13. A New Home (3)

Novum pulled the coin out of his pouch and held it close. He was not sure about the property line but he wanted to be sure that he knew exactly where it was. He had barely left the trail where he stopped before when he felt the coin get warm. Within just a couple of minutes it was not and he knew that he was close. He hopped down and walked a few steps and the coin got to the point that he was sure it was going to blister his skin. He looked around the area and found a special rock with an engraving just like the one on his coin. This was the corner of his property. He took a piece of cloth and tied it to a tree where he could see it from a distance.

Novum thought about trying to find the rest of them but he thought it would be better to get back to the house and check on the pup as well as to level up. He was honestly surprised when he leveled up after something like that. But he was not going to argue with the system. He made it back to the house and he could still hear the wolf pup howling. He got down and took the anvil off of Noctis before he dealt with the pup. When he opened the door the pup stood his ground and growled at him. Novum took a piece of meat and tossed it beside the pup. It continued to stare and growl.

As soon as Novum stepped back from the door out of sight of the pup he saw a gray blur fly past him. The pup was moving like his life depended on it but he still had the piece of meat hanging out of his mouth. Novum shrugged and headed into the house to look around. Then he thought better of it and went to the small stable to see what he needed to do to fix it. Half way there he stopped again. He concentrated on the system and his character sheet popped up in front of him again. Since he was level four and actually a lot closer to level five than he realized he would get an ability point. That went straight into his DEX and boosted his armor just a little. The breast plate gave him a little more mobility so he could use more of his natural abilities.

All of the basic stuff updated on it own so that part was quick and easy. He concentrated all of his skill points into his crafting and professions areas this level since he was going to be doing for a little while. He did not plan on leaving the area until next spring and spending all winter learned about the area and improving his abilities. Even if he did not get levels from it, he could still improve his skills. He moved over to the feat section and was planning on taking the Track feat given the region that he was living in but it was not available as a fighter feat so he would have to wait two more levels. He decided to go ahead and take weapon specialization to get the bonus damage.

While he was looking that over he made sure and checked the reputation area that was added to his sheet. Right now it was not a lot but he noticed that the attitude of the mayor affected the attitude of the guards in the village and even a few of the merchants were boosted by the mayor as well. As long as he did not mess things up with the mayor he would have a lot easier time. As he looked he saw that there was a name on the list he did not know and his reputation was maxed out at a thousand. He was not sure what was going on with that but he did not want to rely on the system to much.

Novum finished his walk and decided to strip off his armor while he was working. It would make things a lot easier. Noctis would warm him of any animals in the area his coin would warn him when a human came into the area. As long as they were not flying here on a horse he would have time to get most if not all of his armor on. He walked though the stable and into the fenced in area to make sure that it was secure. Honestly he was not worried about Noctis but better to be safe than sorry. He checked each and every post and cross board and found one that needed to be replaced. It was still there but it would not last. With that in mind he took Noctis through the gate and into the yard. Once everything was off of him he ran around in short bursts and ate the grass like he was starving.

Novum just shook his head and went to the inside and found that there were a lot of boards missing from the walls. There was enough stuff to do a hasty patch but it was going to need some more extensive repairs. He ripped some of the boards off of the outer wall and used then on the wall of the stall for the time being. He had just moved around the corner where the feed would normally be kept when the floor cracked and gave way. Novum managed to pick his foot up to keep it from being stuck but he still went down.

As he picked a few splinters out of his hand he went to stand back up when he noticed that there was something under the floor board. He kicked a few of the busted boards out of the way and realized that this was a hidden compartment and it was hinged. He moved everything else out of the way and picked up the bundle that was under there. He was not sure what it was but it had been down there for at least four years so he did not hold out much hope. He rolled the bundle out of the floor and was amazed when a unstrung longbow rolled out onto the floor. Not only that but there was a quiver with arrows. The bow appeared to be made out of a black wood and still smelled like it had just been rubbed with wood oil. The string left like he had just made it.

