According to the little beast people, Todd's camp was not far from the orc tribe.
After finishing the pottery, Todd checked the sky. The sun was just about to reach its zenith.
It had been many days since he went hunting, so he decided it was time to hunt before heading to the orc tribe. Going to the tribe now might seem like mooching for lunch. By the time lunch was over, they might go for a nap or hunting. It would be better to wait until close to sunset when everyone would likely be back in the tribe, making it easier to find the parents of the little beast people.
Todd planned in his mind while munching on dried meat.
After finishing the meat, he cleaned his hands, strapped on a back basket made of small branches and vines, put the stone he used for pounding in it, and took the fire seeds in a wooden barrel, heading towards the southeast mountain.
Behind his camp was a circle of mountains of various heights and sizes. He had always hunted on the flat ground at the foot of the mountain and had never climbed it. This time, he decided to explore the mountain to see if he could find new game.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side today. After walking for almost two hours, with the sun moving from the center towards the west, he had not caught any prey.
On the way up the mountain, he encountered many birds and rodents. Birds could fly, and rodents could hide in various crevices and underground, moving quickly.
Todd had the ability to catch these rodents, but after removing the head, entrails, and claws, there wasn't much meat left. It wasn't worth expending so much effort for these creatures.
After walking for more than two hours, Todd finally saw the largest batch of food, a tree with golden yellow fruits. The tree was not tall, and the lowest branches were within his reach.
The leaves of this tree were almost all gone, and the golden yellow fruits looked like a tree full of golden ginkgo nuts, shining brightly.
At the sight of this tree, Todd immediately felt a sense of joy of a bountiful harvest.
His eyes lit up with joy as he observed the bird-pecked marks on these eggs-sized fruits and smelled the sour fragrance left by the birds.
Todd couldn't resist tasting the fruit. As soon as his tongue touched the flesh, a strong sour taste rushed through his taste buds and into his brain.
"Wow, so sour!" Todd shuddered, his facial features twisted in reaction to the intense taste.
After a while, he recovered from the shock, feeling his eyelashes damp with tears brought by the sour fruit.
He stared at the tree full of golden yellow, beautifully shaped fruits, and the juicy fruit in his hand.
No wonder these fruits had not been eaten by animals or birds, and the people of the orc tribe had not come to pick them. These fruits were just too sour! Even more sour than the lemons he was familiar with from his previous life!
After some thought, Todd decided to pick half a basket of the fruits.
He didn't have any seasoning yet, not even sure if he could keep salt. These fruits would be great to bring back as vinegar or lemon substitutes, adding a different flavor when roasting meat.
Having collected enough fruits, Todd glanced back at the tree.
There were still many fruits left on the tree. He made a mental note of the location and planned to come back after consuming this batch.
With a basket of fruits weighing around ten to twenty pounds, Todd headed back with a light step.
After about half an hour of walking, he suddenly saw a wild animal ahead.
Todd stopped in his tracks and carefully looked through the gaps in the branches and leaves. The animal was grey with a long nose and sharp mouth, snuffling and digging on the ground.
It was a wild boar! A medium-sized wild boar weighing about a hundred pounds!
Todd was instantly excited, his eyes sparkling, and his breath becoming heavier.
Bacon! Sausages! Ham! Fat! A whole pig would be so useful. Todd listed all the delicious pork dishes he had eaten before, unable to resist drooling a little.
He silently put down the basket, alertly surveying the surroundings. A lone medium-sized wild boar was no match for him, but if there was an adult wild boar nearby, he might need to reconsider. If there were a group of them, he would not even hesitate to run.
A herd of wild boars could even challenge a tiger, let alone a human like him.
The surroundings were quiet except for the snuffling and digging wild boar about ten meters away.
Todd popped out his nails, slightly crouched in a ready stance.
The oblivious boar continued foraging.
In the next moment, Todd leaped over the treetops like a sharp arrow towards the wild boar.
When he was about three or four meters away from the boar, it finally realized the danger and hurriedly started running.
Todd's gaze was calm, and his body maintained a high-speed running state.
Moments later, he reached the wild boar's side, lunged forward, and his sharp nails fiercely plunged into the boar's neck.
His nails were sharper than a knife, and he used all his strength to drive them in. Six out of his ten nails sank into the boar's flesh.
The boar, feeling the pain, raised its head with a howl and continued running.
Todd hung onto it, cutting into its neck with his nails like sharpened blades, creating a big gash.
The boar's neck immediately gushed blood, and after running a few more meters, its hind legs gave out, falling to the ground.
At the same time, Todd also lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Fearing being trampled by the boar, he quickly rolled aside, avoiding the boar's hooves.
The boar tried to stand up but had no strength left. Its eyes half-opened, twitching on the ground for over ten seconds before it fell silent.
Gasping for breath, Todd sat on the ground, unable to get up immediately. The strenuous action had drained him of a lot of energy.
