Asura Ryuu put all the shafts aside and stood up to help with the selection of the rocks. In the meantime, the trio had spilled the rocks on the ground and organized them according to size and properties.
There were soft types of rocks, brittle ones as well as the hard ones, so it was very troublesome to choose only one of them for the spear tip. Asura Ryuu had his hand on his chin, and his sharp brows almost met in the middle. He was thinking what would be the best choice while others went to gather ingredients for meal. They actually haven't eaten meat apart from when the old man caught some beasts and roasted them with his inner fire, that's the reason they wanted to make the spears.
They usually ended up eating the meals made from processed plants every day and it was becoming slightly tasteless to eat the same thing over and over again. That made their wish to go hunting even bigger.
Eventually, the look in Asura Ryuu's eyes shone with surprise and then transformed into one of excitement. He hurriedly took a stick and started drawing some sort of a pattern on the ground. It was the design for a mechanism that would make spearheads replaceable.
There was a certain pattern that needed to be carved out of the spear shaft, as well as a corresponding pattern on the bottom part of the spear tip which would serve as a connection. Over that came a layer that would additionally protect the spear tip from rotating or falling apart.
As soon as the concept for the replaceable spear tip was finished, Asura Ryuu started processing the stones and testing his theory out, which turned out to be a success. The spear tip nicely fell in the place and when the safety ring covered the juncture, the spear was complete. The only thing left was to make different types of spear tips and carve out the pattern that corresponded with the pattern on the spear shaft.
When others returned, they saw Asura Ryuu grinning with satisfaction while staring at the four finished spears and additional spear tips near each one. Asura Tenka was the first to understand what was the cause for that happy face and ran up to him after putting down the plants needed for preparing a meal.
Xun Meng curiously scanned the spears and didn't understand why there were additional spear tips with each spear. She couldn't suppress her curiosity and ended up asking why did he make so many spear tips.
Asura Ryuu turned around with a happy smile and answered: "The spear tip is replaceable. Here, I'll show you.", as he said that he was already crouching next to Xun Meng's spear and removed the safety ring over the joint where the shaft and the tip connected and showed how to replace the spear tip and return the safety ring.
Xun Meng: *gasp* "Brother Ryuu, that's awesome! You are a genius!", the sweet angelic voice uttered with a touch of shock and surprise. It was a new discovery for a five-years-old girl to see something so 'complicated'.
Xun Bao: "Little brother and sister were always smarter than us. There's no need to be so surprised, but it's truly a marvelous invention."
As the four chatted about the mechanism and properties of every spear tip and attentively listened to Asura Ryuu's explanation, the old man opened his eyes slightly out of curiosity. When he saw the two black spears, his eyes opened a bit more out of a sudden surprise: "Those two spears, isn't that the cursed tree? Do they even know what they chose... Ah, nevermind. Let them experience it for themselves. Whether that choice was good or not, the time will show."
As he thought to himself, the old man once again closed his eyes as the corners of his mouth rose slightly, causing the weird smile to appear on his face once again. "I just hope those two won't end up doing something they'll eventually regret... Ah, whatever. They're still young." The thing he was referring to was the night when the two slept on the roof. It was obvious he had no idea of the real situation.
Meanwhile, Asura Ryuu's lecture on the functionality of spears was nearing its end.
Xun Meng: "Brother, when will we be able to go hunt?"
Asura Ryuu's eyes glanced at Xun Meng with surprise and saw the cute thing smiling with anticipation while in her small sparkling silver eyes chilly aura radiated outwards. For a moment, it reminded Asura Ryuu of killing intent, but he brushed it away at first. Why would this cute little girl have killing intent?
However, when he thought about it a bit more, he found out that Xun Meng was at times reclusive and at times very eager and hyped. It reminded him of his past self on Earth. He smiled with a kind smile that seemed as if from sun itself, but behind that smile was a layer that overshadowed its true meaning.
Asura Ryuu: "Soon. I need to teach you spear techniques first and only then can you go into battle. Otherwise, how do you plan on defending yourself there?"
Xun Meng had an "Ooh!" look on her face but in the next moment smiled even brighter than before: "But even if I don't know spear techniques, I have a little brother who'll defend me!"
Asura Ryuu was slightly stunned with a disbelieving look on his face. The first thought that came to him was: "This is bad, this kid might get too clingy to me in the future.". As he came to that point, he stole a secretive glance to Asura Tenka where her eyes with hidden meaning met his and caused a slight tingle up the spine to manifest. He could only awkwardly smile in response and turn around while patting Xun Meng on her head gently.
Asura Ryuu: "Hehe. Do you need to rely on your little brother always? What if I'm not there?"
Xun Meng made a thinking face with a finger on her chin while looking at the sky and made an "Oh!" expression when she thought up of an idea.
Xun Meng: "Then there's little sister!", she said while beaming in the direction of Asura Tenka.
Asura Ryuu immediately grasped the chance to once again look at Asura Tenka, but this time his smile was provocative and slightly teasing. Asura Tenka just sighed resignedly and chuckled a bit, whereas Xun Bao remained clueless with half-closed eyes during the entire thing. It was unknown whether he even heard their exchange a moment ago.
The old man smiled once more and then retracted his consciousness.