Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 17

“Great!”

First, he cut down five bamboo stalks, each around ten meters long. It was exhausting work, but now he had five toppled stalks. Next step: cut them into uniform lengths.

—

*– The Watcher wonders what you’re doing.*

Just then, the usually-silent Watcher expressed curiosity. Ji Yeonwoo explained his plan.

“I’m going to try making a raft. Swimming back and forth is a bit too tiring.”

—

**- The Watcher applauds, saying it’s a great idea.

– They marvel at your ability to build something like that.**

“I wouldn’t say I know how to build it. But, you know? I’ll just tie wood with rope in some sort of configuration…like you see in stories.”

—

**- The Watcher nods.

– They hope you don’t fail.**

“Heh, thanks for the thought! I might fail, but if I do, I’ll just try again.”

After all, Ji Yeonwoo had plenty of time. He’d already secured water, food, and shelter, so even if he messed up, it was just another learning experience.

“Ugh… but is this correct?”

He’d cut the bamboo to the lengths he wanted and started binding them with rope, but by the time he got to the fifth piece, it started going crooked. With the sixth, he was completely unsure if he was doing it right.

“Well… gotta keep trying, I guess.”

—

**- The Watcher feels anxious watching you.

– They wonder how they might help prevent a total flop.**

“Just hearing your moral support is enough!” Ji Yeonwoo chuckled.

He spent a good while wrestling with the rope, fussing over how to tie the bamboo. Finally, the Watcher spoke up again.

—

**- The Watcher says they might be able to help.

– They ask you to wait for a bit.**

“Huh? Help how?”

But the Watcher went silent. Some 20 minutes later, they spoke again:

—

*– Would you like to receive [the Watcher’s memory (8 minutes 45 seconds)]?*

“…Huh?”

Ji Yeonwoo instinctively nodded.

Fwaaash—

A surge of knowledge flooded his mind.

“Wh-what is this?!”

—

Fwaaaash…

With his eyes closed, Ji Yeonwoo saw events unfold from a first-person view: the Watcher’s memory. An isolated hut, surrounded by a bamboo forest. A warehouse stacked with various types and sizes of bamboo, and an elderly master, clearly an expert, cutting bamboo. He turned to gaze at the Watcher.

“Well, you’ve come at the perfect time. I was just about to show you how to make this next piece,” the old master said.

He was making a *bamboo boat.*

—Really? There’s a memory like this? So the Watcher was human?

Ji Yeonwoo had never imagined the Watcher as human, because they’d been overseeing his life from some all-seeing perspective within the rift. He’d assumed they might be a god. But if these memories were the Watcher’s, then apparently, they were indeed human—and an apprentice to a bamboo-crafting master.

It was amazingly timely for Ji Yeonwoo’s situation. What a coincidence… or sheer luck.

I’m so relieved, he thought.

Meanwhile, in the vision, the old master went on constructing the bamboo boat, laying out stalks, tying them firmly, showing exactly where to connect them so they’d be stable, and which overlooked spots people often skip—causing them to redo the entire build. It was like a perfectly edited video focusing on the critical steps. In just 8 minutes, those 3-meter bamboo stalks (about 50 of them) came together to form an impressive bamboo boat.

“Now let’s take it to the water,” the old master said.

He couldn’t carry such a big craft alone, so three additional men appeared from off-screen. The Watcher—whose point of view Ji Yeonwoo was sharing—joined them in hauling the boat to the river. From this first-person angle, Ji Yeonwoo could tell the Watcher’s hand was that of a large adult male, possibly in his forties.

They got the boat afloat, carrying five guys easily, fishing rods cast off the side. At around 8 minutes, 45 seconds, the memory ended with the old master smiling at the Watcher.

“Well? Did you watch carefully?” he asked.

The Watcher must have nodded, because the camera angle dipped up and down. Pleased, the old master spoke kindly:

“In that case, don’t forget to like and subscr—”

That was all. The Watcher’s memory stopped there.

Fwaaaash!

“…Huh? ‘Like and subscr…’? Some kind of idiom?” Ji Yeonwoo muttered.

