Back To The Stone Age II

Next Day

Selene's blue eyes opened as she breathed in deeply and rolled over, prepping her mind for another grueling day to survive the wilderness. She quickly opened her character sheet to check her food and water bar and yup, they were low. She made her way outside slowly to relieve herself then got back inside to eat quickly. The remaining grubs were cooked up along with fish and berries, she drank her water and made her way outside. As she stretched and did a little exercise to make sure she didn't pull a muscle, she surveyed her "territory."

"Roar" she said out loud, then thought better of it. "Oh, who am I kidding, mew." A sigh escaped her lips as she headed down from the cave entrance and towards the forest. She went through her gathering tasks and picked up some more grubs from another log, fished for two hours and then headed back to the cave. She decided to craft a second campfire near the lake so that she could eat lunch right there, before potentially teching up. Her tool set had gotten a little better, with her power allowing for a better knapping of the hand axes and less jagged corners, causing less catching of sharp edges and tearing less if she carved up any food or didn't need to use Molecular Reformation. Her power also helped dry and stretch the hide she had put up from the buck, using the brain tanning method, hence why she had carved it out of the skull. The brain contained Lecithin, which is a natural tanning agent for the skin. It allowed her to finally create a blanket and have barely enough strips left over for some wrap gloves to help protect her hands on the Thornberry bushes. Right after eating lunch, she had reached Mesolithic Era, which meant she could finally plant some of those seeds and pits she had been saving. Surprisingly, seeds and pits did not disappear when her tech tier upgraded, as it must have considered it "crafted" from the original resource. It would take time for them to grow as long as she took care of them, but that was a small amount of food that would be closer to the cave and easier to reach without any difficulties

She had spear fished one more Bass after she "leveled up" to four and Mesolithic before heading back to her cave and more importantly, her mining cave. She was going to try and get some more metal pulled from the second opening she was now creating, but something caught her eye behind some large bushes.

As she neared the edge and looked through the brush her eyes widened. There, on the other side, was a boar. Its tusks were large and split it seemed, turning into two points on either side of its mouth, four in total. It was a decent size, almost half as tall as she was. That meant it could topple her and probably gore her insides out if she pissed it off. It hadn't seen her yet and turned slowly away. There was a berry bush it was trying to get at.

You need that hide Selene, you can't let it get away. Just be careful.

The auburn-haired woman slowly pulled her stone tipped spear out and made her way around the bushes as quietly as she could. Her thoughts were racing as she moved towards the animal.

This is stupid, this is stupid, you're going to get yourself killed!

We need that! It's us or them, you can do this!

There are better ways to attack it! Don't be stupid! Stop where you are NOW! Spear bad! Use something else!

As she came up on the boar and thought better of what she was doing, it turned its head slowly and she could see its one eye look right at her. She had to act now, or it would turn and attack. She lunged forward as fast as she could, slamming the stone spear right into its throat. The boar squealed and tried to shake away from her, attempting to throw her off and at the same time bring its tusks to bare. She held on for dear life as she pushed as hard as she could to end this quickly, her feet sliding a bit from the strength of the creature. Her weight didn't seem to mean much compared to this thing. Blood was pouring out and made the ground slippery as both fell to the ground, her hands wringing the pole with white knuckled fingers as she struggled to keep holding on. The stone spear tip broke inside the throat, but as she kept pushing the remainder into its neck, the pole pushed through the wound. Slowly, very slowly, the boar stopped struggling and just lay there, bleeding out. She had taken a hoof to the stomach that nearly knocked the wind out of her, so she just laid on the ground as well trying to breathe.

You idiot! You could have thrown your spear! Bow and arrows! Laid a trap for it! Blocked it off and attacked from a higher advantage point!

Thoughts were flying through her head as she sat there still holding onto the pole and panting. What was done was done and there was no changing it now.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I… god…" she didn't know what to say as she coughed while ending the animal's life. Its eyes started to go blank as she just lay there, watching. After a few minutes, she had come to terms with what she had done, wiping away a few tears she was shedding for the poor creature. After another few minutes, she decided to dissect the body. The fight she had just been through had worn her out, so she decided she was going to lose her lunch a second time in a row by using her special ability.

