Chương 102: Chapter 98 – The Beaver Problem

Ava was having the best day ever. Mark was busy, Dale was busy, no one was telling her what to do, and she had left the forest zone and was just exploring the new wheat fields zone. She was fascinated how different it was from the forest. The animal types were completely different; she had watched a mouse in a field for over an hour while trying to convince Swoop it was not food. Today she was following one of the rivers.

They were bigger and stronger currents than the stream that was near Forest's Rest, and the animal activity was amazing. Everything about it seemed bigger. Even the fish, which she found out about only because Swoop took one while she was not watching. As Swoop told Ava, she was hungry, and it looked good. She brought up her class advancement screen for what felt like the tenth time today.

[Class Advancement Progress] Beast Tamer Requirements: • Explore 3 Untamed Areas (Complete) • Successfully Train 5 Animals (Complete) • Demonstrate Animal Handling (Complete) • Assist Animals In Survival (Complete) • Form 3 Companion Bonds 2 / 3 Ava stared at it again. Only one requirement remained. It's been this way so long it feels like years. Swoop notified her that there was activity ahead: two angry people but not fighting.

She was heading south down the west bank when she saw the two workers standing near the bridge, which was still under construction. They were talking animatedly, pointing at the support beam that Ava could see had some damage of some type. But she was still too far away to hear the conversation. The other was pointing at some saplings that looked to be chewed up and gone. And she noticed that the water was not flowing correctly.

When she finally got close enough, she could see some logs in the river and hear what one of the men said.

"See, there it is again. It's trying to eat the beam and change the water flow." Then the log she saw moved. But it was not a log; it was an enormous animal. She kept looking at it and realized it was a beaver. But not like any she had seen before; this thing was just huge, probably three to four times a normal beaver or a very large dog size maybe, but way bigger than what she thought a beaver should be. The creature was dragging a tree through the shallow side of the water on the river side closest to her.

Bramble approached the edge of the water, and it just ignored both of them. She watched it for a while longer and then finally lost interest and crossed the unfinished bridge and walked into the construction area, as she knew someone would have food, and unlike her pets, she did not want raw fish today. There were a few guys complaining about the flooded work area, the damaged trail section, and the missing trees. Ava realized they were complaining about the beaver she had seen.

It must be doing something to make them mad. Then one of them said, "We need to figure out how to get rid of it. Garrick is throwing a fit. We are now three days behind on the bridge, and if we don't fix the problem, Garrick said we will have to do double shifts for a week to catch up." Ava already liked this beaver. Anything that could make Garrick upset had to be good, right? Adults just don't have any fun and can never relax. She then instructed Swoop to track the beaver she wanted to see what it was doing.

When she got back to the bridge, Garrick was there. He was indeed upset. The beavers had redirected the water flow, undermined part of the embankment, and flooded their work area. Garrick referred to it as "The Problem." Ava just thought of it as a fun animal to observe. Time flew as Ava followed the beaver and its activities. Multiple days went by while Swoop and Bramble both helped her keep track of it. Its travels took it down the river right into the lake and then back again.

It never went farther north than the bridge, which it seemed to have a serious issue with. Closer to where the lake was, she found a huge beaver dam, and there were multiple beavers there; they were also big, but nothing like the one that was bugging Garrick. They were controlling the water flow on the river, creating ponds and protecting their bank. She spent a whole day just watching them build it; it was fascinating.

A storm passed through the area, so Ava put up the tent that Tom had created for her that had a special water-resistant coating on it and just waited out the storm. It continued for a few hours, dumping a bunch of rain. She was impressed: not a drip of water came in. When the storm was finally over and the sun was out, she headed back over to watch them working the dam again. But when she got there, she saw a problem.

Part of the dam had collapsed, which caused it to shift, and one of the beavers was trapped under one of the logs. It was fighting and twisting, but it could not free itself. Ava went into action and went to try to remove the log, but it was too heavy for her. She tried everything, and it would not move. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Finally, she decided she would need to get some tools from the workers. Rope, a winch, and pulleys.

