“Okay, I should start the day off with an easier tree, like redwood. I would rather not start dealing with the more deathly trees this early.” Eden says while walking towards where a redwood roof lies, which he saw a few when he scanned the area. He quickly reaches the large trees and, with an axe in hand, goes to chop them down.
Swing Eden swings at the tree, where it falls down on Eden to which he quickly runs out of the tree’s range. He narrowly avoids the falling lumber and Eden starts to trim the tree of its leaves and branches with machine like precision. It was a rather quick process, however he had a worried look on his face once it was complete.
I cannot keep doing this. One of these days I will not be able to dodge the trees, I need a better chopping method besides just swinging and bringing it down all at once. There must be a way, or else there would have been no lumberjacks. Eden decides as he looks at the quest message.
Notice! User has cut down a tree. (101/10,000)
What to do, what to do. If I cut it down all at once then it will fall on me, but I have to cut it down somehow. Wait, maybe I should try to cut down a bit on one side and a bit on the other? Eden thinks of, where he then concludes that this is the best idea he was getting. So he walks up to a redwood tree and makes a cut halfway through about a foot up the tree and at a 70-degree angle. He then went over to the other side of the tree and started doing smaller cuts in the tree, though Eden is unable to line up the cuts. It would seem that Eden’s plan as proven fruitless as after just two soft swings, the tree starts falling down on Eden once again. However, unlike before, Eden was not so lucky to dodge it this time, and his leg got caught on some branches. It did not do much damage with his much stronger body, made from the tower, but was annoying for him to get out of.
Damn it! I thought that would work. Perhaps I cut too much on the first swing? Or maybe the line-up was wrong? Though that last part could only be solved with practice. Eden wonders, as he then decides to test out his new-found question on the next tree. Eden does the same thing as last time, but instead only cuts 1/3 of the tree in the first swing before hacking away at the other side. However, Eden understands what he is doing, even if it is only by a bit, so his line-up on the other side is much more accurate. After just three to four swings, The tree looks like it is about to fall and Eden moves to the side of it, and gives it a light tap. The tree then falls to the ground, completely missing Eden.
Notice! User’s intelligence stat slightly increases.
“Yes!” Eden celebrates; cutting away at the branches on the tree. Elated at his new discovery, Eden cuts down trees with more energy than ever before. He walks about the forest, doing this new cutting method to slice open some trees.
12 hours later
Tap, swish, crash! Another tree goes. I thought this new method would make this take longer, but the saved energy/injuries from the trees makes this much more efficient. Eden summarizes to himself.
Notice! User has cut down a tree. (584/10,000)
Notice! User’s strength and stamina have slightly increased.
“Things are going quite alright. I might be able to finish this by the end of the month.” Eden hopefully wishes for, as he takes some pond water in his beer cup and begins to drink and eat some chicken. He sits on a bench he had made from branches and the last of his slime goo. The thing is not the nicest of benches, but it gets the job done, especially for what Eden has become accustom to. Compared to what Eden use to sit on, back in the days of farming for those chickens, it is like a 5-star hotel. He quickly scarfs down his mediocre meal while enjoying the nice scenery of the beautiful forest, with the sounds of crickets and the rustling of small animals running through the air. Once he finishes eating he takes out his hunting knife and starts to carve the branches he collected today into tools and shapes. However, Eden makes a rather helpful discovery while doing this.
“Wait, is this what I think it is?” Eden asks excitedly. What was Eden thinking, you may be asking, well it is something rather helpful in building, a material Eden is rather knowledgeable about. Back in his old world, there was little to no glue in the world once all the horses had died from the poisonous gas that filled the air. This led to crafts having no real way to be made when metal was made to be a valuable resource, and screws were reserved for the military only. So what Eden and his former comrades would do was take the blood of an animal, particularly a poisonous one, and mix it with a ground up bit of rice and corn to create a blood-red glue. This glue was a rather mysterious material, with the only thing it could really be called without error is a substance, or glue as a more local name for it. The glue was much like rubber, yet flowed much like mercury. Now a substance which is rather similar was found in a branch, the branch of a bloodwood tree.