Once the body was cut to pieces and placed in her inventory, and she had created a small puddle of vomit on the ground, she noticed that her plant fiber pants were wet. She had evacuated her bladder during the scuffle. Her hands were also trembling. She couldn't think too hard on what she had done, she had to continue back to the cave and "melt out" some more metal to level. She also needed to craft a new spear tip as the old one was now broken. She couldn't wait to finally make copper tools.

Once she had created a few more puddles of metal on the ground, even trying to use bark to collect some on the ground and put in her inventory which didn't exactly work as intended as the bark exploded from the heat and even some raw ore that she found that she could collect from loose rock with her hand axe, she had finally reached enough "actions" to tech up to Neolithic. Even though she had passed Mesolithic, she hadn't found the time to start a small garden. Her seeds were sitting in a small grass pouch just for that occasion. She noted she'd have to do that tomorrow, as right now the most important task was… to make new pants and wash herself in the lake. Once she had felt reasonably clean and not covered in her own urine, she sat down in her cave and cooked dinner, thinking about what she had done. She had taken the life of an animal that was minding its own business, she had carved up a carcass of a deer the day before. It was difficult for her to come to terms with what she had done, but the largest thought in her head that kept her level and calm was that she needed to do this to survive. This was how nature worked. She needed to eat, and she also needed the hide. It was as simple as that.

I'm not Lara Croft, but then she didn't use some special ability to chop trees down or build a stone age hunting camp. Also, I don't have dual pistols. I'd probably miss if I shot those, if I know anything about myself.

Selene slowly laid down and went to sleep under her new blanket, waiting for the next day. Level 5 had been reached, after two "official" days of work done. It was hard trying to get enough resources and actions done each time just to tech up. She was starting to wonder if she needed to take a bit more direct action and hunt more, as the boar was the single biggest boost to her actions as she fought for her life… when she technically didn't have to. She would wait until tomorrow morning to officially tech up to Neolithic, since all her materials and food she just gained would be gone, including the boar hide. The hide she had just gained from the boar, if she had "help" from her power would be finished and used for some hide clothing, and she could maybe double tech quickly, Neolithic to Chalcolithic. That was the best she was expecting to do tomorrow. Once she had copper, she'd finally have access to a basic ingot mold, and actually use the softer metal. It wasn't lead, but it was still worse than Bronze or Iron.

The Third Day

The young dev had created a pot to boil water in now. It was faster than boiling a rock each time she was thirsty, and even made a thin lid for it. There was also a mortar and pestle that helped with most of the food preparation. She now had a daily routine of fishing and gathering with some hunting where she could find the animals, this time she only found two squirrels that she caught, as well as berry picking and even found some bird eggs. It still disturbed her somewhat skinning the squirrels, but she didn't lose her breakfast this time. Princess Aurora she was not. She walked briskly towards the lake to do some fishing as she lost herself in another train of thought. Chalcolithic era was barely within her grasp, which would allow her to use her power or potentially a copper axe to cut through whatever she needed. She just needed a bit more experience and-

She stopped just shy of the lake and stood frozen. A wolf was sitting on its haunches watching her and panting oddly. It had grey and white fur, but that wasn't what she was staring at. Its teeth were in full view. It watched her carefully, studying how tall she was, maybe even thinking it could take her down.

Selene slowly backed away, always facing the predator. It got off its haunches and slowly followed. Wolves tended to hunt in packs, and that might have meant she was surrounded. She checked her left and right carefully out of the corner of her eyes, hoping one wasn't about to leap at her. She wasn't wearing any sort of armor and if she was bitten, if she managed to survive it could take days for her to get back on her feet. That was If she got back on her feet and wasn't eaten.

Can I fire off Molecular Reformation at the wolf? Could I kill a living creature with it? Each time I've used it, it was on a tree or on a dead body. It might not even work.

There was only one way to find out. She focused on the wolf in front of her and tried to tear it apart. Nothing happened. The wolf started to growl at her, its fangs showing as its lips flared. More showed to the sides of her in the bushes.

