Where to start? I could use the Skill Ticket now, or I could spend my points… it really makes no difference which I start with but it’s the principle of the matter that counts! Do I want to start at a high? Or a low?
… Guess I’ll start with spending points. The simplest decision was often the best one after all. And hopefully exchanging my points for a spin now would equal a good skill. I guess it was just a Gamblers motto, ‘use your bad luck on inconsequential bets and use your gained luck to win it big!’ I’m not sure if that is a quote, but I would say that it’s a mindset at least.
Doing just that I immediately bought 2 tickets using 20 of my 22 Survival Points now referred to as S.P. The System was kind enough to give me the option to spin openly or virtually. ie make a big fanfare anyone could see or make it an event only I could see.
I of course picked the latter, I had a sleeping cutie in the cave with me. I didn’t want to shock her awake with some weird metaphysical fireworks I knew the System would use. Honestly I will probably do so in the future as well, I don't want my secrets to be broadcasted everywhere.
That however also meant that I didn’t get a ticket to tear, instead I had to confirm I wanted to use the ticket, like some Gacha games I saw online.
Using the random tickets led to a small roulette wheel appearing on the System screen instead of the materialisation that happened last time. Away it spun, 6 possible tickets for the arrow to land on… wasn’t it supposed to be 5? The 6th option was Exp tickets that were never mentioned by the System in its self introduction.
There had to be a reason it wasn’t mentioned. Maybe due to it not granting me anything but only boosting what I already had. It doesn't have any use other than assisting my own growth, but I still would have liked to know about it.
Slowing down, the wheel ran over every option, from Items, to Concept. Ticking by until it stopped on Item, understandable after all it takes up over half the roulette. Oh I forgot to mention that, the wheel heavily favoured Exp and Item tickets with them taking up 4 fifths of the space, the rest being left to the other 4 possible tickets.
I wasn’t really pleased with getting an item ticket but I still had 1 opportunity left to win it big…. Lucky old me got an Exp ticket…. yay. Hmm? Wondering why I didn’t explain the spinning of the wheel? I was getting bored of doing that. We all want to know the outcome not the process, in these specific cases.
Using my newly given Item Ticket, I rolled to see what I got. ?? Garden Shears? Was that a bust? I don’t know if I’ll do a lot of gardening in the future. I am literally surrounded by forest everywhere, there is enough greenery already.
‘I could use the Shears as scissors’ that was the only use I could think of for my new item. But why would I need Shears when I can cut most things with my claws? … Thinking… thinking…‘Oh! I can make clothes for Olivia!!’
As much as I like my sharp claws, I couldn’t cut anything neatly. I had tried with some wood and a bit of leftover Deer leather, the results? Rough. It didn’t look good at all and if I was going to dress up this darling, I have to make her look her best.
Don’t get me wrong! I love what I’m seeing! But I think everyone understands that they don’t want others to see their partners naked. (Unless you have a fetish or kink about just that)
Who knows when I’ll meet another intelligent species? It could be in months or today, but when I did eventually run into a sapient species I didn’t want Olivia to have her privates exposed for the world to see. So I was happy to finally have a way to process the Deer hide into clothes for her.
Nevertheless, I was still sad I didn’t land on Transformation or Concepts. I had one of everything else, other than those 2. I wanted to turn into a Bird! Or control water like a Water Bender! I got none of that and am still stuck in this awesome Bear body!
‘Hoooo, Skill Ticket it is’
I hoped I would win big in this draw. I didn’t get my hopes up though, my luck would never give me the chance to get something good. I would probably get a Skill like Zoology or Teaching, you know something marginally useful in my current situation.
Just look at my previous 2 Skills, one I never used (Archeology) and one I used a lot because it was fun (Singing) it however had no practical use whatsoever.
Enough procrastinating, just spin the lottery! Round and round it spun, going over skills like {Martial Arts} and {Cooking} that I desperately wanted. I could hear a Tip tap tip as it flashed past each choice. How I heard this noise baffled me to no end nut, but the result of the spin baffled me more.
{Horticulture} which is the growing of plants indoors…
“Mmmmhhhh!” A muffled yell could be heard in the cave, covered by an arm and a clamping jaw. It was loud but not enough to awaken the sleeping Sasquatch. It barely caused her to stir. But if you heard the thoughts of a curtain Bear you would know what they wanted to scream.
‘FUUUUUCK!! GOD DAMMIT WHY COULDN’T I GET SOMETHING USEFUL!!!’
Well not that {Horticulture} isn’t useful, in fact it was quite helpful in producing more food in the long term. Right now though? Useless. I had no Fruit or Vegetables to grow, and I didn’t even know what plants were their wild counterparts!
The knowledge from the skill helped clear up some of my personal biases though. Horticulture apparently was more than growing plants indoors, in fact it was a really broad Skill.
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Horticulture:
Horticulture is the science and art of the development of sustainable production, marketing and use of high-value, intensively cultivated food and ornamental plants.
The host will gain the knowledge on how to grow, manipulate and sell flora. At higher levels host can modify plants to an extreme not seen by earth before. The extent of this skill can be increased depending on hosts other Abilities, Concepts and Skills.
