The center of the tree was marked by a circular ring, and John expertly carved into it with precision, applying just enough force to achieve a perfectly straight and even cut. His skilled handiwork was evident to anyone who observed the ring, as it appeared flawlessly smooth and uniform, indicating that he had done this many times before.
"Hahh... here comes the lousy part."
"It doesn't matter, you can be lousy, If something happens, I will just activate the barrier," Lucas said with a smile, if something were to really come, he was confident to fight with it now that so many people were with him now.
"Thanks, I will leave it to you," John said without moving his head, he was staring right at the circular carving around the center of the tree. He kept the sharp side of the rock on the circle and made a strike with force on it with the wooden thick club.
Lucas was sure that something would come now that there was this much noise and he was happy, after that fight to the death with the rapacious plant, he wanted to experience that moment again, even his back was better than before with the help of Aunt Ella.
With only three strikes, The rock's pointy side dug itself inside the tree's center. John made some side stikes in order to get a better surface area.
After half an hour, John was sweating bullets, he took a deep breath and made one last strong strike.
BANG!
THUD
The tree was cut in two half with the help of John, he breathed heavily yet his face showed a blissful smile as if he had achieved something. That face made Lucas very excited... excited enough to repeat the whole process on his own.
"If there was much time, I would have made *Huff* a handle for the axe head but the fortification is necessary.
"Oh wait for a second, I have to try something before you continue." Lucas got up briskly and took the second half of the tree which had no branches. He picked it up with one hand making the three males near the shelter look at him with surprise. The strength was nothing to scoff at.
Lucas went his way inside the shelter and kept it at the side, he went to the blue dot at the corner and clicked on it opening the description of the shelter again.
"Still zero in the planks huh..." He muttered but John was near him. He was afraid that Lucas would hurt himself trying to show off his strength yet that was not the case. He was an adult, so taking care of the kid no matter who he was came as a responsibility.
"What do you need planks for?" John asked with curiosity, it was a forte he was good at.
Lucas explained to him about the upgrade requirements of the shelter and that he needed a lot of planks.
"Hm... so that's the case huh... if the shelter could be this good when it's only the first stage. It might get some better survivable measures in the next stage." John thought aloud with a nod, he continued, "As for the planks, this small tree that you brought here is not a plank. You have to cut a plank from one of those big trees. Getting this amount is nothing if we have some days."
Lucas's eyes shone brightly knowing that he had such a competent person in front of him. It made it easy to handle that annoying son of John when he had this much information.
'Everything is going the right way...' He thought excitedly while controlling a weird urge of giggling to come out of his mouth.
"What are you thinking of doing with the fortification?"
John outlined his basic plan for fortification. "We'll sharpen one end of these two halves of the tree and then erect them into the ground outside our territory. This will make it difficult for large animals to enter, and may even cause them harm, alerting us to their presence."
"Thats a good plan, but how many trees will we need to get?" Lucas asked with a small concern, this could be a bigger project than he thought.
"Hm... around... 100-150 I think... But don't worry, how is your injury now?"
"It's better than before."
"Fantastic, I saw your strength before, unbelievable, the part of the tree you took was around 30 kgs. You will be a great help in making this fortification." John said with a thumbs up.
Lucas couldn't hold back his excitement and nodded vigorously.
They both went out of the shelter while Lucas brought the small tree's trunk out with only one hand and kept it at the prior location with the other one.
"Lucas, you saw me make that stone axe head, right?" John asked and got a nod from Lucas. he continued, "Try making one on your own while I try cutting more trees with my boys."
"Yeah, I can try making one," he said seriously yet inwardly laughed loud, since the time he saw John making the damn thing. He couldn't hold himself back.
Lucas went to the large boulder and took a rock in his hand. He smashed it on the big boulder breaking it apart completely. The others saw this and Lucas's plain look and went with their own work thinking that it was going to happen often.
When Lucas, Sarah, and John's family sat together for the first 6 hours inside the shelter. They talked about various things. Lucas told them about the leveling up which came hard to understand for both John and Ella yet Sean and Barney took it well thinking that it was just like a game. Lucas told them about the strength and speed increase he got after getting the points by leveling up. Everyone anticipated the time when they could also level up.
This was not a normal group to begin with, John and his family were already used to killing animals in the forest for fun family time and eating, back on Earth while Sarah went on a lot of dangerous camping trips with his brother.
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Another one coming up in a few hours!