Not good, not good.

She focused quickly on the ground beneath, hoping maybe to shoot a stalagmite up to pierce its body instead. The only thing it did was blow up a small part of the ground the size of a large fist, casting dirt and rock everywhere. It startled the predator stalking towards her and jumped back a bit to reassess what she was but didn't run like she was hoping. Apparently, she needed more experience to handle it in a fight. She'd have to practice once she got back to her haven… if she got back to her cave at all. The others were starting to move slowly in. There was something odd about how they were so aggressive, a look in their eyes as if drugged. She couldn't explain it really, she'd never looked into the eyes of a wolf before, even at the zoo.

Use the Molecular Reformation! Make small explosions on the ground as you run! Head for the cave now!

She bolted for the cave entrance, trying to throw blasts at the ground as she ran. It threw the wolves off just enough to allow her a decent distance head start. She leapt over a bush in the way, barely missing the thorns as she continued onwards, the wolves easily clearing it soon after.

You need to go faster! There's the cave!

She could see the cave entrance in front of her at the edge of the forest, and ran as fast as she could inside, focusing on the large stone to close off the door. There was enough of a small space for air and some light to filter through on the top, and it sealed just as the wolves reached the entrance. Somehow, she had managed to close the door without it taking three minutes. She might be getting better at it.

"Holy shit! Holy shit that was scary as… whoa…" she was breathing heavily, her heart racing a mile a second. Just then, a nose pressed up to the small opening and then a pair of eyes. Snarls and barks could be heard as they tried to push through. They wouldn't have the strength to move that boulder, but they could try and fail multiple times. Selene froze and just waited inside, staring at the small opening like a deer caught in a car's headlights. Eventually after what felt like forever, they stopped, and she heard nothing. She didn't come out of the cave until at least an hour passed by. Nothing was near, and birds had started chirping again close by.

Selene let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding after opening the door. She needed to be better prepared for that to happen. She wasn't the only hunter out here, she had forgotten about that. The next time she lowered her guard, an entire pack might jump her and rip her apart. Her first thought immediately after, which surprised her, was to go find their den and take them out for the hide.

"What am I thinking, I can't… I can't do that…" technically she could if she locked them in with a stone barrier… or maybe stone prison bars. Then it would be like shooting fish in a barrel with her bow and arrows. She just needed to plan this out a bit more.

Does this make me a terrible person? Well, technically, they just tried to kill me so… no, no I'm going to go take them out before they manage to do this again… and succeed.

Later That Day

Selene had not thought this through enough. She had found the den by following their pack paw prints back to another smaller cave entrance a good two miles from where hers was and did exactly as she needed to. The den had at least six wolves in it, that much she was certain. She had created a large row of stone pillars across the den front and sides to keep them from jumping over or squeezing through. She had also carefully focused on making a pronged top on one to hold a newly made hemp rope. This was her ticket out of the prison she had created once the wolves came running out to meet her. Her quiver now had a good fifty arrows in it, enough she thought to end them. She scoffed at the notion that it would take close to eight arrows each to finish them off, but she had yet to use the bow and therefore was probably really bad at it.

"You can do this. You can do this. Just climb over the pillars, go in, throw a stone and scream. Then run. Running is important." She took some deep breaths and finally climbed over the top. As she dropped to the other side, she could smell something, some sort of odd foggy gas roughly chest height. She started to cough a little bit, and she was getting a little frustrated with it constantly pouring out, even a little skittish… and angry.

What is this? There must be something piping into the cave that's causing this. Is this why the wolves were so fearless? For all I know, they aren't acting normal and just rampaging through the area. Maybe the deer didn't die from running away if they were the attackers, but because they wanted to just kill.

She took off her wrap gloves and tied it around her mouth and nose, wrapping up her hair into a ponytail at the same time. She could hear barking and growling inside, but she hadn't been seen just yet and was trying to be as quiet as possible. Further in, she found out the reason. The wolves seemed to be fighting with each other, and it wasn't play fighting at all. One of the weaker ones seemed to be trying to attain alpha status and was losing. The alpha got the upper hand a minute after she stopped and watched, snapping the neck of the smaller one.

