Daire woke up with a yawn, stretching his arms and curling his back.

Hearing a pop from somewhere, he relaxed.

The first thing he saw when opening his eyes was a blank dirt ceiling.

The second thing he saw, however, was his artwork from the night before. It made his lips curl into a smile. Taking a minute to admire his work.

Orange light from the rising sun peeked in through his bedroom window, suffused through Willow's tallest leaves. The old tree was lively, dancing to an inaudible tune carried by distant winds.

Exiting his abode, feeling more than aches and pains, allowed him to enjoy a new fresh feeling of serenity.

Starting his day right off the bat, he examined the robust cage he built the day before. If someone asked him, Daire would say it was "master crafted" but incomplete. Its design was still inefficient. Its main downside was that it was stationary.

The bottom was currently sinking into some mud.

He wouldn't be able to move it even if he wanted to. It was large enough to fit a small or medium-sized bear, not that it would hold such a creature reliably.

Daire thought of a few different ways he could renovate it, yet, they all had downsides. Daire could only pick the best one, accounting for possible future renovation or coming across new materials.

Deciding it would be best to use his magic on this next part, he closed his eyes, opening up a new world of color.

Daire could envision several different shades of browns, grays, and metallics. There were two new color variants he hadn't seen before. One was a dark brown that actually had a smell to it that stung his perception. It didn't take him long to realize what it was. Daire cursed Light for taking a shit right near his cage.

That vindictive miscreant.

Marking it mentally, to avoid it at all costs, he moved on to the second color.

The second was an illuminating black.

Examining it, Daire noted its location was several yards below the surface. It lay beneath Big Boulder. The only reason he spotted it was because of its nature and unnatural hue. It seemed to warp the colors around it as if sucking them towards its center. It radiated warm, dark reds that were more comforting than alarming.

Daire paused, opening his eyes.

It's not a dungeon core, is it? That would be a twist.

Next, he would be hearing voices saying that he was the chosen one or that he needed to collect all twelve to make a wish. Or become enslaved to it, feeding it sacrifices. Or worship it as his guardian deity. Perhaps it was an evil god imprisoned after a millennium-long war. Or a black diamond formed from the culmination of the world's energies.

A drop of blood and a genie comes out...

More stray thoughts.

Is it a Masterball?

And one more.

Oooh. It could be a small life form... like a soul familiar!

It didn't so much as pulse.

It was offputting because Daire could feel it. The small orb constantly radiated warmth. All the while, brown and grey mana was converging and melting into it—Metallics avoided it.

Daire decided it would be easier to glean more if he just pulled it up. Wary it would cause an exploding, or it would drag him into an earthly prison, or it wouldn't budge, but it came up through the dirt with ease.

An overactive imagination was sometimes dangerous.

Picking up a small inky colored object that emerged with a pop from the earth, Daire turned it over in his palm.

It was a rock.

Not a unique metal or a priceless jewel, but a rock. An ordinary rock.

It was large enough to use as a skipping stone... though it's covered in bumps, crevices, and pockets. Maybe a bit larger than a golf ball, it weighed about as much as you would expect. It wasn't as light as a feather or as heavy as a bowling ball. It wasn't uranium, adamantine, mithril, or unobtainium.

How disappointing...

Daire was about to toss it away but decided to keep it as a good luck charm.

=

The cage was coming along.

He started by moving all the mud and wet clay away, raising the remaining hard earth below the cage. It was six by six, exactly the size of its bottom. He molded the earth, shaped it, and carved out chunks as if it were ice cream, and he was a scooper.

Using icepick methods in places or even scraping parts as a chisel would, the earth simply peels away in layers, similar to wood shavings.

This method suited Daire.

Daire always loved art, practicing over and over ever since he was a child. Fortunate or unfortunate, his parents humored him when he was making stick drawings and always praised him. It took him until high school to realize how cruddy his artwork was. Instead of quitting, however, he defiantly took every art class he could, taking dozens in college. Now he knew how to draw, paint, sculpt metal, wood and ice, mold ceramics, printmaking, photography, bookmaking, typography, graphic design, animation. You name an art; he could do it.

Half his skill set wasn't useful in a world without internet. And the other half didn't apply very often...

It's easier to explain what he isn't experienced in.

Blacksmithing is completely different from metalworking. Fletching is a far cry from woodworking. He wasn't a tailor, alchemist, enchanter, gem cutter, or engineer. Art was his thing—creative expression as opposed to practical works.

Of all his artwork, he was most fascinated with architecture. That was what his main studies surrounded anyway.

If only I didn't drop out...

An hour later, Daire created four sets of wheels. Not four wheels, but eight wheels, four on each side, two at each corner. Daire thought this would help bear the weight in a similar way to trucks or trains.

The platform raised it about three feet off the ground, small ornate motifs decorating the sides.

Creative expression wins in the end.

The wheels were attached directly. There weren't axles or poles attaching them; they were simply stuck to the sides like magnets.

If he looked up how cars work, or medieval carriages, or knew even the most basic engineering... He would have realized that the wheels wouldn't turn like this. He focused too much on appearance.

Daire, unaware and completely satisfied, moved on.

Raising more hard earth near the back and front, this time was simpler. He created hollow carrying space in front and back and attaching poles in the front for pulling.

