NOVEL NEXT Chapter 152: Construction
After the little poisonous trip my girlfriend and Hilda went on, it was clear that they need to rest for a bit, but that also means that we will be without our hut crafters for quite a little while too. But, that also does not mean they can’t give us directions.
The four of us who are capable of doing so, decide to go and cut some nearby trees, these ones without a poisonous bath waiting to drop on our heads.
With a couple of larger trees cut, we start turning them into planks to then start constructing the first real hut. While we do make some mistakes, even with the hints and tips that Sam and Hilda give us from the sidelines, we do manage to get a decent hut together. Maybe it’s not big enough for a living space. But it can definitely act as a more permanent storehouse than the temporary one we were using now.
“Wow. You actually did a pretty good job.” Hilda admits as she gets up from her seat and stretches a little.
“It ain’t no castle. But I think so too.” Lise smiles and looks at our work. “And it’s not even that late yet.”
“I figure you built that only in two hours or so.” Sam nods. “It’s impressive.”
“We did have you to help us out though.” I sit next down to my girlfriend and rub myself against her.
“Hehe. We just gave you a bit of direction. It’s more of a shame that we couldn’t directly help in the construction.”
“Even though we feel fine.”
“Doctor Ami said no, so no it will be.” Nikki joins in on the conversation.
“Your aura still felt a bit weak to me so I didn’t want to take any chances.” I nod. “Even though my heal took care of most of it.” I glance over Hilda’s body and then over Sam’s. “But right now I think you are pretty much back to normal.”
“So we are free to do things again?” Sam asks.
“As long as you don’t take another poisonous bath, yes.” I give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Or get yeeted into a tree by a dinobirddragonthing.” Lise says.
“I think you should name that thing.” Brianna says as she also sits down on one of the logs.
“Can we just name it?” Nikki asks. “Surely there’s already a name for it.”
“Not that I know.” Brianna shrugs.
“And we can’t just go with dinodragon, dinobirddragonthing, dinochicken or dragonchicken?”
“Don’t forget birdbrain.” Hilda laughs.
“Indeed!” My sister balls her fist and gives us a big smile. “I vote for that one!”
“I think we should at least make it a bit more serious, no?” Sam proposes. “What about…. Dinosaurus…. chickenus… Look, I’m bad with names.”
“Hmmmm…. how do people even name newly discovered things….” I rub my cheek.
“Uh… generally by what they look like or even with their own names I suppose. Like the hammerhead shark.”
“What’s that?” Brianna tilts her head.
“Ah, it’s a big fish with a head that kind of resembles a hammer.”
“How big?”
“About three average Dwarger men.” My sister comments matter of factly. I imagine the size of the average Dwarger person I’ve seen. -Yeah… that sounds about right.- So I give Brianna a nod too.
“Wow. That sounds somewhat scary actually.” Brianna says and looks at the ocean behind her.
“Oh, that’s not even the craziest shit that can come out of the ocean.” Nikki says.
“I can see why you don’t like the sea much then…”
-I personally think sharks are actually pretty cute. That doesn’t mean I want to be next to one… but I’ve seen some shark plushies that are really really really cute. I should get one myself.-
Sam nudges my arm.
“Mhmm?” I look at her.
“Where you thinking about shark plushies?” She whispers.
“How did you know?!”
“I don’t know. Your face just looked like you were imagining something really cute, and given the context…”
“Are you sure you are not a mind reader?”
“I’m 90% positive.”
“Only 90%?”
“The other 10% is deducted because literally anything can happen around you.” She softly giggles and gives me a kiss.
“That’s fair.” I giggle too.
“I will get you a shark plushie. It can be Mister Snuggles’ friend. Whatcha think?”
“I will cherish anything you give to me, Sam.”
“Even if it’s a spider plushie?”
“I would very much prefer the sharkie though.”
Sam chuckles louder, pulling the attention of the rest of the group.
“What are the two of you talking about?” My sister asks with a smirk;
“Nothing.” Sam quickly replies with a slight chuckle still in her voice.
“Hmm, very suspicious, ain’t it.” My sister looks over to Hilda.
“Oh, let them be. You know, young love and all that.”
“What about Nikki and I? We are young too.”
“Babe, please.” Nikki shakes her head with a laugh.
“But hon, Hilda just basically called us old hags, you know?”
That conversation goes on for quite some time more, in the meantime pokes me again, but this time to look at my skills since we’ve got a bit of alone time for the time being. So while the group is occupied, Sam and I take our respite in the newly constructed hut. Of course, after we signaled Hilda we would be doing so.
“So you said you had like 142 points left, right?” Sam asks as she sits down next to me.
“140 after I spent them on antidote magic.” I say as I open my screen.
“Alright… that’s still a lot of points to spend…”
“What have you spent yours on?” I ask.
“Mainly new skills, tracking, crafting, a couple combat ones. Some stat increases too.”
“Hmm.” I nod. “I do not have a crafting skill yet I think. Should I take something with carpentry too?”
“Well, we already have a couple of people in the party who have that. It could be usefull but maybe pick something you like for yourself.”
“Hmmm.” I look down the list. It’s true that while carpenting is really cool, it doesn’t really pop into my mind as something I really want to do either. There is one skill that does draw my eyes to it pretty badly. “Basic clothier.”
“Oh. That sounds nice.” Sam gives me a nod. “That means you’ll probably be able to make all your own gear… well, as long as you don’t go knightly fallen angel mode. Oh! You could probably even start making your own plushies.”
“Hoh!” My eyes go wide. “Gimme, gimme.” I acquire the skill for only five points. The advanced clothier skill almost immediately pops up after, this time for ten points. I grab that as well because why not. And after that the expert one appears, this time for twenty points. “Twenty points for the expert clothier…”
“I mean, do you want it?” Sam asks.
“I kinda do…” I admit.
“Then go for it. You can always get more points by leveling.”
“That’s true.” I nod and without any further hesitation I press the expert clothier skill. When that’s gone, no further clothier skills appear, at least not that I can take. However, in the list of my acquired skill, another skill pops up. Divine Clothier. “Wow.”
“By the look on your face, I can see you got something weird again didn’t you?” Sam shakes her head with a smile.
“I may, or may not, have gotten the divine clothier skill. Not that I know what that means though.”
“What does the tooltip say?”
“Uh… lemme see…” I look at the skill and start reading its description out loud. “Your skills with fabrics have surpassed the most expert of expert clothiers. Your divine touch turns the most basic pieces of cloth into masterpieces. Offering the best protection one can have with the lightest of weaves.”
“That’s quite the poetic description, isn’t it?” Sam tilts her head and scratches her cheek. “But do you feel like you know anything more about weaving and stuff now?”
“Uhhh….” I look at the sleeve of my robe. Now that I look at it more closely I suppose the stitching is a bit sloppy and the fabric isn’t the best of quality. “Hmm… Maybe?” I shrug. “I mean… I guess I can make something better than this but… I don’t know… it feels weird.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. It was a lot like that for me as well when I learned how to read tracks and recognize plants with the game’s systems. It’s like suddenly there’s a bunch of knowledge in the back of your mind that you didn’t know you had.”
I nod. What Sam just described. It really pinpoints how it feels to me.
“Anyhow.” Sam smiles. “How about we continue spending your points. You got no clothier skills left, right? And... 105 skill points?”
I look back at my screen. “Yep. 105 points left to spend.”
“Let’s see what other skills we can get you then.”
-Hmmm… what else to pick….-