Thank God for the Clean spell.
Between squatting, wrangling robes and underwear, I was lucky to have only gotten off with a little splash damage. The initial squelch sent shivers down my spine and I immediately cast the life saving spell.
I met back up with Eimear as we reentered the grotto where she got to work getting the fire started.
"I'll take the first watch," she said as I yawned.
"You sure?" I weakly protested. I was tired, and I could kiss her for letting me sleep.
"Yeah." She punched me lightly in the arm. "Mages need sleep, right?"
I nodded and laid down on my side, putting my head on an arm. The floor was hard rock and dug into me, yet after the day we'd had, it was blissful. I crashed out.
As I fell asleep, I realized my body wasn't looking for a regular release. There wasn't some compulsion within me clawing at me to sate its demands. It didn't matter that I was bloody, bruised, and exhausted -- I was more at peace than I knew was possible.
The next day, I woke up to Eimear curling up behind me, her arms draped over my midsection.
My heart quickened in fear and anxiety. Oh God, did something happen?
I took a deep breath as my brain jolted awake, thinking of all the possibilities. Then I remembered, I wasn't a guy, I was a girl now. We were just two girls keeping each other warm. Nothing wrong with that.
I needed to remember I wasn't the awkward guy that I was a few days ago. Even after a day, the real world felt so far away.
The fire had dwindled down to embers. I glared at it, daring it to burst into warm flames. Then I cast Conjure Flames, but without fuel, as soon as I dropped the spell, the warmth vanished.
So I laid there, staring at the last vestiges of the fire. I wondered about this strange new world we'd found ourselves in. Then I pulled up my menu and looked through it. If I was going to be useful, I needed to understand the full breadth of what options were available to me.
We had a few major problems we needed to solve. Food, Water, Shelter, and finding the rest of our team. Water was fortunately taken care of by the creek filtering through the cave. I wondered about the potential for disease, then realized my Clean spell could probably handle that, if not, we could boil the water.
Shelter was covered by our little grotto, though we would need to reinforce the entrance to make sure it was defendable. I supposed I could cast Extrude and Retract Earth spells to close and open the path every day, but that would take time. Not sustainable, we needed a door.
As far as I could tell, I couldn't conjure food. Maybe there was a higher tier spell that could do it, but since I couldn't see them, I couldn't check. That meant we would have to hunt and gather. I had Wood as a basic element option for Identify. That might be able to help with the plants -- it would require testing to be sure. I didn't know if it would detect poisons or not, and I wasn't sure we could risk that.
Eimear had leveled up her tracking, maybe she could hunt animals or monsters while I worked on the base?
As for finding the rest of our team? I really wished there was a messaging system. There was nothing in the menu, but maybe I could unlock a spell at a higher tier. I would need to focus on getting my spell skills up to find out.
I shook Eimear on the shoulder, it was time to get started on the day.
"Mornmfph," she mumbled. "Coffee."
I laughed. "No coffee, sorry." Nor the cream and sugar it would need, I thought to myself.
"Hpmf," she pouted, as she groggily pushed herself up onto her elbows. Her eyes were bloodshot as her lips quavered with anger and frustration.
I decided discretion was the better part of valor and left her to wake up on her own.
Since we hadn't taken any of the monkey meat from last night with us, our breakfast consisted of stream water and silence.
"We should look for the rest of the group," Eimear said after we finished eating.
"Agreed, but we also need some basic defenses. The longer we live here, the more likely we are to attract monsters. Not to mention, making replacement weapons, shields, or other items."
"Really? You're suggesting we split up?" Eimear asked.
"I suppose I am." I stood up and we walked towards the exit.
"Will you be okay? You can't fight, can you?"
"First thing I'm doing is making a door to hide behind.
She laughed. "If you're okay with going for it, let's risk it for the biscuit."
"What does that even mean?"
She shrugged and clapped me on the shoulder. "That you risk it for the biscuit." She walked away as she waved back at me without looking. "Good luck!"
Once she was out of sight, I started working through the initial tech tree of any survival game.
I didn't cut down the trees or vines in front of the grotto to give us a little bit of natural protection, instead opting to go out a bit further to gather materials. Chopping and crafting went much slower today by myself than it was yesterday with the full party. I didn't have the raw strength of any of the others, though the level up did help.
I alternated using a conjured axe and draining my stamina, then using Retract Wood to chop down the trees. With the reduced stamina costs of having the logging skill, I could chop for longer stretches between breaks. Meanwhile, Retract Wood was efficient in shearing through the trees, though it really shone when it came to removing branches.
Moving the logs back to camp was a pain. I didn't have the strength to lift whole trees, so I needed to cut them down. While I could do that with a conjured saw, I was lucky to get a tier one quality plank. I almost always got a tier two plank from my Retract Wood spell.
At that point my mana pool had emptied, so I took what tiny load I could carry and hauled it back to the grotto. I was exhausted after one trip, and I still had many more to go.
It was time for a proper wizard tactic -- preparation and tools.
I used Retract Wood to shear off two full circle's from the end of the log, bored holes in them, then carved off a dowel and hammered it across the wheels for a basic axle. I placed three planks side by side on the axel, and used Extrude Wood to make a hole for the axle to go through, interlocked them with each other, and added a handle to pull them from.
I went through my entire mana pool twice during the process.
I pushed it around, and it held together, though I could see the wheels itching to fall off the beam I'd bolted them to. I cast Identify on the cart.
[ Tier One Wooden Cart. Durability 99/100 ]
Well, at least it was good enough to earn a system rating. I guessed that meant it was a successful craft. I waited a couple minutes for my mana to top off again, and set out. Now, I was able to haul twice as much in half the time.
With the rest of the tree hauled back to base, I started working on a basic door. At first, I had tried using Conjure Basic Form (Wood), to conjure a simple slab of wood. It worked, but it only lasted as long as I actively concentrated on the Conjuration. I had to make a real door.
The lumber was fresh and thick, but I didn't have any nails or metal. Helping with the lean-to yesterday had gotten me the Woodworking skill, so my NA gave me some basic ideas. I used Retract Earth to create grooves. I wedged two planks onto each side of the entrance, giving me a vertical slit I could slot a door in like a portcullis.
For the door itself, I alternated between Retract Wood and Extrude Wood to interlock planks in the same way I did for the cart. I underestimated how much space I needed on the sides, so I had to do a last casting of Retract Wood to trim the edges.
The door was heavy! And to open it, I had to lift it from the bottom as it clattered against the wooden rails. It wasn't the most convenient, but it gave our home some basic protection. Using some spare planks and the Extrude Earth spell, I created a barrier above the door to the outside. There was room for the door to slide up, but no space for monsters to climb over it.
After another break to let my mana and stamina recover, I went back out into the woods to fell more trees and gather more lumber.
After another two trees, my cart was starting to fall apart, so I used Respecialist to take the Non-Combatant Repair spell from Manipulation. I waited as I concentrated on the spell, slowly watching the durability tick up.
My next project was a ladder up to the top of the mesa. I used Retract Wood to turn a tree into two long thick beams. I wasn't sure if they would reach the top. They were heavy enough that I could only take one back at a time using the cart, and by the time I finished hauling the first one back I was drenched in sweat.
I popped a wood block under the door to hold it up as I hauled the beam into the room. At this rate, I was grinding my strength stat as much as I was doing anything with mana. I flexed. I was going to be the strongest wizard!
On my way back from picking up the second beam, my Sense Monsters spell pinged -- off to my left. Four vague red hazes that slinked across the forest floor. They moved lazily, yet with purpose as I quickly realized that they were walking up the stream.
Monsters had found our home.