"You’re a pretty cool looking snake. Are you poisonous?" the man said as he looked down at the snake that had crawled out from under the log he had moved. He looked around for a bit to find a stick with a bend or a fork in it, and after setting his spear down in a spot he could easily get to it, he used the stick to pin the snake down on the ground, just behind its head. He then bent down and grabbed the snake behind the head and held it down on a flat rock he found nearby. He then used his stone knife and quickly cut the head off the snake. He drained it of blood, gutted it and rinsed it in the river. He then pushed it under the water and set a rock on top of it and went off into the woods to pick up some dry branches.
After he had gathered enough, he brought them back to the stream and built a small fire pit, he broke the branches down into pieces big enough to fit in the pit and stacked the wood so it would burn quickly. He set some dry leaves and tinder into the base of the stacked wood and stared at them for a while, "Anomaly said there's magic here, so I should be able to start a fire if I... remember what he said exactly?" He looked up into the air and took a deep breath.
"So, just picture fire? Think it getting warmer, then say the magic word... Hah… I feel ridiculous." As the man stared at the dried leaves for a while, trying to get a good image of what he wanted and said, “Flame.” The man giggled like a little kid as the tinder at the base of the pile of wood caught on fire. He made sure to tend to it properly to ensure the wood caught. “That was cool.”
He retrieved the snake from the river and brought it back to the firepit. He used his stone knife to peel the skin back from the meat of the snake and ripped the remaining skin off in one piece. He then used the knife to cut the snake into pieces and set them on one of the flat stones he had used for the fire pit. He knew the meat wouldn't cook quickly, but he wasn't entirely hungry at the moment. He added more wood to the fire until it was big enough.
As the snake was cooking, he went off into the woods to find more wood to burn, making a pile near his firepit. He put the end of his spear in the fire to heat it up, rotating it to keep the heat even. He didn't want to burn it, and he didn't want it to dry too quickly that it'd crack, but he wanted to dry it out so it would harden it. He did this with both ends of his spear as he waited for the snake to cook. Occasionally he'd use his stone knife on the sharp end of the spear to refine it.
When he was done, he checked and turned the meat, and returned to the stream with the snakeskin. He scraped the skin to get any remaining meat and fat off it, then dunked it in the water, putting a rock on it so it wouldn’t float away. “This water is not that clear, but it is moving, so that is a plus. I can go upstream to look for a source, or downstream to see if it gets a little quicker and clearer. I doubt I'll have any luck at the source, so downstream it is."
He looked back at the meat that was cooking by the fire, "That should be enough for a day or two, and it didn't take me long to find this one, so food shouldn't be too much of a problem.” He looked around, “Nah, the problem is if there's other stuff in these woods."
He walked off towards the field again, to pick some leaves from some of the plants along the wood line that were broad in size. He tore off a few after checking for bugs and rinsed them off in the river on his way back to his small camp. He dried them off over the fire, hoping to kill off any parasites that may have been on them, and stacked them to the side. He had plans to use them to wrap up the leftovers for the journey.
He took one of the smaller sections of meat and cut it open. Seeing that it appeared to be done, he took a bite. Shrugging, he sat and finished the piece he had. He didn’t eat any more of the snake, but he left it near the fire to dry it out some so it would be easier to transport.
Once he had finished that, he picked up his spear and prepared to follow the river downstream. As he walked, he carefully watched where he was placing his feet, while complaining as he went, "I can tell this body has a good foundation, but seriously, not even calluses on the feet? Every step feels like I'm walking on a bed of nails." He stumbled, nearly falling, "And I'm still not used to these legs."
Up ahead, he sees a tree that had fallen over the shallow river. All the leaves, or needles in this case, had already fallen off the tree, and several of the branches had been washed away. He approached the tree and stopped at it, tracing his hand along the length, "This looks like a poras tree. He used the spear to pick at the bark of the tree, until he began to peel it away from the trunk. "Oh, this tree smells good! The bark is just like a poras tree, I can probably make some rope out of this."
Using his spear, he sliced down the length of the bark to nearly the base and continued in the opposite direction for as long as it was reasonable. He then wedged the spear tip under the bark, and carefully began separating the bark from the core along the length of the tree. He was using extra care to ensure that he could get as much of the bark off in one piece as possible. As he was working, he heard something downstream from him and looked up to see an animal there.
