the skill Breathing has ranked up

“wait, ranked up?”

’so skills have levels and ranks? since I’ve had so many levels ups and only one rank up then it’s more likely a skill ranks up after so many level ups but what does a rank up mean? level ups hardly made any noticeable difference and thats after a lot of level ups so maybe the rank up is where the main improvement is’

Quill closed the notification and took the longest breath in to notice any difference in his breathing ability. The breath in was three seconds longer than normal, it wasn’t much but compared to before where he wasn’t sure whether there was an actual improvement or just in his mind, this is a big improvement.

“yes! Time to level some skills”

Quill happy knowing his skills actually does something decided to get back to work crafting the remaining two stripped wood in the javelin pile.

By the time he crafted the last javelin his crafting skill has only leveled up once. Knowing this Quill could help but wonder

‘why is carving leveling up so much slower compared to breathing? do certain skills grow faster than others? or is my technique for calming down causing breathing to increase so much? even so, I can’t really think of a useful way to use this skill, but its better to have it than not to right?’

After contemplating the nature of his skills Quill uses weapon appraisal on all his javelin only to get the same message box telling him it’s a wooden javelin. Compared to last time Quil was not filled with anger and frustration but only a little disappointment. He wasn’t appraising his weapons expecting something new but to try and level his skill, though he would be lying if he wasn’t at least hoping for something different.

“well, onto the spears”

Quill put all the javelins into a pile and went towards the pile of five long peeled wood and started to carve them into spears with his sharp rock. This was quite simple as spears were just larger javelins. He also made sure to appraise his work after every creation. It only said ‘A wooden spear’ but he hoped that onced ranked up it would actually tell him useful information. Around the third spear his weapon appraisal leveled up once but didn’t show any extra information. He had slight hope but knows his best bet is to check after it has ranked up. When he finally finished the last spear his carving leveled up again making it the second time it has leveled up since he got it.

’right, it leveled up twice, gotta keep track to find out how many levels it takes to rank up. Only if I counted my breathing levels, haa'

Quill couldn’t help but sigh at the missed opportunity to learn more about how the skill system works but soon got over it and delved straight into making rope with the bark.

Quill was made to learn how to make rope by his father as a child. His fathers logic was ‘you never know when what you learned will come in handy so learn as as many skills as possible’. Of course his sisters were made to learn as well and quickly picked it up but after they got their fathers approval they never made rope again saying it’s boring and will never come useful in life. They probably have even forgotten to do it by now. The same would be for Eden if he wasn’t so slow to learn it

thinking back on his sister saying that, he couldn’t help but laugh. He was actually in a situation where it came in handy. He would have loved to see the look on his sister faces if they were in this situation and couldn’t remember how to make it. Little did he know that they most likely are.

’if I remember right you have to peel the bark again so you only have the inside of the bark, I think?’

Though Quill has been taught how to make rope, he was not taught how to make it from bark. That was just something he heard from his fathers stories of when he survived in the rainforest jungle after getting separated from the research group.

Quill started to peel the outside of the bark. This was a bit more difficult than before as he has to make the amount he peels much thinner. by the time he finished a few hours have already gone and his peeling skill has leveled up twice.

’didn’t peeling level up twice before as well? maybe it will be easier to count the levels of peeling before the rank up with the rate it’s increasing. so right now it has leveled 4 times? I’ll try to keep track of both just in case’

Quill grabbed two pieces of peeled bark and held the edge of both pieces between his thumb and finger. He twisted the closest one away from him with his other hand making it tight then while holding the twisted piece of bark, he used his free fingers to grab the other piece and pulled it over and towards him. That piece was then twisted while the other previously twisted piece was pulled over and towards him. This process was repeated until the two pieces of peeled bark turned into one thin piece of rope. Once this was completed a message appeared

you have learnt the RopeMaking skill

“nice, another skill, though it is more specific than my other skills”

Quill thought for a bit before closing the notification and continues turn all the peeled bark into rope. The rope making skill leveled up 3 times during this process making Quill happy and confused at the time about skill level up speed but decided thinking about it won’t change anything.

Quill relaxed and looked at the sun to tell the time to realise its late midday, probably around 6-7 o'clock.

’time sure goes fast, I should start a fire before it gets too late’

Thinking this, Quill picks up some leaves and twigs and takes to the previous fireplace and attempts to start a fire. It took him a while but he did manage to start the fire with a familiar sound of a message

the skill FireMaking has leveled up

“fire making? Did I have this skill?”

Quill pondered over the appearance of a skill he couldn’t remember before coming to the conclusion he must have learned it when he made fire the first time which reminds him of another thing he forgot. The reason why he forgot, food or more specifically the meat of the wolf.

“ah, the wolves”

Quill quickly got up and went to the corpses of the wolves and notice flies flying around the corpses. The one he skinned and ate from seem to have more meat missing making him assume an animal must have taken a meal from it while the other corpses seemed to be a bit bloated.

’they’re bloated? could it be decomposing? lets find out

Quill decided to leave the corpses there to test if decomposition is a thing in this game and picked up the pelt of the wolf he skinned. after being exposed to sunlight for a whole day it seems to be less… bloody.

’I think I might be able to do something with this now, maybe warmer and less revealing clothes’

Quill stared intensely at the pelt for a while before coming a conclusion

’how? all I can think of is wearing it like a cape… well, I can wear it like that till I come up with a good idea

Quill tied the paws over his neck like a cape and went back to the fire to see the rabbits offering him food again. This time accepting the food. It may not be meat but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

After having a meal with the rabbits he reviews the work he’s done so far.

“let’s see here, um, six javelins, 5 spears and a lot of rope. The stones still need to be carved before making stone spears and that’s it.”

’there’s not much time till it gets dark, maybe I should practice using the spears and javelins for now

Quill picks up a javelin, aims at a tree and throws it. The javelin flies through the air before hitting the tree and bouncing off.

“ok… I suck”

after a few throws the throwing skill was gained and after a few more throws the javelin actually pierced the tree.

“finally!”

Quill excitedly yelled while retrieving the javelin. He continued to practice with the javelins until the sun went down. By the time he stopped the throwing skill leveled up 5 times and the javelin pierced the tree more often.

He sat down by the fire happy with his improvement but confused at the same time.

’Why did my throwing improve when the skill hasn’t ranked up yet? are certain skills different than others or am I just imagining it?

After contemplating this for a while and thinking how they day went he decided to go to sleep using the wolf pelt cape thing as a quilt and delved into his dreams.