Chương 148: Chapter 159 — Building a Camp

Mark waited to see what Callum would say. While waiting, he went into the outpost interface and found the outpost roster and filled in Callum's name, and then when he heard it, he hit the button. Callum said, "Well, I would love to stay as long as we get to continue playing with lumber. I really am in the mood to build something. If you are willing to do the grunt work, I would love to help turn that pile of logs into something meaningful."

Mark walked over next to where all his packs were still sitting on the ground, pulled out all his axes and tools, and tossed them on the ground next to the pack. Before he had turned around, Callum was getting after him. Callum said, "Wait a sec; if that is how we're going to be handling tools, maybe I should think about this."

Mark looked over at the tools and back to Callum and said, "Well, I was making room so I could go back and get some of the deadwood in that stand of trees for firewood and wanted to be able to haul more." Callum said, "We have rules for tools, and that is one thing I insist on. Tools are what keep us alive, and as such, we don't just toss them on the ground. They need to go in a proper place like a tool rack, not on the ground. You will chip them up and damage them, and then they are no good to you."

Mark, feeling a little rebuked, went over and picked up his tools and stored them back into his inventory, then walked back to Callum and said, "Okay, I can live with the no tools on the ground rule, but I have a small problem. I don't have a tool rack, and I have more tools than I can really keep in my inventory and still be useful." Callum said, "Well, that means our first project should be a tool rack." Malcolm walked over and asked, "I was thinking of going out to scout a little bit.

Are you guys going to need both horses, or can I borrow one of them?" Callum said, "We should not need either of them, so feel free to take mine. Just for the record, I consider the horse property of the outpost, and as long as we feed, water, and care for it, anyone can use it." Mark looked over and said, "You can also use mine when needed, but I will be using it a lot in the future with my class. I will need to go explore some to complete some requirements I have, but I am fine to share."

After Fiona had the food cleaned up, she waved as she headed back across the stream, heading into the marsh again. Shortly after Malcolm went over and saddled up the horse that Callum brought with him and, looking both north and south, finally left going south, following the stream. When they were gone, Callum walked over and asked Mark to pull out the two saws he had seen Mark throw on the ground, so he pulled them out and handed them to him.

Callum looked at the teeth on each saw, checked their flexibility, inspected the handles, and looked over their construction. When he was finally done, he handed them back to Mark. Callum said, "I think that will work great for our first project, though before we start, we need to do a little maintenance on the saw. I can tell it's new and it's in good shape, but it really needs a little work to make it really shine. Do you happen to have a file or any other items to help maintain the tools you have?"

Mark pulled out three files that Dale had insisted he bring with him and told him that he would need them, and Mark had just stored them, as he had no clue why he would need them. Callum took one out of his hand. Callum said, "That would work great. Give me a minute, and I can make this process much easier." Mark said, "Are you going to do some maintenance on the tool?" Callum said, "That was my plan. Okay if I make your saw work better?" Mark said, "Yes, but can I do the work?

I have a lesson I need to finish, and I did not know how to do it." Mark then shared his Tool Handling lesson with Callum. Callum said, "Oh, you have a school? We had one in the zone that I came from, but there were not any skills that interested me." Mark then sent a student invite to him. After a few minutes, Callum asked, "Where did you get Tool Handling? That is one I don't have and sounds interesting. But your school does not have it. It did have Tool Maintenance, so I started that one.

I don't have it, and another skill can only help." Callum then shared the lesson screen. [Lesson Generated] Tool Maintenance Level 1 Stolen story; please report. Requirements Sharpen three edged tools to working condition (0/3) Perform routine maintenance on five different tools (0/5) Properly store and protect five tools after use (0/5) ◈ ◈ ◈ Callum said, "I might even be able to complete this tonight.

We will need to see if we can get some of the locked skills open in crafting; they might be useful in building some future items for camp." Callum then sat down with Mark and showed him how to correctly sharpen the teeth of the saw. It probably took much longer to do than if he had done it himself, but Mark, when finished, had a good idea of how to sharpen a few of the other tools he had.

