Making Writing Tools

The moment I checked the newly added job in my status window, I snapped my fingers.

“A Mapper! Perfect timing!”

At a pioneering academy, once the initial preparations—securing the foundations of daily life—are complete, exploration begins.

That means scouting locations with useful resources and conducting preliminary surveys to expand bases further.

There should also be monsters and underground labyrinths nearby, so this is where combat-class students get their chance to shine.

They accompany mappers as bodyguards during mapmaking.

In return, they receive the completed maps and use them to push exploration even further.

“I was planning to buy maps made by other students, but… No one would sell to me now, so I didn’t know what to do. But this solves everything!”

All fired up, I dashed out of the house to start mapping the surrounding area—

Then suddenly stopped.

“Oh, right. I don’t have anything to write with.”

Students who become mappers normally receive a full set of writing tools as starter equipment.

But I’m unemployed, so I didn’t get anything.

“There’s no way I can do this with nothing to write with…”

As I was worrying, something like a flyer blown by the wind stuck to my foot.

I picked it up and read it—it was a wanted-style sketch.

Just like the portrait on my Slave Ticket, it was a caricature of me drawn to look especially villainous.

Below it read:

“If this face rings a bell, run away! This student is unemployed and has no abilities, which he resents deeply, and he envies us! He uses drugs to induce hallucinations, making himself appear talented! Even more despicably, he exploits female students’ weaknesses and makes obscene demands! Numerous victims report being forced into massages and even stolen kisses!”

“Who’s spreading this kind of slander?”

But now I understood why people kept picking fights with me.

Just as I was about to tear the flyer up, I heard a distant scream.

Looking over, I saw piles of the same flyers scattered near the forest entrance.

Beyond them, a male student was being chased around by Tom the black panther.

Tom tripped him repeatedly and stomped all over him.

In the end, the guy fled back to the residential area covered in paw prints.

I put it together.

“Ahh. He was trying to plaster flyers on my fence as harassment. But Tom spotted him, chased him off, and he dropped the flyers when he ran.”

Then inspiration struck.

“Wait—that means I’ve already got paper!”

I gathered up the scattered flyers.

In no time, I had enough paper for several notebooks.

I didn’t want to see that slander again, so I closed the appraisal window without reading further.

“The scribbles ruin good paper, but the backs should be perfectly usable. Now all I need is something to write with…!”

From there, there was no hesitation.

I immediately headed back home.

“I should still have some leftover Ogrewood scraps.”

Using the Large Boar Knife, I shaved the Ogrewood timber I took from my pocket into finger-sized pieces.

I placed them into the Forest Kiln I’d made back when I was a Potter.

Then I added lit firewood and waited for a while…

True to its reputation, the Ogrewood charcoal was evenly fired, a beautiful jet black.

“It feels a little wasteful to crush this…”

I took out a Granite Clay Mortar from my coat pocket.

I’d made it as an extra when crafting the mortar I gave Akemi.

I dropped the charcoal inside and ground it up with the knife handle.

“Next, I add some leftover Granite Clay. If I remember right, the best ratio is about seven parts charcoal to three parts clay.”

With no scale, I eyeballed it, pinching off clay and mixing it in.

As I kneaded it by hand, the ochre clay was quickly swallowed by the charcoal powder, turning pitch black.

“I’ll divide this into small, even pieces… then roll them into long, round sticks.”

I was genuinely excited, crafting like a kid playing with clay.

Once I had about thirty sticks, I lined them up on a wooden board and slid them into the Forest Kiln.

My heart pounded as I waited for my first attempt’s final firing.

And then—finally!

“I-it worked!”

Not caring that my hands were pitch black, I gripped my first pencil and tried writing on the back of a flyer.

A solid black line remained on the parchment.

“Nice! Ordinary charcoal pencils don’t work well on parchment, but… This writes perfectly!”

I was like a small child given crayons for the first time, unable to sit still.

My whole body buzzed with excitement, but I held it together and moved on to the final craft.

I eagerly changed jobs to Wood Crafter.

I sliced a single slab from the remaining Gisu stump in the yard and carved it into a rectangle…

“That’s everything I need! All right—time to head out and start mapping!”

I burst out of the workshop like a rabbit with its tail on fire.

Just then, Tom came running up with a scrap of torn pants in his mouth, rubbing his forehead against my leg.

“Oh, Tom, thanks for guarding the house.”

“Pyaa!”

“Hey—want to come with me?”

“Pyaa!”

And so, together with Tom, I headed out to explore the forest.