Age of Empires From Scratch

David's face was joyful as he lowered his left hand holding the hunting bow and swiftly maneuvered through the forest with agile movements. In the blink of an eye, he arrived beside his prey: a deer that had fallen to the ground with several arrows in its body.

He squatted down, placed the hunting bow aside, drew out his knife, and delivered a fatal blow to the still-breathing deer. Then he moved the still-warm deer meat onto a crudely made backpack with practiced ease.

"Heh!" After taking a deep breath, David stood up with effort; the weight of the backpack on his back was heavier than he had expected.

"My strength has decreased a lot. I hope I can recover soon."

David had obtained several tens of pounds of deer meat shortly after entering the forest, and he was very satisfied with today's harvest. If his luck continued to be this good, he should be able to return to his normal state soon.

Carrying the hunting bow and a quiver full of arrows, David walked towards his "home" outside the forest...

David was originally an ordinary office worker on Earth but somehow ended up in this world after his early death. Based on his observations, this was a fantasy world similar to medieval Europe.

The strict class system made him very uncomfortable, as he had only been a commoner in his previous life. David became a pioneer after being raised by an old hunter named Adis until he was sixteen. The Tiran Kingdom encouraged commoners to become pioneers in developing the land where no humans lived.

Pioneers who successfully developed and occupied new land could become knights or even noble lords and leave their commoner status behind. However, pioneering was not an easy task. After months of trekking, selecting a settlement location, and more than a year and a half of farming, David's pioneering team failed to develop suitable farmland.

Combined with harsh weather, attacks by wild beasts, a shortage of food and medicine, and the lack of return on their hard work, people gradually died or gave up. By the end of the second winter, only David was left.

He naturally took over the pioneering certificate and became the village chief of this newly established village. However, after surviving the difficult second winter, David began to consider leaving this place.

"This deer should help me recover, and I can also make some jerky... if I can find some wild vegetables, that would be even better."

Carrying the main food for the next few days, David slowly returned to the temporary village of only four large wooden houses. One of the houses was a warehouse, a blacksmith's workshop, and the team's kitchen. After carrying it inside one of the houses, David placed the deer meat on the simple-looking table. He began to process it by skinning, removing the internal organs, cutting the meat into pieces, and cleaning it. After he finished all this, he made some meat soup; he had plenty of spices at hand. The pioneering team would bring enough salt, sugar, and spices when they set out, and there was still plenty left.

Sitting on a simple wooden stool outside the house, holding a wooden bowl of meat soup, David looked towards the wide river in the west. He pondered his future; should he go to another pioneering village or just return to Ironwood Castle and be an honest hunter? He was a little reluctant to do the latter. As he thought about these things, a figure appeared in the distance, vaguely visible. Even in broad daylight, David could not see the person clearly.

"What's going on? Is it a ghost?"

The translucent figure reminded David of ghosts, undead, or Nie Xiaoqian-like creatures. As he put down the wooden bowl and reached for the bow and arrows by his side, wanting to strengthen his courage, the figure gradually became clear and revealed its true appearance.

"This look..."

A dirty tank top, work pants with boots, a ponytail, and a high-level appearance that couldn't be hidden by the dirt and mud, plus the staggering posture while holding her waist...

On this appearance, if combined with the rain and wind, the bone-chilling cold, and the constant sound of rainwater flowing down the mountain wall, David should doubt that he had traveled again; what he clearly saw was the famous Lara.

Lara Croft the absolute protagonist of the Tomb Raider series. Although she is a virtual character, she is a globally renowned figure.

In the setting, Lara comes from a good family. She becomes an archaeologist after graduating from university. Still, unfortunately, none of the ruins she excavated could be fully preserved, so she became known as the Tomb Destroyer, the Goddess of Demolition, and so on.

Lara has several different appearances, which come from games 1 to 8, the new trilogy starting from the 9th game, two old movie versions, and the new movie version.

The Lara in front of David obviously comes from the first part of the new trilogy in the game.

In this work, Lara has just graduated from university and is a rookie who has just participated in archaeological activities for the first time.

In this seemingly ordinary archaeological activity, she encountered a shipwreck and was stranded on an island, experiencing a series of strange events. After experiencing various hardships, Lara helped her companions escape successfully and gradually grew up.

The Lara in front of David should be the Lara at the beginning of the story.