"Whoa…"

They heard that. Their ears perked up and looked up at her location, where she was squatting. The fog seemed to be coming from a nearby natural vent just at chest height further down, and their heads were about that height.

Volcanic? No, doesn't cause this. Natural gas? Some cause hallucinations, even hormone changes, I know that much from watching NOVA. I just don't know what it is, and frankly I don't care. Time to run! Stop being an idiot and run!

Selene shot for the entrance as quick as she could with the sound of the remaining wolves charging up after her. She reached the rope and climbed over, getting a foothold as quick as she could and landing safely. The pack reached the entrance and tried to turn around, looking for an opening. She had completely reinforced all sides, so they couldn't jump on an outcropping or parkour off the wall. The rope also was completely on her side now too. The whole trap had taken an hour to set up.

"Time to do what I came to do. Putting you all out of my misery… and apparently yours as well."

She notched an arrow into her bow and aimed as best she could. She also focused on bringing up a larger wall behind the wolves, to completely trap them and keep them from retreating. It took roughly ten more minutes to do, but It was now a shooting gallery. They snarled and growled, barking with their heckles bristling. One tried to chew through a stone pillar, willing to break its own teeth to get at her. She fired.

The first arrow hit the shoulder of the alpha when she was aiming for its head. The second shot hit it in the stomach. She kept firing arrows repeatedly, pumping arrows into each of them. Once it had ended and they were all lying dead on the ground, her quiver was empty. She really needed to practice more at a target dummy. She slowly lowered the back wall and took her rope to climb over the prison pillars, ready to run again if there were any more still inside ready to attack. The wall had lowered just enough for her to peek over and didn't notice anything strange other than the foggy gas. She stayed low to the ground and carved up the bodies, then slowly entered the remains of the cave close to the ground. What she found further down were no adults, bones littering the floor, and three pups. Two seemed to be adolescent, a boy and a girl, with the third lying in the corner, not moving much. It seemed to be the runt of the litter. They were in a sunken part of the cave, further below the area hit by the gas.

You can't kill them. There's no way. You aren't a monster. Stop.

The other two just snarled and barked at her, trying to bare their teeth. She had killed their parents. It was for their own good it seemed, given the gas had probably altered how they were acting. Their brain activity was probably too screwed up to go back to normal. Surprisingly, the two adolescent ones weren't tall enough for the gas to really reach and weren't even in the main area. They were probably staying down there so they wouldn't anger their crazed parents. Sure, they might have breathed some of it, but not enough to really screw them up.

"Fuck…" Small boxes, enough to make them stay in the middle of them without bolting, slowly arose around them as she focused on containing the little ones. She didn't even focus on bars, just walls they couldn't break through with a hole in the top to breathe. She felt a little awful, but only a little given what had just happened. The dev noticed that they looked hungry, and might not have been fed. For all she knew, the parents weren't feeding them due to the gas altering their thinking. There were no motherly instincts or paternal protection it seemed. She had to get them out of here, at least to give them a chance to not turn into their crazed family. She hoped that they would be fine in her inventory, like a pet that wasn't tamed yet. The grubs were perfectly alive when she pulled them out, so this would most likely work. The portal opened near her, and she picked up the stone boxes, which were quite heavy, to slide them in. The little one in the corner, however, didn't even fight her or growl, just looked at her with little blue eyes.

"I'm sorry girl, I… I'll make it up to you… you need better" she shoved her into the inventory and went to work on the den. There were antlers lying around as well which she took, some larger bones she could use.

Once she was back at her own cave, she carefully pulled the boxes out, nearly twisting her ankle at one point putting the second one down. They were still growling at her as she turned the front into a cage, surveying them a little more and in the light of the sun. The two that were older were colored black with a grey V neck on the chest and the female adolescent was grey with brown back fur. The little runt was white as snow. She was also sick. That was why she was in the corner. They were probably leaving her to die.

