And so, with a clear goal in mind, life simply progressed for Lyra in her little secluded part of the world. She went about her days, walking her lands, picking fruits and berries, and making simple tools for her home. Every night before bed, she'd spend her mana on the "Creation: Mana" spell, leaving a little bit of mana to remain as a backup. Following is a summary of the years as they came and fly by.
Year 1:
The first year, she realized the winters were very mild. The lowest temperature she ever recognized were around 10 degrees celsius. On the contrary, the highest she experienced during the height of summer was around 35 degrees. Rainfall was also a regular occurrence throughout the year, which led her to believe she was likely rather close to the equator, but in a higher elevation. Given she could see snow-capped mountains, this did not seem that much of a stretch. Fruits, berries and other forest foods could thus grow and replenish year round, which made her feel far more food secure than before.
Early on during the year, she had spent a bit of mana on a "Creation: Fishing Rod" spell, and that had been such a nice investment. About three times a week, she'd go fishing from the shores of the lake, and reel in a nice fish for dinner. She had never paid much attention to fishing in her past life, so she didn't know the names, but she knew there were at least 4 different kinds of big fish in the lake, and all of them seemed edible. So her diet consisted of Fish, Fruits and Berries, Mushrooms and root-vegetables. She collected a lot of wild-potatoes during her first year, and planted them in a field she prepared behind her cottage.
She also got around to making a wooden door for her cottage, and added an indoor fireplace with a chimney, so she could cook indoors if the weather was bad outside.
Year 2:
The second year she spent making quality of life improvements to her living situation. Having grown tired of eating sitting down out in the grass, she went foraging for fallen trees in the nearby forest, and then spent about a month cutting the timber into wooden planks using magic, and then joining these together into a bench and a table. Not only did she earn herself some furniture, but she also practiced her magic-control, which was a bonus.
Feeling more confident in her skills, she then went around making a few wooden bowls and plates, as well as forks and spoons. A sharp metal knife she ended up having to create using "Creation: Knife" however, but that too was also a worthwhile investment of mana. She also had to spend some of her reserve mana on "Creation: Pot", to make a metal pot for stews and proper cooking. Until then, she had just put the fish and potatoes on sticks over the fire, but now that she had a table, bowls and eating utensils, she had started to miss proper food. And so, with a metal bowl and a knife, she could actually boil stews, and just the fact that she could sit under her roof at night, a fire burning in the indoor fireplace, and eat a nice fish stew by her table, looking out at the rain as it fell over the meadow, it was heaven.
Year 3:
The third year, she built a small dock and a boat by the lake. She had been swimming in the lake for years now, and fished from the shores, so she was confident there wasn't anything dangerous in the water. Besides, the lake wasn't that big, only about a kilometer wide and a kilometer tall, so it shouldn't logically contain any large beasts.
Now that she had a boat, she could fish a bit more reliably in other areas of the lake as well, which was an improvement. It was also a lot of fun, rowing and exploring the lake. Still, she didn't want to over-fish, so she stuck to her 3-4 fish a week quota, just to be safe.
It was during this year that she discovered wild strawberries growing in the forest next to a natural ditch. This discovery led her to moving some of these plants to the area behind her cottage where she grew her potatoes. Many months were then spent expanding the field behind her cottage, and finding different edible plants and moving them to behind her cottage, creating her own little vegetable patch. As the year drew to a close, she had a large potato field, but also a strawberry field, lettuce field, and a collection of raspberry bushes. She had left the original places where she had found these items intact, only moving perhaps a half of the plants, so should she fail at growing these vegetables and berries, they would recover on their own in their original location.
Year 4:
The year started with her building a small wooden shed by hand, along with a few simple wooden and stone tools needed for vegetable gardening. Things grew incredible well here in this soil, likely because it was a "Spirit Sanctuary", but by now she had more potatoes than she knew what to even do with. So after the wooden shed, she made a small root cellar using magic, close to the river. There, she began storing the harvested potatoes on small shelves in dark, which seemed to preserve them well enough.
At this point her clothes were in quite bad shape. She had started off with a simple linen skirt and a top as her single items of clothing, and this had not changed. Her routine so far had been to strip to the nude and wash the clothes during midday, and then hanging them to dry from the sun on a tree branch as she washed herself. She'd then walk around naked in the sun for an hour or two, until her clothes were dry. Then she would do less taxing work in the afternoon and evening, to then go to sleep after dinner come dark. Come morning, she'd do the more physical jobs, getting dirty in the process, only to repeat her process of washing her clothes and bathing during mid-day.
She lived alone, and the climate was warm, so she entertained the idea of just not using clothes at all, but during the mild winter months she needed at least some clothes over her privates to stay warm. Similarly, during the summer, she had felt her current clothes were rather lacking in protecting her from the sun. So, for about a week, she spent her 100 mana reserves each evening on a few spells to create more clothes for herself.
Which also resulted in her having to make a little wooden wardrobe for herself in the cottage. As the year drew to a close, she had a selection of 3 upper body-wear, being her top from before, but also a simple shirt and a sweater. She also had her skirt, but now also a pair of shorts and a proper, thick kilt for winter. Still no shoes, as she had gotten used to walking around barefoot. It just felt natural and right.
