Chapter 23: 22. Get Better

The next few weeks are more of the same. We hunt and train from morning to evening. In the evenings, we cultivate and meditate. Bones' nightly haul has brought in an abundance of game and edible plants, our traps, and scorpions doing much of the leg work. We've collected so much that I've been able to start storing the excess food in barrels. Berries, bark, meats, nuts, and other forest edibles are preserved and stored. 

With the game Bones brought in and the hunting we've done together, I have enough fur to fully clothe myself and Bones and create some bedding and bags. The crude clothing is a significant improvement to both of our appearances. 

Along with our clothing, camp life has also improved. Over the weeks, modifications have been made to my humble den to make it not so modest. 

In the small den, we cram in a kitchen sink that receives water from the waterfall using a hollow bone piping system. From the sink, water drains back into a separate pipe that flows back into the stream, bypassing the pond. Water and drain lines were either buried underground with dirt or a layer of bones or placed high and tight near walls to keep them out of the way. 

Next to the sink is a designated stove and furnace. It is basically a glorified fire pit. The boxed pale gray stove allows for all types of cooking, including smoking, grilling, frying, and boiling. Often I find myself getting lost in the spectacle of my creation. Piping is also used to ventilate smoke and dirty air out of the cave. 

A small table for preparing food, eating, and crafting is beside the stove. Comfortable chairs are placed by the table, and a pale gray bed in the back of the cave is covered in soft furs. 

Outside the den, the entrance is lined with bone plating. This plating allows me to quickly and securely close off the opening with a thick bone door. If the night gets too cold or pesky or intruders pass our security scorpses, the door will act as another barrier.

One project that wasn't house-oriented that we focused on in the beginning was finishing the hickory bows. Unfortunately, Grundle wasn't kind enough to not destroy the planks Bones was working with previously, leaving us starting from scratch. 

Hickory logs were quartered and then carefully carved into the bow dimensions. Mildly porous rocks were used to sand away the bows' grittiness. Once the bow passed some minor testing, they were hardened over the fire and then reinforced with bone plating, which was attached using sinew. Thick sinew was also used for the drawstrings. 

The bow felt almost as comfortable and natural as the sword, to my surprise. Upon this discovery, more effort was put into making arrows out of bone. 

Quite a bit of experimenting went into the creation of the bone arrows. The major setback was figuring out the right balance to compensate for the lack of fletching. After more fine-tuning of the arrow and bows, we were left with a near-perfect ranged weapon and hunting tool. Once the arrow shape and form were figured out, I dedicated time and mana each night to create a stockpile of arrows. 

The stockpile was more for Bones than me since I can now quickly summon arrows near instantly. Along with arrows, I added weapons and tools to our growing armory, now lining the west and south walls of the den. In my opinion, the weapons added a certain security aesthetic feel to the homely shelter.

Despite practicing hours daily, Bones could never excel with the bow like he did with sword, spears, and ax. Turns out, Bones with an ax in hand is a scary combo, and most of the time, he would prefer that to be his hunting and fighting tool. His ax throwing game is remarkably accurate. My ax game isn't as strong, so I stick with sword and bow for most of our outings.

Most of our success hunting comes from what we now call the deep woods. The thick forest above the pond is home to many wildlife and monsters. My guess is the thick nature aura that can be felt attracts the many beasts. 

Our journey into the deep woods was slow at first. We had to hack through the major thick overgrowth to get access to the more bountiful forest. Fortunately, it was only about a mile of bushwhacking until we reached the more open forest. It was still thick, just not working for every step kind of thick. 

As it is, the deep woods is home to some intense wildlife and monsters. We've encountered aggressive wild stags capable of entangling us with forest roots, bears built like grundle pre-morph, snake-like slithering people things. The snake people are similar to the ones found in the desert, just more forest oriented. They always hunt in packs, and though we try to talk with them every encounter, they only want to see us dead. 

On multiple occasions, we have faced off against packs of wolves. The wolves were by far the most aggressive of all our encounters. Hungry for food and power, they would stalk us in the deep woods and even to our home, waiting for the time to be right to ambush us.

Sensing something was not right after a long evening swim, I sealed off the cave with a bone wall. The trapped beasts inside started howling, letting me know my intuition was correct. My time to think of what to do with the wolves was cut short when twelve more wolves came attacking at once. 

The biggest wolf encounter we've had yet. Bones wasn't with me at the moment, so I recalled him. He was a bit frustrated at being torn from his current task. However, frustration was replaced with excitement for the approaching conflict. Large shields and spears were summoned for us, and like a practiced unit, we locked up and put our backs to the wall. 

The wolves jumped, scratched, and bit furiously. Growling and howling, they were desperately trying to end us. They never got past our defense. Each attack was repelled and countered with a spear thrust. Six of the wolves were claimed by our shield wall and spears. 

Not wanting to discourage the remaining six intruders from fighting, we disengaged our shields and spears and replaced them with swords and axes. Falling for the farce, the wolves were renewed with wild vigor. The beasts swarmed us at once, hoping their numbers would bring our quick demise. Bones and I cut and hacked at the pressing wolves like two whirlwinds. 

One jumped for my throat from the side only to be met with an ax from Bones. Two tried to rush me at the same time. I stabbed one and sliced the other, that tried to dodge out of the way. Bones hurled an ax into a retreating wolf. Then we both pursued the two remaining wolves, unable to catch them before they were ambushed by my own scorpse trap. Scorpses were held in reserve until it was certain they would not be lost in their attack. 

