8 Log Lodge

"Nidalee? How did you call me?"

She shrugged, "I just yelled out loud and I guess it worked."

"Huh... well good morning all of you, and yes I would love some help Nid," Max said as he brought her outside to help him prepare the meat for cooking. Right now, there was no way for the people inside to exit the spirit world other than having him manually move them, which is slightly inconvenient.

Intermission *Elevator jazz music plays*

The cow has been skinned, cut, bled, and now a pile of ready to cook meat is loaded on the table. Comparing the before and after is gruesome, but he helped the process so he can't really complain.

Anyways, now was time to start cooking again!

He teleported everyone outside and asked them to help Nidalee grab some sticks and logs to start a fire, while he grabbed the same stone slab and began preparing ingredients. Also, Ren was still sound asleep, so he took her out and laid her near where he was cooking, but still kept her tied up in bondage.

He sat down with the large stone slab in front of him and a pile of ingredients to his right. He had a couple garnishes, leaves, mushrooms, fruits, and the special flowers. For breakfast, he plans on making something simple since he didn't have any bases like bread or rice, and he'll make something else for lunch. Usually when you think about being dropped in the middle of a forest, you would have to limit your food to maybe only 2 or even 1 meal a day(sometimes none), but here he actually had way too much food since a cow has a ton of meat to eat. And it's not like the beef is going to last forever as he has no way to preserve the meat with no ice or salt, so it will rot really quickly.

First, he needs to wash the vegetables, so he quickly goes into the Spirit world to wash the plants, before sitting back down and straining his arm into a claw. He cut the mushrooms which had varying shapes and sizes into halves, and then into thin slices. The leaves he just cut in half. For the fruits, he used the flat side of his blade to smush them into juice before putting the flower petals in the puddles.

For the steak he decided to use half of it for now and the rest for lunch, as the cougars will probably eat a lot. Last night, they ate all the food but it was still just a bunny, and there were five grown cougars here. A whole cow might not even be enough, but he can always hunt more later.

Looking to his side he found the others sitting on large rocks near a small fire which they just lit up, and it was starting to get bigger by the second. He stood up with his board and was about to walk over to join them when he heard-

*Yaaawwwnn*

A yawn, a couple uncomfortable groans and unintelligible grumbling came from the tied up body who was starting to awaken.

"Hello Ren, had a good night's sleep?" He put down the board and walked over to her.

"..." She kept silent.

He shrugged before he picked her body up and carried her over to the others before putting her down and going back to get the board.

Nidalee and the cougars stared at the uncomfortable-looking girl. "What are you looking at halfblood?" Ren growled, making Nidalee frown in displeasure. She retorted with mock, "Nothing, Ren~ Just wondering why you were so easy to defeat. Even I was surprised when he just knocked you out like that."

Ren kept quiet again.

"Alright cool yourselves down ladies, we're about to eat," Max came up behind them with the giant slab in his arms. He was a little confused why they seemed so aggressive towards each other, weren't they best buds or something? According to Neeko's voice lines at least, he didn't read a lot of lore so he would still have to learn a lot of things himself. After all, he's not omnipotent.

The fire was at a gentle burn now, as the bigger pieces of wood have caught fire and are starting to char. He grabbed two nearby rocks which were about the same size, and used them to hold the slab with food on it above the fire like a bridge.

Everyone sat in silence as they waited for the food to cook. Nidalee and Ren continued to sneak glances at each other with contempt, the cougars were huddled together and looking at the food with drooling lips, and Kaisa sat near Max while she poked the fire with a small stick. Her eyes were filled with amazement, as she looked at the flames in wonder.

"You look like you've never seen a fire before, even though we had one last night too," Max used [Start Conversation]!

"..."

It was uneffecti-

"...it's because I haven't seen one in a long, long time. I've been stuck in the void for years... I'm not even sure how long. It's hard to keep track of time in there..." She Spoke!

A-ahem...

'The void huh...? That's where Cho'Gath and my bae Kog'Maw is right? Since Kaisa is here and I was Kha'Zix, the Void has to be in the area around here. I'll have to see if we ever come across a geographical map,' Max thought, 'Wait... is Kog'Maw a boy or a girl? We'll see I guess...' He shook of the thought and looked at Kaisa, "Do you remember anything from before you were captured by the Void?"

"...I barely remember much. All I can think of is my mom and... my dad, Kassadin."

'Kassadin... I wonder if they'll recognize each other after so long when I find him,' he thought, but when he was about to say something the smell of char whiffed into his nose.

The food!

He forgot to flip the meat over, and when he did just now, the side which was cooking the whole time has burnt completely black! That's an overstatement, it was still edible just that it would taste like coal.

He flipped the mushrooms as well, they were slightly burnt but most of them were fine. Now, here was the part that he wanted to test out. First, he split the mushrooms into 3 equal portions, and then he put each portion into the fruit juice with the corresponding petals of each color: red, yellow, and blue. The glow has dissipated from the petals and was transferred to the juice, and when he added the mushrooms he watched as the light shifted over once again.

