Alyssa was sitting in the cave trying to get comfortable as she really needed sleep. Eventually she managed to fall asleep while clutching her staff and having some bits of leather under her head acting as a makeshift pillow.
Jake made his way out the cave and scanned the area, choosing to go left this time out the mouth of the cave and explored, killing any warthog along the way, he managed to only come back to the cave as it was getting dark.
*Few, it's almost like I planned it. I have another 20 minutes roughly of sunlight before it goes dark. Hopefully Alyssa is alright..*
Jake walked towards the cave and sort of shouted/ in a loud voice said "Alyssa it's me Jake I'm coming into the cave.."
"Ok" said Alyssa and Jake made his way in, after noticing that she looked better. Jake decided to ask Alyssa for the twigs and branches and made a campfire at the mouth of the cave like last night.
Slowly he pulled out cut steaks of warthog and put them on a stone slab he found on his journey and gave another to Alyssa after throwing the one with the steaks into the fire. Using a stick to turn them and cook them.
"I managed to get a lot of warthog for us.. so we won't go hungry. I've also got some leather for you" Jake took out 5 pieces of leather he got from dismantling as he explored the area.
Jake's tally from exploring was as such. 20 leather of warthog, 60 warthog steaks and 40 tusks. He also did not manage to find any other loot from the warthogs like the first one he killed so loot must be rare for creatures… but he was still wary of Alyssa so he didn't plan on giving her everything.
"Oh wow that's so much! You must've been really busy to get them. Thank you! I can try to make some stuff and see if you want it."
*Maybe it was a good choice not to give her everything…if she's impressed with just that.." Jake thought. "Yeah sorry it took awhile I was trying to find something so I can try Alchemy.. I'd like for that to be my profession.."
"Ah, maybe I can help with that!" Alyssa said practically beaming with joy, "Here this is what Andrew found yesterday.. It says it's a healing plant. I'm thinking if you grind it up and use it with something like water and put it in a container maybe you can make a healing potion and get your profession!"
Alyssa handed over a green looking plant that looked almost like a twig that had a berry on it. Looking closely at the berry Jake identified it.
Berry of healing (poor)
Restores 10 health.
Not really the best for healing but it's better than nothing. Can be used in potion making.
"That would be great Alyssa, but I don't have a container and we would need to go to the lake again and it's too dark right now.. let's eat and try to do that tomorrow" Jake said.
"Ah sure, but for glass all we will need is sand and some clay and I'm sure we could make some bottles.. there has to be something at the lake if not one, maybe both of those things.." Alyssa said while she used her slab/rock to take the steak from Jake as he handed it to her to eat.
"Sure we can have a look then. How are you feeling by the way? You looked like you hit that tree really hard before?" Jake asked.
"I'm ok.. I did before but I slowly regenerated the health and I managed to take a nap before so my body is still sore but I'm feeling better.." Alyssa looked to the side, her cheeks getting a rosy look to them..
"Ah ok good. Then tomorrow you can help me with getting Alchemy and then we need to see what you can do in combat. You've already seen what I can do." Jake said as he took a bite of his steak.
"Uhhh sure…" Alyssa said. "I'm not too sure I'll be able to do much.. I only have one spell and it's not really that great.. "
"It can't be that bad.. I mean you know magic so it's got to be at least usable right?.." Jake asked.
"Oh it's usable but it's a 2 second cast and only does 10 damage.." Alyssa said dejectedly.
"Ah ok well let's practice it tomorrow then after working on the Alchemy and see if we can do anything about that cast time."
Realizing how late it is, Jake said " it's time to get some sleep, the fire will last most of the night so don't worry too much and just rest. We have a big day tomorrow." Jake took out some leaves he had picked up and placed them on the ground to make a makeshift bed.
Nodding Alyssa also went to bed with her trusty leather for a pillow.
-The next day-
Waking up early Jake made his way outside and gathered some sticks and branches he could find near the forest area a couple mins from the cave and headed back. He started making a fire again to cook breakfast and while he was at it he looked at his status a little more. Coming across he found that he had a quest tab that he never really noticed before.
Current quest
Survive the tutorial!
Days until the tutorial ends: 360 days left
Survivors : 7200
"So 800 people have died in the roughly week of the tutorial.. I guess that's not too bad.. it's time to make breakfast and then get to work on getting Alchemy so I can really be like those RPG rogues." Jake laughed.
Smelling the warthog cooking on the stones that Jake was making Alyssa woke up groggily.. her hair looking like a bird's nest.
"Sleep well did you?" Jake laughed. "Not at all to be honest. But it's better than nothing. That smells so good" Alyssa said while drooling a little.
Jake laughed again and handed Alyssa some of the already cooked strips of warthog that was like makeshift bacon. "I'm going to cook a little extra for us today so we have some provisions just in case, I do want to go to the lake again and try my luck at Alchemy like we said last night."
