Adam sat up on the edge of the bed and yawned in satisfaction. He did this not because he was tired, but because he was relaxed. He had woken refreshed with full mana and stamina. Hoping all would be back to normal he was disappointed to find that he was still capped at level 5, with his additional power locked somehow. He still had the 644 experience collected since this phenomenon had occurred but was loathe to spend it on a skill he had already unlocked. Rather than dwell on the problem he got up, stretched and left his hut to start the day.

Several of the vermite had waited up for Adam to appear. Kai handed him a replacement pair of boots and the repaired trousers. Lei had a couple of small whetstones he had developed that he showed Adam how to use to sharpen his weapons. Lastly Ti wanted to show off that she had now reached level 6, gaining the small amount of experience needed by using the training area with the other vermite. They approached Adam one at a time to share their news before heading down into the warren to sleep. He gave nods of approval and words of encouragement as they filled him in on their acheivements, amused at the short line of vermite that had been waiting to greet him when he woke.

Soon only Adam and Ma were left in the camp. Ma had not joined the vermite outside his hut but was instead sat by the fire stirring some porridge that she spooned into a bowl for Adam when he sat to join her. Adam scanned his follower sheet as he ate noting that all of the ten vermite with a class had gained 20 exp from using the training area. That boosted the new trio up to level 2 already and pushed the two spear wielders to level 3. Not only was this quite a boost to his forces in a single night it was low risk and gave him 40 exp as his share.

Ma filled him in on the endeavours of the rest of the vermite as well as reminding him that they needed a better source of stone before showing him how they had now completed the outer ring of defences. On viewing this Adam received a notification

Outer defences complete. You feel safe. Nocturnal stamina reduction halved inside these defences. Inner defences complete. You feel safe. Stamina reduction reset by sleeping inside these defences.

He stood confused with this message. He had not had any direct messages about camp before. Or had he? He concentrated and looked back over the past messages and realised there was additional information there that he had been ignoring. The notifications gave him updates about the benefit of the training area, farms and pigsty. He had already worked out that the training area gave out 20exp per day if used to train. Intrigued he focused on the other updates he had been ignoring.

Each farm allowed the production of four different foods and boosted them to grow twice as fast as they would normally. This prompted Adam to look over at the farms where he could see the difference between the crops already. Even with his limited experience as a gardener he could tell the crops were growing quickly, much quicker than he expected. The pig sty was similar and would help the pigs grow quicker without needing to be fed more. He was trying to work out the benefits of the buildings awaiting completion when he realised he was rudely ignoring Ma.

"The best news is that after Pa finished the third tower we worked out how to properly defend the camp during the day." She pointed up to the top of the base in the centre. "Look, ask Rai about the details."

Adam turned to see two vermite stood atop the wall, one waving down at him. With Ma's permission he left her to climb up one of the ladders to find Rai and Ghi patrolling the walkway that now completely circled the inner edge of the wall.

"Hi Rai." Said Adam as the vermite approached, staff in hand. "What's going on up here?" He asked.

Rai went on to explain, in his simple way, that they had a rotating guard system set up for the day. The archers had been paired up with another vermite and all except Ti and Su were on the rota. Ti because she was backup today in case any help was suddenly needed and Su because she didn't yet have enough stamina to stay awake long enough, plus there weren't enough archers to make another pair. It got a bit complicated with a changeover every ninety minutes and every vermite taking part in two of the eight shifts but Rai was very excited about his project so Adam just smiled and nodded. He ended his demonstration by hitting a pan that had been left next to the bottom of the ladder with his staff. This caused a very irritable Ti to appear out of the warren. She initially looked on edge running up to find out what was wrong. When Rai explained he was simply showing Adam how the alarm system worked she threw a stone at him before disappearing back into the warren in a huff.

Despite annoying Ti unnecessarily Adam was very impressed with Rai. He said as much and was rewarded with a beaming smile. Leaving the two vermite to their duties Adam realised the other bonus to the changes was that he would now be able to stay up later in camp to spend time with the group. Now all the vermite were in bed, other than the two guards, Adam sat to plan his day.

Adam had three tasks he wanted to complete. First, he was going to try and reproduce ice with his mana. Second he needed to find a suitable spot to quarry for Ma and third he wanted to check on the boar to see if the strange phenomenon from the day before repeated itself. Knowing that he could practice his magic on the way to the boar Adam first headed out to the crafting area to complete the simple task of making a pick to quarry stone. The crafting area was not finished yet. Two of the three sides were made of wood and had small work areas laid out with storage and benches. Some shows signs of use with some scrap leather outside one that suggested it belonged to Kai. On the third side he saw it was the lack of stone that left the area incomplete, a row of sturdier workshops were paired off either side of a chimney that Adam imagined was designed to be a forge and kiln combo. The base had been completed and a small window into the central fire was visible in each workshop.