"Alright… alright alright, I can do this. I can at least try to." She pulled out some meat from her inventory and started to cook it, making sure it was not from their parents. She made a note to throw the wolf meat she had collected out, as she couldn't take any chances it was contaminated. After it was lightly sizzling, she let it cool and gave a little bit to both adolescents, seeing if they were alright with her feeding them cooked food. She didn't want to see them starve to death out of spite. Regardless of the growling and snarling, they ate just as quickly and quieted down. They had received food, something the parents had stopped giving them. That must have confused them.

"Fine, yes, good? I'll keep feeding you. Promise not to bite?" she slowly broke the bars of one cage and backed away. The black male slowly came out and sat looking at her, tilting his head. The other one just lay in her open cage, not knowing what to do.

"Ok, good, fine, you can just stay there and I'll… I'll go over here…" she sat down with the white female and picked her up. The little one didn't even struggle, she was so weak. The woman would hate it if she died after everything that happened.

"Ok, let's see what we can do for you hon." She pulled up the small mortar and pestle she made that morning to paste the roots and mash up grubs to taste better. The dev looked through her inventory quickly to try and find some "healing herbs" that she now knew about. It had to be turned into a broth or mashed into a poultice. The problem was these wolves were primarily meat eaters, despite being considered omnivores. She heard that dogs ate grass on occasion to settle their stomach from her sister. She might have to force feed her to keep the pup alive. Luckily, she had found some herbs near the cave entrance while she was preparing the prison pillars. She knew they could heal and be used in a poultice, but the healing was extremely slow if it was used on her. It might work better on the small runt though.

"What am I doing… I'm not a veterinarian… I don't even have a pet back home…" she sighed and started grinding the herbs. "I'll do my best ok? You hang in there." The little girl didn't even bark, an ever so small whimper was coming from her mouth. Once the herbs were ground up and more meat was cooked, she rubbed the herbal seasoning into the food and cut it into very small pieces the size of her pinky finger tips. Just as she was about to feed a piece to her, the black male came up and was about to snatch it from her hand.

"Hey! NO!" she snapped and pulled it away. The rocks and pebbles seemed to vibrate slightly, with an odd air arising from her outburst. The black furred male backed up a bit and sat down, looking around himself before staring at her. She had just shown dominance and didn't know it with an involuntary use of Molecular Reformation, at least the start of using it.

"I'll feed you more after I've taken care of her. She's your sister, you should be watching out for her, not stealing." Selene took the piece of meat and held it to the runt's mouth, slowly pushing it through her small teeth. She was worried she'd get bitten, and for a moment it happened. She soon realized she wasn't trying to chew her finger off but eat the food she was being given.

"You're going to be fine, just keep eating… ow… not my fingers… eat the meat please… ow…" she was very grateful for the gloves she had put back on. Her hand would probably have cuts and bruising if it wasn't for the hide she already gained from the deer. Once the herb bites were finished, at least until the runt decided not to eat anymore, she fed more cooked meat to both adolescents and looked outside right after, to the left of the cave, to see if something else she had made in the morning had dried enough to be usable. Down on the ground, now dried from the sun, were five clay bowls with curved edges to be used for multiple foods, even a stew if needed. Selene was thankful the pack hadn't broken any of them when they charged towards her cave. She was now going to need at least three of them for the pups. She had originally made five, so she didn't need to keep cleaning them very often. Pouring water into each of the bowls, they eagerly lapped it up and ate some more cooked meat, then started to lay down, sated. This was their home now. It was surprising how quickly they were adapting to a human keeping them around. They were far and away not domesticated, that much she was certain, but they at least acknowledged her as a provider of food and water, and a safe zone to be near.

Domestication takes how much time? I… I don't really know. They're young, so maybe they'll trust me after a while?

"Loyalty is probably a big thing for you girls… and guy. You probably just care that I'm feeding you right now though. Well, whatever. At least I'm not alone anymore. Sheesh, I'm talking to wolves." She rolled her eyes and started to clean the mortar and pestle of herb residue. She didn't feel that the two adolescents were any threat anymore.