Horticultural Crop Knowledge:
Annual and Perennial species,
Fruits and vegetables,
Decorative indoor plants
Landscape plants
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It felt like a copy paste off of a website [^A.N It is, but with some editing^] but what it basically told me was that I could grow produce, medicinal and decorative plants. AND know how to grow them more efficiently and with greater results in quality and quantity.
I could use this amazing skill to grow those Berry bushes I found earlier this week, and some flowers for a special lady. It would take a long time to actually change / improve the flora that I grow, but it would reduce the amount of hunting I would have to do.
Humans are bound to get suspicious when the Deer population declines so fast.
That reminds me, I had to make breakfast for Olivia. She loved eating and ate a lot. She used to eat more in the beginning, afraid that I wouldn’t feed her again, but now that she knew I liked her around she started to eat less. Still a lot by human standards though.
Rising up onto my hind feet and carefully stretching (I could do that now after expanding my cave) I prepared to start cooking our last bit of meat. The glutton had eaten most of the second Deer over the past few days.
However, seeing how much she ate, I was glad for my {Maximum Potential} Ability. Imagining the amount of food I would have to hunt and eat if I didn’t have my Ability, it gave me a headache. And then you factor in Olivia. Hooo, I would be found so fast.
Preparing a fire had gotten really easy after the first time, mainly because I didn’t need to create an ember anymore. I had effectively used my Inventory to contain embers. I hadn’t done so last night due to Olivia’s enrapturement and child-like joy when seeing it flicker and wane as it died out (She had never seen it go out before). I couldn’t crush her hopes, so I let her enjoy watching it smoulder out of existence.
Luckily for me there were still a few hot charcoals I could use to restart the blaze. Hunched over, I gave gentle blows and added fuel, creating a new roaring flame. Perfect to cook with.
I could have woken Olivia up to teach her how to restart a fire, but I decided to wake her up with the fresh scent of cooking meat instead (She Loves Meat after all (; ) I think she would enjoy that type of wake up call over the conventional alarms and waterboarding.
Sitting down near the fire I started pulling out and preparing all necessary equipment and ingredients to cook up a feast.
Grabbing the last pre cut slabs of meat from my Inventory, I further cut them into bite sized pieces on the third sign I didn’t have a use for. Cutting the meat further was just me trying to spice up my pallet, due to having no condiments to flavour my dish. Slicing through meat with my claws still felt weird, but they were made to tear through flesh and the upgrade just made them sharper and blade like.
Once the meat had been sufficiently cut I threw them onto a pre heated thin rock that I found. I had placed the makeshift pan onto a stand that I had made days back and just never removed it unless I had to.
*Sssss*
The sweet sound and smell of sizzling meat always puts me in a good mood. Apparently the same could be said for Olivia. Bolting upright ready to devour flesh, was a drooling mess of a Bigfoot. Her stunned joy filled face spoke volumes of what she wanted.
With wide beaming eyes, she deftly crawled to my side and onto my lap. Like a child, she sat between my legs and watched in aw, as the meat cubes were cooked in front of her. Two perfect large cheeks nestled against my crotch, she didn’t even know what she did.
Wiggling and teetering around to watch how I cooked her meal, Olivia enjoyed watching me flip and move the venison around on the pan. Moving around her arms, she was imitating my movements in a cute bumbling fashion. She looked like she wanted to give it a bash and she’s watched me enough to know how to cook meat.
Taking out a carved wooden branch that looked like a spoon, I went through the motions of explaining how the utensil is used. Olivia, confused at first when she saw me use something other than my claws, quickly understood how to use her new tool. When I then handed Olivia the wooden spoon, she snatched it into her hands with glee.
Radiating pure happiness she quickly went prodding and pushing the meat around. Shaking and jumping around, it was fun to see her enjoy new things that I taught her. Rapidly she learnt how to use her new tool like a pro.
Zoning out and watching her cook I was shocked when I was suddenly attacked! Olivia, before I could react, turned around and kissed me on the lips. She showed me just how much she appreciated my gift. I was happy that I made said gift now. 2 prizes for the price of 1.
Wrapping my arms around Olivia in appreciation, she released a pleased hum in response. Honed in on her task she continued to cook with gusto, bobbing side to side inadvertently teasing me with her tantalising behind. I had to actively restrain my blossoming erection lest I distract Olivia from her task.
It was torturous but I wouldn’t change this moment for the world. After all, this was my ideal life, just sitting together with my (future) lover, and enjoying each other's company. Loving the present for its entirety.
Ruining the moment, my System thought it was a perfect time to give me a mission.
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Mission Available
Description: You have run out of food again! Maybe you should stockpile some food for later use?
Objectives: Stockpile 3 Medium sized prey animal, Preserve 1 prey animal worth of meat(Optional) , Hunt a Large sized prey animal(Optional)
Rewards: 5 Item Tickets, Weak Temperature resistance (Optional) ,1x [Level 3] Random Transformation Ticket (Optional)]
Time Limit: 1 week
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Thank you for the chapter
