NOVEL WEB Chapter 5
I stayed on the ground shaking in a fetal position for some time.
It was already my third death, but it wasn't getting any easier; if anything, I felt like my sanity was being ground away each time.
After I got some measure of control back, I noticed I had something on my back.
I had my ‘backpack’ with my stones inside, and I felt my small stone knife in my pocket.
I also felt something else, and I looked down – I didn’t have my boots.
I started laughing.
I wasn’t even sure why, but I couldn’t control myself, and just stayed on the ground laughing while tears streaked down my face.
After it started hurting I gradually calmed myself.
I decided to just ignore the fact that I just lost my boots and opted to just get on with what I had to do; it would suck to walk around without shoes but I would get used to it and I could make myself some sandals or something later.
I had work to do now, and it looked like I didn’t have much time before it was dark so I took the stones out and started my quest to reach the stone age (my previous attempts didn’t count).
It wasn’t easy since I didn’t want to make something shitty and waste my stones.
I didn’t care how long it took and I focused completely on making my stone ax, tuning out everything else.
I already scolded myself for doing that previously but I was safe here and I really needed to do a good job so I did it anyway – I would only have to be careful in the future to keep some kind of awareness of my surroundings while I worked.
After I finished I inspected my job and I concluded I did a good job.
Many would have probably done better but I was still satisfied.
I tried to hit a trunk to see how it held up; it wasn’t bad and it gave me a few manuals.
I looked them over and noticed that the manual for the stone ax was a bit different from the one I had for the knife.
I had two new sections, one was named tools on top of the list and the other was named woodwork and was placed after the stonework one.
After I opened the tools category there was the ax manual with inside all the details on how to assemble it with the relative links to the other categories for the specific tasks (making the ax head, the handle, and the rope to fix them together).
I made a mental note to make some glue as soon as I had some time, to see if the manual would update.
After my work, it had nearly become dark, so I hurriedly searched for things to make a fire.
While I looked around I thought I looked ridiculous walking around trying not to hurt my feet.
One would think that after the pain that I suffered I would be more resistant to it, and maybe, in the future, I would be, but for now, my mind was already over the limit and I was even more sensitive than usual, so I had to stop from time to time to recover.
“I won’t be able to do any work like this tomorrow, goddammit…” I thought, while scanning the ground for places to put my feet on “I really have to make those sandals before doing anything.”
Finding logs and branches wasn’t hard, though it was a bit more challenging finding something that wasn’t wet.
Since I couldn’t find it, I tried to split some to see if the inside was usable; it seemed dry enough, so I split off the outer layer and split them some more to make them small enough to start the fire.
After that, I took one of the flakes from my original pile and tried to shave off some of the wood to use as the tinder.
I also made a simple bow drill.
After I finished all my preparations it was already dark enough that I had difficulties seeing what I was doing, so I made a mental note to always keep a dry pile of wood ready to start a fire for the future.
It took me longer than I thought to start the fire, so later I would take a good look at the manuals that I got while making a fire to see what I did wrong.
When I was sure it wouldn’t die, I piled the wood near the fire so it would dry before I used it.
After that, I made my sandals, and then remade them after I got my instructions, I read the manuals on making fire and, subsequently, I reviewed the others so I could try to memorize them.
When I finished reading I went to my bed of leaves and tried to ignore my hunger and thirst.
“I should have grabbed something when it was still bright.” I thought, licking my dry lips.
I slept better than the previous day but I still woke up when it was dark out.
After laying there for a while trying to make my brain work I decided to see if I could start the fire again.
There were still hot embers under the ashes, and the wood I put near the fire was dry, so it was easier this time.
I was more awake by the time I finished and now I had to do something so I could ignore my stomach and my mouth.
Since I had some time I tried to make my sandals.
I started by making some cordage to use as the laces, then tried to make something with some long flat leaves I had near the campfire while looking at the basics of weaving.
It didn't look very pretty when I finished… I also wasn't sure they would hold.
But well, I had my cheat, so I tried them on and as expected, a manual came out.
I was kinda enjoying collecting manuals for some reason.
“Haha, be awed people, I am Than Smith the manual collector! The moving library!
…
I need a hobby…” I thought, first laughing and then sighing “I got a lot of things to do first, though…”
Shaking my head I tried to concentrate on my task and remade my footwear.
This time they looked better and after trying them I thought they were good enough though a bit too small since part of my toes touched the ground.
They wouldn’t be as comfortable as my boots but at least I wouldn’t have to look down all the time to see where I put my feet.
After I planned a bit I began gathering materials; it was foggy this morning too but it wouldn’t be a problem if I wasn’t going outside.
I started with the vines and then started cutting down trees of various sizes – not the skyscraper-sized ones obviously.
I was going to use the bigger trunks as the frame and the smaller ones to support the leaves.
I thought it was better to build it over where I revived, since every time I came back I was never in a good condition and I didn’t need to be ambushed right after I came out of that, especially if the beast stuck around after the first time – I was terrorized at the thought of me getting revived and then killed, over and over again – so I put all of them near the fire.
I worked until the moment the fog was thin enough I was confident enough to go out, and then went to drink and find some food.
I had no problem in gathering both this time, in the sense I hadn’t met any animals – I still had some trouble climbing the trees for the food.
After I was feeling alive again I started putting up a smaller version of the shelter.
I worked as fast as I could and it came out absolutely horrendous but after I went inside I was rewarded with more manuals; I was glad I had this system – though I still hated whoever put me here with passion – and I was gonna exploit it to the maximum.
“The only downside is that I have to build and use something resembling what I want to get, so that wastes a bit of my time, but, hell, I can’t really complain since it is already enormously helpful… Sometimes one has to be content with what he has.” I thought, as I disassembled everything.
After I got everything in order I sat on the logs, read everything, and carefully planned how to build it; I wanted for it to last as long as possible but I also wanted to be fast since it could be problematic to work the following day.
It was going to be a long and tiring day but at least I wouldn’t die… hopefully.