“Even if I had the tools to make them, it’s not like I’m any good at throwing axes or javelins. I’ve never used a bow and arrow either.”
I had lined up all kinds of tools I crafted using materials on hand in front of the fire.
First, I made a stone axe. It felt wrong not to; it was the foundational tool of so many games. It was amazing. I took an ordinary stone and a gnarled piece of wood and turned it into the perfect stone axe with a straight handle and sharpened stone edge. Now I could spend time chopping down trees and splitting skulls, should anything hostile show its face.
Shame I’d never cut down a tree or faced off against a wild animal in my entire life and had no idea what I was doing. Ha ha ha!
Next, I made a stone spear. I used a stone and piece of wood for the materials. I know, I know, that went without saying. Sorry for stating the obvious. This one had a spearhead that looked like it was made of chipped stone instead of a blade like the axe. The tip was sharp enough to easily pierce an animal’s hide and potentially mess up its vitals with a clean hit. The balance wasn’t bad either, so it seemed like it’d work for stabbing or throwing.
I gave throwing it a shot, and it flew reasonably far before sticking into the ground. I didn’t know why the tip didn’t break, but it was all good to me! If I was going to actually use it as a weapon, I figured it’d probably be best to prepare a bunch of spears and throw them in succession. I bet I’d cause a lot of damage on a hit.
Then I made my favorite: a bow and stone-tipped arrows. I crafted the bow using a very supple branch and a nearby creeping vine-looking plant that looked like it’d make a good bowstring. When I nocked and let loose an arrow, it flew pretty far. There were two problems, though: it didn’t fly straight, and I couldn’t hit my target. I’d need practice.
Finally came the star performer: a stone knife. It was a very sharp blade with a wooden handle, and it did a phenomenal job. Scraping off pieces of trees and cutting plants with it was practically effortless. To my dismay, it broke after I got too carried away hacking off tree branches. I had to be careful with how I handled it, especially since I didn’t want to cause myself any undue lacerations.
“Well, now I can breathe a little easier.” I felt a bit safer now that I had weapons, crude as they were. Then I noticed something interesting. “Huh. Now that I’ve got a stone knife, I can craft more kinds of stuff.”
Knives were also tools for making things, after all. I was able to craft crude stone implements just by putting stones and pieces of wood together, but by using those tools, I could make even more things out of wood and plants.
For example, my crafting menu now included things like wooden plates and a basket made of woven fibers from plants or wood. There were two things in particular that looked quite useful.
“A wooden canteen and a pump drill fire starter kit sound like good things to have.”
It went without saying why a canteen would be good, but it was incredible I could make that fire starter kit. It was an evolved version of the bow drill I had made. The main part of it was an axle like a long spinning top. You fitted it into a hole in a bar, which acted as a handle. There was a string wrapped around the axle that was tied to both edges of the bar, and pulling the handle up and down caused the axle to rapidly rotate left and right, creating enough friction to throw sparks.
Huh? You don’t really understand what I mean? That’s the best I can do to explain it; go look it up on the internet. The important thing here was that I had obtained a tool for easily starting fires. I had managed to make a fire from wood and grass, so I decided I’d collect more to keep on me.
“Having an inventory sure is handy.”
I could even store the tools I’d made in my inventory. Normally, it would’ve been near impossible to go around carrying all these heavy stone spears, axes, and whatnot. On my actual person, I had two pockets in my sweatshirt and two pants pockets that I could use for storing stuff. I would’ve been really weighed down if I only had those and my arms to carry things in.
In the end, I had three stone spears, one stone axe, one bow, twenty arrows, a wooden canteen, a fire starter kit, some chopped wood and bark to use as kindling, a stone knife, and a woven-fiber basket I could sling over my shoulder for carrying throwing stones. It had taken some trial and error to figure out the menu, but in just three hours, I’d kitted myself out with a small Stone Age armory. In your average light novel, this would definitely be considered a special ability that let me cheat at life here…
“What a lame-ass ability.”
Sure, it was beyond regular human intellect. However, the only thing I could do with it was effortlessly make crude tools. And since I was still clumsy at using those tools, I didn’t feel overpowered at all.
“This is the kind of thing you’d expect a minor character to have.”
Given the choice, I’d prefer the ability to make whatever tool I wanted appear or something like that. Being able to half-ass emulate a survival game like this was stupid beyond belief. Why? Games like this usually had a god mode (where you could be invincible, fly, and go through objects) or a creative mode (where you could get an infinite number of materials). Console commands were apparently also off the table. I couldn’t use actual cheats here at all. It was such a stupid power, yet it was currently my only lifeline.
“Time to get some sleep. Going hunting at night on the very first day always results in death.”
Using the crafting menu and another feature I discovered, I managed to figure out a safe way to sleep in the tree: I made a hammock using plant and wood fibers. However, I had never used a hammock before; could I actually hang it and use it? Once again, my newfound superpower came to the rescue.
“Huh, this is pretty handy.”
I switched to place mode by calling up the UI and pressing “Use” on the hammock. A three-dimensional, semi-transparent hammock appeared to me. I moved my eyes’ center of focus to an appropriate position and thought about placing it there. The hammock popped up precisely where I wanted it.
I used my double jump to climb the tree and then lay down in the hammock, which was hidden among the branches. Thankfully, it didn’t get all that cold overnight. If it had reached freezing, I would’ve been up a creek without a paddle.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry…”
Tomorrow I’d go foraging. I had been worried about not being able to sleep from hunger and thirst, but I zonked out then and there, probably from fatigue and anxiety. I hoped tomorrow would bring better things.