Despite the warmth of my friend heating up our little nest, it was just as miserable of a night as I imagined it was going to be. So I decided in between the small bouts of unconsciousness I managed to find that I was going to make weaving a tent the second thing on my list of projects for the day. It should be light enough that when it was rolled up it wouldn’t be that inconvenient to carry and as I made plans in my head, I knew it wasn’t going to be that big of a deal. Hopefully, if I could make one tarp like sheet, I could use it to reinforce whatever I planned on using to carry my supplies.
As the rain tapered away to a drizzle, and the clouds started to show beams of light streaming through, I got up to gather and hunt for some wood dry enough to start a fire, I also had to build a smokehouse and skinning the pigs and trying to gather enough acorns or oak to try my hand at tanning them. I doubted I was going to be able to do a professional job, but with enough luck, I could increase the lifespan to make it usable enough to last until I found civilization. I knew you could use brains to help as well, so I would try adding them to the mix and just see where I ended up.
I had plenty of survival books back home and a couple of good apps on my phone, so like an idiot I had just assumed I would always have access if the world ever went to shit and I needed to hide out in the backwoods for a while. I had been way too interested in learning and making videos of harder skills. To be honest, even my glass blowing wasn’t something that I would easily be able to recreate, as I had always gotten rods of different colors off the internet rather than trying to melt them from sand myself. I knew that you couldn’t just use basic sand that came from the beach as it had too many impurities, but I had never taken the time to learn what to do if I got sent back into the Stone Age.
Unfortunately, the same was true with iron. I could work decently enough for the most part, but without my power hammers, I doubted I would be able to form anything without using a massive amount of coal. As to finding iron ore and being able to turn it into spring steel that too was going to be way out of my comfort zone. All I knew was that it was red, even making my own flux was going to be a stretch. Any chance I had of forming tools was going to be capturing more metal from the goblins, but aside from the elites, there was no metal to be found.
My best bet at a trade was going to be woodworking, I knew how to make a couple of homemade stains and I was pretty sure I could manage to form some kind of pully system with enough work to help with sanding and sharpening. But again that meant coming up with enough loot to trade or by said tools or converting them from captured weaponry.
I thought about cooking, but in small villages, it was doubtful that there would be any excess income for people to waste on frivolities, and if I managed to find a large town or city, I faced the same problems that modern day entrepreneurs had… financing. There is a reason ninety percent of all new restaurants fail in the first year and rarely is it because the food isn’t good enough to eat.
Other than that my only other hope for a trade was to turn mercenary. But even with that, I had both my age and lack of experience against me. Yeah, I could stick a spear in some goblins, but seeing as how they weren’t even able to take out a bunch of bunnies, I doubted they were considered to be anything other than pests on this world which meant mercenary work would most likely any group would laugh me away if I was lucky while a drubbing wouldn’t be out of the question.
I was really beginning to grow depressed at the future I was looking at. As I looked to the future, I wasn’t seeing a lot of hope. Breathing deeply I tried to focus on the positives, I was alive and I had a magical healing bear with me, somehow I had managed to ingest several cores last night and there had to be an upside to that, I was sure I wouldn’t be having my insides torn apart as I tried to pass them. Feeling the depression start to worm its way back into me. I screamed out in frustration!
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Walking over to a tree, I began to punch it, over and over again. As my fingers started to grow bloody, I continued to punch, not even bothering to worry that my friend might not be able to put me together. Sinking into a depression was the best way for me to end up dead. I couldn’t afford to lay around and wait for things to get better, I needed to keep pushing forward and do everything I could to make things better, not wallow around lamenting the things I couldn’t change. With one more strike and one last scream of frustration. I forced myself to stop lashing out at the world, sat down to focus on my breathing, and made myself confront everything that was stewing inside of me.
Going back to the mantra I had depended on in the ball on my trip over. I continued to repeat it over and over again in my mind, while I closed my eyes to shut out the rest of the world. Have the courage to change the things that you can! Have the Serenity to accept the things you cannot! Have the Wisdom to know the difference! Over and over I kept repeating the saying, building it up in my mind, until eventually I was screaming it out to the universe! Forcing it to accept that it would not break me and I would figure out a way to keep going no matter what obstacles it threw in front of me.
