Chapter 7: Making A Base Part 1

I awake to the familiar darkness from the day before. Even though I slept, it didn't feel like I really slept at all. I take a few minutes to go over mentally what happened. Not really sure what exactly happened. It felt so surreal, meeting Pola and seeing all his memories. 

I see at the entrance tunnel that there is some light coming in. Since there is light coming in the day must have started. I have a lot to do today, I have to make some weapons to protect myself. Start a fire so I have warmth and light. Also have to make a makeshift base above the cave.

There's some room down here, but not easily accessible to put things down here. I move my stiff body from the sleep I had, if you can call it that. I move through the little tunnel towards the light that comes in from up top. A gradual incline makes it a little difficult to get through. 

Once I make it to wear light is coming in and I can head up, I take my time. Slowly climbing out using the ridges on the sides. My head pops above the surface and I look around to see if there is any danger. As I look around I see a footprint of a large creature in the ground next to the cave hole. 

My eyes get large as I wasn't expecting a footprint of some creature next to the whole, but I should have thought of that. I'm not alone in these woods. I take a closer look at the footprint to see if I can use my knowledge from earth to help me here. After looking at it for a few seconds I realize it is a canine footprint. Possibly wolf family, as the footprint is about the size of my palm. Well that's very reassuring that I got at least one wolf near my base. 

I climb out of the cave hole and look around to see if there is still a wolf or some creature near me. Thankfully there isn't anything near me. I make my way down the steep hill that I am on. Going very slow so that I don't fall face first. Once I make it to the bottom without any incident, I start walking to the creek. 

Noticing more than I did the day before, probably from the knowledge I had from earth. Or even the fact that I was barely functioning. Well there are large oak trees that my skill told me about, but also looks like there are pine trees, birch trees, and even aspen trees... but they are all different colors than normal. Maybe they have different properties? I'll have to check them out later, but first water and food.

I made it to the creek that brought me here. I bend down to get some handfuls of water. I have to stay hydrated if I am going to survive here... No, I will survive! I notice more than what I remember walking along the creek. I think this creek does come from a mountain but more specifically a volcano? Not too sure, I'll check it out on a different day. 

I got more important matters to attend to like, Weapons! Let's see if there are any rocks I can use or find to sharpen a stick into a spear. That's one of the easiest tools that I can use in this environment. I start looking at the rocks in the creak to see if there are any good rocks to break. Usually in rivers or creeks there are rocks that are either glassy or waxy, that are great rocks to make into primitive stone tools

After a few minutes of looking I found a rock that I was not expecting, obsidian. Obsidian is usually only found near volcanoes, so maybe my theory is right that this huge mountain is a volcano. 

[Item Identified - Black Obsidian] 

It must be the obsidian I just obtained, I'll take a look at what Identify has to say about it. I look in the creak a little longer, going both up and down stream. Obtaining a few more large hand sized obsidian. I also look for a few small hard smooth rocks. Thankfully those are easy to find in the creak. I bring them all to a large oak tree by the creak.

[Item Identified - Small Creek Rock] 

Well I am finding a lot of new items today so it makes sense that the system I have records them as new items. I wonder if this creak has any clay. Clay will be important to make some pots, to store either water or food. So I definitely need clay. I look in the beds of the creek. 

I stick my hand into the water and feel the dirt below. I grab a handful to feel it, if it's slippery or has a plastic look to it, then I know I have found clay. But usually mud is slippery too so I have to take my time. I pull my hand out to see if I have clay or not and my luck is not that good, it's just slippery mud. 

I move further down stream and do the same thing as last time, stick my hand in and pull out what sediment there is. This time I have much better luck, it is clay with a whitish tint. I grab a large handful and put it just outside the creek bed. I go back and grab as many handfuls as I can. Once I get done grabbing clay I am left with 4 good size piles of whitish clay. 

I move the clay closer to my base. I put them under the large oak tree near the creek that has the obsidian and small rocks. It has a clear line of size to the brightly colored tree off in the distance. I need the clay to harden a bit so that I can make them into pots. But that is going to take hours so I need to do other things in the meantime. 

