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Chapter 4: Start of The Journey and Online Shop
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It was steaming hot but I couldn't wait as I start picking off the flesh bit by bit. It was a good idea to cover it with the leaf. It prevented the fish from being covered in ash. A part of the charred leaf stuck on the skin but, it was easy to peel it off.
"Hot, hot hot." I blow onto the fish in my mouth as it was too hot to chew. Once it cools down, the taste was amazing. It was hard to explain but it almost made me cry. I took out the remaining half of the cooked sweet potato and placed it on a giant leaf along with the cooked fish. Before I continue to devour my dinner, I wrap the uncooked one and place it over the hot coal from the other fire. I ignited the other campfire again by using dried leaves and blowing the embers into a fire. I threw more logs and sticks into it so I can have enough light to see my immediate surroundings.
"Ok, time for a feast!" I clasp my hand together and offer a silent prayer to the gods for giving me this chance to eat fresh food. The fish was still hot but it didn't stop me from using my hands. The flesh was cooked to perfection. Even the skin was amazing as some parts were crunchy while some parts were chewy.
I couldn't believe that a fish would have such a fresh after taste. Back in my old life, it's usually leftovers that I'd find in the trash. Some were sour and the flesh was cold as the night. In no time, I devoured the fish including the head. All that's left was the fish bones. I couldn't wait for the second one as I flip it over cooking the other side. I munched on the remaining half of the sweet potato to quench my excitement.
After a while, I take out the fish from the fire and unwrap it. The smell was heavenly. I was too preoccupied that, I didn't notice it coming near me. The min I notice it standing a few feet away from me, I abruptly stood up to back away. I forgot I had the fish on my lap and it dropped on the ground.
"Ah, my fish!" I tried picking it up but the wolf ran for it and snatched it from the ground before disappearing into the dark. "My fish...."
I stood there in disbelief. One, I survived the wolf but a part of me felt a bit agitated I was robbed.
Sigh*
"I hope you enjoy it! Careful with the fish bones!" I shout towards the forest as I sat back down. I take a sip of the water from my waterskin and even though I wasn't full, I was content. I ate food I caught, prepared, and cooked. Even though it was so much work, the feeling of accomplishing that made the dish much tastier.
"So far, so many things happened and I was able to survive this long thanks to the skill that the gods gave me." I reminisce about the time where they granted me the forager class I chose. How information flooded my mind. And using this information made it much more clear what a forager is.
Living off the land is one concept but, I also need to know how everything connects. The stream that produces fresh fish can be connected to collecting feathers since it's more common for birds to fly down towards a stream for water. And not only that, the idea that I can pick different parts of the land to create one amazing thing from a stone ax to a bow and arrows.
"Ah! I forgot they gave me an extra skill!" I remembered about the book that disappeared. "What was it again? Store?"
I tried to recall my memory to remember what was the skill called. "Book store? No that's not it....I remember it starts with a letter C, convi store? No....think.....ah! Convenience Store!"
All of a sudden, a notification appeared in front of me.
Welcome to your own personal Online Convenience Store!
All items are linked to the online network of a planet called, Earth.
Here you will find different ingredients, tools, equipment, snacks and beverages available to purchase!
Linking Online Convenience Store with the user...
Link complete.
It will now show seeds corresponding with the users current world season. As the season change, so will the listed seeds. the rest from snacks, beverages and other things remains the same every season.
SPRING SEEDS
SEEDS
Price
Press the button to buy
Bag of carrot seeds
10copper
Buy
Bag of potato seeds
10copper
Buy
Bag of tomato seeds
15copper
Buy
Bag of strawberry seeds
20copper
Buy
Snack Corner
Snacks
price
Press the button to buy
1 Pack Senbei Rice Crackers
10silver
Buy
1 Pack of Cookies
10silver
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Buy
Beverages
4-pack assorted juice powder
30silver
Buy
Tools & Equipment Shop
Item
Price
Buy
No tools and equipment are available at level 1. Level up the convenience store to unlock.
Add funds Below
Funds
[ ]
0copper 0silver 0gold 0platinum
"Whoa...copper, silver, gold and platinum? I guess it's this world currency." I inspect the shop. "A planet called Earth? I guess there are more different planets out there. I wonder what's Earth like..."
I tried pressing buy but I keep getting the same notification.
