Jake walked to the center of the room where the piles of wood and stone that he had grabbed for the fire were stacked. An extra trip had to be made as he’d forgotten that he would need stone to line the fire as well as to hold the carapace chunk he planned to cook with. He had built fire pits before on the many camping trips that he did with his dad so the process of making a fully working fire pit went smoothly.

The fire pit was a simple rounded pit with two large stones on either side close enough to each other to place the carapace on top as a cooking surface. He’d thought about trying to make a spit, but he’d never tried before, and he already had the carapace that he could cook on. That would work just fine for now.

The wood and kindling had already been stacked in the pit and was ready to go. Jake usually had a lighter in his pack as well as a flint and steel as a backup but, unfortunately, his pack was at the cabin. There were other methods that he’d seen but hadn’t actually tried to use before. 

“It shouldn’t be that hard... Right?” 

The skepticism in his voice was clear as he started to grab what he needed to do a hand drill. He took a piece of wood and used his knife to make a divot for the stick to sit in. Then he grabbed a sturdy straight stick and attempted to light a lump of coal with it. The effects weren’t what he’d hoped for as he was unable to spin the stick properly. His right hand was too injured. Jake looked at his hand to see the cuts and bruises that holding the sword had caused. 

Unfortunately, the sword's hilt wasn’t wrapped nor was it easy to grab. It was sharp and jagged. He really needed to find something to wrap the hilt with so he could use it without hurting himself. He knew it was a bit morbid but the first thought he had was the skin from the goblin. It might work as a decent leather substitute for now but he decided to come back to it later.

“Well fuck, what now?” Jake sighed deeply as he thought. He sat there and stared at his feet trying to think of one of the other ways that he had seen that would work with his injured hand. The fact that he had magic didn’t even come across his mind at this point as he still wasn’t used to that idea. One of his boots was coming untied so he went to tie again before stopping. 

“A bow drill!” Jake said excitedly before he started to pull his shoelace out of the boot. It didn’t take him long to put together a bow drill and start working on getting some hot coals to start the fire. Unfortunately, the process of making the coals wasn’t as quick and easy. After an hour of trying and experimenting Jake was finally able to get it to work. He had to change out the drill for a harder piece of wood and find a softer one for the fireboard. Once he got those switched and after several more minutes of work he finally started to see some smoke rise from the fireboard. 

He ended up having to start over because he had stopped, thinking that it was ready, but the wood had yet to start a coal and instantly cooled. Finally, he ended up getting the fire started and just sat, staring into the flames of the fire, happy to finally have figured it out. The crackling of the fire as it hungrily devoured the wood lulled him into a peaceful state allowing him to unwind, if only a little. The dancing flames brought him some peace as it allowed him to focus on anything other than the shitshow he was currently in. 

An unknown amount of time later Jake came out of his stupor with a shake of his head. Although he felt more recharged from not thinking for a bit, it was time to get to work. He had a lot to do if he was to survive and find his family. 

With a light grunt, Jake stood up and walked over to his bag and items he had stacked at the side of the room. He brought everything over and set it out all in front of him. It was time to figure out what all he had, then he needed to go over his stats. But first, he needed to cook up the meat he had, he was starving and cooked meat sounded more appetizing than the raw version. 

Raw Meat

Harvested from a lvl 5 Bladed Spider. Edible once cooked. If eaten uncooked, there is a small chance of food poisoning.

“Well, at least it doesn’t seem like I got the food poisoning. That wouldn’t be fun.” Jake mumbled to himself after seeing that there was a chance of food poisoning. If he had gotten sick, the chances of him being caught off guard or attracting something was high and he didn’t want to think about that. 

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Jake placed one of the chunks of meat onto the hot fragment of carapace-turned-frying pan. An instant sound of sizzling pervaded the room as uncooked flesh met scorching heat. While the meat cooked he went over the other items he had with him. He still had the original items he had with him when he fell into this hell hole. And even though he knew what they were, he was still curious what Examine would show. plus it didn’t hurt to try and level the skill.

Jeans

A pair of torn and bloody cotton pants that are on their last leg. You should really think about getting a new pair. 

T-Shirt

A cotton t-shirt that is covered with blood. That’s not coming out.

Hiking Boots

A pair of leather boots. These were made for walking.

Socks

A pair of cotton socks. You really need to wash your feet.

Sling Bag

A poor quality bag created using a black cotton hoodie. Hopefully, you won’t get cold. 

Hunting knife

A steel knife with a 4-inch blade. Keep this close, it may save your life.

“Simple enough descriptions, but what the fuck is with this snarkiness…” Jake grumbled to himself as he went through the things he had. He had always been a sarcastic person and he knew that, but he never thought of himself as a snarky person. Mare would have disagreed with that statement, though. He wondered if that came through from him or if it was something else. 

After verifying the stuff he came with, he flipped the meat on the pan. It should have been easier than it ended up being, but he had no utensils. Jake had to use a pair of sticks as tongs to try to flip it. This would have been hard enough, but it was also stuck to the pan since he had no butter or oil. After some cursing, he finally managed to flip it before he went over the items he had gotten from the chest. He still couldn’t see what the ring was or anything about the book, other than it was a skill book. The potion was now just an empty bottle. 

Jake set the skill book to the side to look at later. He wanted to attempt to learn it but he had read a couple of novels where the person would faint when they used a skill book and he didn’t want to take the chance at the moment. 

He had already examined the torch crystal, poison sac, and blades so he moved onto the last item he had harvested from the spider before he left.

Bladed Spider Web Sac

A web sac harvested from a bladed spider. A highly valued crafting material that is also known as steel webbing as once the webbing hardens it becomes harder than steel. Requires mana manipulation to use the webbing. And don’t you look like a guy who knows how to manipulate a sac...

Jake was thrilled by this find because he had been trying to think of a way to make some sort of sheath or something for his blades. He wanted to be able to carry them without cutting his legs off, but with how sharp they were he knew that normal leather wouldn’t work. This webbing gave him an option that might work and he even had mana manipulation, though he had no clue how to use it. A thought for another time. Another flip of the meat and it was time to check his character sheet.

Character Sheet

Name: Jake Cain

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Race: Human

Level: 3

XP Needed: 5000

Current XP: 4269

Health: 187

Mana: 113

Mana Regen: 1.66 m/s

Combat Classes: N/A

Non-Combat Classes: N/A

Stats

Stat Points: 12

Physical

Strength: 7

Constitution: 7

Agility: 6

Mental

Intelligence: 8

Willpower: 11

Wisdom: 8

Other

Luck:  9

Titles

The First 

Dungeon Conqueror 

The Soul Heir