Chapter IV – Rest, Recover, Refit.

Verdant found a comfortable depression in the bark where he could lean back against the sloping edge and reached into his pack for one of the berries he had found earlier.

Item - Densewood Berry (Common)

A robust, palm-sized berry with mottled purple-brown skin, found in abundance across most regions. Renowned for its exceptional sustenance value, it is often dried and preserved to create long-lasting rations for military forces and adventurers.

‘Well, it kind of looks like a weird apple… If it’s used for military rations, surely it can’t be that bad.’ He bit into the fruit with an audible crunch. Sweet juices filled his mouth while the flesh had a texture very much like an apple.

He finished the fruit, feeling strangely full after a single fruit. ‘I see why it’s used as rations; I don’t think I could eat another if I wanted to.’ Burping lightly, he scratched his chin when a ding informed him that another notification was available for his perusal.

Modified State – Well fed.

Your belly is satisfied, and you’ve taken rest.

For as long as you continue to rest you will retain this benefit.

Light activity can be undertaken while in a state of rest.

+100% to base Mana Regeneration

He contemplates this latest message as he removes the spider plates and spinneret from his inventory. Holding a couple of leg plates, he notices how they somewhat slide over each other. ‘If I can figure out how to make some of this webbing, all I have to do is use my seax to punch holes along the edges and I’ll be able to create some makeshift armour for my upper and lower arms. I wonder if I can maintain a rested state while I’m doing this, I really need the mana; I’ll just be slow and methodical, that should be enough.’

Verdant lay out all the arachnid plates he intended to use for the armour and reached over for the spinneret. He squeezed the rough object; it extruded a sticky thread that he pressed between his fingers. It hardened quickly when exposed to the air and in moments he had what resembled dozens of tattered threads between his fingers, individual and unwoven. ‘It seems that getting the thread isn’t terribly difficult, but whatever mechanism that weaves the threads together to make a singular whole doesn’t appear to be in effect.’ Squeezing the spinneret with one hand, and pulling the extruded material with the other, he twisted the material constantly as it hardened into stretchy thread, that didn’t break even when he applied his full strength to stretch and pull it in any which way he could imagine. ‘So that’s it, the same as a rope, the individual threads are weak but when they’re twisted and bound together, they make something far stronger than the sum of their parts.’

Several times over an hour he was too impatient, pulling the thread too quickly before it could properly harden and it broke, falling apart into unwound threads. He simply grabbed the loose end from the spinneret once more and continued to pull, more carefully.

After he’d been pulling the excretion for a time and spooling the now complete thread around a stick he’d found nearby, he was surprised to find that there was simply nothing else coming from the back of the spinneret anymore. ‘Have I used it up? I suppose it makes sense; spiders can run out of thread when overtaxed, judging by the amount wrapped around the spool I must have twisted close to a hundred metres of thread.’

Item – Monstrous Arachnid Thread x 86 Metres

This thread has been painstakingly extracted from the spinneret of a Monstrous Arachnid. It is prized for a multitude of crafting applications due to its flexibility and strength.

‘I guess that wasn’t too far off the mark then. Let’s see if I can punch some holes in these plates and make use of my fancy new thread.’ He placed the sizable spool of spider’s silk down by his side and reaches to grab a couple of the leg plates he’d set up in front of him. Verdant unsheathes his seax, ‘It seems like the outside of these plates are extremely resistant to piercing and slashing, maybe I can puncture it from the inside.’ He places the tip of his blade against the back of the plate, over one of the spots where he needs a hole to secure the thread, he reaches into his pouch and removes the smooth rock from the riverbed using it as a hammer to smash the handle of his blade, punching the blade cleanly through the plate. ‘This is going to work.’

Verdant continued this process, punching almost two hundred holes in along the edges of eight leg plates where he wanted to weave them together. At this point, he spooled off several meters of thread, cutting them with significant applied force, and twisting them into a cord of approximately half a centimetre in diameter. He noticed with satisfaction that the ends of cut thread didn't fray. 'Must have something to do with the chemical process involved when the web hardens. When I look closely, I can see the individual strains that I've twisted together, but they clearly appear to be joined as one continuous whole.'

