Meeting a Fellow Livestreamer

"I see you're early!"

Walking up to us, Josh took a brief look over the items that we had bought and nodded his head.

"It seems that you have gotten everything prepared! The kids probably also helped you, seeing how there are even some items I didn't include in the list. If that's the case, I think we can head out sooner than I thought!"

Helping me pick out several items that were either banned or not recommended, he helped us carry the bag into the locker and then closed it. On our person right now, everybody except Sazzy had a middle sized green bag that held all we needed. According to Josh.

Exiting the barrier, we headed straight in the direction that he came from. From time to time, he would introduce the natural edible foodstuffs.

"These black berries are one of the back up food supplies that our people turn to on days with no meat. They are quite bitter and are incredibly unpopular with the children but they are very nutritious."

Picking the berries, I opened a pocket on the multi-survival tool belt that I bought. It was a piece of very thick and tough fiber with a buckle, and many many detachable compartments and holders for all sorts of equipment and storage needs.

Storing the berries in one of the compartments, I wrote its name on the container body with a marker, and we continued to walk on into the rainforest.

"Cars are not allowed on this planet, since they create a very large noise and attract too much attention. Furthermore they require constant maintenance which no one on this planet knows how to deal with. The main form of transport here is our own two feet."

Stepping over a small forest stream that was as shallow as the outsoles of my boots, we took what seemed to be a random path until Josh reached a congregation of little houses built from wood and mud.

Bustling quietly around were only a handful of people with various hair colors, heights, structures and skin tones.

At the sign of us, most of them nodded their heads, only giving a short curious glance before they moved on with their own work.

"This is one of our camps, the closest one to the AT center. We have several of them placed in many areas such that we can move in small groups quietly and quickly."

"Is this to avoid predators?"

"In a way, yes. Many of the animals here are quite territorial, and sometimes when it is mating season, or there are signs of babies being birthed, a lot of them become hyper-aggressive and will attack anyone they see on site. Not only that, migrating predators are also a big problem since they might decide to see us small people as snacks. So that's why according to different seasons, the camps in use change."

Looking around at the houses, it seemed that not only did they blend into the trees and ground, they lacked any fire or cooking station or anything that you would expect any form of civilization to have. The most 'advanced' thing in the area appeared to be the doors of the houses.

Seeing me swing my head here and there, Josh chuckled and answered what were most likely the most common questions he had heard from other tourists.

"No, our people don't use fires, not in the wild and outside of the AT center that is. We also do not bring children to the camps, since there are certain birds of prey that would assault anything they think they could carry off with. That's also why unless you're above a certain height or have some way to fight them off, you are not allowed to leave the AT center. And we will also not show you any of the children or our vulnerable. If you are smart enough to figure out where they are, you will also be smart enough to know why."

Leading us to one of the houses, Josh opened the doors and invited us inside. The interior was quite comfortable looking, with chairs and tables and a single bed. Everything was made up of wood and normal things you would be able to find in a forest, like leaves and vines and flowers.

"This will be your temporary residence for now. Although we won't stay at camp for too long. You can put your bag here. For the next couple hours we only need your survival belt, some self-defense weapons and odorless bug spray. There's a spare backpack in that chest over there for you to use. After you're done, you can wait outside your house. I need to do something for a while."

Waving his hand casually, Josh swiftly left the house. He was even courteous enough to close the door behind him.

[For someone who asked for a favor, he sure acts quite differently in person. With his way of texting you back at Mors, I would've thought he was a fan of yours!]

I shrugged my shoulders at her words. Complaining, Sazzy huffed and puffed as she took out her frustration by jumping on the bed. And although she jumped with all her strength, the bed remained unbelievably quiet.

Sazzy suddenly froze.

[Do you think there are predators that go after those who make sounds? Is that why everything here is so quiet?]

"I don't know, but it certainly does feel quite weird that even though there are 10 people outside this house, I can't hear a single thing. I thought life in the forest would be more noisy?"

While talking to Sazzy, I followed Josh's instructions and grabbed one spare backpack from the chest he pointed out and stuffed the items he mentioned inside. Then, zipping the bag I brought and leaving it on the table, we exited the small house.

Immediately we saw Josh exit out of a man's house. Heading towards them, the man who Josh was with took one look at us and then immediately lit up as if he saw a billion UC coins in front of him.

