* * *

> [Beep… beep.. beep, beep, beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!]

“Ah!” I clamped my hands over my ears.

“I’m up, I’m up…”

I looked around me it was still pretty dark out. Abs was the only thing I could hear and did he ever have lungs. With all of his snoring I was surprised that the roof of his shelter hadn’t fallen on him. Must’ve taken practice to make it that sturdy.

I crawled out of my pile of collapsed snow and sat there for a moment as I tried to wake myself up. I did my best to get rid of the knots in my hair for a moment unsuccessfully before I came to a realization.

Who says there can’t be a metal hairbrush? And, I think I was pretty good at using one, my knife should be able to turn into a brush or something, right?

I successfully switched my hearing over to the magical frequencies around me.

> [You will not be able to-]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Another twelve hours.

I pulled the stone out of my bag again, a little quicker this time now that I knew where it was. In my other hand I pulled out my knife and held them together. Letting out a breath I tried to calm my nerves as I reached out to the excess energy surrounding my soul orby thing.

Please work!

I was able to grab a hold of it just as easily as before (which I was quite happy about) and connected it with the gem and knife.

It worked! It really worked!

I laughed in my excitement smiling brightly.

> [You have merged this stone with a stainless steel butter knife… how peculiar! You can create any tool that could be made of stainless steel you are deemed proficient with at the cost of one charge per pound. It takes no energy to make object return to it’s original state (butter knife). If you create an object and you are deemed a poor wielder of for the task it will turn back into a butter knife and that shape will be locked until you prove proficiency in it again. The object you create will not have any magical properties, run off of any sort of fuel or be anything that you could not make in this current time period. Have fun!]

> [Charge: 1000/1000]

This is even better than I thought! I’ll be able to do so much with this. I could also cook with whatever pan I want, I can make a, a… well I’m not all that good at using swords… maybe a kitchen knife? I’ve used a kitchen knife pretty handily, I think I could probably attack with a cool lookin’ knife. I don’t know what Ismund got from that dungeon, but this is better.

I buzzed with excitement as I held my knife.

Here goes.

It worked, it turned into a nice shiny hairbrush with little studs on the end of the bristles so I didn’t just scratch my scalp and bleed or something. It worked pretty well at getting rid of my many, many tangles and knots. My hair was much nicer than it had been in a while, even if it was a bit frizzy now.

I couldn’t wait any longer, I turned it into a pan next and it was very successful. Before I could get too excited I was reminded of the basic necessities for cooking other than the pan itself.

Right.

I still needed a fire and the meat. I’d need to wake up Ismund, guys usually eat a lot and like food. He probably won’t be too upset. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t like food?

Well, I can probably increase my odds of him being happier if I make a pit ready for a fire.

Earlier, I hadn’t really wanted to go into the woods, and the same held true now, but that didn’t change that we needed wood. And I wasn’t just making a half hearted fort this time.

I looked over at Abs’s shelter.

No, I shouldn’t. Even if those twigs would be easy to grab.

I looked back at the forest.

Maybe it’d be easier to get the wood since it’s cold. It’d be more brittle, right?

It was worth a shot, and it worked, the wood popped off of the trees pretty easily, at least the small twigs did. I had to hang off of the larger pieces and reef on them a bit to make them snap.

In the end I had a small pile of sticks and stuff we could burn and a little pile of stone shaped snow balls around the snow fireplace I had made.