Standing up, David watched Lara slowly walk into the village, looking at her with the same expression of doubt. He was ready to try to communicate after so many years; he didn't know if he could remember a few sentences in English.

While he was struggling with whether he could remember a few sentences in English, Lara, on the other side, had already noticed him and stopped a few meters away from David.

Now that the two were not far away and the daylight was sufficient, this world's David didn't have any vision problems; he could clearly see Lara's surprise, doubt, and vigilance.

"Hello." David habitually used the universal language of humans in this world. "Do you need help?"

"Hello!" Lara couldn't understand what the young man in front of her was saying. But after looking carefully, she felt that this very just-looking young man should have no malice towards her, so she waved her hand to greet David and said, "I need some help."

This listening comprehension question wasn't difficult, and she could understand it herself. But how to answer it made her a little bit puzzled.

Putting down his bow and arrow, David walked up to Lara.

After seeing David put down his weapon, Lara determined that this person had no malice towards her and immediately started talking. This made David feel a headache. He could only vaguely understand a few words and had to point to the wound on Lara's side with his finger to interrupt her.

In the story, Lara fell into the sea during a shipwreck, swam to the shore with all her might, but was directly knocked unconscious by someone. When she woke up, she was hanging upside down in a cave.

Although Lara escaped with her own wisdom and courage, she was also injured as a result. The through-and-through wound on her waist was the most severe.

It's hard to imagine that Lara, a young girl who doesn't look very strong, could carry such an injury up a snowy mountain, climb through a grassland, and also take down the entire Sun Brotherhood, the boss of mysterious power, Queen Himiko and her many storm guards.

Considering that the metal that had penetrated her waist was covered in rust at that time, and Lara's subsequent performance... even if it was unarmed, Lara's combat power absolutely exceeded 5.

At this moment, Lara, with amazing combat power, was in a very weak state. Following the direction David pointed, she lowered her head to look at her waist, and the blood kept oozing from her fingers. She knew it was not the time to say those useless words, and she also realized that the other party didn't understand English.

However, simple words should be understandable, right? She tried to say, "I need help! Medicine!"

Lara watched as the young man in front of her took something out of his waist pack; a small package and a roll of what looked like bandages.

After the other person opened the small package, Lara saw the powdered substance inside, which seemed to be some kind of medicinal powder. It seems that her experiment was successful.

Taking out the medicine powder and the self-made bandage that he always carried with him, David performed a few actions towards Lara: first, he pointed to his own eyes, then he pointed to the location of Lara's injury, and finally, he raised the medicine powder and bandage in his hand.

Lara understood what he meant, hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded and lifted her vest to reveal the injured area.

Her movements caused the wound to move, and a sudden pain made Lara moan softly.

David looked at Lara's waist, which was covered in bloodstains, and it was impossible to see her original skin color. This kind of condition couldn't be treated directly with medicine.

Handing the medicine powder and bandage to Lara, David pointed to a wooden chair beside the wooden house and made a 'wait' gesture.

It was a very simple gesture, and Lara understood it easily. Holding the medicine powder and bandage, she sat on the wooden chair and watched David turn and enter the wooden house. He quickly came out with a basin of clear water, and she also understood what he meant.

Sitting obediently on the wooden chair, Lara watched as this enthusiastic young man wiped her waist and abdomen with a wet cloth. She suddenly felt a bit strange... she should be cleaning it up herself, but it seemed inappropriate to speak up now, and she didn't think the other person could understand her words.

David carefully wiped Lara's wound, and as he moved, the mud, water, and bloodstains were all wiped away, revealing Lara's snow-white waist and abdomen with muscular lines.

Feeling the wet and delicate sensation on his fingers, David, who hadn't tasted meat for over a decade, felt a warmth rising in his body.

"Cough!"

Converging his mind, he threw the cloth stained with blood and mud to the side, then took the medicine powder and bandage from Lara's hand and skillfully bandaged her wound; his bandaging skills had improved greatly over the past two years.

After he finished, he stood up and nodded to Lara.

At this point, Lara also stood up, checked the bandage on her waist and abdomen, then looked up and sincerely thanked David, "Thank you very much for your help."

"You're welcome."

As soon as the words were spoken, both of them were stunned.

Because what David said was no longer a language that Laura had never heard of but rather very familiar English, the most familiar kind of British English.