When we reached them, Josh was shaking his head and had one palm on his face. The man beside him on the other hand practically jumped forward to introduce himself.

"Hello Chef! I am Tim, from the channel Tim's Survival Show. Would you perhaps allow me to livestream you as you go around gathering ingredients, or cooking! I won't disturb you! And if there was anything you didn't want me to livestream then I will immediately turn it to sound only or even turn off the stream!"

While rattling off like a machine gun, Tim pulled out his Jolt page to verify that he was telling the truth.

At the side, Josh heaved a sigh.

"Tim, you're coming off a bit too aggressive. How about you head back inside and prepare what you need to. Then you can talk to her."

Backing off as quickly as he had come up to me, he nodded his head vigorously as he rushed into his house.

"Tim's not a bad guy, just a fan of yours!. He's a regular here so I hope you aren't too startled by him."

Shaking my head slowly, Sazzy chimed in from the side.

[His idea doesn't seem too bad. It's good exposure to a new audience. If he really doesn't disturb us, then I don't see why this would be a bad idea!]

Giving myself a while to digest Tim and Sazzy's words, Josh waited for Tim to exit his house before he gave a brief outline of what we were going to do for the next couple of hours. A very very brief outline.

"Ingredient collection."

After those two words, Tim leaned, turned his head and looked at me with shining eyes. They were so bright I think I could practically see the light radiating out of them. Giving a little helpless sigh at his actions, I agreed to his streaming. The moment I said yes, Tim dug his hand into his backpack and pulled out his livestreaming camera.

In front of us, Josh looked at Tim with a small frown.

Leaving the camp, we walked for a few minutes before Josh stopped .He pointed at various types of plants, fruits and edible flowers, explaining their use in cooking along the way as I copied most of what he said into my personal terminal. I also picked some of the ingredients and tasted them, then storing some that interested me into my survival belt.

Pointing to a tree with a slight golden sheen on its dark brown bark, Josh peeled a piece of the bark and handed it to me.

"This bark is usually used as a back up ration in the event we do not have meat or enough food. It's incredibly bitter as well, so even though it is quite common, it is not in our diets or dishes."

Breaking a piece of the bark, I licked it. It tasted like dirt mixed with the most concentrated form of 'bitter' feasibly possible. After that lick I pulled out my water canteen to wash down some of the flavor. However, after the water removed the bitterness, I thought I detected an aftertaste that reminded me of something familiar. Going against my instinct, I put a small piece into my mouth.

Chewing it was incredibly hard, and especially difficult, but that aftertaste did prove to be quite a gain as near the end there was the strong bitter taste of concentrated cocoa.

Using my fingernail, I peeled off the top golden brown layer of the bark and tasted it once more. Tastes like dirt, but at least the bitterness was less. However, when I tried the inner layer of the bark, it gave a very strong cocoa taste.

Asking Josh if there was any rule that we couldn't damage the trees or anything like that, I received a negative answer. So I pulled out my self defense knife and nicked a little of the inner bark off.

Tasting it, it was definitely the source of the cocoa taste. I then used my knife to carve a chunk of that inner bark off. I stored it in one of my belt compartments with a large smile. This was a big gain!. Getting ready to look for other ingredients, I then paused as I noticed a transparent liquid flowing out from where I cut the inner bark.

Using my pinky, I dipped it in the fluid and tasted it. It was incredibly sweet. Like concentrated sugar syrup. It reminded me of the tapping of maple syrup in my previous world.

Taking a container from one of my compartments, I scooped up as much liquid as I could.

"Is that delicious?"

Although saying that he wouldn't interrupt, Tim's curiosity seemed to get the better of him as he brought himself, as well as the camera, closer.

Josh looked at my actions with a little pleasant surprise. But not before he shot Tim another frown.

"I was about to mention it after you tried the bark, but besides the bark the sugar syrup that lies behind the bark is one of the most important emergency food resources that our people have."

While listening to Josh's words, I could see Tim lean forward and dip his finger into the syrup. He then gave the syrup a taste and sighed at its sweetness. He also did not forget to describe the taste to his audience.

Josh looked at Tim working with almost no expression and waited until his explanation was done to talk.

"It's time to go to the next ingredient gathering spot.