20

I had been rubbing these damn sticks together forever but each time I would get a little bit better, at first I couldn't even get an ember, then once I could get one I couldn't get it to light up the bundle of twigs and fluff I was able to somewhat decently dry out. Don't know if it was because I suck at this or if the tinder bundle was still too damp, but I kept at it and after a few more tries I was able to finally get a small flame!!!!

"Hell Yea! SUCK IT WORLD I GOT FIRE!!!!!!!" I yelled out before starting to slowly build up the fire. The heat from it was just simply divine after spending that long in the rain and we were all just huddled around it and soaking it up. I didn't want to snuff it out by piling a bunch of logs onto it so it was nothing more than a little wisp at the moment but it was enough to start drying out everything. While that was going I was taking a look around now that the severity of the situation had decreased a little and found a bit more, underneath a nearby tree was a small pole jammed into the ground with a cut off remains of a piece of rope, it looked like a tent anchor but I couldn't understand why it would still be here? Another question was the rope wasn't frayed like it snapped on its own but indeed it was cut.... That meant somebody had to of been in a hurry if they couldn't even take the time to pull it up. Just what the hell happened?

But if it's here than I can use it for myself. I gave it a small pull thinking it would come out easily only to end up putting more force than I thought, before long it had come out and it wasn't as small as I thought, well lengthwise anyways, It was about as round as a what you'd imagine a tent anchor to be but lenghwise it had to be over two feet long! who the hell would use something so long for just a simple anchor? But thanks to it being longer than I thought I got a way better idea of what to use it for, After a quick wash in the stream that was still rapid from the abundance of rain, I plan on using this as my meat stick... I mean I will stick the meat on this and hold it over the fire to cook, as soon as I can find some that is....

I also found some string that had gotten caught on a bush further back in the treeline, I guess that wind had thrown it around but that gave me the idea of making a fishing pole! I mean there has to be something living in the stream right? If I'm lucky it'll be super yummy and delicious. With a smile on my face and hope in my heart I gathered up the string and looked for a decently sized branch to use as a pole, It took a minute and I had to chop one off a tree but I found one that had a sort of nock at one end that I could feed the string through and an offshoot further down that I could loop the rest of the string around. Honestly it was a little weird too have found something so perfect for what I needed at the moment.... Meh whatever.

I didn't have anything for the hook so for now fishing was on the back burner but I'm sure I'll find something soon that'll fit the bill. For now I was checking up on something that had slipped my mind until now.... 

Apprentice Farmer (6/10) - The Gifted is able to grow anything they want with an increased speed of maturation. Only applicable in worlds with abundant energy atmosphere. Conditions for ability upgrade - 10 different objects harvested.

I remembered about this skill and how I could upgrade it but looking at it now I was a little confused? It said I needed to harvest 10 objects to upgrade it but by now I had already harvested so many things from the feathers and bristles to the bird food and now the berries.... Why wasn't it counting all of these harvests?

[Attention: User has only harvested 6 different types of objects. 4 more are required for upgrade.]

Now this just confused me more? 4 more types? Does that mean that this whole time it's only counted the first harvest, and that I've only grown 6 things? But what about the possible alternative harvestable items? Like the feathers that grew other feathers? Or the greens that grew worms? Or what about the status point harvests? I thought this was a simple skill that could be easy to grow but I'm thinking otherwise now....

Should I just grab whatever and see if they can be grown? I mean the prospect of growing a tarp would be kinda nice and I could use more tarp to create more covering... But something tells me that's not gonna work. I looked over at the trees and bushes nearby and thought about just looking for maybe some seeds but I didn't want to grow just mundane normal things, I wanted to grow something cool, something that is atleast uncommon.

I know that anything biological can be grown, but it has to be fresh and not cooked or processed like the jerky was, Would a leaf work? what about a fingernail? Could I grow another me!? Nah that'd be too OP, Thinking about what I need at this moment was what I needed to be concerned about so I needed something metallic in somewhat of a hook shape.... Or, maybe it doesn't have to be metallic, maybe it could just be sharp atleast? I remembered the bristles and they were fairly sharp so maybe that could work? but they weren't hooked so that could be a problem.....

