Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?

Welcome to the second chapter! This is a re-uplaoded version, with spotted mistakes corrected, things added and removed, etc. I've also added some author notes. I'll be doing this with all of the other chapters; whenever I write a new chapter, I correct and re-upload an older chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Jagex, RuneScape, or any of the RuneScape characters. All I own is the plot of this fanfiction and some of the characters in the story. I am not making a financial profit from this story.

Chapter 2: The Basics of Survival

I walked down the cobbled stone path, and saw a clearing in the woods at the end of the path. I was feeling apprehensive as to what might happen up ahead. I walked into the clearing, and saw a lake, surrounded by trees. There were quite a few people there in total. Some of them were cutting down trees swiftly with axes, while some of them were setting the logs on fire. Others were by a lake, fishing.

Then I saw a woman. She was wearing a brown cloak, and a hood covered most of her facial features. She was wielding an axe. She had a large backpack on her back, like the RuneScape guide. Her cape stood out vividly compared to her gloomy cloak. It was a bright, dazzling red, and waved magnificently in the light breeze. She saw me, smiled, and walked towards me.

"Hello there, and what might your name be?" she asked me kindly.

"I am Mainiac97," I replied, smiling.

"Well, my name is Brianna, and I am the survival tutor. I am here to teach new people how to survive in the big, wide world. I have been doing it for most of my life, travelling through thick forests, boiling deserts and even the dreaded wilderness," she said. The wilderness, whatever this was, seemed to bring a shiver to her spine. I looked at her, nonplussed, as to why she would be shuddering at the name of the wilderness. I heard the RuneScape guide mention the wilderness, even though I didn't have a clue what it meant. I didn't push it though.

"Well, first of all, you have got to learn how to cut down trees," she said, pointing at a nearby tree. "To do that, you will need an axe." She then bent over, rummaged in her bag, and then handed me a bronze woodcutting axe from the bag. "Now, go and practice. When you come back, I expect at least three sets of logs." She pushed me towards a tree. A boy had just cut that tree down, but it had grown back amazingly fast. I looked at it, flabbergasted. I decided to stop staring, and to get on with my work. I stepped towards the tree, and gave it a mighty strike with my axe.

A large mark went into the tree, but it was nowhere near falling over. So, I hit it again, and the mark in the tree widened. I hit a few more times, and the mark had almost grown enough to cut the tree down. I mustered all my strength, and hit the tree one more time. This was enough, and the tree toppled over with a crash that echoed around the clearing. I chopped the tree up into three logs. I did the same with two more trees, and then put them in my bag. For some reason, they fit easily in my bag. I decided to cut down another tree. After several attempts to cut it down, it finally toppled over. Then, something amazing happened. Small fireworks flew around me, illuminating me with light. I felt a vibration in my bag. I found the source to be the small olive-green book, and it magically opened up to the stat page. The woodcutting stat was glowing. I read it, and instead of reading 1, it read 2. It then suddenly stopped glowing, and the fireworks ended. I went up to Brianna, handed her my logs, and asked for an explanation. She chuckled softly.

"You're a natural at woodcutting, I was watching you from here!" she exclaimed. I glowed with pride. She smiled kindly at me. "As for the fireworks and glowing, that is because you've just raised a woodcutting level. I figure it is a good way of alerting us when our level rises.

"Now, you've learnt how to cut wood; it's now time for you to learn how to light a fire. Cut down another tree, and come to me when you're done," she commanded. I gladly cut down another tree. I found it easier this time; I guessed it was because I just raised a level. I went back to her with a set of logs. She rummaged in her bag, and pulled out a small, grey box. The inside had small, sharp razors with flint at the end. "Now, lighting a fire is harder then cutting down trees, I think. Let me show you."

She went up to a tree, but it looked different. It was larger, broader, shinier, and looked harder to cut. There was a similar tree standing next to it. She chopped down the tree with one blow. She must be a natural. Level 99, I guessed. I went to the big tree next to her, and tried to cut it. But, for some strange reason, I couldn't even mark it. She laughed at me. "You're only level 2 at woodcutting. You can't cut down that tree just yet!" she pointed out, laughing kindly.

"Why can't I?" I asked, a bit disappointed.

"That's because that is an oak tree! You need a level 15 woodcutting to cut down one of those! Look, hand me your little book, I want to show you something," she said. I handed over my book, feeling like I could trust Brianna by now. She held the book up against the tree, and it suddenly flipped open to a random page. The page included loads of information, including what level you need to be to cut down oak trees, where you can find them, how hard it would be to cut it down and set it on fire…it was all there! She gave it back.

She got the grey box, and scratched it against the oak logs, sending sparks flying everywhere. Finally, she stood back, and the logs caught fire. A roaring fire stood in front of them. She then handed me the box.