I grab one of the hand sized obsidian rocks, or more precise black obsidian. I know there is a few different colors of obsidian back on earth and I believe the same to be true here on Primoria. I have the obsidian in my left hand and the smaller smooth rock in my right hand. What I am about to do is knap, a way to shape special types of rocks into stone tools. Can be stone knives, arrow heads, spearheads, the latter too needing more specialized tools to make. 

I roll the obsidian in my hand to find a good spot to hit. I need to flake off some of the obsidian to make it into something more workable. The flakes are razor sharp and will be used for various things. I find a good spot to hit and I swing down with the smaller rock.

'Crack' 

I got a good hit on the obsidian and a piece flakes off. I put down the smaller stone and carefully moved my hand so that I don't get cut. Flakes that break off can be sharper than a razor and I really can't afford to get an infection right now. The flake that broke off won't be made into an arrow head or anything, but I will use it as a knife or scraper. I can use it to make a wooden spear. 

I move the obsidian in my hand again and find another spot that I hit, getting another flake that I can use. I do this over and over till I am left with what looks like a teardrop shaped obsidian. I have a handful of flakes that I can use as tools. 

*Ding* [New Skill Learned] [Item Identified]

Oh? I wonder what skill I learned and what new item. Show status.

---[ Status ]---

[User - Pola]

[Skills - identify, Dark Vision, Crafting]

------

So I learned crafting? Show crafting skill.

[Crafting - Helps make fine adjustments when making items]

... That's not a very useful disruption. 'Sighs' Well what is the new item that I learned?

[Crude Stone Knife - A flake from a rock that has a sharp edge]

Hmm, well I guess it tells me how good of an item I've made? I think? ... Maybe? Anyway I got work to do. Now that I got some sharp rocks I need to make a spear. I hold one of the flakes in my hand, as I go look for a tall and straight stick to make into a spear. 

I moved around the area near the creek. Looking for a somewhat straight large oak tree. I look around for a few minutes and I find one. It's about double my size and fairly straight, with not too many branches. Too many branches becomes a pain in the butt to break off and smooth out. 

I get on my hands and knees at the base of the young tree. I use one of the thicker flakes to start sawing the bottom of the tree. I take my time and take breaks so I don't tire myself out. After what feels like a few minutes I twist the tree and it breaks off from the bottom. Now I have to cut the upper portion to make it smaller.

I stand the tree up and reach with one of my hands and make a mark with a flake. That is where I am going to cut. I spent about the same time cutting this part of the tree as I did the bottom of the tree. Once I break off the top portion of the tree I now have to smooth out the whole stick. 

The large oak stick is as tall as my hand when I reach up. I then take my time smoothing down the whole stick. Starting from the thicker part of the base all the way up to the top. It takes me a few hours to just smooth down the stick. Leaving wood shavings on the ground. I can use those later to help start a fire. I put the stick down and grabbed a large pile of the wood shavings. Bringing them over to where the clay is. Once I put down the shavings I feel how stiff the clay is. It's still super soft so I have to wait a little longer till I can start forming it into a pot. 

I head back to my smooth stick and bring it over to my little makeshift spot, with everything I have. I start to work on the tip of the spear. I start with the thicker part as it will have a less likelihood to break off in a fight or when hunting. I make the point about half my hand long. Not too long where it will break off and not too short where it won't go in anything. 

*Ding* [New Item Crafted - Crude Large Oak Spear]

Cool! So it tells me when I craft something. That can come in really handy. Well I am not done with the spear, I have to harden it with fire. Got to dry out the wood. So now I got to look for sticks and a fire stick. I also have to look for a soft wood to make a hearth board. 

I look around for certain trees that would be good for a fire stick and a hearth board. I see pine trees, birch trees and aspen trees. All good for friction burning. Oh! I can use pine needles that are dry to also help start a fire. 

I walk around looking for the wood, dry wood to be more specific. I walk around for a few minutes looking at fallen branches and sticks to see if any can be used for fire making. With not so good luck. Either the sticks are too small, not dry enough or rotted.

As my search expands I notice that every pine tree is bluish wIth bright blue pine needles. The birch trees look like the ones from earth, white and flakey. The aspen trees are pink with pink leaves. Everything here is just so strange. 

With my expanded search I finally found some sticks that are straight. Those being pine sticks. For my hearth board I found a hand sized birch stick. I'll have to flatten out the birch stick to make it easier for friction burning.