It took me an hour to reach the border forest from Oslo's workshop and I was still amased by what I saw on the way.
Let's have a little geography lesson, the village is situated in the dead center of the dome, it is built on a lonely hill and inhabited by about ten thousand tribesmen and women of the Valhala clan.Surrounding it is a vast expanse of farmlands cultivating pretty much every type of plants that existed in my previous world and that I can recognise, most of them taste heavenly too.
Going even further you could find outposts or sub-villages that take care of the fields as well as hunting and lumbering in the nearby forests. Our training camp is located in one of those forests by the way.
The interesting part is what comes after. If you use a compass as a reference you would find the north to be a colder climate, the east a jungle, the south a savanna and the west a comfortable grassland like climate, we call those the biomes or the sectors.
It is mind blowing how every sector has its own independent climate while the center has a perfect temperature, humidity, light and air quality for every life to flourish.
One thing I noticed however was that the air seemed to be a little colder than usual, is it winter maybe ?
You could find lakes, pseudo-oceans, hills and many different types of animal life in all of these regions, one thing though was that there was not a single fish. When I asked someone about it they reacted like they usually do when a modern word slips out of my mouth.
Anyways, if you go further you would find the border forest, a very dense forest that surrounds the circumference of the 10km (6.2miles) dome, it is composed of the biggest trees you could find but somehow maple and cherry trees were able to fit amongst those giants.
I was currently traversing this forest with my new spear to reach "the tunnels", there are eight such tunnels all separated by an equal distance around the base of the dome. The cavern I was born in is located at the end of the eastern tunnel and I was currently heading towards the south-eastern one. Those tunnels are forbidden as each one except for the "birth" tunnel are very dangerous, and that's exactly why I'm going there.
I suddenly heard the sound of a branch breaking behind me, quickly hiding behind a tree, I started listening for any further noises. You would think that for someone that learned hunting, hearing a noise in a forest would be a great harvest. I wasn't hiding from prey or from a predator mind you, what I heard was a human footstep and only one person would be here at this moment.
"Matt ! Come out this second, I won't search for you during the whole night like last time !"
I confirmed that the "fun ruiner" had arrived, I climbed up the tree into the foliage of leaves making hardly any sound. He called out again.
"You should stop trying to go into the tunnels, only adult members of the clan are allowed to ! Just wait for your passing of age ceremony and stay put for a while ! … Oho, I found you ! "
I slightly trembled at his remark, making the branch I was on move slightly. Big mistake, he scared me so that I would reveal my position.
A blur ran towards the tree I was hiding in and shouted "If you didn't neglect your hunting training with me and stopped running off on little adventures you would have been able to hide properly from me !"
I jumped off the tree trying to outrun this monster but to no avail, he caught the back of my neck with one hand and "gently" pressed the other one on my shoulder forcing me to kneel. Knowing I couldn't escape from that monster I tried to have him let me go willingly.
"You reek of alcohol old man ! Let me go, this is clearly c-"
"Child abuse. Yeah, yeah I've heard it plenty of times. If this little genius over here doesn't want to be abused then he should just be present for his lectures !" he replied angrily
"You made me eat insects !"
"It didn't taste that bad."
"You tied my hands and threw me into a bear cave !"
"Practical experience is the best, what can I say ?"
The argument between us kept on going until other footsteps were heard.
The old man clad in a brown coat and holding me down sniffed the air and teasingly asked "Did you invite your girlfriend to a romantic meeting in the woods ?"
"She is not… Wait, she actually is my girlfriend now…"
"Wait really ? Congratulations I thought you would end up with grandma Suzie."
"Hey !"
A bush further away moved revealing Astrid approaching the duo.
"Hi Matt and hi Joseph."
"Hi Astrid. Why are you here?" I replied
"I came to get some resin for my crafting classes and search for an animal that I would like to tame."
"Didn't you say you wanted to tame a wolf?"
"I do but to tame one you have to take care of it since it was born. I am currently waiting for Germuls wolf to give birth. So, for the time being I will have to tame something else, preferably a small animal so that I can train my skills."
Joseph leaned against a tree and in a joking tone asked "What about a bear? They can be cute… but this one isn't."
"What do you mean by this one isn't ?", but then I heard it, a repetitive tremor coming from the south, something was approaching us and thanks to Joseph's remark I could immediately guess what it was, "You knew there was a bear here?"
"Of course I did kiddo, I'm a hunter so it's natural to know about my hunting grounds. You know what? Since you skipped so many of my classes, I'll use this. Hunt the bear. Easy right?" , he looked at Astrid and continued, "Since this is a date, why don't you do this together. I'm sure it will be a romantic experience."
Astrid and I were dumbfounded by his shamelessnes. It was madness to kill a bear with cold weapons!
I was even more certain of this fact when I saw the three meter tall brown mass of muscle and fur, drooling from its maws and digging the soil with its claws.
Astrid took out her hatchets and readied them before taunting and gathering the bear's attention. That gave me the opportunity to slip away and hide.
I'm not a coward okay ? This is simply a tactical retreat, I'm sure Astrid can handle a bear for a while.
The beast lunged at her and swiped the air in front of it with its paws but to no avail.
Inflicting it with a few cuts while dodging all its attacks infuriated the bear even more, making it rage and almost kill Astrid with a fast bite. But this gave me an opportunity to attack. Having positioned myself behind it without noticing, I leaped on its back, thrust my spear downwards, impaling its chest and lodging it into the forest soil.
But I knew that I had missed the heart. The bear struggled which made me fall from its back and almost get killed by its last struggles. I should have gone for the head.
"Clap! Clap! Well done, I must say I'm impressed. It would have been easier however if one of you had a ranged weapon or a ropecaster to tie it down to make sure you stay safe." Joseph that was still leaned against the tree clapped and spoke up. "And good instinct Astrid, taking the battle axe would have made you unable to dodge the bear's attacks and counterattack as easily as you did with those hatchets. By the way, are those new ?"
"Yes I made them in my smithing class even though I prefer crafting traps. They're a mix between throwing hatchets and an ice axe."
"Very stylish and useful for a mountain warrior, I am sure they will come in handy sooner than you might think." I am sure Joseph just raised a flag here…
Let's just hope that this flag won't be too soon.