Last time he kind of just sprinkled and mixed the energies together since he didn't know how it worked. But now, he was going to make separate dishes for each buff. He wanted to save buffs for later if he ever needs it, for example the red buff was basically a healing pot, and the blue buff a mana potion. He would need to figure out what the yellow one does though.

Max stirred the vegetables in the meat juices and put a couple sticks in the pit to keep the flames going, and sat back down. Nidalee and Ren seemed like they didn't understand why he was panicking so much, after all they usually ate raw meat. Wait how does Nidalee eat raw meat without getting sick, she still has the human digestive system... right? Anyways, Kaisa seemed like she slightly understood his pain, but funnily enough the ones who panicked even more than Max was the cougars. They probably loved the meat he cooked yesterday, which would explain how they finished the meat so fast and now even though their faces didn't show much expression, they were clearly distraught.

One of the cougars walked near him and sat down on his left, it was Yotsuba with the leaf around her left ear. "Hey girl," he said as he rubbed her head, making her squint in happiness. 'That reminds me, I have to name the others as well. I'll do it later, it's still morning,' he mused as he looked towards the other 4 cats, but was surprised to see them looking back at him. Well, more like staring at the contact between his hand and Yotsuba's forehead as they gave off the feeling of people whispering to each other in envy. He stifled a chuckle as he motioned for them to come over with his other hand. They looked at each other, and then quickly moved to sit down next to Max. "Aren't you guys excited," he smiled as he look at them and began petting their heads when they were in range. It reminded him of when he visited a cat cafe years ago, completely covered in the lazy things who were asking for attention. 'You know what, this is probably the best time to name them now. Let's see...' Yotsuba was the first one to actually interact with him, hence the name. But the others, if he wanted to use character names he had to find the most accurate right? Of the other 4 cougars, there were 2 who were really calm and just chilled, while the other 2 were a little more aggressive. One of the more aggressive ones looked like she didn't want to be there, though she stayed...

This is easy, "Alright guys, I'm going to give you guys names okay? You're Itsuki," he pointed to one of the aggressive ones, "you are Ichika and you are Miku," he pointed to the sleepy ones, "and you, are Nino." All of them looked kind of happy, except for Nino. Yep, he chose right.

Grabbing some leaves, he folded them to make more bows in different shapes for each of them. For Ichika he gave her a neat ring on her left ear, for Miku a braid, Itsuki got one on each ear, and Nino got a butterfly bow. He was going to give them something nicer later once he can, but for now this is all he got. After this, they gathered for more petting! One thing he noticed was that the other 3 were looking at their petting session a little weirdly. That's when he thought about it too, why were the cougars so open? After just a little hot action, they were all over him. Before the charm they were trying to kill him! Of course, Kaisa and Nidalee were too, but only in the moment. Normally, they had more doubt.

They were thinking the same, why couldn't they leave? It's not like he's keeping a leash on them or something, when they were out of the Spirit world they could just run away whenever they wanted. But they didn't. This doesn't apply to Ren right now though, she just wants to run away. Maybe it's because she hasn't had sex with him yet. But then again, the cougars haven't either, maybe it's because they are more instinctive and they think with their horniness instead of logic like the girls.

Anyways, after a little more petting he checked on the food and it was done cooking. The meat was cooked to a nice medium-rare, of course minus the burnt side. The mushrooms have soaked in the enhanced fruit juice, and now they glowed a shimmering light. Using his heat-resistant claws, he brought the rock slab to the side to let it cool down, while everyone gathered around it. He had to go grab Ren and place her next to him. Once it cooled down a little, Max took a little with his hands and put it in his mouth. Not the best steak, but it was edible. But once the cougars started eating, they chowed down faster and faster. It seemed they liked it a lot more than him since they haven't eaten a large variety of things, so anything that tasted borderline good and was new was gold in their eyes. Or in their mouths.

Kaisa and Nidalee began eating too, Nidalee used her spear like a fork while Kaisa had her parasite grab the hot food. Which wasn't something Max had thought to do, he used his claws because it made sense to him at first but now he could just use the parasite too no? He'll have to experiment later. But for Ren, he had to feed her by hand while she looked grumpy both at the shameful act and because she didn't hunt her own food. She felt weird not sustaining for herself, especially when no one has really assisted her when she grew up. Heck, she killed and ate her own father for being such a douche! Also, Max doesn't know all this. I'm the narrator, I can say whatever I want even if he hasn't learned this stuff yet.

For the mushrooms, he saved some by placing them in a bundle of leaves to slightly preserve for later, while the rest everyone ate. The effects of the mushrooms started showing on everyone soon after they ate. After the food was quickly finished, mainly by the cougars, he moved everyone into the spirit world with the campfire and the rest of the cow, before going in there himself.

