13 – I do have gifts, see how I make them right away.

The central plaza was full of people. They were all eating and chatting, the long tables filled with meats and vegetables from the gardens. As he approached, he noticed some stares directed his way, mostly from the returned hunters. He could see now that they were barely a dozen, compared to the seventy or more women of the village, a thing that hinted at some event that must have happened in the past.

He ignored all this, however, and went straight to Tyla. She was sitting at the head of one of the two long tables, next to her daughter and Vileen as well. The two were close friends.

“Jacob, hi. I was wondering if you would show up tonight.”

“I don’t really need to eat that much.” He said, scratching his chin.

“Come, sit.”

She motioned him to an empty chair next to her. She must have reserved the place in advance, just another odd thing among the many when it came to that woman. He sat down, and got closer to her face.

“The monster,” he whispered. “I heard it, just a few minutes ago.”

“I know. It roams the woods at night. It’s dangerous to go out there alone.”

“But what is it? How long has it been there?”

She sighed, and looked at the other elves merrily eating all around.

“It appeared a few weeks ago. The first night, it was a massacre.” Her face turned somber.

Jacob did not know what to say. Instead, he changed the subject, and asked her about a few possible points of interest near the village. He had in mind to explore around, and see if his hunch was true.

“Look who’s here!” A voice interrupted the feast. “The human. What are you doing here, except building your own merry little home and doing nothing for the village? Have you come to eat our food, drink our mead and sleep with all our women, eh?” He was swaying lightly on his feet. “Did you bring anything to this feast tonight?”

“Lurethor!” Tyla called out.

“No, he’s right.” Jacob interjected. “He is right. In fact, I came here bearing gifts. For your hospitality.”

He placed down a 4x4 crafting table. On top of it, materials appeared in small images of themselves. Wood, sticks, vines and iron ingots.

He took out the stack, and materialized it on the ground in a small pile. The crowd gasped, all the sounds seemingly disappearing. Even the lightly drunk elf couldn’t help but stare at the pile of weapons.

“A magical bow!”

“A gift, for us?”

“We’re… I mean with this…”

The voices mixed and mingled; all the hunters seemingly ecstatic. Jacob had seen the state of this village, barely surviving after what happened with the monster a few weeks ago. The hunters barely armed with anything, and not enough skilled workers available to build new weapons.

He too stared at the weapons, examining one up close. He did not expect this, when he crafted the bow. He just put what he felt were the right materials inside the grid and thought about what effects could be useful to the elves. Everything else happened on its own. Already thinking about what he could do with this, about all the implications of this new side of his power, he found himself dragged on in the middle of a merry and definitely drunk group of dancing elves.

They offered him mead, which he gladly took, and they all kept hopping and singing around the fire.

Tyla watched from her seat, a content look on her face that seemed to wash away the worries and the sharp lines she always wore. She sighed and, smiling, retreated to her own treehouse.

“See you tomorrow,” she muttered to herself, and went to her room.

She took out some scrolls, depicting the layout of the nearby forest, along with paths, rivers and many notes on the wild fauna. Just one single tear formed in her eyes, the memory of her late husband who made this scroll still vivid. Barely three weeks ago, she had watched helplessly… but right now she had things to do.

Examining the scrolls, she began to draw a new map onto an empty parchment.

After the dance and a couple hours spent with Lumia and the other elves, Jacob returned to his cabin. He went straight for the basement where he built a small chest, reinforced it with iron so that it could hold more items, and placed it. Then, he dug a little tunnel into the wall and closed it off with an iron door. A pressure plate on the outside, a hidden lever on the side of the mineshaft he was about to build.

Then, he started digging a stairway in the stone, going down until his inventory was full and coming back up only to empty it. After the last of his irtsteel pickaxes, made with irtax combined with iron, broke he already had enough diamond to craft himself a better pick and sword. Once again he went for the usual recipes he knew, on the 3x3 table for both items.

Then, with his last trip up he saw that there was some light coming from the trapdoor above. It was finally morning, and he set up to go and retrieve the maps at Tyla’s place.