Chapter 10 - Preparation is key...

A subtle smile formed on Cantorn's face. This skill was one of the few that he was really familiar with. Before his strange semi-revival crafting was, more or less, a part of his daily life. While he crafted things, the knowledge on how to slightly optimize his work process would instinctively come to him thanks to the skill. It, however, did not help you with crafting something for the first time and neither did it provide any significant insights that could be used to drastically improve one's skills. This meant that a large part of the crafting process was still entirely up to the individual talent and teachings received by the user. Only when skills were acquired through quest rewards or other instant methods was it truly possible to learn something entirely new. 

In some ways the system was a mystery to Cantorn but right now was definitely not the time to philosophize about such matters. He would rather spend his precious time being productive.

His next bigger project would probably be to go hunting, as he really wanted some materials like beast hides or claws to up his equipment. While he could substitute some of the materials with other natural resources, like using strings out of plant fiber instead of animal tendons to sew his stuff together, they just wouldn't be of the same quality in the end. This was partially due to plants not being able to level up and therefore not improving much, although there were some exceptions to that as well, as well as the fact that he wouldn't have to process animal parts as much as other natural resources. Plants had to be split up into their fibers and then crafted into strings, a process much more prone to errors happening, whereas he wouldn't have to treat the tendon of a beast much apart from maybe rubbing them with fat. 

The only obstacle to overcome now was rather obvious: He'd have to go out to fight again. As the thought of facing beasts came up again, Cantorn felt a feeling of fear creep up. Last night it had been more than just a close call. Had it not been for the Healroot and a total of 2 level-up's he probably would have died. The blood loss back then was definitely lethal and having a mangled arm hanging limp to his side hadn't helped either. If tonight were to be the same, he wasn't sure if he could survive again. 

Stating this simple fact in his mind made him aware of how well he would have to pick his fights. Going in unprepared was a no-go as well, even though his body had become a little stronger since last time. He really wasn't eager to fuck up his body once more and neither was dying on his list of things that he'd like to experience in the near future. To properly ready himself in order that those events would not repeat themselves he would first need to take some precautions. Upgrading his overall equipment wasn't possible right now but there was one addition he could make. It was something that would hopefully spare him from most of his direct confrontations tonight.

Now there was only one thing left to test. While he knew that his regeneration had increased by almost fifty percent this number posed no practical value to him. Numbers were a good indicator to measure his growth, yet personal experience always reigned superior. Being able to gauge your own bodily capabilities properly was by far the best measure one could take before engaging in a fight. That was a principle even Cantorn knew, regardless of his own pacifist background. Not abiding by this principle was what had led to his own clans demise as well, meaning that there was basically no way he would forget that. Taking his own advice by heart he commenced with the test.

As he clenched his teeth a shallow cut formed on his leg, right atop his thigh. This one would be used to estimate how many smaller wounds he'd be able to sustain before he'd have to end his fight. Due to him not wanting to distort the result of his little experiment he didn't stop the blood from gushing out either. It would hurt for a while but in the end he hoped that it would be worth it.

Now that this was done he focused back on crafting his new utensil. In less than half an hour a whole Payabe leaf was stripped down into its individual fibers. With a large bundle under his arm he walked the short way to the lake, mostly avoiding the beasts, though they didn't seem to be itching for a fight anyways. He then plunged the whole bundle into the water, cleaning off any excess plant liquid and creating smooth and flexible fibers. Not even bothering to go back to the cave he began weaving them into a rather uncommon looking cord. Instead of only having two ends, there was a part of cord branching out from the middle, essentially creating a three-ended cord. From the shore he then picked three stones, two larger sized ones and one that weighed slightly less. A fourth stone was used to punch a singular small hole through each of of the stones in a tedious manner. In the last step Cantorn only had to assemble the whole thing, tying each of the stones on one end of the cord. Excitedly he awaited the notification that popped up just a few seconds later.

[You have crafted a 'Bolas (Common)'. A medium amount of experience is being awarded for your creation.]

It seemed like he had done a good job. While he had not deviated in any way from the dark-elven original and the quality of the materials wasn't outstanding either, at least this time the system had recognized the finished product as a solid piece of work, giving it the common rating. Checking if there were any other annotations in the description, he pulled up the blue window.

Sighing, Cantorn took the system's little side blow. He knew that both his background and he himself had been among the lower to middle class in terms of power. The system may classify them as weak but in reality only around twenty percent of all living beings even reached level fifty. Larger powerhouses would scoff at such a number but in relation to the overall population of the universe, this was still sufficiently strong. Many that tried to reach even such a level would die far before that. Though after reaching level fifty, the survival rate and life expectancy of people shot up exponentially. This did not mean that deaths became uncommon afterwards, people were simply not randomly dying to monsters and the likes anymore. Reaching this level therefore was one of the main goals of this young dark elf as well. 

Now equipped with a new weapon, Cantorn was ready to set off for his first real hunt.

Ludan

Hi there again!

Contrary to common belief I have not died and neither did I stop writing this novel. Holidays have started in my country and after dealing with school as well as being away for a week I am now fully ready to start publishing again. Hopefully I'll return to a schedule of at least one chapter per week, if not more, as I now have quite a lot of spare time.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you soon!