Chapter 41 – Tedious Work

  They set to work right away. Well, most of them did. Ciao spent her time looking into the various books that Jack had brought, while the others started working on the camp. They needed defenses and places for people to sleep, but mostly they needed to make as many bows and arrows as possible.

  They set their camp near the tree line. It offered natural cover to help hide them but close enough that Rayne and Sylvian were still able to observe the Wenduags’ camp. Sylvian started by collecting plants and fallen branches while Rayne worked on the leather that Jack had collected over the past few weeks. She was still missing the tools she needed to make the most of the leather, but she was able to work on some of it. In particular, they needed the feathers and sinew for bowstrings, but she also started making some simple shirts and pants for everyone as well.

  Jack, for his part, started by focusing on crafting the bows. They only needed a bow for every person on the distraction team, but they would need an untold number of arrows. He pulled out one of the spare daggers and the toolbox he had in his Storage to begin his work.

  The toolbox ended up containing several items that surprised him. It had some of the basics: pliers, scissors, levels, rulers, and a hammer. But it also had things like a crucible, whetstones, magnifying glasses, shovel, and a few small burners. Using them, Jack started working one of the large branches that Sylvian gathered. Rayne gave him some guidance to start with, but neither she nor Sylvian were trained in making bows like this, so Jack knew he was going to have to rely on some trial and error as he worked.

  The first few attempts ended up in broken pieces as he tried to shape them. It wasn’t until he was working on his fifth attempt that he managed to make something vaguely bow-shape. The only issue was the density of the wood they were using made the bow difficult to bend all the way.

  “I think at this point we can began notching it now,” Rayne suggested after inspecting the finished product. “That is unless you wish to continue thinning it out a little more.”

  “Will that help?” Jack asked. “No sense in doing it wrong.”

  “It might make it easier to pull,” Rayne responded. “If you channel your Mana into it as you work, it should also help to strengthen the final product. It might make it less likely to snap.”

  “I can do that,” Jack said, remembering that he had done that before when he was making the spears. He took the bow back from Rayne and continued to work on thinning the wood, but this time he slowly channeled his Mana into the wood as he did. It took longer this way, but when he was finally done, the bow had a much more distinctive shape, and it was much easier to bend.

  Jack tried inspecting his work, but when he used Analyze on the bow, nothing appeared.

  “You haven’t added the string yet,” Rayne said as though reading his mind. She handed him a bunch of yellowish-white material. “Here, this is some of the sinew that I was able to get from the skins. You mentioned you have a spell that can help with turning things into thread?”

  “I do,” Jack said. He started casting his Instant Thread spell on the sinew in his hands and watched as it began to twist itself together. With the spell’s help, Jack was soon looking at a single long string in his hand. Curiously, Jack tugged and pulled at the string, checking if it would break apart. It was hard to imagine that it was only scraps a moment ago and now it was something so tough and solid.

  “That will save some time,” Rayne continued. “I’ll work on getting more, but we might need to go hunting soon. That should be enough for one bow though.”

  Satisfied with the string, Jack started attaching it to the bow. He attached it to both ends, pulling the bow taunt as he set the string. Once he was done, Jack felt the familiar flow of Mana leave him and settle into the bow. He didn’t even need the System message to confirm for him, but they came anyways, letting him know that he had succeeded in making a bow.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  *Item created: Simple Hardwood Bow (Common)*

  Increased Durability

  *Level up! Carpenter (level 2)*

  +2 Dex.

  “Hey, it’s not a trash rank!” Jack beamed. “Guess it was a good call working the bow longer.”

  “You finished one?” Sylvian asked, dropping another bundle of wood nearby.

  “Just one,” Jacks answered. “But the others should hopefully take less time now that I have an idea what I am doing. How many do we need?”

  “We should make ten more,” Sylvian advised, testing the bow. “If we have spares, we can pass them onto the others once we rescue them. This is not bad for a first work.”