He lay two pieces of leg plate over one another, having lined up the previously punched holes, he now weaved the cord through them to join them and create an armoured plate to protect his upper arm, next he did the same with two of the leg plates for the lower arm and joined the partly completed pieces together at the elbow, creating a webbed over it; this method offered flexibility, though it would likely leave his elbow vulnerable to attack. He was willing to take the risk if it meant he could block blows meant for his body with this new armour on his arms.

Next, Verdant repeated this process with the next four plates, before weaving the silken thread back and forth across the open side of the plates to create something of a sheathe for him to slide his arms into and keep the armour in place.

When he was done, the flexibility of the makeshift armour allowed it to slide on easily, all the way up to the armpit, with the top of the plate sticking up to offer some protection from slashing strikes against his neck.

‘Damn, this stuff is actually pretty comfortable, it’s snug and only rubs a little at the joints, I can’t really feel any kind of impairment to my range of motion either. Perfect! Let’s see what I can do with the bigger plates.’

Verdant touched his pouch and withdrew, two of the cephalothorax plates he thought would make great armour for his chest and back. ‘I just need to carve these into a suitable shape and weave the pieces together to make a lightweight chest piece.’ He quickly realised that punching a hole in these plates was one thing, carving them with a knife was another thing entirely. He put large cracks across these plates just by applying too much pressure in the wrong direction while attempting to carve the shape he wanted.

This process so far, successes and failures, had taken close to four hours and Verdant was starting to feel hungry again. He decided to take a break and think about how he would approach the issue.

He removed another densewood berry from his pouch and ate it slowly while he considered the problem. As he was pondering, he recalled that glass would do something similar when cut and that it was often far easier to score the surface with something sharp and snap the unwanted piece off with a controlled application of force. ‘Maybe if I score the approximate shape I need into the back side of the plate with my seax, I’ll be able to apply a swift hit and get the plate to snap in the same way, leaving me with a rough blank of the piece I want.’

Verdant finished up his lunch break, maintaining his well-rested buff, before reaching for his sack to start crafting again when he had a thought. 'I should look at that necklace that I got for Bryn's quest, maybe it will tell me something about how I can complete it.' With a small effort, he removed the item from around his neck. Holding it in his hands and turning it over he noticed something he didn't see the first time, he was greeted by the stoic visage of Bryn, though not as he met her; this Bryn wore a helmet, like the one she'd donned before giving her life to destroy that terrifying creature. 'This must be the real Bryn, or Brynhildr; like the quest had called her.' He squeezed the necklace slightly before willing his skill to show him the information he desired.

Legacy Item - Runestone of Ascent - Brynhildr: The Guiding Light (Unique)

A small rune-etched stone containing the will and essence of Brynhildr, Valkyrie of the All-Father. The runes shift subtly when held, whispering faint guidance and reacting to the presence of a worthy successor.

Enhances perception, allowing the bearer to sense hidden dangers.

Resonates in the presence of a suitable candidate for Brynhildr’s legacy.

Grants brief insights or warnings through faint whispers.

She was one of the last. I will miss her.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He places it back around his neck and feels it between his collar bones once more; resolving to finish the quest he had been given to find a suitable candidate to carry on Brynhildr's legacy. "Somehow, I'll find the right person." He sighed before returning to his task and grabbing out some of the leg plates he had in storage to practice his idea on, he only had two of the larger plates left and didn’t want to risk breaking them while trying a new technique.

He positioned one of the leg plates face down on the ground, scoring lines across different angles and snapping them with varying degrees of force to determine the ideal angle, depth and force required to cleanly snap the plates.

Over the next couple of hours Verdant used up twenty-two leg plates before he was confident that he would be able to snap the larger plates as required.

He got to his feet and stretched. ‘I feel like I’m going to be a hoarder of anything that even remotely has any value… But I refuse to fill my bag up with useless crap.’ He grabs his pouch from his belt and tips it over the edge of the tree, willing his sack to empty all the useless mess he’d built up while working with his hands. Chipped and broken plates fell in a rain down the side of the tree.