At that point, the system chimed:

—

*– Would you like to save this memory?*

He nodded. This was extremely—extremely—useful to him right now.

—

*– Please give it a name.*

“How about… ‘Building a Bamboo Boat’?”

—

**- [Building a Bamboo Boat] has been saved.

– You can access it permanently whenever you like.**

Like a saved video you could re-watch any time.

—

*– The Watcher wonders if their memory was helpful.*

“Of course it helped! But… more importantly…”

He had a question.

“You’re human, Watcher? So how are you viewing all this? Are you on Earth or something? Are you from Earth?”

But for a while, no answer came.

—

**- The Watcher sees you moving your lips but doesn’t hear you.

– They fret that maybe their memory didn’t help.**

“…They can’t hear me? Odd.” Ji Yeonwoo then glared at empty air. “You’re not passing along my words, are you?”

Just like before, when he’d asked the Watcher’s identity and got no response, it seemed the system itself was blocking him from asking these questions.

—

*– The Watcher grows anxious, thinking the memory wasn’t useful.*

It was as if the system only wanted to convey certain topics. Ji Yeonwoo sighed internally, but then he smiled:

“No, it’s definitely useful, thanks! If not for that memory, I might have built the whole raft, then taken it apart and redone it!”

—

**- The Watcher is happy.

– They say the memory is a return for that delicious egg roll you gave them.

– They’d like to share more knowledge, but 10 minutes is their limit.

– Since you gave them food, they can offer more, so they look forward to your help again.**

“Ah, so that’s how it works. Interesting.”

It felt like a quest reward system. Ji Yeonwoo was delighted that his unselfish gift had paid off so generously.

“Then I’ll be sure to cook for you often. Want to join me for breakfast every day?”

—

**- The Watcher is overjoyed.

– They say they can’t wait for what’s to come.**

“Haha, me too. It’s nice having another person at the table!”

He’d initially dined alone. Then Kim Kkokko came along, so he had a companion. Now the Watcher might share breakfast too. When he’d first fallen into this rift, the loneliness was crushing, but now there were three of them in a sense.

“Here’s to us, Watcher… big bro!”

—

*– The Watcher leaps in surprise.*

“Eh? Why jump?” Ji Yeonwoo said. But there was no reply, as if the channel had gone quiet.

“Gone to another channel?”

So many mysteries remained. One of Ji Yeonwoo’s strengths, though, was that he didn’t fret too much over unsolvable puzzles.

And his main plan for the day was to finish the bamboo raft and set out to sea. From the memory, he realized he’d messed up a bunch of steps. He needed to start over, plus he was short on materials.

He disassembled the raft he’d started, cut down two more bamboo stalks, each about ten meters. “Ugh… this is exhausting,” he groaned.

Trimming tough bamboo with just a hunting knife wasn’t easy. If it weren’t a monster-grade alloy (coated for hunts), a normal metal blade would have gone dull or even snapped by now.

He ultimately prepared 50 pieces of 3-meter bamboo, just like in the Watcher’s memory, then followed the boat-building steps exactly as shown. With decent manual dexterity, he could roughly mimic a craftsman’s handiwork. The process was slow but careful and precise.

Whenever he got confused, he just closed his eyes:

—

*– Retrieving stored memory…*

The system let him replay whichever scene he needed, clarifying all the tricky spots. Then he’d open his eyes again and keep going.

Starting in the early morning, he worked right through midday, deeply focused on building this raft. Kim Kkokko watched him just as intently. From the bird’s perspective, it must have been fascinating to see tall bamboo cut into pieces, tied together in strange ways. It had never seen anything like it.

Eventually, a small rumble from Ji Yeonwoo’s stomach broke their concentration:

Gruuumble.

“Huh…?”

It was slightly past noon. He felt a bit hungry, not enough for a full meal, but definitely peckish—like needing a snack. He had dried bream fillets, partly drying filefish, plus ramen and instant rice. He considered raw ramen as a snack but decided it was too precious—his supply of Earth food was limited.

Luckily, he’d prepared something for moments just like this.

“Maybe it’s time to use that?” he muttered, heading over to a slab of dried kelp he’d set out on a stone plate.

Otaku_Senpai

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