The Legendary Fool

Tom’s approach was cautious and measured, as he ventured deeper into the small, mountain-like structure through one of the three unnatural, cavernous openings that he’d noticed earlier. His [Elfinclaw Bone Shield] was held forward and Tom was primed to swing at the slightest hint of movement— for if anything was still in there, it was not his friend.

Crystalline coating on the exterior, jagged, fragmented edges forming the cave interior…. Tom couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but whatever it was… it wasn’t his problem.

The passageway turned out to be even smaller than he’d expected, as all three cavernous openings led to… a grotto more than a cavern he supposed, for it seemed to be intentional. There was no big surprise waiting for him, the cave barren except for dozens of animal bones scattered across the cold stone rather untidily. He also noticed strands of [Elfinclaw] fur and the whole skull of a [Symiril Tusker], but besides that there was nothing else of note.

The cavern was empty.

Tom exhaled a long sigh in relief, the strength in his legs giving out as he let himself crumple onto the ground. He just spent the next ten minutes resting, letting his SP replenish itself. Instead of plotting his next move, Tom cleared his mind of peripheral thoughts, of matters beyond his control and of the future.

Deep breaths, happy thoughts.

That might be his new mantra. Because he was going to need a lot more happy thoughts to keep the crushing absurdity of it all from sinking in.

He was on an alien planet. He had magical cards that could do all sorts of bizarre things. Nobody knew, or most likely, even cared where he’d run off to besides that old man…. who couldn’t even track him.

When Tom had inwardly wished for a fresh start…. This wasn’t quite what he had in mind.

He wasn’t depressed, though. It was more amusement, or perhaps bemusement at the nonsensicality of it all.

Everyone he’d ever known… was essentially dead to him.

A morbid thought. But then again, truthfully, it wasn’t as if Tom had cared about a lot of people, let alone loved.

“Well, I suppose I’ll just have to keep going,” Tom muttered to himself as he got back up, giving his half torn pants a good dustoff.

First, he began to unload all the pelts he’d amassed from killing the ankra beasts, symiril tuskers and even the elfinclaw. They formed a small pile on their own, letting out the smell of rotting meat, but somehow worse.

“Egh,” Tom winced. That… would need some cleaning. He’d still have to wait for his SP to recover first though.

Then, Tom went outside, taking in his surroundings. Nothing looked off to him, the half eaten symiril beast carcass still lying where it originally was. The Elfinclaw pelt he’d tossed still lay on the grass as well. He’d retrieve that in a bit.

Thankful for [The Shadow’s] ability to let him see in the dark, Tom began to collect dried branches and dead leaves from underneath the canopy cast by the wide trees. Another twenty minutes passed by as Tom went through the motions, making the originally mundane task a calming one instead.

It was rather ironic how he went from dreaming of a life full of action to yearning for peace.

“It really is greener on the other side,” he grunted under his breath as he bent over to collect another branch.

“That should do it,” Tom smiled, as he deposited the last branch in his soon-to-be campfire.

He then proceeded to gather small stones, forming a circular periphery around the firewood, preferring to err on the side of caution.

The next step actually required some effort, as Tom cut down two thick branches from one of the trees, expending more effort than he’d thought it would take.

He dragged them back to the purported safety of his cave…. Well, it made him feel safer, so it counted for something, and began to carve away at them with his [Ankra Bone Dagger].

Tom didn’t particularly care for the durability of the knife, because he had recieved two more in his hunt. Of course, it would be ideal if the knife didn’t get chipped, but if it did, the cost was a worthwhile one.

He kept carving away at the thick branch until it was roughly cylindrical in shape, before directing his attention to one of the ends. Tom cut out a rectangular block of wood from the end, creating an empty channel that stretched across it’s diameter. It was wide enough that it would be able to slot in a smaller branches’ end quite easily. He repeated the process for the other branch, and only after he was satisfied with the results did he exit the cavern. Tom dug the two cylindrical wooden staves next to each other, with his unlit campfire in the center.

He’d built a wooden spit.

Well, almost. Tom went searching again, returning only after he’d chopped of a smaller branch. It took another quarter of an hour to fashion it into a long wooden cylinder with tapering edges. Tom choosing to be rather particular about the quality.

It turned out that woodcarving was actually quite relaxing.

When he was satisfied with the results, he tried to slot it into the spit.

Tom wasn’t disappointed when it didn’t fit, turning out to be a little too big in circumference still. Another few minutes of delicate craftsmanship fixed that, and it fit like a glove this time.

Satisfied, Tom withdrew a slab of [Ankra Beast Meat], skewering it across its length with the wooden shaft. The meat still looked as unappetizing as always, but Tom would rather experiment with it first than waste his better quality meats. Well, meats that looked more palatable, atleast.

[The Flame] card barely required any SP to start a fire, a few seconds being all it required. The campfire flared to life, and a sudden sense of pride welled up in Tom’s heart as he watched the meat slowly beginning to cook.

Every few minutes, Tom would rotate the spit. Twenty minutes passed, and Tom made sure to keep an eye on his surroundings, lest a beast be lured in by the scent.

Though in all honesty, Tom found that probability unlikely.

The Elfinclaw seemed to be the ‘king of the hill’, considering how confident it had been in leaving its prey uncontested, outside of its base. It also managed to snag the only shelter he’d come across so far, and in all honesty if there were things significantly scarier than the [Elfinclaw] out there… Tom should’ve been dead by this point.

Herbivores back on earth, whilst not the smartest, had the ability to instinctively ‘sense’ danger, whether that came in the form of an incredibly heightened sense of smell, like deers possessed, or other arcane means, ultimately didn’t matter. If this was the [Eflinclaw’s] territory, so to speak, hopefully he’d be left alone for a while.

