Chapter 4

Like an oasis in the literal Oasis, my eyes fell on the sparkly and clean water of the nearby river and even though quenching my thirst without doing anything for my hunger wasn’t the best, it would clear my head a little. At my newfound purpose, I found some scraps of strength and stood a bit straighter before facing the river. Running water was good right? What was I even saying, I had drunk Ice Snake water. I couldn’t afford to get picky.

“I wouldn’t go there, adventurer” I was sure I wasn’t imagining the intensity and the emotions behind his eyes right now. They seemed to get deeper and deeper. Or I was seeing things out of thirst and hunger. Whatever the reason, I decided there was no harm in hearing out the UP that was meant to guide me in this quest.

“Why?” I asked curiously but the way the smile grew back on his face was eerie so I wasn’t sure what I could trust anymore.

“Let’s start with hunting tools then” He pulled his sleeves up and turned around to trod towards the cabin expecting me to follow him. I was getting more and more confused.

“Eh?” See how eloquently I put it? He side-eyed me but didn’t stop moving forward as he spoke so I figured I would have to follow him, at least to make sense of what he was saying.

“Right now you’re useless with the hammer, the forge or even the forging power” Hey! I mean, sure but still. Sugarcoat it a little bit. How was I supposed to be motivated if I didn’t believe in myself? 

“You need to start with small and simple tasks before you reach a remotely satisfactory level” I was actually pumped up for this. Even though I hadn’t played video games before, I was sick of how the protagonist was always the one with the gun or sword or whatever but nobody ever talked for the guy that had to create them and make them so efficient. Tiny bit problem though, I was beyond help with my hunger and thirst at this point and I couldn’t stand on my feet, let alone try to craft anything.

“Dude-” I started but his aura got darker so I gulped and tried again. “Mister Erlong, I don’t have time for this. I-”

“Let’s start with hunting then!” I wasn’t certain if he didn’t understand my sentence because it wasn’t part of his code of key phrases and game terms for the quest but it still felt like he remembered to be an unplayer when it fit him and changed his attitude only to well, give me attitude. If he kept insisting that this was the right order to do things, I would follow him. Maybe he had some time of snack in the cabin or anything I could munch on or drink. I wasn’t picky in general but right now, I could chew on the wooden walls if I had to. The only reason I hadn’t started tearing up the grass underneath my feet was because of mud and because I couldn’t be sure if things were really what they looked like in there.

I stumbled behind him, feeling my leg muscles burn as the cabin was on top of an incline too small to be a hill but too tall for my taste. He opened the door without touching the handle and that gave me some relief. A part of me was actually starting to believe, that with how lifelike everything was and felt, maybe this all wasn’t a dream or even a game. But that reassured me. His footsteps and body movements were a bit blocky as well as his feet synced with his hands and seemed to kinda be moving on the same place for a few seconds before letting him go forward.

The cabin was larger than it looked on the outside but not any more luxurious. There was a stool almost identical to the wooden one outside but this looked made out of steel, a small forge that looked more like a fireplace and a rocking chair with a blanket on top. That was as far as I could see but from the small staircase leading to an invisible upstairs floor and the blurry door I could see on the other side from where we stood, I could tell this was a home.

Erlong was very silent, something that wasn’t entirely unprecedented in our very warm interactions but this time it seemed more like he was getting in his blacksmith zone. He touched each one of his tools and creations with a reverence that gratified me and made me curious enough to reach out as well. 

“Ow!” I shouldn’t be so surprised that I was smacked on the hand that reached out before I even got to touch them. I looked at him with puppy eyes and moved my hand to get rid of the pain but his half-lidded eyes didn’t break any argument.

“Get your own stuff! Mine are only here for admiration purposes. Look but don’t touch” He looked genuinely miffed and I secretly rolled my eyes at his word choice but I still understood the feeling. I concentrated on perusing them only to irk him more at first but the more closely I looked at their shape and their separate parts, stuff started floating into my vision.

Oak Wood

I could tell this was for most of their handles.

Carbon Steel

Obsidian

Flint

Those were blades.

Ilianir

Treskor

Firlark

Shard

Those were metals I had never heard of before and from what I could tell from their names, they weren’t regular materials you would find in the regular world so he had made stuff with magical metals as well. My respect for him went up a couple of notches.

The last one tickled my brain. I kept encountering it. First, I was pretty sure it had popped up when I was getting briefed for this world while falling to my doom. Then in the description of this quest and now here. So what could it be? I cast a glance towards the still annoyed blacksmith. If I asked him, would he tell me?

“What are you all lost and slow for? Hurry!” I jumped up at the volume but still looked at him all confused and slothlike. How had I forgotten my vulnerability even for a second? What did he want me to do? I searched his face and then the cabin looking for a clue of what we were discussing just before. All my head was filled with was shard, shard, shard. 

"Go get materials! Let’s make a knife for your first lesson” Ah, that’s what he meant. Sure, I would go out and do just that. What materials should I get? For wood could I just cut off trees here or were they code? Did I just go looking for them? Should I fight a bear or something and she would drop what I needed? Was that how it worked? 

“I was wrong. You don’t have enough time for a knife”

Was that remorse in his voice?

“What?” Was all I could ask as I swayed.

“Go to the river! Find the sharpest rock you can get your hands on. It should do” He pushed me outside of the cabin. I followed the movement because I didn’t have the strength to put up a fight.

“What should I do with the rock?” He pushed me a bit more impatiently.

“Kill them and eat them raw! Don’t concern yourself with the blood. Drink it, it will help with the thirst. That was enough to shake me out of my stupor for just a little bit.

“WHAT?!” He pushed me even harder and suddenly my legs were getting wet from the cold river water. He told me not to come earlier and now he pushed me into it. And why couldn’t I just drink-

There was blood alright! But it was my own.