Finally! I have a new source of glue. And it would seem it is the old red glue I am rather used to. It even has the same bad but conferring fragrant, that of spoiled grapes and a hint of red rose. I was dreading what I would do once I ran out of slime goo, so to find such a useful alternative in a tree is a fantastic find! Eden believes with a smile coating his face, though this smile would soon be lost. When Eden starts to extract the glue, he finds a fatal flaw in his plan, two in total. Firstly, there is an average of 1 oz (29.6 ml), of this stuff per branch, while any useful quantities of it being contained in the most inward part of it. This was rather annoying for Eden as he could only access it given he destroyed the tree, or at least enough to the point that it would not be classified as a log for the quest. Secondly, there is a similar but not nearly as useful red substance that is the poison of a bloodwood tree, that seems to have been branched off from the glue’s poison clogging together in pockets. These pockets seem to gather on the outmost layer of the top half of the tree, right before you reach the useful glue, making the harvest even harder. The simile made on Eden’s face is quickly washed away once he realises these facts, but hope is not drained from him yet. As he still had one last idea. He uses his unnamed wooden tools to carve a slit in a branch for holding the glue and walked up to a bloodwood tree. He then used the slitted branch to tap the tree and take the liquid inside the tree itself, as it technically is not a part of the log, and this small hole does not discount the tree. Though Eden has no plans of cutting down this tree, or at least anytime soon. The process is rather slow, but surprisingly, the tree replenishes its glue faster than the thing drains it, allowing Eden to eventually automate it, and gives him even less of a reason to chop down the trees. But that is a tale of the future as Eden has to deal with manual work for now. However, it is not too annoying as he uses some red glue to stick the slitted sticks to the tree, allowing multiple to run at the same time without him looking over. Unfortunately for Eden, the glue does not seem to stick to bloodwood logs, which he only learns once he already as wasted some glue. This makes the process much more difficult to get the sticks logged in there, leading to him having to carve holes and put smaller sticks and pieces of wood inside, using that as a branching point. He then ties some other branches to the actual tree to finalize the sticking.
Why is this tree immune to its own glue? Actually, that is properly par for the course with this being its sap. Eden sadly realises. But this does not stop Eden from making his automated system, involving gluing a bunch of slitted branches together with a pipeline for each of them on a bloodwood tree, eighteen in total. The process is a long one, resulting in him working all night, tirelessly carving out bloodwood into pipes attached to taps, messing up the shape and then having to try again and again. He has never made pipes after all, so it takes him awhile before he learns how to properly make the glue flow through the pipes. It takes to around 4 A.M before Eden calls it, with only having finished nine trees, saving the rest for tomorrow. He walks to his hut to sleep, but only for a few hours so he will wake up bright and early to begin working once more. With drilling holes with his knife, to taking random bits of bloodwood tied to normal and sticking it together in some way. After some time however, Eden switches to spring wood, as it is the best for attaching bloodwood to the bloodwood. Though now Eden knows what he should be doing, it is still a hard task. But he perseveres, and finishes this project in all due haste, but also with his mechanical movements. After five long hours, the process is finally done, Eden has set up an automatic glue collector, no matter how crude it truly is. However, Eden has but one thing to ask himself:
“Now what should I do with the glue?” Eden asks himself, as he never really planned what to do with the glue, he just wanted it for crafting purposes. He never had much of a plan for what to do with it. Though after a bit of thought, he decides to use it to improve his base, through fences and better/more huts. He takes the rest of his wood and begins to make the “perfect” base. This task however takes far longer than anticipated, which was not helped by the consent breaks in between to go back to cutting down trees. The days begin to blend together; from reinforcing the fence, to improving/making more huts, then cutting down some trees, and finally ending the day by eating some food and drinking water, looking at the forest. Nothing really changes in Eden’s life, though that is not the case for the forest Eden watches. What was once full of life, as now become much more barren, a neither animals nor any plant life exist in the surrounding area of him. But Eden takes little notice of it at the time, focusing on fixing his base and cutting trees, till he finishes the job.
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4 weeks later
Fire burning, Eden was sitting at his much more fancy campfire, celebrating his 9000 tree chopped in his humble home. The area has seen many changes, with there now being a fence around the whole base made from spiked trees and a few huts, which look more like sheds not thanks to the increased building abilities from Eden. Each hut has its own use, either for storing items, containing wood, or being a place to sleep. However, once you look outside the base is where the beauty disappears. The forest has become a graveyard of its former self, with nothing but endless tree stumps as far as the eye can see. One would think this land would have been always like this, with the sheer barrenness of the land seeming unbelievable to most, or at least most Eden would have known. The animals that used to peacefully roam the forest, have been oddly avoiding Eden like the plague ever since he slayed all those slimes. This has not been helped with their home being destroyed from his carelessness. All the peaceful creatures have long since moved to a far away part of the forest, now untouched by man but coveted by predators. There are also a few guards with a worried look on their face, and whenever Eden looked their way they would run off, almost like they were scared of something.
