chapter 16 climbing for drops (work in progress)

attention, after the tutorial end, time won't stop, the sea of stars will keep moving after exiting the game

Daniel said talking to himself "it's an MMO of course the game won't stop"

the examiner said "some idiots thought differently so a warning was added"

Daniel responded "hello examiner nice hearing you again"

the examiner responded somewhat amused "nice seeing you too" before resuming his silence

Daniel then checked his gear one last time before walking towards the cold zone with pistol and knife in hand, he had stayed in the cold zone for less than two minutes till now, just to fill his waterskin, but now he entered and started looking around for the first time, realizing how ugly his surroundings were

everything around him was either white blue or gray, the white snow, the dark trees, the grey boulders half covered in snow and blue ice, and the gray clouds in the sky, the hot zone had a certain beauty to it, but this cold zone in Daniel's eyes was really ugly

different from the hot zone there were no landmarks here, no mountains or anything like that, just a dull endless forest, even the trees were all similar with dark brown trunks and dark grey leaves

as he walked on the outskirts of the forest, Daniel started to see the first signs of life, mostly rabbits, and a few deers, but since he had enough food and clothes for now he decided to save bullets, and after returning in front of the light screen of the safe zone entered the forest depts directly from there

has Daniel entered the snow became less aggressive, the trees offered some protection, but the icy winds kept blowing giving the impression that small icicles were cutting the little bit of skin that was still exposed on his face and arms

despite being a scaly dragonewt, the avatar didn't offer any advantage in the game, to be balanced the characters all suffered the same despite their origins or form, even the strength was the same in spite of the size, the only silver lining was that the cold wasn't as extreme as the hotness of the volcano

after walking for almost a kilometer a howl came from the left and a small wolf jumped from behind a tree but daniel was prepared, after the boa snake ambush he refused to drop his guard and before touching the ground again the wolf was already dead and a new hole was open in its forehead, has usual 2 orbs appeared, and when he touched them daniel became nervous

congratulation, you found scout wolf pelt and scout wolf meat

since the wolf was a 'scout' according to the game, what would happen next was obvious, the howl was a way to alert the pack after a prey was located, for a moment daniel had hoped this was a lone wolf, and now he didn't have time and left the meat on the ground, then he tied the pelt around him hoping to partially mask his scent, and started running in the opposite direction from where the wolf response howl arrived

after five minutes in the distance, various howls could be heard, but nothing seemed to be following him apparently the meat he left behind, distracted the hungry wolves, and managed to keep the pack from chasing after him

as he kept walking at a fast pace, Daniel finally found something different, a cave was sprouting out off the ground, and the few big pawprints around it were like a warning, saying that whatever was in was not to be messed with

Daniel had no idea what kind of animal could have left them, but it would clearly be a giant if put next to a wolf, not sure on how to deal with it, and knowing from the salty comments that something good was probably inside the cave, Daniel decided to climb a big tree close to the cave, and rest in higher ground to see if he had a chance to take a look, after all, even if what comes out can climb he still has a gun

luckily the basic strength of the character was enough, and with little effort, Daniel managed to climb to one of the big branches 10 meters high in the tree, and after sitting down he took out a piece of snake jerky to chew on, as in this cold environment his hunger bar was going down faster

while snacking an idea hit him and he threw some pieces of smelly goat jerky in front of the cave, partly because maybe it could bait whatever was inside, but also because it tasted really bad and smelled even worst, Daniel really didn't want to eat it

after resting for 20 minutes, daniel was bored and was about to go down the tree, when from behind a howl was heard, followed by 4 more howls, soon later a unit of 5 gray wolves a little less scrawny than the previous scout arrived near the cave

after sniffing around one of them smelled the goat jerky and the wolves to eat, found themselves in front of the cave, after eating the leader, or better the bigger wolf was attracted by something inside it and entered the cave

seeing this Daniel smiled, he knew that the cave wasn't a wolf den and was more than happy to see what happened to the wolves that offered to scout it for him

not even a couple of minutes later 3 of the unit of 5 that had entered the cave, started to run out and a ferocious roar was heard from its depts, soon later the wolf leader covered in blood tried to limp out when suddenly an enormous white paw caught him and dragged him back inside before a sound of bone cracking started to come from inside the cave

after that, there was a deafening silence, it lasted only a few seconds but to Daniel shocked by this scene it seemed like 1 hour

