Chapter 23 - Preparations.

In an abandoned hut, in the room where there was a modern and soft bed, Edart stretched himself, feeling the softness of the sheets and pillows on his skin. This last night was the best of his life, he wasn't sure if it was because his last few days had been horrible in terms of sleeping or if this bed was really good.

— "I wish I could stay here forever." Opening his eyes and looking towards the glass window, he saw how the sun had already risen on time and realized how much he slept.

— "Unfortunately, I have a lot to do." Without delay, Edart got up and stretched his body a little, to get rid of the stiffness in his muscles. While he was doing this, he talked to Éris.

— "Good morning, Éris. Did anything interesting happen last night?"

— ["Good morning, Edart. Nothing happened, which was the strangest thing. No animals approached the house and the night passed peacefully. Outside it looked like a desert, without any sign of life."]

Since the situation in the hut was strange, Edart asked Eris to pay double attention during the night, so that she could wake him up if something happened.

— "That's strange, but it's also good, that way nothing will bother us here. Did something happen in the direction of that cave?"

— ["Nothing came from that direction, however, since my perception doesn't reach that far, I can't say for sure that nothing happened there."]

— "Yes, I know. Thank you for keeping watch. I have a lot to do, so if any living being appears, let me know immediately."

— ["You can count with me."]

While they talked, Edart walked to his bag, took some apples and ate them. 'Maybe it's time to hunt some rabbits' He thought as he ate his breakfast. With that done, it was time to make this hut his home.

In the kitchen, Edart rummaged through the cupboards, looking for a bucket or container that he could carry water. After breaking some doors when opening, he found a wooden bucket, some metal cutlery, ceramic plates and pots, and some dark glass cups.

— "I need some cloth." Not finding any cloth in the kitchen, he went to the lab. He didn't want to have to take the fabrics off his bed just to clean the house. After searching for a while, he found some ragged cloths.

— "These should do the trick." Grabbing the bucket, he went to the stream to fill it with water. Since it was close to the hut, it wasn't hard to get water. So, with the cloth in hand and the bucket of water by his side, Edart began to remove years of accumulated dust from the floor and furniture.

It wasn't an easy job, as there was a lot of dust and dirt to be removed, which resulted in having to change the water in the bucket several times.

While cleaning, Edart noticed that there were marks of puddles of water on the floor, and when he looked at the ceiling, he realized there were places where the tiles were broken or out of place.

With some effort, he climbed up onto the roof and, using his 'mana manipulation', repaired the damaged tiles or extended some tiles to close the holes in the roof. It wasn't perfect, but it would be enough to prevent rainwater from getting in again.

While he was at it, he also arranged the wooden furniture and reinforced the wooden structure that supported the tiles with his skill. As the water seeped in, the wood rotted, leaving the structure fragile.

'Now there's no danger of this falling on me.' He thought as he saw his newly renovated work. When he finished, the sun was already high in the sky, marking noon.

As he ate more apples and red berries, Edart remembered the delicious dishes he had eaten in his old life, making his mouth water just thinking about them. It had been days since he had eaten only fruit, which had caused his weight to decrease considerably and his ribs began to show through his skin.

Feeling sick of eating only fruit and with the memories of the food from his previous world, Edart made up his mind.

—"I want to eat meat, it's time to hunt some rabbits."

With his house cleaned and repaired, he felt good about going after some rabbits. He knew he needed to improve his strength in case he encountered the bear again, however, if he didn't eat different things, he might end up dying from a lack of vitamins or something. That's what he thought.

Grabbing two spears, his bag of leaves and his rusty sword, Edart set off for the forest.

Amidst the huge trees, the Sun somehow managed to find a way and reach the ground where it formed a circle of light on the grass. In that place was a beautiful rabbit with white fur that shone as the sunlight hit it.

The white rabbit with blue eyes took advantage of the heat coming from the sun to warm itself while it calmly ate some berries that were scattered across the floor. It didn't pay attention to the fact that there were several scattered in a place where there normally weren't any; it just enjoyed the free meal and warmed itself while it ate.

Suddenly, the rabbit felt something hitting its left side and the pain reached its mind. Scared, it took off trying to escape the place and its predator.

Unfortunately, after running a meter, his limbs became weak and he fell to the ground, unable to move.

At that moment, something moved in the forest and caught his attention. Looking over, he saw a bipedal being walking towards him with its teeth bared. This being seemed to have blended in with the forest and emerged from it. This poor rabbit did not understand what was happening and soon his vision went dark and he fell into a deep sleep from which he would never wake up.

Edart walked through the forest for an hour, without being able to catch a single rabbit. Whenever he found one, the rabbit would eventually notice him and run away before Edart could attack.

