Chapter 9 - My home is my castle
A smirk full of satisfaction on his face, Cantorn admired his new home. Small and dark still, but a home nonetheless. In the blazing midday sun the tiny entrance of a cave, partly hidden by large brambles, presented itself. Not the nice kind of brambles, with tasty berries as a reward for the pain, grew in front of it, no, they were of the nastiest kind. Their tendrils were full of sharp thorns that immediately stuck in your skin if you touched them. Bearing no fruits and almost devoid of color, except the dark leaves sprouting out of them, they looked unattractive and menacing to anyone going even near them.
That however had not scared off the slender dark elf from trying to carve a path through the sea of thorns. With a large reddish tree branch, apparently called 'Carminut', he had beat down and ripped apart their tenacious defenses bit by bit. Over the course of the whole morning a small path emerged right in the middle. After cautiously making his way through he had finally emerged in front of the cave that he spotted by chance.
The pain he felt from the already closing scratches all over his body was nothing in comparison to the feeling of pride in his chest. Not only was finding a new home now a point he could cross of his current to-do-list, it was also another massive achievement for him, compared to what goals he had reached in the past. It was the dream of every man, owning a homestead. While the pride persisted he went on to think of all the things he would need in the future. Furniture was up high on his priority list with a bed being of utmost importance. A basket to store his stash of Healroot would surely come in handy as well, at least if he wanted to eat them without having dirt stuck to his teeth afterwards.
Another important challenge he would have to tackle soon was crafting some combat equipment. Cantorn noticed how his little dagger had started to become dull already, a sign of both its inferior quality and the heavy strain he put on it. He liked how the shape of the dagger felt, a swift weapon that fit his small stature. While he was sure that other weapons had their advantages as well, his weapon of choice would probably be this small blade.
Already pondering how he could replicate this dagger with the materials at hand, a new thought came to him. He shouldn't solely focus on the offense as defensive equipment was sure to be of as much use as offensive equipment was. In his mind the hides of bigger beasts would make a great leather armor, mainly protecting his chest and abdomen. He could already imagine the feel of smooth leather encasing his body, his skin being impenetrable by smaller beasts. Not getting hurt as much was a far-away dream and yet it was one worth fighting for.
With a little shake of his head he washed those dreams away, delaying them for a later time. Having dreams was important but staying realistic equally so. And realism starts with preparation. First of all he would go out to pick Healroot, maybe even pull some out with their roots still intact so that he could replant them near his home. While already out to pluck things he'd also go and get a few large leaves that could be turned into a makeshift mattress. He had little interest in sleeping on hard rocks and proper rest still was one of the most important things leading to success.
While his arms were still a little sore from fighting his worst enemies, vicious and pointy thorns, he was more than happy to get to work. It felt like things were finally starting to get better and it just felt great. Eagerly he began to trail his surroundings, taking in all the information he could get while plucking tuft after tuft of the healing plants.
Only two hours after he had started he had to return. Behind him was a bundle of humongous leaves, each at least 3 metres in length. They grew on large trees with strange fruits that were violet in color and looked as if a bunch of bubbles had turned solid. Apparently they were called 'Payabes'. When he had tried one of them, after checking their description for any hints of them being poisonous, he felt full after only a few bites. They seemed to be extremely nutritious and would make a fine addition to his diet in the future.
One of the leaves he dragged after him had been folded to contain his harvest of Healroot, an amount that he was more than proud of. Around one third of the Healroot he collected had been carefully dug out to plant them later while the rest was just cut off and stacked atop of each other. In total he probably had enough to last him for a month, maybe slightly less depending on how much he would be fighting.
As soon as he arrived back home he started constructing his first piece of furniture. The temporary 'basket' full of herbs was stashed in the back end of the cave, together with the Payabe leaves that he wouldn't immediately use. As for the ones he would use, they would serve as both the material for the mattress and the thread. With nimble hands Cantorn began pulling fiber after fiber from the middle vein of one of the large leaves. Three of those then got woven into a more durable thread, just strong enough to not rip easily while maintaining the thin characteristic of a normal thread. In the span of an hour he ended up with around 5 meters of the robust thread, an amount he could be truly proud of.
The small dark elf was actually quite skilled at those tasks, being one of the few men that had shown no interest in hunting in his old tribe. While there was no strict division in between the genders, hunting was still commonly seen as men's work while sewing and other jobs involving more delicate craftsmanship were more on the woman's side of tasks. Cantorn had been part of both worlds, sewing clothing or preparing food as well as some of the physically less intensive labor like carving bows or making arrowheads. He never thought that those skills would ever come in handy outside of his tribe but right now they were his most valuable assets for surviving alone in the wild.
Another hour later Cantorn had crafted something that resembled a simple mattress, if only barely. With a makeshift needle, a nasty long thorn from the bushes in front of his cave, he had stitched the Payabe leaves together after trimming them down a bit. For extra comfort he even made three layers! If he was already muddling through on his own, he'd at least do his best to live his life as comfortable as possible.
Just as he completed the finishing touches, new notifications popped up. They were of the kind that he already got in the past, he just didn't expect them after his first try.
[You have crafted a 'Fine Leaf Mattress (Inferior)'. A small amount of experience is being awarded for your creation.]
[The user has learned the new skill 'Basic Craftsmanship (common)'.]
First. Thanks for the chapter.
I'd say not stating the exact amounts of experience is fine unless you wanna deal with a metric sh*t ton of numbers later into the story.
Yeah, that was my concern as well. The way in which I have the power system roughly planned out will be quite the hassle already, so I guess I'll leave it this way.
Thanks for the feedback!