Tom watched the meat brown, his mood considerably improving when the pungent smell was burnt away as the meat was cooked.

Finally, he decided that it was done, retrieving the spit with one hand.

He didn’t have the convenience of a plate, so he just cut out a chunk with his sword, smothered the campfire, and let the remainder rest on the spit. Once it had cooled down enough, Tom dug in.

An explosion of meat juices was what welcomed him with the first bite, the meat delectably soft as he was barely required to expend any effort to chew it. The taste itself wasn’t exactly bland, more like a mellow, barely salted soup. Of course, salt and spices would accentuate its taste greatly but Tom wasn’t complaining.

When he was finished with his meal, a notification popped up.

[You have consumed Ankra Beast Meat x1. Your stamina has been replenished. You no longer feel hungry.]

“What in the….,” Tom exclaimed, entirely befuddled with this new discovery. Getting back on his feet, he realized that the drowsiness that had been creeping upon on him evaporated, as if it had never been there to begin with.

“Magical meat. Well I’ll be damned,” Tom thought about it for a long moment and then shrugged.

Now that his tiredness had been vanquished, there were other things he could do.

Tom chopped up a few more branches and proceeded to make incisions along their sides after the carving process was completed. An hour later, he’d managed a makeshift weapon’s rack where he’d placed two daggers, his sword and his shield, for easy access. He’d kept a dagger in his inventory, just in case things went completely awry.

His SP had replenished somewhat by that point, so Tom’s gaze went to the pile of hides. Sighing, he begun to drag them outside, bundling them up together as much as he could, before withdrawing his water propulsion card.

He distanced himself from the bundled hides, withdrawing his [Water Propulsion] card. It’s range was around fourteen meters from Tom’s estimates, but that didn’t mean that the water simply disappeared beyond that mark. It just rapidly began to lose the momentum powering it forward, so Tom just decided to aim from beyond its range.

A stream of water arced from the skies, drenching the pile of hides thoroughly. They were even more mushy and slimy than before, but Tom wanted that as he began to wring out the blood and god knows what trapped within.

Half an hour later, he had wet, but somewhat less filthy hides. Using [The Flame] card to light the campfire again, he began to dry the hides one by one. The entire process took around four hours, but Tom persevered.

Once he was done, he folded them into neat piles and took them back into the cave. Next, he repeated the process for the sinew he’d cut out from the [Elfinclaw], cleaning and drying it out.

There was, of course, a reason behind his actions. As Tom sat before a pile of hides and dried sinew a plenty, he sighed.

It was time to sew.

Crude was a bit of a compliment to the end result he’d received for his efforts. First, he cut out a portion of the hides according to his specifications, usually into rectangles. His [Ankra Bone Dagger] was used to punch holes into the hides with the tip, and though it was painstaking work, the sinew was needled through the holes with his bare hands, surprisingly firm yet stringy.

The end result was the most hideous shirt he’d seen, a patchwork of multiple different hides. Making a pants or shorts was too much work, so he ended up settling for a kilt, that was far easier to make. He looked like a tribal chieftain at this point, but it was better than running around in just his underwear. He discarded his messed up convenience store outfit with some melancholy, for it was truly the last item he had left marking his ‘Earth’-en heritage.

Well, except for his underwear. That…. didn’t count.

[The Flame] card was withdrawn as tom ignited his torn clothes outside the cave, a sort of tribute to the old world and the person he used to be.

His cheap outfit burned quite fast, and Tom couldn’t help but feel a little mirthful about it.

Cheap corporate bastards.

He grinned, and then went back to work after shaking his head once there was nothing but embers left.

Back in his cave, he withdrew the [Symiril Tusker Bone Marrow Extract] from his inventory, playing with the glass vial in his hand.

The [Divine System] hadn’t misled him so far, and from his shoddy understanding of biology, bone marrow extract shouldn’t be some toxic slop that would kill him with a swig.

Ready to spit it out at a second’s notice, Tom finally caved in. If the [Divine System] wanted him dead, there was little he could do to fight it… and so far, every item it had deposited in his inventory had played a pivotal role in his survival.

Not to mention, it had welcomed him to Artezia, so whatever it was…. It was watching.

Tom took a light, tiny swig. The liquid that flowed into his mouth was so… unexpected. Cool, refreshing and slightly sweet, it was almost intoxicating. If he had to draw a parallel, the closest one would be coconut water from back on earth, except this was… purer.

He gulped the swig down and immediately felt his thirst beginning to satiate.

Another swig followed, and soon, he’d downed the entire glass vial.

[You have consumed Symiril Tusker Bone Marrow Extract x1. Your organs have been revitalized. You will no longer feel thirsty for the next 48 hours.]

Tom raised his glass vial to the skies as a toast, quite surprised by this turn of events. Pity the vial was too small and too fragile to store water, but it could still be useful so Tom threw it back in his inventory.

Receding back into the cave, his hunger and thirst both satiated, Tom stretched out the remaining hides across the floor. He’d already made a makeshift blanket too, for if/when it got colder. A bed, blanket, food and water supply… he knew how to procure them all.

Tom chose to lay down for a few minutes, his cards kept next to him. Not requiring sleep didn’t mean his body couldn’t do with some rest…. Or maybe it did mean that but… Tom still wanted to cling to his human sensibilities a while longer.

His first day in Artezia had been an experience, to say the least. But it was no longer hopeless.

The next thing on the agenda was building defenses, but after that… Tom had no clue what to do except hope he’d stumble on civilization.