Chapter 5

Stories, Hopes, and Dreams

Leo woke up rather well-rested, yawning and stretching as he exited the hut that had, somehow, become a communal house. Not just its insides either, as the roof was now a permanent home to several owls, eagles, falcons, and even a dog-sized bat that was hanging upside down from the edges.

He suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the floor, barely managing to stabilize. Glancing down, his eyes widened when he saw a slew of fruits and vegetables lying sprawled on the floor--some he recognized as the ones he ate before, but most of them were entirely new to him.

Crouching down, he picked a few and inspected them, taking a bite out of a normal-looking apple only to realize it tasted like vanilla ice-cream. Smiling widely, he let the sensation overwhelm him, feeling his body elevated once more.

“Thank you, friends,” he spoke to the forest itself as he knew that the ones responsible were the many animals living about. “Hmm... I can make my famous vegetable stew with this, no? Right. We’ll have a feast tonight!” and thus, the day of planning and cooking began.

Naturally, he didn’t have access to the same ingredients here as he did back on Earth for his ‘famous’ stew. As such, he had to taste every single veggie that he got, and even a few fruits and random grass he found lying about, until he mapped out what they could roughly be synonymous with.

He first made a makeshift bucket, though already came across a first hurdle--he didn’t have a pot. And it wasn’t as though he had abundance of metal or tools to make one (which wasn’t to say he’d know to make one even if there were) so he had to go for the last resort--or, well, two.

“Aah, if only I had a proper pot...” he mumbled just loudly enough to be heard. His first hope was that the system would offer him a quest or something, and the second was that the animals would actually know to bring one. Luckily, his prayer paid off as the system did offer it.

[You may spend 1 System XP to purchase ‘Ordinary Cooking Pot’. You currently have 8 System XP. Are you sure you want to purchase the ‘Ordinary Cooking Pot’?] 

“Yeah, sure,” just as he mumbled those words, something magical happened---a flash of light blinded him but for a moment and, when he opened his eyes, standing still in front of him, on the ground, was an ordinary-looking cooking pot. It wasn’t one of the modern-looking ones, but one of those that spoke of an age long-since-gone. It was round and bulky and charred in black, but it had a lid, and that was all that mattered.

As there was still a long time till the night, he decided to start doing something he had wanted to do for a while back on Earth--start exercising. He had nothing but free time, and if he was to live in the forest, it’d probably be best if he was in shape.

For starters, he started doing push-ups--but, after managing to do a 100 in a row without so much as feeling sore, he realized something was very wrong. He tried doing squats, but the same thing happened--100 squats later, and he didn’t feel his thighs either burn or bleed or cry. Same thing with pull-ups. He even tried casually jogging, but after nearly an hour of running around the forest like a moron, he barely broke a singular strand of sweat.

“Huh,” he stroked his chin in pure pride. “This cultivation stuff really strengthens you, eh? Oh, look at the time!” without realizing it, he’d actually spent a considerable amount of time ‘testing himself’, and evening was fast approaching.

He went back to the hut and re-started the fire from the last night, though once again ran into the problem--how he would hang the pot above it.

“Maybe if I keep the vines wet? They seemed really resilient,” and thus, the plan was born. He quickly fashioned an improvised stove, with a single, thick piece of wood running over the top of the flames and the pot hanging by the several tied strings of vine.

As he didn’t have a knife, he found a random rock and sharpened it with another rock just enough for it to be able to cut through the vegetables. At the same time, he started the fire and poured the pot full of water, hanging it over. Thankfully, the vine that held up the pot, so long as it was kept wet, seemed just resilient enough to the flames.

He used a random piece of thick bark as a chopping board and tossed in veggies one by one, electing to save the ones he considered as ‘spices’ as the last. The one in particular, a fingernail-sized, crimson red grape was quite similar in taste to chilli--or, rather, its two seeds that were at its center were. There was also a straight-up garlic lookalike that burned the same, and even a substitute for cloves in the shape of a long, thistle-like flower.

It wasn’t long before the sun began to set and before the boiling water began breaking down the vegetables. The smell, in turn, became almost intoxicating. Even Leo began salivating at the prospect of eating, but realized quickly the prime conundrum--the longer the cooking went on, the more animals gathered. And he only had one pot to share--even if he only gave a spoonful per animal, it still might not be enough.

“Haah, I didn’t think this through,” he sighed, using the thick branch to stir. It wasn’t unordinary, either; the story of his life often boiled down to ‘never thought it through’. “Okay, I’ll cook every day! For as long as it takes to get all of you to taste my famed stew!”

He scooped a spoonful and gave it a quick taste; it assailed his senses immediately, overwhelming him like tidal waves. The spiritual Qi practically materialized in front of him into corporeal form--his body surged with so much of it that it began to burst from his orifices. It wasn’t long before the system informed him that he’d reached the Eight Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm and, furthermore, that his Spiritual Root had been improved once again, reaching Mid-Tier Earth Mortal Roots.

Settling in, he found that he stank up a storm--black ooze had poured out of his pores and caused quite a ruckus. Embarrassed, he ran off toward the pond immediately, praying that the animals has the memory of a goldfish.

He was in desperate need of new clothes but he hardly knew how to sew and hem and such, and it wasn’t as though there were stores out and about he could buy from. The best he could do was fashion some leaf-made loincloths, but that was hardly enough.

The water, as always, was the perfect temperature--it was akin to taking a bath full of precious salts and oils that managed to cleanse every inch of him in addition to making him feel like a swaddled baby.

In the middle of bathing, he saw the nearby shrubbery part as the familiar face of the monkey walked through. It wasn’t just the monkey, however--there was also that strange owl and even the falcon that flew over. They weren’t empty handed--or, well, empty clawed--bearing with them something that shocked Leo: clothes. Owl carried simple, white underpants, the falcon carried thick, black robes, and the monkey carried a shirt and a pair of pants. They laid them perfectly by the pond’s side and stopped for a moment, staring at him.

“Oh my God,” Leo cried. “Thank you so much, you guys! I promise... I promise I’ll build as many tree houses as you want and cook you my stew forever! Thank you!” the three animals seemed to grin, though Leo simply imagined it for certain, before leaving.

Putting on the fresh clothes, he felt renewed--a new man, a whole new being. It was beautiful, being clothed in something that couldn’t be passed off as high fashion for exhibitionists.

Filled with new vigor, he returned back home only to find all the animals fast asleep around the hut and the pot of stew empty. His lips stretched out into a smile--they liked it! Maybe, if he goaded them enough with food, they might come and assist him when that big boar came to kill him... Leo felt himself shrewd, and a bit guilty for exploiting innocent, wild animals that only acted on their instinct, but what mattered was his survival! If all of them combined into the force of one, even the mighty Foundation Establishment boar wouldn’t stand a chance, for certain!