Mark woke up to another day. He felt warm and secure. Getting out of his lean-to, he looked around his camp. Today he was going to work on gaining some control. He walked through the forest and reviewed what he had. At each trap he passed, he stopped and looked at its placement. At one, he found there were no tracks or activity nearby. It was in the wrong place, so he stored it and continued to the next trap.
[Spined Forager — Level 2]
It looked less aggressive than the razor rabbit, which was of a similar level. Looking over the trap, it had worked well. It was a clean catch. He killed and looted it. He looked into his inventory at the odd items he had. He would have to figure out a use for some of it soon. When he got to the river, he headed upstream to check his fish traps. The smaller one had nothing today, but when Mark looked closer, he realized one of his rocks had shifted where his catch would have slipped through and gotten away.
He adjusted the trap, not just fixing it but improving it. Moving to the newer trap, he was delighted to find something new. It was fast and darting back and forth. But it was stuck. Using his spear, he caught it.
[Stoneback River Fish — Level 2]
Looking past the stream, Mark looked into the forest. He wondered where the boundary was. Mark crossed the stream and made it about thirty feet and felt that feeling again. A little farther on, he received the system message.
[Notice]
You are leaving your controlled area.
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He thought about where his camp was and where he currently was. Yesterday he had gone north and found the end of his area. He began to map out his area in his mind. He still needed to find the east and south borders of his area. But that would have to wait for another day. It was now time to look for the creature he found yesterday.
Mark returned to where he had found the tracks before. He followed them, making sure to stay back so as not to be noticed. He eventually found it. It was following the same path it had followed yesterday. That would make things a lot easier for him. It was huge, bigger than the other animals his current traps would catch. There was no way to build a snare big enough to catch it.
Watching it go through the forest, following the same path, gave him an idea. He followed the path, knowing it would eventually bring the creature back through this area. He needed something to hit it hard. Looking at his bow, he just shrugged. The bow was not strong enough to take it down. He looked around in the forest and found many dead trees. He could build something to swing and hit the thing hard. Mark found the perfect tree about six feet long and a foot in diameter.
Using his axe, he trimmed off all the dead limbs. Then he cut it down to just a little over three feet long, then picked it up and stored it in his inventory. He instantly had a bloated feeling, and then he received a system message.
[Encumbrance Increased]
Carry Weight: 68 / 50
Status: Overloaded
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Mark said, “So much for my endless pockets.” He then pulled the log back out, and it thumped to the ground. He then started to gather fibers; he would need a lot of them. He started to make a fiber cord. Mark looked at his fiber cord and then at his log. This would not be strong enough to hold the log. He puzzled over his problem for a minute, then decided he could make a better and stronger material and took three lengths of his fiber cords and started to braid them together. When done, he received a new system message.
[New Craft Discovered: Fiber Rope]
The system apparently agreed with his idea, so he made more rope. He first had to get his log where he wanted it. Tying a rope to one end, he made a loop on the other end. He looped it over his head. He then pulled it back to the path where he planned to build his new trap. At the trap site, he tied a rope to one end of the log and threw the other end over a limb above. Using the rope, he lifted that end about a foot off the ground and secured it.
He then tied another rope to the other end of the log, threw it over the limb, and pulled that end up to match the first. Once secured, the log looked like a very large wooden swing. Using another rope, he pulled one end of the log back to the trunk of the tree. Letting go, it swung across the path. About halfway across, one of the ropes broke, and it crashed to the ground. Looking at the rope, he saw that he was a little sloppy when he was making it, and it had broken with the weight of the log. After repairing it, he tried again.
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The log worked exactly as he had envisioned it, and he tested it a couple more times to be sure. He then built a trip wire across the path and connected it to the rope on the tree. The plan was that when triggered, the log would swing down and hit the creature from the side, killing it. After looking over his trap and adjusting a few things here and there until it was exactly how he wanted it, he stepped back. Using a stick to hit the tripwire, he watched it swing down and across exactly how he had planned. He then stepped back and got a new system message.
[New Craft Discovered: Improved Deadfall Trap]
When he was done, he stood there for a moment looking down the trail the creature always followed. That should be enough. But even as he thought that he wasn’t sure. Mark finally turned and headed back to camp. “Let’s see if you come back.”