It was a forty-five-minute walk back to the work site, so she ran as fast as she could to save time. She was out of breath when she got there and asked the workers for the items. They asked what it was for, and she was not about to tell them she was saving a beaver; Garrick would kill them and her. She had left Bramble and Swoop there to keep watch, and she got a message indicating that things had gotten worse, so she ran back. When she got there, it was still alive but running out of strength.

She set up the winch, pulleys, and rope and, with Bramble's help, was able to pull the rope enough to get the log moved so the beaver could wiggle free. Even with the tools, it had taken more than an hour after she got back. When it was free, it got back into the water and then just watched her. She finally realized it was the same one Garrick hated. She was really happy she did not accept the workers help.

When it had first gotten out, it had a cut on its skin, and Ava had convinced it to stay still while she applied a bandage to it. She had learned through all the fights that Bramble had done how to heal the animals, as Bramble always took on things bigger than he was. The three of them continued to monitor the beaver for the next day. And it went back to its normal activity, and the bandage had done its job well. The next day it had started allowing her to feed it.

She had figured out that it liked to eat the plants and had gathered some and hand-fed it. The beaver had started to now follow her rather than just doing its own thing. It had even cut down a small tree and dragged it over and dropped it at her feet. Like it was a giant dog delivering a stick, which made Ava just laugh though she could not pick it up and toss it. Ava had finally gotten to the point that even the other beavers did not flee when she was around, and she started spending more time with them.

And she started to help them with the repairs to their dam. While she was working on the dam that afternoon, it happened. [Companion Bond Formed] Companion Identified: River Builder Beaver Bond Established Beast Tamer Requirement Updated Form 3 Companion Bonds 3 / 3 Ava froze, then looked at the message and started screaming. All of the beavers dived underwater like there was something bad happening, but her bond just sat there watching her.

Then it too dived underwater and started to head upstream, looking for another log. Then Ava brought up the class advancement screen. [Class Advancement Available] Beast Tamer → Beastwarden Requirements Complete Advance Class? YES / NO Ava pressed YES immediately. Without reading anything. All the while jumping up and down with joy. [Class Advanced] Beast Tamer → Beastwarden You have learned that animals are more than companions. Each creature possesses unique instincts, strengths, and roles within the world.

A Beastwarden helps guide the relationship between civilization and wilderness. New Skills Acquired: • Animal Insight • Companion Coordination • Bond Sense She then quickly clicked on all three skills to see what they did. [Animal Insight] Improved understanding of animal moods, intentions, and needs. [Companion Coordination] Bonded companions cooperate more effectively. [Bond Sense] Provides general awareness of bonded companion condition and direction.

Without even time to digest what she read, she checked the next advancement requirements. [Advancement Preview] Beastwarden → Community Beastwarden Requirements: • Form 5 Companion Bonds 3 / 5 • Assist 10 Residents With Animal Handling 0 / 10 • Train 20 Animals 0 / 20 • Resolve 5 Human-Animal Conflicts 0 / 5 • Establish An Animal Training Program 0 / 1 • Discover 5 Useful Animal Behaviors 0 / 5 Ava just let out a groan, and Bramble looked at her and turned his head sideways, asking what's wrong.

Ava said, "It's nothing, Bramble; I was just looking at my next rank requirements; they are like crazy hard." Ava spent the rest of the day celebrating. This was the best day ever: a new class and a new companion. Ava said, "Bramble, do you think we could teach it to roll over?" As evening approached, she walked up to the bridge. She saw Garrick standing beside a damaged section of the embankment, looking it over. Then one of the workers gasped and pointed at the beaver. Garrick turned around and looked.

Garrick said, "What is that thing doing here?" Ava replied, "It's my new bond." Garrick sat there and stammered and then finally spoke.

"If that's yours now, you get to fix this mess." Ava looked at the beaver; the beaver looked back. Then without hesitation it began dragging another tree directly toward the problem area. Garrick just closed his eyes and groaned. Ava started laughing, but the beaver keeps doing its job. But the problem, of course, somehow became worse.