Novum was shocked at the quality of the bow that was now in his hand. He had no idea what it abilities were but he was positive that it was magical. Not only that but the arrows looked like he had just finished tying the feathers on them. The quiver did look a little rough but four years is a long time. With his strength he was easily able to string the bow. He grabbed a few arrows and was about to walk out the door when he heard some whining. He looked out and saw the pup was back. He put the bow down so it did not think that he was going to shoot it and stepped out of the building. The pup did not growl at him this time. He tossed it another piece of meat.

There was an old musty horse blanket laying in the stable so he piled it up on the porch for the pup tp lay down on. He knew that the pup was not ready to come to him yet and he would not push it. He had more than enough time and he had more than a few skills that would help him in the training. He dropped one more small piece beside the blanket and then pulled the bow out while the pup was distracted. He found a nice target and had the bow at full draw when he spotted a moving target out of the corner of his eye. The deer was walking slowly and stopped to pick something out of the grass. He took careful aim and once he felt it was just right he let the arrow fly.

The arrow flew faster than he thought was possible and it slammed into the deer right where he was aiming. The deer leapt into the air with the impact and darted forward. Novum headed off at a slow pace. Sometimes a deer would run a short distance in fear and then lay down and bleed. If you scared it, it would simply run for a little bit longer. The more times it did this the tougher the meat would become. The adrenaline makes the meat tougher. At least that is what he always assumed it was back in his old world.

The pup heard the deer grunt when it was hit and jumped up in excitement. Any time he heard that he was getting a great dinner. He jumped up off the blanket and left the meat to follow Novum. He looked down at the pup. "You think that part of this is yours do you?" The pup looked at him in fear but you could still see the excitement as he could not stop his tail from wagging. "We will see what you can have. I will share some of the organs with you as well. Those are really good for you."

Novum was not much of a tracker and the deer had not bled a lot but the pup found some blood and put his nose in it. Then he put his nose to the ground and headed deeper into the woods. With no other options he followed the little wolf and before very long they came up to the deer but the arrow had done its work and it was dead. He pulled the arrow out, wiped it in the grass and went to put it up. That was when he realized that he did not put the quiver on earlier. He unstrung the bow and put it and the arrow in one hand and grabbed the deer by the horn with the other. It did not take him long to get back to the house with the pup right behind him gobbling up any blood clots that fell out of the holes.

Novum took a few minutes to find the right area and grabbed a lot of the tools out of his pack. He made a hoist system with some rope and a block and tackle that he got from the system. A strong branch and he was ready to go. He was about to start cutting when he thought about what he wanted to bury where and what he was going to use and how. He went back to the house and saw that there was a small trap door in the back. He opened it up and saw that it was a very deep root cellar. It was cool enough to give him a day or two to get the deer sorted all the way out. He would quarter it tonight and store it. He would start with the organs tonight and get the hide and gut processed. No use in wasting anything.

With his personal knowledge and the knowledge that the system provided him with he went to work. He pulled out two metal bucket and put most of the guts that he was going to keep in one and the throw ways in another. Well he called them throw away parts only because he could not eat them. He could use them for other things. After the guts he skinned it clean and was amazed that it came away from the muscle so easily. <Natures Respect Quest succeeded - +2 bonus on all checks made with an animal, living or dead and +2 when interacting with beings of nature>.

Novum read the notification and thought it was a good thing to have given where he was living and what he was doing. The system appreciated his respect for things and returned it. He put the skin off the to the side and the pup went after it. "Oh no you don't." He picked the hide up again. "Huh I don't have a name for you yet. I am going to go with Fang. A little simple but still a classic. He reached into the bucket and cut off several pieces of the liver and tossed them to the pup. "Here you go Fang enjoy." With the pup distracted he dropped the hide and finished quartering the deer and putting it in the root cellar. He washed up in the creek and came back with the pup looking to the bucket.

"You are a hungry little thing. Fine but this is it for a while." He pulled on of the kidneys that he saved and tossed it to the pup. Since it was round it would be harder for him to eat and he had to be getting close to full by now. Once he got a good hold he tore through the kidney like it was nothing then stumbled over to his blanket and passed out. Novum went to work with the hide and got it salted and hung. By the time all of that was complete it was getting dark. He cooked the heart and some liver for himself and threw in a little onion and enjoyed the meal. He thought about pulling out his torch but he was exhausted after the long day and just put his bed roll in the front of the stable. The animals would wake him up if anything got close.