Change is the best form of evolution for an individual, a race, and a world.
Getting Auris to accept fire was a difficult process. Seraphina only tried it with a tentative mindset. However, it seemed that she had underestimated Auris' ability to accept new things.
After just trying cooked meat once, it no longer wanted to eat raw meat. Every time it brought back the prey from hunting, it directly threw it to Seraphina and even spontaneously went to pick up firewood.
Sure enough, delicious food is the prerequisite for all living standards.
"Auris!" She stood on a higher stone and called out to Auris, who was rolling in the mud not far away. It quickly looked up. Seraphina looked at it and shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth, "Auris!"
She was trying to tame this wild beast and make it understand that this word meant she was calling it. The earliest dogs in ancient times were also domesticated from wolves. It was just that the wolf in front of her was extremely large.
She shouted a few times. Maybe after confirming that she was not in danger, Auris stopped looking at her and continued rolling in the mud on its own. It was a mud pond near the stream. It rolled left and right in it, ensuring that every inch of its fur was covered with mud. Soon, it became a mud - covered wolf.
At first, she thought it was a way for the giant wolf clan to take a bath. Perhaps there were blood - sucking lice or other bugs in their overly long fur that made it uncomfortable, and the mud could kill them.
However, when the completely muddy Auris walked over, wet and dripping, Seraphina found that it just sat down in the sunlight and had no intention of going to the stream to wash itself clean.
Seraphina walked closer to it and smelled a unique rotten smell of the mud. She walked around it in a big circle. "Auris, are you sick?" Compared to Auris, who usually took good care of its fur, now it was even covered with mud on its head.
'Huhu' Maybe sensing her confusion, it blinked and made a low growl, as if responding to her.
Then it sat in the sun and dried the mud for an hour. Of course, the time was estimated by Seraphina herself because during this period, she had already picked a pile of thread - banyan.
This flexible linear plant should be useful for more than just as a scouring pad. She tried to expose it to the sun. After it dried, she hoped to use it to make clothes or as thread.
It turned out that the first batch of thread - banyan that was exposed to the sun was ruined. Because when Seraphina picked it, she was lazy and didn't straighten it properly. As a result, after drying, it was in a tangled mess.
"At least it can be used as a steel wool ball." She comforted herself like this.
So she calmed down and carefully straightened the tangled thread - banyan one by one. When she neatly placed it on the stone by the stream to dry in the sun, Auris suddenly stood up.
The mud on its body had caked. Some parts were so dry that they even had cracks. When it moved, the mud flaked off and turned into powder, a bit like the situation when a white mud mask had dried for a long time...
Seraphina watched it walk towards the stream. 'Huhu' When passing by her, it just snorted and didn't look at her. She guessed that it probably couldn't move its neck because the mud was too hard...
Auris also seemed to be considering the fact that all the fur on its body had caked. It looked at the shallow stream in front of it and felt that it was too difficult to soak its whole body. Then it looked around and found a thick old tree.
'Boom boom' Seraphina stared wide - eyed, watching the yellow leaves fall like rain in front of her. Then Auris was still hitting the tree trunk hard with its body. When most of the large pieces of mud on its body had fallen off, it was much easier for it to go to the stream to wash.
Seraphina watched the stream water quickly become muddy and decisively put down the work in her hands. She picked a few large clusters of thread - banyan and walked to Auris. She vigorously scrubbed its back. The latter seemed to think that this method was the fastest and simply lay down in the stream and let her do as she pleased.
"You big guy, you're so dirty." Seraphina rolled up her sleeves and scrubbed its long back fur hard. The fur of the giant wolf was thick and hard. Her fingers hurt from rubbing. Even the tough thread - banyan was worn out in several clusters.
After scrubbing its back clean, Seraphina originally wanted to walk away. She still didn't dare to touch its belly and tail. Certain parts of wild beasts were always off - limits. She was very afraid that Auris would suddenly turn hostile.
However, before she could move, the giant wolf took the lead and rolled over. It exposed its harmless and soft belly to her, with its four limbs in the air.
"Okay." Seraphina sighed and then resignedly continued to scrub its belly. The fur there was much softer than on its back. She involuntarily lightened her movements.
She had originally thought that Auris was a female wolf. However, it turned out that she was wrong. Only when she bathed it this time did she know that it was a male wolf.
After it was completely washed clean, Seraphina's hands were so tired that she couldn't lift them. She watched Auris step on a dry stone and wildly shake its fur. Soon, its wet body was dried.
It walked over and affectionately licked her cheek. Although the barbs on its tongue hurt a little, Seraphina knew that it was in a good mood. The most obvious reflection was that it didn't even bother to drive away the little birds that stopped not far away.
Later, when Seraphina was tidying up the thread - banyan by the stream, she found a lot of gray - white long hairs wrapped around the stone. Some were even in lumps with mud. She thought that she had scraped off Auris' fur because she had used too much force. However, later she found that it was shedding hair even when it wasn't moving.
This might mean that the giant wolf used the mud pond to speed up the shedding of its old fur to adapt to the seasonal change.
In the following few days, Auris insisted on rolling in the mud every day. Seraphina could find a lot of its hair in almost every corner of the cave. For a while after that, Auris changed from a giant wolf to a wolf with bald patches.
