Chương 19: The End of an Era

Day 1 of construction A mortician, a forensic pathologist and an art student got stuck on a deserted island and had to build a raft to escape. There was no punchline to this joke, just a very painful process of realisation that none of them were ever going to make it as shipwrights. Considering their rather limited abilities in the area they would have likely failed completely if it weren't for their newly gained supernatural abilities.

Thankfully Nihil had acquired superstrength recently, being able to fell and carry around logs twice as big as his body with pathetic ease. That meant that the material collection part was easier than it would have been otherwise. Kevin, similarly, had a useful skill, being able to create tools that helped with preparing the logs for the sea. Aliyah for her part at least had a companion who could help her carry a thing or two if it came down it. Three hands were indeed better than two.

The first raft that they completed was a failed product because they'd harvested some of the more young trees on the beach. Nihil's memory had failed him and he hadn't been able to remember if you were supposed to harvest younger, or older trees. It turned out that younger trees had a higher water content and wood density and thus didn't float as well. They quickly scratched that project, using the collected wood to create a log spit rotation device over a firepit they'd dug into the sand.

After all, they'd managed to conclude that if water content made something less buoyable, then drying out the logs before use could potentially lead to higher buoyancy. It was after they'd heated and smoke-dried eight logs for this purpose that Nihil remembered something else. He scratched his chin on that first day of experimentation as the sun slowly set in the distance. He watched how the smoke created soot on the logs, turning them from light brown to pitch black.

"Don't they flame wood in some countries before using it for construction to destroy the nutrients bugs and fungi feast on?" he asked loudly, while the tired Kevin and Aliyah shared a look.

"It also fuses the pores of the wood together, making it a bit more water resistant I think," Kevin added, as if remembering something.

"I remember seeing something like that on an instagram page about traditional Japanese architecture," Aliyah affirmed.

"Alright then," Nihil said, turning to the two humans who were getting ready for the night.

"I'll lower the spits," he said.

"You go to sleep." The two followers shared a look, shrugged, before retreating to the simplistic hut made out of leaves that they'd propped up against a tree on the edge of the beach. Nihil observed the four logs that were staked into the ground, two sides on each side of the overly long fire pit.

Walking over to check on the drying wood tucked in the gap between the logs and hanging in the air over the burning fire, he struck out four times with his fist, staking the logs deeper into the earth and thus reducing the distance between fire and log. Day 1 complete. +37 Exp -/- Day 2 of construction By the time the two sleeping beauties blearily opened their eyes, Nihil had already finished flaming the outer edges of all the eight logs that they'd chosen due to their similar width and length.

Done with the task and taking a break Nihil was standing on the shore, looking longingly into the distance as he gripped the Water Heart in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked curiously as he squatted down next to the eight perfectly charred logs that Nihil had brushed with saltwater to stop the burning before laying them out on the beach next to each other to dry. The outermost layer of the wood now closely resembled black and sooty alligator skin.

"Just seeing if the fishmen want to come out to play," Nihil said sadly, looking out into the distance. Kevin snorted.

"I think that even without the heart they're more likely to run away, rather than towards you."

"Cowards."

"I think the outer layer of soot has to be brushed off," Aliyah provided helpfully after she also joined to look at the logs.

"Or else water could still gather in the cracks." Nihil turned around to look down at the eight logs. Each one was about as thick as Aliyah and twice as tall. Together they created a surface area of about 18 square meters when put together.

"We need some sturdy smaller trees for the crossguard, go find some young ones," Nihil said as he bent down, strengthened the outer layer of his skin and roughly started scraping off the textured outer layer of the wood with the palm of his hand. Soot and char fell off evenly wherever he touched and Kevin and Aliyah silently went into the forest to find some food and also the requisite materials. Stolen novel; please report.

"Don't have any oil, do we," Nihil muttered as he worked quietly on the beach, only the lapping of the waves keeping him company. He'd never worked much with wood but even he knew that coating it with penetrating oil would make it even more water-resistant. Unfortunately the only fat they had access to was the lard of whatever animals they caught in the jungle. That sounded like a stupid idea, since it would essentially be coating their raft in tasty tasty juices. It would only attract aquatic predators.

Water Heart or no, Nihil wasn't willing to risk his companions life after he'd so painstakingly ensured their survival and progress these past weeks. Aliyah and Kevin eventually returned with some smaller uprooted trees and a dodo bird.

"You didn't see any seeds, did you?" Nihil asked as Kevin sat down and started cutting out the bird's fatty meat. Kevin shook his head.

"It would have been too easy," Nihil grunted, thinking of seed oils. Instead of creating rope out of coconuts husks Nihil graciously donated some of his threads, shedding one kilogram of weight but immediately adding it back on by absorbing the remains of the dodo. Figuring out the proper knots to tie the structure together was another story, but they managed eventually. Day 2 concluded with a finished raft.

