12 Chapter 12

After browsing through some of the available skills for future I came back to the real world. The bear was skewered by the many stakes in the pit. I instructed Oscar to fill the pit with sand so that the corpse doesn't attract any attention as it wasn't that far from the cave.

"What about the meat and the fur?"

"We'll kill the cubs for it."

Oscar nodded and filled up the pit while I collected the spear tip and the ropes used to tie the tip to the shaft. I then started looking for branches which I could craft into another shaft. The 'Crafting' skill showed its use here as by merely looking at and touching different branches I could instinctively feel which ones would be better suited.

The skill didn't magically give me powers to craft anything. It helped my by improving the plans I already had in my mind by letting me know which material and process would be more suitable to craft what I needed and I could also feel once I broke off a branch that my hands were a lot more confident in being able to handle tools. I would still have to manually make the object but it'll be as if I've got a natural talent for it.

After I was happy with the branches and the pit was filled up we moved towards the cave. By the time we got there the sun had truly set and darkness was quickly shrouding everything. Before entering the cave Oscar set alight a branch using his spell so that we could see inside.

As we moved inside we discovered that the cave was L shaped, which meant that the ending of the cave could not be viewed from the entrance. When we reached the end we say three small bear cubs huddled in a corner. There were a few piles of bones lying around all picked clean.

The bear cubs moved farther away from the light as they were afraid of the bright fire. I quickly moved and used one of the heavier sticks I was carrying as a staff to knock all three of the cubs out.

Both of us then got to exploring the cave to make sure we didn't get any surprises later in the night. As I was looking around I saw some bones which were exceptionally sharp and strong. There were also a few carcasses with some tendons still wrapped around the bones. The crafter in me couldn't wait to get started.

I rummaged through the bones and separated what I needed. Oscar then buried the rest of the bones and waste that I didn't need. He also dug two pits and pushed a cub into each to restrain them, he left one of them out because we needed to kill it.

Once the cave was completely empty and clean we decided to work out a plan for it to be converted into a base. The earth manipulation skill came in handy here, as I described in detail to Oscar what he needed to do.

He made a fire pit which had a chimney all made up of mud and sand. Using the skill made it very easy for him to manipulate the particles in any way he wanted. The structures weren't exceptionally strong, after all they were made of mud but did the job. The chimney went up to the roof and then there was a mud pipe that stuck with the roof and went all the way to the exit where it released the smoke. The fire pit had a grate over it which would allow us to cook food easily. The L shape of the cave and the fire pit would ensure that the fire doesn't give us away in the night. The chimney would take the smoke outside as having a fire in a cave isn't the smartest thing to do and as long as we only used it in the night there would be no visible smoke trail.

The second task was to make a couple of work benches and stools. This was easily achieved but the next part was making small flat pots of clay which we would bake over night. The aim was to have the pots ready to carry along with us from tomorrow so that we could store and carry water with us. And a larger one that we could fill and keep in the cave.

After an hour or so Oscar laid down in exhaustion. He had managed to achieve everything I had asked of him. The workmanship wasn't the best but it was good enough to suffice and he was getting more proficient with it over time.

In the meantime I had killed the third cub and had gutted it and sliced off all the delicious meaty parts. I had also skinned it for the fur and kept it to dry off. So while Oscar rested I started cooking the meat and soon it was ready to eat. Both of us gobbled it down quickly and it was definitely one of the most tender and delicious meats I had ever tasted.

After eating I sat down to work on my spears while Oscar went back to the tedious work of making our base habitable. He made two beds for us and then started to make a wall to block off the end part of the cave where it turned. He left out a thin area where only on of us could fit at a time. The wall wasn't strong enough to stop some thing like a charging bear but it would block whatever attacked it for long enough for us to be alarmed and prepare.

I focused on the various objects lying in front of me on the work bench. There was the original spear tip made of a metal which I determined to be Iron, there were two pieces of bones which were shaped like a spear tip and if sharpened could work as back up spears. There were a few pieces of wood which I had shaved to become shafts of the spear and then there were pieces of tendons and hide I had salvaged from the carcasses.

I decided to use the most suitable shaft to make my main spear. It was longer than the previous one but stronger and flexible as well. I sanded and smoothed the surface of the wood to make it easier to hold and balanced out the weight. Different types of coarse rocks and stones were used to sharpen the iron blade until I was satisfied. The tip was then driven into one end of the shaft and wrapped with the strongest tendons, leftover rope and cloth. I used the best of all the materials I had to make it and once I was done I could tell that the spear although rudimentary far exceeded the one I used before.

When I held it I noticed it had a special effect. ' Wooden spear - +2 Dexterity +1 Agility'. Without needing an invitation I jumped up and gave it a few swings. The spear truly was much better, after I leveled up my spearmanship the spear had felt like an extension of my arm to me and now when I waved it around the tip left afterimages and the shaft was simply a blur to the naked eye. I was very pleased with the crafting skill as it helped fill a very important gap.

The rest of the materials were used to make two short bone tipped spears which I could to dual wield if needed. They didn't have any effect perhaps due to low quality materials. They were to be used if I fought something in close quarters as I wouldn't be able to use my long spear effectively then.

With everything done we propped the clay pots on the fire to bake, called it a night and fell asleep on our stone beds.