Arcum left the cow and the chicken for Mydei to cook on the campfire. As Mydei worked on the food, he had brought out the family of sheep that he had gotten the day prior.
To get to the mutton of the sheep, Arcum would have to remove the wool, but he didn't currently have shears.
"I guess a sword will work," Arcum muttered as he took out his newly acquired iron sword, cutting through the wool with more ease than he thought.
Checking his inventory, he glanced at the enchantment on the iron sword.
"Sharpness 1, but it doesn't have the best durability... I'll save it then."
Switching back to his stone sword after the wool had been cut off from all the sheep, he used his stone blade to grab the meat from the sheep, passing it to Mydei, who was in the middle of cooking the beef.
"You have the rest?" Arcum asked, standing up and dusting his legs off.
"Yeah," Mydei said, flipping the beef. "I can cook it all."
Arcum nodded at Mydei's confirmation. "If anyone asks where I am, just tell them I'm going to the river, and I'll be back."
Leaving the ruined camp, Arcum jogged over towards the river where he first met Hysilens to look for sugar cane.
Looking at the side of the river, he found a few more pieces of sugar cane, just further down the stream.
As Arcum arrived in front of the sugar cane, he collected the rest, placing one back down to ensure that he would have sugar cane if he needed it later.
Thankfully, the cow had given him two pieces of leather, enough to make two books. The chicken had dropped enough feathers, but another ink sac was the problem.
Looking into the river, Arcum spotted a squid.
"..."
Arcum turned around to walk back to the camp. "... I'm just going to hope that the squid has another ink sac."
As Arcum approached the base again, everyone was standing near the campfire.
"Did something happen?" Arcum asked Stelle as he got closer.
"No," Stelle responded. "It's food time."
Arcum gave a small nod, before walking to Hysilens. "Does the squid have another ink sac?"
Hysilens turned her head to look at Arcum, before holding out her hand to him, an ink sac appearing in her hand—coming out of her inventory.
He took it, making his was to the crafting table. "Well, at least she's using her inventory more."
Using the sugar cane to make paper, Arcum quickly made himself another book and quill.
"Here," Mydei said as he walked behind Arcum. "Your food."
Arcum turned around, finding a piece of steak inside a bowl. "You made bowls?"
"Stelle handed me the bowls," Mydei responded. "I think she got it from the fox."
"So she figured out how to make bowls."
"Got it," he said, taking the bowl from Mydei. "Thanks for the food."
Taking a bite out of the steak, it was juicy and flavorful, surprising for not having any seasonings.
"You're a good cook," Arcum commented. "Do you cook often?"
"I do," Mydei responded, taking a bite out of his own food.
"Did Stelle tell you about what the plan at this camp was?"
Mydei shook his head, prompting Arcum to explain.
"We're making a house here, so that we can expand into a base," Arcum explained. "We're trying to lure other people here for a chance at civilization."
Arcum paused. "You're also helping us without much reserve. Is there a reason?"
"You're with Stelle and Hysilens," Mydei commented. "I know Stelle well, and Hysilens is an ally of mine. So if they're friends with you, I don't see why I can't be, either."
"You're awfully nice, despite your intimidating stature. Oh, and before I forget."
Arcum put the bowl down on the crafting table, taking out his book and quill. "You know how to use the chat function, right? Could you put something in chat so I could write your username?"
Mydei nodded.
"Wow, these names are really random."
Arcum wrote down the name in the book, nodding his head.
"Thanks."
Going back to the book, he added a note next to Mydei's username, writing 'Mydei,' to ensure that he knows who's who.
Arcum did the same for Stelle, Asta, Argenti, and Fugue, writing their names inside the book, adding a note to ensure that he knows who is who.
He glanced up from the book, looking around for Hysilens.
"Hysilens, where are you?"
"She's over by the wall," Asta called out, sitting by the campfire finishing up the mutton she was given.
"Thanks," Arcum responded, putting the book underneath his arm and picking up his bowl of food.
He quickly finished eating the steak he was given, putting the bowl into his inventory.
Walking over to the wall, Arcum finds Hysilens.
"... you're eating the squid?"
Hysilens nodded.
"... ok," Arcum said. "Anyways, do you mind putting something in the chat so that I can get your username?"
Arcum wrote the name down in the book, closing the book and putting it into his inventory. "Thank you very much."
Leaving Hysilens to her food, Arcum walked back to the main part of camp, where Stelle was.
"Stelle," Arcum said as she looked at him. "I want to sort out roles today."
"Okay," Stelle said. "And you want me to..?"
"Can you call everyone over whenever their done?"
"There you go," Stelle said, putting her thumb up.
"... I forgot I could do that. And I was just doing that."
A brief moment passed, before the entire base made their way over to the campfire.
Everyone stood around in a circle, looking at Stelle and Arcum.
Stepping up to the front, Arcum clasped his hands together. "We're in this together... so I want to ask what everyone is good at so we can set up roles."
Asta raised her hand first. "I've managed Herta Space Station," she said. "I can manage the works of the base right now."
"I was an Amicassador for the Luofu Sky-Faring Commission merchant guild," Fugue said. "But for right now, I could help Miss Asta with rebuilding the camp."
Arcum nodded, turning to Argenti. "You're a... fighter, right?"
Argenti spread his arms out to his sides, his gaze shooting up to the sky. "I am a Knight of Beauty!"
