BXBX NOVEL Chapter 7 - 7 – The Plan
Kat handed Seb her bottle of water, of course, after I gave her the order.
"Looks like we'll have to find another source of food, Kat's escape pod supplies are very limited." Seb spoke after drinking the water. I also have to tell this man to bring the conversation up.
"I agree." Manu nodded.
Seb then looked at Kat, who was still standing. "Hey, Kat? Did you see the fish in the river?"
Kat just shook her head.
Manu took the water bottle from his comrade and replied. "There's not much fruit in this area either. I could make bows and arrows from tree branches. However, for bowstring, we have to look for a special plant. We call them 'milk twigs.' If the twigs of the plant are sliced lengthwise thin enough, then we spun the slices, we will get a fairly strong string. Unfortunately, since yesterday I haven't seen that plant around here."
"Kat and I don't know what it looks like either, so we'll have a hard time finding it. Even if you explain what the plant looks like." Seb sighed. "But we have to keep looking, or we'll starve to death."
Just then, I saw something in Kat that could be used. I spoke something into Seb's ear.
Instead of following my orders, the blond man fell silent while looking at Kat.
With her signature blank expression, Kat asked. "What?"
"Perhaps, your hair can be used for bowstring?" Seb grimaced.
It's a pity indeed. Kat's hair is gorgeous, and I'm starting to like it, but this method is quicker than looking for an obscure plant.
Kat fell silent, tugged some of her long black hair, and stared at it.
"Well, that could work." Manu comes to check her hair which is also long. "And I can use my hair too."
Oh, that's right. Manu's hair wasn't as long as Kat's, but splicing it in would be enough. So, no need to cut Kat's hair. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then, what about the shelter?" Seb asked after I whispered to him again. "We need it, right? We can't stay under trees all the time. Trees can't protect us fully from rain. Not to mention the risk of being struck by lightning."
"Ah, we can make it from a few pieces of wood." Manu shrugged. "But we still need things to tie everything together and my hair isn't enough."
Damn.
I had to put my mouth close to Kat's ear. "Just cut your hair with your knife. Then, leave it to Manu. But not all of it, just up to your neck."
Kat blinked for a moment, then pulled out a small knife that she tucked into the back of her panties. Without speaking at all, she cut her hair according to my instructions.
Seb grimaced at that, exactly as I did. It's a shame that such beautiful hair had to be sacrificed. However, this all had to be done so that they could quickly build shelter and hunting tools.
"Wow, I've never seen such a sharp cutting object." Manu looked at the small knife in amazement.
When she finished, Kat handed the hair to Manu. I could see a slight movement in the girl's eyebrows. Could she be upset? Take it easy, Kat. After looking closely at you, I think this new hairstyle of yours suits you.
***
I ordered Manu and Seb to make strings because their crafting skills were higher than Kat. Meanwhile, I ordered Kat to cut down the trees. The girl was already holding the ax, but she just stood still, observing the chopper in her hand.
"Don't cut down too big a tree, Kat." Manu, whose hair was almost bald, said as he sat down. His hands were already busy stringing the hair into a rope-like shape but with a much smaller size. "The important thing is to be able to make a shelter frame."
But Kat still stood still.
Ugh. They are really dumb sometimes.
"Hey, look to your right. There aren't very big trees over there." I gave the order to the girl.
Kat turned in the direction I was pointing and started walking towards it. I then moved on to check on the work of my two male colonists. Manu seems to be teaching Seb while working on his own.
There's a word above their heads. It said 'Crafting' with a + sign flashing. Guess that's a sign they're training their stats.
When I turned to Kat, I saw the words 'Melee Attacks', also with a + sign above the girl's head.
It doesn't make sense. Cutting down trees will only increase your strength, not teach you offensive moves included in the melee attack stat. Well, I'm just nitpicking. It's just a game.
Since it seemed like Kat was having difficulty swinging the ax, I decided to speed up the game. Not long after, the pause is automatically triggered. Kat had already cut down a tree.
[Seems like your colonists have started gathering materials to build a shelter. Open the blueprint icon on the left, and you can choose the type of shelter you want to use.]
I pressed one of the glowing icons in the left corner of my eye. Then, a transparent interface window appeared in front of me.
The window displays pictures of various types of buildings. Everything is still simple. Maybe other buildings are still locked.
[Select a building. After you order them, the colonists will collect the necessary materials until there is enough. After that, you can order one or more colonists to build the building.]
Well, in the end, I had to keep whispering to them.
I'm already going to choose one of the simplest buildings, the shape of a triangular prism. You know, like a tent frame in general. However, something was strange. It only said 'small shelter frame for three people.' What is shown in the picture is also just the frame.
[You have to use your creativity to finish this shelter, to make the roof.]
This time the instructions weren't straightforward, huh?
After selecting the frame, I exited the menu. A blueprint in the form of a transparent structure appeared in front of me, and I could move it with my hand. I walked for a while to choose a sloped location. After finding it, I made a grasping gesture to put the blueprint there.
I started thinking again. The first thing that occurred to me to finish this shelter was using other wood pieces as the roof. However, maybe that would take a long time. Even if, for example, I ordered Manu to cut down the trees. Manu does have the highest melee attack stat, but I'm not sure he can cut down that many quickly. Not to mention, the progress of string creation also slows down if Manu was not participating.
If only there were objects that were wide enough. It can be leaned on both side of this frame.
Hmmm... Maybe there is. I turned to the wreckage of Kat's escape pod. When Manu took the initiative - something rare - to bury the corpses, he said that the escape pod pieces were not too heavy but seemed strong. And after I noticed, some of the pieces are pretty large.
Hey, did you give me a clue that time, Manu?