Chapter 11 - Making Shelter
When Billy returned to camp he saw that Lorna and Trevor had already made huge progress on setting up the camp. Trevor was placing sharpened sticks in the ground to restrict the open side of the clearing while Lorna was painstakingly weaving flexible branch's in and out of the closely growing tree trunks.
"Hey Billy killed a frog," Su Li declared loudly to the world.
"Yeah we know," Lorna replied. She wiped sweat from her brow. "We got the notification."
"This party thing is quite useful," Trevor said. "Speaking of which."
<Party leader changed. Billy is now the leader.>
"Hey!" Billy said. "What?"
"You are the leader, Billy, and that is final," Lorna said. "Now let's get to work. This shelter will not build itself."
Trevor took the meat from Billy and the girls and hung it from the trees with strips of bark. He then gave directions to the girls to look for more branches as well as any vines they could easily harvest close by. Billy was instructed to keep watch at the front while they worked.
Some leader, Billy thought to himself. The only one not giving orders was himself. Still he did have the [observation] skill and he enjoyed the moment of respite as he watched out front. While he watched he thought about all the things that had happened so far. With the quest and the leveling up there was more here than just a system of getting stronger. Some how the system was trying to guide them, but to what end he had no idea.
Still there was something about the feeling he had when meditating that kept returning to his mind. He had been on the verge of something. He could not meditate while keeping watch but that did not mean he could not try to reach out with his senses while doing breathing exercises. However, he could not seem to find the right level of calmness. He decided to go through some of the simple tai chi exercises instead that he had been told were supposed to help cleanse the twelve meridians. His instructor had explained about energy flow and how the meridians could be balanced and widened through acupuncture as well as advanced qigong techniques, but then empthasized that the cleansing exercises were vital to maintain a healthy body. There were no true short cuts.
Fortunately the basic exercises he had learned were slow and simple and could be done while keeping a watch on the surroundings. As he moved he could again sense energy flows around him as well as inside his body.
He was jolted from his reverie by another skill gain. <You have learned the skill Body Cleansing. You are at level 1.> He concentrated on the skill for more information. <Body Cleansing helps increase the efficiency and energy flow of the body. At current level receive a 2% increase to strength and regain stamina 2% faster.>
"Hey, Billy, what are you doing?" Su Li asked.
"Just exercising," he said. "Shouldn't you be helping the others?"
"Lorna told me to rest. My stamina was quite low. Can you show me your exercises?"
Billy thought that the exercises were not stamina draining and may even help her to regain some stamina. And a little extra strength did not hurt. He was excited to see what he could achieve with better mastery of the [Body Cleansing] skill. He showed her a basic exercise for cleansing the stomach meridian and talked her through the breathing method. However after about five minutes he could sense her concentration had disappeared.
She stopped and laughed. "I can't feel anything. I saw my grandparents do these type of exercises when I was little but they never explained what they were doing."
"They takes some time to master. I am still a novice."
"I will practice," she said. "But I think I need to help Lorna set up."
Billy shook his head ruefully as she ran off. He too had been impatient when young. She would learn.
***
A few hours later they stopped for a quick lunch. Dried meat again. Billy wondered if they vegetables here were anything like back home. There should be some forms of tuber in the ground – the only question would be if they were edible.
As for fruits he had not seen any fruit trees yet, but maybe some trees would have edible nuts.
Trevor however was the one with the better idea. "Why don't we try fishing?" he said.
Billy laughed, "I can barely hit a rabbit with the spear mind a fish."
"I could try to make a fishing line. The girls can try to catch some worms and then fish while Lorna and I finish the shelter. We are nearly done."
Billy looked over at the area where Lorna had been working. He could already see that she had nearly finished a large panel of woven branches which he assumed would form the roof. All that was needed was something to block the sides.
"What about beds?" Yuki asked.
Lorna laughed, "I have not acquired the mattress stuffing skill yet. You will have to settle for some dried leaves and the ground."
Yuki pouted but said nothing. This was definitely not glam camping. They would all be cramped up in a small space until they could arrange for something more suitable – for that they would need better tools.
After lunch Billy went back to guard duty. He again followed his cleansing meridian exercises. He did not level up the skills so he was clearly missing some deeper insight needed, but he did feel fresher and more alert. He followed these exercises with some simple drills for the spear. While he was happy with his [stab] skill he envied Lorna's [Spear mastery] skill. He was sure that it offered better offensive benefits.
An hour of drills left him sweaty, with a better feeling for the weapon in his hands but he had not gained the skill he desired. Patience, he told himself. It will come. He went to the river to drink some water when a message popped up startling him. <Quest completed. You now have a suitable shelter – 20XP.>
Billy smiled. Another quest complete and only 16 more XP needed to reach level 1. He gave two thumbs up to Lorna and Trevor who were sitting exhausted on the ground with a nice leafy canope over their heads. They smiled at him and then leaned back to rest.
***
The light was dimming and Billy's eyes were half-closed when he sensed movement in the bushes about fifty meters from where he stood. He could feel eyes on him and a chill went down his spine. He signaled to Lorna and Trevor and they quickly came over.
By now Trevor had a gentle fire going with some meat and a couple of tiny fish cooking on spits. Billy whispered to what he saw and Lorna went back to fetch her spear.
Together Lorna and Billy moved as quietly as they could towards the bushes. Before they were even close to the bushes a slight figure sprang up and sprinted away.
Before it had a chance to completely disappear Billy was able to analyse it. <Rat fiend small boss – level 4. Favorite food: lemons.>
Billy and Lorna looked at each other. For a few minutes they debated trying to follow it realizing that it could lead others to their location but given that darkness was quickly descended they decided to wait until morning.
The had just returned to camp when another quest appeared. <New quest. Find rat fiend lair and destroy all rat fiends within 24 hours. Quest reward: 2 skill books. Quest failure: death by rat fiend.>
Yuki in particular was frightened by this and Billy knew she would be getting little sleep this night. They set watch with two people guarding for four hours. Lorna and Su Li took the first watch while the others tried to sleep. Billy surprised himself by falling asleep after a few minutes of meditation.