Chương 44: Another Build Out

When Mark woke up, he thought about the day yesterday. His plan for the day was to do some gathering and then head to the cave, but when he returned to camp, finding Tom and Lena, all of his plans had changed. When he returned to camp, Tom was there wanting to join the camp, and I allowed him to. He is like Dale. He loves the possibilities that this place gives. He wants to figure out how to craft and improve things. He does not want to fight. He can help us build something here.

Mark finally crawled out of bed and headed out to see what was happening in camp. Dale was already cooking breakfast. Ava and Bramble were playing over near her a-frame. And Tom was sitting at the crafting table. Yesterday Tom spent his day at that same table talking over ideas with Dale. Mark really wanted to know what they were doing and their plans but knew he had to let them do their thing. Mark picked up food from Dale and sat down in his chair.

He watched as Dale had a small piece of bone and, using one of the sharp pieces of quartz, was drilling a hole in it. Mark guessed he was trying to make a needle of some type but was not sure. When he was done eating, he stood up and cleaned off his plate and handed it to Dale, who put it in the wash bucket. Mark looked around camp; it was different today. Something changed yesterday; he could not put his finger on it, but he knew that it was not Tom or Lena.

He could feel that there was an upgrade in some way to the camp. He also knew that he needed to do something to solidify that change. Mark walked over to Tom.

"Good morning hows it going?"

"I'm doing well. Having a safe space to sleep last night was wonderful."

"I see you have some leather out and are looking at it whats your plans with it?"

"Dale has asked for some items to help with cooking. I want to make a hot pad for him to pull things off the fire without burning his fingers. Trying to figure out how to best prepare the leather." He holds up the bone he was working on.

"I made this needle. And I need to make some thread of some type. But I need better tools." Mark and Dale spent the next half hour going over tools they could use to scrape, cut, and work the leather. He also talked about the workspace. It was small and limited, and he was now in Dale's way. Mark said, "I think I can help with some tools and make more space for crafting." Then Mark heard a chime, and a system message appeared. [Settlement Potential Detected] Multiple Roles Active Expansion Recommended Mark thought.

The system isn't tracking me anymore… it's tracking the camp.

"Okay, I think I will upgrade the crafting space. And afterwards try to make you some stone tools for your leather working. If you need a project, my shoes are not made for this forest. Any way to make something to replace them?" This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Mark then stood up and looked around his space. He had room to spare still, so he looked at where the current crafting table stood and the rest of the area on the south side of the fire pit.

Right, how the six a-frames were just north of the firepit in two rows of three, and the cooking area was to the right of the pit and the crafting spot to the left. The south side was just an empty area. The a-frames were the only covered area, so the first thing his plan entailed was to map out the area of where things would go, and this time he wanted to make what would be a small pavilion to cover each of the areas he built.

Basically a square with a pole on each corner to hold it up and then a square roof with crossbeams across it to hold a leafy covering to block the sun and other weather effects. [Development Opportunity Detected] Improve camp organization • Expand functional capacity • Support specialized roles Mark smiled at the new system message. His plans were headed in the right direction. He also looked over the a-frames, how could he improve those? Maybe tom could make leather coverings that could be made to go over them.

Also the fire/cooking area. He could cover it with something, making sure to have venting for the fire. He looked inside his a-frame the bed was more a platform on the ground. He could build a real bed frame. They could figure out how to make better mattresses. Well, most of that will have to wait. Let's get the crafting area done first. Like his previous build, Mark started with his shovel. He leveled out the south side of camp, where he planned to build multiple pavilions for his planned crafting stations.

He knew he needed at least four. They would also need storage for the food area and maybe two storage areas for crafting on each side of the four pavilions he would build. The four crafting areas in the middle and a storage area on both ends. He would fully build out walls for the storage areas so he could make shelves in them around the sides to stack things.

He had caught Dale's and Tom's attention while he was clearing the ground, and by the time the ground was leveled out and stakes were up to indicate where each would go, he had a team with him helping him do it; many hands make light work. While they were working, Cora showed up and started talking to Lena, and then the two of them planned to head east out of camp. Mark hoped that they would get along.

Cora was really not part of the group yet, and Lena was not a crafter, so it was good that they went out to explore. He was sure they could each teach the other a few things. Just as they were leaving, Ava and Bramble went over and talked briefly to Cora and Lena, and then they all left together. Bramble seemed unusually comfortable around Cora, rubbing briefly against her leg before following Ava. Mark turned to Dale and Tom.

"My plan is to build four crafting stations complete with pavilions over them to keep them shaded and out of the weather. To make them, I need to go cut a lot of trees and gather a lot of materials. You guys are welcome to come or stay here and do your own things." In the end they decided they would stay and work on their projects. When he got all the trees cut he needed for wood, they would come be the labor to bring them back. With that, Mark headed west to find trees to use.

Mostly looking for fallen trees or others that could be thinned out without destroying the forest. The camp is starting to grow now, purposefully, not just random additions.