Chapter 12: "Spoons..."
The boy informed Leo.
"What for...?"
Leo inquired, though he had an inkling of what was about to happen.
"To proof my worth..."
The boy timidly answered,making Leo grunt as he left to search for a stone,same size as the blade.
"Here..."
Minutes later,he returned with a single stone,and two dry vines. The boy lay the vines and stone on the lair’s floor,before seating cross-legged.
With his eyes closed,he placed his right palm on the materials,and his left on the blade curved by Leo.
"Damn...!"
Leo cursed as he watched the boy’s palm glow. But what happened next was what really amazed him. The materials he had delivered all vanished,and in their place,was a stone blade,a hundred percent replica of what he had crafted.
Leo walked up to the boy,who now had an exhausted face on,and picked up the two blades, weighed them and swung each a dozen times.
"Is this your ability...?"
The boy nodded,as he fell backward.
Leo quickly dropped the blades as he moved to check on the boy,only to find that he had lost conscious.
"It seems that your ability take a toll on you..."
Leo murmured as he carried the boy towards the hides,he unfurled a couple of them and placed the boy on them.
"It’s almost dusk..."
Leo observed as he left the lair.
He was still topless,the injury on his back had stopped bleeding as blood had clotted over,and he still had two small jars of water that needed filling,three now as he had emptied a small jar of goat milk.
"I need to go get my clothes and tools..."
Leo piled up stacked some wood on the entrance,and used branches to camouflage it,before running back to the river, retracing his early path.
"Where are they...?"
Leo was surprised,as upon reaching the pitfall trap of his,he discovered that the two goats that had died in it were missing.
"Am not alone..."
Leo realized as his guard peaked.
He looked around but at first glance,he did not discover any enemies or predators lurking around.
"Blood..."
Leo picked up a small trace of blood,that started from the pitfall and disappeared behind the trees. He wanted to follow the blood trail,which he assumed was from the bleeding dead goats,but his rational mind kicked in.
"Priorities..."
He murmured to himself as he noted the blood trail path and covered up the pit fall trap.
"To the stream..."
Leo left the area and headed for the stream.
The he filled up his three small water jars,cleaned his wound,and found some vines that he used to secure a piece of clothing,torn from his cotton shirt sleeve,on the wound.
He later on put on his woven sweater and fetched his hoe and knife.
As for the animals drinking from the stream,he ignored them. He already had enough meat to last him months,that is if it did not rot.
"I need to find a way to preserve it..."
Leo thought as he ran back. What had earlier taken him about an hour to cover,now took him less than twenty minutes,thanks to his two level ups.
"Good,you are finally awake..."
Leo said to the boy as he walked into the lair, only to find him seated close to the fire warming himself up.
"Are you cold...?"
Leo inquired.
The boy shook his head.
"Here..."
Leo took off his woven sweater and handed it to the boy. He also handed him a bunch of bananas he had picked on his way back.
"Eat these..."
Leo ordered as he walked towards some stones he had gathered for crafting.
He sat down next to the biggest one,took out his carving iron ore,and started chipping at the stone.
He was planning on crafting a pot,or rather a cooking bowl.
He chipped the stone into a half spherical shape,and started curving out the inside,creating a whole within. The boy was intrigued,and he moved closer to observe.
With his two level ups,Leo found the crafting easier. He was first and precise,which saved him a lot of time.
After the inside was curved out,Leo found a small rough stone and used it to smoothen the inside of the large cooking bowl.
About an hour later,he received the system notification he had been waiting for.
System Alert: You have crafted a rudimentary cooking bowl.
System Alert: You have received fifty experience points.
"Finally...."
"One down,four more to go..."
Leo smiled as he inspected his work.
It was now getting dark,but he decided to craft the last item of the day, that took his less time.
Within an hour,he had crafted two small bowls,same process as the big cooking bowl,but only smaller in size,one was his,and the second was the boy’s.
System Alert: You have crafted a rudimentary bowl.
System Alert: You have received fifty experience points.
The little boy had also helped brush the inside of the bowls.
"It seems that I only get experience for the first craft..."
Leo noted this,after he received no system notification for the second bowl.
"Two down three more to go..."
Leo smiled as an idea for his next tool came in mind.
"Spoons..."
He said as he looked around.
"Boy,go fetch my knife and one of those dry roots by the fire..."
The boy nodded as he quickly left to do as asked.
As for Leo,he watched him go.
"He is still scared of me..."
Leo observed,as he decided to be a bit more gentle with the boy.
"I should give him some roasted meat..."
He thought,but quickly decided against it. If he were to let the boy eat to his fill now,who was he going to share his mushroom soup with.
The boy was back in minutes,and Leo embarked on curving the dry root into spoons.
First,he broke of a foot long piece of root,and shaved of the bark,before curving it into a stirring spoon. This took him about half an hour,as he had to careful not to make the stirring spoon handle not so thin and not so thick.
System Alert: You have crafted a rudimentary stirring spoon.
System Alert: You have received fifty experience points.
