As the goose cooked over the fire, I tossed the dog the rest of the carcass and watched him tear into it. “What are you planning to call him?" Frank asked.

“Dog.” I said.

“Yeah, the dog. What will you name him?' Frank replied.

“Dog,” I started again.

Frank paused to think. He looked over at me and said, "Seriously? John Wayne?”

“Got it in two,” I laughed.

I like old westerns, especially John Wayne movies. In two movies, Hondo and Big Jake, John Wayne had a collie named Dog. The dog was extremely well trained, but still wild. It's what I want for Dog now.

I took some time to pluck a number of wing feathers from the goose skin. I figured I’d have to eventually craft some arrows if I wanted to use a bow as one of my main weapons. These feathers were large enough to get three flights out of one. Again, my stats screen flashed. Dammit, I really needed to remember to check my stats screen. Opening my notifications they read:

You defeated a Goose, level 1. Minor EXP gained

- You have sustained 35 points of piercing damage. You gained the bleed debuff, 2 HP loss per minute for five minutes or until healed.

- Success, you have tamed a dingo, level 4. Through your knowledge and experience, you have been able to tame a wild animal of a higher level. EXP doubled.

-Skill increased, Tame animal: Apr 0, you now have a 22% chance to tame a wild animal and 50% to tame canines or canine hybrids.

-You have found Goose feather, common, crafting material.”

I was stunned by what I read. I should’ve used Inspect on Dog before taming him. However, in retrospect, I had no clue what would happen whether the animal was higher or lower than I was. I knew I would have tried anyway. But what really shook me was the fact that I had lost over a third of my health with one bite from Dog. Granted, Dog’s teeth were very large and sharp. I probably made it worse by forcing Dog’s jaw towards his neck to pry out my arm. I also didn’t recall a health or stamina bar appearing during the taming. I hadn’t even seen a mana bar when I used my mana. Was there even such a thing in this new “system?” Just one more thing I needed to check into.

I exited my notifications and pulled up the stats display. Sure enough, there were two other tabs I could see. How had I missed those when looking at my stats? I seriously needed to pay more attention to things, because I was making some seriously noob moves. What if that bleed debuff was more severe than it was? I literally could have bled out before the taming was completed. The first tab I checked was my settings. I discovered that there were indeed different status bars to choose from. There were also notification settings. I set the status bars to display anytime they were below 100% and set my notifications to appear anytime I wasn’t in combat.

The next tab I could select, to my utter giddy surprise, was a mini map. I actually had a mini map. I set the mini map to appear when I looked at the upper left of my vision. The mini map could be zoomed in and out. However, it only showed areas I’ve been in since the “system” took over, not areas I’ve been to prior to that. It makes sense though, since the system probably started mapping locations at that point. I wondered why I didn’t have land navigation skills. In the military, I was very proficient at land navigation. To the point that at my last duty station, I helped set up and run the land nav lanes for the Expert Field Medical Badge course. This was for medics, nurses and even military doctors.

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That was the most satisfying part. Watching high ranking officers who thought they knew what was right, walk through heavy wet terrain insisting they wear their rubber wet-weather over-boots. I advised one Colonel that, for safety reasons, he shouldn’t wear over-boots. The only response I got back was, “Sergeant, I know what I’m doing.”

My reply was simply a “Yes Sir.” Then I watched the Colonel eat it several times while I escorted him through the woods.

During just that one time-frame, I had spent over a month in the rainforest of the Upper Northwest with just a topographical map and compass, setting up the various testing lanes. My entire life was about topo maps, grid coordinates, azimuths and terrain features. Most people don't know the difference between grid, true and magnetic north. On the other hand, if you constantly had access to a mini map, how could you ever get lost or need a topo map again? With my settings figured out, I exited my screens and tended to the meat over the fire. Being satisfied at the moment, Dog lay down a short distance from the fire and slept calmly. I smiled and shook my head in amazement.

I returned to plucking goose feathers and received more notifications of:

-You have found Goose feather, common, crafting material.

-You have found Goose feather, common, crafting material.

-You have found Goose feather, common, crafting material.

A total of eleven more times, giving me a full dozen large goose feathers I could use to craft arrow fletching. On further inspection, I surmised I could actually get four fletchings out of each feather. This would give me sixteen arrows for my first crafting attempt. If I could find the other materials I needed

After we ate our meal, and Frank drank his dandelion tea, we packed up and got ready to set out again. I snuffed the fire by pouring water on it from the body of water we were next to and covered it in dirt. I also filled up the empty water bottles we had previously used. I pulled out the LifeStraw and the ceramic filtration pump. I connected the pump intake to the LifeStraw and placed the LifeStraw into the body of water. As I pumped the filter, Frank filled the bottles with the outflow tube.

The way we filtered and filled our bottles was somewhat redundant, but that was the name of the game in survival. I had been trained for years under the mantra, “Two is one and one is none.” When you only have one option you really have no options. Survival techniques are the same. Everything I planned for always had double uses, if not more. Following the five C’s of survival; Combustion, Cordage, Cutting tool, Cover and Container. I always packed my ruck with two ways to start fires, two ways to process and contain water, two options for cordage and cutting tools and at least two options for cover. These included a change of clothes, my woobie and my backpacking sleeping bag. Everything else was icing on the cake. Extra food, means to make traps and snares, first aid and trauma kits and maybe even a small fishing kit.

In retrospect, I wondered if filtering water like this was needed anymore. I always believed that if you had the opportunity to double filter your drinking water, you should. But with this new system and my increased attribute points in constitution, was it really necessary? Constitution gave me some resistance to poisons, I hoped, and I have my healing spell now. I didn’t know enough about our capabilities at this time to test it. However, I felt that soon, all this would be a moot point.

After filling up our bottles, we continued south. I whistled at Dog, who immediately stood. I motioned in the direction we would travel and Dog moved out. It was weird. I could feel Dog’s intentions and I was positive Dog could feel mine. It wasn’t like what fantasy novels and movies describe as a “symbiotic relationship,” as I couldn’t sense words or thoughts coming from Dog. It felt more like the bond a handler had with his working dog, but greatly enhanced. As a result of motion and intent, Dog understood he was to move forward in a general direction and defend us from danger.