C015 Featherstone - A Feather As Light As A Stone
2023 Words
She took and axe and removed the leather headcover and stood near a tree and she started to swing wildly at it. Within 3 chops, she had felled the tree successfully and she automatically collected 4 logs, 6 sticks and 3 leaves.
"Wow... Not bad... Not bad at all...! I like it very much. Now to test this pick... Hmm, here's a rock mound, let me try..."
She swung her pick down at a rock mound and after 3 hits, the rock mound breaks apart and she automatically collected 5 rocks and 2 flints into her storage bag.
"Does it mean I would hit 3 times before I get to harvest them?"
"Not really, Matilda... For rocks it would be 3 hits, for copper it maybe 6 to 8 hits, for tin it would be 10 to 12, for iron it would be 14 above, for silver it would be 20 above, for gold, it would be 30 above, for crystals it would be 50 above."
"Using these steel picks would also be able to harvest green and red gems and you might collect some blue ones too. There are quite a number of gems but just think of Red as Ruby, Green as Emeralds, White as Diamonds, Blue as Blue Sapphires and Black as Onyx."
"If we used iron picks, it would take much longer. So if possible, anything above Iron mines would be for collection and sales and anything above Iron mines, 2 hands are better than one."
"I'd remember that. Now, since you are done snacking... I would love to get those roasted cashew nuts..."
"But Robyn... That's the last pack and only left with groundnuts, broad beans and lentils." Why does the world seem unfair?
=*=
"There's no more of those wild animals lurking around anymore, and I guess it would be safe for us both to take a rest now and forget about snacking and all those stuff." I was kind of disappointed when I can't get my hands on those cashew nuts and had to settle for harder to chew beans that would definitely dirty the whole teeth with its bits and pieces stuck in between.
I lay down on the ground sideways and when I placed my head on my arm, I fell asleep within minutes as I had used up some of my Internal Chi to visualise a fusion chamber. This fusion chamber that I visualised cannot reproduce something just by placing a steel plate on it and choosing tools, weapons or armour on its slider. It had to be a reproduction of something.
As I've said earlier, this is not some fancy pants medieval English fantasy game. I won't be able to know the attributes of the weapons, tools or armour that I had reproduced. Haish...better sleep first since I have made a new sword and would definitely like to try it out when I have the chance.
The chirping of birds woke me up and I turned about on the ground and find that Matilda had slept near the sides of my tummy and was positioned somewhat near my crotch. She was snoring softly and since I had woken up earlier than her, I decided to tiptoe and went ahead to wash my face and mouth.
I left her sleeping on the ground as I look for a high place to climb and to check out the surroundings, hoping to see a wisp of smoke coming from the chimneys or from open fireplaces.
"Great...! I've got you at last...!" I saw a wisp of white smoke so far away and it came from some houses that looked either from a town, village or even a settlement. I raised my right-hand perpendicular to the ground and raised my thumb. After I had aligned my right hand, I position it just next to the house and because it's far away, it looked just like an inch or 2.5 cm to me.
I closed my left eye and then I switched to my right eye, creating a parallax between the edge of the house to the image that had just jumped to the left. A house of that size would normally be about 10 meters in length and the parallax jumped at least 50 times the length of that house in the distance.
I used an estimate and it would be about 500-800 meters away from where I am standing. Well...we were so close to civilisation that we didn't even realise it. I climbed down from the high ground and I quickly distinguished all the three fires and cleared the traces of it.
I kicked gently at Matilda's foot to wake her up and told her that there is a settlement nearby and we should gather our things and break camp. I picked my axe, pick, sword, bow and quiver and strapped everything on me. I took the blanket that Matilda had used and used it as a shawl to cover myself.
Matilda too had strapped all her equipment on her and we checked around and made sure we didn't miss anything especially the snickers wrapper and the party snack she had consumed earlier. We took a dumpling each and shared another half as we made our way to the settlement ahead.
.....
"Hello, young lads. Welcome...would you like to place an order since it is close to lunchtime already?" a young tavern mistress passed a menu and we both peered at it. "Could we have a pot of Twinings, please. We would be ordering our food later on. Thank you, Miss."
The tavern mistress left the menu on the table and entered the tavern.
"Hey...don't you find it weird? The setup of this place is nearly exactly similar to the one we were last night. Did we make a full circle and return where we had come from?"
"I'm not sure how but right now I'm hungry and I want to eat fried rice with salted fish and roasted pork belly."
"Same here Matilda, order 2 servings for us then. Let me ask the tavern lady here about this town."
