Nash awoke the next morning, in a lean to, on a bed of grass Jay had put down before he crawled in to sleep. He felt an arm wrapped around his stomach, happy to have a warm body next to him in the cold morning breeze coming off the lake. He closed his eyes and waited for Jay to wake up, not wanting to disturb him. He didn't know what time Jay come to bed, but it was certainly later than him.
As the sun had started to climb above the lake, Jay woke up, and as he sat up, rubbing his eyes, Nash sat up next to him. "Good morning," Jay said to Nash, as he began to climb out of the lean to. "Good morning, Jay," Nash replied. Nash already had a plan for his morning, to carve the 15 foot section of the tree he'd cut the night before into a canoe.
As he was walking towards the tree, Jay asked, "Do you have anything I could do while you work?" Nash thought about it for a minute or two then replied, "Could you use that metal bowl to boil some water? I havent had a drink in 2 days, cause there wasn't any potable water. Could I trouble you for that folding saw? It'd be useful for carving." Jay obliged and handed him the saw.
After an hour of carving, Jay wandered over to his side with a canteen filled with cool water. "Wow, your making good progress with that canoe," he exclaimed, "I let the water sit and cool but it was still really warm, so I filled the canteen, tied some paracord to it, and sank it into the lake to cool it down more. You're working so hard on the carving here, I doubt warm water would be very pleasant." Jay handed him the water, and Nash put the saw and knife down to take a drink off the canteen. "I also have some ginseng in my bag if you'd like to make tea later today," he said handing Jay back the half filled canteen. Jay took a few sips of water from the canteen, and screwed the lid down tight. "Could you get my sharpening stone, and your sharpening file? The blades are getting dull," Nash said to Jay. As Jay left to gather what he asked for, Nash took a break from cutting into the wood. He already had the outside of the log carved into shape. Now he just need to carve into the log, flip the craft, and smooth out the bottom edges.
Jay came back with the sharpeners, and as Nash sharpened his knife, Jay sharpened the saw. Jay handed him the saw and asked, "Is there anything else I can do while you're carving?" Nash had been thinking about what needed to be done for most of the morning, and had an answer ready. "Could you disassemble the bamboo raft, and cut the bamboo into sections about 3 or 4 feet long. We could use them for fence posts, torches, and the neck for the paddles. Then, come back here and use a piece of this tree I cut to make paddle heads, and we can build some oars. Feel free to use one of my throwing knives to cut the bamboo and carve with."
Jay went to work, doing as Nash had asked, while he continued carving into the log. Another hour passed before Jay came back, and he was amazed by how quickly Nash had carved out the log. He sat down nearby and starting carving the head of a paddle when Nash got another system message, "Woodcutting plus 1."
He turned to Jay while he was carving, and noticed he didn't hear his systems voice. He worked up the courage, still thinking he was going insane, and asked, "Do you ever hear a loud voice shouting something plus 1?" Jay turned to him, with an expression of relief and told him, "I thought I was going crazy." They both laughed, Nash thinking the same thing about himself just minutes ago.
"Have you upgraded any abilities," he asked Jay. Jay looked at him and said, "I upgraded my Agility, but I haven't had much use of that. I was gonna use the next one for Charisma, but I don't think I need it now," he admitted bashfully. Nash smiled as he continued carving. Within 15 minutes of their conversation, Nash had finished carving out the inside of the canoe, and Jay had a paddle head carved out. Nash flipped the canoe over and start smoothing out the edges to the flat bottom of the raft, and Jay had started carving out the next paddle head. Nash finished his carving before Jay, and grabbed the paddle head, walking towards the bamboo sections back at their campsite. As he got to slicing the bamboo, cutting a slit down the oar handle to slide the paddle head into, Jay walked up with the second paddle head. "Can I use some of that paracord to fasten the paddle together?" Nash asked Jay. "Of course," Jay replied. As soon as he finished building the paddle he heard the system again, "Crafting plus 1, ability point unlocked."
He turned to Jay and said, "I got another ability point. What do you think I should use it for?" Jay smiled, not expecting the question. He liked the thought of Nash looking to him for advice. He thought about it briefly, then replied, "Maybe stealth?" Nash thought back to the day they met, and remembered how quickly Jay had seen him. "System, put it into stealth," Nash said.
Nash and Jay walked over to the canoe he had just carved. They both grabbed an end of it, and flipped it upright. They carried it to the water, and grabbed the paddles from the shoreline. "Ready to take it for a spin?" Nash asked Jay. Jay nodded his head and they pushed out into the water. Jay had never been canoing before, but quickly got ahold of paddling. They brought it back to the shore, and quickly gathered their equipment. "Make sure you don't leave anything. I'm sure we'll be back here soon, but you never know for sure," Nash told Jay. They gathered their things, and hopped back in the canoe with the basket of meat.
As they paddled out to the middle of the lake, they noticed smoke rising into the sky from an edge of the lake. They got closer to the source of the smoke and saw several people walking around.
"Do you see what I see?" Nash asked Jay.
"Civilization!" Jay replies happily.
They quickly paddled closer to the group, and noticed only a few of them had weapons.
"We should take our canoe just west of there. If they have a bow, a well placed arrow would sink this thing," Nash told Jay. They pulled the canoe onto the shoreline. "Jay, stay here and guard the canoe. I doubt they have many boats of their own," Nash said as he dismounted.
"Please be careful, if anything happens, shout, and I'll be right there," Jay says as Nash begins running towards the smoke.