Chapter 12 - Preparing for the expedition

For the next few days, Adam took it easy as he couldn’t really practice with his magic due to him burning his pathways in his last ditched attempt to escape the centipede and the tree. He still hurt when moving too fast and his body was sore all over, especially his ribs which felt as though they might have shattered if not for his reinforced form. He spent his time carving different types of plants and testing various materials for crafting. He used a rather thick branch to make a crude water bottle by hollowing out the rubbery branch with the blade claw he got from barbecuing that sloth monster. The rubbery material wasn’t easy to carve but helped hold in the water because he closed it off with a champaign cork-shaped cap that was a little bigger than the hole at the top and made use of the flexible rubbery property of the wood to make sure the drinkable fresh water from the pond wouldn’t leak out. The carved water bottle had a wonky elliptical shape since he was using the curved blade claw and could only have a single hole. It took a very long time to hollow out but he didn’t have anything better to do. When all was done, he was very proud of his functional waterskin and it was purposely shaped in a way that the top of the bottle had a lip that let him tie a thin but sturdy vine around to attach to his waist. As a result, he now had his own water supply on him at all times and it was resistant to being pierced or shattered.

With that out of the way, he now had a weapon and a waterskin. His goal was to venture further into the jungle than ever before in search of stronger mana beasts to hunt. He was still only early-grade since he hadn’t been able to grow his core since he evolved it. Stagnating his progress was a surefire way to get killed. The tree was growing rapidly by absorbing the life force of its surroundings and would inevitably start attracting more and more powerful monsters to it, which in turn would help it grow and grow. It was only a matter of time until this relatively safe area would be swarming with creatures that could sense the enticing mana from the fruits of the evil tree.

Adam couldn’t venture beyond the cliff side since it acted as a natural wall and the fact that the giant birds seemed to have made it their nests was a big deterrent. He had explored the surroundings for a few kilometers from the cliffside to about five kilometers down the beach. The pond was located about three kilometers down the beach from his cave and a few hundred meters away from a large hill near the treeline. His goal was to explore beyond that area to see if the wasn’t a better spot for hunting in a more open space than the dense jungle. Currently, the only sure source of prey he had were the magically weak sloth monsters that weren’t too hard to find, as they all lived around the same type of fruit trees. Finding another more magically rewarding species to hunt in a more open and predictable environment was his main goal now. He would set out as soon as the sun had risen again. It wouldn’t be long now as the entire area was constantly bathed in a very bright yellow light from the sun as it slowly made its way up the horizon. In a day or two it should be back in the sky looking like the same large ball of white light as when he first woke up on the beach all those days or weeks ago. Between his superhuman body not needing as much food, water, or sleep and the fact that he had no idea how much time passed when he was awake or asleep, it was truly impossible to accurately measure time.

His body had recovered significantly when he was attempting to craft a waterskin and Adam was now finally able to circulate mana once more. Adam wanted to have a good weapon on him at all times but his blade claw simply wasn’t up to par with the type of things he wanted to hunt. It wasn’t something designed for slicing flesh but for cutting tough fruits after all. He wanted to use his mana to conjure swords but he knew very well that if he had so much trouble with a small ball of mana then creating weapons was out of the question. That was why he wanted to augment his sloth claw with his magic to strengthen it and make it more deadly than it otherwise would be. Of course, this was easy to imagine but harder to do. When Adam used mana missiles, it required his deep focus to form and control the white sphere. Forming something other than a sphere was already really hard but making it follow the blade was unfeasible. It was impossible to combine the two in motion since they didn’t stick together. Adam tried to cover the claw blade with his condensed mana but the blade was far too big and his mana control was far too poor for such a task.

