Survival Skills

Almost night, she makes a place again for her to sleep, and the next day she keeps walking.

However, this part of the forest is very dense and she's getting stuck many times. Her clothes are getting ripped and she's getting cut sometimes too.

"Good morning." Claud speaks with a low voice. Trying to don't scare her anymore.

"Oh, look who is here again! Good morning. How was your day?"

"Good.. Did you find a river?"

"Not yet. Ouch! This damn thing didn't look so sturdy and sharp!" She says after she tried to move away a liana.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

She can sense his worried voice.

"I sprained my ankle climbing down a cliff, but I'll be fine." She tells. He's now worried again she won't make it alone. "Hey.. What if I use this?" She stops looking at the liana. It's sturdy and can hurt someone. She could use it for protection.

She envelops her hands with her spare clothes and holds the liana, then she tries to break the liana.

She twists and bends to break it, then she cuts her shirt to create a handle so she can hold it without getting hurt.

"Well, it is something. It won't kill a feral, but it will hurt." She tells herself.

"Good job. How bad is your ankle? And how are your ribs?" He's more worried about her health than with ferals right now.

"The ribs are very good. It hurts, but not much. The ankle is fine, the problem is that it will take a long time to heal because I need to keep walking. When I find the river, I'll wash myself and try to dress the ankle in a way to support it better. Now I just need to endure."

"Do you still have those fruits?"

"I have two." She says going back to walk, now using the liana sword she made to move things away from her.

"I sensed where you are, the village is still 2 days away. I think you need to save energy, fishing will tire you. Try finding fruits to eat until you find the village."

"Not actually. Making a fire that might be more tiring."

"Fire? What do you mean?"

"To roast the fish."

"Roast it?" He sees in her mind the process of making fire and roasting the fish. "No. That will be too tiring. Eat it raw like it's normally done, if you get a fish."

"No way. I don't know what kind of fish there are in this world. What if they get diseases? I might die of food poisoning. I can't take risks. Even more that I'm weaker now, my body will get sick easily."

He sighs again. Females are indeed more fragile and she was raised somewhere different, with different food, she might be more fragile than normal.

"Then eat fruits. Go after them now. I can tell you which ones are not poisonous." 

"All right. It's not like I will find it right away, but let's try." She simply keeps walking, but trying to pay more attention to the trees too and try finding fruits. "What about edible plants? Or roots?"

"There are some, I'll deepen our mental connection so I can see through your eyes. You might feel strange."

"Ok…"

"Is that an approval?"

"Yes. Yes. You're super powerful. Seeing the world without leaving home."

"I don't do this often. Only when it's necessary. And I need to keep you alive." 

She feels like her head got heavier like she was carrying someone on her head. She keeps walking and looking around as usual.

She doesn't ask why he needs to keep her alive because she knows he won't answer.

He helps her find some edible plants and fruits. She puts a lot inside her backpack, and keep walking.

"Look at your wounds. Let me check them."

She does what he asks.

"At least those things on your feet prevent you from getting flesh wounds, but your foot is swollen. Bathe on the river when you find it, it will help with the swelling and pain. You can take the Smell Plant I show you, crush it, and put it on your foot and that will help too. On your flesh wounds, you can use the yellow fruit with spikes, it's a very powerful medicine for wounds." 

"All right. Thank you. You should write a book about medicinal herbs and fruits."

"If you want... I can write someday." 

"If I want? Wouldn't it be something good for the people to have? Oh yes, not everyone knows how to read. I would for sure like it, I'm less than useless in this world." She says and laughs at herself. Thankful that she's lucky to not find any feral beasts.

"That's not true... I'm sure you will get used to this world fast. Even being fragile, you're smart. That already puts you above others." 

"Thank you. I guess." She speaks, and then she sees a clearing in the distance. She keeps walking and then sees a little river bend. "A river bend! Claud, you brought me luck, my friend!" She walks faster and more excited.

He chuckles.

"Glad you think that way."

She looks around and sees a wider place where she can bathe, but first, she fills her water bottle where she thinks it's cleaner and safer because the water is moving and there's sand at the bottom of the river.

"Interesting thing you are using to take water." 

"It's a bottle. Preserves beverages." She says, then drinks some sips of water and gives a relieved sigh.

First, she finds a long piece of wood that she can use as a fishing rod. Then she uses many stripes of clothes to create a line.

She curves many paper clips and ties them together to create a hook, then sharps it on a rock. She ties the hook on the line, then she finds a huge bug to use as bait.

Claud is impressed, watching that little fragile female creating a hunting tool by herself. Something no one does there because they can simply hunt with their hands.

She chooses a place where she can see fish and then puts the line in the water. Claud notices she is dead silent, to not scare the fish away, and then from nowhere, she pulls a fish from the river.

"Hah!! Dinner is on me!" She says proudly.

"I must admit that was brilliant."

"No one fish here?" She asks.

"Not like that. Beasts hunt with their hands and claws." 

"Interesting. I would love claws now to remove the guts from the fish."

He watches her searching for rocks, she hits rocks together until one breaks into a sharp form that she can use as a blade.

She uses it to cut open the fish and remove the guts. She puts the fish on a stick, then she walks around to gather wood.

She makes fire after many tries, Claud protests in her mind constantly for her to stop but when the fire starts burning he actually becomes proud of her.

She leaves the fish cooking next to the fire, then she prepares to bathe. Claud had to leave because he was tired and also because she asked for privacy, she didn't want him to see her naked.

The cold water made her relax deeply, she almost fell asleep. She looked up to the sky and sighed, worried about how things would be now.

She rests her chin on her crossed arms at the edge of the river and closes her eyes to relax. She hums softly and tries to meditate, understanding that worrying too much about the future won't help her. She needs to live now and then try to build a future somehow when she's ready.