Another World Story

Day Nine: My Days at the Forest

John imagined all the possible ways he could use those exploding twigs and was amazed. With those twigs in hand, he wouldn't be afraid of those wolves! If they appeared, he could just light one up and throw one at the wolves, and he could make a killing! Literally! Then, if he was out numbered. He could just burn a lot of them and throw them around, and he would have a smoke screen to escape! He'd be invincible!

As for how he's going to light the twigs when those wolves could just literally just pounce on him and kill him on the spot. John didn't need to think about those things. After all, why bother thinking about useless things? He'd be dead by then anyway.

For now, he at least had a new way to protect himself besides his "dagger". And if worse came to worst, he'd just blow himself up alongside them. It'd be an easy death. Although quite painful. At the very least, he wouldn't suffer from being eaten alive. When it comes to dying a quick death, he was, after all, not unfamiliar with it.

"But it's much better if I live. I don't want to experience dying in real life."

After saying so, John decided to tidy up the fire pit. While doing so, he also picked up all the nearest twigs around him, inspected them one by one, and threw them into the fire pit one by one. By doing so, he was able to determine which twigs did explode and which didn't. After all, if he had used a twig that didn't explode while facing up against the monsters in the forest, he'd be dead meat. It's better to make sure.

After spending half an hour, he was able to conclude that those dark and rugged twigs weren't the ones that exploded, neither the fresh-looking ones nor the dried-looking ones. It was those twigs, seemingly ordinary looking twigs. They neither looked fresh, nor dried, their surface was much smoother than those dark twigs, and he was also able to know, that if he lighted one up and quickly put out the fire, he could preserve the twig. What did that mean? It means it would lessen the probability of those twigs exploding on his face again!

What a great joy!

"Bombs, get!"

Filled with enthusiasm, John decided to find a suitable fire and started to light a fire and the twigs for him. So, he picked up the rocks around the boulder where he found the two rocks earlier, and slammed them against each other and was quite surprised to find out that each one of them could produce sparks! And each with varying degrees at that! Based on his observation, the smaller the rock, the bigger and more condensed the spark it produced, and the bigger it is, the smaller the spark. It was quite a surprise indeed! Because that means he could have a portable match that he could carry everywhere!

"Quite convenient~" He mused.

With a portable rock fire starter, and bomb twigs in hand. John had now officially graduated from being a fireless caveman to a caveman who had discovered fire and bombs!

End, were the days when he could only eat fruits!

End, were the days when he had to cower in the darkness!

He was a new person!

With fire in hand, he could finally showcase his might!

He could finally cook meat!

So, John quickly went up to his "Tree House" and took down the flesh he took from the wolf's carcass. It was already starting to smell, so John was planning to get rid of it.

No, he wasn't going to eat it. He wasn't that desperate.

"I hope I can still use it to bait some fish..." He mumbled as he looked at the piece of flesh in his hand.

He had already completed every requirement needed to make himself a fishing rod.

First, the long stick he found yesterday. It would be the rod.

Second, the thin vines he cut yesterday. It would be the string used to tie the meat and rod.

Lastly, the decaying meat in his hand! It would be the bait.

With those all checked. John sat down on the boulder that was half his height and started tying the vine to the rod, making sure that it could handle the tug of war between him and the fishes in the shallow river. After he was certain, he tied the meat using the thinnest vine he had and added a small rib bone, about 1 centimeter long, that he had taken from the wolf yesterday. The rib bone will serve as a fishhook to prevent the fishes from escaping.

After 10 minutes, John was finally able to use his fishing rod.

John took a moment to appreciate his 3rd creation and smiled.

It looked crude, but it was better than nothing!

With the fishing rod, he would finally be able to taste some meat!

He has had enough of eating just fruits! He wants some meat!

"For meat!" John shouted as he raised the fishing rod in his hand. He then scurried near the river and looked for the place where the fishes were the densest. And within just a few seconds, he found the area near the place where he had butchered the wolf yesterday. There, the small fishes were swimming and seemed to be looking for something.