Not techincally needing the equipment as he was working with his mana Adam sat down next to an empty workbench and started by forming the handle with a piece of wood. He then drew iron out into an appropriate shape and solidified it with his metalwork spell.

You have created Simple Iron Pick. You gain 5 exp.

Happy with his work he tidied away the unused materials picked up his spear and bow and headed to the forest.

Adam discovered a solitary boar in the forest. He dispatched the creature easily and used byproducts to gain some materials before heading on. All the other boar were still missing from the outer forest and it wasn't until Adam reached the inner area that he found any more signs of life. He spotted the Razorback patrolling the central clearing and remembered his planned experiment from the day before. Rather than attacking straightaway he foolishly goaded the boar into charging him directly and waited to see the outcome. He was correct that the damage sustained was reduced but found it was actually lower than the 30hp expected. He was also reminded that being gored by a boar was incredibly painful and therefore not something to experiment with.

Once the Razorback was killed Adam spent a little longer than before exploring the clearing. He found three more piglets and since he wasn't in a rush managed to catch all three. He felt a little cruel about trapping them all in his pack for the entire journey back to camp but told himself that if he could use his mana with the distracting screams of piglets then he would be able to use it better in battle too. By the time he was back at camp he learnt the guards had changed and Rai was no longer patrolling. He also learnt that it was incredibly difficult to formulate a new spell while three piglets screamed in your ear.

Piglets deposited in the sty Adam was happy to see that his last addition was now up and moving normally too. He used Creation to conjure some hazelnuts and apples, much to the delight of the older boar who grunted in joy and let Adam scratch his ears. This was the problem with raising animals thought Adam, he wouldn't want to have to kill them for food. Putting this thought to one side for now he cleaned his pack before heading South to the mountainside in the hope that he could find somewhere suitable to quarry for stone.

The trip to the mountain allowed Adam to properly focus on his mana. It had been relatively simple in the end to work out what had caused the ice. Water mana minus fire mana equals ice. By pushing all the fire mana away from an area he could remove the heat and actually leave an area that was cooler than it had been before. If he drew water into this area at the same time it formed ice. Once he had the basics of creating some ice he played around with finding a practical application. He quickly found himself at the base of the mountain before he had a chance to get much further.

It didn't take long to find a cave near the mine that seemed right to use as a quarry. It was not really a cave and more a depression into the mountainside that occurred a few hundred metres West of the entrance to the mine. Here the smaller gravel was replaced by large rocks that yielded well to the pick Adam had made. There were plenty of stones already available to simply pick up and transport to the camp, but Adam wanted to unlock a profession. Rather than collecting stone he headed to the rockface at the back of the depression he had generously named a cave. Once here a bit of trial and error caused a large piece of stone to dislodge. Taking some time to shape the stone Adam proudly stood back from his work about thirty minutes later.

As was normally the case when completing a task did not cause the profession he wanted - repetition was the key. Adam had five stones all approximately two feet by one feet squared lined up in front of him before he got the satisfying sense that a notification had arrived.

Quarryman: Profession Unlock Criteria Description Skills Quarryman Make five stones Ability to quarry and dress stones for construction purposes Please select initial skill. [stone]; [slab]; [light load]; [wedge]

Checking the skills available Adam chose stone which allowed a quarryman to better produce stones of a uniform size. Slab allowed the creation of larger slabs of material and seemed less useful at the moment. Wedge released more stone from the rockface at a time but would be more helpful when large amounts of material were needed. Light load was the same skill as a gatherer could learn, it simply allowed the user to carry more.

Looking at the five stones in front of him Adam wondered whether light load might have actually been a better choice. Inspiration hit him as he raced back to camp and returned with a cart that Fa had finished in tow. The round trip had still not inspired him how to use ice as a practical spell, with his best attempt so far being a small snow drift that had quickly melted in the sun. He loaded his stone onto the cart and headed back to camp for the final time, the wheels marking the path to his new 'quarry' for the vermite.

He entered camp as the last shift of guards was starting their second watch. Knowing it was almost time for the vermite to wake Adam emptied the cart and decided he would be helpful and start making dinner for everyone. With the simple tasks he had been performing for the afternoon he had almost forgotten about the strange alteration to his stats and the lack of boar in the wood. It was only as he stood stirring the stew over the fire that his mind tried once again to piece the puzzle together of what might be happening.