There wasn’t much to say about the taste of breakfast.
It was the classic set of canned pork and beans with hard biscuits that they had already eaten yesterday, so there was no need to elaborate.
As for the beef jerky, Sento, who came from a northern province known for its beef jerky production, gave it a rating of—not bad.
The ingredients were indeed average, but enough spices had been added.
With all sorts of spices thrown in and a decent ratio, forget beef jerky—even a toasted shoe sole would taste good.
During breakfast, the two of them planned their route in more detail.
Walking the whole way in one go was a bit unrealistic, so Sento thought about finding a place to rest halfway.
“It’s perfect that we have two oat bars left to eat on the way,” Ai added.
After eating, Sento didn’t stay idle.
He first opened the door and poked his head out to check the situation.
There was a slight breeze, but it wasn’t snowing, which was already considered very pleasant weather.
The snow, appearing even whiter under the sunlight, stung Sento’s eyes, reminding him of another important matter.
Sento pulled the door open, walked around outside, and picked up a large handful of small sticks about the thickness of a finger.
“Sento-kun, why are you collecting sticks?
As fuel?” Ai asked curiously.
Sento piled the sticks by the table, making simple gestures as he replied casually, “I suddenly remembered a wilderness survival show I watched before.
One episode was set in an ice and snow environment, and the show explained some important auxiliary tools for traveling in the snow, one of which was Emergency Snowshoes.”
Simply put, it involved taking flexible sticks and making a frame similar to the shape of a tennis racket, then tying them to your feet to distribute your weight.
It wasn’t very useful for thin snow that didn’t even cover your shoes, but it was very helpful for thick snow where a single step could sink past your shins.
Listening to Sento’s explanation, Ai nodded thoughtfully.
She watched him gesture a few times, but when he couldn’t seem to tie them into a fixed shape, she suddenly burst out laughing.
“Hehe, Sento-kun might know a lot, but your manual skills seem quite poor.
Let Miss Hayasaka handle this!”
With that, she took the sticks from Sento’s hands and tied them using the leftover fabric strips from making the leggings and cloaks last night.
In just over ten minutes, she produced two pairs of Emergency Snowshoes.
Although they still couldn’t be called beautiful, they looked quite sturdy.
Sento scratched his head, feeling a bit helpless.
Well, his combat power probably couldn’t match hers, and now even his crafting wasn’t as good.
He really had become the intelligence character.
What Sento didn’t notice was that the skill called ‘Survival Player’ in his skill bar flickered slightly, and a line of small text popped up.
[Crafting blueprint detected…
Non-game blueprint, will not be recorded.]
In addition to the Emergency Snowshoes, Sento also found two strips of dark curtain fabric.
He held one up to his eyes to test it, then handed one to Ai.
“Walking in the snow for a long time can cause Snow Blindness because of the vast white environment.
Until we find goggles, let’s use these fabric strips as a substitute.”
If the Emergency Snowshoes were knowledge he learned from a show, then Snow Blindness was common life knowledge.
After all, where he came from, there was heavy snow every year, and wearing goggles or sunglasses was a must when going out in winter.
The two of them spent over ten minutes just organizing their clothing.
Sento gave the parka to Ai.
It was the same logic as giving her the lighter backpack: he wanted to keep Ai, their key combatant, as warm as possible to ensure blood circulation in her limbs.
If they encountered a fight, they would have to rely entirely on her.
As for Sento, he put on the tablecloth cloak.
The two checked their backpacks, confirmed there were no issues, and walked out.
Cold air rushed into his lungs, but it wasn’t cold enough to freeze his organs or make his limbs numb.
In fact, aside from the air being a bit cold when inhaled, Sento felt quite warm.
At least for an hour or two, he didn’t have to worry about hypothermia.
“Phew!
Great weather!” Ai took a deep breath and raised her hands in a cheer, a bright smile on her face, but her eyes remained calm as she cautiously surveyed their surroundings.
Sento gripped his backpack straps and said with a smile, “The weather is indeed good now, but you also saw how the wind suddenly picked up this morning, so we still need to move quickly.”
“Understood!
Private Ai is following orders!” Ai gave a salute at her forehead, her small face turning serious as her left foot, wearing the emergency snowshoe, took the first step forward.
Sento also began to move, walking ahead of Ai and cautiously observing the surroundings.
He didn’t need to worry about the route.
If he were to take a shortcut in a straight line to the Camp Office, he could certainly do it in the game, but in reality, it was hard to say.
However, the path he chose now was a safer one.
By following the mountain wall straight down, they would find the tracks.
Following the tracks forward would lead to the Camp Office.
Both parts of the route had very clear landmarks; even a fool couldn’t go wrong.
While he was looking around, besides watching for possible wolf packs, he was also searching for natural resources that could be gathered.
He naturally ignored the heavy, giant branches.
Even the superhuman protagonist in the game would have to use an axe to chop those into small pieces before carrying them back.
No matter how short on fuel Sento was, he couldn’t possibly carry such things for half a day back to the Camp Office.
But other important small items could be picked up, for example…
“Are these…
wild berries?
Are they edible?” Crouching beside Sento, Ai watched his movements.
Sento was currently crouching at the base of the mountain wall in front of a low shrub.
It had no leaves left, only about twenty or thirty red fruits about the size of a finger.
He was picking them one by one and throwing them into his backpack.
“Of course they’re edible.
These are Rose Hips.
They should be quite sour, but they’re a good source of Vitamin C.”
“Eating only canned food for a long time won’t do; we have to find ways to supplement vitamins.
Today we need to travel, so there’s no time, otherwise, trying to collect pine needles to make needle tea would also be good.”
Rose Hips were a crop that existed in the original game.
As for Pine Needle Tea, that was also knowledge Sento had learned from wilderness survival shows.
“Ah, it’s lucky we have you, Sento-kun, otherwise we would have missed such valuable resources.”
Ai crossed her arms and muttered softly, “Sour berries that supplement vitamins…
isn’t that effect similar to hawthorns?
Maybe I can try using them in cooking, or perhaps even make them into jam or something.”