Year 0002, The Imperium
---
The summer heat has now cooled off; in a day or two, the season of fall will be upon them.
To prepare for that eventuality of the next fast-approaching remaining seasons, they had to prepare thoroughly.
They had lots of things to prepare this fall; August looked at the old farmlands.
Should they start preparing it?
Sure, the gardens can give them a variety of vegetables and spices, but that is not enough during the winter season; the vegetables probably will be the first ones to go out of, since they only have a short storage time.
That is the reason why he thought of farming; they needed a stable supply of staple food, one that could be stored for a longer period of time.
And that is wheat, corn, and potatoes; maybe for the expanded garden fields he could plant a lot of potato varieties there.
He would start that soon...
August still has the seeds for the wheat and corn, so maybe they should start tilling the farm soil now?
Well, at least the Western farmland was closer to them and was easier to monitor.
The problem is if he could make the water wheel run again and pump water out of the basin.
It was now in a dilapidated state, pretty worn out after almost a year of not being used.
It also seemed to have been damaged from the previous invasion, so there is that.
And taking water in the wells to water a large plot of land is a stupid idea; it would never work in any sense.
They had a lot of land to cover, and watering it with the well alone is such a laborious thing to do; he wasn't that mad to even remotely try.
The wells would best serve for their daily consumption only.
He could only look back at the past; back then they had the entire village's help.
But right now there are only the five of them, and they have a lot of jobs to do, especially him; he needs to do a lot around the place.
---
In order to lessen his burdens, he began allowing Erik to hunt, as he pretty much handed him down his previous bow; it wasn't bad; it's just that he has a better one now.
Erik had been watching how he hunts for a good while now, so he got the gist of it.
Although right now he only let him hunt the lowest-level and ranked Boarats so he could practice hunting by himself, as they already have plenty of the meat in store.
He also lets him butcher it by himself; apparently it was Erik who butchered the first Commander Rank Boarat he hunted.
It was when he was out cold and unconscious for three days; it was Gel who informed him about it.
But he still needs to supervise Erik for a while while they are out hunting, although he is getting the hang of it already; he still needs serious work for him to be able to keep the food supply stable.
It wasn't a worry with the Boarats population, as they barely even made a dent on it.
Since Boarats are one of the majority beast inhabitants that occupy the forest floor.
He heard stories from the village folk that there were other beasts like the Boarat back then, but he hadn't seen one yet.
They were pretty delicious, is what he heard from them, and his mind began to wander off into the distance, drooling about something he hasn't even seen yet.
Did they migrate or something? He wondered.
The current Boarats fecundity is astonishingly high, and they mostly avoid hunting Boarats that have their babies with them.
He needed a new plan somehow to free himself from just being stuck with a supervisory role.
---
A couple of weeks ago, he began giving each of them daggers; they were made from the tusks of the Commander Rank Boarat, of course.
He told them to keep it with them at all times.
He also gave a spear to Bren.
But how it came to be was a funny accidental discovery.
Well, one day during the sweltering summer heat.
He began to wonder what to do with the stored bones of the Boarats he previously hunted; it was such a waste for them to be just lying around there with their potential usefulness.
It's just that he really wasn't a craftsman, nope, not by a long shot.
He probably could try and remember one of their village's sole blacksmith/craftsman's teachings back then and imitate it.
But that was too long ago now; he could barely even remember it.
And as a byproduct, it would have just been a waste of materials and effort.
It would also take him a lot of time to remember it and actually properly learn it.
So he scratched that idea ... not until his system prompted him.
[ S Y S T E M ADMIN MAGNUS : DING! HOSTS INTENTIONS HAVE BEEN KNOWN; DO YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF THE BONES, MASTER? ]
What could do this kind of thing? Then....
"YES, PLEASE!!!"
"Can you make five daggers like the one you made for me?"
[S Y S T E M ADMIN MAGNUS: OF COURSE MASTER, WE HAVE THE MATERIALS AVAILABLE ON HAND.
STARTING .... BZZZZTTTTT..... PROCESSING .... USING AVAILABLE MATERIALS IN THE WAREHOUSE.....
DING! DONE, 5 NOVICE GRADE HUNTING DAGGERS. ]
After a couple of minutes of waiting, five daggers with similar shapes, sharpness, and intricate details were manifested around him.
It was a pretty bewildering and magical sight to behold.
The materials were being gathered around him; they were flying to and fro outside the warehouse, and a little later the materials began assembling themselves.
It was as if there was actually a holographic representation of the smithy and the craftsman's tools that were being used, although no one else could actually see it.
