Under the shade of the Olba Tree Eric had to pause his work to let his mind catch up to what she had said.

'She wants me to help her what now? We barely know each other, why does she think that I'll help her all of a sudden? I feel like I'm being selfish here, but I'm barely able to stay alive right now. I have no idea how I would even be helpful here.'

His reservations didn't go unnoticed however, because it registered loud, and clear to Hyowai that they were still strangers really. She had even said as such when she asked a few seconds ago. Her face drooping in defeat, but her eyes still held determination to do what she had set out to do when she had first ran into Eheric. He had proven to her that no matter your size you could still achieve great things. Before she could take back her offer however Eric spoke for the first time since she had opened her to dumb mouth to ask him to help her.

"Look." He seemed to sigh this word in a downtrodden manner, and Hyowai braced herself for the defeat that loomed on the horizon.

Struggling to find the right words in this situation Eric must have seemed as if he was stalling, which made him more nervous, because he has never really been comfortable with talking to women in general in his past life.

"How about we start from the beginning? I don't even know your name, or anything about you other than you are some sort of huntress, so how about first we get to know each other?" He gestured to a place near to him, as he planned to waste no time, and continue his crafting endeavors while he talked. Hopefully he could get this girl to help him with his menial task of making axes. It couldn't hurt to have someone else along to be able to make some form of tools, and weapons.

Confused at first Hyowai nodded and lowered herself near this strange man, and his even stranger pile of Olba wood, and stones. Losing herself in her thoughts she almost got off track as she had wanted to ask Eheric what he was doing, but once again as if reading her mind the odd man asked a question of his own.

"Why do you aways call me Eheric, when my name is Eric?" He thought this a simple question, but her face describe the situation as otherwise. If he could read her mind he would find her not understanding eactly what his question meant. Determined she raised her face to look him straight in the eyes.

"I don't understand your question;They sound the same to me. This is how I know you so this is how I call you."

The simple brashness, and overall honesty of her statement had taken him by surprise. His only response was a deep mirthful laugh as he admired the girls honesty.

A rosy tint slowly made its way up the girls face embarassment clear as day. Knowing he had to intervene before she mistook his laughter for him making fun of her, he took a deep breathe, and held it to try and stop the laughter as though it were the hiccups. This seemed to work pretty well for him as he was back to his normal self very soon.

"You know I actually kind of like the way you say it better, I think from now own thats what I'll go by whenever someone asks for my name. Though this seems like it will be very unlikely for a long time." The realization of what was yet to come seemed to reinsert the idea in his head that although he has gone through alot already it had only just begun. After all he has only been on this planet for two weeks at most, and already his life has been one crazy even after another. Only his recently found free time crafting allowed him to center his mind, and clear his thoughts. The way he was acting lately put his mood into a slight decline, from his accusations of the chief of the gnomosapiens, to his overall cocky attitude, and his clearly non functioning brain that had allowed him to make very dumb mistakes.

He promised himself that he would refrain from being such a dick in the future, because he had a long way ahead of him, and he rather have friends than enemies. This time of self reflection allowed him to decide to help the girl if he could, but he would still try to get some help with his housing project, while he also learned more about the one asking for his help. He may feel bad for her, but he know he can't trust her yet, at least not to that extent. Lost on the whims of his thoughts like a leaf in the breeze he was brought from his self reflection by the young huntress.

"My...My name is Hyowai Gol'drek. I am the youngest of my siblings, and a very well known aspiring huntress in my tribe." Thinking of her tribe brought tears to her eyes, tears filled with hope, defeat, and love. She wanted to do whatever it would take to save her family.

Not acknowledging the tear filled eyes of Hyowai, Eheric handed her the branch from an Olba Tree, one sharp stone, and four Olba Tree Vines. Before she could voice her obvious confusion he began to show her the step by step process of making a primitive axe. Crafting was something that recently brought him much joy as he could see the obvious improvement of his equipment, which had gone from subpar to usable meaning it would do slightly more damage, as well as having a higher durability. His new recipe stated as much too, but Eheric could feel it based on how well the item he made was put together.