Seraphina knew that it was already late autumn here. When Auris started hunting those long - haired wild boars, she was considering preparing fur for herself.
Her woolen overcoat was no longer warm enough. She didn't feel it when she was working during the day. But once the sun set and Auris wasn't around, she even felt that she was going to freeze to death.
Compared to her, Auris was like a constantly heating stove. Lying beside its paw at night, its thick long tail was like a blanket covering her, and its huge body was like a screen. Even if the north wind was blowing outside, Seraphina didn't feel cold.
The only furs she could get at present were from long - haired wild boars and horned deer. The deer skin was short - haired and soft. She planned to make it into an inner lining garment, and the thick mane of the wild boar was just right for an outer coat.
However, the imagination was perfect, but the reality was cruel.
She rubbed the stripped deer skin in the water. Instead of making the fur garment she had imagined, large pieces of hair and the cortex turned into fragments and floated away with the water. The remaining part of the dermis was damaged, and this originally beautiful fur became worthless.
Seraphina had only heard that treating animal skins required salt, but she had nothing in her hand now.
Auris had no reaction to Seraphina collecting the fur of the prey. It had already grown its winter fur. The new fur was much thicker than the old one, a bit whiter in color, and more fluffy. Compared to its previous appearance, it now looked like an alien animal. It was so huge and imposing, like a beast - shaped fortress. The whole wolf became super confident.
However, it seemed to want her to also "change fur" and even drove her to roll in the mud pond a few times. But it gave up after Seraphina's strong protest.
She washed her face by the stream. A woman who used to take a bath and wash her hair every day now had not taken care of her hair for at least three or four days. Seraphina was afraid that a large loss of heat from her head would make her sick. And once she got sick, the problems she would face were far more than just having no medicine.
"At least I'm strong now. Such dirty living conditions haven't made me fall ill." She comforted herself and then looked at her hands that had been injured in just a few days. There were scratches from small branches and burns from the fire. There would be more such injuries in the future. Her face would become rough. Without the maintenance of skin care products, she would age quickly.
In a few years, a dozen years, if she still had a chance to go back, who would recognize her?
Such thoughts were like poison for a woman in her twenties. In the following few days, Seraphina just mechanically did the work left before. She collected clean broad - leaved coconuts, picked and dried thread - banyan. She also tried to process those deer skins and wild boar skins, but got nothing except dry and useless skins.
Besides the problem of getting through the winter, she was facing more and more difficulties. The lighter would eventually run out of fuel. Even if she saved the tissue paper she carried with her as much as possible, it was almost used up. In a few days, it would be her period. Without sanitary napkins and hot water, she didn't know what to do.
Seraphina suddenly stopped. She fell backwards and lay on the ground, facing the clear and unpolluted blue sky. Flocks of migratory birds flew by in the air, quacking and flying south.
Since a while ago, some migratory birds had always gathered by the stream. They were all in forms that Seraphina had never seen before. Maybe they were attracted by the thread - banyan and coconut fruits that she casually threw on the ground. Occasionally, they would also stop to peck at the seeds in the fruits.
At this moment, she was sitting on a stone. A few plump migratory birds with full feathers walked leisurely not far away. It seemed that they didn't think she was a threat to them and didn't fly away. Seraphina stared blankly at them. Suddenly, she wished that she were a lark.
'Hulu' Suddenly, a gust of wind passed by behind her. Auris pounced out. It caught a slow - moving fat bird with one paw. It turned its head and bared its teeth at Seraphina. She thought it was smiling: Look, what I caught!
It brought this migratory bird to her as a good thing. Seraphina was not interested. Bird meat was not easy to roast. It would easily become dry and astringent. And there were so many bird feathers that it was hard to pluck.
She mechanically threw the dead bird to the stream side to prepare to process it. Suddenly, she stopped.
"Auris, you're so clever!" She hugged the clueless Auris, shouting and jumping.
It felt that this woman rubbed against its neck again and again, looking extremely excited. This also made it very happy.
"Auris, I need more birds!"
Since she couldn't tan the leather without salt, she set her target on the feathers. Down quilts and down jackets were also good warm - keeping items.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of a large number of migratory birds flying by, she spent a whole day using the dried thread - banyan to weave a net. She placed it on the open ground by the stream. The net was not densely woven, but in a world where nets had never been seen before, the migratory birds were easily caught.
She tied the two ends of the net to trees, so there was a 90 - degree angle with the ground. Then she wound some fruits that birds liked to eat on the net. In just one afternoon, she caught a dozen different kinds of migratory birds.
In the following few days, she spent her time plucking feathers, washing them, and drying them.
The tanned - failed furs, although not warm, could still be used as the lining of a down jacket. Seraphina put two pieces of fur lining of similar size together, made small holes in the edges with a military knife, and then sewed them carefully with thread - banyan.
She stuffed all the short white down into the fur lining. After finishing, she only needed to string them together with thread - banyan to make an ugly cloak.
The remaining long feathers were strung together to make a feather raincoat. She could use it to block the rain a little in the future.
To test the warmth of the down jacket, that night she didn't stay beside Auris and leaned against the rock wall by herself. It turned out that although it was not as warm as beside the giant wolf, she was no longer afraid of the cold.
"After all, you have fur, but I don't."