"Got it, a knight. You can be in charge of protecting the camp. You too, Hysilens?"
Hysilens nodded. "I'll guard the camp too, then."
Arcum turned to Mydei. "Mydei, you seem to be good at fighting, and you said you could cook?"
Mydei nodded. "I can be the chef for the base, if you need."
"Yes," Arcum agreed. "But for right now, you should join me and Stelle."
"Really?" Stelle asked. "What am I joining you for?"
"We're going mining," Arcum announced. "You and Mydei will join me when we go to the mines."
"What do we need to mine for?" Stelle asked.
"Ores and more loot," Arcum answered. "We need more items if we want to survive."
Turning to Fugue and Asta, Arcum pointed to the not-so-built house. "If you two could make a small base before tonight, that would be awesome."
Seeing the two nod, Arcum turned back to Mydei and Stelle. "I need to make preparations before we head to the mines, so I'll come find you two when I'm ready."
With the plans finished, the entire group split.
Arcum walked to the forest, taking out his stone axe to gather enough oak logs when they enter the caves.
"Having wood is good," Arcum organized in his head. "I'll take some food before we go, keep coordinates inside my book, and we should be fine."
Collecting a stack of logs, Arcum made his way back to the camp and the crafting table.
Making a stone pickaxe for Mydei, he organized his inventory a little bit more, before finishing up preparations.
Walking to the campfire, Arcum found Stelle and Mydei.
"Here," Arcum said, holding the stone pickaxe to Mydei. "This is what you can use to get the ores."
"I'll tell you both what ores to mine," Arcum said looking at the two. "Follow me, I found a cave yesterday."
The two follow Arcum as he leads them through the plains, making their way over to the cave where Arcum mined the coal on the first day.
"If we find any hostile mobs, Mydei, you can just hit them with that crystal lance, right?"
"No."
Arcum paused, looking back at Mydei. "You can't?"
"What do you mean you can't?" Stelle asked, bewildered, just like Arcum. "You could do that easily in Amphoreous."
"The inventory says I can't," Mydei explained. "It's telling me I have to wait."
"The GUI is telling you something?"
"GUI?" Mydei asked. "The inventory?"
"GUI is just the thing to display your inventory, yes," Arcum cleared up.
"Then yes," Mydei finally said. "The GUI is telling me I have a... 'Cooldown of 12 Hours.'"
"A cooldown to use your powers?" Stelle asked. "Does that mean I also have a cooldown?"
"Maybe check your GUI," Arcum suggested. "I've been using my inventory, and I don't have any GUI that tells me I have anything special."
Arcum watched as Stelle tapped the air, inside her own inventory. "I see!"
"You see... what?" Arcum asked.
"I can switch my paths," Stelle said.
Noticing the confused look on Arcum's face, Stelle clarified.
"So just my weapons with a cooldown of 1 hour."
Arcum took a moment to process all the new information he was just given.
"Okay," he answered Stelle, turning to Mydei. "You can still fight without the lance, right?"
"That's a given," Mydei confirmed.
"Then we'll have no problems exploring the cave," Arcum finished firmly. "We just have to be more careful now that we don't have a get out of jail free card."
A short while passed as the trio walked through the plains, before finding the cave that Arcum had found the day prior.
Pulling out the torch he still had in his inventory, he started down the stone.
"If you see blocks like this," Arcum said, pointing to the stone. "But with black scattered about on it, mine that—that's coal we need."
Stelle took out her pickaxe, holding a torch in her other hand.
Mydei took out his pickaxe too, following behind Stelle, using her torchlight to see.
The sound of water running was heard as they ventured deeper into the cave, looking around for any ores.
"There!" Stelle abruptly shouted. "There's coal!"
Arcum looked to where Stelle was pointing, his expression becoming amused.
"That's copper."
He tilted his head, before nodding. "We should mine that. It's technically better than stone tools."
Taking out his pickaxe, Arcum went to the copper ore, mining it.
Stelle joined him, mining the copper ore as Mydei stood guard, his eyes locked onto the darkness that was deeper in the cave.
"Here you go," Stelle said, tossing the copper to Arcum. "You carry it, I don't want it."
"Yes, yes," Arcum repeated, before pushing deeper into the cave.
Heading deeper into the cave, it split into three different sections. Two going right and left respectively, and the other down the middle.
"Honestly, we could split up if you guys wanted."
"That would be faster," Mydei agreed. "I don't have light to look around, though."
"I have an extra torch," Stelle said, giving Mydei another torch.
"I thought I said for you to only keep one last night," Arcum commented.
"One fell down when I tripped the zombies over last night," Stelle sheepishly explained. "So I just picked it up and kept it in my inventory."
Arcum shook his head, but ultimately ignored it. "It's whatever. If you see something that you don't know, type something in chat. Make sure to describe it well so I can let you know about it."
"Okay," Stelle said with a grin, before dashing off deeper into the left cave, the light from her torch becoming miniscule until it was gone.
"I didn't tell her to meet back up here," Arcum sighed out. "Meet back here, alright?"
Mydei nodded, before heading in the far right cave, his torchlight also disappearing as he rounded a corner.
"Time to go in," Arcum said with a heavy voice, preparing his items incase of an emergency.
A sword and axe, spare blocks, and the stack of zombie corpses for shields and disposable fuel.
"Let's hope I don't die!"