16 – EAT MY OVERSIZED LONDON AND SOUTH EAST REGION

Jacob ended up not going out this time as well. Idea after idea sprung to mind, now that he had a recipe book, and now he was staring at a 5x5 crafting grid and questioning if he had gone indeed too far. The fact is, he needed materials. Wood for coal, rare minerals from underground for the machines, odd and queer drops for the magical things. Personal levels too, of which he had barely three, if he wanted to learn magic from the altar.

But it was thrilling. He had no internet, no wiki. Only a crafting guide, everything else was his to discover. And discover he would, because for the first time in a long while he felt like he was a noob all over again, discovering the game as he played instead of watching video after video, reading guide after guide.

Eventually, he went out, the need for materials having the best of him. This time around, however, he was no longer barely armed with a sword and nothing else. No, he was ready for combat, armed with the best his resources could afford him.

Potion of strength 1 (60 seconds)

Diamondsteel armor

Ring of mystical aura (damage 1)

Ring of life (health regen 1)

Bracelet of feather fall

These items were the best he could afford to make for now, and were now a part of his so-called battle loadout he would always wear when adventuring in unknow territory. Thinking about it, he should also see if he could make a backpack so that he could always take these items with him at all times.

Alongside the special equipment, he also had a new weapon with him. To make it, he had to mine quite a bit underground and invest his only emerald, but it was worth it. And the battery he had in his inventory worked just fine in supplying the necessary power for it to function, which was a relief because carrying a ten-kilogram battery around would have been a problem.

After a while of walking, he arrived at a secluded location quite far away from the village. He took out his axe and, activating the real-life physics, he began to chop down trees. One by one they fell, and then he chopped up the fallen logs with ease and quickly filled up a slot with wood. So far, he had never reached a point where a slot was filled, not even when mining, so he was able to store quite a lot of wood in his inventory.

The only issue here was, just like when he was mining, that even slightly different things took up two different inventory slots, since they were not the same thing. This led him to quickly get used to selecting only what he needed, and leaving behind the unnecessary stuff.

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At times, between chopping a tree and the next, he spotted some strange plants or flowers and picked them up. The forest, this whole planet actually, was unknown to him and he had no idea what an ability like his could make of all the things that were available. For all he knew, even a pebble might be extremely useful one day. With the 5x5 crafting and the recipe book, there was simply no way to tell all the possible combinations.

“Whelp, I hope this much is enough!” He said, and whistled loudly when he opened his inventory to check his progress.

His noise, however, the little cat-call he directed at himself as a sort of self-congratulation, reverberated back to him. No, it was different, raspier and lower in tone. Like a howl.

“Wait, this is a howl—shit.” He took a lower stance, and immediately equipped his battle loadout.

The armor appeared around him, the blue of the diamonds and the dark of the steel glimmering almost imperceptibly under the pale moonlight. There was no light around, but that was not a problem when he was chopping wood. Now, however, the darkness felt oppressive and all-encompassing. He readied his potion, and took out his new weapon.

Slowly, ever so slowly as not to make a sound, he tried to walk away.

A yell.

A woman’s voice, and one he recognized. Immediately after, a growl and another yell. Of pain, this time.

Jacob broke into a sprint, running faster than he ever thought he could, the bracelet of feather falling activating when he told it to in order to help him navigate the rough terrain and jump for longer. The weapon was back in the inventory for now, the many wires and delicate lenses unsuited for running around. Instead, the sword was back in his hands.

He arrived at a clearing and there, he saw the silhouette of an elf standing stock still next to the beast. The monster from that night, it was here, circling around the woman like she was its prey.

“Hey, you!” Jacob yelled, not even he knowing why he was doing so.

“Jacob!” She called out, and he realized it was Lumia.

The beast too, hearing the sound, turned to face Jacob. No longer alone, it felt threatened, like its prey was trying to get away and call for help. It jumped towards him, so fast and strong on its hind legs that they dug a little hole in the ground and snapped a few branches.

The long, black fur swayed in the wind. The red eyes glowed eerily. It was getting close.

But this time he was ready. He gulped down his potion of strength, and immediately felt like he could split open a mountain. He readied his blade, the fingers digging deep into the wood of the handle, the diamond coated edge shining in the darkness, reflecting the pale moonlight that filtered down the trees.

The beast slammed into the large broadsword, engaging Jacob in a brief battle of strength against its momentum. Then, with a superhuman feat of strength, due both to the potion and the adrenaline, he pushed it aside with a swipe of the blade.

The sound was piercing, like metal against metal, as the sword grazed the hide of the beast and erupted in sparks. Then, the two separated and the beast rolled for a few meters on the grass, ultimately landing on its feet to charge again.

Jacob had already taken out his new weapon, however. A laser gun, large and bulky, full of wires and focusing lenses that made it look like a portable cannon rather than a laser. The wires disappeared somewhere, only to draw power from the battery that was safely stored in his inventory. Painfully slow to charge at the generator, it had emptied almost all of his coal reserves to fill.

Jacob grinned. “Time to burn!”

He turned the laser cannon on.