Reborn to be a Hermit

Realization

With the help of her inch blade, it was easy to make the rough basket with vines. 

She first sharpened a small thumb sized branch into a wooden nail. Then she split the bamboo branches into perfect two and half foot pieces, and arranged them on top of one another, forming a nine pointed star. 

She made a small hole on top of the nail, and inserted a small branch through it so her nine branches wouldn't move. 

Then she started threading the vines through the branches circularly, like a spider weaving her web. Half way through, she combined two branches into one to create that basket structure. In the end, she threaded the last vine through all the branch ends to close it. 

In the end what appeared in front of her was a rough tote bag style basket, which may not hold fine stuff, but could carry plenty of rough things. In the end, she trimmed off the wooden dowel she used for the center, and placed a rough bamboo chip on top of that, so that pointy end won't hurt anyone. 

Her basket ready, she moved it to the next branch, tied it with a vine to the tree. She tied herself to the tree with a vine rope, ensured she wouldn't fall off, then she closed her eyes to sleep. 

She woke up to the chittering of the birds in the early dawn. 

‘ Animal safety check successful.’ Rina automatically noted in her head. 

She jumped off the tree lightly, with the basket on her back. She got down in no time. 

Then, she started her trek towards the lime rock mountain. 

Most villages have no choice but to buy lime rock from a vendor. However, their village is lucky enough to have a cave which has lime rock in it. Some of the villagers, when they don’t have enough to eat in slack season, mine the rocks to sell in nearby towns. 

Today, she went to get some lime, at the same time, test the effect of her blade. 

‘ cuts through anything ‘ is what her blade says. 

Then could she cut through iron ore ? 

Could she cut through mythril ore ? 

Could she cut through dragon glass ? 

She has to establish a standard. 

As soon as she inserted her blade into the rock, the disposition of the rock was displayed in her mind far too clearly. 

Gods ! 

Is this the space crafting perception? 

This is an otherworldly skill for a craftsman ! 

… 

..

.

And a totally useless skill for a soldier or a noble lady. 

For the first time, Rina felt anger at the system. She used to think she was fine with it, after all, her skill was useless. 

However, look at this ! 

Her skill was ever so useful, if only she was to live as a simple villager, but it was useless to a noble lady. 

Had she had this skill in her previous life, she needn’t have worked so many odd jobs. She could have simply worked as a stone mason or a brick carver, which still would have earned her enough money for her living, despite being a low pay job. 

She wouldn’t have to get stuffed into a bed in a city just because she couldn’t afford an independent room. 

Yes, she knows she is being angry for petty things, but for most people, it’s the petty things that make life. 

Before, she wasn’t quite sure why she was reborn at all. Now, she had an epiphany. She was reborn so she could save as many people from the system as she could. 

The world was going to plunge into a war anyhow. 

She is not a heroine, she doesn’t have that sort of savior complex. 

She would save as many as she could, especially those who did not deserve to be used and thrown aside. 

As she was thinking all these things, Rina continued to shave off the bed rock. 

Unbeknownst to her, in a distant monitor, the messages continued to show up. 

[ inch blade experience +1 ] 

[ inch blade experience +1 ] 

…

..

.

After thousands of such messages, a different message showed up. 

[ inch blade level up. ] 

[ inch blade size increases to 1.1 inch. ] 

While Rina did not see these messages, she immediately sensed the increase in the blade size. 

It was an unexpected surprise. 

‘ So this is a growing skill. ‘ she noted with delight and shock. 

All growing skills are extremely powerful. 

It’s just that they take a bit of time to upgrade in the initial stages. 

After shaving off the bed rock all around, Rina lifted up the lime clod as is, and placed it in her basket. 

Then, she bent the blade into an ‘U’ shape grater kind as she dug into space around lime rock. 

This time around, her digging was even faster. 

Before the first round of miners arrived, Rina had dug enough lime rock to fill her basket. 

“ Song Rina ! What are you doing here ? Your family is searching for you. “ The uncle who lived beside their home said with some surprise. 

Rina looked a bit surprised. 

“ But uncle, my dad threw me out of the house. So I am going to build a new one for myself. “ Rina said, pointing to the lime rock in her basket. 

“ You naughty girl ! How could a little girl like you live outside alone ? go and make up with your father. “ the uncle scolded her. 

Rina pouted in answer. 

“ Well, I will build a home first. Tell my father where I am uncle. If he comes and apologizes to me, I will go home. “ Rina said, then walked away without stopping. 

The uncle shook his head, then walked into the cave. 

Since the girl is going back, someone will see her and report to her father. 

It should be alright. 

As Rina passed through the bamboo forest, she saw more of the villagers. 

“ Song Rina! Are you not going to go home ? “ They asked curiously. 

Rina had never been much of a talker, and when she was asked something, she almost always answered honestly. She missed the sarcasm in the words of those aunties. 

“ No, Aunty. I am going to make a house for myself. “ She answered. 

“ Build a house ! HA! HA HA ! HA HA! “ the aunt laughed, holding her stomach. 

Rina could understand the joke a bit, for in the village, building a house is a man’s job. Even then, it’s the job of multiple men. 

A single girl like her saying she could build a home for herself must sound like the funniest joke. After all, building a house involves a lot of manual labor, which is impossible for a girl to do alone, much less a guy. However, Rina was serious. 

After all, she has the knowledge from archives. If she did not use it to her advantage, then she is losing a lot. 

So, Rina just walked onwards. 

For now, the purpose is served. Someone will inform her parents, then, perhaps the cold war would begin. 

Meanwhile, she will just collect some bamboo to make a raft. 

She chose the fattest bamboo trees, then put a finger on the stem, just crossed it two ways. 

The bamboo tree is felled. 

It’s almost addicting. 

Only, the number of people was increasing, and Rina did not want any unnecessary audience. 

So, she lugged the lime and bamboo poles to Edam’s house. 

By the time she reached there, her tummy was rumbling with hunger. 

Fortunately, she saved some of that fox meat in the night in her space. Just the size of a fist, but enough to make meat porridge. 

Edam was happy to do that for her. 

While he cooked, Rina made a raft to enter the pond with. While the fish are not a problem, Rina was not quite sure reeds will not be a problem. So, it’s best to do their harvest with the raft rather than on their feet. 

About the time she finished, Edam was also finished with the porridge. 

It was barely enough to sate her hunger, but Rina was happy. 

They need to work fast if they want to harvest the reed. 

Rina put the bamboo raft on the water. Then, with a bamboo pole, she pushed herself forward. 

She put her finger just below the water level, sliced the reed. 

The moment the reed was cut, the fish rushed to the cut surface, digging into the reed.

Rina did not hold the cut reeds, but just let their ends fall into the pond. 

Anyway, processing elephant reed needs fish to eat away at its flesh, leaving just the stubborn fibers. 

Gnawer fish are best at doing this. 

She suddenly stopped what she was doing as she remembered she would need all sorts of mushrooms by the time she was done. 

She turned on the raft to see Edam watching her work. 

“ Edam ! Do me a favor. Go to the forest, and collect a few mushrooms of each type. There’s no need to distinguish between one another, all of them will do. “ Rina said. 

Edam nodded, then left with another basket. 

He is knowledgeable about mushrooms. His mother was a herbalist.