I woke up quite early, still in the good mood I was put on yesterday. As I finally could wield a liquid container in my hand and move fluids around at will, I yet could set up reliable farms and use it as a part of my craftmanship.
Since times immemorial, water has been used for cooking, bake, mix, and many other things. It would be essential to my survival to find new ways to use the water to produce goods that would ease my predicament. Fortunately, the questing system was adamant in testing my new tool and proposed a new task that would help me create some paper.
Paper has historically been made with different means, but the questing system enticed me to use wood. It was common knowledge in my old world that most of the world's papers came from wood pulp mixed and flattened in sheets, as it was also the ground for ecologists' concern over forest destruction. However, being the only sentient beings in the vicinity has its perks, and I couldn't afford to go against the system that up to now has always been helpful, albeit too controlling.
Grabbing my almost destroyed mortar, I started to grind some logs into a fine pulp, but the tool broke mid-job, and I had to make another one before getting the amount of paper creation material I'll need to complete the objective I was tasked for.
Even after running into troubles, I ended up gathering enough material to swiftly go into the second phase of my manual paper-making industry. Knowing that I would need to do many similar tasks involving water, I decided to put a crafting table near the old village well so that I won't have to go an extra mile to return back home to use the water I would have carried.
I started by mixing up the wood pulp in a more significant mold, then I carefully drained water from the pit, using my bucket, that I poured over the previously made pulp ball, softening it to a point it would be possible to make it into a solid. I then pressed the slimy dough into a leaf shape, letting it rest for a while so that it can dry up.
The end result was a satisfying white sheet of paper, similar to those I had written on when I was in my previous world. I could definitely use these foils one way or another in the future to write books or even something entirely different. These thoughts alone made me excited about the discoveries I would make in the future.
To complete my task, I repeated the previous process several times, and at one point, I finally had gathered the paper I needed to pursue further in the quest tree.
One thing I didn't take into account, however, was the lack of water I would soon face. As I was draining the water progressively from the old village well, I could see the water drop significantly after my manual paper-making industry produced several goods. Even if I wasn't worrying too much about it, being unable to get water that easily would mean I'd have to fetch the liquid in a remote place, namely the pond I've settled in the second day.
Leaving these considerations for another day, I decided to look at the future objectives the quest system tasked me to accomplish. Fortunately, the next quests seemingly encompass creating more durable tools, which would help me thrive more easily in this world.
While looking at the new blocks I needed to craft, I suddenly remembered seeing them in the village's workshop I helped cleaning during my first day in the town before the population disappeared. I decided to take a closer look at the building housing the tool creation stations.
I saw three tables that could create more advanced tooling before me, made from planks, logs, what seems to be slightly hardened sheets of paper, and a material I had yet to found in this world. It was used to hold the different parts of a table in place and was seemingly made from silky strings, probably obtained from spiders or other silk-producing insects I had yet to make acquaintance with.
Unfortunately, looking back at my storage, I hadn't encountered any sort of strings, being silky or made with cotton, that could be used to reproduce this specific table, so I would have to wander in the wild searching for either spider to kill, or cotton to grow on my fields.
Concerned about the day progression, I hastily took off my base, passing through the village gates at the back, which I had yet to barricade like the front gates.
While searching for some cotton to plant, I couldn't deny the fact that it could be helpful to accomplish new quests ahead of time, and as such, I was able to see that one of the other tasks that were asked was the butchering of some cows, mainly to gather some leather, for a purpose yet unknown.
Fortunately, although I couldn't find any cotton wherever I looked, cows were everywhere, and I soon as I spotted a pack of five or sixth animals that cheerfully grazed the grass, I started unsheathing my sword. This put a swift end to their careless daydreaming as their blood was rushing through the sharp incisions realized with my flint weapon.
Even though it was a swift and painless death, I once again wondered about the whereabouts of my disappearing humanity, as this was something I thought I couldn't be used to. The fact that I was beginning to become a cold-blooded killer struck me as odd, but I once again dismissed the thought, justifying my actions by the will of the questing system.
Going back to the village, I unloaded the leather I tore from the cows' carcass I butchered, pretty pleased with my hunting session, albeit the lack of cotton in the surroundings.
Fortunately, I remembered a passage from the questing book that mentioned the possibility of getting new seeds by digging up the earth using a hoe in parts where the ground was still dried up from the lack of proper irrigation.
Partly doubting that I would get anything from aimlessly striking the hearth with my tool, I couldn't be more dumbfounded when the first seed was brought to the surface, seemingly as fresh as the one I planted earlier in my field.
However, this had a high cost as I soon found out my hoe had suffered heavy damages from merely attempting to strike a speck of dirt so barren it wouldn't be suited to plant anything more than fast-spreading grass.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the seed I needed, though it would be useful as it was a wheat seed, one I didn't encounter before, opening the path to baking bread and other dough related meals.
I went at it again, hoping to get more seeds, and cotton seeds in particular. I first got many other grains, namely belladonna, mandrake, garlic, snowbell, and wolfbane, which I knew nothing about aside from the mythical use they have in the popular culture associated with witchcraft. Deciding that it would be a waste if I didn't make some culture with it if I had the chance, I planted these seeds, although I didn't know the effect it could have.
Finally, after a lot of digging, I got the seeds I wanted. Faintly pink in appearance, these cotton seeds didn't show any importance they would have later for creating new items. I hurriedly planted them to harvest the cotton the earlier possible and went back to prospect the ground in search of new seeds to plant.
However, while prospecting the ground, my hoe shattered into multiple pieces because I have been digging up dry dirt to get some new seeds. Concerned that I was down a tool, I decided to recraft it as soon as possible to not be taken aback the day I would really need it.
However, as I soon find out, I was also slowly running low on flint and would have to find a new source as fast as possible to replenish my storage and create new tools.
Fortunately, since I settled in this village, I almost unconsciously avoided destroying the town's most prominent gravel source: the road. I decided to take this occasion to slowly remake the road in a more noble material, starting from destroying some part of the old streets, notably in front of my house.
Having gathered enough gravel for my feeble storage, for now, I decided to head back to my home for the night as the day had progressed enough to the point where the night fell on me, I decided to take a good night of sleep, so that I would be able to do more farming the day after.