Yilas started the remodeling plan on a piece of old animal skin, she used a stick and some charcoal to draw out a blueprint for the new room.
Since the houses were build to form a U-shape, with Yilas's main chamber being in the middle, the male side on the left and female side on the right. Yilas planned to build a bigger and longer house behind the male's shed. The first thing they would need to do is to clear out the forest occupying the space and gather enough woods.
For the rest of the afternoon, the bunch gathered around the back of the shed and started to clear out smaller bushes. Yilas got started on cutting down a big tree with the sharp materials she found around the house like a tusk or some sharp rocks. Neo was much more efficient with his strong physics and giant claws-like legs though it would still take him a full hour to cut down a decent size tree.
While everyone was working diligently, Yilas couldn't help but feel like they were still inefficient, at this rate, it would take them days just to clear out enough space.
Yilas looked at the sharp rocks on her hand and a sturdy, arm-sized branch nearby when an amazing idea came to her. She could make an ax out of these materials.
With that thought, she grabbed those things and peeled off some bamboo into small, flexible rods to tie them together. In theory, her idea should work, but with the flimsy arm strength she had, the rock and wood were loosely tied together, making it dangerous to use.
Everyone was gathering around, curiously watched Yilas's invention. Neo thought he understood what Yilas was trying to do so he offered to help, and his brawn did not disappoint, soon enough a big sized ax was created.
Yilas was beyond thrilled, she showed Neo and everyone how to use the ax and finished cutting down a tree in half the time. All of them were in awe at Yilas's invention, they started to make their own axes and when the sun was going down, they had already finished nearly half the space needed.
Thought everybody was having fun working, they were all exhausted. Yilas went to cook by herself as she let everyone rest. When she was cooking, Yilas was more worried about Viosus and Sabal, they still hadn't returned since the morning, she wondered if they were doing alright.
**
Viosus was wakened up when the sun wasn't out yet, the snake man had come to ask him to join him on a hunt. Even though he felt strange, he agreed to it. Maybe if they work together, they would get a lot more prey and have enough for at least half a moon cycle.
They left to the opposite way of the mountain, the way looked like it was heading to the Boar's clan. Viosus let Sabal led the way and didn't intervene with his decision. Though they didn't talk much the whole way, Viosus didn't feel much threat coming from the snake, he didn't project any ill intention toward the snake either. If his master had asked him to get along with the snake, then getting along with it was what he shall do.
They reached a wild rice field after 2-3 hours of running, although Viosus considered himself light on his feet in his fox form, he had some trouble keeping up with the snake. At least this beast had some respectable physics, Viosus thought to himself.
"Stop!" Sabal stopped out of nowhere, making Viosus braced hard on the ground creating some dimples in the mud.
Sabal ducked down low, covering himself with the tall grass so Vio did the same. They had noticed a pair of deer, eating not too far away from them. Viosus followed the gaze of the snake and found the prey he was just about the make his move when Sabal stopped him, telling him to look into another direction.
There was a leopard beast on a tree also preying for the deers. If Viosus hadn't seen that he would have been the one in danger. He nodded at Sabal in gratitude and decided to wait for him to make a move.
Sabal showed a sign with his tail, telling Viosus to go for the deer while he sneakily went for the leopard, this way they will guarantee to finish with the most product. Sabal hid deeply in the tall grass while still giving Viosus sign to stand still, they waited for a whole hour but the leopard didn't budge.
*Whoosh*
The leopard took a leap onto the grass towards the deers but little did it know, Sabal had been watching and waiting for this exact moment. Before it even touched the ground, Sabal had swiftly caught the leopard, strangling its whole body with his giant body. Even though it was an adult leopard, Sabal's size was abnormally large compare to it.
In the middle of the field, the two deers were immediately spooked by the slightest movement so they made a turn to run for their lives. However, Viosus had managed to catch up with one and took a bite onto its neck, tearing it opened with just one bite. If any beast didn't see the color of his fur, they would have thought the bite was made from a lion beast.
The wounded deer fell helplessly on the ground as blood was escaping its body, leaving a long trail from its neck. Once the deer stopped moving, Viosus let go of its neck and turned back into his human form, the other deer had run out of his sight.
Sabal dragging the lifeless leopard body on the ground and dropped it next to Vio, he looked at the wound Vio inflicted.
"Not bad, fox beast." If the fox bit him on a fatal spot, Sabal wouldn't know if he would survive.
"You're not bad yourself." Vio looked at the size of that leopard, it was smaller than him in size but estimated by the size of Sabal's snake form, he wouldn't have been a problem to the snake.
Sabal reached out a hand to help Viosus up, both of them carrying their own prey in their shoulder. Despite not exchanging a word, they both gained a mutual respect for each other, forming somewhat of comradeship between them.
When it was past midday, Vio suggested their return, they both understood either of them could leave the house unattended at night. Yet, they were delayed by a couple of hours because Sabal wanted to hunt some more rabbits. He knew that the rabbit's blood was exceptionally good for replenishing blood loss so he thought of Yilas right away.
Viosus, on the other hand, was still unaware of Yilas's first red cycle, he simply thought it was going to be more food for storage.
Once the sun had set for about an hour's time, they can see the smoke trail coming from a distance, the two men got even more motivated to make it home as quickly as possible. A warm sense of happiness crept into their little hearts.