Mark looked through his inventory. He needed something to eat and some time to think things through. The stoneback fish looked inviting. He did not want to eat fish by itself, though. Pulling out the root vegetables, he looked them over. They looked like they would work. Pulling out his stone knife, he peeled and diced the vegetables up. Then he set them aside and started the fire.
When the fire was ready, he put his cooking rock on it and added the stoneback fish. When the fish was mostly cooked, he added his vegetables. Once added, he stirred it around. He wanted the veggies tender but not burnt. He really regretted that he had no seasonings and would need to add looking for seasonings to his list.
He ate his food slowly, thinking over his new trap and his new adversary. The vegetables were amazing even without seasonings; the flavor was great. The fish was better cooked this time as compared to last time. Mark wondered if it was the skill or just better fish. He was slowly getting used to the idea of cooking on a rock. After taking his time with the meal, it was finally time to check his traps.
He checked each trap as he went, collecting anything they had caught and resetting them as needed. When he arrived at the deadfall trap, the log was hanging in the middle of the path. There was no prey, but the tracks showed that something had triggered it.
He wondered if his trap moved too slowly. Looking closer, he could see blood on the end, which meant it should have hit it. Then he saw that the bushes just past the impact point had been smashed down. Looking at where it must have landed, he saw stomp marks. So it must have hit it hard. He could see it in the broken brush. He could see it in the blood on the ground. It should have been enough.
But somehow it had just walked away. If that log had hit him, he would have been dead. His grip tightened slightly. If it had been him, he wouldn’t have gotten back up. So why did this thing get up? Mark let out a long sigh. Looking at the new tracks, he could see where they went back and forth, like it had stomped around some. And then it had just continued down the trail like nothing was wrong. Mark then received a system message.
[Trap Effectiveness: Insufficient]
“Really?” Mark thought. The system just kicked him while he was already down. Mark then dismantled his trap and set the log to the side of the path. He then opened his status screen again and saw that control had dropped. So his failures counted against him. It did not just depend on what he built. It also depended on what he failed to hold onto. He spent the next half hour following the tracks. Just in case it had died after all.
He finally stopped when he heard a sound. Peeking from behind a tree, he saw it again. The same thick hide, layered like bark. It was moving without hesitation. There was no limp, no weakness, and no sign that anything had slowed it down. Nothing at all. His jaw tightened. It had survived; it hadn’t even cared. Then he received a new system message.
[Threat Assessment Updated]
Target: Unknown
Status: Unharmed
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He finally turned away and returned to the spot where he had built the deadfall trap. He looked it over again. This really was the best spot. Mark crouched near the impact point. Maybe the angle was wrong? Maybe the trap was set too high. Or was the log swinging too slowly? It had hit it, just not where it needed to. The thing had just kept moving, no stopping, no hesitation.
Mark realized one thing: he did not need to hit it. He needed to hold it. Mark pulled out a shovel and looked at the path. If he dug a hole for it to fall in, that would keep it from getting away. The ground was harder than expected, and he only got a little bit out of each shovelful. He had to take breaks often because of fatigue but was surprised that he could work longer and harder than before. He wondered if that was because of the stats or just being in this different world.
By the time he was done, he was still sore, stats or not. His arms ached, his back ached, and his legs ached. The pit he created was not perfect. But it was built; he hoped it was deep enough. Mark then went and gathered some straight limbs, as he planned to place them as spears at the bottom of the pit. He used a rock to sharpen the ends and cut off any extra leaves sticking to the limb.
Mark placed them in the pit, adjusting them until they looked right. Climbing out of the pit, he looked down at it. It was maybe four feet deep, or just a little more. Was that enough? It didn’t feel like it was enough. But it was what he could manage for now. Looking at the spikes, they looked sharp but not perfect. Not strong enough to go deep, but it should hurt. But would it stop it? That was the question.
Gathering some limbs, he started placing them over the pit, then added dirt and grass to camouflage it. He made sure the covering was sturdy enough to hold but weak enough that the beast would fall through it. This should work, but he did not feel convinced. He worried about the trap and all that he had done, but it was everything that he could think of to do. He hoped it would work this time. Then a system message appeared.
[New Craft Discovered: Shallow Pit Trap]