The Infinite Bk. 01 Ch. 02

Civilization

The rising sun shining in his eyes awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a deep sleep, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his first dawn in this new world. He and Tin were lying on a pile of pine boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the canvas wagon cover, which they were using as both a tarp and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for warmth, and out of affection. The term "freed slave" fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to remain his slave anyway.

As he started moving around, she slowly stirred. "Master?" she murmured.

"Time to get up, we have work to do."

It was a chilly morning, so the first thing Noah did was build up a fire while Tin collected their clothes from the waterfall. They had been set under the spray to be washed, and after a night under the pounding water, they were clean as could be responsibly expected. They were hung up to dry around the fire, while Noah and Tin had breakfast. Last night, Noah had made some cups and bowls using the clay that Tin gathered and left them in the fire to bake overnight. Now, he was using them to boil water and make pine needle tea.

"What do you want to do, Master? I can lead you to town if you like."

"How long would it take to get there?"

"Another two or three days."

Noah weighed his options. This wasn't an optimal situation. "No, we'll stay here for another day. We have a defendable position here, but if we return to the road, we'll be like sitting ducks. While I have faith in my fighting abilities, I can't defend myself, you, and the horses. Let's try to improve our chances before we set out."

"What should we do?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rocks in the dark, I think I might have seen some slimes moving about. They're usually small, right? Not big like the ones I killed yesterday?"

Tin nodded. "They're usually the size of rats."

"Perfect. First, what we're going to do is make a lot of lye."

"What's lye?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to make that soap last night. It's a very nasty chemical. I'm going to start gathering wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the basin and refill it. Rain water would be best, but river water will have to do. Then take the stones and put them back in the fire. You remember what to do if something attacks?"

"Throw horse dung and holler for you?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the forest. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch, oak, and maple trees. He moved cautiously, hearing movement all around him. He also returned to certain areas he had visited before, with prey on his mind. He came across a spot he had just yesterday done his best to avoid. There was spider silk on the ground, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a large stick on his foot and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the stick over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider burst out to seize what it thought was its meal. The thing was huge, almost five feet in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its eyes and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could duck back into its hole, he shot another arrow, this one drilling through its skull and ending its life. While it was still fresh, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second arrow, and thrust his fingers into the hole. He stirred his fingers around in the spider's brain, causing its legs, now curled up into a fist, to start spasming. While not familiar with spider anatomy specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"Come on, where are you... Ah!" He found the magic spot, as the whole body convulsed and the abdomen started expelling silk at a frantic rate, like he was squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Het got to his feet and dragged the spider with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He had come up with this idea on a whim and was overjoyed to see it work. When flow of silk stopped, he removed his fingers. "That's right, ladies, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing dirt into the silk like he had with the animal fat he had collected the previous day, something to keep it from sticking to anything. It was good thick line, and strong as well. Next, he started gathering up the older, thinner webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was ready to be collected.

He returned to the camp, carrying the spider with him as well. He was sure he could think up something to do with his corpse, maybe use it like a scarecrow to ward off goblins or something. When he arrived, Tin had completed her task and stared in amazement at the dead spider.

Noah walked over to the wagon and pulled out a small wooden barrel. It had originally been filled with salt, which the slave traders used to preserve their food, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jars. He then hung the spider to drain its blood into the barrel. There wasn't much, and it had begun to congeal immediately after death, but that just made it sticky like syrup. He swirled it around the inside of the barrel, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the used ashes from the birch fires yesterday. He didn't touch the ashes with his hands, and upon closing the barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the inside of the barrel was coated with thick layer of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot stones from the fire and putting them into the basin, bringing the water to a boil. Then, he started shoveling birch ashes until it filled up half the basin. For the next half hour, Noah would swap out stones, making sure the water was always boiling. Soon a film began to settle on top of the water. It was liquid lye, rising from the ashes. Noah harvested it from the surface, careful not to touch it, and put it in the skillet on the fire to boil away the moisture.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get more firewood. I want you to keep swapping out the stones so that the water stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathers on the surface, skim it and put it in the skillet. Whatever you do, do not let it touch you. The waterfall and the river are keeping the air moving in one direction. You want to stay upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the fumes. You got that?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the entire morning and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch wood, and once the basin stopped producing lye, they would swap in fresh ashes and resume harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more pottery with the river clay and baked it in the fire. The skillet was routinely filled with the lye mixture, and once the water evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his clay jars. It was the middle of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to test it." With his knife, he collected a small bump and put it on his arm. He could feel it burning his skin like an aching sunburn. Had he taken his time with this, it would have been burning a crater into his skin, but in this case, quantity was better than quality.

