Chương 12: Control

Mark woke slowly; he still felt the warmth of the fire. The memory of the day before settling in. He had survived another day. At some point exhaustion had taken him last night. He was still excited that he had a way to fight without being too close.

"Today I plan to seize control." Looking around his camp, he decided today was about improvement. He slept okay last night, but there was room for improvement. He took the last of the water he had from yesterday and put out the last of the coals. After one last look around camp, he went to see what his traps had for him today. As he approached the first trap, he saw it was triggered. It was a clean catch. A small field mouse hung in the snare. Mark crouched slightly and looked at the mouse. That was better.

The system granted him 3 XP and the +1 title bonus. His loot was a tiny meat and a scrap of hide. A few traps later he found that another one had been triggered. But whatever it was had escaped. He still needed better traps. He looked at the trap. What could he improve? The fiber string was frayed. Not cleanly broken but torn. Fibers pulled apart unevenly. Mark ran his fingers along it. It had not snapped, but rather it failed. He needed to improve the fiber somehow.

Looking around, he looked at the grass and fiber he had been using. He could see that some looked sturdier than others. He, of course, had been grabbing the less sturdy fibers, as they were easier to gather. Finding a nearby patch of sturdier-looking fibers, he reached down and pulled on it. But they did not want to be gathered. Thinking back to last night, he brought out one of the stone flakes; they were sharp. He needed to make another tool. Something to help him gather better fibers.

He rolled one of the bigger stone flakes in his hand. This could work; he pulled out his flat rock and placed the stone flake on it. Taking another rock, he helped to form a rough knife shape. He adjusted the angle of the stone. Too sharp, it would chip. It was too flat and it wouldn't cut. He chipped at it until it was good. Not perfect, but it was usable. It was not big enough to hold comfortably in his hand. He found a short but wider stick to use as a handle, and using his rock, he carved some grooves in it.

Then making a notch at the top he could stick his stone flake into. Using his rough string, he attached the stone flake. He then received another system message. [New Tool Discovered: Stone Knife] Using his new knife, Mark got to work and gathered more of the better fiber. With the new stronger fiber, he sat down to make a better string. Making string like before, he was disappointed to end up with only crude fiber string. Mark frowned at his crude fiber string.

Picking up two of the strings, he started twisting them together. But with just two of them it was not working. Adding a third strand, he started to braid them together. This reminded him of braiding his daughter's hair. It held; he pulled on it, but it didn't give, not like before. Much better. Mark leaned back slightly, testing the tension on the new creation, when he received another system message. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[New Craft Discovered: Twisted Fiber Cord] Taking the new fiber cord, he started repairing his snare trap. Wait, if he had improved the strings, he would have also improved the sticks too. Taking his stone knife, he took some stronger sticks out of his bag and worked on trimming and improving the sticks. He then assembled his new snare trap. He pulled the line tight. It was tighter than before, and the structure held. That made a difference. When he finished, he sat back and looked over the new trap.

After a few last adjustments, he received a new system message. [New Craft Discovered: Reinforced Snare Trap] Mark started to smile. Then he frowned.

"Now I have to go do this to all the others." Approaching the next trap, he saw some signs that it had been visited but not tripped. He broke down the trap and rebuilt it. Moving to the next, he found another razor rabbit. This one looked mad too.

"I wonder why they don't like me. Oh right, I want to eat them." Using his bow, he took aim. The arrow flew straight, no wobble or drift. It hit clean. Mark froze for a second.

"That worked." He received 15 XP and the +1 title bonus. After looting his razor meat and torn hide, he improved his trap and moved on. The next trap was empty. He improved it and then continued on. One trap after another, he found them and then improved them. He then found another trap with another field mouse. Another 3 XP and the +1 title bonus. He gathered his tiny meat and scrap of hide. Something had changed on this one, though. He received a different message as part of the kill notice.

[Title Effect Expended: First Kill] Interesting, the title bonus had expired. He finished all of the rest of the traps. No more catches, but he did improve each as he passed them. He also found and gathered more berries from the bushes he found. He then finally reached the stream. He found a small river fish. He received 4 XP. No more bonus points. Looting it, he got raw fish and a fish bone. Filling up his water pouch, he started back towards his camp. While walking he went over what else he needed.

He had slept okay last night, but he could improve that. He could really use a chair. Getting up and down off the ground wasn't as easy as it used to be. He also needed to explore more. Also, more tools would be nice. When he arrived back at camp, he put down his water pouch and looked around. Looking at his crude shelter, he realized he could improve that also. He realized he was still stiff from sleeping another night on the ground, which meant improving where he slept needed to be a priority.

He went over to where he slept and looked; the ground was not as smooth as it could be. Using a large stick, he dug around the dirt to loosen it up. Flattening it out and removing any small rocks that were missed. It was now as flat and smooth as he could make it. He next started to gather some of the grass and fibers to make a mat. Using fiber cord, he started to bind it together. Pressing, pulling, and twisting the grass and fiber.

Realizing he did not gather enough materials the first time he went and gathered more. Again, he worked the materials together. It was now about two inches deep. Long enough to stretch out on and wide enough not to roll off. Then he received another system message. [New Craft Discovered: Bed Mat] Putting the bed mat down, he crawled onto it. The ground did not press back as hard. The weight spread out. Not soft but not painful either. It would make sleeping a little better.

Looking up, he saw that the sun was directly above him. Not time to sleep now; there were more things to do.