Nodding Alyssa agreed and after breakfast they slowly made their way to the lake from their cave.
Once they arrived Jake decided to look over the lake a little more and see if he could find anything dangerous in it. Luckily there did not seem to be anything other than some small fish.
Darter fish
A small kind of fish that swims in schools. Not very nice to eat but they secrete a toxin that has low numbing agents.
"Hmmmm I wonder if I could use those fish to make a poison or two and see if that would give me Alchemy rather than waste the berry we have.."
"Sounds smart to be honest, there's a lot of the fish here and we only have one berry" Alyssa said. "Keep an eye out I'm going in to see if I can find some clay or sand" Jake said.
Making his way into the water slowly making sure to look out for anything dangerous he was around waist height when he came across some sandy parts in the lake, trying to be careful he ducked down into the water and put his hand in the sand patch and willed for it to go in his inventory. Slowly the sand started shifting almost as if his hand was attracting the sand. Just as he was about finished he gave up on the rest as he needed air and stood up again, looking at Alyssa. Jake grinned. "I got some sand! Now for clay." Jake shouted. making his way back to Alyssa.
"That's good, one thing off the list now for the clay.. did you see any in the river bottom?" Alyssa asked. "No" Jake shook his head "but there is some on the edge of the water but it's on the right of the waterfall.. I haven't really been too close to that incase there was something dangerous.." Jake said.
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"Mmm… well perhaps with me here you should be fine I'll keep an eye out while you try to get the clay?.." Alyssa said.. Jake, even though he was hesitant, still really wanted to try Alchemy and decided that it would be pretty worth it if it all worked out so he nodded at Alyssa and slowly and quietly as he made his way towards the right by the waterfall.
He eventually reached the spot and did the same as before putting his hand on the spot and trying to get it into his inventory but it didn't budge so he grabbed a handful and was able to put that in his inventory.
*That's weird I could do it with sand but not clay? That doesn't really make sense..* grabbing more and more Jake managed to get quite a lot before he found something in the bottom of the hole he had dug getting the clay.
Trying to clear all the dirt off the top of it Jake managed to finally pull it out of the hole and it was a small chest. It looked like it was the size of a laptop and was not too heavy, just enough for Jake to struggle to lift but not enough where he couldn't lift it.
Looking over at Alyssa, Jake had a puzzled look. Alyssa just shrugged "well open it you found it after all.."
*That's not really what I'm worried about.. I'm worried it's a trap..* eyeing his surroundings one more time Jake noticed there was no movement still.
Slowly lifting the hatch he opened the small chest and inside there were two items. One was a ring and the other looked like a needle.
Inspecting the ring Jake instantly equipped it.
Ring of Drake Nero (rare)
+25 health
+5/s health regen
+2 strength
+1 agility
+1 intellect
A ring of Drake Nero's, Drake was a young well.. dragon that was new to blacksmithing he attempted to make a ring like any humans to try and get more gold for his hoard and ended up with this ring in his first go. Frustrated, he threw it into the abyss.
Looking at the needle Jake put it into his inventory for Alyssa later.
Needle of Ryan Rain (Normal)
Increases chance of successfully repairing armor with cloth or leather but has a chance to reduce durability. Increases chance of making a normal rarity Armour if you are working as a leatherworker or tailor.
Ryan, a famous Tailor used this needle as his trusty sidekick in making some amazing pieces of clothing, unfortunately he seemed to have lost his sidekick along his journey to becoming a grandmaster.
Making his way back to Alyssa, they both then made their way back to their cave. Jake handed Alyssa the needle and asked Alyssa after her magic practice that they are going to do If she would be able to make some stuff for them like boots etc.
Alyssa agreed and walked behind Jake towards the cave. On their way they killed warthogs to get more leather and meat, and eventually arrived.
"Ok, I want you to cast your spell to the tree over there and see if we can't increase the spellcasting speed." Jake said.
Alyssa nodded and faced the tree about 10 meters away and started casting. "Oh mana that surrounds me gather in my palm and destroy my enemies. Mana Bolt!"
A small bluish transparent ball flew from her hand and it the ground in front of the tree.. embarrassed Alyssa quickly shouted "I haven't used the ability much at all there's no way I'd be accurate.." Alyssa coughed.
Jake trying not to laugh that magic is cast with chants and that she missed the target. "That's ok.. do you need to chant to cast the spell?"
"I'm not really sure it kind of just helps to flow the mana where it needs to go when I do.. wait what if I focused where the mana went when using it and tried to replicate it!" Alyssa quickly sat down and got to work trying to replicate how to cast the spell without a chant.
Jake just smiled and tried to rack his brain to figure out how he was going to make this forge/crucible for his glass bottles he wanted to make. Deciding that he wanted it in the cave due to not wanting to have to stand outside all the time to do Alchemy or leave his glass bottles to fate outside with giant pigs running around. He went inside his cave.
