Chapter 8 The Fire Cat

After finishing up eating his diner Marcus began to ponder on how he was going to be able to consistently catch food to eat.

'The trap I used yesterday really is not that effective in this world, after what happened I have realized that some creatures while small can be pretty strong. I really did not want to do this, but I think it is the only way I am going to be able to consistently trap creatures for food and exp.'

Marcus then crawled into the makeshift bed he had set up in the cellar to get some sleep before the long day he knew he had ahead of him.

Once Marcus got up, he headed out in search of a suitable spot to set up his new trap. After searching around for around two hours he finally found a good area where there were not too many trees, and the soil was soft enough to dig.

'Time to get started I do not know how long this is going to take but it is the only suitable trap I can think of that might work.'

Marcus than began digging his future pit trap. He dug the entire day only taking breaks for food or when he became too tired to continue. Marcus spent the entire day digging and he had managed to dig a pretty sizeable hole.

'I think it will probably take about two or three more days of digging but I should be able to get it done and then I will have the perfect trap for food and leveling up.'

After Marcus spent the entirety of the next five days digging, he had managed to complete his pitfall. He had managed to dig quite the large hole around six feet wide and long and nine feet deep. It certainly would have been impossible for him without the use of his item box to store the dirt. In that time, he had also fashioned a crude ladder so he could go in and out of the trap.

'All I have left to do is disguise and bait the trap and it will be ready. Hopefully, it will work out otherwise I will have wasted nearly a week.'

Marcus then dressed up the trap to make it look inconspicuous and left some roasted nuts in the middle as bait. Around an hour after that Marcus saw a large bird that looked like chicken on steroids approaching the trap. After pensively walking around for a few minutes the bird decided to approach the nuts. When it got about a foot away from the bait the trap collapsed plunging the unsuspecting bird into the hole. Marcus then swiftly went over to the hole and dropped a large rock out of his item box onto the steroidal chicken. Surprising Marcus the bird survived having the large rock thrown on it and was currently pinned under it. The bird was pecking at the rock and its beak was actually starting to break into it. Marcus hurriedly got out his latter and climbed down into the hole. The oversized chicken then gave Marcus a hateful glare and began squawking at him. Marcus took out his shovel and walked towards the bird, the bird struggled with everything it had to get out from under the rock, but its resistance ended after a few whacks on the head from Marcus' shovel.

'That was pretty effective if I do say so myself, I did not expect the thing to survive getting hit by such a large rock but I was able to finish it off without getting hurt this time so I will call it a win.'

Marcus stored the rock and body of the oversized chicken into his item box and made his way back to his home base to dismantle the bird. Once he had bled the bird and plucked the feathers, he roasted it up on a makeshift rotisserie he had made to give the bird an even cook.

'It smells pretty good not quite like chicken but pretty close, I hope you taste as good as you smell.'

Marcus then took a bite of the bird only to find that while it did not taste bad it was incredibly tough.

'Man, this is like eating jerky, my jaw is already starting to get tired from all this chewing. At least it does not taste bad otherwise I would have spent way too much effort for way too little reward.'

Now that Marcus was well fed, he went back to the pitfall to reset and rebait it. He did this for the next few days attracting quite a few small animals that he was able kill thanks to his trap. Once he had acquired a sizable stockpile of food, he decided it was time to attract bigger creatures. Instead of using nuts as bait her used some of the meat he had gotten to lure out some predators.

'Now that the trap is set, I should go hide farther away, if something like that massive wolf comes by it could easily get out of the trap and I do not want to be anywhere near that thing ever again.'

Marcus waited a good distance away from the trap so as to not be within sight but so he could still here the crashing sound once the trap was triggered. It only took around twenty minutes before Marcus heard a loud crash and the angry growl of the creature that had fallen for his ruse. Marcus waited for a few minutes before heading over to make sure that what ever was in his trap could not get out. When he made to the edge of the pitfall and looked down, he saw a cat that as about the size of an ocelot with completely red fur. When the cat noticed him, it let out an angry growl and then spit a fireball right at Marcus' face.

'Oh shit.'

Marcus dove to the ground in a hurry to avoid the fireball that nearly hit him square in the face.

'Fuck me why did I not think that there would be creatures with ranged attacks. How am I going to beat this thing, it is going to shoot a fireball at me whenever I get up to try to kill it. I guess I can try to wear it out by leaving it here but then I risk it getting out somehow or another creature coming by and taking it. No, I need to beat it now or I probably will not get another chance.'

Solidifying his determination Marcus stated to formulate a plan to kill the fire cat without getting injured. The plan he came up with was pretty simple, but Marcus believed that it would be effective. He activated his specter power ghost sounds on the other side of the pitfall to distract the fire cat. When the cat heard the noise, it turned around and fired off a fire ball. In that moment Marcus got up, took the biggest rock he had in his item box and flung it at the beast. The cat noticed the rock coming towards it and tried to dodge but was an instant to slow as the large rock slammed into its side. The rock did not kill the fire cat, but it was heavily injured and could no longer mount any form of resistance. Marcus took out his ladder and climbed down into the hole. The cat turned its head towards Marcus and tried to shoot a fireball at Marcus, but it was too injured and only blood came out of its mouth. Marcus took out his shovel and after a few hits on the head the cat succumbed to death.

'You have leveled up to level 2.'

After killing the fire cat Marcus received a notification in his mind informing him of his level up.

'I managed to level up, I almost can't believe it. It feels like I have been trying to level up forever and now it has finally happened.'

Marcus took a few moments to celebrate his first level up since coming to Mirrion, shouting, and crying with joy a few times.

'Now that I have leveled up, I can purchase some skills to help myself fight and hopefully level up easier. It has been a while since I have checked my status, I wonder what new skills I will have access to now.'