Ethereal Life, Chapter 5: New Life 2

It's been a long time since he's been doing this—hunting. Once upon a time, he desired to become a boy scout, but because of financial problems, he decided to throw it away.

There was a time when he wanted to go mountain hiking, but no one wanted to follow him, so he also threw it away. Riding bikes and traveling with friends, unfortunately, is always a financial problem.

Hunting prey, holding a gun powered by air pressure It was when he was a kid that he got to borrow one from his uncle and tried to snipe some fishes down the river. Ultimately, he failed.

Now he had to use the knives he made from stones to hunt one. Aside from knifethrowing or an ambush when someone comes near him, he doesn't know what other uses he can do during the hunt. "I hope I can take one down for today's meal," he prayed in his heart.

All the failures in his life flashed briefly in his mind. "I hope not."

Slowly, he crawled forward with the grass as his cover. Although not as silent as a slick snake, he can still fool the wild hares hearing together with the wind.

Fifty meters....forty meters...thirty meters....twenty....ten... When he reached ten meters from the nearest hill, he slowed down once more. Now his movements were no different from those of a snail.

With unprecedented focus and concentration, he prepared knives in both hands. Ready to throw or to pierce the prey when the opportunity comes.

A few minutes later, a pair of hares hopped coincidentally in his direction. He, who was almost losing his concentration from the waiting, just now immediately regained his senses fully as he lay more low in preparation for his sneak attack.

Come on, come on, come on. I haven't yet had my dinner yesterday or breakfast today, you know. Come on, come near me, just a bit more.

When the pair of wild hares was nearing him, they suddenly perked up as though they had noticed something odd just now. They looked around in confusion for a while before they looked at each other.

It seemed nothing was wrong around, but their vigilance still increased. A while later, the dou hopped forward in an attempt to leap away when suddenly a fierce, dull, but sharp object flew in front of their sight.

Puh! 

"Bullseye." He smiled in relief, he didn't have to worry about his meal for today anymore. He immediately threw the other knives he had prepared beforehand towards the two injured, dying hares.

Just now, when the two hares were just two meters away from him. He made his move, with his eyes on the target and his chest lying on the ground. He flicked both hands like he was flapping his arms like wings backwards while two objects flew past the grass and pierced through the two ignorant hares faces in a flash.

It was luck.

They didn't even have any chance to react as both hares got their lives taken in an instant by one stone knife each. A super duper lucky hit.

The commotion just now has also caused the herd of wild hares to notice his existence. "Don't run so fast." He immediately threw all the remaining stone knives he had at the herd before they returned to their burrow. In an attempt to take down a few more with his current luck.

By the time he stood up to harvest his game, all the hares around had already disappeared back underground. He patted the dirt in front of him as he relaxed. "One, two, three, four... just four games, huh? It's already enough for a few days of meal." 

He stepped forward and picked up the games along the way before checking out the burrow for a while. "I can make a trap but there are currently no proxy materials for now." 

The mini fruits, like berries, around were still bountiful, so he also took some with him. "They should be edible, seeing as those hares ate them." After plucking a few more, he returned to the pond.

He put down all the things he was holding as he looked at the sky with his narrowed eyes and said, "I should start making a shelter soon. In the middle of the grassland, with no mountains in sight nor hills or trees around. I can't confirm if I can find something to eat and drink if I travel there after all."

So he started dismantling the wild hares he hunted. After washing them clean, he dried all the meat, along with the skin and fur, under the sun. "The meat can be dried and smoked, while the skin and fur can be turn into leather and accumulated to be sewn into a blanket or clothes."

There are dried branches around the grassland; they should be the branches of the dead mini trees from a long time ago. Which now will help him make fire. A few minutes later, he made a fire.

As for how he made one, of course, it was with the help of a piece of broken glass from his helmet, dried grass, and dried branches from those bonsai-like trees. "Easy." But most of all, it was thanks to the sun.

The meat was skewered using tough branches and placed around the fire to be roasted. Then he sat down and waited. "Now what should I do next?" he thought for a while as his eyes wandered around, searching for answers.

"Current food is wild hare's meat. Water is secured, as are other necessary tools. I only have stone knives." The young man didn't want to exert more strength than was needed. As long as he can live without problems, he doesn't need those unnecessary things.

"But a shelter is a necessary one. It makes me safe regardless of day or night." He stood up and found some wide, plate-like stones. Using it, he dug and tilled some soil not far from the pond.

By mixing it with water and grass, the soil has turned into mud. And the mud was further mixed using his hands before it was shaped into irregular bricks. "Gulp." The fragrance of roasted meat wafted near his nose as he subconsciously gulped.

Cleaning his hands, he checked the oozing oiled skewer first before flipping it to the other side. Then he returned, making bricks using mud and grass combined.

An hour later, he stopped and enjoyed his roasted meat. It was still emitting hotness with smoke coming out, but he still took a sneak bite from the irresistible aroma it was releasing. "Mmm~!" 

With eyes full of happiness and a mouth wet from juicy oiliness. He smiled contently, then he said, "It's my first time having a roasted meat of this world without condiments, but man, they're delicious even without one!".

Though he was saying that, it might have been an illusion caused by his hungry state that his mind was giving him deliciousness signals. So he can't be sure yet. After a while, he finished his meal cleanly.

The fire has already been put out, and the other skewered meat, smoked or dried were under the sun, placed on top of a square-like stone slab. After checking that no animals were around, he returned to making mud bricks.

A few hours later. He started building the walls of his shelter. The space inside the shelter must be enough for him to sleep and sit. So he built a 2x2x2-square-meter room. He was sweaty, but compared to his former world, it wasn't even near hot enough.

Two hours later, the walls of his shelter were finished. Using the mud as glue, the mud bricks that had been dried but not fully were piled up to become the three walls of his shelter. "Next is the rooftop."

However, the walls looked like a semi-pyramid from the outside. It was to prevent the roof from crumbling because of a lack of foundation and support.

For the rooftop, he found some branches and bound them together with some tough vine grasses before putting them all above his rooftop. Grasses that were wet because of mud were used to cover the branches above.

In just a few hours, he built his mud house shelter. "I'm done. Now I don't have to worry about sleeping in the wild unprotected anymore."

Though he hoped that no storm would turn his crude work into piles of debris when he was sleeping quietly,

"Ah, that was tiring." The young man breathed out hot air as he huffed, finally having his muscles start remembering what it means to feel tired. He started to relax with his eyes closed.

It's been a long time since he had this kind of peaceful, breezy rest. Under the shade of his shelter, he took a short nap. An hour later, he woked up. 

Then he suddenly sprung up as he remembered that he had left all his food outside. Thankfully, they weren't touched, nor had they disappeared after seeing them. "Thank goodness."

He breathed out in relief. Then, without further ado, he stored the rations inside the shelter. Hanging them inside the shelter to prevent them from being eaten by worms. "That should do it for now."

He walked near the pond and immediately took off his clothes as he jumped in the water, making splashes around. "I'll go and cool off for a while."