Verdant stretched again, before noticing that he wasn’t stiff or sore in the least. ‘I’ve been sitting, hunched over for hours, these stat increases are incredible. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made here about sweatshops and child labour, but that would be heartless… and has nothing to do with me being unable to think of something on the spot. Not at all.’

He returned to his workspace and sat, removing the large plates from his bag, he placed them on the ground in front of him. He started on one place by scoring a line all the way around the inside of the plate in the shape he desired, before scoring break lines from the original score line to the outer edge, so that the piece would snap across the weak points instead of breaking the plate and this way he could do it in pieces, increasing the chances of success.

He was slow and methodical; these were the last large plates he had after all, and he couldn’t risk breaking them if he wanted to make his breastplate. Piece after piece broke away cleanly, he finished the first large plate and continued on to the second one. Finally finished, he came back to himself, breaking out of a fugue state the repetitive work had induced. To him a further two hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

Verdant finished the plates, continuing the process, as he had done earlier with his arm plates; punching holes around the edges of the two plates, ensuring the bottom, arms and neck all would have openings once he finished.

After spooling off the spider silk and twisting it up into the half centimetre cord, he noted that he’d used close to sixty metres of the valuable threat. ‘It’s lucky I’ve got what I need to finish right now, but any crafting in future is going to need more thread, which means I’m going to need to hunt down more of these spiders. Good thing I’ve got a quest to go and wipe out a queen… maybe I should let it establish its nest just so I can farm it for parts. This armour won’t last forever, and I’ll need to make more sooner or later.’

Coming out of his musings, Verdant started to weave the cord between the two large plates, crisscrossing, in a tight weave, up the sides and making a flexible and durable join that would minimise the impact on flexibility and range of movement.

Three hours and change later, Verdant was satisfied with the breastplate now sitting before him; he was quite pleased with what the screens told him when he used his assess skill.

Item – Chitinous Breastplate (Uncommon)

This armour was crafted by a novice, using superior materials. It provides adequate protection from piercing and slashing attacks on the back, chest and abdomen.

‘No stats, at least the system confirms it will protect me like I intended.’ Looking at the armour on his left arm he activated the skill again.

Item – Chitinous Rerebrace + Vambrace (Uncommon) [Left]

This armour was crafted by a novice, using superior materials. It provides adequate protection from piercing and slashing damage on the upper and lower arms.

Ding

Skill Increase – Assess 2 > 3

Verdant had spent around ten hours crafting this armour. He needed to refill his health and mana anyway, but he was more than happy with the time he’d spent today. Gaining the assess level was just nice side bonus to having something to protect himself.

He placed his armour in his inventory and noticed that there was a notification waiting for him, blinking a blue light in his periphery. ‘I must have missed the ding while I was working.'

Skill Increase – Improvised Craft 2 > 9

“Seven levels?” Verdant exclaimed in shock, he willed the screen away and back again, multiple times, trying to process what he was seeing. ‘Seven levels is insane…I guess ten hours of dedicated crafting, working with new materials is really beneficial for experience gain.’

#

After packing up and eating another fruit Verdant donned his crafted armour. The inside of the plates had a soft feel to them, almost like a suede finish. That along with the silky nature of the threads he’d used to join his armour, made it quite comfortable. Given his increased stats, the armour was incredible light, feeling more like a second skin than heavy plates meant to protect him. ‘Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I did a damn good job. I guess hundreds of hours of yootoob videos paid... off… Wait what?’

Verdant was shaken, that was the first time he’d really learned something about who he used to be, and it was learned through an off-hand comment made to himself with no real urgency or importance. ‘Maybe that explains it, there’s so much of substance that’s gone from my memory. I know what things are and how they work, but I don’t have any knowledge of myself in relation to these things. Surely, I had previous experience making things, this armour isn’t something you can just sit down and make with no skills or experience. It’s like I’ve retained my muscle memory and I’m rediscovering skills that were taken from me.’ Ding, a soft chime draws Verdant’s attention away from his musings.

