ALL NOVEL Survival is key
It wasn’t long before John saw a more serious side of Orianna as she began instructing him in the ways of survival. The two of them headed outside to the forest that was just outside the door, not long after they’d both finished eating, and the hotheaded biomancer soon began something akin to a lesson.
“If I’m going to rely on you, and you want to make it out there, I should probably teach you some basic survival skills. The type of stuff you’ll need to live off the land for a while. We both want you to be a decent explorer, so managing to survive is really important. You know, if you die you can’t really do much exploring!” she looked at John while she spoke, a serious expression on her face.
“Got it, what do I need to learn?”
“Three main things. I’ll teach you how to start a fire, scavenge for food and water, and draw maps. The basics of what you’re gonna need,” she continued, still serious, “how about you decide what we start with?” The young woman said, quite a bit more cheerfully than a second before.
“Well… Let’s start with making a fire, that will probably be easiest for me to learn,” he thought for a moment before answering.
“Sure,” she returned to walking into the forest, and called John to join her with a shout. After they had walked for long enough that the cabin was out of sight in the dense forest, Orianna began her lesson in truth.
“Let’s start with how to build a fire. Look around for some rocks about this big,” her hands gesturing a size that John guessed was about average, “and make a circle with them. Clear the surroundings too. That's your first step. In the meanwhile I’ll go look for some tinder. Small twigs, paper, needles and leaves are usually good for that. After that I’ll show you how to find some of the larger materials we’ll need,” she had already disappeared beyond the trees by the time the Gamer started looking for rocks. It didn’t take too long for him to gather up enough of them, and she came back just as quickly.
Orianna showed him how to find kindling and where to look for fuel wood for another hour before they finally assembled the fire itself. Tinder was placed as a bed inside the rock circle and kindling was added on top of it. Pulling out a few pieces of flint and some steel, the now professional looking biomancer gave John her spares and lit the tinder and fanned the flames until they caught onto the kindling. Once it was clear she wouldn’t smother the fire, she added the fuel wood to it. Soon smoke was rising high enough that John was sure it could be seen all the way from the cabin. Orianna then made him attempt the same feat by himself. Letting him collect everything and assemble the entire affair under her watch. About two hours and a failed fire later, he finally got it. It wasn’t nearly as well made as the one she had put together, but the fuel wood did manage to catch on fire.
“Okay, let’s move on to how you can gather food. First, traps. They’ll be useful for areas with small animals like forests or plains. So don’t expect to use it on a desert or on another plane without those, but it’ll be useful here,” John wasn’t sure he was entirely comfortable with capturing small animals solely as a food source, but he doubted out here he had much choice. So he endeavoured to try to learn what Orianna was going to teach him.
They started with her showing John some simple traps Orianna already had set up. Small pitfalls, snares, and a deadfall trap which did some things to the small animals that John hoped he wouldn’t see again. Unphased, she attempted to teach John how to set up these traps. A task which while considerably shorter than lighting the fire, by the time they were both satisfied with his ability to copy her traps the sun was already halfway through the sky.
Regardless, Orianna’s lesson continued, and she showed him how to search for water sources by following tree roots, looking for specific plants, and tracking larger animals who came to those sources. She even showed him a few of the closest rivers and lakes, as emergency sources if he ever needed to visit them alone.
Finally, she taught him what berries were safe and could be eaten and where generally he could find them. Strangely, most of them weren’t particularly familiar to him, though a few species of european berries he could recognize were common enough. Eventually, it was getting dark, and they both decided to finish the day by heading back towards the cabin and continuing the final lesson of the day there. Which was drawing maps.
Cartography was a complex field, and its intricacies did not lend well to field usage. Orianna, however, having learned it mostly through requiring that capacity, had adapted it somewhat. Rough drawings were the first stage, as demonstrated to John both by the many of them that were strewn around the study and by the biomancer beginning her explanation with them.
The rough drawing was the easiest part to get right. Most of it was about drawing the approximate terrain around the area while marking places where features would be added. When making the final map those features were added by the various colours and markings Orianna showed him she usually used for her maps. Dark green with dots for forests, light green for meadows, and so on. It wasn’t really the sort of map John was used to seeing, but it served in exploration well enough if her stay here was anything to go by. He did consider adding various features like height to the maps would be a decent idea. Only for the biomancer to explain the impossibility to distinguish that from terrain markings using the limited resources they had. A couple different colors she had made from herbs along with the pens and ink left there needed to be conserved.
A few hours later the final product was complete. A fully colored map representing the nearby terrain based on memory. It was close enough to Orianna’s own map of the area for John to be somewhat proud. His skill in drawing and agility had helped him create the map, and it looked almost professional. The few water sources and texture of the terrain translated well, though simplification was obviously necessary. Mostly they looked just like globs of color. Very well differentiated and somewhat wildly designed globs of color, but still. However, the reward for finishing the map soon appeared in a more concrete way.
New skill obtained: Minimap
It was immediately obvious to John how immensely useful that was, and the round minimap that was added to the top right corner of his vision with a thought proved him correct. As soon as he told this to Orianna, she immediately took down the large map from the wall and handed it to him.
“If this is as good as you say it is, you should take whatever info you can get for it,” she said, her seriousness having returned.
The process to add the information on the map was quite simple, just holding the map brought up a prompt to integrate it, one John immediately accepted. Only a second passed before the minimap seemed to refresh, and he now had the full picture. It even detailed the surrounding area with more accuracy, being based on Orianna’s superior map.
“That’s all the training I can give you,” the biomancer said once he told her what happened, “we'll have to delay the trip to tomorrow though. Sun already set a bit ago,” John was surprised, but quite pleasantly so. The day had taken a toll on him that he was quite happy to recuperate from. His rest did not come easy, however, as the minute they were back in the lobby she got closer to him and suddenly kissed him. Both forcefully and passionately he felt her lips on his in a split second without any sign.
“Plus, the two of us have some business to take care of, don't we?” she leaned back to speak. John, shocked, didn’t know what to say at all, and most fell backwards. Noticing his confused reaction, she continued. “I saw the way you looked at me earlier. And I can tell you're just as raring to go as you know I am, if your scrying spell is worth its salt.”
John’s only answer was to simply return the gesture. After all, she was right, he was just as willing and ready to go as she was, or at least so he thought. They both stumbled into the bedroom of the cabin, passionately kissing and undressing one another in what could only be described as a lustful frenzy. In that fashion, they fell on top of each other and onto the bed, which only became more disorganized as they continued their chaotic actions. A minute later, the both of them had settled, naked, in a position which resembled missionary, though the chaotic nature of it had made it somewhat confused and still disorganized.
That was when John’s mind snapped out of the lust flowing through his body for a single thought, only long enough to realize what he was doing. But that was enough. He felt stupid for not considering it beforehand, for letting his mind be overcome with such a basic desire. All he was doing now was betraying Alice’s trust, and his own promise to her. Most of all, however, he hated himself. For the simple fact he knew he would have to choose eventually. That he would not be allowed both his old life and a new one.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” He said, getting up and going to retrieve his clothes as swiftly as possible. Orianna simply had no response, laying there on the bed with a stare that John couldn’t decipher.
He escaped to the couch and slept there, hoping not to disturb her any further, and neither of them spoke till late the next morning. Even then, they simply talked about the quest, nothing more. Regardless, they eventually exited the cabin and began their journey to the grey blotch.
Which they were now directed towards by John’s minimap.