"So I'm stuck inside this hut, huh…" I layed back on the bed in the small wooden house, tossing one of my runestones above my head and then catching it again.
"She left me some food, but…does she really expect me to cook?" I looked over at the pile of raw meat and unprocessed vegetables. "At least there's some fruit and bread, but geez…" I sighed and got up to take some jerky from the pile before heading out in the direction of the stream for more stones.
"I guess the first thing to do is focus on making this place more comfortable…I should put light stones all around especially on the path to the stream. I think a shower or a bath would be really nice, since I'm already getting a little sticky…Let's see…now that I think about it it is a little cold." I wrapped my beginner cloak around me tighter against the night air and thought about how I would adapt a fire rune to make it suited for a handwarmer.
"The stone I created made more of a spark than a flame…is it because it's not hot enough? Speaking of which, the water stone the instructions had me make wasn't a water-generating stone either…is that not a thing in this world? I wonder what the principles are behind those spell runes…" I muttered to myself as I continued walking towards the stream.
When I got to the stream I realized that I really should have brought a bucket or something as I was rather thirsty and there was no water in the house. "Was there a bucket? I can't remember, if there wasn't, how should I bring this back…?" I made sure to slake my thirst with my hands, but then I just sat down at the edge of the stream, trying to figure out a way to bring the water back with me so I didn't have to make a return trip.
"Let's see…how to do this…another type of magic? Maybe water magic? Suspend it in a ball and carry it back with me? But then I'd have to learn the beginning steps, and I'd probably have to assign my affinity points…Could I use rune magic to do it? Eh…maybe? But I don't know how the water rune works quite yet, and I have no idea how to even start figuring out what logic runes to use…It'd be nice if I could just like make a cup or something, but what could…Oh! How about alchemy!?"
I opened my encyclopedia to look at the beginner information for alchemy. It wasn't my assigned class, so I didn't have the same walkthrough course as I did for runemaking, but there was enough basic information in the entry that gave one an idea for how to get started.
"Let's see, let's see, ah! Material transformation, that sounds like what I want, ok…Prepare suitable materials…Infuse completely with mana…imbue mana with transformative will? Ok, picture what you want the material to become, and gradually…Ok, maybe I can make this work? If so it might be really useful for runesmithing devices in the future."
I grabbed a small dead log from off the ground near me and started imbuing it with my mana. After a few moments I stopped. "There's weird…resistances? In the wood? What's going on here?" I turned the log around in my hands to try to inspect the spots that were resisting, only to find little bugs scurrying around the log, trying to find their way back to the ground.
"Ah, no wonder. Living things probably instinctually resist mana infusion or something like that. Um, can I scare them off, or do I need another log…?"
I tried setting the log back down on the ground and a good portion of the bugs circling it, quickly scuttled away. After pulsing it with mana a couple more times at last the last resistance was gone, and the log was (presumably) bug-free.
"Ok, it should have a lot of my mana now, so next we…? 'imbue the mana with transformative will' I don't really get it, but I guess I'll try?"
I tried to imagine the log becoming a bucket, but the log remained stubbornly unchanging in my hands. "Grrr," I gripped it more tightly in frustration only to recoil in surprise as my fingers sank into the log surface like it was made of clay rather than wood.
"What!?" I looked at the log carefully again, then hesitantly pressed my finger against the surface. Again the log molded to the pressure of my finger like soft clay. "Woah, um, is this how it's supposed to be?" I put the question aside as I tried to work the clay-wood into a bowl-like shape.
"Woah, this is way easier than clay!" The consistency might have been the same as clay, but it was like the log knew exactly what I wanted it to do. When I wanted it to thin, it thinned, when I wanted it to stay put, it stayed put. "Damn, magic makes everything so much easier…" I continued working the log until it served as a passable, though small, bucket.
"Alright! First alchemy product done, and now I get to bring some water back with the stones, sweet." I filled the bucket with water, and my pockets with stones and started walking back to the house, still high off the sense of achievement.
"Man I bet with this I can turn my stones into cool designs and stuff. Making a regular stone into a fan is cool and all, but I'd rather it look the part as well…"
"Alright," I sat down at the small desk in the house after I'd set down the water and the stones. "Let's see it's…8 in the evening, so let's go for a few more hours before calling it quits for the night." I rolled up my sleeves and pulled out the rune-carving wand. "Let's see if I can't get to intermediate stage before I have to log out."