The better part of the day was already behind him now, whisked away by his concentration and focus on the task at hand. The bone handles for the next two axes came out far more refined than his first attempt, and the stoppers were far better placed, reducing the amount of twine he needed to use to secure them. From there, he’d been forced to start moving things off the bench entirely to make room for the other tools. August started work on the chisels next, perhaps the simplest and smallest of the shapes to carve. The pieces he’d picked out for them were short stubby things, about half the length of his forearm and about as thick around as a pool cue.
The handle remained as it had already been, rounded and untouched, except for the very top, where he made an effort to flatten it out—a place to strike it with a hammer or something else to better generate precise force. On the other end, he carefully shaved it down, attempting to make it as flat as he could manage, before adding another slightly angular and flat face near the very tip, like he could remember the ones from back home having. It worked pretty well for the most part, and while the entire thing wasn’t perfectly straight, it was about a million times more useful than the shards of flint he’d been using up until that point.
The second one came out better again, if slightly smaller in profile, as he paid particular attention to keeping it straight from the very beginning. By the time he’d finished both of them, the sky was just starting its transition to later afternoon, and three of the new pillars—half of the entire next row—were sticking out of the ground, the soil around them refilled, packed, and added to from other sources. Kalter, Haiko, and Melon had all begun work on continuing the bamboo wall to join with the first new pillar—and all he had to show for his own efforts were a bunch of tools that nobody had even needed to use.
August let out a quiet self-aggrieved sigh and attempted to push away the negative thought before they could take hold of him. Even if they weren’t needed right now, they would be in the future—he drew one of the large and heavy teeth he’d left out towards him. The almost flat shape of it was about what he wanted for the mallet, although it was about three times too big to hit something as small as a nail with. August used [Etch] to carve it into what was essentially a large, blocky ‘L’ shape that stood up on its own once he’d managed it. From there, he cut it into two much smaller and far easier-to-manage pieces.
He took one of them by the side he intended to become the handle and then picked it up—the handle was too long, but the length of the head was about the right size. He cut two inches off the handle before picking it up again, testing the weight—it felt about roughly the correct weight, or at least, it felt comfortable to hold in his hand. August spent a few minutes rounding out the head, not bothering with attempting anything approaching a claw or even the details most of them had. When he was finished, he had what was essentially a slightly small, clawless hammer—
Hammer Blueprint Unlocked
—and it looked like shit. The balance was off, the handle wasn’t straight, and he’d taken too much material off the head, which had reduced the weight, and in turn, would reduced the striking force.
“God damn it,” August complained.
As a test, he removed one of his now many nails and then held it in place against the bench, tapping it a few times until it stuck in place; he pulled back, brought the hammer down—and hit it at a bad angle, sending the thing bouncing away into the dirt. Flustered, he retrieved it and tried again, with a little more thought to control and accuracy. The nail sunk into the wood, and he hammered at it until it pulled the plank flat against the leg beneath it—functional but needing more weight at the head. August moved on to the second one, and this time, he cleaned the handle up first. Once that was done, he moved on to the head, carefully shaving it down and testing it periodically as he removed more material. The end result was much better, and he used it to tighten up another of the planks that weren’t quite sitting flush against the leg.
He moved straight onto the new saw, racing against the fading daylight in an effort to complete everything he’d set out to do for the day. August used one of the long bones, making certain it would be able to reach the other side of a log without the same problems he’d had with the small one. He marked out where the handle was going to be and then began shaving one side of the future blade completely flat. By the time both sides had been whittled down, he had a long sheet of white that was about five centimetres thick. As he worked, he kept expecting to break through to a hollow interior, but no matter how deep he went or how much material he removed, there was nothing but unbroken, smooth, white material. It was as unnatural and artificial as the Otrogon itself, so maybe he shouldn’t have expected it to function in the way normal bone did.
August returned to shaping the handle, trying to emulate both the schematics in his mind and the image of the old saw that had forever lay flat, rusted, and unused in the shed of his childhood home. By the time he was in a position to start etching the teeth into the blade, the sun was hidden well below the small gap in the bamboo wall beside him and dripping beneath the distant ridge. August left the saw on the bench, in its almost finished state, snatching up the [Basic Light System] as he went. He took the ladder from where it was lying unused against a pillar and brought it back to where the workbench was.
August stood it up against the pillar closest to the workbench, slipped the good hammer into his inventory, and then ascended the ladder. He angled it until the light was facing the right direction to get an idea of how to best tether it in place, and then turned it off to make sure it didn’t explode. He used [Etch] to bore a hole through the unmarked sides—as he had with the [Mana Storage System]—and then looped a piece of twine through it. A nail soon found itself buried in the side of the pillar, and he hung the artifact from it before reactivating it—it wasn’t pointing in nearly the right direction anymore, but it was something. August spent a minute messing with the twine to get it into a better angle, and then when it was about as good as he could make it, he climbed back down.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
The better part of the day was already behind him now, whisked away by his concentration and focus on the task at hand. The bone handles for the next two axes came out far more refined than his first attempt, and the stoppers were far better placed, reducing the amount of twine he needed to use to secure them. From there, he’d been forced to start moving things off the bench entirely to make room for the other tools. August started work on the chisels next, perhaps the simplest and smallest of the shapes to carve. The pieces he’d picked out for them were short stubby things, about half the length of his forearm and about as thick around as a pool cue.