Callum then went and took the saw over to the pile of trees, pushing a few of them aside so he could get to one of the smaller ones. Callum then showed Mark how to hold his end of the saw and how to work with him to cut wood with it. They cut the very end off the top and then measured off a length that looked to be around six to seven feet long, having measured it out with a string and marked it with what looked like chalk of some kind, and then they cut the length off using the two-man saw.

He repeated this process with another tree, cutting another the same length. Next, they cut two more lengths about four feet long off the tops of another two trees. He then pulled out a shovel and started to look around the campsite. He finally came back after pacing around a few times and then looked to Mark. Callum said, "I was thinking here for the tool rack it would be near the edge of camp where we could drop off the tools when returning to camp and pick up tools as we leave camp.

Then over here place the workbench." Mark looked over the places he pointed out and just shrugged and said, "Sure." This was feeling a little bit like what Garrick always did, except instead of asking if it was okay, he told him where it was going. And Garrick never let him help. This was going to be a lot of fun; he really looked forward to building this outpost, as it was going to be a lot more hands-on.

Callum then directed Mark to dig holes to put the two longer posts in the ground; he measured it out and gave directions for where to dig. When finished and placed, he had two sturdy upright poles. He then showed him where to notch the top of each pole and then notch the cross piece, which ended up being one of the shorter ones they had cut. Callum then directed Mark on how to lash it and tie it so that it would be sturdy, and Callum checked each of them to make sure they were perfect.

He then showed Mark where the other crossbeam would go. And he watched without assistance this time, and when complete, he told Mark that he had done a great job. He then pulled out some leather straps and added notches across the length and tied the first strap to the first notch and then had Mark do the rest. They repeated the process on the lower crossbeam also. He then went and hung up the two saws on the top crossbeam using one of the leather straps that was added.

Mark was about to add another tool when he was interrupted with a System message. [Craft Created] Tool Rack A simple storage rack designed to keep tools organized, dry, and readily available. Category: Camp Utility Quality: Common Proper storage reduces wear and damage to frequently used tools. ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark looked over the message and then smiled; he had created something useful. Granted, he was just following Callum's lead, but he had built something.

He bet Garrick would look at it and scoff, tear it out, and build something better, but he was proud of it all the same. Mark and Callum next created a simple table and four chairs. Well, okay, Callum created them; Mark held tools. But they finally now had a place to sit down. Callum asked Mark to pull out all the tools he had, and one at a time they sat at the table, and Callum instructed Mark as he did maintenance on them. The one thing that surprised Mark was that Callum had him sharpen his shovel.

He had never thought of items like that needing sharpening, but Callum insisted that he would appreciate the tool more when it was sharpened and ready for its job. In the end, Mark had his new tool rack full of tools, all of which were sharpened and ready for their next use. During the sharpening, he had finished his Tool Handling lesson, so Mark brought up the skill message to read it over.

[Skill Acquired] Tool Handling Level 1 Improve confidence using common hand tools safely Reduce mistakes when performing basic construction and repairs Increase efficiency when completing simple crafting and building tasks ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark then opened his school interface and grabbed the next lesson on his to-do list.

[Lesson Generated] Survival Level 1 Requirements Demonstrate three methods of obtaining safe drinking water (0/3) Build and spend one night in an emergency shelter Identify five natural resources that could support survival in the local environment (0/5) ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark and Callum were still sitting at the table when Fiona came back. She looked around the kitchen and then found some of the field rations and handed them out.

Fiona said, "I know I said I was going to make dinner, but I got really distracted and found some good stuff. I will maybe show some of it off tomorrow, but I am tired and going to bed a little early." It was now starting to get dark, so Mark and Callum ate their rations, and then Mark hung up all the rest of the tools, and he too went off to bed. About half an hour later, he heard the horse, so he knew that Malcolm was back. The last thing he did before going to sleep was bring up the map and look at the changes.

After checking them out, he went to sleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.