Arthur's eyes lost the luster it usually had once he acknowledged that there was no escape.
With a self deprecating laugh, he muttered helplessly. “I have nothing but the clothes on me. What the hell am I supposed to do here alone?”
After a moment of wallowing in his misery, Arthur rose on his feet, patted the dust from his bottom and slapped his cheeks.
I can do it. I can survive. I have seen enough primitive survival videos on MeTube that this should be doable.
Walking back and forth with a frown on his face, he seemed to be in deep thought. The pace of the nervous steps started hasten and finally he smacked his lips. Water. It was what he needed to find first, everything else could come in second.
The words that the man who sent him here flashed briefly in his mind, but with a dry gulp he started to wander the nearby area.
Walking for ten minutes or so, he reached the shore of the large body of water. With a crouch, he scooped a tiny amount of water in his hands, tasted it and quickly spat it out. He had hoped for the best, but reality proved to be cruel.
Salty. The large body of water was the sea. While disappointed, he was not disheartened and continued his search for a source of freshwater.
Two hours passed in a flash and Arthur was getting closer to the forest.
Pricking his ears, he seemed to hear a familiar sound coming from ahead. Step after step, the sound of flowing water became discernable and Arthur gulped with nervousness. ‘Please, please be drinkable.’
Cautiously optimistic, he closed in on the small stream and kneeled before it. The bright, clear and untainted water seemed to beckon him to taste it and throw the fleeting idea of dysentery to the back of his head.
“Yeas!” With an unconcealed joy in his voice, he stuck his head into the stream and drank small gulps to quench his thirst.
After splashing his blonde hair wet, he sat down while fiddling two rocks in his hand. With the discovery of the small stream of water, he could now focus on the shelter, food and the mysterious altar that the man had suggested to build. Only question that remained in his head was; How should he go about doing it?
As he thought this, a translucent notification appeared before him.
[Hint: You can see available buildings by saying “Construction.”]
The somewhat familiar board appeared before his eyes and Arthur scrolled the building options.
“Only 4 possible structures? You have to be kidding me…”
“Altar 30 units of stone, Small hut 10 units of wood and 2 units of stone? How much is a single unit of stone or wood anyway? It’s like measuring 10 bananas per unit of freedom, doesn’t give me any idea of how much it is.”
Sighing helplessly, Arthur stood up and got to work. After All, it was in his best interest to gather the resources for the altar and shelter as quickly as he could.
He scoured the nearby area from small sticks and stones, and after two hours of hard work, Arthur had quite a pile of them. While searching for the materials, he came across a few bushes of berries, but decided to ignore them for now.
“Let’s see how much this pile is in units.” After wiping some sweat off his forehead, he opened the building options, and he clicked the altar option first whichafter he tried the small hut.
Insufficient resources
(7/30) Stone
Insufficient resources
(2/2) Stone
(9/10) Wood
Mhmm, by my estimates it should be roughly one unit per 10 kg of stone and a couple of larger pieces of wood for one unit, but let’s try building the small hut first.
He jogged quickly to get one batch of wood from nearby forest, and placed them into the pile. 'I should have plenty now. Let’s see how it works.'
“Construction. Build a small hut.”
Arthur saw an outline of a small hut appearing in his vision, and he instinctively knew that he could place it where-ever he wanted it to be.
Nodding his head, he placed it approximately 30 meters from the small river on a flat ground and immediately all the wood and some stone disappeared from the pile of resources. In the place Arthur placed his hut, stone flooring appeared and ready-made planks appeared in orderly manner.
“Huh? I kind of hoped it would build itself…” Complaining to nobody in an annoyed voice, he approached the framework of a small hut and saw that the materials bore some resemblance to lego blocks.
It seemed that while he had to build it himself, there was a clear way to build the small hut as it was a walkthrough of a puzzle where a magical force pointed what piece would go where.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Well this certainly is an interesting mechanic.”
