Apinsig
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Chapter 120 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2022-12-02 18:10:09 +0000 UTCI finally stood in front of the remains of the sabretooth cat. We had already been eating the meat for quite a while and everything else has been sorted out leaving behind a lot of valuable materials. The full fur of the creature was large, and I didn’t have the heart to cut it up just yet so currently we just hung it on one of the walls inside the house.
I didn’t want to do this before while I was recovering but it was now time to start absorbing everything beneficial I can. The claws and teeth of the monster were a lot better than the last monsters that I absorb so I started with those.
This time the process was a lot longer, but I got my body skill up to 27 and mind skill to 29. Even if I can’t do much with my nails and teeth just the skill levels alone are worth it. The two front canines I left as I had plans for them. But before I put everything else away in the workshop, I noticed the bones of the monster.
This time we extracted all the bones and we couldn't even give them to the wolves as they were unable to chew them. I tested them a bit and they seem to work like any other bone, but they were just so much better.
So, I thought perhaps I can use it as a template to make my own bones better. While I couldn’t upgrade my soft tissue or skin perhaps bones could still work. Come to think of it I might want to do the same with my hair as the monster’s fur was quite resistant to cutting.
I started with the hair because that would be easier. I must say the results were better than I expected. But I could see future problems with cutting my hair. I might need a barber that's specialized in cutting enhanced hair. An ordinary blade couldn't cut through my hair anymore even with a bit of energy put into the cut it couldn't do it, but it wasn’t equivalent to armour.
For the bones, it took two days, and it was filled with excruciating pain. I don’t know why the bones were different and I would have stopped if I didn’t understand how much of a change this will actually give me. Not only were the bones giving me better stamina, I am guessing because of the bone marrow but general recovery seemed to be better as well even with only a few bones being changed.
But when I was finished and got used to this new me, I felt incredible. I could feel my entire frame projecting power. I didn’t have big muscles, but they were powerful ones especially if I started to circulate energy.
Testing was difficult as I really didn’t want to try to break my bones. But the test I did it seemed my flesh would give out before the bone would. The new bones were a bit heavier but not a lot so they wouldn't affect me in a bad way.
I asked for my apprentices to help me practice a bit to improve my body language and general presence so I wouldn’t appear so imposing. Tomorrow will be Monday so I wanted to visit the village, but I need to get back to my previous state so that people wouldn’t understand how much I’ve grown from this fight. They knew that I was hurt but did not know that I fought a gold rank. Hopefully, they will just think it was an almost gold rank and leave it at that.
I chose not to participate in the training I just stayed to the side and talk with Bert and Falyr. It would seem like the situation was horrible elsewhere. What I didn’t like during the training was the noble staring at me with a disapproving face.
I contemplated confronting her and telling her that the world might not be the same as she used to, but it wasn't really my business and perhaps she is also correct and the world where she comes from can still be found somewhere but I will make sure it will not be here.
I caught up with David and the other knights. We spent time in the inn just talking and gambling. Whenever David sat in, we didn’t play for coin but just played the game. If we did play for money no one would be willing to play with David.
This way was also enjoyable for him as the game was way more unpredictable this way and that messed up his calculations. All the games turned into more of a luck-based game, but we were all fine with that and it was actually more fun like this.
I got back home quite late and while George and Arthur were quite drunk Emma and I were sober as we both didn’t drink. But I still had to run the dungeon as I haven’t done it in quite a while. But this time I wanted to try something new.
When we were in the inn, I overheard the two wizards at the next table. At one point their conversation turned to the dungeon. Apparently, you could help them grow faster if you spend a lot of energy or mana in them.
It was an interesting conversation that I wished they kept talking about but unfortunately one of the barmaids walked past and their talk quickly went on to women. An unfortunate situation but something I can’t help right now. Hopefully, I will be able to keep on getting a better relationship with them so I can ask questions like that without raising any suspicions.
So, this time when I did my dungeon run, I purposely wasted energy with every ability I used. I made them as inefficient as possible pleading energy into the environment. It was an interesting point of view to see the skills work like that and actually gave me a few good ideas on how to improve their efficiency as I saw how energy was being bled out of the abilities.
The next day I wanted to test the monster's canines. When I strengthened the energy patterns in them so they wouldn’t lose their strength I found that they seem to have quite good capabilities at transmitting energy. A lot better than the steel that my current weapons were made out of.
I didn’t know if this was possible, but I wanted one of the canines to become my single-handed sword. The canines were 70 cm long so while it wouldn't be the longest sword it would be still counted as regular short and not a short sword.
For the other canine, I had an idea of making a dagger and a knife out of it. It didn’t have the length to make two daggers but in my current gear setup I was carrying a knife and a dagger anyway, so it was actually quite wonderful.
Some testing was required but I started with the sword as I didn’t need to cut that into length. Getting pieces off it was quite difficult and took a lot of energy but I was slowly able to carve out the sword shape I wanted. This gave me a skill called bone carving and weapon making.
I was so pleased when I found out that it can keep an edge. I could make it quite slim and still keep its strength and flexibility similar to a steel sword. I didn’t let the pieces I carved off go to waste. I used material modification and fused the pieces together so they would form a handle. It took me my entire supply of core energy which takes about three days to recoup. In the end, the sword looked like a Viking sword but a bit narrower and made from ivory. The only thing that wasn’t out of ivory was the leather wrapping for the handle grip.
I was extremely pleased as I was testing out the weapon. It looked yellowish and that wasn’t the greatest, but you couldn’t deny its effectiveness. It could even chip a steel sword I had meaning it was harder than steel. But what’s even better is how well it handled energy.
Every ability activated faster, and I was able to make them stronger thanks to its properties. It will still need a proper battle test, but I did spar with Arthur. It didn’t perform better than his sword, but this was expected. I didn’t make this sword to be better than steel in physical aspects I made it to help me better facilitate my abilities and that it did a lot better.
I did the same with the dagger and knife copying my current weapon designs. I also made the handles out of bone. They turned out beautifully as well although now I had a lot of smaller pieces of leftovers.
I didn’t want to waste them, but I didn't know what to do with them. While packing up all the leftovers I noticed the claws that at first, I was just going to keep in storage and perhaps sell later, but a different idea came to mind.
What if I combined the leftovers and the claws to make throwing knives? The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as that. I need to use material modification to straighten out the claw a bit otherwise it wouldn’t have great throwing ballistics. When I finished the first one, I did need to add a bit of steel to the hand guard so it would handle as needed.
I only made one as I was not planning on spending the rest of the week just making them. I will just spend the time when I have it. Possibly only one in every two days will be made but I don’t have to hurry. It’s just something I would like to have but I didn’t need them right away.
Looking at all that I have gotten from the monster it truly made me powerful even after its death. The real problem that remained was my two-handed sword as I didn’t trust it for another battle, but I can’t thank it enough for getting me through that fight.
Comments
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapter! :-)
Tiresome
I caught up too quickly, now I'll be without a chapter all weekend!
