Chapter 7 - Silver Star

[Eleventh Month, Tenth Day, 4E 1894]

Rowan got up early this morning. He made sure to eat a filling meal, and slipped a small loaf of stale bread into a small pouch, as well as a small wooden bottle with a cork on top.

After filling the pouch with some small items, food, and water, he was almost ready.

This trip shouldn't' take that long, and he should be able to even make it back by night time.

He grabbed a much larger burlap sack and put it on his back. It was empty, and was going to be used to carry the wood. Silver Star Trees aren't that big.

With the small pouch on his left hip, and the hatchet on his right, he was ready to set out.

There was still some fog out this early in the morning, which he was fine with.

Rowan set out in a slow jog towards the southeast edge of the island. With his above average body, he was able to keep a decent pace without getting too tired.

It was a bit over an hour later before he reached the edge of the island. At about 200 yards (180m) away through shallow waters, there was another island. A bit smaller than the current one he was on, but an island nevertheless.

"Here we go." He mumbled before slowly wading into the water. He was holding the small sack with his food in it in his left hand up high so it didn't get soaked.

He was able to slowly walk to almost the midpoint where he had to swim for a bit.

Before long, he was able to start walking again.

He slipped the small sack back onto his hip as he walked towards the middle of the island, but a bit more to the southern side.

This island was mostly sand and rock, but there were much more weeds and bushes here.

Rowan had the iron hatchet in hand and at the ready.

People rarely came over to this place, and it was mainly for gathering along the edges.

After he was in the bushes, he slowly crouched down and got his skills and abilities activated.

[Stealth Lv. 2], [Nature Camouflage Lv. 2], and [Prowling Lv. 2].

With these activated, he was able to quickly slip in and out between the dried weeds.

His main target was the tree, but he was also wanting a target to test out [Ambush Lv. 1] which he hadn't been able to use yet.

It was about half an hour later before he found a lizard perched on a rock, sunbathing. It seemed to look like an iguana, but he was still planning on being careful.

He strafed around the lizard and got behind it, before he activated his ability.

[Ambush Lv. 1]

Once he triggered it, his body tensed for a mere moment before dashing nearly silently through the weeds and leaping a bit into the air, pulling the hatchet back, and giving a sharp swing towards the lizard's throat.

It never saw it coming, and was beheaded in that one moment.

"That was simpler than I was expecting!" Rowan said with amazement. He was expecting to be seen, or the lizard to react. But when he thought of the 4 skills and abilities being activated just to kill a regular creature, he could understand it a bit more.

He shook his head a little before continuing his journey. He only saw a few creatures along his trip, but they were all regular creatures. There was nothing special between them, and it wouldn't take any effort for him to finish off these small creatures.

The island was not big enough for anything larger than snakes, lizards, or other small animals like that to survive.

The lack of mana here severely limited the growth potential of them too. If he hadn't known about the various monsters and beasts in the rest of the world, then he would believe that this was just a medieval world without anything special.

As he walked around the south side of the of the center of the island, he saw a large outcropping of rocks.

He quickly jogged towards it and around the rocks, until he was able to take a look in. There stood a 10 yard (9m) tall tree. It stood straight and narrow, that Rowan was sure he could wrap both of his hands around the thickest part. There were a few narrow spindly branches near the top with small silver leaves.

But one thing on the tree did draw his attention. Well, two things.

Silver Star Fruits.

They were about the size of a palm (not including fingers) and were shaped like 5 pointed stars. They edges were rounded, give it a small bulging look. The fruits were mainly a light yellow, but had a silver luster on their skin.

After looking at the tree, he couldn't help but slowly grow a large smile. His eyes then darted around the area. He knew that if there was a Grade 1 creature on the island, it would be near this tree.

He slowly slipped into a bush, and slowly blended into the weeds around him. He picked up a small rock, and threw it at the tree.

There was nothing for the first few moments, but then he saw something. From behind the tree, and seemingly under it, a snake slowly slithered out.

'Damn it! Snakes again!' He couldn't help but shout in his mind.

The snake was a light tan, or atleast, it was originally. Some of the scales on it were forming a silver luster.

Rowan looked at it and couldn't help but frown. He couldn't tell if it was a Grade 1 creature, or if it was in the process of reaching it.

He slowly reached down and grabbed another small rock before tossing it into another bush near him, but a little bit away.

That sound of the something moving in the grass caught the snake's attention, and it aggressively moved over towards it.

'It seems confident in itself. Not surprising if it's the strongest thing on the island.' He thought.

Right when the snake was close, he activated [Prowling] to start moving, then rapidly activated [Ambush].