With some anticipation and excitement, Arthur started to follow the instruction and after a full two hours, the hut was finished.
“Well it ain’t much, but it’s better than nothing.” Looking proudly at the hut, Arthur saw a notification flash before his eyes.
Skill: Construction lvl 1 obtained
“Woah, my first skill!” He exclaimed with joy and calmed down after a while. Yes, maybe this kind of world was the one he secretly longed for.
A world where one’s actions would receive recognition and see definite improvement.
----------------------------------------
Arthur entered the hut and started to daydream of a new bed and the appliances had once had, but for now, it was not the time for that. After all, the man who sent him here told to build the altar as soon as possible and Arthur wanted to know what benefits it would bring to him. While preparing to go out to gather more units of stone, he felt his stomach growling.
Right, the last time I ate was at work. Previously I found a bush full of berries, but what if they are toxic? Do I have to take that chance?
Struggling with the decision, he only could put it off for a bit later as he thought of alternatives and finally a lightbulb flashed in his head. 'Workbench. There has to be something good there that will help me.'
Calling the building menu in front of him, he confirmed the required materials. 5 wood and 1 stone.
“Phew. All this gathering starts to take a toll, but thankfully I ate plenty at work earlier.” Having collected another 5 units of wood and 1 unit of stone, Arthur set up the workbench next to the small hut in just short of 30 minutes.
“Fingers crossed, hopefully I can get some tools.” Placing his hand on the workbench, Arthur saw a window similar to a construction list, but only filled with tools and items.
“I knew it! Stone axe, fishing rod, hammer and so on. I should be able to make due with these.” Humming lightly, Arthur took a gander at the horizon. With the sun slowly moving towards the horizon, he made up his mind to forgo dinner and set up a campfire.
Collecting dry sticks, leaves, bark and a few stones, he then used a flatter stone to dig a small hole next to the small hut and arranged the stones in a circle. Rubbing the sticks in ever increasing pressure, he quickly added the dry leaves and bark before blowing softly when he smelt the pungent smoke. 'Hehe, I knew the instructional videos would come in handy someday.'
Arthur stretched out with laziness after he saw the small flames raging in the pit and felt a bit desolate. Why exactly was he sent here and what was he supposed to do here? Maybe he would know in time, but there was no point in wondering about it right now. Slapping his cheeks, he walked to the small river, took a few large gulps of water and finally washed his dusty face and splashed some water on his hair.
He swept his hair to the back and wiped the drops of water from his face with his sleeve and saw something in the corner of his eye. What the?
Slowly peeking from the corner of an eye, Arthur saw a silhouette of a greenish coyote-like animal gazing lazily in his general direction, but did not see what it was exactly. With some shivers he was quickly reminded that of course he was not alone here. Slowly, he moved towards a large stick on the ground and hoped that the creature would not attack him.
Arthur picked the stick and moved carefully towards his hut with the stick in hand, all the while keeping the wild animal in his field of vision.
The axe. I have to make the axe, just in case. While walking back to the hut, he slowly picked any branches he could find on the way and saw that the wild animal had seemingly lost its interest as it was slowly walking away.
I shouldn’t get careless, there is no way of knowing what comes next.
After stacking the wood he picked up into the pile of resources, he swiftly walked to the workbench and selected to craft a stone axe. Assembling a crude axe in a short amount of time from the “raw parts”, he grasped it tightly in his hands and felt a bit more secure.
Arthur took a gander at the direction of the sun and saw that it was going to get dark soon. 'I suppose I will have to build the altar first thing tomorrow. Now, it is best to save my strength for the obstacles I’ll face tomorrow.'
He stroked the campfire with a stick a couple of times, before adding more wood to the fire and stacked a small pile of rocks in front of the hut’s door.
Arthur entered the hut, closed the door behind him and curled into a corner that was nearest to the campfire.
With some budding resentment in his eyes, he pulled his shirt to his neck and realized that for the first time in his life, he truly hated the idea of camping before falling asleep dead-tired.