We're Going Primitive

Ash wasn't able to finish his words when he hears the growling beast inside his belly. Realizing that he hasn't eaten anything since he arrived, he tells Wise to conclude the lesson for now and asks...

"What time is it?..."

[*Answering... It's currently 11:55 am.*]

"Damn... no wonder I'm already feeling hungry..."

He stood up, patted his butt, and ask Wise to scan the area for any signs of wild animals or anything edible that he could consume.

Wise began scanning the map and marks a certain spot within its range where Ash could likely forage or hunt for food. Having no time to dilly-dally, he immediately set out towards the place.

An hour later...

An hour and a half later...

Two hours later...

Two hours have passed yet there are still no signs of him coming back to his now-called home.

Only the crashing sounds of water falling down the cliff, the whistling breeze of the wind, the dancing leaves of the trees, and the barely audible sound of the wild animals and insects in hiding.

---

*Rustle* *rustle*

Three hours later and finally, a perfectly defined figure of a tall young man comes out of the rustling bushes and is currently crouching down and is breathing heavily.

"Huff... huff... wha... huff... what's... up with... huff... the size of that boar!?... was it even a boar!?"

From the looks of it, and based on what he just said, he had an encounter with a wild boar in the forest and seemed to be forced to run away from it since he thought... it was not a normal one.

A few hours ago, while he was out somewhere in the thicket and was already planning to get back only managing to find some fruits.

He encountered a wild boar around 55-60 centimeters in height munching on what seems to be an acorn that was dropped from an oak tree near it.

Smiling at himself thinking that his luck was perfectly playing its part at the right time, he was already thinking about how to cook it when he gets back.

Due to the very limited ingredients and means to cook a proper dish, he was thinking of simply roasting it and thought of what he can do to give it flavor.

Just thinking about it already made him drool, making him look like more of a beast compared to what's in front of him.

Snapping out of his thought, he wiped the small strand of saliva running down at the side of his mouth and gripped the handle of the sheathed katana that was properly tucked in at his waist.

Slowly and carefully drawing the sword from its sheath, he slowly took a step towards it without even making a sound in order not to alert it with his presence.

The boar that was feasting on the acorns in front of it was so lost in enjoying its meal to the point that its beastly instinct didn't kick in and was not aware of the danger that was slowly approaching.

When Ash was only two meters away from it, he held his breath and abruptly dashed towards it, pointing the edge of his sword towards its body.

By the time the boar noticed his presence, Ash's sword already penetrated deeply into and passes through its body. The boar struggled for a while and tried to break free from the sword but Ash already expected it.

He mounted it and tightly hugged its body with his left arm and twisted the sword he was tightly holding using his right hand. It didn't take long for the boar to lose its strength and finally collapsed.

Feeling the joy and the sense of accomplishment of his first successful hunting, he actually forgot the feeling of hunger and was grinning from ear to ear and hurriedly stored the boar's dead body inside his storage ring.

After cleaning the sword from the boar's blood, he puts it back into its sheath and was about to stand up when...

*Wild grumbling* followed by a mad *Squealing*

As soon as he heard that, he slowly turned his head towards where the wild sound came from and there he saw another boar standing around two meters in height.

Wise's voice resounded in his mind and informed him that it is a kind of monster that escaped the dungeon in the city of Orario and lived on the surface.

Its red eyes were intently staring at him and were letting out a faint bloodlust directed at him which made his legs tense. And when he saw the huge tusks, all he could think of was to run madly and escape.

When he sensed that it was about to charge at him, he pulled himself together to snapped out of it, turned back, and ran like crazy. It chased and chased him for a while and fortunately managed to shook it off from his tail with Wise's help.

---

"Haaaaa... hey Wise, what time is it?..."

[*Answering... It's currently 02:56 pm.*]

"It actually took me three hours... this isn't 'lunch' anymore... haaaa... whatever..."

Ash is currently on his back, lying on the grasses waiting for his nerves to calm down. Although he almost died, he still has that bright smile on his face when he thought of his bountiful harvest.

*Grooooowl*

Hearing his growling stomach once again, he took out a piece of fruit that he found earlier from his storage ring and ate it.

*Munch* *munch*

Taking the last bite, he suddenly remembers that he hadn't exchanged the two tickets he received from the starter pack. He took it out from the ring and decided to exchange it and hoping to receive useful ones since the draw is random.

"Wise, I want to use the combat ability and that misc skill ticket right now please..." he asks since he's planning not to waste any more time. Aside from being hungry, he wanted to train himself as soon as possible.

He knew that he can't dilly-dally much any longer and adding what he experienced when he was chased by a monster earlier, he thought that he will not survive for long if he doesn't learn to protect himself and fight.

[*Affirmative... Exchanging Qty: 1 - Combat Ability Ticket (Random) and Qty: 1 - Miscellaneous Skill Ticket (Random)*]

[*Host has received the following:

Qty: 1 - Basic Swordsmanship Ability

Qty: 1 - Butcher Skill (Misc)*]

What follows are two orbs with different colors floating in front of him. Wise then proceeded to tell him that the white one is the swordsmanship ability and the green one is the misc skill.

His eyes lits up when he saw the skills, especially the butchering skill since that's exactly what he needs right now and for as long as he needed to hunt.

He knew that he'll be staying in the forest for as long as he needed and would frequently go on hunting for provisions, mostly food.

He would most likely hunt wild animals so he needed the skill to prep the meat properly.

He grabs the orbs that are floating in front of him and crushes them with his hands. A few seconds later, all the knowledge about the skills he just acquired floods his mind.

He focused all his attention and thoughts on the Butcher Skill he got and soon, little by little, he began to learn and carefully engraved it in his mind.

It didn't take him too long and finally learns all the correct animal butchering method and the correct meat cutting methods.

"I'll leave the swordsmanship ability for later. Let's prioritize what I need right now... and that is food."

Realizing that he still needed to gather the things he'll be using for cooking, he asks Wise to direct him to a place where he could find the things he needed.

Although it's too time-consuming, he didn't complain and didn't ask Erethel for help.

He decided to do what he can do since even in his previous life, he was used to doing everything he can to survive even when he was still but a child. Preparing and cooking aren't new things for him.

"I guess we'll go with the primitive method..."

Moments later, he came back and took out the things he gathered. He takes out four huge bamboo poles around fifteen meters each, dry wood branches, and several banana leaves from his ring.

He gathered the dry wood branches near him. He unsheathes his sword and grabs a pole of bamboo and chops it little by little, around a meter each.

When he's done chopping it, he held a piece of the newly chopped bamboo and started preparing it so that he can light a fire with it... primitively.

A while later, due to the intensity of friction when he was rubbing the bamboo sticks with each other, smokes began emanating from the tinder he got from scraping the exterior of the bamboo poles.

He immediately grabs it and sets it within the gathered dry wood. He began blowing on it and finally, fire emanates from it.

When the preparation he needed is done, he takes out the carcass of the wild boar he hunted earlier and was about to process it when...

"Dear~... what are you doing?"

He suddenly heard Erethel's soothing voice resounded in his mind.

Although he's hungry, he just gently smiled and said "Well... I'm about to process the carcass of the wild boar I hunted earlier so I can start cooking it... I'm starving."