Chapter 6

To get over my wall, I have rope going up the side of a tree on both sides, and the wall blocking entry from the other sides. This makes it so only creatures that can climb rope or climb over the wall can get inside. Or, I guess flying creatures could too. Or ones that burrow underground. Or ones that are stronger than a pile of sticks.

I pass another day by building the wall. Sticks are becoming hard to find, and there are not too many more rocks either. If I want to continue with hardcore construction, I will have to enter the cave. While I can't build the wall anymore, I start setting more traps. With rope and string, and a knife, I can make many more traps. RIP in peace forest critters. After setting a dozen or so traps, I go back to the tree.

I look at my minimap overnight, and I can see several of my traps catching prey, and a few of them losing prey. I can't see what is in the traps, but I know something was caught, or if the trap was simply activated and did not catch anything. Also on the minimap, I did not see a single red dot, which was good.

In the morning of the ninth day, I decide to check out what else I can find in this snowy forest. There is the cave to the west, but I wonder what else I can find. With my minimap on, I travel east. West led further into the mountains, so east must lead down. I will have to walk back up eventually, but for now, I will go down.

Going down the mountain, I see several berry bushes, but not much else. I collect some berries and leave. I would take all the berries, but the plant needs to drop some to plant seeds and the other animals of the forest need to eat some too. I don't see any other living creature, but I just know they are out there.

Back at the tree after an unsuccessful day of exploration, I am about to enter the hammock when I remember something very important. I leveled up! With a look at my stats, I can see five Stat Points available.

>**Status**

>Name: Homogenious Khalidius

>Level: 2

>Class: Novice

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>Credits: 0

>Health: 50/50

>Stamina: 50/50

>Mana: 50/50

>Strength: 10

>Dexterity: 10

>Vitality: 10

>Inteligence: 10

>Wisdom: 10

>Luck: 10

>Stat Points Available: 5

Of all of these, Health stamina and mana cannot be increased, so I'll have to work with those other stats. For now, I guess I'll put everything into Strength. Five points into strength later, and I can feel the difference. Climbing the rope is easier than before, and I feel generally more comfortable.

Dawn of the tenth day, I check my traps. With my bow in hand in case I see an animal or some kind of video game monster, I move through the snow towards my triggered traps. In them, I find six hares. Noice. I don't know much about skinning and draining blood, so I add them to my inventory as they are and continue on my way. I reset all the traps and return to the tree.

It is still daytime, and I have quite a bit of the day left, so I decide to check out that cave. The cave is on the face of a mountain, and there are a few close trees to it. With my rope, I am able to climb into a high tree and position myself where I can see the entrance to the cave. With my bow, I shoot a single arrow inside the cave.

Ten seconds, 20, nothing happens. I don't have anything to light the cave with, so for now, I'll work on making money until I can enter the cave. It sure would suck if the cave turned out to be nothing, but I'll hope for the best. Maybe I'll find a magical bead I can drink the dew from and again superpowers. Well, that was a Xuanhuan, and not a video game, but it could happen.

Returning to the tree, I work on the wall and set traps again. The wall is getting very high, and spike traps are all around it. Nothing is getting into my home, that's for sure. I kinda wonder if anything in the shop would help me make a safe place in the forest, but I can't check for a few more days. Until then, I might try hunting at night.