...If he actually tried to pull it, he would realize it wouldn't work. If it did, the cart would drag across the ground like a puppy who refused to walk.

In the end, he had a 19ft long cart if including the poles. The actual cart was 16ft long and 7ft wide. The cage was firmly built-in and attached, making it unmovable unless Daire completely disassembled it or someone launched a fireball. Including the wheels, cart, and cage, it reached 10ft tall.

Finished with the form, Daire moved onto more decorating it.

He continued the ornate curves and waves along the sides, front and back. Daire spent another hour making a nearly identical relief to the one inside his home.

By now, it was time for lunch, so Daire went off foraging for more ingredients. He was using his phone to compare berries and shrubbery, but it was taking too much time. His phone flashed a low battery.

"Tch."

Daire returned to the campsite carrying an assortment of berries using his shirt as a basket. The wolves were already waiting, uber raw meat at their feet.

Violet was on the log using a leaf as a parasol. She was bent slightly, looking down at something. As Daire came closer, he saw that Violet was extending one of her wings to shade a tiny frog.

It was miniscule. About the size of Violet's head. Straining his eyes, he saw it wore dull yellow, green, and white pattering suited well for camouflage.

Violet seemed to think the little thing was adorable and picked it in her arms. Its tongue shot out and stuck to Violet's cheek before retracting. Giggling, Violet used her pet voice.

"Oh, aren't you just the cutest wittle fwoggy woggy!'

"Violet, it could be poisonous."

"How could he be poisonous? Look at how adorable he is..."

"Violet..."

Ah. It was too late. She was already gone.

Violet was twirling around with it and speaking sweet words in her pet voice. Eventually stopping because the frog kept fumbling around, she looked straight at it.

"I am going to name you Pebbles!"

Daire watched as Pebbles kept slipping in her arms, continuously sticking its tongue all around Violet's face. She didn't seem to mind. Violet thought it showed affection, but Daire thought it was trying to attack her, saying, "Put me down."

Daire went over to his backpack and dug around. Finding the expensive solar charger he-

A deep thunderous roar echoed across the land as a giant black bear stepped into the clearing—a beehive broken at its feet.

"Not again."

The bear was already charging along the bank of the pond. Daire grabbed for his weapons. The wolves spread out, growling menacingly at the approaching threat. Violet yipped, ducking for cover.

Daire aimed the best he could and threw the javelins in quick succession. One miss. Another bounced off. The last just grazed it.

Damn.

Daire reached for his sword. But he noticed the bear charging... Getting larger and larger. And larger! Humongous, enraged, and weighing hundreds of pounds of muscle and ferocity, the beast ate up the distance.

Turning on his foot, he ran.

=

A giant black bear was chasing a human man. Roaring its anger. The man cried out in distress.

"Ooooooh shit, oh shit, oh shit oh shit ohgodohpleaseohno-"

Running.

Running out of breath.

Screaming incoherently.

His feet were taking him around the pond. Daire only made it about 30ft before the beast was on him. He tried to turn around to at least see his death coming.

The bear reared with another roar. Spittle flew onto Daire's petrified face.

The bear was descending when a gray blur collided with it.

A wolf.

Light tried to latch onto it with his jaws and claws but was whacked aside by the force of its paw, sending him tumbling into the water.

The bear ignored the brief assailant and continued towards Daire but was interrupted by a darker flash as Night collided into its side. Off-balance from the previous attack, it fell back into the water.

Recovering quickly, it emerged dripping in water. It charged towards Night, furious.

Night circled it staying out of reach while Light extricated himself from the pond. Blood was running down his face, and his ear was torn, but he got back into the fight, harrying the wild beast's rear. They took turns like that. Night ducking in and out, trying to keep attention away from her injured companion.

Light and Night were keeping it busy, but neither of them was at full strength. Malnourished or sporting old injuries.

Daire woke up. Realizing he needed to help. Putting his hand on the grip of his sword.

The pack leader joined the fray.

Daire closed in on the bear's left side as Light was about to get hit again. He aimed for the underside of the shoulder. Praying it would at least stutter.

Daire drew, fast and true, unhindered by his injury.

It struck where he was aiming, causing the arm to twitch, unable to complete its action in time.

Daire followed up with a strike to the side of the head and its snout.

It was an intense few seconds, but they hit, causing the bear to flinch and shake its head.

Retreating, he allowed Night to harry its side.

Daire took this moment to re-sheath his sword. It was strongest when drawn.

Bringing up the deepest browns of earth mana, he coated his blade to its maximum. He could probably only swing it once, and it would be slow.

He had one shot.

He waited.

Light nipped at its rear. Night clawed its face. The beast shook its head and reared, trying to crush Daire underneath its massive weight.

Royal blue Lightning descended.

The bear twitched.

Nice. Violet.

Daire could see Violet near the campsite with her hands raised to the sky. He couldn't see one of her eyes shut, the grimace on her face, or how badly she was trembling.

Daire seized the moment.

He drew.

A rising cut that clipped the bear's chin with enough force to knock its head silly.

The shoddy earth that had been clinging to his sword crumbled from impact.

The bear's nose pointed directly to the sky.

Teetering.

Then it crashed.