"Eyes at the side of the head, must be some type of prey. Only about a meter and a half tall, sort of looks like a deer. Hmm, I'll catch you later." He said as he looked at the deer that had come to the small river for a drink. The two watched each other until the deer ran off with the flick of its tail. Seeing as his distraction left, the man went back to his task.
Once he had stripped as much of the wood as he could, he separated the piece from the tree. Now holding the large strip of bark in his hands, he carefully examined it for decay. He made a mental note of the decay, then carried the bark back to the fire and out towards the middle of the river. While he could walk from one side of the river to the other with only half of his thighs getting wet, he didn't walk out too far. He submerged one end of the bark under water and stepped on it as he looked for a few heavy rocks to weigh it down. He then walked down the length of the bark, placing rocks on it to submerge it fully.
"If I can make some rope out of this, I can upgrade myself from primate to cave man. I can probably make a bow, but it'd be easier to just make some traps." He looked up towards the sky to judge how much more time he had in the day and found that the sun hadn't reached its peak yet. "I should probably make a knife with a proper handle, maybe a hatchet to chop at stuff. A spear tip for penetration. Well, I can probably hold off on the spear tip. Alright, while that's soaking, let me see if I can find a good rock for a knife."
He found a long flat rock, about 3 cm thick, 15 cm wide and 50 cm long. He carried it to the shore and set it near his cooking meat. This section of the river had gotten much rockier, and the water had cleared up considerably. There were also plenty of rocks that were rubbed smooth by the water, so he had plenty of rocks to choose from. He selected a few rocks of similar sizes, and as he was walking back to shore, he noticed an especially dark rock in the bed of the river. He tried to grab it but found that more was hidden than what was showing, He eventually dug out a rather large black rock with a smooth, shiny surface.
"If I'm lucky, this'll be a piece of obsidian." he said as he carried his collection the rest of the way. He cleared off a large rock and sat upon it and put the large flat rock on his lap. He set the black rock upon it and using a large stone, he struck the edge of the black rock, trying to chip away at it. Eventually a piece sheared off, showing a shiny surface, as if made from blackened glass. A smile came to the man's face as he picked up the shorn piece and examined it for the best way to shape it into a knife. When he had made up his mind, he began to lightly shape it with a smaller hammer rock, chipping off small flakes of obsidian.
Once he had gotten the blade portion finished, he stopped before creating the piece that will make up the handle. He set the large flat stone, the black stone and his hammer stone to the side and approached a fallen tree. He grabbed and bent a few branches to find one that didn't break easily, and eventually tore it free from the tree. He went back and sat down, stripping the bark from the branch, and using the sharpened obsidian he worked the wood until he had a piece that fit comfortably in his hand. He then set to the side and looking back at the sky, he walked out to the soaking bark and pulled the rocks off it, taking it back out of the river.
He started pulling off long strips of fibrous bark away from the large piece. As he did, he would occasionally pull the bark apart to ensure that he could break it down enough to make it stringy. He pulled a large amount off and separated them into two piles. One pile had fibers much smaller in diameter than the other. From this pile, he began pulling out strings and using his leg, he would twist the string. Every now and then, he would add more fibers to the string and continue to twist it along its length. He did this until he had a couple meters of a thin string, before repeating the process two more times.
He then tied the ends of the three together, and braided the rope along its length, tying it again at the other end. He set this aside, grabbed the flat rock, the obsidian knife and hammer rock, setting them upon his lap once again. He used the piece of wood he intended to use as a handle as reference as he chipped away at the stone knife to make the handle portion. He used the obsidian knife to split the handle, carefully, and not fully, just enough to wedge it into the wood. He slid his rope between the wood and stone and wrapped it around the handle as tight as he dared to, all the way to the end, where he tied it off in a way that would keep it tied, not minding the bit of string that dangled off the end.
He then set everything aside, and stuck his hands in the water, as they were now a bit blistered and bleeding. "I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm thirsty, I don't know what's going to happen when I drink this water. Sounds to me like it's the perfect time for a break." He looked down at the water, "Well, it's either die of thirst or die of dysentery. Argh, quit thinking negative!" He bent over and scooped up a handful of water, taking a drink. Once he had gotten his fill, he walked back to the edge of the river, and began to prepare a fire. He stopped, making a questioning face, and asked himself, "I wonder if I coulda used magic to make water."