No matter. So what they do not want to be around here, I can hardly blame them. This place is as barren as a dessert now. But there is much more forest for them to live in and even more places for people to walk in. Eden concludes as he looks at his new advancements.
Stats-
Strength: G
Intelligence: F+
Stamina: G-
Dexterity: F+(Max)
Constitution: E
Endurance: G
Agility: H+
Perception: E-(Max)
Number of trees cut- (9,000/10,000)
I have made great strides in my growth, though it makes sense cutting down all these trees that I would get stronger. Eden assumes, walking outside to cut down some more trees. He has almost run out of food so he wants to hurry his chopping up, so he can get some gold to buy a nice meal. With a swing after another swing, tree after tree falls to the ground. The once luscious forest has become nothing more than a shell of its former self. It feels like the resting place for the dead plants slain by Eden. It would only take two more days before Eden would get to the last tree, the last tree before all of this would end. However, Eden had wanted this to be special, the last tree must be in a place of importance, and what place was more important to him but his base?
“Here we are, the place more homey than my real home, my true real home, or at the very least the only home I can recall.” Eden says, as of course, Eden has to cut the last tree within his home’s perimeter, and with how useful bloodwood has been, he thinks a bloodwood would do quite nicely as the last one. It makes for a great symbol of the bonding of the tower and him, each with parts from the past and present. He walks up the poor tree at a slow pace, slowly taking the axe off his back. Each step has the weight of a truck behind it, but the speed of a snail. But once he gets into striking range, Eden pulls his axe back and chops the tree down in one swing, with the tree not even falling on him like it should.
“Seems even the gods are blessing this occasion.” Eden mockingly remarks, as the final tree hits the ground.
Notice! User had chopped down a tree (10,000/10,000)
Notice! User has chopped down all needed trees for the quest “Light Chopping”.
Notice! You have gained 50 EXP and the class ‘Lumberjack’.
Gold will be provided once you turn in the logs.
Notice! The user has gained the Lumberjack(c) job! Strength stat goes up by 1: G -> G+. The stat grade limit has been raised by 1.
Notice! User has gained the following skills:
Wood cutting-(G) Passive
(You are a novice tree chopping, and can cut wood passably. +25% damage to all wood and wooden things.)
Axe mastery- (D+) Passive
Special Classification- weapon mastery skill
(You are passable with axes. All axe attacks and skills do +2 damage.)
Notice! You already possess a skill tied to the ‘Lumberjack’ class! Skill ‘Patience’ will be changed to a class skill and levelled up.
Patience- (F+ -> E-) Passive
(You are a very patient person who can do a task repeatedly without going insane somewhat longer compared to your average chum. You gain a very minor resistance to mental attacks and mastery skills will grow a little faster if they are lower level than this skill.)
“Nice! Though these skills would have been more useful earlier, something is better than nothing.” Eden states; walking away from the tree stump, pouring out the blood-coloured sap like a fire hose, as that tree was the oldest one in this sector of the forest, meaning the whole thing was full of the glue. But as Eden walks away, a few dark clouds form overhead out of nowhere, like some kind of spell had been cast.
The hell did these clouds come from? It was clear skies just a moment ago. Eden wonders as he runs to his new and very much improved hut, the one where he sleeps. This hut, unlike the rest of them, it was much bigger, almost able to be called a real home, albeit a tiny one. He then takes a bit of chicken he had left to cook and begins to eat it along with some boiled eggs, not wanting to waste his time during the rain. As he scarfs down his meal, he then decides to gather the random assortment of stuff he has with him to place in his inventory, in case the house is struck by lighting or something. He grabs a few bowls and utensils, a giant pot, the remaining branches, countless glue jars, some water jugs, and a few berries he picked, hoping to gain some gold from them but to no avail.
After the storm ends, I should head to town and live there for a good while, at least till I can leave this floor. Eden decides, but his thoughts are left to be a pipe dream when he hears a powerful strike of lighting, and then again, and again, and again. An endless amount of lighting strikes down, but they all land in the same spot, the bloody tree stump. When this grabs Eden’s attention, a small vortex is formed around the stump, an ever-growing vortex. The vortex begins to turn green and the storm subsides. Eden, ever curious of what is about to happen, quickly walks outside the hut and slowly treads towards the swirling portal. Once Eden gets into spitting distance, A massive hand violently forces its way through, followed by another hand and a misty glow. A giant creature wanders out, its form is astral, and it only has the torso up, but is size is 10 times that of Eden. His mere presences make the little plant life left fall down, almost to bow to the mighty Goliath, like a believer to his God.