Two Hours Later

Two more hide frames had been set up, and the pelts of the wolves were now strung up for stretching. She had just enough of the boar hide to make some hide pants and boots. She'd realized she now would need another pot to keep them hydrated, as well as double the hunting to get more meat.

As she sat down on the blanket and opened her character sheet, she noticed she had exceeded the required experience to level up and had reached level 6. She could have gotten to the Chalcolithic era right after she hit level 5 as it wasn't connected anymore, but she didn't have the time to gather the materials to craft another one hundred tools from the Neolithic era or performing any actions due to running away from the pack. The prison pillars sort of counted, for maybe half of the experience at least. She looked out the circular door frame and watched the sun fall behind the horizon and had an idea.

As she stood up and walked to the door, the pups watched her carefully. Selene walked outside after removing the stone boulder and counted her paces on both sides of the cave entrance out towards the forest and plains. Once she had her measurements, she checked her inventory. She had cut down quite a few trees just for the wood to use on the campfire and her tools right now, and it didn't take any space in her inventory. A stack of fifty logs of wood was just sitting in there. She might have gone a little overboard, but she at least wanted to see anything trying to creep up on the cave. She hadn't chopped them into cords, as she didn't know if she'd need them for anything else, or even a trap set up to knock the wolves around.

She started to focus on the ground to the left and right and shoved her hand into her inventory to touch the logs. The number started to go down as a log wall started to spring from the inventory portal and directly where she needed it to be. Unfortunately, she only had enough to build one wall to the right, but that was still impressive for something done in less than twenty minutes. There would be a lot of cut down trees tomorrow, that was for certain, and another wall as well as a gate in front of the cave. She might be able to build a small fort now. It wouldn't amount to much, but it was expanding out from just a cave to a home. She could have tried with stone, but that might have taken far longer. Lower strength materials seemed to be easier, at least right now. The metals that she was pulling from the mountain she wasn't even using or could really control how it flowed out. She might get faster as the days go by, but right now she just wanted a log barrier.

As if on que, her tech tier was ready to be advanced. She stood there, thinking carefully. If she did it now, the pups wouldn't have any extra food until she went hunting and gathering the next day, as all the collected materials and edibles would vanish. There would be no breakfast until she went out and got it. There would be no herbs for her to use to help the runt.

"Damn it. I guess that's going to have to wait until tomorrow too." She was starting to get the idea that waiting until the next morning for each tech up was in her best interest, both to try and keep what she still had and make some use of it, and to read over some of the unlocks she was going to receive before it happened. She noted that she would need more arrows tomorrow, as more than half of them broke when she pulled them out from the parents. She hadn't exactly built the bow and arrow with perfect quality in mind. It was considered a weapon, and she expected it to break after a few uses, the ammo as well. She could make a sling, but that would be even less accurate with how poor her aim was today. She'd probably hit herself in the head with the stone. The wolves were right in front of her behind those small pillars and she could barely hit vital areas. The dev definitely needed to practice more, either on a target dummy or while hunting. She'd spent most of her time with a spear, and it wasn't even in combat.

Selene walked back into the cave and slowly covered the entrance, stoked the fire, and sat down on her bed. As she pulled the blanket up over her, the runt slowly moved up next to her arm. She needed body heat, and if she didn't stay warm, she might be dead by morning for all she knew.

"Come here, come here." She picked her up and pushed her into the crook of her left arm to curl up. As she looked up and around at the other two, the black male padded over to the rear of the cave, away from her. He laid down on the ground and curled up, staring at her.

"Fine, be that way. I wasn't expecting you to trust me so quickly anyways." The adolescent female, on the other hand, padded over to about five feet from her and sat down, staring at her.

"Sleep time. More food tomorrow." She didn't feel as if the female would attack her, she wouldn't get anymore food beyond her corpse if she did, and the door was sealed up. They'd be trapped. She hoped the grey and brown wolf was smart enough to figure that out. She sighed and tilted her head back until it was lying on the grass pillow pile she had placed and tried to fall asleep. She'd figure out names for each of them soon.

In the morning, breakfast. Afterwards, copper.