Tired of this, he changed his strategy. Using his tracking ability, Edart looked for signs of animals. After a while, he found a faint trail that led to a place where the Sunlight could penetrate the treetops and reach the ground.

In this place, there were many animal footprints, seeing this, Edart decided to set up an ambush here. Taking some berries from his backpack, he scattered them on the ground. Then, he went to some bushes and hid. To make sure he wouldn't be found, he used his camouflage ability.

— ["Something is coming, there is a small concentration of mana, it could be a rabbit."]

Eris, who was paying attention to anything approaching, warned Edart, who became alert upon hearing this.

Soon, a beautiful and fluffy rabbit appeared in his sight and went to the location of the trap. Edart waited for the rabbit to lower its guard and get comfortable. He didn't need much, so he carefully took one of his spears and activated 'Accurate Shot' and threw it.

The spear flew and continued flying towards the rabbit, a second later it hit the rabbit and pierced it. The rabbit tried to run away, but soon died. Upon seeing the one that hit, Edart came out of his hiding place with a smile on his face and went to the rabbit.

As he lifted the spear with the rabbit, Edart looked at his food, already thinking about the roast meat. Before going in, he needed to clean this rabbit.

— "It's time to test and see if it works on animals too."

He took the rabbit off the spear and placed it on the ground. Once done, he stretched out his hand and activated his 'Collect' skill. He had only tested it on slime, but since it was a hunter skill, it should work on animals too.

When he activated the skill and thought about the meat he would soon eat, Edart felt his mana being consumed and a light took over the rabbit. A few seconds later, the light disappeared and only the meat was left on the ground.

— "I'll have to clean this up in the stream later." Picking up the meat, Edart was glad that he wouldn't have to clean the rabbit. If he had to do it himself, it would be a mess and little meat would be used.

Unfortunately, the rest disappeared and only the meat was left on the ground.

— "Is there any way to get the skin too?" If he could get the skin from the rabbits, he could make clothes and bags, among other things.

Without wasting any more time, Edart tidied and cleaned the ground, preparing his trap once again.

The Sun advanced on its usual path, approaching the end. Edart managed to catch two more rabbits, took their meat and stored it in his leaf bag, which seemed cleaner than the bag he found in the hut.

Since the day was already over, Edart decided to go back, he still had to make a fire to roast the meat. On the way, he gathered dry wood to use in the fire. The hut had a wood stove, however, Edart did not have a safe way to light the fire and the way he was going to try to do it would not be safe to do at home.

Arriving at the hut, Edart now needed to light the fire, so he could roast his meat and enjoy it.

Taking all the wood, he set up two fires, one far from the other. As soon as he finished, he went to the one that was furthest away, planting it about 10 meters away and stretched out his right arm.

— "I hope this works." Then, he began to recite a sentence.

— ["Oh, great world, the power of powers. Grant me the power to summon fire from within volcanoes, concentrated into a fireball, so I can throw it at my enemies and reduce them to ash. Fireball."]

As soon as it finished, the fireball flew towards the bonfire, unfortunately it passed over and hit the ground 4 meters away from the expected location. Seeing this, Edart approached and tried again. This time, he hit it right on target.

When it touched the wood, the ball exploded, burning everything around it and spreading the wood in all directions. Edart had to duck to avoid being hit by a burning piece of wood. After recovering, Edart ran to a piece of wood that was still burning and ran to the other fire.

The flame was almost out, Edart carefully placed it with the other wood. Soon the small flame began to gain strength, taking over all the wood.

— "I did it, now I just need to roast the meat." Seeing the fire begin to burn all the wood in the fire, Edart took a spear and skewered the meat on it. Then he placed it over the fire and waited.

— "Ouch ouch." "Fuuuuuuuu" "Fuuuuuuuu" Seeing the meat begin to burn, Edart couldn't resist and picked one up. Since it was hot, he kept throwing it up like a hot potato until it cooled down.

— "Delicious, it looks like chicken!" Even without any seasoning, the meat looked delicious. Edart couldn't tell if it was because it had been a long time since he had eaten anything other than fruit or because Mana could make the food tastier.

However, that didn't matter now and he just wanted to eat the meat.

— "I'll have to hunt more rabbits from now on."

As he ate, the sun began to set on the horizon, when it was already dark and only the light of one of the moons illuminated the night. Enjoying the heat of the fire, Edart watched the moon and the stars that filled the sky. It was a view he would never see in his old world.

As the fire came to an end, Edart realized it was time to end the day and rest. He had a lot to do and today's dinner renewed his energy for the days to come.

Edart didn't notice or feel anything, but from afar there were two golden eyes that had been watching him since he returned from the forest.

— "You foolish child, you know nothing of the dangers that lurk in this region. When I recover, I will teach you not to invade other people's homes and act as if they were your own." Said a weak, hoarse voice, which echoed off the walls around him.