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CHAPTER 2 - A Stone Ax

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Darkness, I was too familiar with it. I remember roaming around at night looking for food. Scavenging trash piles that the village inn have brought out at night for the stray dogs to feed on, it was easier to find something to eat than begging during the day. I still remember it, they called us the night rats. We would sleep during the day in the ruins, wake up at night and repeat the process day in and day out. We barely saw the sun.

But this darkness felt relaxing. My whole body felt cool. I can hear the whistling of the wind, rustling of the trees, the calm flow of a stream, it was something I have never experienced. I slowly open my eyes to lush leaves swaying back and forth as the sun passes through the trees. It was by far, the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.

I slowly sit up and I can see I'm in a forest. This is the first time I have laid my eyes on such a living forest. In my past life, all I knew of a forest are dead trees with little to no sign of life. But this sight was something that I will engrave in my mind forever. I touch the grass beneath me and it was relaxing and comfortable on my skin. The soil beneath was warmed by the sun yet when I dig deeper, the undersoil gave a cool feeling.

"This is amazing," I whisper as I look around. I couldn't contain my excitement. I quickly stood up to touch a tree. Memories not of my own made me remember different things. There were so many uses for a tree such as a shelter, cooking, fire, and even can be made into weapons. I roam around some more inspecting every little detail of the forest like I'm a child. From rocks that could be made into tools if I combine it with wood up to certain plants that are either edible or poisonous.

I guess this is what a forager path is meant for. To fully understand the concept of living off the land. The land itself is my playground yet it is a sacred home that I can cultivate. If I do it properly, I can live off the land for years without ever worrying about anything. But for that to happen, I know there were a lot of prerequisites that I need to meet. All this information is new to me yet, it seems like I have known about them forever. But one thing my heart knows, the forager path is best suited for me.

My curiosity led me towards a small moving body of water. This is called a stream. Water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Fishes are commonly found in streams but based on the information in my head, I can follow this which might lead to civilization. But which way? And, am I ready to live with people again?

I contemplate so many thoughts in my mind but in the end, I decided to just take it easy. I don't need to worry about people for now but I do need to find a place to stay. Better yet, maybe I can create one.

"Ah, my potato bag!" I remember about it and the minute I turned around, it was right behind me. It looks full compared to when I got it with no contents inside. The minute I open it, it still looks the same, a black void where I can't see the bottom.

Potato Bag of Infinite Storage

This can store ingredients, tools, armors, food, and beverages to an infinite amount. It cannot hold houses or large things that normally, the user can't carry in real life. It cannot be used to store living creatures or liquid unless the liquid is within a container. It can store corpses as long as they are butchered into pieces. It can preserve the quality of ingredients and beverages but cannot preserve its temperature.

Due to your favor with the god of scavenging, he has given you starting ingredients that can help you.

Do you want to turn on the auto-organization feature? Yes or No.

"Y-yes!" I was amazed at how such a simple-looking bag can be so amazing.

Command accepted. Organizing contents...Please wait a moment....

"This....is so awesome!" I was ecstatic to have such powerful storage.

Organization complete. Showing its contents via notification window.

To select an item, just think about it and it will appear inside the bag for the user to take out. This can only be done when the user is holding the Potato Bag of Infinite Storage.

To store an item, just place it inside a bag and it will be transported into the infinite-dimensional space.

Showing contents...

Inventory Amount Sweet Potato 7 Cooked Sweet Potato(Boiled) 7 Random Seeds 20 WaterSkin(Empty) 1

"Waterskin?" I blurted it out and all of a sudden, all the notifications disappeared and the water skin appeared inside the bag. "Oh! It's a water container!"

I took it out and I can see it was well made. careful leather stitches seamlessly held it together with a white twist cap on top. The twist cap is made out of white material called plastic. A piece of information in my head that I never knew before existed in my world.

One-time notification: This is a waterskin that can hold water. This can be used as a sling bag for foragers to bring along their journey. Water is important to stay hydrated and stay alive. It is only a container, contaminated water must be cured before placing inside the waterskin since it does not have a purification feature but the cap can show if the water is contaminated or not.