Once everyone was comfortable, he checked on the interface to find what the yellow flower did:

[ Small Haste Blessing

A weak and short blessing which increases movement speed.

A rare blessing found in objects which absorb an excess amount of air energy. ]

Speed huh? Seems about right, and the other blessings seem the same as well. The only difference is that it says the blessings can be found in different things, but it's only been in flowers so far. Maybe the stronger blessings will have a different form. Who knows?

But before Max was going to go out, he noticed once again his level bar. It is at the same amount as before, even though he had slain a cow. Maybe killing things don't give xp, then what would? Sex didn't since he had sex last night, eating didn't because he just ate food, so what would budge the bar?

*softly* Me.

But he doesn't know that, so for now he has a mystery on his mind.

Anyways, today he planned on making a shed out of wood. The cave is nice, but it is not preferable for beauty sleeping. So there will be the cave aka sex dungeon and the house, which he will make himself. From what he can remember from youtube videos he has seen, the most basic of basics of a wood cabin is that you need an area to build it and wood to build it with. He already planned to build the house a little above the cave, so that it would be like a basement to keep all the unruly people like Ren. He also wanted to do this because space in the world was getting low. So first thing first, he needed wood.

Max exited the Spirit World and headed out of the clearing into the forest to find evenly sized logs which weren't huge but also not super thin. He decided on tree trunks with widths about the size of his arm(about a foot). When he found one that seemed roughly that size, he busted out the empowered claws and cut it down. It was fairly easy, not like cutting paper, but like using a karate chop to break a board. Of course, that is scaled down as boards are usually an inch or less thick, while these trees were thick thick. Not as thicc as your mom thoug-

When he chopped down a tree, he would shave off the branches and bark and cut the top off at about 2 and a half times his height(about 15 feet), to make a nice log. He then puts them into a pile in the Spirit World. Everyone else was sitting around the comfy fire camp watching him do his thing through the big screen, they couldn't help much as their ability to cut trees was significantly lower and would probably take longer for them to cut down one tree compared to him with 10. Maybe more.

Anyways, after quite some time, Max has stockpiled a total of 70 logs with a width/diameter of 1 foot and a length of 15 feet each. He already kind of planned how to build it, but he didn't have paper or something to write down his plans like a blue print. First, he got everyone in the Spirit world to move closer to the screen so he has more area to work with. One thing to note is that he could easily move anything in the Spirit World since he can essentially teleport into the world wherever he wants, so if for example the logs are to heavy to move by hand, he could teleport it out and in, and it is where he wants it. It was like he was playing one of those city-building games but in 1st person. To start, he tilted the Cave a little to the right so that it's entrance which was originally pointing towards the middle of the world, was now facing the pool of water. He took four logs, and placed them in a square between the cave and the pool as a rough outline. This project was going to be especially hard since he doesn't have measurement tools, but even harder because he has no experience in this other than vague thoughts so he could barely think of a solution to the no measurements problem.

How a log cabin is commonly built is by carving a cylindrical cut into one log so that the bottom half of the perpendicular log could fit into it. This log also has a divot at the top in the same way so that the bottom half of the next log could fit into it. This 3rd log would be directly above the first log. If he didn't do this, there would be a foot long gap between the logs which were stacked on top of each other to make a wall, which is not what Max wanted. The measurements are important here because you don't want a hole too big that the log wouldn't snug into, and you definitely don't want a hole too small because it will hurt to stick your wood in.

He would have to deal with a little too big for now, as that's the best he can do with what he has. Starting with the first four for the base, he tried his best to carve a fit cut for the log above. Using his claws, this was pretty easy, the hard part was not cutting where he shouldn't. He didn't want to make the divot too big, or even worse completely cut the log up. Eventually, he was able to make a decent hole, which fit okay. But okay is not good, so he would need to do more. Fortunately, as with everything he eventually got better and was able to carve more accurately. Now, he had 4 slightly even logs withy cuts on each end. Before he put it in place, he spread some dirt from outside underneath where he was planning to build the hut so that it's base would be above the entrance to the cave and the water level of the pool. What he was planning for was a 15 by 15 feet floor for sleeping mostly, with 3 entrances. 1 to actually enter the room, one that goes into the cave, and one that leads onto a balcony which is over the water.

But then, Max realized that if he wants to do this, he should put in the whole flooring first, so he grabs a couple more logs and fit them to see how many he would need. After estimating, he probably needs about 13 for the floor, so he makes the same cylindrical cuts into the 13 logs which took a while to do. But once he's done, he finally puts the logs into place, creating a nice base made out of wood. God, making this stuff in games like Ark seems so much easier...

Anyways, even though he is barely done with the build, he can tell it's already about noonish as the sun in the screen is mid day. It was finally time to cook some lunch, and when everyone saw Max grab the meat and go outside they all got excited. Even Ren did.