John wondered if they were there because they had detected the lingering smell of blood from yesterday. Nevertheless, John would take advantage of it. With a slight whip, the vine holding the bait landed on the area where the fishes were concentrated. It had to be known, he, John Kaiser, wasn't a newbie at fishing!

But he wasn't an expert either.

He had just learned from his father and brother when they took him fishing back when he was young. During those days, he would be able to catch plenty of fish. His father had praised his luck at fishing at that time. And it was those days that John was happy. It wasn't the time when he had immersed himself in the world of books and stories. It was those days when his family would be completely inside the house whenever he returned from school or fishing with his father and older brother.

"... How I miss those days," John muttered, his gaze reminiscing on the days of his youth. Just how many times had he wished those days to return? Every birthday, that was the sole wish he had. There was not a single time when his family was able to come together, even during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Both his parents had a business trip, his brother and his family would go out of town, or his two sisters had exams to prepare for. Sometimes, he would wonder if they just didn't want to spend time with him.

But regardless of the reasons, John wasn't mad at them. He could never be. After all, his parents were doing their best for him and his two sisters. His sisters were working hard to get their dream jobs, and his older brother already had his own family; a wife and a child. Him? He was a couch potato, always at home, immersing himself in his books. He had never truly found it in himself to truly do something meaningful. So, who was he to be angry at them? He doesn't even have the qualifications.

"I just wish that we could spend time together again, all of us." John muttered, before shaking his head.

He was now in another world, and God knows if there's a way back. He could only wish.

A little bit melancholic, John decided to close his eyes as he waited for the fishes to take the bait.

And no sooner than a few moments, John felt a tug. He immediately opened his eyes as he glared at the river, taking a careful look if the fish had really taken the bait. The river water was as clear as a transparent screen. It was no trouble at all for him to look see the fishes and if they had taken the bait.

John traced the vine towards the meat bait and saw a group of small fishes crowding around the meat.

None of them had yet to truly take the bait.

John just stared at the group of fishes, waiting, bidding his time. He was like a predator watching its prey.

Seconds passed, soon a minute had already passed, and before it took another minute, John quickly pulled the rod high and tugged it back.

Splash!

As the water splashed around, John immediately grabbed the vine and pulled it towards himself.

John didn't need to verify if he had really caught a fish as he saw the small fish about four inches long flapping its tail as it bit on the meat bait. The fish were quite familiar to him as he had seen plenty of them before in the pond from the beginning where he had first "spawned". It was that liver-shaped fish. Its mouth was pierced by the rib bone hook he had put earlier.

"Hehe, I still got it." John proudly said. It'd been years since he had last fished. He didn't expect that he would catch his first fish in a long time in another world.

As he had no place to put the fish, John decided to gut it first and fish for more while he cooked it. Thus, John unsheathed his "dagger", cut off the fish's gills and gutted it out. And after cleaning a non-bomb stick, he used it as a pole to pierce the fish, and put the fish on a stick a few inches away from the fire. This way he could cook and fish at the same time!

"Quite Convenient~."

John had no plans to make stew for the time being as he had yet to find proper ingredients around the area. He still didn't know what was what, which was which. He had to be sure that what he was cooking wasn't poisonous. Plus, he had no other cooking equipment.

Grilled fish it is!

......

Time passed in the blink of an eye. With the portable rock fire starter, John had no issues creating fire and grilling fish, so he had a stable amount of meat. As there were also plenty of round fruits hanging on the surrounding trees. John was not worried about going hungry yet. He also had a shallow river near him where he could bathe every day, wash his clothes, and even drink water from...

John had also continued his training; his three repetitions had increased to five repetitions and as days passed, he had surpassed his limits time and time again. From his previous high score of 20 minutes running back and forth in a 10 to 20 meters area. He was now able to run the same distance for about an hour. His squats have also increased from 8 to 30, his push-ups, 10 to 50, and pull-ups from 3 to 30. And after doing it for five repetitions, he still had stamina and strength to spare!