Nihil promptly pushed it out into the water after tying it to a tree so as to observe its buoyancy and stability. The spec requirements weren't that high. After all, the weather in this level seemed consistently pleasant with the rare raincloud and by their estimates that land beyond the horizon was barely even 40 kilometres off. The raft would only need to hold for a day. Day 2 complete. +29 Exp -/- Day 3 of construction.

The enterprising trio stood on the beach, watching their large raft bob up and down in the water, having seamlessly passed the test of the overnight soak. It looked very symmetrical. Eight logs tied together with black threads. Alternating sides were placed next to each other so as to evenly distribute the weight.

"It's missing a sail," Nihil observed.

"Technically I could simply push the thing all the way, but I feel that if we took the extra time to make one, we would decrease the amount of time we would have to spend in the water and thus decrease the associated risk."

"What to use though?" Kevin asked.

"It's not like we have a sail sheet lying around somewhere.

"Would one of the plastic tarps work?" Aliyah suddenly asked, nodding her head towards where the tarps lay on the beach, covered in leaves, to collect condensation. They'd taken some from the previous campsite which had since been abandoned.

"Why wouldn't it?" Nihil asked, and off they were. Nihil was the one to pull the raft out of the water so that it could dry in the sun for one day before being taken out again. This was the safest method. Meanwhile Aliyah with her extra hand took one of the tarps and started finding ways to shape it for maximum efficiency. Kevin had already started putting together some discarded branches into a triangle shape.

"If we use a triangle shape we can fold the square tarp once," he observed.

"That way we decrease the risk of a single hole destroying the entire structure." Nihil nodded, providing the requisite threads and off they were. They quickly constructed a triangular sail. Everything was easier when Nihil could simply control the threads manually before letting them go, thus making for easy needle work. Not long after, the raft had one large branch attached to a drilled hole in the middle, proudly waving a plastic tarp in the soft wind of the beach.

The tarp was directly stitched into the branches the sail skeleton was constructed of and Nihil realised that if this whole climbing thing didn't work out, he could make an absolute killing opening an embroidery store. The rest of the day they simply spent smoking meat and collecting water in coconut husks for the journey. Tomorrow they would gather the condensation one more time before setting off.

"What if it's just like Floor 0. Going the extra effort of moving only to end up in an even more dangerous place?" Kevin asked worriedly as they sat around the large fire at night to discuss tomorrow's strategy.

"There's always risks associated with progress," Nihil said simply. He knew the danger progression of the tower and he found it unlikely that level 1 contained much more than the fishmen and the survival challenge. After all, the next level was a simple sleep deprivation challenge. Inputting a trap consisting of forcing the climbers to build a raft only to die at sea or at the outer destination seemed a bit asinine.

Of course it was easy for him to not be worried considering the Water Heart would protect him even in case of capsizing.

"We got so much experience from that hidden quest. The same amount as we would have collected staying on this island just surviving for thirty days," Aliyah muttered, hugging her knees and looking into the flames.

"Who's to say not fighting for every advantage won't backfire just as badly as taking a risk?"

"Nobody can say," Nihil said.

"It's impossible to know. We can only guess." He shrugged.

"As for me, I'm going." Kevin sighed a few times, before seemingly steeling himself.

"I upgraded my skill," he eventually admitted.

"I should be able to make a bird big enough to carry at least two people now, if I'm willing to pay the price." The Black Thread human threw the artist a mild look.

"A mechanism that allows you to draw more power in return to paying it off later?" he asked. Kevin gave him a defiant look but didn't answer.

"Keep your secrets," Nihil eventually said dismissively.

"It's always good to have a backup plan." Day 3 complete. +27 Exp -/- Day 4 The sun beckoned, the gentle breeze swooned and the mosquito swarm violently attacked the trio as they jumped onto the raft while flipping their middle fingers at the scrawny naked man hatefully looking at them from the tree-line of the beach. Nihil couldn't really be bothered dealing with the somehow still angry Musk and pushed off the raft with all his strength, slowly but surely sending them out of the range of the mosquitoes.

The pale Aliyah looked disgustedly at the many mosquito bites on her body.

"That fucking asshole," she muttered angrily as Nihil, as the only unaffected party, maneuvered the sail into catching some of the wind.

"I'm going to kill that piece of shit," Nihil said warmly, looking at the angry man waving his fists at them.

"Why do you say it so fondly?" Kevin asked curiously.

"Because I'll enjoy doing it." Slowly but surely, the deserted island became smaller behind them as the sun travelled across the sky. It was when it turned into a dot, the middle point by which they should have started seeing the landmass they were supposedly sailing towards that everything turned white. -/- Congratulations! You have escaped and thus finished the 1st Floor quest: The Deserted Island, with eight days to spare. This immediately advances you to the intermediary level 1.

5 6 hours before the start of level 2. For each day that you did not spend on the island by escaping it, you are rewarded with 100 experience points! +100 +100 +100 +100 +100 +100 +100 +100