Chapter 11 The Paused Second

"Let's settle here."

Qin Chuan carefully surveyed the surroundings and stopped in his tracks.

At his feet, Water Flower paced alongside him.

In front of the man and beast stood a large rock, inwardly dented, with a fairly smooth rock surface at their feet, situated on a slope facing the sun, dry enough. The erect rock could also serve as a rock wall to reduce the difficulty of building a shelter.

They were only dozens of meters away from the stream they had found earlier; whether in terms of terrain or other factors, Qin Chuan couldn't find any fault.

A textbook example of a site selection made Qin Chuan, who had read only a small part of the Wilderness Survival Guide, eager to try.

"First is to prepare the stone knife and fire by friction..."

Qin Chuan led Water Flower around to search, finding a stone the size of a head.

"Water Flower, Rapid Stream Break!"

"Woof!" (Coming!)

Responding with a sound, Water Flower flicked its tail, and a powerful stream of water struck the stone hard.

The stone shattered into several pieces; Qin Chuan went forward to pick and choose, quickly finding a piece with a rather sharp edge.

That was the simple stone knife sorted out.

The successful application of theory into practice excited Qin Chuan; he quickly searched the area for some dried wood and, with help from Water Flower, found some vines that could replace hemp rope. Returning to the shelter-less site, he started processing them.

With the aid of the stone knife, a simple fire-by-friction setup was soon ready.

"Watch carefully, Water Flower! I'm going to show you a magic trick!" Qin Chuan rubbed his palms together with glee, sat down cross-legged, grasped the ends of the vine with both hands, and started to pull back and forth.

The vertical stick wrapped by the vine rapidly spun due to the pulling, and one end, smoothed by the stone knife, rubbed continuously in a groove carved by the stone knife on another piece of dry wood, emitting a dull sound.

Water Flower, already curious about the meaning behind Qin Chuan's actions, now watched with eyes wide open, unblinking at the fire-by-friction device in his hands.

Five minutes passed.

Qin Chuan looked at the unchanged device in front of him and nonchalantly shook his slightly sore hands, "Making fire by friction is indeed not easy."

"Woof?" (Is this for making fire?)

Hearing Qin Chuan's words and connecting it with what she had just seen, realization dawned on Water Flower.

"That's right. To survive better here, we need a source of fire." Qin Chuan nodded, took out a fruit that restored stamina and ate it, "You go find some food nearby that we can eat, I'll continue."

He had wanted to complete this historical achievement before Water Flower, but he hadn't expected making fire by friction to be more difficult than imagined. Therefore, it was better to give Water Flower some tasks.

"Don't go too far, and be careful." He admonished with concern then rubbed his hands together and immersed himself once more in the great endeavor of making fire by friction.

Water Flower glanced at Qin Chuan and turned to walk towards the dense forest behind.

Soon, with something in her mouth, Water Flower trotted quickly toward the stream.

By the stream, a squirrel-like Spiritual Beast with fiery red fur, its large tail entirely composed of flames, was drinking water. Seeing Water Flower approaching, it swiftly stopped drinking and eyed her with a mix of wariness and displeasure.

Water Flower stopped, placing the two fruits she had in her mouth on the ground.

"Woof! Woof!"

The little squirrel paused then made two "squeak squeak" sounds.

After a brief exchange between the two beasts, the little squirrel picked up the two pieces of fruit, holding them close, and quietly followed Water Flower towards the shelter.

"Huh?"

Sensing the commotion, Qin Chuan turned his head and immediately caught sight of the little squirrel.

[Spiritual Beast Species: Flame Tail Squirrel]

[Spiritual Beast Attribute: Fire Attribute]

[Spiritual Beast Level: Juvenile Stage Lv3]

[Spiritual Beast State: Uncontracted]

[Spiritual Beast Introduction: A Fire Attribute Spiritual Beast, the Flame Tail Squirrel is food-loving and mischievous. As long as you don't snatch its food, it's relatively friendly.]

"Water Flower, you..."

Qin Chuan was about to ask about the situation, but he saw the flame-tailed squirrel touch the pile of dry wood nearby with its flame-woven tail.

"Bear!!!"

With a low booming sound, the dry wood was instantly ignited.

Having done all this, the flame-tailed squirrel swished its tail at Water Flower as a farewell and trotted off holding two pieces of fruit.

Qin Chuan looked at the blazing dry wood, then at the innocent-faced Water Flower, and after a moment of silence, he directly threw away the fire-starting drill in his hand, which had just produced a wisp of white smoke.

Damn it! The guide misled me!

-----------------

"Finished!"

Qin Chuan stretched out his hand, washed it in a Water Ball condensed by Water Flower, and looked satisfied at the straight wooden poles and the neatly coiled hemp ropes and vines in front of him.

After several hours of effort, his tools had evolved from a stone knife to a more efficient stone axe, and nearby, a pile of dry wood was burning with vigorous flames, with a wooden stick leaning to the side skewering a strangely-shaped fish that was now golden brown and sizzling.

A Juvenile Stage Lv1 Rainbowtail Fish, caught by Water Flower.

What he needed to do next was to use these poles and vines to construct a simple hut to serve as a temporary shelter.

However, there was no need to rush this step.

Qin Chuan glanced at the time.

[07:51:49/08:00:00][00:00:01]

There was less than ten minutes left until the entrance to the Dream World closed.

The remaining work could wait until the next time he entered the Dream World.

After washing his hands, Qin Chuan sat down beside the fire, took down the delicious grilled fish, handed half to Water Flower, and while tasting his portion, he stared at the one second ticking away on the panel's time display.

Before, he thought this was a normal feature.

But after the explanation from the Special Affairs Group, Qin Chuan realized that this might be his unique aspect, in novel terms, his Golden Finger.

Since it was a Golden Finger, he had to figure out how to use it properly.

With one hand free, Qin Chuan randomly tapped on the panel, trying to find a breakthrough.

Suddenly, his hand paused.

[07:53:26/08:00:01][00:00:00]

Seeing the new time display, Qin Chuan was stunned.

He had accidentally touched the panel area corresponding to "08:00:00" and, by some fluke, actually used up that second.

This second was added to the original eight o'clock, does that mean...

Without further savoring the taste of the grilled fish, Qin Chuan gobbled up the rest, stood up, and said, "Water Flower, let's do a little experiment."

Water Flower, reluctantly looking at her unfinished grilled fish, quickly followed.

Standing in the dense forest, Qin Chuan kept an eye on the time.

[07:59:59/08:00:01][00:00:00]

Above Qin Chuan's head, on a branch, a Colorful Parrot suddenly fluttered its wings and flew up, unintentionally brushing against a fragile dry leaf and causing it to flutter down.

[08:00:00/08:00:01][00:00:00]

Suddenly, the surroundings fell into absolute silence; the abrupt quietness allowed Qin Chuan to hear his own heartbeat clearly.

He stared steadily at the leaf frozen in front of his eyes, abruptly looked up at the Colorful Parrot frozen in midair, then turned to look back at Water Flower, who was curiously looking around.

"Woof?"

[08:00:01/08:00:01][00:00:01]

[Dream World Entrance Closed]