"Yeah, this will work well. You did good," he said, rubbing the top of Tin's head.

"Thank you, Master," she replied with what he assumed to be a rare smile.

"Let's eat some lunch and then move on to the next step."

They moved away from the fire, sick of its heat, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on touch jerky, Noah studied the horses. They weren't tied to any trees, at least not now, and were wandering around the campsite, nibbling on whatever they liked. The trip wire was doing a good job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of food by tomorrow. They'd have to move on by then.

"Master, if my may ask, how do you know how to do these things? I've never seen anyone fight like you do, at least not someone your age, and you have the skills of an alchemist. What kind of training have you done?"

"An alchemist? I kind of like the sound of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of life experience. I've lived through good times and bad. I'll tell you more some other time. Anyway, we should move on to the next stage. I'm going to go along the river and catch small slimes. I want you to find the corpses of the big slimes I killed yesterday and try to collect their skin."

Tin was obedient, not speaking any of her doubts and instead setting off to do as her master ordered. Noah retrieved the barrel he had tinkered with earlier and filled it with water, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his knees, and there were plenty of large boulders for slimes to hide by. On his hands, he wore some rough leather gloves that one of the slave traders had been wearing. The slimes he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with great care, he'd pick them up and put them in the barrel.

The water in the barrel, thanks to the ash, had a raised pH level. The slimes were acidic, but their pH level wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the water and the ashes kept them from melting through the sides of the barrel. He also tossed in some food to keep them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be able to digest it. If they were all still alive by the next morning, his plan was a success.

When he returned to the camp, Tin had gathered up the skins of the dead slimes from the day before.

"I'm sorry, Master, but the skins are too fragile for any kind of use." Noah put down the barrel and examined the shed skin. It was crinkly and soft, a far cry from any kind of leather, more like a snake's shed skin.

"No, they're perfect, just what I wanted." He handed her one of the daggers the slave traders had carried. "Here, start carving them up into squares, about as long as your hand. You know how big, right?"

She nodded and went to work. While she did that, Noah collected more long hair from the horses. He took the squares that Tin cut up and used them to wrap up small piles of lye, then tied them shut with the horse hair. The slime skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its characteristics. Slimes were like living acid, so they had to be able to control their pH level. Their skin not only kept their guts in, it kept basic substances out, substances like lye, making it perfect for holding it.

With their combined efforts, they were able to create just over thirty lye packs, plus another twenty filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's test one of these out." Noah took one of the extra squares, filled it with ashes, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby boulder. The slime skin held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a hard surface, it burst open and sprayed its contents in all directions. "Perfect!"

"So we're going to throw these things?" Tin asked.

"That's right. This lye isn't very strong, so it doesn't do much to skin, but if it gets into your eyes or you breathe it in, you'll go down. All we have to do it hit our enemies in the face and they won't stand a chance.

Now, I know we're both tired, but we still have a few hours of daylight left. Let's work on a couple other ways to improve our situation, and tomorrow, we'll head for the nearest town."

--------

They departed the next morning at dawn, wanting to get an early start. They were traveling at a faster pace than before, mainly because there were no longer slaves in tow. The two horses the traders had ridden were no longer walking alongside the wagon, but were now helping to pull it. With the spider silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create extra harnesses so that they were leading. The horses moved in a steady trot, nothing compared to the cars from Noah's previous lives, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

For Noah, this was a scene he was familiar in. He had fought in numerous wars and seen countless post-apocalyptic worlds, living through one anarchic hellscape after another. He was familiar with the need to grow eyes in the back of his head, to expect enemies at all times.

"Master!" Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the side were a pack of wolves, each one almost as large as the horses pulling the wagon, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the horses into a full gallop. He took out his bow and began launching arrows. Most of these arrows, he had made himself. He had to rush them, so they weren't his best work, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wolves dodged the arrows as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the rear. Noah climbed into the wagon and stared them down through the open back. Changing their attack angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd catch up in seconds and flank them. Noah tossed a bundle of branches and greens out of the back of the wagon, but they were more than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny bushes and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the wagon, and the wolves that stepped on it cried out as their paws were spiked with sharp seed pods. Those who were injured gave up the chase, while the rest of the pack learned and split up to avoid the net.

Before they could leave his view, Noah opened up the barrel of slimes and began throwing them. Even if the small beasts didn't make a direct hit, they exploded like water balloons. The acid splashed on the wolves, who instinctively knew that slimes were to be avoided. The pack realized that this prey wasn't worth all of the trouble and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them time to breathe, but it didn't end there.

