Chapter 2 Tools

Chapter 2 Tools

"Bob, hello, my name is Sirius. It's a pleasure to learn of your dream." Sirius lifted his head from the notebook.

This skeleton named Bob, despite having a dream of becoming a farmer, had a real talent for writing. This little notebook seemed to be a diary, but it read like an interesting autobiography.

Sirius read on with great interest.

From the autobiography, he learned that Bob was born into a wealthy family, but as the second son, he wasn't in line to inherit the family estate.

His father wanted him to become a knight, his mother hoped he would become a priest, but he only wanted to farm.

He defied his parents, took on many jobs to save money to buy land, but unfortunately, the deed had been tampered with. He not only lost the land but was also sentenced to exile in the Misty Forest.

"I walked for many days, ate all the food I had. I couldn't believe my eyes. There's something wrong with the animals in this forest...

"I am about to die. Hallucinations took over. I see myself in a wheat field, watching the wind ripple through the golden waves of wheat. If I could, I truly wish to become a scarecrow, standing guard in that wheat field I will never possess..."

Sirius closed the diary.

He could grant Bob's final wish.

"I can try to plant a wheat field, then set you up in it. If I can find straw, I'll stuff you with straw, too. You're welcome." Sirius said seriously.

Not that Bob could respond, and if he could, he probably wouldn't be very approving of this wish.

Sirius put the notebook away and started making tonight's dinner.

He now had rabbit and fish, and salt. All he lacked was a fire.

Although he had no memory, he knew how to start a fire. He needed some dry leaves, some dry branches, and a few sparks.

Dry leaves and branches were plentiful in the forest. Sirius only took two steps before gathering enough kindling. He squatted down, arranged a few stones into a rough circle, and cleared the surrounding weeds.

Now he had a fire pit.

Fire Pit +1.

He placed dry leaves at the bottom, broke and stacked dry branches in the fire pit, leaving gaps for air to feed the flames. All that was missing were a few sparks.

Where to find such a small thing?

Two common methods came to Sirius's mind: one was rubbing a stick against wood, the other was repeatedly striking two stones together.

He didn't hesitate long before opting for a third method.

He plucked a few leaves, removed the fish skewered on his sword, flexed his wrist a couple of times, and swung his sword to strike the stone!

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

The blade struck the hard stone, sparks flew everywhere. The scattered sparks soon made the dry leaves smolder, and a small flame flickered to life.

Sirius put his sword away. This method of making fire was much more efficient than drilling wood or striking stones.

Time to make roast rabbit!

A delicious roast rabbit should be patted with fresh rosemary sprigs, rubbed with pepper salt and garlic paste, fried golden brown on both sides with olive oil, with two bay leaves stuffed inside before being placed in a cast iron oven... That was the luxurious way. He only had a bag of bitter, clumpy salt.

Sirius sharpened a few branches into skewers for the rabbit, carefully shook a small pinch of salt from the bag, rubbing it evenly all over the rabbit, inside and out, and finally set it up next to the fire to roast.

While waiting for the rabbit to cook, he wasn't idle. He swung his sword, swish swish, cutting down a few thick branches, stripped them of leaves and twigs, leaving straight poles. He picked two of them and drove them diagonally into the ground, tying their crossed tops together with rope twisted from weeds.

He made two of these supports. Then he placed a thick branch of suitable length in the forks at their tops, securing it firmly with grass rope, so he could hang fish on it.

Drying Rack +1.

Sirius planned to use the residual heat from the fire to smoke-dry the fish he didn't plan to eat tonight.

Salt was too precious to use for curing fish. Smoking was a better preservation method.

He threaded grass rope, twisted from weeds, through the gill covers, coming out of the fish's mouth and tied into a firm knot. He hung them one by one on the rack.

Not long ago, there were only weeds outside the hollow tree. Now it had changed. He had cleared the waist-high weeds to create a small clearing. A bright orange flame burned in the stone fire pit. The roast rabbit skewered beside the pit sizzled with dripping fat. Fish hung neatly on the rack, swaying in the wind and tracing uneven arcs... He was truly capable!

Sirius thought proudly, hands on hips.

I could make a good life here. I can build a house for myself, clear land for farming. I can have a home here, and even invite him to come... Who is that 'him' I want to invite?

Hmm, can't remember.

Sirius shook his head to clear his thoughts. Better focus on the roast rabbit before him!

He turned the rabbit several times. Even with only a little salt as seasoning, under the fire's roasting, it gave off a tempting, fatty aroma.

"Well done, Sirius! Your roast rabbit is absolutely fantastic! A roast rabbit so good, even a king has never tasted its like!" Sirius gave himself solo, exaggerated praise.