He pushed off the ground under him, rustling the weeds he had been sitting in. A normal creature wouldn't have noticed, but this snake was no longer a regular Grade 0.

Rowan was able to get close enough to take a swing at the snake, and the hatchet cut into its body near its head.

It was a strike that made the snake bleed, but the snake had managed to keep its life by avoiding the full brunt of the ambush.

Rowan couldn't help but click his teeth as he looked at it and readied his hatchet. "Come on you damn snake. I need a new wallet." He muttered.

Rowan watched as the snake reared back a little before striking towards him. He quickly moved to the side and took another swing towards the snake that completely missed it. He hadn't practiced hitting moving targets before.

"Come on! You're not so tough!" He shouted at the snake.

It hissed at him before going to strike his leg again.

Rowan took another swing, but a more accurate one this time. It chopped into the neck, and blood quickly spurted out.

Rowan jumped back a little bit to stay away from the snake, and double checked the surroundings.

He watched the snake thrash around a bit as it quickly began to bleed out, but he still didn't take the initiative to move in. He had heard that back on Earth, some snakes could still instinctively try and lash out and bite when on the brink of death, and even when dead sometimes.

Rowan had no interest in getting bit by that snake. He didn't know if it had any venom or not.

He stood back and waited a couple minutes before throwing a couple rocks at the snake, but didn't get any reaction. He then slowly moved closer, and carefully chopped the head off the snake, before moving away from the head.

Call him cautious if you want, but he isn't testing his luck today.

After he head the body of the snake, he kept true to his word, and skinned the snake with the sharp edge of his hatchet.

"It might not be a wallet to me, but I can probably hold onto it and sell it in Farway Town." He spoke.

After taking the snake skin and slipping it into his pouch after he made sure there wasn't blood on it, he moved towards the tree.

He first checked under the tree behind it, and sure enough saw a burrow. On closer inspection, he could see some tree roots that look like they had been gnawed on.

He let out a soft sigh before turning to the tree fully.

The first order of business was to get those fruits down. After two big jumps, he managed to snag both of the Silver Star Fruits and put them in his pouch.

"Now for this beauty." He said while running his hand along the tree.

He started chopping right at the base with his hatchet. The hatchet was met with a decent amount of resistance from the tree, which wasn't surprising considering it was a Grade 1 tree. After working at it for a couple minutes, the tree was eventually toppled over.

He first started to carefully remove the branches as close to the trunk as he could.

With the branches off, with the leaves still on the branches, he worked on the main body of the tree. He started from the bottom and carefully chopped the tree into 1-yard-long chunks that he could fit into his large burlap sack and carry. It took nearly half an hour just to cut it into the necessary portions.

If he didn't have this hatchet, he didn't know what he would do.

After packing up the Silver Star Wood, he put the branches in too.

He wanted to see if he could grow a tree just from the branch.

It was an actual thing.

Taking a cutting from a tree, like a branch or twig, and with enough water to make the branch or twig start to form a root, it could be planted.

That was, of course, depending on various factors. Like the water, soil, temperature, sun, all sorts of stuff. But that was for regular trees.

This is a Grade 1 tree that has an innate connection to starlight, and feeds and grows off of it. He didn't know if the tree would really grow somewhere else, but he wanted to try.

After everything was stored away, he finally took a break to eat up the bread he brought, and to drink down his clean water.

While he rested there, he decided to check the wood.

[Wood Inspection Lv. 2]

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Silver Star Tree (Grade 1): A tree that grows off of starlight. All parts of the tree can give affinities for the night and for stars.

Best uses: For small trinkets and items due to its narrow size.

-----

The skill gave him information on the tree, but it mainly focused on the wood when it mentioned uses. He knew that the leaves and the fruits would have their own purposes, but that would need something like a potion maker or alchemist or something along those lines to get their full use.

But Rowan did know that the fruit could be eaten raw.

How could he not want to eat a magical fruit? It was a magical fruit in the shape of a star! How badass was that? There were even two after all.

"Maybe later. I better get going now though." He mumbled softly while looking up into the sky. It was already getting late in the afternoon.

He picked his items up and slowly jogged back home, with loot in hand.

His mind was already being filled with ideas on the stuff he would be making, that he couldn't help but run a little faster.

When he reached the edge of the water, he took the time to gently rinse the snake skin to make sure that it was decently clean.

And just like before, he held his small pouch above the water while he swam. He didn't want to soak the fruits. Or what would happen if their scent/taste spread through the water? He didn't want to find out.

While the sun was finally setting, and the fog was covering the town once again, he slowly jogged back to his home while hiding in the fog.