To use this feature, unscrew the twist cap and fill the cap with water. If it's contaminated water, the cap will turn black while safe drinkable water, the cap will remain white.

"Oh!" I quickly turn towards the stream and opened up the water skin twist cap. I placed the hold against the stream and it quickly filled up the cap. I wait a few moments and the cap turned black. Even though the water look crystal clean, I guess it wasn't safe to drink unless I follow the process of purification. Based on the information in my head, I can purify it by boiling the water. This should kill all the bacteria that can cause waterborne sickness. Common sense in my world but, I grew up with little to no education so all of this information seems brand new to me. "I'm so excited!"

I closed the waterskin after filling it up with un-purified water before flinging it around me like a satchel bag. The Potato bag had other contents but rather than seeing what they are, I decided to find a place to camp first. My plan for now is, build a temporary shelter, collect stuff that I might need on my journey towards finding a permanent campground. The area I woke up in seems to be a good spot.

"First thing I should do is make a stone ax," I whispered looking around for a flat rock. If I was back in my world, I would never know how to make a stone ax. I guess this information is part of the forager path. I can use a flat stone and grind a side of it into a sharp edge. It wasn't difficult to find since there were a lot of rocks near the stream. next is to find a rock large enough for me to grind the flat stone onto.

There was one with a rough surface near the water. This was perfect since I need water to help me grind the flat rock. Based on the information in my head, I followed it step by step. Dousing the grindstone with water and then scraping the flat rock back and forth on both sides till it somewhat forms into a sharp edge. I broke a few rocks while grinding probably it was too thin. I found a thicker one in the water it had a much smoother surface.

It is such a simple concept yet, I never would have thought about it back into my world. But then again, it's not like people needed it when there were blacksmiths around. I didn't know how long it took me grinding that flat rock but by the time I get to a point where I think it's was good, I was full of sweat and hunger started creeping up into my stomach.

"Let me go eat something first." I got up from where I was hunched over and I can feel the strain in my back. Yet it was a good pain from working on something that will help me cut down some trees. I walked towards a shade and sat leaning on a tree. I opened my bag and thought about the cooked sweet potato I saw on the notification earlier. It's amazing how the bag responds even up to how many sweet potatoes I had in mind.

"These smells good." I take out two of the sweet potato and started peeling the skin off. The first bite was heavenly. I was so used to rotten smell and taste that this sweet potato is making me tear up. Years in poverty scavenging scraps and not once I ever tasted good food such as these. I cried and ate it slowly savoring bite after bite till both sweet potatoes were gone and the hunger has disappeared.

I felt thirsty but since I didn't have drinkable water, I needed t find a way to boil it first. But then, I needed fire to boil it so I opted out on making the axe and started focusing on a fire first.

"Ok, making a fire. I need dry wood." I looked around for fallen branches and I found one that seems to be perfect for what I needed to make fire. I split it in half using the stone ax head and carved a bit at the center while creating notches for the embers to fly out of it. "Based on what I know, I'll use a stick that's called a spindle to rotate it on the middle until an ember forms. Ah, I need dry leaves."

I found fallen leaves that lost its color and crumpled them. I placed the leaves under the split wood and using another thinner branch I found, I rotated it on top by using both my hands. It took a while but suddenly it started forming a smoke where the spindle was spinning. I kept going until the smoke got bigger and bigger. I quickly remove it dumped the embers onto the dry leaves. I gently blow into it and after a few exhale, fire erupts from the dried leaves almost burning my hand. I quickly place it on a pile of dried leaves and tree bark. It was amazing. From just a few simple tools I found in the forest, I made fire.

"Who made fire?! I made fire!" It was such an exhilarating feeling. I placed rocks around the fire to prevent it from burning down the whole forest. The last thing I want is to burn my temporary campground. "Damn, I don't have anything to help me boil water, should I just risk drinking it un-purified?"