The handle remained as it had already been, rounded and untouched, except for the very top, where he made an effort to flatten it out—a place to strike it with a hammer or something else to better generate precise force. On the other end, he carefully shaved it down, attempting to make it as flat as he could manage, before adding another slightly angular and flat face near the very tip, like he could remember the ones from back home having. It worked pretty well for the most part, and while the entire thing wasn’t perfectly straight, it was about a million times more useful than the shards of flint he’d been using up until that point.
The second one came out better again, if slightly smaller in profile, as he paid particular attention to keeping it straight from the very beginning. By the time he’d finished both of them, the sky was just starting its transition to later afternoon, and three of the new pillars—half of the entire next row—were sticking out of the ground, the soil around them refilled, packed, and added to from other sources. Kalter, Haiko, and Melon had all begun work on continuing the bamboo wall to join with the first new pillar—and all he had to show for his own efforts were a bunch of tools that nobody had even needed to use.
August let out a quiet self-aggrieved sigh and attempted to push away the negative thought before they could take hold of him. Even if they weren’t needed right now, they would be in the future—he drew one of the large and heavy teeth he’d left out towards him. The almost flat shape of it was about what he wanted for the mallet, although it was about three times too big to hit something as small as a nail with. August used [Etch] to carve it into what was essentially a large, blocky ‘L’ shape that stood up on its own once he’d managed it. From there, he cut it into two much smaller and far easier-to-manage pieces.
He took one of them by the side he intended to become the handle and then picked it up—the handle was too long, but the length of the head was about the right size. He cut two inches off the handle before picking it up again, testing the weight—it felt about roughly the correct weight, or at least, it felt comfortable to hold in his hand. August spent a few minutes rounding out the head, not bothering with attempting anything approaching a claw or even the details most of them had. When he was finished, he had what was essentially a slightly small, clawless hammer—
Hammer Blueprint Unlocked
—and it looked like shit. The balance was off, the handle wasn’t straight, and he’d taken too much material off the head, which had reduced the weight, and in turn, would reduced the striking force.
“God damn it,” August complained.
As a test, he removed one of his now many nails and then held it in place against the bench, tapping it a few times until it stuck in place; he pulled back, brought the hammer down—and hit it at a bad angle, sending the thing bouncing away into the dirt. Flustered, he retrieved it and tried again, with a little more thought to control and accuracy. The nail sunk into the wood, and he hammered at it until it pulled the plank flat against the leg beneath it—functional but needing more weight at the head. August moved on to the second one, and this time, he cleaned the handle up first. Once that was done, he moved on to the head, carefully shaving it down and testing it periodically as he removed more material. The end result was much better, and he used it to tighten up another of the planks that weren’t quite sitting flush against the leg.
He moved straight onto the new saw, racing against the fading daylight in an effort to complete everything he’d set out to do for the day. August used one of the long bones, making certain it would be able to reach the other side of a log without the same problems he’d had with the small one. He marked out where the handle was going to be and then began shaving one side of the future blade completely flat. By the time both sides had been whittled down, he had a long sheet of white that was about five centimetres thick. As he worked, he kept expecting to break through to a hollow interior, but no matter how deep he went or how much material he removed, there was nothing but unbroken, smooth, white material. It was as unnatural and artificial as the Otrogon itself, so maybe he shouldn’t have expected it to function in the way normal bone did.
August returned to shaping the handle, trying to emulate both the schematics in his mind and the image of the old saw that had forever lay flat, rusted, and unused in the shed of his childhood home. By the time he was in a position to start etching the teeth into the blade, the sun was hidden well below the small gap in the bamboo wall beside him and dripping beneath the distant ridge. August left the saw on the bench, in its almost finished state, snatching up the [Basic Light System] as he went. He took the ladder from where it was lying unused against a pillar and brought it back to where the workbench was.
August stood it up against the pillar closest to the workbench, slipped the good hammer into his inventory, and then ascended the ladder. He angled it until the light was facing the right direction to get an idea of how to best tether it in place, and then turned it off to make sure it didn’t explode. He used [Etch] to bore a hole through the unmarked sides—as he had with the [Mana Storage System]—and then looped a piece of twine through it. A nail soon found itself buried in the side of the pillar, and he hung the artifact from it before reactivating it—it wasn’t pointing in nearly the right direction anymore, but it was something. August spent a minute messing with the twine to get it into a better angle, and then when it was about as good as he could make it, he climbed back down.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