“Who dares to harm my forest?” A loud voice booms throughout the barren land, which once was a forest of life. Following the loud voice is a green outburst which makes Eden feel weak. The force on Eden is much like how a wrathful God would apply to an atheist. The portal closes at once when this happens, followed by the grass below the legless ghost to grow at astonishing rates, and also grows in a bright green light. The mythical creature then focuses its humongous red eyes right on Eden, and its fake muscles tighten.
“Where you the blasphemous fool would dare to invoke my wrath!? The fool who tarnished the lives of sinless animals!?” The Phosphorescent creature screams in absolute anger. Eden, too scared to say anything, falls to the ground and his axe goes back to his inventory. The creature takes this silence as a yes and continues his speech towards him. “Now let me ask you this, you wanton bastard, what could have POSSIBLY tantalized you to commit such a horrendous heresy against I, King of the Wood Spirits, Cosmos?” His highness yells out in genuine confusion, though it feels more like a rhetorical question to Eden. But once Eden starts to recover from his fear, which is mostly due to ‘Patience’, he begins to speak to Cosmos
“Yo-your Highness, I de-deeply regret ever having to-touched your home, b-but, I was forced into this role! So plea-please find it in your he-heart to forgive me. Pl-plea-please, I tr--tried my best to not hurt any animals. Pl-plus, the-there is still plu-plenty of forest left for them. M-my actions c-could not have changed t-that much.” Eden tells the intimidating king, who seems to become even more enraged after Eden’s words.
“Forgiveness, forgiveness for this absolute lunacy! Do you understand how volatile this forest’s ecosystem is in the slightest? Do you?” The king rhetorically asks Eden, to which he starts to shake his head no but is interrupted by the Spirit King anyway. “No you do not. If you had any sense in you, you would know how much of an ordeal you have inflicted upon my loyal subjects. To give a brief history lesson for you uneducated moron, I am one of the 13 lords of this forest, Cosmos. We each have our own land and people, and we are not to go across each other’s border without proper permission, something you have now forced upon EVERY living thing in my land. As we speak, hundreds of my innocent subjects are being eaten alive by insects, crocodiles, wolves, and countless more because SOMEONE had to be a greedy piece of shit!” Cosmos rants. As Eden hears this however, he feels a massive pain of regret in his heart.
Wait, all of those creatures will die? Is that why they stayed away from me? The weak had no choice but to run into the jaws of predators, while the strong did not bother the one giving them free food. Eden realises, as he starts to gaze upon the destruction he has created, an empire not all that different from the one that ruled him.
“No, No! This cannot be true! Tell me it is not! I could not have led all those innocent creatures to die. They must have survived right!” Eden panicky says, though anyone can tell that his words have no belief to them, and are just said to cope with the pain inflicted by Eden. However, Cosmos looks down with a hint of pity in his eye, but he was not one to forgive this easily, especially for one who commits such a crime.
“So, you finally see the error in your ways, foolish mortal. But unfortunately your regret will not save any lives, nor will it pardon you of your crimes. But I can cut you some slack, you must work 1 year for each tree you have cut down. That sounds about fair, right?” Cosmos says with an evil grin. Eden, with no other choice, agrees and follows the king to his kingdom, the kingdom slaughtered by his own hands, the hands that slayed the peaceful woods.
Eden Status report-
EXP-
(97/100)
Jobs (2/5)-
- Farmer(c)
- Lumberjack(c)
Stats-
Strength: G+
Intelligence: F+
Stamina: G-
Dexterity: F+
Constitution: E
Endurance: G
Agility: H+
Perception: E-
Job abilities-
Axe mastery- (D+) Passive
(you are slightly more proficient with all axes. +1 damage with axes.)
Patience- (E-) Passive
(You are a very patient person who can do a task repeatedly without going insane somewhat longer compared to your average chum. You gain a very minor resistance to mental attacks and mastery skills will grow a little faster if they are lower level than this skill.)
Wood cutting- (G) Passive
(You are a novice tree chopping, and can cut wood passably. +25% damage to all wood and wooden things.)
A giant pot
5 bowls
8 forks and spoons
Box of a dozen cigars