Now he felt weak, his vision dimming, and his fingertips hurting intensely. He had strained his nails and the flesh around his fingers by exerting too much force.
After resting for a few seconds, he ignored the pain and fatigue, propped himself up, slung the meat basket on his back, and staggered towards the wild boar.
The boar was already dead.
Todd's mouth widened in a grin, his white teeth showing, eyes filled with excitement.
This wild boar would provide him with enough food for about a week, saving him a lot of hunting time.
With this extra time, he could explore the surroundings and do many things.
Grabbing the wild boar, he heaved it onto his back, then began the descent down the mountain.
The smell of blood could attract other predators, and even though there were no large predators near the orc tribe, it was better to be cautious.
He descended swiftly, not feeling too tired despite having climbed for over two hours. Going down took less than an hour.
When the sun was still some distance from the mountain peak, he had already reached his camp.
The wild boar was fresh; Todd wasted no time and placed it in the stream to prepare for processing.
He could light a fire quickly now, and soon a raging bonfire crackled to life.
For roasting fish and animal skins earlier, he had set up a tree stump by the fire where he could hang the wild boar to roast.
The boar's skin was very thick. Todd used his nails and stones to gut the animal, remove the entrails, clean the cavity and outer skin, then flattened the whole pig, ready for roasting it on the spit.
He needed to burn off the hair and other impurities from the skin, which he would later scrape off with a stone.
He was so engrossed in his work that by the time the sun began to set, he realized the day had turned to evening.
As the mountain breeze picked up, making him shiver, and the stream water turned cold, Todd divided the meat into chunks and tried to remove as much meat from the bones as possible, tying them with dry vines and hanging them between two large trees like laundry to dry.
The bones still had some meat clinging to them. Without tools at hand, he planned to make bone broth once the clay pot was ready.
After handling the meat, the moon had already risen.
Todd had no time to visit the orc tribe today, so he decided to go tomorrow morning, bringing along a portion of the meat as a gift.
If salt was scarce, he would return it promptly; if they accepted it, he might try to barter for some supplies.
With winter approaching, he needed to stockpile food quickly because hunting would become much harder once it started snowing.
Todd had a great harvest today and was in high spirits.
For dinner, he feasted on roasted wild boar offal. Dipping the meat in the sour fruit pulp and sprinkling a bit of coarse salt made it a delicious meal. It was the best meal he had had since arriving here.
Sitting by the bonfire, he ate heartily, his eyes reflecting contentment.
After cleaning up and warming himself by the fire, he crawled into the warm cave he had prepared and fell asleep.
The next morning, Todd woke up early.
The pieces of wild boar meat hung on the vines, and the large chunk at the end was the full split head of the boar basking in the morning light, indicating a successful hunt.
The offal he hadn't finished yesterday was wrapped in large leaves, covered in mud, and buried under the fire. Digging them out now, they were still warm.
He had buried three large packets yesterday, enough for the next two days. As long as he didn't disturb the offal, insulated by leaves and mud, heated constantly by the fire, it would remain sterile, staying fresh even after three or four days.
There was no need to cook anything else.
The offal included the pig's liver, kidneys, small intestines, sprinkled with salt and sour fruit pulp. They were stewed tender and seasoned, making a hearty breakfast when eaten with water.
Some chili powder would have been a perfect addition, not far off from the skewers at night market stalls.
After a satisfying breakfast, he checked the rows of meat hanging on the vines, making sure they were out of reach of smaller animals, then let them continue drying as he headed back up the hill.
The terrain here was steep, and with over thirty pounds of meat on his back, climbing was no easy task, especially compared to the agile little beast people.
After about half an hour of climbing, when the sun was shining brightly, he finally reached the mountaintop.
Breathing heavily, he stood at the open area on the mountaintop and looked around.
To the south, at the foot of the mountain, was the orc tribe, with a river flowing outwards.
The river wound and meandered across the flatland, flowing gently from west to east towards the horizon.
His vision did not encompass the end of the river but only the varied mountainous terrain and lush greenery under the sunlight.
The vastness of the land stretched before him, featuring mountains interspersed with flatlands and flowing rivers.
Todd surveyed the area but only saw the lone orc tribe at the foot of the mountain. He wondered if there were other tribes further beyond the mountains.
Currently, this lone tribe perched here made Todd, accustomed to people and cities on Earth, feel an unusual sense of solitude and loneliness.
Lost in thought, he sniffed, tightened the vine-made straps of his backpack, and slowly started moving towards the orc tribe at the foot of the mountain.
On his way this morning, he had seen many mushrooms and wild fruits but refrained from picking them due to his lack of knowledge about their edibility in this world.
Finding the orc tribe meant an exchange of information, which would likely provide him with valuable insights into food sources.
With abundant wild food around, once he gathered information, perhaps this coming winter wouldn't be as difficult as he had anticipated.