Glancing down at the sleeping creature using his chest as a hug pillow, Aoni couldn't help but smile.
'If you took away the impressively sharp claws, it really is quite cute; however, being cute isn't nearly enough to keep me motivated and living.'
'I need a partner if I'm going to get started on building up my territory; after all, I only have 30…scratch that, 29 more days left until the protection period ends, and whatever natural predators lived in this environment are given free rein to move back to their homes.' Aoni thought while slowly petting his summon's soft white fur.
Sure, he had 13 more back-to-back summons remaining, but what happens if Aoni ends up summoning more babies like the one snoring away without a care in the world?
Worse yet, what if the summons are totally useless junk, like paper waste or something to that extent?
Try as he might, Aoni couldn't curb the budding feeling of dread from welling up inside his heart.
'My first issue is going to occur at the end of my second day here, when I've successfully burned through the last of the Tinder Kit…after that will be my food reserves, which, now that I had another mouth to feed, means I can effectively cut my 30 days worth of rations down to 15 or maybe less.'
Luckily, with how much snow was outside and consistently falling from the sky, Aoni knew that water wouldn't be much of an issue, which was good because that was an ABSOLUTE necessity. One could live for a considerable amount of time without food, yet the same couldn't be said about water.
'I've already wasted too much time sitting around…I need a plan, and fast…' Balancing himself with one arm, Aoni slowly leaned over and deposited the sleeping creature onto the bed and watched as it stirred slightly before reaching out and grabbing his empty pack, which must have carried his scent or something because it became a stand in as a hug pillow.
Next, with the grace of a cat, Aoni slipped off the bed and quietly walked over toward the fireplace before sitting down and staring into it as if he would gain the answers to his issues in that way.
'Survival Class taught me to create a checklist of the most important things in the immediate while leaving things that could be left to a later date, for a later date.'
'In an Arctic environment, the cold is your biggest enemy, so my first task needs to be securing a steady supply of firewood to keep the cave warm.'
'The issue with that is I am stuck here in a t-shirt and jeans, hell even my sneakers aren't meant for this kind of climate, which means in the very best case scenario, I can only leave the cave in increments of 5-7 minutes never exceeding 8 minutes because frostbite will set in by that point.' Cupping his face with a hand, Aoni stared deeper into the fire and continued that train of thought.
| 0.01 PP earned |
'Although there are more than enough trees in the dense forests outside, being at the peak of the mountain is a detriment since it would take me that long to even make it down to the edge of the tree line, unless…' Breaking down his situation further a sudden idea popped into the lad's head, causing him to turn his eyes toward the opened sleeping bag and emergency blanket at the foot of the bed.
| 0.05 PP earned |
'With the fire going, the cave's internal temperature is SIGNIFICANTLY hotter than outside, probably in the high 60s and increasing. And given the size of the cave, it shouldn't ever get hotter than that, given there is no door to keep the heat in.'
| 0.01 PP earned |
'So it's perfectly reasonable to give up the comfort of a sleeping bag…' With that said, Aoni quietly moved over to the sleeping bag, picked it up, and moved to the desk before unzipping it and picking up the combat knife.
Once unzipped and splayed out fully on the desk, he went to work cutting it up into two separate pieces. Since the head of the sleeping bag was meant to cover a person's head, it was the perfect size to transform it into a coat, or at least that was Aoni's idea.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way because while he was able to cut it into something wearable, it was by no means a jacket; instead, it turned out as a hooded and puffy vest.
| 0.1 PP earned |
Still, it was better than nothing, and because he had been careful to leave the zipper intact, once Aoni put it on, he was able to zip it up with ease.
Yet, a vest wouldn't be good enough. Sure, sure, it could help keep Aoni's core and head warm, but the issue of his arms being bare and exposed was still a major problem.
Unzipping the new vest, he took it off and leaned back in the chair while staring up at the cave's ceiling.
Feeling at a loss for what to do, Aoni's eyes slowly drifted around the room, which resulted in him finally catching something in the corner of his vision: a fading notification.
He had been so involved in the little project that he had completely missed any incoming notifications rolling in, and that resulted in the lad nearly having a heart attack the moment he pulled up the TD and saw just how high his Progress Points had climbed.
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Progress Points: 5.83
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'WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK!' Aoni screamed in his head upon seeing how high the numbers had climbed.
Amazingly, it had somehow jumped from 0.20 PP to 5.83 in a little over an hour. Yet the worst part was, Aoni had no clue what all he'd done to earn that much; so while some of that number could be attributed to the Summoning, what about the rest, and for that matter, how much of the increase actually came from the Summoning?
It was at that moment that Aoni tossed everything out of his mind because the realization that he had completely forgotten to check on his Summon's Display crashed into the lad like a tidal wave.