"I found water. As expected, it's frozen because of the cold temperature and all these clouds. However, I won't make the mistake of thinking the water is safe to approach."
Lucian picked up a rock and threw it at the water's surface.
A jaw immediately surfaced, swallowing the rock Lucian threw along with the broken ice. And just as quickly, it disappeared below the water's surface.
"Looks like I was right not to trust these waters. I would have lost a limb for sure if I approached it."
Once it was confirmed that this place was not safe to take any water from, Lucian decided to travel down the river.
His goal was to find a spot that was isolated enough to not attract predators or have much danger in the water. He did not want to waste precious energy on matters he could avoid by just paying attention and spending a little more time searching.
Finally, after a full day's search, he found his perfect spot — a small valley with barely enough space for water to flow inside.
Technically speaking, a valley was not a good place for Lucian to make his current base.
Not only did it have a narrow space inside, but it also had only one small opening to escape from. It was a bad strategic choice.
But Lucian had a few reasons for choosing it.
"Perfect. This space is just wide enough to start a small farm. A large tree should be enough to hide me from the top and make it seem like there is only snow down here. The only problem down here is sunlight, but it's a small enough matter for the future me."
Moreover, the chances of larger predators coming to such a narrow space with hardly any promise of food were rare.
"Still, to be sure I am completely safe, I should plant some guarding crops as well. Luckily, seeds do not consume nearly as much space in the inventory as food or other resources did."
In one of the earlier worlds, Lucian had learned the importance of growing his own food. He had been stranded on a deserted island, and his mission had been to become the overlord of the island.
Along with that, he was also to act as a minor villain for the hero of that world. And it had been one of the more difficult worlds he had lived through.
Many of the skills he had learned during his time in that world were coming in use now.
His small body had no problem dragging itself through the pile of snow that came up to his chest. But it was going to be a problem if he was going to stay in the valley for a long time.
"I should get started on cleaning up this place. Thankfully, the slope of this valley flows outside so water will not clog here once the snow melts. But I should take precautions before I do anything."
Lucian spoke aloud.
It was a tactic to keep himself busy as well as warn any creature he was coming.
That way, if there was a beast in here, they would be alerted and make some noise beforehand.
It was infinitely better than Lucian accidentally stepping on them and getting attacked.
Once inside the valley, Lucian dragged himself to the spot that looked to be the highest and made a two-foot circle to put. The circle was set up with fire and some food as well.
It was likely that Lucian would not have any energy left once he cleared out the snow. But it wouldn't be safe for him to wait around either.
So, the only solution left? — prepare something to refill his energy and use that energy to form some kind of protection for himself.
It took his small body about an hour to do that, but only because he needed to save his mana for the more important task.
Once he was ready, he decided that it was time to start clearing out the valley.
"Alright, system, I am ready. Use my mana to cast the most powerful spell to duplicate the ice-melting solution I prepared."
Lucian picked up the small container in which he had mixed a small amount of vinegar from his inventory, as well as fresh water.
He threw it out of the container before he used magic to increase its volume until it flooded the ground around him, and the ice melted.
"Using salt would be so much easier… but it would damage the soil too much. I guess this is the best I can muster for now."
The vinegar water flowed out of the valley and took the ice with it. It continued until the concentration of vinegar in water was diluted enough to matter no longer. But Lucian's work was already done by now.
Eating the food he had prepared beforehand, Lucian let out a sigh of relief and took out some seeds from his inventory.
"Let's get the fence first."
The newly revealed fresh soil was hard to dig into, but Lucian already anticipated that happening and forced the stick deep using his mana. Once he had a large and deep enough hole, he pushed the seed inside and used his mana to grow the security fence.
"Now that it's done, it's time to spend most of my magic on the big thing. Thankfully, I have the perfect tree to plant on such an occasion."
Lucian took out a golden seed.
It was a special seed that did not belong to any world. It belonged to the world tree of that world, and Lucian had acted as a villain in that world with the target of stealing the world tree's seed.
Of course, his mission had been to be defeated by the heroes of that world, but Lucian had managed to smuggle a few seeds before his demise.
"Before I plant it, I should make sure it's safe to plant here. System?"
Lucian asked the system, just in case he might be making a huge mistake.
[Checking perimeters. Situation analysis formation]
[It's safe to plant this species of tree.]
With the approval in his hand, Lucian planted the seed right in the center of the valley and poured his mana into it.
A huge tree immediately sprouted from it. And soon, the canopy covered the clearing and protected Lucian from any danger above.