Three

I sat and stared at that hatchet for entirely way too long. No idea why I felt proud, it wasn't like it was made by hand or anything. I just pressed a bunch of junk together and guessed at holograms. But it was my hatchet!

And it was awesome. But it did jack all in regards to it getting quite nipply and on towards dusk. Something I would have noticed quicker if I hadn't been patting myself on the back over the hatchet.

Shit.

Noticed my status icons looking a little empty, so I ate a couple toko berries while I thought and looked around. In games I'd played before, what you usually wanted was some animal hide to make some clothing. Or better yet, some games had randomized loot you could find. Too bad there weren't footlockers or trash cans full of random stuff about. Must not be that lucky. Was luck a stat?

Unfortunately, no thinking down that lane pulled up any information. Stats, attributes, character sheet, nothing. Not having a strategy guide or wiki was making this harder than it probably meant. I was now jealous of my douchebag cousin who liked to min-max his stats and knew games inside out to try to be the best. Seemed just playing for fun didn't ready me for surviving real life.

Wait, was this real life? I kinda started to think of it that way, but there were clearly some game logic and things. Like I didn't actually craft this item, I just shoved a bunch of stuff together and got lucky. Which was awesome, since I don't have any idea how to make anything except a good pot of chili. That would probably fill my little eating meter faster than these berries, which were not growing back like a game.

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Damnit! Gotta concentrate on clothes instead of being a shitty philosopher naked in the woods getting colder by the minute. Glancing around, there were still a bunch of sticks and rocks left over. Maybe I could try to start a fire. Stacking some sticks together made me wish I'd been in boy scouts as a kid because I had no idea what I was doing.

Grinning, I started grunting like a caveman as I banged a couple good size rocks together. It slowly faded as no sparks spat out like in my imagination. Hmm. I knew I was forgetting something, but it was just out of reach. As I set the rocks down together, one of the blue holograms popped up above them! Pushing them harder together, they flashed the crafting light and turned into a smaller, shiny rock.

Flint

Durability: 2/2

Oh boy, let there be sparks!

I quickly grabbed more of the smaller stones I had and made several bits of flint. Good to have some already made in case I needed them. Crouching back over my disarray of sticks, I held the the flint in my right hand and struck it with a stone in my left. Blue motes swirled, and no more flint.

What? Oh yeah, I'm stupid. I grabbed another flint and held it to the logs till a blueprint popped up. With a flash, I had a fire!

Campfire

Fuel: 4/10

Next up, Industrial Revolution!

Hell yes! I quickly gathered and threw more sticks on the small fire, already feeling the warmth spread over me. Gathering a couple more of the combo berries, I laid down with my back to the fire to end my first weird day. At least I wouldn't freeze to death.