RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 172

“Ya. I am even concerned about getting decent firewood. We might just need to get some dried pieces of wood from the forest and try it out. The Nandi managed to get dry piece for the cub’s nest. We can do at least that. Else, we stick to vegetarian food,” said Balthazar.

“Actually, we could stick to uncooked food like fruits. We don’t even know which woods would smoke or if any of them release poison or hallucinogens or any other chemicals. Some trees have effects in their barks as defence mechanisms against other species you know,” said Robert. He was a doctor and had studied about various flora and fauna as part of training in his college. Though, he wasn’t aware of the species found on a planet, he had a general idea of the various defence mechanisms of various species and believed that a few of them could be common in various planets.

“You do have a point,” said Balthazar. He had never heard of hallucinogens that came from burning wood, but he did know that many of the first discoveries of poisons and other chemicals were initially made from different parts of plants. He also heard about other adventurers using only specific types of wood to cook and them making lists of usable wood for cooking purposes. So, he had reason to not risk.

“Yes. This is going to be very hard to just survive on fruits,” said Robert.

“No, problem. The only tiring thing is this gravity. If not for that, I could remain a day easy without food. By a day, I mean 24 hours not the day of this planet,” said Balthazar. “In that case, I will just explore the area and come back. We could at least take a good nap in this cave. Use your blades to hack at the wood and make some basic spikes to cover the entrance. We don’t need intruders.”

He went ahead to map their surroundings with the unlocked features. The new mapping tech in his systems also allowed him to map not only the structures but also the various materials that of the different structures. It also increased the mapping range five-fold and introduced better features regarding various noises of the forest and frequency isolation technology which could be used to identify and notice different species around him. He could also differentiate between the species by isolating their vocal prints.

“All nice and good,” thought Balthazar as he checked the new features that were unlocked. “I would rather have a more comprehensive description of the species and ways to cook the species that we managed to kill instead. These guys are too serious about this,” he thought as he started to move around and map the place.

He came back in a few minutes with his backpack filled with a number of hard fruits from various trees and some other stuff. He had also found three plants found on the list, but two of them were poisonous. So, he left them and collected only one of the three. He also attacked a few of the brux coyotes and tied them to his belt using the spare crossbow string.

“Cousin, the new features are great. It allows me to identify any item on the list through my sensors. They are a lot more receptive. I don’t know what tech enabled this, but I already have found three items on the list though I brought only one. The other two are marked poisonous on the list and I didn’t want to mix them with the fruits and the normal items,” said Balthazar.

“Oh! Yes, we need to separate the poisonous ones from the others,” said Robert as he also realized their problem. “We need something to separate the two things. Actually, I think, we might need to separate the various items during transfer. How come we missed something so simple?”

“We never worked at this level before. I mean I did, but in regulated conditions where there were a proper set of rules and all the things required were provided to us. Now, these things are being left to our own discretion,” said Balthazar.

“Damn! In this way, we might have to deal with a lot more work than what we expected,” said Robert.

“Don’t worry. One thing at a time. Let us prepare for resting for the night.”

“What do we actually need to do? You made me set up a few spikes made out of a few trees at the entrance, but I doubt that.”

“I think the same. I have no idea on what we could do. Don’t know if we could use fire or something. Even the spikes aren’t much useful without someone to man and stand guard. Nothing to setup a proper trap or something. By the reaction of the Nandi, I doubt that one could ward against them with the two crossbows,” said Balthazar.

“Oh no, I hope you are not saying what I think you are.”

“I am,” said Balthazar nodding his head. “Let me take the first shift. We will monitor the entrance for alternate shifts of two hours each. Just relax and sleep”

“Just two hours? That is too little isn’t it?”

“Don’t forget that the days are half the usual time. That also makes the nighttime reduced to half the one you are used to. So, two hours are the best option. We don’t know our position relative to the axis of rotation and other things which determine the relative duration of day and night. By the amount of time it takes to darken, we can assume a bit more than five hours for the night. I would also like to get some shut eye and with me taking the first two hours, you would get a decent amount of shut eye,” suggested Balthazar.

“It is hardly enough time. I am feeling extremely tired due to the gravity here. I didn’t expect it to be like this,” said Robert.

“The gravity compensation systems in the suits are locked for us to give a proper survival situation experience. We didn’t think they would lock the features of the suits, but this is the best way in this scenario. We can sleep for more duration continuously but that would be wasting daylight.”

“Right. I am sorry. I am just too tired. Let me take a nap then,” said Robert as he laid down at a corner of the cave and went to sleep. Balthazar went ahead and started cutting some trees. He decided to make gate of sorts against the entrance with the logs by tying them up with the guts of the brux coyotes that he had previously killed. Those were the best substitutes for ropes that he could find in the forest. As he made them, another idea sparked in his mind.

