Chereads / Interspecies Harem / Chapter 3 - New Quests

Chapter 3 - New Quests

The next morning, I woke up with the first light of dawn filtering through the gaps in my shelter's walls.

When I tried to get up, I found my body was stiff and sore from the previous day's hard work.

Every muscle protested as I moved. It seemed the makeshift bed I had made was not helping to ease my tiredness throughout the night

"Ugh," I groaned, wincing as I sat up. My back and shoulders felt as if they were on fire.

"I miss my bed."

With a sigh, I couldn't help but reminisce about the relaxation my bed used to offer every time I got home from work.

Despite the pain, I forced myself to get up. I knew that lying around wouldn't help, and the only way to ease this pain was to train my body.

I stepped outside, inhaling the crisp morning air.

The sun was just rising, casting a warm glow over the forest. The sight lifted my spirits a little, reminding me that this situation wasn't that bad after all.

I stretched my arms and did a little exercise, trying to loosen the knots in my muscles.

"Alright, let's get to it," I muttered and brought up my quest board.

***

Beginner Quest: Essential Meat Resources for Survival

- Obtain fish meat (0/20kg)

- Obtain animal meat (0/20kg)

Rewards:

- Receive five stat points

- Increase lifespan by 3 days

***

Daily Quest: Secure Water and Food Every Day

- Obtain 5 liters of drinkable water

- Gather 2 days' worth of food supplies

Rewards:

- Receive one stat point

- Increase lifespan by 1 day

***

When I opened my quest board, I saw two quests instead of only one.

"Meat, huh," I mused.

While I wanted to get meat, all I could manage at this point was to catch fish. I could craft a fishing rod or a spear and try my luck in the stream.

Hunting for animal meat, on the other hand, was difficult for me.

I might have the ability to craft a makeshift bow, but the actual hunting was the real problem. I was not born a hunter, nor did I have any experience hunting animals.

"Should I try it?"

I pondered, dumbly imagining a bow in my hand and raising it to shoot. Even with just an invisible bow, I still found it difficult.

My only remaining solution was to use a trap. Although I was not an expert at making traps, I had a background in understanding how objects work, especially when it involved some forces.

After all, I was a mechanical engineer in my previous life. I was, at the very least, knowledgeable about forces and energy. So, I believed I could create an animal trap somehow.

After sorting out my plans for obtaining the source of meat, I turned my attention to the second quest.

It was a daily quest. Based on its description, it was a quest that would appear every day.

"This is nice. Aside from free attributes, I can farm lifespan with this," I thought, elated that I had somehow obtained a daily supply of lifespan.

Moreover, the quest involved gathering basic necessities of water and food, which I would be doing anyway even if there was no quest involved, so it was a win-win situation.

For food, I could easily gather them around, but finding drinkable water in this forest would be hard. I didn't know about this world, but I knew that springs in my previous world were not easy to find.

"Should I try to search?" I wondered.

I thought that it might be easier to find a spring in this world, but I worried that it might take a lot of time.

So in the end, I decided to search for a stream instead. If I could find a spring along the way, that would be good.

But first, I needed to gather more food. The apples I had found yesterday were enough to keep me going, but I needed a more sustainable source of nourishment. Also, I wasn't used to eating apples every day.

So, I decided to explore the area further, hoping to find other edible plants or maybe some other types of fruits.

As I walked, I used my new [Appraisal] skill on various plants and trees. It was fascinating to see the names and descriptions of the objects around me.

Some plants were the same as on Earth, while others were not, or maybe it was just my first time seeing them.

Thanks to my appraisal skill, I wasn't worried about accidentally touching poisonous plants.

I found some wild berries and mushrooms that were safe to eat, so I tossed them into my space inventory.

After a while, I finally stumbled upon a small stream. It was located only two hundred meters away from my shelter.

The water on the stream was not muddy, but I knew not to drink it directly, even though it looked crystal clear.

I needed to purify the water first, but I lacked the equipment to boil it. I wanted to craft a kettle or a pot, but again, I lacked metal sources.

Hence, I turned to the traditional way.

Pulling my pant legs over my knees, I dipped into the stream and began searching for clay. I was planning to make a clay pot.

By using my appraisal skill, I discerned the type of clay on the riverbank. After some searching, I managed to find some good quality clay.

[Clay]

Rating: Good

Description:

This clay contains 90% pure clay and 10% impurities, making it suitable for creating good quality pottery, bricks, and tiles.

I didn't know what the percentages meant exactly, but based on the grade given, I guessed that in terms of pottery, fewer impurities were better.

In any case, I began collecting handfuls of clay and activated my craft skill. Various types of clay pottery and bricks appeared in the selection.

I chose various cooking pots and clay cups. I didn't need storage pots because I had my space inventory. For storing water, I crafted clay jars.

Overall, I only gained 3 Creativity points, even though the grades of the crafts were all [Good] quality. I guessed it was because of the material I used.

After crafting all the necessary items, I gathered some stones and made a fire pit to boil the stream water.

That's when I realized I didn't have a source of fire. I immediately went to find dried logs and tree bark to create a bow drill.

Although I had only seen a video online, I could still create it by relying on my knowledge. Friction creates fire, so if I could make a makeshift machine to facilitate friction, I could produce fire.

How about using my craft skill? For some reason, even after gathering the required materials, the bow drill didn't appear in the selection. This was the problem with the craft skill: some things didn't appear even if I wanted to craft them.

I didn't know the full functionality of the craft skill since its description was brief. All I knew was that it had a note below saying the skill had upgrades.

How to upgrade it, I had no idea.

My only plausible answer was to raise my Creativity.

Anyway, putting aside my craft skill problem, I began making my own version of a bow drill. Eventually, after a few trials and errors, I managed to create one.

[You have successfully crafted an innovative item]

[Your Creativity increases by 5!]

I was surprised to receive so many Creativity points. I guess making things not in the craft selection could give me more points?

But eh? Was the bow drill a type of innovation all along?

So, this might be the reason why it wasn't included in the choices.

Now that I think about it, the items in the selection were mostly basic or simple items.

For instance, I could craft wooden boxes and crates, but I couldn't craft wooden barrels.

I could also easily craft chairs and other furniture, but wooden wheels and gears that I had tried were not available.

It seemed my craft skill was based on what was simple and what required complexity.

I was hoping to upgrade my craft skill soon to see if there were any differences.