After all, there was no one else here. He wasn't worried about being laughed at.

The rabbit was so hot it would make you hiss to touch it. Sirius touched it twice, and a series of sharp intakes of breath sounded like he had a rattlesnake in his mouth.

The wind could cool the roast rabbit. Blowing with his mouth was obviously too much work. Sirius waved the roast rabbit in his hand. Waving it around cooled it much faster than blowing on it.

After waving it for a while, he almost flung the roast rabbit from his hand, and finally it cooled down a little.

Sirius took a bite of the rabbit leg.

Chew, chew, chew.

A bit tough. This was a muscular rabbit. His tongue tasted the saltiness and the sweet, gamey flavor of the rabbit meat. Not bad, but not great either. The plain cooking and lack of spices left the flavor lacking.

But it would fill his stomach, no doubt about that. The mouth and the stomach were two different organs. He could fill his stomach while frowning.

He ate the entire rabbit. He gnawed every last shred of meat from the bones until only bare bones remained. His stomach was full.

Sirius felt thirsty.

This was bad news.

He had no container for holding water. Going to the river every time he was thirsty would take too much time.

Sirius's gaze fell on the only possible water container: the sheepskin bag he'd found next to Bob.

He wondered if it would leak.

Might as well try.

Sirius extinguished the fire, picked up his sword, grabbed the sheepskin bag, and headed towards the riverbank.

The hollow tree was some distance from the riverbank. He couldn't say exactly how far, but he was certain that standing at the tree hollow and looking towards the riverbank, his eyes could not see the river.

The sky had already darkened, and Sirius walked more slowly to the riverbank than he had on the way there.

There were no paths in the forest, only shrubs and loose stones underfoot. If he wanted to make the hollow tree his home, he would need to clear a path to the river.

He hadn't been walking long before the river reappeared before him.

Sirius first stuck his sword in the water and swirled it around. The bloodstains on it had dried, emitting an unpleasant, metallic smell. After washing it, the sword was dripping wet, and he wiped it with the corner of his cloak.

He now had a clean, shiny sword again.

The water was flowing, so Sirius didn't move to another spot to collect drinking water. Instead, he rinsed out the sheepskin bag right there and tried to scoop water into it.

This bag was made from a single piece of tanned lambskin, with no side seams, and closed with a drawstring at the top.

Thanks to the lack of seams, this old sheepskin bag actually managed to hold water.

Water-filled sheepskin bag +1.

Sirius slung the bulging sheepskin bag over his sword and happily headed back.

Returning to the hollow tree, everything remained exactly as he had left it—a welcome sight.

Sirius poked at the embers; the ashes underneath hadn't completely cooled. A few gentle puffs were enough to rekindle them.

It shaped up to be a boring night.

Once it got dark, there really wasn't much to do. All Sirius could do was sit by the fire and whittle sticks. He needed to make a lower rack to smoke the hanging fish properly.

The sticks were lashed together haphazardly into a gap-filled mesh. A few sturdy sticks served as legs to support it, allowing the fish to be placed on top without the rack collapsing.

Crude smoking rack +1.

Sirius spent a good while completing this task. The final and most important step was to toss some shrub branches and leaves into the fire to produce more smoke.

He coughed violently as the wind blew the smoke in his direction, catching him off guard.

Sirius rubbed his eyes and moved to a different spot, then began the long wait for the fish to smoke.

Until he started feeling drowsy.

Sirius let out a long yawn, stood up to put out the fire, and lifted the leaves covering the fish. The fish had dried out a bit and taken on a smoky aroma.

Semi-dried smoked fish +8.

The smoked fish still needed to be hung outside to air-dry overnight. Sirius planned to go straight to sleep, hoping he would still see them in the morning.

Sleeping directly on a pile of dry leaves felt a bit uncomfortable. He took off his cloak and spread it over the leaves, then hugged his sword and quickly fell asleep.

"Sirius... Sirius..."

His soul sank into a deep dream, and a voice kept calling his name, making him frown in his sleep.

In the mist of the dream, a figure trudged alone toward him, wearing a hood, its face unclear. Only golden hair could be seen falling from the hood.

Sirius was clearly aware that he was dreaming but couldn't move his body. Only his consciousness could silently observe the person approaching him.

The mist grew thicker, but the face of the person walking toward him became clearer.

He saw a pair of deep blue eyes, as sorrowful as blue waves.

"Xavier!"

Author's note:

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Sirius's new infrastructure is as follows:

Fire pit ×1

Drying rack ×1

Crude smoking rack ×1

Newly added supplies:

Smoked fish ×8