Choosing a path

Although it was not possible to deceive the system, Dara realized for himself that this gorge somehow attracted celestial and spiritual animals.

Once they fought and died here in thousands, probably over ten thousand years. With a high degree of probability, this gorge has some kind of barrier, poison, something that scares away from it - animals, snakes, lizards, people, birds.

The gorge was not alive, apart from some plants and mosses. The bottom of the gorge was littered with bones and stones, the hearts of those heavenly and spiritual beasts. Bones and stones possessed latent energy and could enhance magical properties; they accumulated these forces in a clot of energy enclosed in a shell. Each bone and stone possessed the strength and energy of natural elements.

But Dara, couldn't determine this by eye, it is good that he had a watch that replaced his eye of the appraiser. It was possible to extract water from stones, create fire, rule the earth, fan the wind or create knife blows with them, grow a plant, or take all plants into stone.

He could use bones and stones, create new tools using the clock's ability to transform and merge objects and energies, combine them.

Dara, could discover new powers and use them to complete an as yet incomprehensible quest. Lying on his back, moving away from the pain, he thought it all over in his head.

"I think we need to make more stocks of bones and stones first, and then think about completing the quest"!

"You can't do anything without consumables!" In Dar's head, there was a long history of "Nils Holgersson" written by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf, then Niels lacked one coin, which he gave to redeem a trading city from eternal slavery.

Therefore, now he constantly carried a few coins with him, just in case. As he saw what attracted his attention, a pebble, a shell, he immediately grabbed it and hid it in his pocket. Stockiness. Like the hero of Jack London's "Love of Life", after forced hardship and hunger, he began to hide crackers everywhere.

Likewise, Dara, after the initial period of independence of Small-An, when there was a complete shortage of goods, learned to make "emergency supplies."

This experience was also useful to him 10 years ago during the era of "Covid-19". He had supplies of alcohol, hydrogen peroxide for manufacturing, and an antiseptic. There were 60 cosmetic masks, 100 respirators, gloves, dry food, mineral water. Therefore, during the quarantine period, he had everything for the first 4 months.

He didn't have to go to pharmacies and shops. Right now, he also decided to stock up on bones and stones, they could always be translated into hard currency, they could help extract strength from them to continue his life. Dara hoped, vaguely, that his powers, although temporarily sealed, would still be able to manifest themselves. He was confident that he would be able to overcome the prohibition of the system since there are higher forces that control all worlds, time, and all beings in 22 thousand worlds. The power of faith.

Dara enjoyed drinking the water that he was able to extract from the crystal, without hesitation, he created a small pond with water at the bottom of the gorge.

"I can now experiment with bones and stones, connecting them, increasing strength and decreasing"!

"Ahem, ahem, not with everyone!" The system reminded him of its existence! "

Not with everyone"?

What does it mean"? "That means, some stones are not compatible with each other, it can lead to an explosion!" The system blabbed!

"This already sounds interesting!" Dara became more interested in this phenomenon. It was possible to create hand grenades from stones in a new world, it is always good to have defense and attack means at hand!

"You can create a machine gun by shooting explosive stones!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" The system itself was not happy that it blabbed.

"You are an idiot sent into this world so that you do business and not play the fool!"

"If you do not fulfill the conditions of the quest, you will stay here for years!"

"What an idiot you got!" The system has shut down.

"Okay, I'm an idiot! But on the other hand, I do whatever I want, and not by someone else's orders "! In his head, the knowledge of all the crystals was confused. "What's the difference? I will experiment, something will work out "!

For Dara, the very process of creation was more exciting than the result of the work itself. The explorer's mind, outside the capitalist system.

Creativity is more important, although the money will not interfere. Such contradictions are in the spirit of the Central Great Asian Plains, called the Paradox. Nothing to do. All that remains is to have fun as much as possible!

"First, I'll do a lot of handicrafts, collect pebbles, and then I'll start experimenting"!

"Here I can see, eternal day, no night!"

He received not a word in reply. The Dara is used to talking to himself since childhood. It didn't seem strange to him. In the short stories, the main characters constantly had wonderful companions, but here they were not foreseen. Yes, it would be a cliché, but he did not want this, with all the fibers of his soul.

There was no slime either. Stone frog too. No mechanical golems to try to revive him with sealed power. Is it something to revive the bones? Make yourself a talking pet so you don't sound weird? But here in the gorge, there was no one, so he could seem anything, there was still no audience. Was Dara strange? Maybe he was? But who cares about that? All the same, there was nothing alive in the gorge ... Therefore, the question of the pet has disappeared by itself. The questions of the study of the gorge, the search for a way out of it became not the most important ones.

Before you start, you need to collect the materials while they are lying under your feet. Stock up on weapons, items for possible exchange. Everything in the world is not easy. It is necessary to catch those who have opportunities and not flip the beak.

That is, to use the available opportunities and not to miss them.

Dara only then thought about how to equip himself a place for a comfortable stay in a mountain valley, a gorge. Only after that, about researching and drawing up a map of the place where he was supposed to live and create, and most importantly, the way to get out of it.

"In general, this is also a cliché, once I got into a good, quiet, calm, bladeless, rich place, why leave it?" "Looking for an ass adventure"?

"I don't need anything, there are no special goals"!

"I don't want to go back to work on the farm yet, let this time in the gorge be my well-deserved rest"!

Maybe I'll acquire new skills? New knowledge? New experience? Will I be able to advance in the field of cultivation? Become richer "?

"Even if it's not so" ?! "Why should I listen to the system? Which at the end of the path will certainly try to set me up or deceive or make me a stepping stone for someone "?

"You need to go your way, trust but verify!"