  “Thanks,” Jack said. “Any pointers on what I can improve?”

  “The alignment,” Sylvian said. “it’s a little warped. It will alter the aim unless the person accounts for it.”

  Jack looked down at the bow. “Didn’t notice that,” Jack said. “Might take longer, but maybe I can eyeball it.”

  “If we get a fire going we can also try heat-treating the wood as well,” Rayne added. “That might help the durability and quality.”

  “Worth a try,” Jack acknowledged. He picked up a new stick and started the process over again, but this time channeling his Mana from the start and focusing on trying to make the shape as even as possible.

  “I need to go hunting for more material to work with,” Rayne said, strolling towards the jungle. “And we will need food soon enough as well.”

  “I’ll get the fire started then,” Sylvian said.

  “Let me take care of that,” Jasper offered. “I like being useful. I can’t do much, but I should be able to handle a fire.”

  “In that case,” Sylvian said. “I’ll work on crafting our shelters.”

  “Watch out for Apexes,” Jack called to Rayne as she left. “Elaine and I found one not long ago.”

  “I’ll be careful,” Rayne called back.

  Jack and Sylvian continued to work in silence at their task punctuated periodically by Ciao complaining nearby. She was apparently not having any luck translating the books. Soon the crackle of a fire joined the ambient sound of the forest.

  By the time Rayne returned, Jack was staring at five finished bow staves. Each rested nearby as Jack continued to make more. Once he had finished one, Sylvian would inspect it and confirm if it had the right alignment.

  “Good hunt?” Jack asked as she rejoined them.

  “I found some,” Rayne confirmed, dropping several bodies of dead animals nearby and began skinning them. “Nothing Apex, but they should be enough for our purposes.”

  “If you can explain how the heat-treating works, I’ll start on those while you work on skinning.”

  Rayne taught as they worked. Jasper kept the fire burning, as Jack began treating the bow staves to the fire. They used the fire to help strengthen and stiffen the bow. It would make it more difficult to pull but should increase the strength of their shot as well. The process took several hours to evenly treat each bow. To help speed up the process, Jack added his own Simple Flame to focus the heat and spot check the bow. As a side effect of using the spell, Jack could see Fire Aspects soak into the bow as he worked.

  He was a little worried that it might ruin the finished product, but no issues showed as more of the Fire Aspects filled the bow. He followed this same process for the remaining bow staves. By the time he finished with them, Rayne had a pile of fresh sinew waiting for him.

  It only took a few more minutes of channeling his Instant Thread spell before Jack had each bow strung and a series of new System prompts.

  *Item created: Fire-infused Hardwood Bow (Uncommon) x5*

  Increased Durability

  Increased Fire based skills and spells when channeled through this bow

  *Level up: Carpenter (Level 3)*

  +2 Dex.

  ~*~

  *Level up: Carpenter (level 5)*

  +2 Dex.

  *Item gained: Woodworking Toolkit (Uncommon)*

  *Dexterity has reached the second Threshold*

  *Dexterity has gained the trait Fine Motor skills*

  Increase control when working with small, detailed works. Increase speed for skills requiring sleight-of-hand control.

  “That will help a lot,” Jack muttered. He pulled out the toolkit from his Storage seeing several different items like saws, chisels, and sanders. Holding each in his hands, Jack could almost sense the magic embedded into each tool. “Should help speed up the process at least.”

  “These are great!” Sylvian exclaimed as she replaced her bow with one of Jack’s new ones. “Some more like this will be a big help.”

  “We will still need arrows,” Rayne noted. “That will be the tedious part.”

  “It’s a good start for now,” Jack acknowledged. “I’ll cook up some of the Skeers we have, and we can keep the feathers for later.”

  “Skeers?” Ciao asked finally looking up from her book.

  “I’ll make some for everyone,” Jack assured her. “But don’t expect much, I’m still a beginner in my Cooking Profession.”