Year 5:
She started the year by building a small wooden platform at the top of the tallest tree she could find within her Spirit Sanctuary. A little watch-tower, from where she could look out far, even beyond her sanctuary. This was also the year she had passed 1200 mana, so she knew she ought to start gathering information on the outside world. Still, even though she spent hours up in the watch-tower, she never saw any sign of civilization. No smoke rising from anywhere.
That is not to say her watchtower was useless, not by a long shot. She learned the main river going from the lake, past her meadow and further south, continued far beyond her lands. So in the future, she could perhaps travel up and down the river, seeing she didn't have a map, that would help her not get lost. One afternoon sitting up on the tree, she also saw something huge moving through the thick forest just outside the border of her sanctuary. The trees shifted and moved as something massive moved in the thickets, which made her feel ever more thankful for her safe sanctuary.
Having increased her mana, she also began to notice the spirits of the land. She started seeing them sometime after she passed 1000 mana, which she assumed was some kind of threshold. The spirits were small, glowing orb-like things, and they seemed to permeate across her land. They were what kept the lands fertile, and which warded off evil from her lands. They didn't respond to anything she did however, not yet anyways, and seemed capable of passing through solid matter. Which made sense, seeing they were spirits after all.
Her vegetable garden had grown, and the patch of land she had for growing foods were now five times the size of her cottage. It was a cozy, calm life. This was also the year she invested some mana into "Creation: Hammock" and "Creation: Rocking Chair". Now, these were game-changers when it came to lounging around, especially during summer. She could rest for hours, gently swaying in the hammock under the shade of two nearby trees.
She realized it had been over 5 years since she had met another person, but oddly enough, she did not mind it at all. Perhaps because she was now an elf, but five years did not seem like a long amount of time at all. Technically, she was 22 years old this year, but her body had not changed at all over these past five years. Which wasn't strange, seeing she was supposedly going to live for many thousands of years. She did wonder how her classmates were doing, from time to time. They were heroes now, living in the Holy Kingdom of... what had been the name? Demuria?
She had never been particularly close to them, but still, she was curious as to what their lives were like. Maybe some of them had reached a high level by now? Maybe some had gotten married. Maybe some had even died! Well, it was pointless to worry about that, in the end.
Year 6:
The following year, she expanded her cottage, and finally added proper windows made from glass. They were expensive to create, costing 300 mana a piece, which slowed down her Mana-Creation plan for about a week, but it was worth it. Now that she had proper windows made of glass, and three rooms in her cottage, it actually felt like a real home. Wooden floors, a bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room. Still no running water or toilet inside, but she made a simple outhouse and composting toilet outside. You'd think she would have made this already year one, but she had been fine doing the deed outside as nature had intended. And with the river nearby for simple washing, she never worried about hygiene.
She had gotten really good at cooking using the foods she had available. Mostly, it was either vegetable stew with a piece of fruit on the side, or a fish stew, with a piece of fruit on the side. Perhaps not that varied, but she liked it. However, she did miss dairy products like milk, cheese and butter. At the same time though, she did not have the energy to raise and look after animals. She wasn't even sure if this world had chicken and cows to begin with, but she hoped there was something similar. Scrambled eggs and bacons was something she missed desperately. Which was how, year six, she made the discovery that she could just create food using her "Magic Creation" skill.
Shocking she had not made this realization until now, but in her defense she had been trying not to use her mana for such things as she needed to be self-sufficient without her magic. But, one morning she made "Creation: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon", a spell which cost 50 mana, giving her a single portion of scrambled eggs and bacon. The joy she felt when she took the first spoonful is frankly indescribable. Like a child getting to open your Christmas presents on the 25th of December, she was giggling madly throughout the entire meal.
She realized she could recreate most things, using her "Magic Creation" ability, but decided to not rely on it too heavily. But, once a week, she would spoil herself with a nice conjured meal. Now, some might wonder if food conjured from magic are zero-calorie and hold any nutritional value at all. Turns out, it is just food. Real food. Not that she had to watch her figure to the point she had to count calories, but it was also a good discovery to know she could create her own food. Truly, "Magic Creation" was extremely OP.
Year 7:
This was the year she reached 2500 mana, which was the milestone she had set for herself. At first, she had thought it would take ten years, but the amount of mana she could permanently create was growing exponentially. At this point, she could make 2.5 mana a day if she wanted to, which meant she could make 250 in a 100 days. In a year, she'd make almost 800 mana.
So, she was starting to gain enough confident to venture out from her sanctuary. But not just yet. She spent months, preparing. She caught a bit more fish, and learned how to dry the fish fillets in the sun, to preserve them as traveling rations. She also dried slices of fruits, and gathered nuts. Months were also spent, practicing her magic, and making new spells. She made a "Mana-Barrier" spell, which would shield her from any and all damage so long as she had mana, consuming 1 mana for each point of dmg. She also made an "Invisibility" spell, in case she had to escape or remain undetected.
In case she might run into people, she also created a woolen cloak with a hood, so she could look more inconspicuous. And so, year seven drew to a close...