Lanek looked upon his furry companions in triumph while holding his first fish in this world aloft. Indeed, it was the first fish he had ever caught without modern fishing gear and he was rightfully proud of his accomplishment. Between the fish, his newly constructed fire pit, new bed, and his companions that have provided much assistance and entertainment, Lanek’s morale was at an all time high.
He swiftly cleaned the fish next to the river, tossing the entrails and head back into the water. Lanek didn’t want to risk attracting bears or other wildlife to his camp by having fish guts right next to where he sleeps.
Whistling happily, Lanek made his way back to camp, smirking at his companions and their constant looks at his fish. “Look, this is mine. You smug bastards can just go right back to the river and get yourselves another fish. I’ll even cook them up for you if you catch them.” Kazuma proceeded to deliberately and very obviously ignore him from that point on.
Lanek laughed at the cat’s antics all the way back to camp. He started a fire in the new fire pit for the first time and started cooking his fish. As much as he wanted to multitask while the fish was cooking, he knew he had to pay attention unless he wanted a burnt meal. Thankfully, this also meant that the food was done quickly and he was able to fill his stomach.
While relaxing before getting back to work, Lanek decided to use [Identify] on his newest companion.
Sanguineus
Blood Wolf
lvl 3
The blood wolf is a creation of the Primordial of the Wild and the Void to undo the abomination created when a vampire soul and a frost wolf soul were forcibly combined and imbued into a weapon. The blood wolf retains characteristics of both souls used in its creation.
Sanguineus is highly intelligent. He is able to understand speech and grasp the concept of tactical planning. Sanguineus is the first, last, and only blood wolf that will exist due to the method of his creation and inability to reproduce.
I pretty much knew all of that already, except the part about being unable to reproduce. What’s with that level, though? Looks like the System doesn’t tell me when the furballs level up. To confirm, he took a look at Kazuma’s information, seeing that he had also leveled up and was now sitting at level 5. He tried to look at both creatures’ stats, only to find that the System would not let him see anything beyond level, description, and name. Not a problem, just figured I would give it a try.
He picked up his axe and mattock before heading back into the forest. While cutting his way through more saplings, Lanek kept his eye out for a long flat rock. He was getting a little sick of cooking with sticks and would love a suitable stone that he could use as a makeshift frying pan. However, he knew he wasn’t likely to stumble on one easily.
As he felled saplings, Sanguineus decided to help, quite possibly out of boredom. Moments after cutting down a sapling, the blood wolf would drag it back to camp while Lanek moved on. Kazuma was nowhere to be seen. Lanek shrugged, who knew what a cat did all day in the great outdoors?
The sun began to set when Lanek felt he had cut enough saplings for the time being and returned to sit next to the fire. As he settled down, he noticed Kazuma sprawled next to the cave opening sleeping. Lanek heard Sanguineus whine and direct his attention to a small pile of four fish lying next to the fire pit. They appeared to still be wet, so the cat must have caught them just a few minutes ago.
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Not one to turn down a meal after a long day of labor, Lanek merrily proceeded to clean and cook the fish. He pulled the first two cooked fish from the pit and locked eyes with an expectant mist cat.
“Ah, you didn’t eat yet, did you? Wanted to try it cooked?” Lanek asked. The cat regarded him before nodding and approaching the fire. He gave each of his animal companions a fish before turning back to the fire to wait for the rest to finish. After eating his fish, Lanek relaxed next to the flames while he divided the final fish between his friends.
He could have eaten that last fish himself, but he took great pleasure in feeling the pulses of delight and satisfaction radiating from the two animals. It triggered a pang of nostalgia as memories of doing the same with his dog and cat back home, both of which had passed in the last year. And, as always, memories of those two made him both smile and tear up.
Reflecting on his situation, he realized that despite the hardships and monsters this world had put him through, this little cave and his two companions felt more like home than his apartment had after he had lost his cat and dog. They had been the only family he had left, so once they were gone his daily life had consisted of work, sleep, and spiraling into depression. The only things he had going for him back on Earth had been a few close friends that he missed and his camping trips.
Maybe it has to do with having a real goal and tangible improvements to my life that is making me happier here rather than slaving away in a cubicle for just enough money to make ends meet? I can’t remember ever having the same feeling of accomplishment at any of my jobs as I had when I built that bed or leveled up.
With those conclusions in mind, Lanek decided that he was going to make the most of this second chance at life. To recreate himself. His first step on this path would be to make this camp into a secure enough home that he could handle whatever was thrown at him, including a harsh winter.
Daylight had long since fled, so rather than work through the night, he decided to take a look at his skills. He was surprised to see that [Woodcutting] and [Bushcraft] had leveled up to level 3. In addition, his [Weapon Proficiency: Chain Whip] skill had likewise leveled and was now at level 2.
Looking at those skills, Lanek formulated a theory as to why some skills leveled up while others scaled with attribute gain. It seemed to him that [General] and [Martial] skills were likely skills that anyone could learn regardless of class and grew through repetition and practice. This would make sense as simply leveling up and putting points into an attribute was not going to miraculously give him the muscle memory or skill that came along with experience and time.
Sure, adding points to strength could speed up his woodcutting as well as the skill he had, but there would likely be a lot of wasted wood and unnecessary damage to brute forcing your way through rather than learning how to do things the right way. That wasn’t to say that attributes didn’t matter for those skills as they clearly had an effect, but it meant that someone with a class that didn’t give them points to strength or didn’t have a class at all could still be effective with the right skills.
Looking at [Etheric Presence] and [Soul Contract], he felt like he was on to something. Both of those skills relied on something you couldn’t really build with experience. He couldn’t think of how you would train and practice to level up something that required you to see and sense the unseen. The same went for [Identify]. A merchant with many years of practice could tell you a lot about an item, but without enhanced perception, how could they possibly pick out so many details of an item without having crafted it or finding some kind of manual?
Hmm, I do think I am on the right track, but who knows? I might find a guide at the Guild or something that completely debunks my hypothesis. That being said, I wonder how many skills there are? Is cooking not a general skill? Carpentry or woodworking? Maybe I just haven’t done enough to my meals to have it considered to be actual cooking or my bed wasn’t intricate enough to be considered more than basic woodcutting?
Lanek felt his head starting to hurt from the possibilities and theories flitting through his mind. Finally, he shrugged and cleaned up the camp. He went to dispose of the fish guts and heads, but found them already gone and a happy wolf licking his chops nearby. Fair enough, less work for me. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that wolves can completely digest a fish, head and bones included. And this is a magical wolf at that!
He considered leaving a log to smolder in the fire, but discarded the idea and put the fire out completely. With the work he had done on clearing the area, he wasn’t worried about a fire, especially with two companions that would alert him if something did go wrong. He just didn’t feel that it was worth even the low risk when it wasn’t freezing at the moment.
Finally, he climbed onto his bedroll and pulled his blankets over his new bed. With the insulation provided by the bedroll and spruce boughs, the warmth provided by his two blankets, and no longer lying on a hard floor that leeched the warmth from his body, Lanek fell into the best sleep he had experienced since coming to this world.