Wilderness Survival with Druid System

After seeing the hunters off.

Chen Wen and the others started getting busy too.

Before noon, Adam used rocks and wood to build a big, square smoking chamber.

With a smokehouse, they no longer had to worry too much about food.

Chen Wen sent Adam to gather some pine needles, while he cut the processed wild boar meat into strips, hung them over wooden rods, and put them into the smoker.

As the pine needles caught fire, waves of strange pine resin fragrance rose up, smoking and roasting the strips of wild boar meat in the chamber.

After several hours of smoking, those wild boar strips would become extremely flavorful.

And they could be stored for a very long time.

The only downside might be that the texture of this wild boar meat wasn’t great.

Too tough!

At noon, Chen Wen boiled the wild boar’s offal, cut it into chunks, and put some into everyone’s bowl.

Then he ladled the pork bone broth he had simmered all morning into the bowls, letting the broth soak the wild boar meat a bit more.

After that, Chen Wen divided up the roasted potatoes, which were very soft and tender, and gave them to everyone.

He even sprinkled some barbecue seasoning over the potatoes.

Seeing this kind of lunch after a busy morning, a good part of everyone’s fatigue melted away.

”Smells so good!”

”The aroma is really nice!”

”These potatoes! They look delicious!”

”Of course, this is our staple, and judging from the seasoning on top, it looks like Chen Wen even put barbecue rub on it!”

...

Everyone stared at the food, chattering away, but it was all praise.

Chen Wen laughed and said, ”Stop spacing out, dig in!”

Hearing that, Gaston didn’t stand on ceremony.

He grabbed a pair of chopsticks he’d whittled from sticks and picked up some of the mushy potatoes.

The moment the potatoes entered his mouth.

Gaston’s eyes lit up: ”Tasty!”

Once they heard Gaston’s verdict, everyone started moving their chopsticks.

Hua Yun picked up her bowl and looked at the offal inside: ”Kinda feels like lamb offal soup...”

”Pretty much, it’s a similar method. Just that our conditions are basic, we can’t add a bunch of seasonings.”

Chen Wen said, ”I actually learned this from lamb offal soup. If we could add some cilantro and scallion segments, then toss in seasonings like MSG, salt, and so on, the taste probably wouldn’t be far off from lamb offal soup.”

Hearing that, Hua Yun nodded again and again.

Listening to Chen Wen’s description, she couldn’t help thinking of that trip she once took to the city famous for blooming peonies.

Though over there it was beef soup.

And they drank it in the morning.

But the flavor had been really good.

She couldn’t help adding, ”Actually, if we had flour, we could make flatbread, slice it into strips, and add it in.”

Adam, who was sitting to the side, laughed when he heard this: ”You can keep dreaming. With conditions like ours, trying to make the kind of food you guys are talking about is a bit fanciful.”

At that, Chen Wen chuckled, ”You never know. It still depends on that Hunter Arseni. If he’s like I judged him to be, the kind of guy who really values loyalty and saving face, then five days from now we’ll be welcoming a whole lot of supplies!”

Those words got everyone talking; they all started discussing the two hunters.

Hua Yun didn’t voice an opinion.

But Adam, Gaston, and Roland were a bit skeptical; they felt the Hunter Guide definitely wouldn’t be that generous.

After all, Roland was himself a Hunter Guide.

Fred, on the other hand, said it was actually quite possible these people would bring a lot of supplies, because he knew very well that folks around here care a lot about face. They might not seem very warm on the surface, but when it comes to situations where they need to save face, they’ll definitely act much more generously.

Everyone had their own thoughts, and amidst the noisy chatter, lunch passed just like that.

...

In the afternoon, once they’d finished processing the wild boar.

Under Chen Wen’s lead, Hua Yun took charge of things at camp. She stayed behind to keep an eye on the smoker and guard the food.

The rest took up weapons, traveled light, and went to start hauling stones.

Before they began, Chen Wen reminded everyone, ”What we need are stones we can use to build a shelter, so don’t pick ones with crazy shapes. Go for flat stones, and if it’s a big rock, pick something with relatively brittle texture.”

Hearing this, Gaston and Adam—who had never built anything and had zero experience—both nodded quickly.

It was indeed their first time trying to build a stone shelter.

Roland actually had experience, so he didn’t need Chen Wen to remind him; he already knew what kind of stones were suitable.

Fred stood off to the side with his arms folded, waiting.

He didn’t need to go looking for stones. The guy was tall and heavy; if he went scrambling around the exposed rocky slopes to pick stones, he might step on something and collapse the rock, putting himself and his teammates in danger.

So Fred’s task was simple: just wait until everyone else had found some stones, then take charge of hauling them.

No one really had a good method for moving stones.

But since Chen Wen played a lot of games, he suggested they make a kind of sled, like the ones used to haul logs in forest games.

In simple terms, you use several sticks or saplings—preferably ones with a natural curve.

Tie them roughly parallel to each other using rope, tough bark, or vines.

At the front you tie on a rope to serve as the pull line.

You put the stones on the saplings, and someone in front pulls the rope to drag the load.

A drag-sled can reduce friction and let a person move stones far beyond what they could carry themselves.

But this method works best on snow, mud, or flat grassland.

Its effect is limited in forest terrain.

So when Chen Wen brought it up, Fred only had time to prepare the materials; he hadn’t assembled anything yet.

While everyone started searching for stones.

Fred didn’t idle around either; he followed Chen Wen’s instructions, tying several logs roughly parallel together, then securing them with rope and making a pull line.

Very soon, Fred had finished the simple sled.

He put a few stones on it and did a quick test run.

But since there weren’t many stones, it wasn’t enough to really prove how much effort the sled saved—only enough to show that it worked.

Fred felt it wasn’t bad.

He passed this news on to the others.

What he got in return were complicated looks from everyone.

Because if this thing really did save effort, not only would Fred be hauling way more stones each time, they’d all have to make sleds and join the hauling brigade.

But for the sake of a warm shelter, if they had to put in the work, they’d put in the work!

Roughly a few minutes later.

They’d piled the sled full of stones.

By Chen Wen’s conservative estimate, the stones stacked on it weighed over three hundred jin, maybe even close to three hundred and fifty.

That was a pretty big load.

He looked at Fred and said, ”Give it a try, see how it feels.”

Fred took a deep breath and looped the pull rope around his body.

Then he braced himself and began to strain.

As Fred leaned forward and the soil under his feet sank slightly, the sled started to move.

It moved slowly, but steadily.

Everyone’s eyes lit up: It works!

”But the stones on top aren’t very stable. If we hit uneven terrain, they’ll probably fall off.”

Chen Wen noticed the issue and said it out loud.

Hearing that, everyone started thinking about solutions.

In the end, Adam, whose mind was fairly quick, said, ”We could clear a path between this area and our camp, like an animal trail, to make dragging easier. Forest ground is already relatively flat, so it wouldn’t be too much work. What do you think?”

Chen Wen clapped his hands: ”Great idea!”

Adam chuckled, ”But who’s going to do that job?”

As soon as he finished, Adam suddenly felt all their eyes turn toward him.

Adam’s mouth twitched: Motherf—! I think I just volunteered myself for extra work!