To be honest there was not much room when you added another person in the mix so Jake was trying to figure out how he could make this work when he got an idea… not a good idea but an idea all the same.
*I have the spare daggers from Alisha that I looted.. what if I used the daggers as makeshift spades.. I can try to melt them down later anyway and use it for something else or get a blacksmith to do it.. screw it I'm doing it*
Grabbing his daggers he always used after making sure that the other set of daggers where the same he made his way about 3 meters deep into the cave and tried to start digging at the wall with his daggers and surprisingly enough it worked at least a little not as much as a pickaxe would be able to do.
Slowly Jake was chipping away at the wall and then he noticed that some rocks on the wall looked different.
Ruby gem (poor)
Used in jewel crafting to make accessories, and to make armor look pretty no real use other than aesthetics. An alchemist might be able to transmute this into something useful.
Topaz gem (poor)
Used in jewel crafting to make accessories, and to make armor look pretty no real use other than aesthetics….
Jake put all the gems in his inventory for hopefully later. He managed to make about a half a meter. I guess you could call it hole in the wall before he had to take a break.
"Phewww" breathing a little heavy Jake tried to take deep breaths to get his breath back. "This is gonna be rough but we need the space. At Least it seems the daggers are holding out they have only lost 1 durability so far which is surprising"
Getting up after his break Jake tried again and again to keep making way on making a makeshift room so he could make the furnace etc for Alchemy when it started to get dark.
Noticing this he made his way out of the cave after a small break to catch his breath and loosen his tight muscles. He found Alyssa but now the tree had a few hole marks in it and the grass around it was destroyed.
"Hey it's getting dark, we need to get firewood for dinner" Jake said. Alyssa jumped and said " you scared me, sure I can help. I'm close to making this work though.. I've got it down to 1 second cast but I feel like I should be able to say just the name of the spell to use it.."
"Yeah it would make sense I mean maybe you have to get used to using the spell before you can cast it quicker.. but I'm not sure I'm not a mage.."
"It took me so long to figure that out.." Alyssa grumbled beneath her breath so Jake couldn't hear.
They made their way to the forest and collected some more branches and sticks however they had to go deeper into the forest and this made Jake worried. " We will run out of firewood if we don't chop a tree down soon.. or else we will have to make dew by going deeper into the forest every time we need a fire…" Jake said. "I agree but how will we cut these trees? There's a few small ones but the rest are pretty thick, at least an arm or two in thickness, some even bigger.."
Jake, having a not so brilliant idea again walked to the tree and used the same daggers he used before for the cave and tried to cut a tree by continuously trying to cut at it like a sword. Unfortunately with just one tree it took 1 durability but it did cut the tree down.. even if it was only a small one..
Making their way back to the cave while Jake dragged the tree they cut down he tried to also find rocks of different sizes and put them in his inventory.
Noticing this Alyssa asked "Why are you collecting rocks?" "It's so I can maybe use them for the furnaces body but also I want to see if I can maybe make a really basic hatchet so cutting down trees won't be so hard. The durability of these daggers are going to break soon.."
Nodding they made their way to the mouth of the cave, there Jake started at the top of the tree where it was a little thinner and tried to make a handle for an axe he ended up with a pretty good piece of wood for a handle but again the dagger's durability went down.
Making his way to sit on the floor in the mouth of the cave he got a few rocks out of his inventory and found one that looked sort of like a hatchet blade and used the flooring of the cave to try and sharpen it. "Hey Alyssa, do you know how to make some kind of rope or something to attach the head to the handle?" Jake asked. "I could try cut some strips from the leather we gathered.. but it probably would not be too good.."
"That's ok it's just a basic hatchet anyway nothing special.." Jake said. Giving her some of the leather they gathered and one of his daggers so Alyssa could cut the leather. She cut a piece of leather and got about 3 strips for Jake to use.
Making his makeshift hatchet he grabbed two of the strips that Alyssa made and tied it around the head of the axe and the handle he also made a slight hole/crevice for the head of the axe to sit. While the strips of leather added support. He grabbed the last piece and wrapped it around the bottom of the handle to make a makeshift hand protector for impacts. After doing that he went back to sharpening the axe while he gave Alyssa the wood sticks and branches they collected to make a fire.
Eventually Alyssa got the fire to start and also not 2 minutes later Jake was satisfied with how sharp the axe was. Looking at it closer he inspected it not expecting much.
Axe of Aspers (Normal)
Increase the chance of cutting trees down quicker. Increase of cutting wood by a small margin.
A crude axe but it will get the job done. It's surprisingly sharp.
DING!
Would you like to allocate your profession slot to tinkerer?
Yes/No
Jake quickly selected no and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't give him that profession.
Eventually after checking multiple times that he didn't get the tinkerer profession. He had dinner with Alyssa, which was the famous warthog again and then went straight to bed. Alyssa checked the fire for a while before also going to bed.