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Power rushed through my core as I absorbed the mana left behind by the wolves. It wasn't much. Still, I could feel my death core becoming even denser. All but three wolves were dissolved. I used one of the dissolved wolves to gain access to the ability to summon fur material. 

Toughened Hide (Material summon upgrade): Summon toughened hide. Toughened hide is lighter, warmer, more flexible, and more comfortable than all other materials and offers a small amount of protection.

The material upgrade will make outfitting myself so much easier. The rest of the wolves are split between upgrading both summoning fur and my roar ability. With the fusion of wolves' and bear's roar, roar now passively increases friendly morale, giving me and my surrounding allies an increase in vigor. It still has a demoralizing aura to it as well, increasing an enemy's chance of fleeing. 

Nights of meditating and cycling have brought a greater understanding of my death core. The insight I gained into the dissolve skill alone was worth every minute of my time. Each absorbed skill can be upgraded and morphed depending on the mana I absorb. 

Wolves and bears have similar abilities allowing me to further upgrade my roar skill. Knowing that I can hold six abilities—and that the abilities can be upgraded and modified—changed how I started seeing many of my fellow predators. 

Wolves outside my home were taken care of. It was time to handle the wolves trapped inside. Outside I had all the time I needed. I could rig some deadly traps that would quickly dispose of the remaining beasts. 

However, we weren't bloodthirsty power-craving animals. First of all, Bones certainly didn't fit the animal qualifications. Secondly, neither one of us actually liked the sight of blood. 

Power hungry? Sure yeah, that sorta applied. As it was, we decided to let the remaining wolves choose their own fate. Bones was convinced they would see us as the new alpha and submit. I wasn't too sure. 

Dismissing the bone wall, we half expected to be charged by the beasts, see them flee, or bow. None of that happened. The cave appeared to be completely empty. Before, I could sense five distinct energies. Now it was one immense energy. However, it was not in plain sight. Had we not known and sensed that the wolf was in there, we would have missed the colossal beast slowly stalking us from the floor. 

We tried talking to it, even howling, really anything we could think of to convince the monster to not fight. We offered the food supply. I even recklessly tried to bind the alpha. The monster wolf wasn't having any of it. Filled with rage, the wolf roared and then quickly charged. His quick movements were incredible. Moving side to side all the while staying low to the ground made it increasingly hard to track him. 

Stepping directly in front of me, Bones signaled that this was his battle. Boss had come a long way since he was first summoned. My minion practiced and trained every day I did; though he still didn't have a core, he could and was progressing. There was no denying his physical training was improving. The skeleton was becoming quite the fighter himself, giving me a decent spar at times. 

Battle ax at the ready, Bones intercepted the charging wolf. Bones ducked a vicious paw swipe, sidestepped a bone-rattling roar, and rammed the handle of his ax into the body of the enormous wolf. The power behind the hit pushed Bones back a couple feet while knocking the wolf slightly off balance. 

The powerful beast was no match for the skilled ax of Bones. Not even the wolf's extra thick fur could protect it from the sharp blade. With no other way to defend itself, the beast soon met the same inevitable fate as its sacrificed companions. 

Sparing no time, the wolf was dissolved. The excessive mana taken from the wolf went a long way to improving my summon material ability. Now, I can dissolve similar materials to upgrade the materials I have without having to destroy life first. I tested it out immediately by dissolving the furs I was wearing. Sure enough, there was a slight upgrade to my hide summons. However, I learned this does not apply to fur created by mana. My plans to exploit the skill were abandoned as quickly as they were made. 

We took the three remaining wolves and made the most out of them. Two wolf cloaks were created from the hides, the other was absorbed, meat was smoked, and the remains were buried outside the den. 

Burying the dead significantly increased the death mana, making meditating and cycling much more rewarding. That added the benefit of allowing my core to replenish faster after being drained. Though it was nowhere near the Deep Wood's natural earth mana—between the scorpses, wolves, and other animal remains—my den was starting to have a thick layer of mana. 

The only trick was burying the remains in the right spot. Too close, and it might contaminate the water. Too far, and I won't get the death aura benefits. Trial and error eventually led me to find the right spot. 

The weeks fly by like this. One week, then two, which was a small achievement. Up until then, I had yet to stay alive past two weeks. Three, four, and five weeks pass. Now we are halfway into the sixth. The whole time my useless eye hasn't healed. The past weeks I have contemplated multiple times letting myself die to force the eye repair. However, there is never a pleasant exit strategy, and I keep living half blind.

We got an early start today with our training, finishing the session well before sun up. Today is the day Bones wants us to push far into the Deep Woods. According to him, something is hidden in those woods, and we need to find out what it is. After a small break from training, we equip ourselves for a challenging adventure.

Three hours later, we are as far as we have ever been in the Deep Woods. Though packed tightly together, trees are massive in size, preventing the sun from sharing its light. We haven't been bothered by monsters or beasts in the deep woods. A strange occurrence possibly due to my roaring aurora. 

We silently creep in the dark woods, side by side, when the ground beneath us gives way. Boss and I fall fifteen feet before we crash into the bottom. Luckily for me, there are no severe injuries. Bones, on the other hand, needs to be resummoned.

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