Insufficient funds. Please add funds by placing currency into the box at the very bottom of the shop.
I tried using things like a leaf or a sweet potato skin just in case it might convert but, it didn't. It just went through dropping out on the other side. In the end, I'll need to find a village or something to do some trading.
Since it was quite useless to me until I got funds, I didn't focus on the online store. Remembering how to close it, I look away and the store window disappeared.
"Ok, this place is a bit getting dangerous. Tomorrow, I'll start my journey after collecting some fish. For now, let me try to get some sleep." I yawn as I lay down inside my temporary shelter. I was a bit sad I was only able to use it for the day but, seeing the wolf again means that it also knows I'm here. I'll need to move away from this place to steer clear away from it.
Building shelter over and over again sounds exhausting so I might as well look for a permanent place in this forest. What I had in my mind is to find a bit of a clearing near the stream. This way, I don't need to worry about cutting trees to make space. At the same time, I will have a better vision of my surroundings. Right now, my depth of vision is being blocked by trees. Anything right now can be hiding behind it and I wouldn't know.
The night wasn't as fast as I thought. I didn't sleep very well because one, I needed to take a shit and two, it was scary enough to do it in the middle of the night where a wolf can come and just bite me in the middle of my business. After surviving my toilet run, which is technically a hole I dug a bit far from my camp, I was wide awake again. Probably due to the nerves or adrenaline pumping through my veins.
I have taken a dump outside during the night before. Well basically, I have done it almost everyday in my previous life. But for some reason, the thought of a wolf watching my every move to find an opening to either kill me or eat me alive filled my mind which made it much more difficult to do the number two. Daylight came back to let me know the start of a new day.
I wasted no time and started collecting things I might need for my journey. I made another axe just incase the one I have now breaks and a few more arrows. To hold all of them, I used a tree bark and built a quiver. It wasn't the most comfortable but, for now it will do the job to hold all my arrows. I carried only a few and left the rest inside my potato bag including a few more feather, a couple of giant leaf I rolled up, and a few set of strings I twisted together.
I fished some more collecting at least ten trout for my journey. I prepared them by gutting it and spend a good amount of time cooking all fishes. It would be easier to just pull them out of my potato bag whenever I need to eat rather than stopping to make a fire to cook them. I did leave one fish out and my last cooked sweet potato and placed them on top a leaf.
"I hope you find this!" I shout into the forest. I'm leaving the wolf some food hoping that, it helps keep him from going hungry. Out of all the things I can relate with it, it's hunger. Something I felt for a long time before I was sent to this world. I look back into my tiny temporary camp and said my final thanks for keeping me safe at night.
I hope that, any travelers who are lost in the forest come across this and shelter them like it did to me. I follow the body of water upstream and start my journey through the forest. I kept my waterskin inside my bag since there it had weight on it and the potato bag seems to never change weight no matter how many items I add into it.
I follow the stream until I come across a waterwall. I rest for a bit and ate while looking at the best place I can climb to continue my journey. I see a bit of an uphill towards the left side which will make it easier to climb up the roots coming out of the ground.
"Ok, time to get a move on, the sun is starting to set. I want to get up this before the sun goes down and camp." I start climbing using the roots as my foothold. It was slippery but my bare feet gave me a bit of friction. "I need to make shoes next."
The only clothes I came with is a t-shirt and some pants. I had no shoes on which was fine since back in my old life, This was more than what I had. Besides, the grass and the soil was comfortable to walk on. I was halfway when I took a quick break and decided to store everything in my bag. Carrying a quiver and an arrow made it difficult to move my body around.
After storing everything, I continue my climb and by the time I got to the top, the sun has started to set into the horizon. I walk a bit more to not be so close to the edge. Last thing I want is to sleep walk and fall to my death.
I quickly got to making fire. Having it done once, it became easier the second time around. I built a quick shelter by using thin wood and jamming them into the ground. I tied the top of all the wood and used branches with leaves still intact as a roofing and wall. It was a tiny hut for me to keep dry just incase it rains. It wasn't as grand as my last shelter but, it will make do for tonight.
In this world, during the daytime, the sun was hot yet the breeze was enough to counter it. At night, the temparature drops and it's cold all around. The only heat source I have is the fire which makes it now an essential task at night. I ate the fish in silence as I reminisce my old life.
