It seemed I was going to be quite busy today. I wasn’t sure exactly how much one amount of wood was, by whatever scale this system was using to measure things, but I was sure I would need a lot more than just what the fireplace was asking for, to make the trip worthwhile, there were so many things I could use more wood to make, including more tools for getting wood.

  After taking a moment to harvest a few more berries for a quick breakfast, I was ready to set off, eager to get started. First, though, I had something I wanted to make sure I did, remembering the warning about some Abilities not working as well away from the Hearth location, I didn’t want to get all the way out to the forest before discovering that applied to whatever magical effect would allow me to summon my tools into reality. Finding a big stone in the stream, some left over sticks from my construction and a bunch of tough plant stems was not much trouble, and I was starting to get the hang of the kind of focus needed to use my growing magical powers, so it did not take long before I had the crudest and most basic axe I had ever seen, but the stone edge was sharp enough for what I needed, I hoped.

  The forest, Greening Woods, I think Tristan had called it, was uphill all the way, the tops of the closest trees visible against the horizon as the early morning sunlight caught it. A bit of a trek each way, but it needed doing, if I wanted to be working with anything other than leaves and twigs.

  Different birds fluttered in the air here as I approached the line of trees, sometimes flying out from between the branches, often quickly darting away back inside as they saw me approaching, for all I couldn’t right now do anything to them. My Plant Identification skill offered up some useful information about some of the trees here, but not all of them, even after the notification that I had increased my rating in that skill. The information it gave was not much of detail, one of the trees here would make edible nuts later in the year, but that was no use now, otherwise it couldn’t even tell me the different kinds of wood I could expect. Still, I made sure to use it as much as I could, pausing at each new plant I passed to focus and concentrate for a second or two, just to, if possible, push the skills into increasing in strength.

  I knew very little about wood, I wasn’t sure how I knew anything at all, with no memories past the last couple of days, but I was vaguely sure I wanted some long, straight branches, as much as possible, as well as something dry for the fire, rather than these soft, flexible twigs with all the leaves and flowers on. More importantly, though, I needed something thin enough that my crude, flimsy axe with its blade made from a broken rock could cut through it without shattering apart in my hands.

  After a while, during which time all the remaining birds fled from the area, I managed to build up a stack of long, somewhat straight sticks, all neatly lined up and ready for me to hopefully get back home somehow. A lot of them seemed thin enough that I could probably just as easily have snapped them off the trunk with my bare hands, but surely the axe was for something, so I kept swinging it, one branch after another. Once I had a heap I would struggle to lift, never mind carry all the way down the hill, I turned my attention to something a bit thicker and heavier, trying to take one of this tree’s main branches off right where it met the trunk. Chipping away big by bit into the wood, I could feel the poorly made stone and stick based axe flex and creak with each thud against the tree, the tough handle cutting into the aching palms of my hands each time as it slipped about in my grip, but I was slowly getting through it, and eventually the weight of that entire branch was enough to rip the rest free and come crashing down around me. The few birds that had only moved a shorter distance away all took to the air at once in response to that noise. I dropped my axe on the ground there, flexing my sore hands a few times as I considered the next challenge, of getting all of this back. It was downhill all the way, but not smoothly down, and there were a lot of large bushes to swerve around or climb over.

  Still, thinking about it would not get the job done. After a moment’s rest, I gathered up as much as I thought I could comfortably carry, and set off toward where the thin stream of smoke rose in the distance. Something to hold this bundle with would be good, rather than just resting it on my tired arms, a pack strapped to my back, some sort of sled or cart, but all those required more material than I had available just now, and probably more skill than I could manage to ensure they didn’t fall apart half way. All I could do was trudge slowly, one step at a time, keeping my mind of what I would do next, rather than the task I was struggling through now. Going over, step by step, what I wanted to achieve today, tomorrow, in the future, thinking about all I had done yesterday. Any time other than this one right now.

  Eventually, noon already passed by now and afternoon wearing on, I stumbled to a stop not far from my flimsy little leaf shelter, tossed the heap of sticks on the ground and made my way over to the bed, which was still sitting there, incongruously around all my crudely made other work. My back and shoulders cracked and popped as I flopped backwards onto it.

  And I still had to repeat that journey a couple more times, to bring back all my newly acquired wealth of roughly hewn wood. As much as I could probably trust that nobody would happen upon the heap and wander off with it, I still wanted it here with me. First, though, a short rest, now that I was back in the space where I was promised I could recover much faster, and even without that, where I had something soft and comfortable to lay on.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Two more trips, one with a similar sized heap of wood, and the other with that single huge branch, the thick base of it over my shoulder and a spread of leaves larger than my entire home dragging along the ground behind me. This time, I didn’t stop to rest. As soon as I had that big chunk of tree dropped to the ground close enough to feel like it was home, I started piling the smaller sticks up, a few at a time, around the fireplace, until the message popped up confirming I had done it right.

