Wilderness Survival with Druid System

Gaston’s roaring really did leave Chen Wen a bit helpless.

He couldn’t help saying, ”Huh? That internal competition thing I mentioned before, I clearly talked it through with Roland, how come all of you know about it now?”

Roland let out an awkward noise and said, ”When I told President Bernard that I wanted to compete together with you, I brought it up.”

Hua Yun also said a bit awkwardly, ”I think I mentioned it too.”

”So there you go.”

Chen Wen imitated Little Bear and spread his hands. ”So this whole thing doesn’t really have much to do with me, right?”

Everyone fell silent.

But Gaston kept going: ”What about me then?”

Looking at the aggrieved Gaston, Chen Wen scratched his head in embarrassment. ”Old Jia, about your situation... just say it straight: after training all these days, have you improved or not?”

”Back when I went off to live alone in the wilderness, I also went through this kind of training. Now that you’ve done the same, you should be able to make a huge leap in Forest Extreme Challenge, right? Say it yourself.”

Gaston paused for a moment, then said, ”There’s definitely progress, but man, this is really bitter!”

”The one who can eat the bitterest of all bitterness stands above all others.”

Adam quoted a saying from Hua Country.

Gaston froze for a bit, then couldn’t help nodding. ”That line has a lot of depth to it!”

Chen Wen grumbled to himself: What the hell, it should be ”the one who can eat the bitterest of all bitterness ends up with endless bitterness to eat”!

He didn’t say more, instead steering the conversation back on track. ”Ahem, let’s end the chit-chat here. This video meeting is mainly to ask you about what gear we’re taking.”

”You should all know the rules already. Each of us gets ten items. Aside from the five fixed items we have to carry, the rest are our own picks. I think since this is a team survival event, we should coordinate our gear in advance and match them up sensibly. What do you think?”

Nothing wrong with that at all.

Adam nodded. ”Makes sense. We have to choose items based on what the team needs.”

Hua Yun nodded. ”Like pots—for us, two pots are plenty. Any more and it’s just a waste of item slots. Some other things are the same—one or two pieces are enough.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

At this point, Chen Wen pulled out the plan he’d already worked out.

He picked up a notebook and read: ”I thought it through earlier. The items we bring can roughly be divided into three big categories: tools needed for survival, weapons needed for hunting, and utensils needed for daily living. You can make your choices based on these three.”

”But in my opinion, we can afford to bring fewer survival tools and hunting weapons, especially the ones everyone can share.”

Listening to Chen Wen, everyone started forming their own ideas.

With Chen Wen here taking care of these things, they felt at ease.

Hua Yun thought for a bit and said, ”Let’s start with hunting weapons. I think we must have two sets of bow and arrows.”

Chen Wen nodded and ticked a mark in his notes. He’d originally been thinking three sets.

Hua Yun went on, ”One general-use set and one backup. What do you all say?”

Roland glanced at Hua Yun’s window on the screen and couldn’t help reminding him, ”Have you considered the draw weight issue?”

Hua Yun heard that and confidently patted his own arm. ”I’ve been training with heavy-poundage bows for days now. At this point I can already use that heavy bow you brought last time.”

Hearing that, everyone couldn’t help looking over at Hua Yun.

They hadn’t expected Hua Yun to start practicing with heavy bows ahead of time.

But this directly saved them one item slot—well worth it.

”We bring one spear.”

Adam added, ”If Chen Wen’s carrying the spear, we can all relax.”

Couldn’t argue with that.

Everyone nodded and looked at Chen Wen.

Chen Wen grinned, showing his teeth.

”Next are snare ropes and fishing gear.”

Gaston said, ”The area we’ll be in has a lot of water, rivers and lakes, and there’s even Lake Baikal. If we can make it to Baikal, we can even ice-fish on the lake.”

That was when the usually quiet Fred spoke up. ”Not bad, we should bring it. Ice fishing is allowed. From what I heard from the association, it’s not just fish—even seals are on the list. Each team gets two hunting slots!”

Everyone inhaled sharply at that.

Seals!

Lake Baikal has seals, the Baikal seals.

If they managed to hunt one, the entire team’s fat supply would be secured.

After that, they continued discussing hunting weapons.

After about ten minutes, they were done.

They finally settled on seven must-bring items: two sets of bow and arrows, one spear, two sets of snare ropes, one set of fishing gear, and one long-handled machete.

For survival tools, they debated for half an hour before deciding.

The list was: two axes, one infantry shovel, two saws, two large pots, and one set of rope.

Eight must-bring tools in total.

Last came daily-use utensils. They discussed for quite a while and finally nailed it down before the meeting ended.

Ten items in all—things like salt and sleeping bags that are basic necessities, plus some non-essential but highly recommended items, such as tableware, first-aid kits, and so on.

Counting it all up, out of the thirty personal items, they’d already decided on twenty-five.

Then Chen Wen said, ”As for the remaining five... you know I’ve tamed some animals before. This time I can bring them along too, but at most four. Do you think we should bring them all, or just some?”

Hearing that, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Hua Yun asked, ”Which four can you bring?”

Chen Wen said, ”The Golden Eagle and the Snowy Owl—those are the ones I tamed back in Yukon. They’re well adapted to this environment. Then there’s the Eagle I tamed at Great Slave Lake, also suited for here. And the Wolf Mink, which is adapted as well. The others aren’t really suitable.”

Hearing that, everyone started thinking it over.

Very quickly, Hua Yun said, ”We definitely bring the Golden Eagle. That guy is smart, and it’s been with us for quite a while, so it understands a lot of what we mean. I think the Golden Eagle is a must-bring.”

”As for the Snowy Owl, I don’t know it that well; I just remember it wasn’t too fond of humans back then. If you feel it’s okay to bring, then bring it.”

Adam nodded. ”The more birds we have, the better our chances of survival!”

Fred was thinking along the same lines.

Roland, on the other hand, was intrigued by the Wolf Mink.

He said, ”If we can bring the Wolf Mink, then bring it! That thing is an expert at wrecking camps, but on the flip side it’s also great at guarding them. With it around, we won’t have to worry so much about small carnivores raiding our camp.”

Hearing that, Gaston strongly agreed. ”Exactly. Since we’re heading to Lake Baikal this time, we have to watch out for Wolf Minks too. Over here at our association...”

Gaston paused. Seeing that Roland and Adam weren’t stopping him, he went on, ”According to our records, there are quite a lot of Wolf Minks around Lake Baikal.”

Chen Wen nodded slightly at that. ”More or less. Our side has similar notes.”

”So it’s settled—we bring all four animals?”

Everyone nodded.

That meant they’d be taking quite a lot of animals with them this time!

So thought Chen Wen.

Starting off with four animals on his side gave him a huge edge!

”Alright, I’ll give the association a heads-up in advance.”

Fred said.

As the local competitor this time, he had some advantages, and now it was time to make use of them.

Everyone nodded. The gear selection was now completely settled.

As for the final item, they thought it over and, in the end—under Chen Wen’s strong insistence—they chose to bring one big bag of barbecue seasonings.