Erudition [V]

Lucian was woken up the following morning by a tickling sensation on the side of his cheek. He raised his hand to scratch at it, and his fingers brushed against something unnaturally soft. His eyes shot open, and he turned to find himself face to face with a light green mass of fur and two beady eyes. The creature curiously sniffed at Lucian's face.

He tried not to make any sudden movements. The way the jewels lit up and all of the rabbits turned to him at once was terrifying, and he couldn't get the image out of his head. Though Lucian didn't believe the creatures to be dangerous, he still felt very uncomfortable with the gem and their actions.

After sniffing at his face for a while longer, the little bunny hopped over to his hand and began nudging at his fingers. Lucian slowly turned his head and was able to get a full view of the rabbit. The light green rabbit had small yellow stripes running down its spine, and one of its ears was torn at the tip.

"Aren't you...?" Lucian only had to look at the rabbit for a moment before recognizing it as the same rabbit he had introduced himself to the previous day. Cautiously, he lifted his hand, and the rabbit forced its way underneath it and started rubbing its back against his palm.

He sighed in relief and let out a low chuckle. The little critter just wanted some attention, it seemed. He found it strange that the wild animal would be so friendly, but he obliged and scratched gently at its fur. Like a dog, its hind leg kicked the ground repeatedly when he scratched at certain spots, bringing a smile to his face.

Lucian sat up slowly and moved his hand around, laughing as the small rabbit gave chase. The teasing didn't last long before he gave it a few final scratches and stood up to begin his day. As he walked, the rabbit trailed behind him, closely watching everything the human did. From pissing off the edge of the Tile to digging his pots out of the ash, the tiny creature didn't leave his side.

"I guess I made a friend, huh?" Lucian scratched its head gently before picking out the bowls from the debris. Out of the four pots, one had shattered. "I suppose it wasn't dry yet."

He frowned and sat the shattered pieces of clay to the side. Even if he didn't get a fourth pot from them, two of the larger pieces closely resembled square plates and would keep him from having to place his food on the ground. Still, the three pots that remained intact were solid, and he couldn't find any signs of cracks or weak spots.

"Success!" Lucian laughed and sat the pots next to him, which the little rabbit hopped around and sniffed at. "Curious little fella, aren't you?"

After storing the plates and one of the pots in his shelter, he chose two of them to take over to the hedge. One by one, Lucian picked various fruits from the massive bush. He made sure to only select two types because he was worried about the effect mixing multiple of these strange fruits would have. Though there were tens of different types, there were many repeats.

The first fruit he chose was the most abundant, and he hoped that its juices would be enough to layer the larger of the two hides. It was a red fruit that was warm to the touch. He didn't eat one, but the smell and fumes wafting from the liquid caused his eyes to burn as he juiced them, making him think of the hottest peppers from Earth.

Though there was still an abundance of the red fruit, Lucian chose another for his second batch. The fumes were getting to him, and his eyes had begun to water.

The second fruit was bright yellow and shaped like a sphere. Its exterior was soft, and the interior was filled with a yellow liquid. Lucian had grabbed this fruit on a whim, but he was ecstatic at the find! This fruit alone would be enough to quench his thirst for a day... as long as there were no ridiculous side effects.

"I should probably finish my work before I test it..." He decided. The first fruit that Lucian had eaten put him out of commission for almost an hour, and he didn't have enough time in the day as things were. The timer for the Second Wave was constantly ticking down in the corner of his vision, and time was swiftly running out.

[3:05:32:27]

"Just a bit over three days," He muttered. "I hope it's just a few more rats than the last batch."

The way Ed made it sound, the Waves would increase slightly in difficulty until the tenth, then the difficulty would increase drastically for the subsequent ten, and so on. If it was just rats, even if the number doubled, he was confident in taking them down with little effort now that he held the [Endurance I] Microlink. Even being out of shape, his stamina had increased drastically, and his body's ability to withstand injury was more than abnormal.

After pouring the contents of ten yellow fruits into the second pot, Lucian carefully carried the two back to the tanning rack. He grabbed the empty bowl from his shelter and proceeded to scrape the green and brown fur off of the two hides. The hair all went into the empty jar to later be turned into twine or rope.

Once he was done, he shook the two skins clean and looked over his work. They were almost perfect, and he ended up having to dump the jar of the soft fur into his shed multiple times. The adult saber-cat had been just that massive, and he would be able to craft a set of pants and maybe a sleeveless shirt from its skin. The smaller skin was large enough to make a nice-sized hiking pack and a glove, which would be excellent for working with the different materials without worrying about blisters.

"Well, let's see how this fruit juice works before getting too excited."

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