Ulf could fathom his body cultivation advancement, because the absorption of external qi was much less painful than before. The amount of qi that he absorbed was at least three-fold increased.
Previously, external qi compared to inner qi was like a grain next to a tennis ball. But now it could reach the size of a little pebble.
After the huge advancement, Ulf felt that he had to take a pause and take a second heart when his body would get used to the new power a little bit.
Ulf was very happy, but soon his stomach started rumbling. Several hours of unstoppable work made him very hungry.
Unlike his tribesmen, Ulf could continue his normal activity at least for 4-5 days without eating anything and have a sense of hunger with help of inner qi.
Inner qi was cleansed from most impurities after going through the respiratory system, which was the main reason why warrior rank hunters felt strong pain every time they absorbed external qi via the skin. Not only was outer qi incapable to delay the need for food to the hunters, but also could cause serious damage to the body in seconds if an utterly large amount of it was sucked up.
Ulf could always easily solve his problem, but the eating process of the meat was such a pleasant feeling for him to miss. It would be even more pitiful if you had the beasts' meat, which was known to be tastier than ordinary animals' meat.
For one second Ulf wanted to start with the moose's body to eat it raw but suddenly stopped.
"Haa, how barbaric have I become? I have such an opportunity in front of me. Here is such a forsaken cave, undisturbed by the terrible creatures from outside. I can fry the meat, as there aren't tribesmen observing me or something."
Even if he got used to indigenous people's food, it didn't mean that Ulf hadn't long for the food from the earth till now. Maybe this world's products had richer flavour, but the cooking method of his tribe was crude, which was understandable for their level of civilization.
First of all, Ulf needed firewood and for it, he would have to climb up the top of the cliff. When he moved into the entrance of the cave, a miraculously beautiful view of the grandiose landscape of the canyon opened up ahead of him.
The moonshine was making the whole canyon even more mystical. Ulf had been wandering about what kind of river could deform the terrain and form this type of place.
The width of the canyon was around 5-6 kilometres, with a huge river in the middle of it and the woods on both sides. The loud sounds of the river were echoing all inside the canyon.
Ulf was mesmerized for some time, but soon his stomach reminded him that the hunger was still in its rightful place. After looking up the cliff, where he was stuck, Ulf began climbing up.
Despite the nighttime, due to moonlight, reaching the top of the cliff wasn't a problem for him. The only drawback was the tiredness, but with encouragement, he would be able to eat some barbecued beast's meat skewers, overcoming it became simple.
Ulf was interested in looking around and checking the nearby territories but concentrated just to collect the firewood. As for lighting a fire, he gathered the dry tree barks. By doing it, Ulf hoped that breaking the bark into small strips would help him to accomplish the task and kindle the fire.
However, the most basic materials to start the fire are two kinds of stones, as Ulf remembered from his tribe's or his past life's knowledge. The first stone is a flint and the second one is an ironstone. The flint on the earth was even known as 'fire-stone'. But to produce wood fire, only flint wasn't enough and steel had a very important role too. In reality, the flint must be smashed against ironstone, only then was it possible to create sparks.
Usually, the flint may not be hard to find, but the ironstone wasn't that easy to obtain. However, where was he now? Right on top of the huge mass of rocks and all different types of stones were around him.
There were other methods to start the fire, but Ulf preferred using stones. The searching mission took a little more time than he expected but still helped him to learn a few things about the stones and recall valuable facts from his past life.
After finding the flint, Ulf started with the ironstone, which became a problem for him. He would accept even if the stone contained a tiny amount of iron ore.
Ultimately, Ulf saw the stone, which part of the surface was brown. The brown external appearance is due to the oxidation of its surface.
"That's it. The level of iron in this stone isn't high but doesn't mutter. Right now, I don't have sufficient skill to make any weapon from steel and my current weapon is still more than enough for me."
In order to safely climb down and reach the cave, Ulf tied up the firewood and stones and kept them in the bag. Going down was a little harder, especially because of the bag on his back.
When Ulf arrived at the cave, instantly got on with his work. He decided to make fire deep inside of the cave to ensure that the light in this place won't gain the unnecessary attention of any flying creatures.
The hardest part of the whole process was to light the fire. Thankfully, He had some experience doing the same job in his house.
After giving a few unsuccessful attempts, finally, the flints hit accurately on the iron part of the stone. The sparks fell on the strips of tree bark, ignited and created a yellow-coloured substance giving heat to the surroundings.
Ulf had to wait until the fire became strong enough, then start grilling the moose's meat skewers over it.
"Even the smell of roasting meat is much stronger and alluring than any other meat I have tested."
The flames of fire were flickering in the cave.
When grilling was finished, Ulf took the first skewer. He couldn't stand by, as the smell had been torturing him from the start.
"It's a really heavenly blessing." Ulf was one verge of tears." Screw the raw meat, because of it my jaw feels like a block of steel. Perhaps, I can even chew the stones, but I don't want to test this possibility anytime soon."
After Ulf ate, he decided to give the proper rest to his body at the entrance of the cave and look over the canyon. Under him, the depth of this side of the canyon could be more than a kilometre, considering that Ulf saw some spots, which may be two times higher.
In view of all of this, Ulf concluded that the canyon must be one different part of the forest, with its special environment down there.
As the few hours passed, Ulf felt that his body was ready and could endure the second strengthening activity. He sat down in front of the short-faced bear's body, cut him and took the beast's heart. It was a bit smaller than the previous one he digested.
'Maybe size also depends on the grade of the beast.' Ulf had an idea, but didn't give it many thoughts and ate the heart in a second.