John didn't know how he could increase his strength so quickly. But he didn't mind. After all, the stronger he is, the more confident he is about surviving.

John had also scouted his area from time to time, each time he would increase the distance from his home-base. And currently, he has traveled about 2 kilometers away from his base. He had yet to give up on going out of the forest and whether he was going the right direction? John didn't know. But it would still continue. If he encountered wild and ferocious beasts, he would circumvent that area and would take another way. He didn't know how big this forest was, but he was willing to continue. He had already created plenty of tree houses using the vines he saw around and picked out plenty of things.

One of those things he had picked up was the same green jelly-like plant he had put inside his school pants pocket before it was changed to his current black cotton pants. John had tried to study it for a few days and was surprised to know that it was some kind of healing plant. He just needed to grind it and take the juices out of it, and he could either drink it or plaster it on the wound. And based on his observation, it was most effective when directly drunk and when diluted with water. John wasn't eager to drink it at first, and of course he didn't test it on himself. He had fished in the lake to try it out. He first caught a few batches, slashed them a bit and made them drink the juice, before throwing them back into the river. And it didn't take long for it to take effect, and to John's surprise the wound he inflicted on the fish healed at a visible rate.

"... Is this some kind of main ingredient for a healing potion?" He wondered at that time.

So, John had to carry a few of those plants with him every time he went out. He didn't have any bottle to put the juices in, so he could only bring the whole plant. Thankfully, they could last for quite some time. Enough for him to return to his home base.

John had also picked up a batch of flowers that looked almost the same, except the color of their petals. John didn't immediately try them as medication, he first grounded them like before, each of them to make sure they had the same effect. But to his surprise once more, each color represented different effects. For example, the yellow petaled flower, the moment he ground it to pieces, the paste he made was like an adhesive that stuck to the stick he used as a mortar, it was so sticky he had to find another stick as it had already dried before he could remove the stick.

The blue-petaled flower had a different effect than the yellow one. The blue-petaled flower smelled so sweet when he ground it up, John didn't know what its effect was, so he tried feeding it to the fishes, but to his horror, the moment he fed it to them, they died the next day! John was so scared that he had to throw those blue-petaled flowers away from him. Those are poisons!

He had also found an orange-petaled flower. This time, John found out that it could be eaten. Its effect was that the moment he ate it, his... stood up. It was some kind of encouraging flower.

John had found plenty of colorful flowers, from yellow, blue, orange, he had also found red, pink, and white. John had yet to investigate what they did. At least, if he knew what uses they had, he could prevent himself from making any mistakes like eating them...

Besides those flowers, John had also found a few more of those small berries he ate before. He had to stack them up. He had even uprooted one of those shrubs and took it near his home base.

Besides fruits and weird flowers, John had picked up a few of those ivory antlers again. They ranged from small to big, and John had turned them all into his weapons by "sharpening" them on the smooth surface of the boulder. Now, he had three small "knives", a "sword" about a meter in length, and finally, his first "dagger". John had to cut a few pieces from his wolf pelt just to create a handle for them. Now with that yellow flower as an adhesive, he just uses the vines to make sure they would stick nicely.

And of all the things he picked up, the most valuable, in his opinion, was the giant brown pumpkin he found. It was about half a meter in size, the inside of the pumpkin wasn't edible, but it was hard. So, John cleaned the inside and polished it properly, making sure there would not be any more of the meat of the pumpkin.

After doing so, John was able to get himself a pot.

A pot!

And using the ingredients he found along the way of his journey, John was now finally able to cook his fish stew!

Unfortunately, there were no other types of meat.

But it would come with time.

For now, John was only thankful that he had survived in the forest for about a week and a half. He was still unsure whether he could last for longer, but at the very least, he was making progress as he spent his days inside the godforsaken forest. He would continue traversing the area, hoping that he would be able to finally find his way out.

And as he continued in his current direction...

Unbeknownst to him, a danger far exceeding his encounter with the wolf awaits...