I didn't know enough about making a net to make one effectively and the same was said about making a funnel trap. Hmmmm, maybe if I tried to make it an inverted prong that might work? I could cut down the bristles and tie them together? 

After a few attempts with different styles of prongs using the bristles I finally found one that semi fit what I had in mind. I gathered some sap from a nearby tree and using some of the charcoal I mixed together what I hoped would be a good enough glue that would hold them together. If it didn't then whatever bites that will have a very bad day... But after that I grabbed a small stick that was had a spot inbetween three offshoots that I nestled the bristle hook into and used more of the sap glue after that than used a bit of the string to tie it all together. It looked like a wooden bobber after I was done but hopefully it will catch me a fish or two.

After letting it dry and harden up I got the fishing pole all set up and walked over to the stream, by now the sun was setting but as it had been cloudy and raining all day nothing really changed light wise. I hooked on one of the greens I still had after promising Rhonda I will get her more since she pouted after seeing what I was going to use it for, I cast out and waited.... And waited..... And waited some more... By now it was completely dark and I was going off the light from the campfire to see. Before I left I made sure to put some logs next to it and had Shadow or Rhonda just knock one into the fire to keep it going. 

I was about to give up when I suddenly felt the pole in my hands almost get yanked out by a sudden force! I pulled as hard as I could but whatever was on the end of my line was something strong which I hope meant big. Since I had no way to reel in I just started to slowly walk backwards and would pull whenever I felt some slack, it took awhile as every so often I would stumble forward whenever the thing would pull the line hard, but as time went on and I fought against it the stumbling and pulls lessened until I could finally see what looked like a scaled back with ridges down the spine start to crest the surface.... Are those teeth? Oh shit! Those are teeth! 

With a giant splash the thing launched from the water onto land and I could now make out 4 legs and a HUGE scaly body that had to be atleast 8 ft. long. "That's a damn alligator! What the hell!" I screamed as I panicked and dropped my fishing pole while trying to pull out my axe. Rhonda and Shadow had already joined me in a staring contest with this monstrosity. It's eyes were yellowish green and seemed to glow in the low light from the campfire. I knew fighting in the darkness was a bad idea but right now I don't really think I was going to be given a choice in the matter.

The alligator monster was still staring at us for a long time before it suddenly huffed and turned around and slid back into the water.... "Ummm ok? What the hell was that all about?"

"Looks like you passed Big Joes test." A voice spoke up from behind us. I quickly turned around and saw as a man wearing what looked like fishing gear was sitting around my campfire and he had just put a couple decently sized fish over the fire to cook. 

"Uhh well that's nice and all but who are you and Why the hell is that monster called Big Joe?" I asked while I still had my axe in hand at the ready. I sent a command to Rhonda and Shadow to stay at the ready aswell just in case things went sideways.

"Ah where are my manners." The man got up from the ground and wiped his hands of dirt before walking over to me with one held out for a handshake. "My name's Rob, I used to camp around here, but it looks like none of my things are here and it looks like your settling in for the long haul. Hey don't get me wrong, I gave it up so I'm not upset, Also Big Joe there likes to test the people who cast into the stream. It's his home and that's just his way of having fun. Aslong as you didn't attack him, he wouldn't attack you."

I shook his hand and nodded. "Wait, if this is your old camp, why was there nothing here when we got here? All I found was some left behind trash stuff and a tent pole with a cut line attached to it."

"Shit, really? Dammit that means someone ran off with my stuff. See I had to run into town for safety after I had a run in with some cutter wolves that almost chopped me in half, but thought it would be fine to leave my stuff here, granted all it was was just a 2 man tent so I had room to lay out, and some provisions incase the fish weren't biting one day. But looks like you can never be too careful out here.... However this is the other side so maybe that wasn't as smart of an idea as I first thought..... Anyways back on track, what's ya'lls names? I see your a tamer and even got a Kweh and a.... Cutter pup? Wow got pretty lucky considering what's going on recently."