The next few weeks are more of the same. We hunt and train from morning to evening. In the evenings, we cultivate and meditate. Bones' nightly haul brings in an abundance of game and edible plants, with the help of our traps and scorpions. We've collected so much that I’m able to start storing the excess food in bone barrels. Berries, bark, meats, nuts, and other forest edibles are preserved and stored.

  With the game Bones brings in and the hunting we've done together, I’ve enough fur to fully clothe myself and Bones and create some bedding and bags. The crude clothing is a significant improvement to both of our appearances.

  Along with our clothing, camp life is improved. In the small den, we cram in a kitchen sink that receives water from the waterfall using a hollow bone piping system. From the sink, water drains back into a separate pipe that flows back into the stream, bypassing the pond. Water and drain lines are buried underground with dirt or a layer of bones or placed high and tight near walls to keep them out of the way.

  Next to the sink is a designated stove and furnace – basically a glorified fire pit. The boxed steely bone stove allows for all types of cooking, including smoking, grilling, frying, and boiling. Often, I find myself getting lost in the spectacle of my creation. Piping is also used to ventilate smoke and dirty air out of the cave.

  A small table for preparing food, eating, and crafting is beside the stove. Comfortable chairs are placed by the table and a pale gray bed in the back of the cave is covered in soft furs.

  Outside the den, the entrance is lined with chitin plating. This plating allows me to quickly and securely close off the opening with a thick black chitin door. If the night gets too cold or pesky intruders pass our security scorpses, the door will act as another barrier.

  One project that isn't house-oriented that we focused on before is the hickory bows. Unfortunately, Grundle wasn’t kind enough to not destroy the planks Bones was working with previously, leaving us starting from scratch.

  Hickory logs are quartered and then carefully carved into the bow dimensions. Mildly porous rocks are used to sand away the bows’ grittiness. Once the bow passes some minor testing, they are hardened over the fire and then reinforced with bone plating, which is attached using sinew. Thick sinew is also used for the drawstrings.

  The bow feels almost as comfortable and natural as the sword, to my surprise. Upon this discovery, more effort is put into making arrows out of bone.

  Quite a bit of experimenting goes into the creation of the bone arrows. The major setback is figuring out the right balance to compensate for the lack of fletching. After more fine-tuning of the arrow and bows, we are left with a near-perfect ranged weapon and hunting tool. Once the arrow shape and form are figured out, I dedicate time and mana each night to create a stockpile of arrows.

  The stockpile is more for Bones than me since I can now quickly summon arrows near instantly. Along with arrows, I add weapons and tools to our growing armory, now lining the west and south walls of the den. In my opinion, the weapons added a certain security aesthetic feel to the homely shelter.

  Despite practicing hours daily, Bones never excels with the bow like he does with sword, spears, and ax. Turns out, Bones with an ax in hand is a scary combo, and most of the time, he prefers that to be his hunting and fighting tool. His ax throwing game is remarkably accurate. My ax game isn’t as strong, so I stick with sword and bow for most of our outings.

  Most of our success hunting comes from what we now call the Deep Woods. The thick forest above the pond is home to abundant wildlife and monsters. My guess is the thick nature aura that can be felt attracts the many beasts.

  Our journey into the Deep Woods is slow at first. We have to hack through the major thick overgrowth to get access to the more bountiful forest. Fortunately, it is only about a mile of bushwhacking until we reach the more open forest. It’s still thick, just not working for every step kind of thick.

  As it is, the Deep Woods are home to some intense wildlife and monsters. We’ve encountered aggressive wild stags capable of entangling us with forest roots, bears built like Grundle pre-morph, snake-like slithering people things. The snake beast-people are similar to the ones found in the desert, just more forest-oriented. They always hunt in packs and though we try to talk with them every encounter, they only want to see us dead.

  On multiple occasions, we fight against wolf packs. The wolves are by far the most aggressive of all the wildlife we encounter. Hungry for food and power, they stalk us every time we are in the Deep Woods.

  Sensing something isn’t right after a long evening swim, I seal off the cave with a bone wall. The trapped beasts inside start howling, letting me know my intuition is correct. My time to think of what to do with the wolves is cut short when twelve more wolves attack at once.

  It’s the biggest wolf encounter we've had yet. Bones isn't with me at the moment, so I recall and summon him. He’s a bit frustrated at being torn from his current task. However, frustration is replaced with excitement for the approaching conflict. Large shields and spears are summoned, and like a practiced unit, we lock up and put our backs to the wall.

  The wolves jump, scratch, and bite furiously. Growling and howling, they desperately try to end us. They never get past our defense. Each attack is repelled and countered with a spear thrust. Six of the wolves are claimed by our shield wall and spears in the opening attack.

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  Not wanting to discourage the remaining six intruders from fighting, we disengage our shields and spears and replace them with swords and axes. Falling for the farce, the wolves are renewed with wild vigor. The beasts swarm us at once, hoping their numbers bring our quick demise. Bones and I cut and hack at the pressing wolves like two whirlwinds.