Primitive Olba Axe Atk Dmg: 3-5 Quality: Usable Increasing your skill, and the materials used in it's construction allows for a more well rounded, and strong tool for you to use. Using the wood of the [Olba Tree], which naturally absorbs mana through veins that have developed over centuries of mana exposure. This makes the wood more susceptible to enchanting. A higher quality stone, as well as finer made bindings also add to the quality of the tool.

Captivated by the process that was before unknown to her Hyowai dove headfirst into the job of making Olba Axes, and shortly after starting gained not only the recipe but the Primitive Technology Skill which then caused her to begin saying a prayer to a deity unknown yet to Eheric. Confused by this he assured himself to ask her as they continued their work.

"If you don't mind me asking Hyowai why did you pray to your god when you received the skill?" She cocked her head to the side as he asked his question causing him to falter a little bit, but he decided to remain resolute in this, because he stood out enough as it is no need to look like a tourist as well as act like one.

"What do you mean?" She squeaked with obvious joy at the situation, which only brought Eheric more bewilderment to the already lost Eheric.

"It is very rare for anyone to receive advice outside of a shrine let alone a whole skill like what I now have. Some of my people told legends of a time called the Pre Alpharus age when some beings would be able to do many things without the need of a shrine to their deity. It is believed that there are many many things to exist in these god screens, but few if any see more than a couple in their lifetime, and I just got a whole skill from it!" Brimming with happiness she continued to make axes as Eheric was stuck in a stupor. A bright screen greeted Eheric bringing him back to reality.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

[New Skill created]

[Idiot Savante]

Generating.......

Idiot Savante Having no level as this a system generated skill whose limits have yet to be tested. As the only normal user with an Admin skill it would be best not to share it with anyone you don't trust. This skill is a passive skill that allows an admin to indirectly or directly have control over native inhabitants access to the system whether it be granting them skills, and stats if they have earned enough experience in their trade. Cooldown: 30 days 52 minutes.

If Eheric thought he couldn't be even more dumbfounded he was topped by receiving skill not meant for normal people to have access to. Knowing very well this was a god interface passive only made him anxious, but still happy at the same time. Maybe this could explain why she was able to get the skill from him, the questions this raised were numerous, but with a cooldown of over a month he would have to wait to test any theories he might have right now. Shelving this for later he vowed to tell noone about it no matter how much he trusted them, because being exterminated seemed like something that might come from this skill. This also brought another query to the front of his mind, what did this mean for him? He knew he was a godling as per his racial choice at the start, but he didn't think he would be able to gain anything that would be compaired to a Game Master skill. He must have been thinking for a long time, because the next thing he could see in his vision was that of Hyowai staring very inquisitively at him more than likely curious about whether or not he was still alive. His lungs burned for air as he realized he had not even been breathing for who knows how long.

Attempting to stand and gain some leverage over himself only brought with it a wave of disorientation, and nausea as the world spun around him. Taking some deep deep breaths to center himself, and ground his vision to an anchor point he began to stabalize feeling really stupid about forgetting to breathe. With the disphoria fading he went back to work on the axes ignoring the fact that the girl was staring him down in a creepy way. Feeling the tension that previous surrounded him dissipate the more he got used to the strange girl that had been with him for the last week. She had followed him like a shadow, and he could honestly not figure out why.

"I thought for sure it could have been me saving her that caused her to follow me, like some sort of weird life debt. Haha I'd feel bad for anyone feeling indebted to me I'm one massive trainwreck after another that somehow manages to survive the disaster." His nearly silent muttering is broken by a small stream of snores filing one by one from the now sleeping Hyowai.

Sitting straight up her ashy grey complexion seemed to glisten in the noonday glow of the crystal. Long braided black hair stretches down to her middrift hints of silver intertwined in the dark river of hair. Imagining an animated snot bubble calmly expanding, and decreasing in size with relative ease in a comical fashion causing him to chuckle to himself as he finished up the last of the [Primitive Olba Axes]. This prompted another flash of acknowledgement from his skills tab alerting him to the progress he had been paying attention to. he had completely lost himself in his work, and for the first time since he had arrived he truly felt at one with himself, and his current circumstances. Crafting it seemed was his personal form of meditation allowing him to separate himself from reality for a small stint of time. Smiling to himself he decided it was time to check in on his newly gain notifications.

