To Survive You Have to Adapt

I considered punching a tree for some wood, however, I decided that it was more pain than it was worth. Instead, I decided to explore the general area around the sundial, walking between the trees and looking around for any open spaces. After almost having my face covered with vines, spider webs and bark, I was able to find a decent open grassy spot around twenty meters away from the sundial, this way, I could still go over to the sundial to check the time when I wanted.

I cleared the ground for debris and had a think about what I was going to do, I decided to look in my crafting menu for more permanent housing. However, even the most downgraded shelter cost more wood than I could feasibly have in my inventory. The best thing I could find was a permanent stone fireplace which could be replenished with more wood.

After almost an hour, my Woodcutter Minion came back.

[Your Woodcutter Minion has collected: {30x} wood, {3x} apple, {41x} leaves]

[Your Woodcutter Minion has gained {10} experience since its last expedition]

[It is now somewhat tired]

I opened my inventory to see how many resources I had.

-

<Inventory > 113/200

{41x} wood

{5x} apples

{62x} leaves

{2x} meat

{3x} rocks

-

I had finally gotten enough resources to craft a Scout Minion. Excitedly, I opened my crafting menu and crafted a Scout Minion. After a few seconds, just in front of me, a small white cloud of dust swirled in a vortex. Suddenly, the smoke dissipated, and before me, another Minion had spawned.

It looked just like my other minions except it wasn't holding anything in its hand.

I looked at my Minion menu.

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< [Level 1] Scout Minion {1}>

Experience: 0/10

[Health] 100%

[Stamina] 100%

Actions:

- {Scout}

- {Fight}

- {Learn}

~

I realised that it didn't have any resource-gathering abilities. It seemed to just be a plain minion with nothing except the ability to {Learn}. I looked further into the {Learn} ability and some text came up.

-

<Learning (Stage 1)>

- [Combat]

- [Resource Gathering]

- [Utility]

~

I was given three options on what it could learn. Beside the menu, it also said that trained Scout Minions are less efficient than a specialised Minion like a Woodcutter Minion or a Warrior Minion. Especially in terms of experience gain and speed. I assumed that at the moment, even though it had the {Fight} ability, it was probably nowhere as strong as my other Minions.

It wasn't the best but I had to do with what I had.

I decided to choose [Resource Gathering] and it suddenly walked up to a tree and appeared to be observing the tree. I had no idea how long this was meant to last so I decided to send my Woodcutter Minion to {Chop Wood} again. I still had a decent amount of hours to prepare for night so I didn't really need to worry yet.

A few moments later, my Warrior Minion also returned.

[Your Warrior Minion has collected: {5x} meat, {5x} apple, {12x} rocks]

[Your Warrior Minion has gained {16} experience since its last expedition]

[It is now a little tired]

Hold on, I already had enough resources to craft another Scout Minion. I had gained 5 apples from the return of my Warrior Minion. I opened up my crafting menu and crafted another Scout Minion. As soon as I crafted it, another small vortex of white gas appeared in front of me. A few seconds later, another Scout Minion appeared.

I now had 4 Minions.

With my second Scout Minion, I decided to also make it learn {Resource Gathering}, at the moment, I wanted to maximise my resource gain before I focus on other things. It also walked beside a tree and pulled out a book, observing and learning.

I decided to send out my Warrior Minion on another expedition. At my command, it turned and walked off into the forest.

In the meantime, I decided to take a seat and have a look at what I could craft. The {Stone Fireplace} I was looking at before required 10 rocks and 50 wood. I had enough resources to craft it so I did it. In my hand, a piece of paper with a drawing of the firepit appeared. Like the {Instant Temporary Shelter}, I saw that I could place it anywhere I wanted.

I was already in a relatively open space. There were trees surrounding me from all sides but there was enough room for a fireplace and a shelter for the night.

[You have levelled up!]

-

<Level Up!>

Level-1 -> Level-2

Rewards:

- [Unlocked] Minion Control Menu

- More Crafting Recipes

- Inventory space {+250}

~

I had unlocked a 'Minion Control Menu'. I decided to have a look at the Menu. There were a lot of controls, but the main thing was that I could automate my Minions. There were some building block-like things where you could code Minions to automatically perform tasks. I decided to make one for my Woodcutter Minion. I could toggle the automation on and off.

-

ON.

[Chop Wood] -> [Return] {Repeat}

-

With this simple command, I was able to automate it so that I didn't have to send out my Woodcutter Minion every single time manually. Although I would have to stop it once I wanted my Minion to stand by.

I browsed the new recipes for a little while, there were quite a lot of things from better housing to farming to weapons, the main issue was that they were all quite expensive in terms of resources and it'd take quite a long time to gather enough with my current manpower. My main goal at the moment would be to increase my manpower.

I cleared the ground for any sticks or pebbles laying around so I could at least have some sort of cleanliness. I decided that this would be the place for my temporary settlement for the time being.

After a little while, I decided to explore the general area while I waited for my Minions to return. There were still around five hours left till night so I wasn't in too much of a hurry.

I pushed through the leaves and branches of the dense forestry until I found something on the ground.

As I got closer, I managed to see what it was.

Bloodied clothes.

Blue lips.

Pale skin.

It wasn't a dead zombie.

It was a dead person.