"Now, that is called a tinderbox, and it can be bought commonly at shops. You saw me use it, now try and cut down a tree and set the logs on fire," she told me. I nodded, and ran off to cut down a tree.

The tree came down in about three blows; my new record! I tried the tinderbox with the logs, and I easily created a fire. I ran off to Brianna for further instructions. By then she was looking at me, amazed.

"You are off to a very good start in survival, Mainiac97!" She exclaimed. "Now, there is one more thing you need to learn here, and it just may be harder then anything else you learnt, even harder then woodcutting, or fire making. You, my friend, are going to learn how to fish." She was looking at me pretty seriously. She rummaged in her bag, and fished out a net (no pun intended), and handed it to me.

"That is basic starter fishing net, and the best you can catch with that would be shrimps and anchovies. You need level 15 in fishing before trying to catch anchovies, so that will come later on. Now, you seem very good at survival, so I am going to give you a challenge. Try and catch as much fish as possible, and cook them over a fire." I looked up at her nervously. I found that cutting down trees and setting the logs on fire were easier then I expected them to be, but fishing, that sounded quite difficult. I listened to her, hoping for an explanation on fishing. She looked at my face, and laughed.

"You see those sparkling areas by the lake? If you put your net in there, then there is a chance you will catch fish," she explained. I decided to try it. "Besides, you need food in your stomach." Just then, I noticed that my stomach was rumbling, and I felt really hungry. So, I went towards a sparkling spot that was unoccupied while Brianna went towards a young boy who was having trouble setting the logs on fire. I stood in front of the fishing spot, and plunged my net into the water. I gently put it in, and pulled it out slowly. There weren't any fish in the net. I groaned, and put the net in again, and pulled it out. No sign of fish. I repeated this process again a few more times, and, finally, I saw little weird fish that looked orange.

I took out my little green book, and held it up to the little fish, hoping it would tell me about the fish. It flipped open to a page, and gave me all the info I needed to know. The little fish were called shrimp, and they were the most common fish in all of RuneScape. You could catch them with a small fishing net, with level 1 in fishing. I realised how easy it might be when you were a mighty warrior to catch shrimp. I put the raw little shrimp in my bag, and carried on fishing.

A few minutes later, I saw small fireworks setting off around me, and saw in my book that I had risen to level 2 in fishing. About 25 minutes later, I had filled my surprisingly large bag with raw shrimp. I went up to a nearby tree, pulled out my axe, and chopped the tree down in four hits. Using my tinderbox, I set the logs on fire, and nervously pulled out all my shrimp. I went up to Brianna to ask for help.

"Here is a stick to put the shrimp on, so you don't have to burn your hands while cooking," she answered simply, handing me a small, sharp stick. I poked on a few raw shrimp, and put them in the fire. I waited for a few minutes, and then pulled out the stick. Three shrimp were a lovely crisp golden colour, while the other two were black and disgusting. I grimaced, and dropped the burnt ones on the floor. I got some other raw shrimp, put them on my stick, and put them on the fire. Then, suddenly, more fireworks set off around me, and I saw that I had risen to level 2 in cooking. I was feeling a bit surprised, and as the wonderful smell of cooking fish filled the air, I felt my stomach rumble twice as hard.

Once all my shrimp were all cooked (and a few burnt) I went up to Brianna, feeling proud of myself. I showed her the cooked shrimp I had made myself.

"I must say, you seemed to have picked this up very quickly," she commented. "You have now learnt everything you can from me. Now, tuck in to your delicious lunch of cooked shrimp!"

I happily ate my juicy, delicious shrimp. It tasted lovely, crispy, tender, and delicious… absolutely fit for a queen. Once I finished my food, I went to Brianna for further instructions.

"You have learnt everything you can about survival from me," she told me. "So I will reward you. You may keep your axe, tinderbox, and fishing net. You really expect to walk around RuneScape in those horrible shoes! Look, take these, as a reward for doing very well in my session." She handed me some thick leather boots. I took off my old ones, and put on the boots. They felt nice on my feet. I threw my shoes onto the floor, where they broke apart, and ripped. Then Brianna gave me some experience in woodcutting, fire making, cooking, and fishing. Then, small fireworks popped up around me, and I rose to fire making level 2. I smiled happily at her. She smiled back.

"Well, Mainiac97, I will miss you dearly," she said, sighing. "Follow that path over there and go down. You should arrive at my friend, Lev's house. Farewell."

I followed the stone path she pointed at, and I realised I was on top of a very small hill. I sadly walked down, thinking about what I would learn about when I reached this Lev.

I hope you liked that. As I said above, this is a corrected version. There still may be some mistakes there. If you see anything extra, please tell me.

Next time: flour, windmills and stoves; a good omen for any rumbling stomachs out there.

Until next time, toodles!