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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: Shelter?

Caelen was sweating.

Not from the heat—but from the slow, creeping dread that came with the orange sky. The sun was going down, and in Primal Survival, nighttime wasn't just a vibe shift. It was straight-up monster o'clock.

He gripped his stone axe. "Okay. No panic. Just build a shelter. Easy."

He ran to the nearest tree and started swinging.

THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.

The tree refused to fall like it had personal beef with him.

Eventually, a log dropped.

[You have acquired: 1x Wood Log]

"One? This is gonna be a long night."

Ten sweaty, increasingly desperate minutes later, Caelen had five logs, a splinter in his palm, and a squirrel judging him from a tree like a tiny forest landlord.

"Don't look at me like that," Caelen muttered.

He activated Google Brain with a thought.

Search: How to build basic shelter

[Answer: 6x Wood Log, 2x Leaf Bundle, 1x Hope]

"…Hope is a resource now? Cool. Cool cool cool."

[Tip: Try cutting bushes for leaf bundles, blud.]

He glared at a nearby bush.

"Sorry in advance."

SWIPE. SWIPE.

[You have acquired: 2x Leaf Bundle]

Finally, enough.

He dragged the materials into Creation Mode, hit Craft, and watched as a crooked little hut popped into existence. Logs jammed together with leaves like a nature-themed arts-and-crafts project. It looked like a survival shelter designed by a drunk raccoon.

But it had walls. Kind of.

Caelen ducked inside. It creaked ominously. One of the walls leaned like it was already tired of being alive.

"Beautiful," he whispered. "Home sweet disaster."

Outside, the forest went still.

A bird shrieked and then shut up fast. Wind rustled through trees that suddenly seemed way taller. Something growled in the distance—a deep, low sound that came from a creature with too many teeth and not enough therapy.

Caelen hugged his axe.

Then paused.

And said, out loud, "You know what this needs?"

He opened Creation Mode again.

"A chair."

Search: How to craft chair

[2x Wood Log | Optional: Back support. Because posture matters even in mortal danger.]

He slapped two logs into the menu, hit Craft, and proudly placed his brand new, janky wooden chair in the corner of his hut.

It looked like it would collapse if someone breathed near it.

He sat down slowly.

It didn't break.

"Yes."

Then he thought, "You know what? Let's go full DIY."

Search: How to craft table

> [3x Wood Log. Warning: It's just a flat surface. Don't expect miracles.]

Caelen built it anyway.

Now, inside his humble hut of sticks and sadness, sat a very crooked table and a chair that leaned to the left.

But it felt… good.

He plopped into the chair, rested his axe on the table, and stared out at the darkening woods.

Growls echoed. Branches snapped in the distance. Something shrieked, then something else shrieked at that thing.

But Caelen? He was sitting.

In a chair.

Next to a table.

In a house he built with his own hands and possibly a mild concussion.

He leaned back and whispered to himself:

"Now this... is living."

The wind immediately knocked his chair sideways.

He caught himself mid-fall.

"…Barely."

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