Opening my eyes, I saw the bear in front of me, taking his nose away from my hands, looking down I saw that the skin over them had been regrown and noticed I couldn’t feel any of the pain. Putting my arm around his neck I pressed my forehead to his and thanked him. “Sorry for that bud. Everything was just getting to be too much. Too much thinking about the future that I couldn’t possibly know about, and not enough time in the present. Fuck, for all I know maybe this universe actually managed to come up with a working socialism, and as soon as I find humans they will shower me with comforts.”
As the bear snorted in reply, I continued on. “Yeah I know it’s stupid, but if you are going to dream, you may as well dream big right?”
Heading over to the tree I had hollowed out a bit last night, I recovered my wallet, taking another moment to deal with the wave of emotions as I saw the three pictures were still dry. Grabbing my ax, I began the process of cutting down a number of branches that were about as long as my spear. Using five of them, I made a basic tent frame, tying them using two of the pieces of rope that I had made before I realized I was an idiot the night before.
Feeling the pigs when I had reclaimed them I could tell that rigor had fully set in. With probably another day until they loosened back up due to the cooler weather, I decided to focus on the tent first and then work on the smokehouse afterward. Going to the pile of grass I began the process of weaving once again.
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Packing away the last of the wrapped packages of pemmican I had made in the pannier that Gaian had consented to wear, I looked out over the small meadow. Once I rolled down the grass to cover up the fire pit I had made, it wouldn’t look that much different from how I had been introduced to it a week ago.
Yeah, I hadn’t managed to fulfill my wish list, but what we had accomplished had been more than I could have dreamed of that first night in the rain. Two panniers for the bear that were packed with jerky, pemmican, and slices of dried fruits; all of it wrapped securely in grass pouches woven tightly enough it would keep out water for a minute or two if given a quick dunking. It is amazing how quickly you can improve at something when you spend all day doing it nonstop. Sure plenty of mistakes had been burned in the firepit, but grass is cheap and the finished products were worth the extra effort.
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Rendering the fat for the pemmican had been a bit of a process, in the end, I had to sacrifice one of the pig bladders to use as a container, finding the proper height to hold it over the fire had taken a while and it had ended up so scorched that I had tossed it away when the process had finished. The backpack I had woven and stiffened with several branches held one of the two pig stomachs filled with water, while Gaian’s had the second. Likewise, we had split up all of the grass mats I had woven tightly enough to keep out rainwater. I was however bearing the sole burden of both of the pig skins that I had managed to tan. While they were nothing like the processed leather I was used to, and I was sure I had missed a step somewhere; but they weren’t rotting yet, so I would take what I could get. I had thought about making a chest piece or using it for a pack, but in the end, I had spent so much time improving my weaving I decided to just go with that and save the leather for later.
The branches holding up the baskets my friend was carrying were long enough to make a tent big enough for both of us to shelter in. So far the storms seem to come regularly enough every four or five days and with my last bucket from home filled with water, I might have to supplement with dew every odd day or so, but I had enough baskets folded up and made to collect enough rainwater it might not be necessary.
I was leaving the shield behind, in the end, it was nothing more than a large sheet of wood, without banding I doubted it would even last through a serious fight and I had never ended up using it. Instead, I had used the sinews of the pigs to make a number of bolos, most of which were lying coiled on the top of my pack for easy access. I had spent a decent enough time relearning how to throw them well enough to wrap up a target forty to fifty paces away. I had three on my belt and seeing as I would be shrugging out of my pack if I needed to throw them anyway I had another easy access to fifteen more.
Although we were loaded down, it was easy enough to remove everything the instant we got wind of any attack. All Gaian needed to do to free himself from his load was crouch down until the long baskets touched down, scooting forward he would be ready to help take out any enemies that made it passed my barrage. With him in front to gather the focus on our enemies, I would be free to use my spear at range, or failing that I had also made a couple more smaller clubs. None of them were as nice as what I had confiscated from the goblins, I still couldn’t figure out how they had managed to fuse the stone to the wood. I thought it had to be some kind of glue. But I hadn’t even bothered to recreate it. Wrapping them tightly with grass, they would be good enough for a couple of throws, and if I needed to be sure of a strike I had the original hanging where my ax use to be.
The tool was needed for camp life and its use as a weapon was limited, so I had packed it away next to my shovel, and tongs near the bottom of my pack, safe for the next time we made camp. I did keep the bear spray on my belt, and while I didn’t think it would do much to the goblins, I was sure there were other threats out in this world, and maybe it would counter one of them.