I contemplated but in the end, I didn't want to take a chance and get sick in the middle of nowhere. But then an idea came to me, if I heat up rocks, and then placed the hot rocks into a carved wood, maybe it can purify it.

I wasted no time and started using the rock to cut a tree from the base. It wasn't a big tree like the ones that covered the forest. It was as thick as my arm and twice as tall as me. It took me a ton of energy to cut it down as it started toppling over. "Sorry."

I felt bad destroying a tree but, I needed it to live. This tree was a bit different. It had a much smoother bark than the big ones. After whacking some more to get a tree handle, I got to work on removing the bark. hitting it with a rounded rock loosed the bark and I was able to peel it off. It needed a bit of force but after a while, I was left with a smooth surface. Then I had another Idea, I can create a makeshift bowl with the bark since it will require less energy than carving out a bowl from the tree. It wasn't a fancy woven bowl since I needed to store as much water as I can. I dug a small hole using the ax head. Using large bark, I placed it into the hole bending it while trying not to poke a hole through it. I just hope this idea will work since my throat is started to feel like sand.

I grabbed a few rocks similar to the ax head I got and cleaned them off using the stream. I placed them over the fire and let it heat up as I continued to work on the ax handle.

"Ah, I need a chisel-edged rock. Back to the stream." I looked for a thinner rock to create a chisel edge so I can carve a hole in the middle of the handle. I looked for a rock similar color the one I got and I found one in the water a bit further down where I was. The cold water felt nice on my skin as I walk through the stream. I got to grinding it and this one was easier than the ax head.

I started working on carving a hole in the wood from both sides. Having all this information in my head made it so much easier to understand what I was doing. I needed to carve on both sides but I can't carve it through to create the hole since the chisel isn't strong enough. I'll need hot charcoal to burn through and the heat should also cure the hole making it stronger. Carving both sides took a while and I was hungry again. Trying to save my sweet potatoes, I ate only one.

I place more twigs that I cut from the tree and wait till the fire produced coal. Placing the coal in the hole of the wood I carved earlier helped me break through it and finally, I can jam the stone ax head on it. The heat from the coal ignited a bit of fire in the hole. I knew this method, it's called fire hardening. I cleaned up the ashes on the hole and placed the stone ax head. The end was a bit too wide so I had to grind the back end of the ax head to let it fit through. To help jam it in place, I swung it a few times at the leftover tree log.

Using some of the leftover bark, I pulled thin strips and braided them together.

The hole wasn't big enough for the ax head to go through but it was big enough to let it jam in. Using frequently probably will jam it further into the hole embedding it in place.

The rocks have been burning for a while now. Using two twigs like chopsticks, I picked up the rocks and dumped them into the hole I made earlier where I use the tree bark. I placed water on it from time to time since it seeps out the cracks. The minute I place the hot rocks in, it started steaming and placing a few more rocks until I can feel the water hot to touch. It didn't look clear since the ash from the rock stained the water. Using the the cap of my waterskin, I checked to see if its safe to drink. The cap remained white which gave me a breath of relief. I didn't even wait as I started drinking it. I can taste the ash a bit but as of now, I can't be picky. Later on, I'll need to make a fire stove and create more tools like pans or pots to boil water properly. I filled up the waterskin with as much water as I can before it disappears.

I can see The sun is starting to set as the sky slowly turn orange. I sat near the fire. My body felt exhausted but, it's a good type of exhaustion. I took out another sweet potato and slowly started eating it.

Today was an eventful day. I ate proper food, made tools from nature, made a fire, boiled water, and last but not least, I felt complete freedom. No restrictions, no evil people, and I don't have to tippy-toe around. I could make as much noise as I want, control my time and do things without worrying if I'm bothering anyone. For the first time in my life, I felt truly free. As the sun disappears, so does the life in the forest. Silence crept up but yet, it was a good type of silence. The wind sways the leaves in the dark and it was a calm comforting night as the moon illuminates the forest floor.

I was used to sleeping outside. The grass beneath me and the rich soil was comfortable enough that I quickly fell asleep near the fire. Not knowing that a creature has been lurking around drawn to the light.