Deciding not to waste his time upgrading his weapon, he instead decided to adapt his mana missile spell to have more penetrating power. Instead of a white sphere, he conjured a rounded cone. He couldn’t make it too sharp yet but he was making progress in getting it into a more blade-like shape. It wasn’t strong enough to cut anything but once he got it into a longer cone, he was able to extend it into a primitive spearhead shape. He was making great gains in condensing his mana rapidly and into his desired shape. He continued his training for hours, only stopping when his mana ran out. He considered making clothing but his body was so tough now that it wouldn’t help him. He had become used to moving around silently in the jungle and wearing poorly crafted clothing would only dampen his abilities. Adam hadn't experienced any wind or rain so far and he had no real reason or need for clothes. He was alone after all and he had taken off his t-shirt when he got back from the broccoli tree since it was ripped and dirtied beyond repair. His hair was short and his clean-shaven face didn’t need much attention so he could wash himself with water from the ocean without actually going in it. His hesitation mainly came from his lack of knowledge of what could be living in it. He glimpsed a tentacle of some kind when he first woke up on the beach and hadn’t dared approach it since. He didn’t want to go bathing in the pond since it was quite shallow and was his only source of drinkable water.

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It was a few days later when the sunrise had passed and was now shining bright above the horizon that his preparations bore fruit. He had been working on strengthening his body and mind with mana as well as forming blades from his magic. The majority of the work was done on condensing the mana into a physical form that could stab into the trees he was practicing on without immediately dissipating. It wasn’t too hard to do, but he was trying to speed up the time needed to form good quality blades. The fastest he was able to conjure a blade that was durable enough to stab into the target tree without dissipating was around fifteen seconds. That was while also having mana strengthening active on his brain to augment his focus. He sent the hand-sized white spearhead-shaped blade shooting faster than ever before toward a poor tree. When it impacted, he called it back to him and it returned without dissipating. This was a huge milestone for Adam since it was the first time he had conjured a reusable weapon. A tingling in his mind told him that it wasn’t just impressive to him but the system agreed too.

Adam Hartwell

Mana core: [grey - early - (???)]

??? (???): [???]

Spells:

- [mana sight - refined - common]

- [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

(???)

“What? Oh, yes, mana blades, that is what I call an offensive spell. Move over stupid spell for throwing white balls, knife conjuring is in the building!”

The mana missile spell was replaced with mana blades. It was still only considered a crude spell but was now ranked as uncommon. He tested it out and found that he was still perfectly able to conjure the white spheres. In fact, the spell seemed to help him in his control of mana and the speed at which he could condense it. He formed another blade of white mana and was able to compress it in about ten seconds. It was sharper looking and could penetrate even further into the tough tree trunk. It didn’t dissipate either meaning the difference between using a spell and simply manhandling the magic was quite significant. Conjuring two blades at the same time wasn’t possible though. He could have his blade float around him while he conjured a second, but having to split his attention meant that the amount of damage they could do was drastically reduced. For now, he was better off simply conjuring a single solid blade of white mana, rather than his dream of being surrounded by a hundred magic blades while he heroically traveled throughout the wild. The fact that he now had a long-range attack spell did put his mind at ease somewhat but the real goal was always the body enhancement. If having a spell is so much more powerful than mentally commanding the magic at every step then he really needed it for his own body fortification.

The sun was now well over the horizon and he knew that he had a tendency to stall in order to avoid difficult tasks. He got to his feet and reminded himself of his conviction, that when the sun rose once more he would make his way beyond the beach he had explored so far. Body enhancement spell or not, the time had come. He was happy with what he had gotten so far but the frustration of not knowing what he was doing wrong did slightly anger him. This stupid system would judge his control over magic and award him with slightly improved editions as a spell. Yet he had been using body augmentation more than any other spell and it still wasn’t recognised.

He didn’t understand what this system was or what it actually did. It had somehow changed his pathways before and seemed to have done the same thing again to improve the speed at which mana could be sent through his pathways and condensed into his new blades. There was no way of learning anything about it right now so he tried to focus on something he could actually understand somewhat, magic.

That’s his main goal after all so he grabbed his waterskin and claw blade, which was still useful to him even with his new spell. For cutting his way through the jungle and carving meat and the like, his spell would only be used for hunting. With all his meager possessions strapped to him, he walked away from his cave not knowing when or if ever he would return.