Chapter 12

The sky was orange and twilight as Rob sat at his small basecamp and tinkered with his crafting materials.

Rob started with deconstructing his lizard hide satchel. He was soon staring at the multiple pieces of lizard hide he’d originally started with. He began to wrap it around his forearm, testing whether he had enough.

He smiled because he had exactly the right amount for both arms.

He then gathered his lizard bones and began to chip away at them with his spear. The bones were hard and tough at first, but after enough scraping with his spear, he was able to break a few of them down into flattened shards.

He lined the shards along his forearm, overlapping like ribs, then pressed the lizard hide over them and around the rest of his arm. Then with some vines, he wrapped around the leather, tightening the makeshift armor.

It began to glow. A system message soon appeared.

Rob grinned. He also received a reminder of his Vocation invitation for Savvy Survivalist Engineer. He skipped over it and focused on his new Bracer.

Heck yeah.

He flexed his arm and the structure held–stiff enough to deflect a glancing blow, yet light enough to move with him. This would definitely protect him from any sneak attacks or bites on his forearm like he had to deal with earlier today.

But Rob was hoping for more than just protection. He used identify on the Lizard Bone Bracer and more information appeared.

Rob was very pleased. This was exactly what he was hoping for; and, if he made a second bracer for his other arm, the stats here would be doubled. He already began to feel an eagerness to get back to his hunt tomorrow. He wanted to kill more Jungle Lizards, gain more crafting materials, craft more items, and continue improving his stats and growing in power.

He indeed had enough material to make another set for his other arm. He quickly got to work and saw the system prompt once again.

Rob lifted both of his arms up with the new armor. He couldn’t wait to test it out in the jungle the following day.

And the promise that he could complete a full set. He wondered excitedly what would happen when he acquired the full set.

While there was definitely a part of him that wanted to keep hunting that evening and into the night—he didn’t think it was a wise idea. The cover of darkness might work in his favor, but it could also easily work against him. This was only his first day in this jungle island world. The lizards and whatever other beasts that roamed out there were much more familiar to this environment than him. He wasn’t ready to go toe to toe with them in the dark. Not yet anyway.

Nope. He would finish up his crafting, and then he’d get to work on starting a fire and cooking his assortment of meats. Or, at least, the edible meats. He shuddered at the idea of the poisonous bacteria-rich Drift Slug meat.

The last thing Rob wanted to tinker with was his collection of lizard teeth. A few Jungle Lizards had dropped them and he was eager to get to work with them.

He picked one and held it up to the soft twilight. Rob then grabbed his spear and ran the spearpoint through the tooth, twisting until the enamel cracked just enough for a hole. He repeated this with the assortment of lizard teeth he had. There were six teeth.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

After he had made a hole in each tooth, he ran a piece of strong vine through them. As he threaded them one by one, the teeth clacked softly together—a primitive rhythm to his victory over the Jungle Lizards earlier that day.

He tied either end of the vine around his neck and the object began to glow.

Rob smiled and identified the new item.

Rob looked down at his new necklace and bracers with satisfaction. He already could tell his hunt tomorrow was going to reap him even more gains and benefits than today’s did.

Rob turned his attention to starting a fire.