I used to call "village tamria ruins" my home. A ruins just outside of the village tamria. The village was a pit stop for adventurers so it had more than a typical village structure from an adventureres guild created by a duke and an inn where most adventurers get rowdy at night. It's also my source of food. Well, it's garbage bin during the peak moon hours.
I could have left the village but, with no education or any skills, I would die at the start of my journey. This is what prevented me from leaving. I knew nothing except to remain a shadow at night and scavenge what was inside trash bins. But after coming into this world with vast information on how to survive in the wilds, I knew how imporant it was to gain knowledge.
"Wait, all these notifications I can read them..." I just notice how I was able to read every notification that came up. I never learned how to read and write. Using a stick, I wrote down different words on the ground and to my surprise, I knew how to write these foreign letters.
"This is amazing...thinking about it, should I use my old name?" I whisper as I look up into the night sky. Jillian. A name that was given to me by the orphanage when I was a baby. I remember the story the orphan mothers have passed around about me. a couple of adventurers were going on a journey and mid journey, their healer got pregnant with the warriors baby.
Not wanting to halt their journey, they gave me up as soon as they got to tamria. Not once they ever looked back and all these years of waiting for them to come back to me, never happened. At first I resented them but through time and struggles, I learned that it was just a waste of energy.
But with the orphanage burning down due to some bandits, I was forced into the streets with the other kids. Some went off to become adventurers while some was adopted into a family. For me, I was never looked at. People didn't want me. I never knew why even to my last dying breath. I grew up and got old thinking that I should survive to the last minute hoping that I will find out why I was brought into the world with full of struggles.
"Yeah, my old name...let's forget about it. Since this is a new life, let's start fresh with a new name." I look back down the ground and wrote different names that I could use. "I choose this one, my new name will be Wind."
A name beffiting for me. I go where the wind takes me so technically, I go where myself takes me. Kind of cringey but, I like it. Besides, no one is out here anyways so it's not like I need to be embarrased calling myself Wind. Who knows, people from this world might not even know the word or call it differently.
Rustle*
The sound brought me into alert mode. I look around to see where the sound came from while I grab my spear beside me. To my surprise, it was back.
"Holy shit, it followed me all the way here?" I whisper looking at the white wolf. I knew it was the same one. The lightning shape horn on its forehead was unforgettable. But I was a bit startled. In it's mouth, blood drips out as it clamps of an animal I could barely see. It slowly walked towards me yet, I didn't feel fear. Probably I could see it's hair not standing up like before and it looked relax as it approached me.
It drops what it was holding infront of me and it looks like a rabbit. But with horns right in the middle of its forehead. Not the same horn as the white wolf. It looks like wood that spirals to a pointed tip. It's eyes was red and had fangs like a vampire. I look at the horned rabbit and at the wolf who was sitting across me as if it was waiting for me to accept it. I can see it's tail wagging a bit which means, it trust me to not hurt it.
To be honest it should be the other way around, as far as I can see, this wolf is probably strong enough to kill me. I grab the dead rabbit and I was a bit excited. If this wolf is giving it to me, I can't wait to taste it's meat. I knew what species this rabbit is. It's called a horned vampire rabbit. It's fangs is as deadly as it's horns. It's not posionous or anything, but it looks like a vampire with its red eyes.
I knew what was the rabbit but, I wonder why I know nothing about this wolf in front of me who is now licking its foot. I was lost, I didn't know what to do but it seems like this wolf wont hurt me as it walked to the stream to drink and wash it's face. After a bit, it walked back but rather than disappearing into the dark, it stayed this time planting itself near the fire.
I tried put away the rabbit in my inventory but I forgot, I needed to butcher it. It was an easy task since I knew what to do and in no time, I skinned and gutted the animal. Then I stored it in my bag. Looking back at the wolf that was watching m the whole time, I felt bad it gave me something and yet, I didn't give it anything in return. I took out a cooked fish and slowly approached it. It didn't do anything as I place the fish in front of it.
It smelled the fish before devouring it in no time. Every part from the head up to it's bones. I was tempted to touch it but I held my self back to not bother it while it's eating. I went back to where I was before and getting closer look, this wolf was big. bigger than what I had imagined. if I measure it side by side, it passes above my waitsline in height. It laid down I guess trying to go to sleep after eating. Now with a scary looking wolf right across me, the night was longer than I thought it would be and I didn't get to sleep at all.
To be continued....