Primitive technolgies skill has increased from beginner level 10 to Adept level 2: 23% experience.

Nodding inwardly he was able to do some quick maths to determine how much experience he gained per completed axe. The beginner stages of the skill seemed to increase by 500 exp per level up increasing the needed experience for everytime he had leveled up. Reaching the adept rank he noticed a drastic increase of 1,500 experience per level up. He must have been at this for quite a while to make it all the way to the adept rank without noticing his own progress. Checking his current stockpile of axes next to the 30,500 experience gain he had made 305 axes. This meant he gained roughly 100-105 experience per axe depending on how well it was crafted at least with the materials he had currently available to him.

"Not bad, not bad, but I suppose this will be enough of a stock for now at least till I begin the arduous work of cutting lumber, and actually building my house." Bending over he snatched up two of his homemade hatchets, and walked into the dense foliage 50 meters to his north. His first few swings at the densely packed Olba Tree did him no good, but around the fourth or fifth swing he netted himself a small victory in the Woodcutting skill. After this he seemed to make minor corrections to his swing here, and his angle there allowing him to become more and more profficient at chopping his deadly foe in twain. As the first tree fell he declined the system's offer of obtaining the Lumberjack class and got to work on stripping the tree of all its branches, and leaves. It took him around 35 minutes to strip the tree of its appendages allowing him to calculate a rough estimate of how far he'd be able to get today. 

'If all goes as planned I'll be able to show off the skeleton of my new home by the end of the day!' New prospects exciting him he began his work with renewed vigor, and a much mor epositive attitude.

Every third tree he found himself having to take breaks to still his ever thumping heart, sweat seeped ever slowly down his head as his overly dry skin attempted to quench its thirst with its own bi product. On his fourth cycle he was laying on his back barely able to catch his breath as the oppressive heat loomed ever onward taking stabs at his dminishing sanity.

"On...On huff huff huff that note I think its time I take a well deserved swim through the pink mana waters to ease my aching body. I'll get out in fifteen minutes?" Almost as if unsure of his own intentions he had posed this question to noone but himself, Shrugging it off he had better things to do right now.

Wading into the shallows of the loamy pink tinted sand felt alien to him, but he was unsure if it was due to the weird coloration of the water, and sand or the feeling of the water alleviating his pains. Either way he made a note to himself that he could really care less as relaxation sucked him in like a tornado, and refused to let go. Within a few brief moments he was snoozing drifting lazily across the surface of the lake while Hyowai stirs from her slumber. Attempting to stifle her yawn she dreamily looked around in an attempt to gain her bearings. Remembering what she was doing before she passed out she looked around for more of these tools called axes to put together, finding none unfinished she was saddened by being unable to help the man that she wanted to help her village. Scanning the immediate area she noticed Eheric floating across the surface of the lake like a Lily pad. The sight amused her greatly as a soft chuckle escaped her ashen lips.

Unable to quell her burgeoning curiosity she search for what exactly he had been up to before he worked himself halfway to deaths door once more. Noticing ten felled olba's 50 meters to her north she determined it was only fair to investigate. He had afterall given her the gift of a new skill, and she hoped to glean more useful information from him for her own survival. She figures she can't rely on this man forever, because who knows where the winds will take him next. Taking off at a small trot she quickly made her way to the fallen behemoths. Studying the tree's however did not really prove useful to her as they were just limbless logs laying in the dew filled grass. Unsure of why Eheric needed them this way she hefted a stone axe to her right shoulder, and stood before an unwaivering giant of a tree ready to make it just as mangled as its fallen brethren. If tree's could sweat she was sure this one would be near wetting itself from the savage smile she gave it before flinging her axe into its mighty bough.