Bears and other forest beasts would pop up every now and then and need to be dispatched by arrows. The tiny bolts couldn't do much damage, but the pain would make the beasts reevaluate whether or not to continue attacking. Any monsters he managed to kill, he would harvest for parts. With Tin controlling the horses, he would work in the wagon, removing skin, teeth, organs, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could collect medicinal plants and mushrooms. But the more he fought, the more Noah realized how unprepared his body was for all this. He was healthy and strong, and had lifetimes of combat experience, but his hands hadn't built up a layer of calluses that a native of these lands would have. Every time he gripped his sword, he could feel blisters forming on his palm.

Then, in the afternoon, the next challenge revealed itself. In the distance, a tree lay across the road. A rider on horseback might be able to jump it, but never a wagon like this. Whether or not it had fallen naturally, Noah knew who would use this opportunity.

"Tin, stop the wagon." They came to halt a hundred yards from the tree. "Turn the horses around. If I die, ride back the way we came. Stay at the waterfall until someone uses this road and then travel with them."

"Master, are you sure about this?" she asked with her basset hound eyes.

"I've handled worse."

He got off the wagon with his sword in hand, and on his arm, a shield made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave traders' coats, the closest he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than approach the tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any goblins in hiding, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the trees. They were the size of children, but with protruding stomachs and green skin. Their ears and noses were pointed, their faces overall barely even humanoid. They were armed with swords and bows, likely stolen from slain adventurers.

He closed in on the first one, his footsteps giving him away and causing it to screech in alarm. Noah dispatched it with a swing of his sword, overpowering its attempt to parry and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the death of their comrade, turned their attention to Noah and attacked. They launched their arrows, albeit with shoddy aim, but it forced Noah to duck for cover. He pulled out one of his lye packs, focused on a goblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The small pack nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an instinctive breath in, and then immediately screamed in agony. Not only were its sinuses and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his eyes, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was nothing less than unnerving. It was like a baby crying, it racked the mind and made even Noah squeamish. The goblins, hearing those screams, became frightened. This was a cruel world, and living in the woods, every day was a bloody fight for survival. But none of them had suffered or seen someone suffer a flesh wound and make that kind of noise.

Noah gave them no time to gather their courage. He dealt with the other goblin archers the same way, leaving them howling in agony. With their long-range attacks neutralized, he closed in. The remaining goblins tried to put up a fight, but he slaughtered them with gruesome hacks and stabs. His spider shield fractured whenever he blocked a swing, but it held together long enough to kill them all. These goblins probably ambushed their prey, catching them by surprise to make up for their weak bodies, but once they lost that advantage, they were easy to dispose of.

He was closing in on the last one, slightly larger than the others and armed with a club. It growled and made a wide swing. Noah didn't try to block and stepped back out of the monster's reach, then swung down his sword and cleaved the goblin's head open. To his discomfort, blood splattered across his face and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the fuck? That fight must have taken more out of me than I thought." He pushed through the sudden weight and returned to the road. It was exhausting work, but he moved the tree out of the way. "Tin, come on through!"

The wagon approached and stopped where the tree had lain, but there was a look of confusion on Tin's face. "Master, where are you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm right here."

Confusion turned to fear, Tin beginning to panic. "Master, I can't see you anywhere!"

Noah couldn't understand. He was standing right in front of the horses. He walked over and grabbed her arm. "Tin, I'm standing right beside you."

Touching her just made her yelp in surprise. "I still can't see you! What's going on?"

That's what he would like to know. Was something affecting her vision? Maybe she had been hit with some kind of goblin attack, or it was an illness, either a disease or some kind of poison from something in the forest.

"Tin, look around. How is your vision?"

"It's fine, I can see everything clearly! But I can't see you!" Was he the problem? He could see himself just fine. Damn it, his eye was still itching from the blood. He rubbed it with his palm and Tin gave another yelp of surprise. "Master, you're back!"

"I was here all this ti—" He stopped, noticing something. His fatigue was gone. It had disappeared just as suddenly as it showed up. The last time he felt it was when he first woke up in this world. His eye... It had been itching as well. He rubbed left eye again, and Tin once again freaked out. "Tin, can you see me?"

"No, it's like you vanished into thin air!"

That fatigue, he was feeling it again. He stepped back and began kicking around leaves and dirt. "Can you see this?"

"See what?"

Well, that answered that question. For some reason, the fatigue seemed to deepen when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the look on Tin's face, she appeared to be able to see him again. "What happened to the road?" she asked. "It just suddenly changed when you reappeared."