"Excuse me, Miss, may we kindly know the name of this town? We both were out of towners and we might be afraid that we may have diverted off our main route."
"Oh, this is Ackworth in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Where would you be heading?"
"Ah...we are a pair of prospectors and we are looking for places to mine for common gems. Would there be such a place over here?"
"You can get the local map from the Peddler here as well as other maps from other towns. There would be indications for mines in colour-coded for easy reference and you could acquire a compass if you may. it's easier to get around that way."
"Aye...thank you, Miss. Could we have 2 servings of Rice and Pork Belly? That would be all. Thank you."
"Alright...it would be 10 shillings and 21 coppers, lad. Be right back in 20 minutes."
.....
"Wait here, I want to get some maps." I rose and went to the Peddler and asked him if he had a local map here and said I want a continuity map towards Yorkshire and down to Nottingham. It cost 2 shillings for each map and I bought a total of 6 maps. A simple compass costs me another 2 shillings and I paid for the items and return to my seat.
I took out the coins to pay for the food too when it came and I asked In a casual manner, "Are all the trading district being set up in this type of manner, similar to the rest of the towns?"
"Oh, yes they do, lad. It always causes a lot of confusion, don't it? The only difference is the names of the town folks, of course. Furthermore, it's being fabricated this way so its easier for us merchants to set up our business."
She turned and left after she had served us with the Fried Rice and the Roasted Pork. We ate heartily and burped slightly after finishing the meals.
We sat awhile and called the tavern mistress and ordered 4 dumplings to go and this time, Matilda and for the Dumplings. I looked at the map and asked if Matilda is ready to rough it out, meaning to spend in tents and cook outdoors.
"I'm alright with it, I'm a girl guide before so I should be able to survive in the wilderness. Find a stream, forage the forest and we could live like a King with food supplies like eggs, vegetables and rice. What do you intend to do?"
"A whole set of Baden Powell's equipment and cooking set. We should be able to live out here comfortably." I said as I passed 20 shillings to Matilda to hunt for camping gear first.
"Place all your items here, silly girl. Just carry your sword would be enough and return here whenever you get some items and don't carry them one whole lot at a time. See you in a bit. Take care..." My lips mentioned her to take care but in actual fact, I was hoping that she doesn't run into trouble at all.
=*=
Matilda returned with 2 haversacks with light bamboo reed frames that could hold about 50 kg of contents with 2 rolled up blankets, 2 tarpaulins and 4 short poles with screw-on joints. She bought a large bow saw with several spare blades, with a box of 2 and 4 inches nail. She passed it to me and skipped cheerfully and was soon lost within the crowd.
A little while later, she came back with 1 saucepan, 1 kettle and 2 pots and some ladies with wooden bowls, plates and some spoons. She had also purchased 2 large leather water pouches as well. After handing the items to me, I loaded the items and dispersed the weight evenly and each haversack had a leather water pouch which I had filled with the sky juice that I had asked for from the tavern mistress.
She reached back from the marketplace and she had purchased 20 eggs, 2 catties of rice, 1 catty of plain flour, 1 catty of carrots, 2 green roundhead cabbage, salt and pepper shaker, a slab of cheese, a slab of animal fat, some dried fruits, onions, garlic, ginger, 2 whole smoked chicken and some smoked fish. She also bought herself a 7-inch survival 'Browning' knife and 2 fishing kits.
We allocated the weight for all items and I assisted her to latch her pick on the side of her haversack and mine as well as I place my quiver on my right side of the belt hoop of my pants. Our axes were also hung on the left-hand side of the haversack and I noted my bag with a small thin branch the thickness of my pinky with leaves on it.
This way, we would understand that we are holding up the right bag for ourselves. I took a last glance at the map and decides to lead the way towards Featherstone where there was some mines logo that was scattered around it. It appears that we are going to be around here for a while so we better stick to this area to mine these resources.
Likelihood to meet adventurers on War Mode is high, so we better stick close in which Matilda hadn't much familiarity yet being in a party. She was fortunate that she was even breathing to this day with a sword that looks pretty much like a butter knife after being massacred and insulted beyond unimaginable means. Hope she doesn't wield her sword in that way if she loses her temper or something. Hahahaha.
"Featherstone...does it imply the stone is as light as a feather or the feather is as heavy as a stone?" Matilda inquired as she savoured on a packet of Caprisonne Apple juice. She innocently strolled slightly behind me as she popped a Ferrero Roche White Chocolate into her mouth.
"Hey...! You've been gulping and munching behind me all along during this trip or what?"
- Writer