but soon the silence was broken has the thud made by the steps of a massive creature was coming from the cave and a gigantic polar bear made its appearance as he walked out of the cave, the 2 wolves were too little and served only as a snack for this massive creature, awakening its hunger and luring it out to find food

then the polar bear started to follow the direction the 3 wolves were running toward and disappeared, Daniel had no idea if he was ignored or passed unobserved but he knew that this was his chance to check if the goods were inside

unable to contain his growing curiosity, Daniel climbed down the tree, to enter the cave while thinking "if the bear was this big there's no chance that there's enough space for two inside" more hopeful than sure, as he had the small cricket in hand set to maximum power

to prove him right inside there were piles of bones, and just as he fought there was no roommate

looking better at the bones Daniel saw something sparkle that made him look again, and in a small pile a gray and green backpack with silver rims and a telescopic arm with a silver ball at the end was found

congratulation, you found the explorer backpack (anomaly skin)

Daniel immediately equipped the backpack, and his in-game life instantly became easier, the knife and pistol were directly recognized and connected to the backpack so he could summon them with a thought, no more holster nor the uncomfortable makeshift bag so he abandoned them after transferring the meat and water in the inventory of the backpack

lingering around inside the bear den wasn't an option and since he got what he wanted, Daniel immediately run out of the cave, but just as he was about to run back a dangerous thought came to him "what would that giant bear drop"

a plan soon formed in his mind and he climbed the tree again, as soon as he arrived on the branch Daniel felt that 10 meters were not enough as that thing was probably 9 meters tall standing on two paws, so he climbed to a higher branch and while waiting for the polar bear to return, he started to look at the backpack menu and a light screen appeared in front of him

toolbelt

craft

repair

backpack inventory

ship inventory

in the toolbelt 2 out of the 8 available spaces were occupied by the knife and the pistol

in the crafting menu, he couldn't do anything because he didn't have any materials but he saw many basic recipes, various types of batteries, ammunitions, starship fuel, and other basic things, but no blueprints for weapons and armor, as the comments said they can only be bought or found but not crafted

in repair, he could see that his knife had still 98% durability while the small cricket was down to 86% and he didn't have any of the materials to repair them

in the backpack inventory, he could see that he had one almost depleted handgun battery and two new ones, plus the snake and goat jerky and a makeshift canteen with a little more than 2 liters of water, the materials that were left together with the black box and Gregosh's spacesuit were still in the safezone so they didn't appear here

the ship inventory wasn't accessible obviously because he didn't have a ship yet

while Daniel was busy looking at the menu, the polar bear had eaten his fill and was coming back

has he heard the heavy steps, Daniel equipped the small cricket and prepared himself, and as the polar bear was passing by the tree to reach the cave, daniel fired the small cricket at the maximum setting, which consumed ten percent of the battery instantly but even if he luckily hit the head, the damage wasn't as big as expected, and the bear was furious and attacked the tree to make Daniel fall down

after just one swipe of the polar bear's claws, the tree trembled, and pieces of bark and wood were flung away, it was obvious that it wouldn't take many hits to make the tree fall, but as the bear attacked the small cricket was shooting, after landing 5 of the 7 shots fired at the bear massive cranium, it was broken, and with the last shot the bear exhaled its last breath before falling, afterward from the bear body 4 orbs appeared and flew directly to the backpack

congratulation, you found great white pelt, great white meat, great white paws, great white spacesuit skin

the tree was about to fall so Daniel climbed down, and climbed up another one, looking around in case the noise attracted more wolves, it was always better to be safe than sorry, but after a while, everything was still silent, so Daniel climbed down and started a brisk and cocky walk back to the safezone happy of his victory

while walking back Daniel met another wolf scout but he used the same trick he learned previously, and before the wolves realized anything, he was back in the safezone again

after arriving Daniel put everything he had left back in the backpack, even the makeshift cold weather gear he had on because now he had enough time and resources, and was blinded by success, it was time to reach this famous nest that should be halfway up the volcano, where the mineral extractor should be found

so once again Daniel went through the easy small snakes and scorpions area and arrived at the zone where he met the big boas previously, but this time he kept going further ahead, during this trip he met 3 goats and 1 boa which was eating, so he managed to sneak his way to the base of the volcano, and stopped for a quick rest