  Congratulations, Upgrade Complete

  Home Hearth - level 4

  Your Home radius is now [30 yards]

  I wasn’t sure how exactly a small fire with a heap of wood next to it went poof into a much bigger fire, even though I had been watching it every moment of the time, it just seemed to happen.

  The new Hearth campfire looked more impressive than the last, bigger, hotter, ringed around with stones, wherever they had appeared from, different types of wood layered on each other inside as though constructed with care by someone that actually knew what they were doing, it even had a beam across the top that I could have hung a tea kettle or a soup pot off, if I had any way of getting such a thing. And I still had plenty more wood piled up ready for something else. Maybe I could use it to build a bigger, stronger shelter, it did look suspiciously like those rain clouds were gathering again.

  For now, though, I was just going to sit here and rest, and enjoy the view of my newly enhanced fireplace. I cast a look around myself, trying to roughly guess how far 30 yards outward was, there was nothing to mark the space, and I didn’t feel all that different coming and going, but some fraction more of these bushes and shrubs and other annoying, minimally useful, too rough and prickly plants were mine, in some manner.

  I heard a familiar shout from behind me, and turned around.

  “Hey there, looking good.” Tristan called as he approached, looking around at the changes to the campsite. “It seems like you’ve been very busy here.”

  This time, rather than a basket of fruit, he was carrying a paper wrapped parcel very carefully in both arms.

  “I thought maybe you would like this, I mean, I wasn’t sure exactly what you’d want, I’m not used to… well, you know, just thought it might be a nice gift for a friend.”

  He placed the parcel down next to me and stood awkwardly, uncertainly nearby, so I just had to carefully unwrap the paper and see what he had done. Inside was a lovely little dress, the clean, fresh blue and white of the fabric making my current clothes look even more ruined and shabby in comparison. I lifted it up to get a better view of the design, careful to keep it above the level of the plants, and noted that he had also thrown a couple of sets of underwear in the parcel too. I wasn’t any more sure what my size was than Tristan, but even if it wasn’t a perfect fit, it was an amazing gift, just what I needed right now. Placing it carefully back on the only clean space around, I gave him a big hug, and then without even thinking started stripping my old dress off. Tristan stopped and stared for a moment or so, before coughing slightly and turning away.

  After pretty much three days in the same plain, loose fitting outfit I’d been dumped here in, I had forgotten how nice it was wearing not just something clean and undamaged, but actually something that looked good on me. I tried not to think about how, even though the immediate issue was no longer so pressing, I would still need to find some more sustainable way of dressing myself every day, without needing to rely on other people giving me continual gifts, that was a thought for another time. For now, I just needed to enjoy the amount of thought put into this outfit. The dress may have been a little more snug and revealing around the chest than the previous, but never mind that, the short skirt swinging just above my knees was definitely useful, clearing the tops of most of the plants I’d be clambering over, no worries about it getting caught on something or worn away and smeared with dirt through a busy day. The colours went well too, the cool blue against my own brownish complexion, perhaps some actual thought had gone into the gift. I spun around a couple of times, enjoying the feeling of the fabric actually fitting me and not just hanging loose all over, and gave Tristan another hug from behind as he stood there looking even more awkward and uncertain.

  No longer afraid to peek, he turned and looked over the result with an appraising eye.

  “You need a hat too, I think. If you’re going to be working out in the hot sun all day, and it’ll really work with the look too.”

  “Oh sure, no problem, that’s something I can make myself.” I grabbed one of the remaining Rutuda leaves nearby and pulled it around my head. “How does it look?”

  The laughter finally broke through his uncertainty, forcing him to relax a bit as I tried out folding the giant leaf into a few different hat styles.

  “I like what you’ve done with the place.” Tristan was saying, hands on his hips as he contemplated the scene of a bed in the middle of a field, under only a crudely made stick and leaf shelter, leaning to one side a bit. Which was of course the perfect time for it to start raining again.

  I made a rather embarrassing yelp as the first big, cold raindrops splatted against me. Resisting the urge to dive into cover right away, I finally got around to making the effort to fix my leaning shelter, straightening the poles and setting the mud around them firmly into place. Tristan tried to help, as best he could figure out how, at least doing his best to ignore the steady sprinkling of rain on him as we worked.

  “A shame to leave so early, but I’m thinking I ought to head home before it gets any wetter.”

  “All that way in this, no chance, you’re staying here at least until the rain has stopped.”