Quest Timer

Home is where the monsters won’t eat you (1/3)

Timer – 45hrs remaining

‘Forty-five hours huh, I feel silly for wasting time here like this, but I needed the armour. It wouldn’t do me any good to get to the objective and find that I must fight off waves of enemies in nothing but the linen shirt and lovely kilt I started with.’ Thinking about the abomination of a lower garment he had been given; he couldn’t help but feel the breeze caressing his low-hanging fruit and shuddered.

Shaking himself, Verdant feels for the pull in his chest, leading him to his quest objective. ‘There it is, same direction as before.’ He focusses on the pull and sets off in the direction it indicated.

He moved through the forest with purpose, moving faster than ever thanks to his increased stats, as he was moving he noticed that smaller trees were disappearing, bushes and small growth plants became more frequent, though they were dwarfed on every side by giants. Gargantuan trees with a rough, dark bark, towered around this part of the forest. ‘They look like the tree I stayed in earlier, but they’re clearly not stunted. They’re freaking huge, I can see the canopy above, but I can only guess how much higher these monsters go.’ Another pull in his chest directed him over to the nearest tree on his right, as large as the other trees were, this one was bigger, half again in diameter at least. Verdant reaches out his hand and wills his assess skill to tell him about the giant before him.

Tree: Common Ash (Common)

The Common Ash tree is found all across existence. Some say that they used to be something more. But whatever that was, it’s long gone now.

Look deeper!

Verdant noticed the weird comment at the bottom of the screen. ‘What does it mean… How would I look deeper?’ He closed the screen and willed his assess skill to activate again, to show him more, somehow. Surprisingly he feels something happening he feels his mana drain, slowly. After a few seconds, war horns sounded, and he felt his blood quickened in response. Verdant blinks hard at the golden screen in front of him.

Great Ash Sapling of Yggdrasil - level 89 [???] (Hidden) {Dormant}

HIDDEN.

Find the last. Seek the trickster.

HIDDEN.

‘Level eighty-nine?’ The screen disappeared from his vision suddenly and he looked again at the obviously changed tree before him, the bark was limned in gold while the cracks now seemed to be full of twinkling stars and the blackness of the night sky. Looking up the tree, he briefly noticed how the green leaves of the foliage above was now painted in purest gold, before they and the bark beneath turned back to the unimpressive colours they held previously.

‘So it’s temporary…’ removing his hand from the tree he thought about what that last screen had said. ‘Find the last. Seek the trickster.’ Rubbing his hand across his chin, he noticed the barest amount of stubble poking through, scratching his palm. ‘All of this is adding up to something, and I’m not sure I like what that is. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I know enough about Norse mythology to know there’s something very strange going on.’

Verdant decided to move on, finding that pull in his chest again, he left the sleeping giant behind and continued on his way.

After a time, Verdant started climbing a hill on a steep incline and looked at his quest timer; he noticed that five hours had passed since he finished crafting and left his tree-top home.

Quest Timer

Home is where the monsters won’t hurt you (1/3)

Timer – 40hrs remaining

‘I really hope I reach this place soon; I’ve been awake for close to sixteen hours now and I’m starting to get tired. I wish this pull would pulse or give some indication of how close this place is.’ He reached the top of the hill and realised that his was now standing on the top of a large circular basin, that sloped down to a large flat area, surrounded by a decrepit stone wall, with entire sections missing in some places. Along the wall, Verdant noticed some stone towers that appeared to still be in reasonable condition, at least not obviously falling apart; beyond the wall was a series of fields, surrounded by low walls and further beyond all of that, near the very centre of the flat area, was a large stone longhouse with a wooden, steeply pitched, rounded, roof.

'This place is incredible. There's obvious fields for farming and I can't see any clear roads from here. I wonder if there are any people down there. Maybe elves, or dwarves? Even humans would be great... I'd love to get some answers about where I am and try to figure out what to do next...' Verdant stared absentmindedly, contemplating what kind of future might be waiting for him at the centre of the basin before him.