It was just a holographic sight that only he could see, and there seemed to be an old man banging his hammer and grinding the daggers.
And that is how he discovered how his stuff was being made; pretty wild indeed seeing it in action for the first time.
(It was actually Admin Magnus who is doing that in a different plane that occupies the world.)
After that was done, he had a brilliant idea that came to mind.
Later that day he called on the other boy, Bren.
He asked him if he wanted to train with him; it was a new type of training, he said, tailored just for Bren.
He noticed that Bren was actually pretty observant and had a keen eye with his surroundings, even when he was under pressure or in a stressful situation.
The boy didn't answer immediately; he thought about it for a good while.
When Bren agreed with his proposal, they immediately started training him in using a wooden staff.
While he was waiting for his answer, he began carving a wooden staff into shape so that they could use it in their training immediately.
Why a staff, though?
Because he planned to make the boy handle the medium range, and what better tool to use in that category?
It was none other than the mighty spear, a very easy-to-use and versatile weapon; that is why it is the most common weapon on the battlefield.
The weapon itself is easy to mass-produce and maintain, unlike other weapons.
It also has range; basically, if you master it, you can manipulate it from any range you desire: close quarters, medium range, and at times a semi-long range, or an extended version of the medium range.
And the wooden staff is only a representation of it; they will use it as a training medium, if you could call it that.
---
After a few days of training, the observant Bren actually managed to handle the staff.
He understood it very quickly; it was indeed easier to learn and use than, let's say, a bow.
Now he was ready to handle the real thing.
But before that, August briefed him on his actual plan; he told him the actual reason behind why he was training him with the wooden staff and such.
He was going to make Bren become Erik's vanguard; it was like killing one bird with two stones, well, errm... Is that even how the saying goes?
Well, whatever, in their case it was killing Boarats, but let's not dive in too deeply with the intricate details.
And once they'd get into a pretty good synergy, he could move on with the supervisory role and let them both hunt together.
And they could all benefit from it later on with their party formation; they could very well cover all distances in combat: short, medium, and long range.
---
To commemorate this monumental moment, he gave Bren a gift; it was a spear built by the system.
He got that brilliant idea when he got the daggers, so he asked for several spears to be built.
He should really pat himself on the back for thinking about this brilliant idea of his.
[HMMMPPPFFF...]
"-_-."
---
Present day...
There was actually a tiny bit of water source that runs down the side of the mountain; it probably collected it somewhere up there.
This tiny stream is what they used to water the fields, and the ever-so-insightful previous generations actually built a huge basin for the water to pool into and store it in.
To be used in their fields at a later time, the excess water, they would just let it flow naturally back into the nearby river.
The said river was at a very faraway distance.
And like most stuff in the village right now, it wasn't working as intended.
It was their family back then who were tasked with handling this basin's overall maintenance.
But since last year he didn't manage to, well, maintain it.
Its water content had broken out of it, especially when the summer heat dried the basin's muddy walls, so he had no choice but to repair it again.
It would also add to the things that he should repair and maintain in the village.
He already has the technical knowledge on what to do with it, as his father drilled it down to his very core.
The basin actually splits into the two sectors of farmland, the eastern and the western farms.
Right now the dikes that were built for it need maintenance too, since there was lots of fallen debris loitering around it.
Though to save time and energy, he would only fix the one leading to the Western farmlands at a later time.
The water wheel is also broken; there is that.
They used it to pump water a little bit faster into the farmlands, and it was also used to grind the wheat so they could have flour and make a delicious bread.
He could only dream and drool of it now.
*Sigh
He had lots of things that he thought would be beneficial for them in the long run.
It's just that they lack the manpower to do all of these things this year.
He could only hope for additional manpower.
But hey, at least that option is there now; they don't really need it immediately.
They still could rely on hunting, trapping, and foraging food in the forest, and they could tend the garden fields; he also could technically start expanding it now.
It's just that it would've been nice to have another source of food that they could tap into, especially something you could store for a longer period of time.
But that matter is for another time; right now he needs to focus on training the others in hunting and other matters; they also need to discuss this plan of his.
(It was just like back then; he looked like the old village chief and their families who convened to discuss the matters that needed everyone's attention, and they would vote on it; the majority of votes win.)
---
He probably could start doing stuff here and there for the basin; it also needs to collect water again since it's pretty dried out right now.
He had to rebuild its walls first and fortify it if he wanted to even begin thinking of farming.
There were lots of things that needed to be done, but with little to no time and manpower to do it, it's all just a pipe dream....