As the bear nosed my hand gently I reached into my pocket where I had hidden one of the pouches of fruit that I had dried, pulling out a couple of pieces, I returned it to my pocket before handing over his share. Once dried, the spiciness of the plum analogs had an even more intense front of mouth flavor, but it was countered swiftly by its lingering sweetness and the bear had eventually come around to enjoy them as much as I did. I had tried to sunbake some of the tubers, but even with adding more salt to them than I should, they still never dried to anything that was pleasant to eat. I had about twenty of them in the baskets for cooking if we found a safe enough place for camping with access to wood. But for the next few days, we planned on camping out in the grasslands.
Gaian had confirmed that most of the patches of woods around here either had a dominant species that claimed it, or there were also several other goblin tribes around. The rabbits claimed not to know where any of the species of lights had settlements, but I still didn’t know if I fully trusted him. Either he had gotten a steal from me he was happy to give out some scraps of knowledge, or he had been uncommonly generous and I just didn’t know which it was.
Talking to the rabbits they had told me without going into specifics that most species were of the ‘dumb’ variety, only when they got access to certain resources did they evolve into something else. I had tried to find out what they meant by that but again the translation either wasn’t going through, or they didn’t trust me enough to tell. After they had a leader that transformed, the next several generations would have an added intelligence, gradually working its way back to the original animal if something wasn’t done to strengthen the bloodline before the children were conceived.
I was guessing that was both what the flowers were for and that there was a small population of regular rabbits running around the woods here, I hadn’t asked as I didn’t want to come across like I might kill them. I wasn’t sure how they would feel about it and didn’t want to take the chance it might sound offensive. I had no interest in hunting them, but I know if someone told me that I would have a hard time believing them as well. So in the spirit of parting amicably, I had left it alone.
I hadn’t made any more progress on accessing the cores I had absorbed or even managed to reliably move around the air like energy I found my channels filled with. I had tried the naming conventions that had managed my first control of the Qi lifetimes ago, but nothing had been working. When talking to the bear, he had indicated he wasn’t able to feel his resource moving in his body, instead, he seemed to just know instinctively how many spells he could cast. Or he had a list that kept him updated… it was really hard to know what he meant when I was the one asking the question. I did find out through a mind numbing amount of questions, that he had some kind of sense of how he could grow stronger. He thought judging by what had happened in the woods, he would need to kill around ninety more goblins to gain another increase to his skill.
While I was all for increasing his healing power I didn’t know if we could stick around and try to take out that many goblins without the protection of the rabbits. While it was up tomorrow and technically we could stay another day, I didn’t think they would be happy if we dragged another army to their doorsteps. We hadn’t done any hunting, instead I had been content to focus on my weaving and preparing travel supplies. I have felt the emptiness and need for answers really start to wear on me. I have always thought that I would thrive if the worst ever happened and I was forced to retreat to the wilderness, leaving humanity behind. But I think that I always imagined I would have my kids with me in that event that came to pass.
While the bear was proving to be a true friend, and there was nobody I would rather have at my back in a fight, I was ready to head out into the world and try to find some answers.
Picking up my spear, I scratched the bear’s ears one last time and we started following the path out of the woods. We planned on skirting the goblin woods, I still was considering going in for a quick hunt to take out one or two, just to see if the incoming exp would drag me down to my core so I could figure out what had happened to those cores. But I was really afraid they were on high alert after our last couple of hijinks, I had no idea what kind of long term memories they had, and with not even a week having gone by since the larger battle I didn’t want to underestimate their intelligence and wind up being counter ambushed. I was sure in this more brutal world there would be plenty of more killing and exp to be gained, there was no need to go looking for it.
I was somewhat afraid that this world was changing me into something I didn’t want to be, torture and killing should always be a last resort. I still was having trouble recognizing the part of me that had been so willing to go find some goblins and knowingly drain evil into them. All the while happily knowing I was going to exterminate them when they had fulfilled their purpose. That wasn’t the person I had grown into back on Earth and had my children told me the story, I would have been properly horrified. Maybe I needed to be that hard to survive this world, but I was worried if I just dove into it I would go past what I needed and change into something my kids wouldn’t recognize.
It was a fine line to walk, but that just meant it needed care and precision, not a head long flight into danger, so for now I would take my time and skip the woods. If what the rabbit elder told me was true, then I was sure the killing would come, and with my friend beside me, I would be ready for whatever the world threw at us…
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Unless it was a dragon, screw that monster, hopefully, we won’t encounter him for another five years and even then I plan on finding a hole the size of Mount Everest to hide in.