“I can make a few partitions or boxes with this wood to separate items in the backpacks,” he thought. It was not a viable option for them to always put poisonous items in Robert’s backpack and the others in his. This idea would allow them to share the load a bit.

He decided to carve a few partitions and boxes, but in an hour, he realized it was very hard. He had always prided himself to be a good smith and engineer. He had been quite successful in this field even in vita-nova, but right now, he was failing miserably at this job. It made him realize that even in vita-nova, it was only the tools in workshops that have him the advantage and that he still couldn’t do much in the wild alone.

“Damn. I am almost as useless as Robert. If I can’t make a simple box, it would be impossible to craft a bow or arrows. I guess I can only improve with practice or always keep a few tools smaller and sharper than these blades. Even the blades have gone a bit dull. It is best I don’t waste them on carving wood,” thought Balthazar as he decided to give up on it. He waited staring into the dark while munching on fruits for another hour before he woke up his cousin.

He warned Robert against using the blades on wood as he took his nap. Robert woke him up in two hours when the sunlight had already hit the skies. “That was quite short for a night, wasn’t it?” joked Balthazar as he got up.

“You’ve seen anything?”

“No, Bel. I think that all the animals are avoiding this place. The Nandi couple might have been quite territorial,” said Robert. “But I did solve the partition problem that we were facing.”

“How?”

“It is actually the wood.”

“I told you that it is a waste to carve it without our blades. They will be of better use against the beasts.”

“Calm down. It is not what you think, Bel,” said Robert as he waved a green sheet like material in front of him.

“What is this?”

“This is the bark of a few smaller trees that I found close to the stream. Need only a few cuts from the blades to pull them off the stem. It is quite easy. It can actually be used to wrap up poisonous items. We don’t even need to touch them with our hands,” explained Robert.

“This is great. It will make our work much easier. Show me, how to pull them off. We will stock up before we go,” said Balthazar.

“No, need. I have been on it for about an hour,” said Robert.

“In the night?”

“Ya, the night passed about an hour ago. I just saw one of those and went to try it out. After that I was excited and picked up more and kind forgot track of time.”

“You are saying that you left me unguarded for an hour in a cave while you went ahead to peel skin off trees?”

“Ok. That might sound stupid, but you were quite safe. There were no beast or animals in the vicinity, and they all stayed away from the cave. The only things around here were those coyotes and they were probably scared after them being hunted by both you and the Nandi,” said Robert covering for himself.

Balthazar was still looking at him seriously. He was angry that his cousin had forgotten to guard over him. He knew from guarding the place when Robert was sleeping that it wasn’t that dangerous due to the reasons told by Robert, but he was still indignant that his cousin left him unguarded in an unknown region when he was sleeping.

“I am sorry. I realize that I am wrong. It won’t happen again,” apologized Robert for a few more times before Balthazar let it go and they went out of the cave to get through the forest.

The started moving through the forest and found a few more items on the list. They continued this way till noon when they reached the end of the woods, they were in. They were at a rocky mountainous region. It had no plants and was very dry and looked deserted. They had been wondering about it since they saw it mapped by their sensors but continued till they reached it.

“What should we do?” asked Robert. “None of the items on the list are found in such a rocky place except for a few beasts.”

“Ya. Even if beasts are found, the ones in such areas will be stronger if they are surviving in this environment and without the trees providing cover, it will be a lot harder to kill them,” said Balthazar. All this time, he had been killing the beasts that they encountered by making surprise attacks and traps, but without the cover of the trees it would be extremely hard.

“Let us eat some fruits, send our collections and then return back, search through the area in the south. It is a waste of time to continue through that area,” decided Balthazar. Though he sad that to keep Robert motivated he didn’t have the same feeling as they would have to move a lot through the forest and with the noise that the made, it would be hard for them to encounter more beasts. He was sure that the wildlife were already aware of their approach since the morning.

As the drone came for their goods, an unexpected notice followed. It was another set of unlock codes for both of them. It indicated that they were provided these as they managed to stay for 12 hours. It unlocked the gravity compensation. stealth capabilities and special attack effects of the suit along with orders for them to go and explore the mountain area.

The most confusing part of this order was that unlike the previous instances, where they had given a list and they had to procure the items of the list, this mission required them to catalog the different things that they observe.

“Why the sudden change in the mission parameters?” asked Robert surprised at the new instructions.

“I think they are now considering us self-sufficient and the actual trial had begun,” blabbed Balthazar even though he hadn’t the slightest clue why the test was like this.

“I just think that one of those judges were bought out by someone on the council and is making it real hard for us to finish our trial,” said Robert waving his hand as he realized that his cousin was simply spouting nonsense.

“I guess the advantage is that it won’t be very hard to find a place like that cave in this region,” said Balthazar. “The bad part is that we actually should be worried about guarding the area. They didn’t even give us information of the area’s dangers or anything. We are going to go enter completely blind.”