  One jumps for my throat from the side only to be met with Bones’ ax. Two try to rush me at the same time. I stab one and slice the other as it tries to dodge out of the way. Bones hurls an ax into a retreating wolf. Then we both pursue the two remaining wolves, unable to catch them before they are ambushed by my own scorpse trap. Scorpses were held in reserve until it was certain they would not be lost in their attack.

  Power rushes through my core as I absorb the mana left behind by the wolves. It isn’t much. Still, I can feel my death core becoming even denser. All but three wolves are dissolved. I use one of the dissolved wolves to gain access to the ability to summon fur material.

  The material upgrade will make outfitting myself so much easier. The rest of the wolves are split between upgrading both summoning fur and my roar ability. With the fusion of wolves' and bear's roar, roar now passively increases friendly morale, giving me and my surrounding allies an increase in vigor. It still has a demoralizing aura to it as well, increasing an enemy's chance of fleeing.

  Nights of meditating and cycling have brought a greater understanding of my death core. The insight I gained into the dissolve skill alone was worth every minute of my time. Each absorbed skill can be upgraded and morphed depending on the mana I absorb.

  Wolves and bears have similar abilities allowing me to further upgrade my roar skill. Knowing that I can hold six abilities — and that the abilities can be upgraded and modified — changed how I started seeing many of my fellow predators.

  Wolves outside my home are taken care of. It is time to handle the wolves trapped inside. Outside I have all the time I need. I can rig some deadly traps that will quickly dispose of the remaining beasts. However, we aren’t bloodthirsty power-craving animals. First, Bones certainly doesn’t fit the animal qualifications. Second, neither one of us like the sight of blood.

  Power hungry? Sure, yeah, that sorta applies. As it ss, we decide to let the remaining wolves choose their own fate. Bones is convinced they will see us as the new alpha and submit. I’m not too sure.

  Dismissing the bone wall, we half expect to be charged by the beasts, see them flee, or bow. None of that happens. The cave appears to be completely empty. Before, I could sense five distinct energies. Now it was one immense energy. However, it isn’t in plain sight. If we did not know and sense that the wolf is in here, we would have missed the colossal beast slowly stalking us from the floor.

  We try talking to it, even howling, really anything we can think of to convince the monster not to fight. We offer the food supply. I even recklessly try to bind the alpha. The monster wolf isn't having any of it. Filled with rage, the wolf roars and then quickly charges. His quick movements are incredible. Moving side to side all the while staying low to the ground makes it increasingly hard to track him.

  Stepping directly in front of me, Bones signals that this is his battle. Boss has come a long way since he was first summoned. My minion practiced and trained every day I did; though he still doesn't have a core, he is progressing. There is no denying his physical training is improving. The skeleton is becoming quite the fighter himself, giving me a decent spar at times.

  Battle ax at the ready, Bones intercepts the charging wolf. Bones ducks a vicious paw swipe, sidesteps a bone-rattling roar, and rams the handle of his ax into the body of the enormous wolf. The power behind the hit pushes Bones back a couple feet while knocking the wolf slightly off balance.

  The powerful beast is no match for Bones’ skilled ax. Not even the wolf's thick armor-like fur can protect it from the sharp blade. With no other way to defend itself, the beast soon meets the same inevitable fate as its sacrificed companions.

  Sparing no time, I dissolve the wolf. The mana from the wolf goes a long way to improving my summon material ability. Now, I can dissolve similar materials to upgrade the materials I have without having to destroy life first. I test it out immediately by dissolving the furs I’m wearing. Sure enough, there is a slight upgrade to my hide summons. However, I learn this does not apply to fur created by mana. My plans to exploit the skill are abandoned as quickly as they were made.

  We take the three remaining dead wolves and make the most out of them. Two wolf cloaks are created from the hides, the other are absorbed, meat is smoked, and the remains were buried outside the den.

  Burying the dead significantly increases the death mana, making meditating and cycling much more rewarding. That adds the benefit of allowing my core to replenish faster after being drained. Though it is nowhere near the Deep Woods’ natural earth mana — between the scorpses, wolves, and other animal remains — my den is starting to have a thick layer of mana.

  The only trick is burying the remains in the right spot. Too close, and it might contaminate the water. Too far, and I don’t get the death aura benefits. Trial and error eventually lead me to find the right spot.

  The weeks fly by like this. One week, then two, which is a small achievement. Up until now, I’ve yet to stay alive past two weeks. Three, four-, and five-weeks pass. Now we are halfway into the sixth. The whole time my useless eye hasn't healed. The past weeks I’ve contemplated multiple times letting myself die to force the eye repair. However, there is never a pleasant exit strategy so I keep living half-blind.

  We got an early start today with our training, finishing the session well before sunup. Today is the day Bones wants us to push far into the Deep Woods. According to him, something is hidden in those woods and we need to find out what it is. After a small break from training, we equip ourselves for a challenging adventure.

  Three hours later, we are as far as we have ever been in the Deep Woods. Though packed tightly together, trees are massive in size, preventing the sun from sharing its light. We haven't been bothered by monsters or beasts in the deeper woods. A strange occurrence possibly due to my roaring aura.

  We silently creep in the dark woods, side by side, when the ground beneath us gives way. Boss and I fall fifteen feet before we crash into the bottom. Luckily for me, there are no severe injuries. Bones, on the other hand, needs to be resummoned.