Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)
Chapter 25: Bob's Back
Part 1/2
Thwack!
Thwack!
THWACK!
With one final swing, Bob had managed to chop down another tree with his trusty metal hatchet. He let out a sigh of relief, as he bent over to chop the tree down into small little bits.
“Just enough wood to finish my base up,” Bob muttered to himself.
Ever since Bob had been sent to the Ark by that evil, obsessed lunatic, the President, he had been planning his moves carefully and strategically. He knew that he needed to progress as fast as he could, as he didn’t know if the President would try to sabotage him if he grew too powerful. He couldn’t take that risk, and plus, he didn’t know how far the scholars that were placed on the Ark before him had progressed either. He didn’t know if they were still at the bottom of the food chain, struggling to survive against basic predators like Raptors or Dilophosaurus, or if they were already capable of creating metal tools. Either way, the faster Bob got his base built and started his hunt for taming beasts it would make the path to ascension easier.
“I hope the President didn’t mess with anything here on the Ark,” Bob thought as he collected the pieces of wood and began to haul stacks and stacks back to the construction site, “Otherwise, the knowledge I have may be outdated.”
One thing Bob knew for certain was that he had no implant. Bob knew that the President had altered the implants to be special gems that gave special abilities, rather than how they were in the original game. It made it harder for Bob to get started on his base, because without the implant he wasn’t able to craft anything of use. He had to travel around the area to collect blueprints and loot from beacons to give himself a head start, and even then it was still dangerous considering the area he was placed in.
Whatever. The more Bob thought about it, the harder the game would be. He needed to focus on building shelter, then going out to tame an Argentavis so that he could keep scouting the area for more beacons and potential settlements he might need to keep an eye out for.
“It won’t be hard whatsoever,” Bob thought, “But it sure is a lot more stressful when you’re in the game itself.”
As Bob returned back home, he dropped all of the wood onto the sand. Bob had decided to settle near the river he had arrived at, which was located close to the Redwood Forests, a hotspot for dinosaurs that would be useful for the future. He took out a blueprint for a ceiling made of stone, looked up at his stone base, and smirked.
“Good. We’re almost done here,” Bob said as he put the blueprint away.
The next hour he spent smashing stone, wood, and thatch together to create ceilings for his base. He had always remembered a saying that stuck to him whenever he played the original game, “Big bad dinosaurs can blow down straw and stick, but not brick.”
Bob just hoped it would apply here too.
But as Bob hauled the ceilings up onto his strong shoulders and attached them to the walls, he heard chatter outside of his house.
“Oooh, this house looks cool! I wonder who lives here,” a voice echoed outside the house.
“There’s no way. Someone’s out there,” Bob thought with a groan. He reached for his hide pockets and pulled out a bola. He took his torch out, and with a flicker the flame burst from the top.
Bob began to wind the bola up in the air, and then afterward he kicked the door open with his foot. He turned to the side, and quickly threw the bola at the unsuspecting scholar. The string and rocks tied around the boy’s limbs, and he let out a scream as he tripped and fell onto the sand. Bob ran forward to whack him with the torch, but the scholar yelled,