Dawn had just broken—not the bright morning, but the soft grey one that still carried the cold breeze.
...
Toka slowly opened his eyes and felt… "Warm? In this cold? Did I accidentally sleep on the fire?" he muttered.
Then he turned around—
LICK.
"HUH—?!"
Toka jumped back and skid on the dirt. For a moment he thought he was sleeping on a rock.
It was the bull calf from last night…it was way bigger than he thought.
Toka was shocked "…Wait. Don't tell me… YOU'RE the same kid from last night when I was fighting with that eagle b*tch?"
The calf stared at him with innocent eyes and let out a tiny "Mmmrrhh."
"Oh great," Toka sighed. "So you're friendly now because I killed that eagle? Bro, I didn't kill that to adopt you. I just helped because It would eventually kill me!"
The calf did a "Mmmrrhh."
Toka patted on its head and it wagged its tail happily like a dog.
"Okay, since you're joining our party soon… your name is—uhmmm—Jojo."
Jojo seemed thrilled, kicking the ground in happiness.
"Seriously? You liked THAT NAME? Okay, Okay whatever."
Then Toka suddenly froze "Crap—ANSU!"
He sprinted through the trees, Jojo followed him, Toka leapt onto Jojo's back and rode him like a mount holding onto its neck.
...
They reached the clearing. Toka exhaled in relief—Ansu was safe, still asleep.
But Jojo suddenly tensed up. It sensed something familiar… or rather, its mother's corpse nearby.
"Nononono—quiet, Jojo!"
But too late— Something dropped from the trees.
BLOP!
Neelu launched herself onto Toka's head, Jojo jumped back in fear, Neelu trembled.
"GUYS—stop, stop! He's friendly!" Toka grabbed one of Jojo's horns with one hand and held Neelu with the other.
After some explanation, the tension finally settled.
Toka gathered his tools and unloading scrap items quietly, placing them into the cart and took out the bag.
Then he and Jojo headed back to last night's battlefield, The eagle corpse was still there...He had something in mind.
So, Toka drew an Exchange Map. He placed stones and mud into the circle, mana flowed and he thought "ceramic containers with closing lids, 2 large and 1 small"
FWOOOOSH.
The mud and stones were ground to powder and transformed into ceramic containers.
Toka drew another exchange circle around the eagle, he used the exchange circle for eagle's corrosive liquid and he safely transferred it into a jar—keeping it far away from him.
Then he collected everything useful: razor-sharp feathers, a blood crystal lodged in the heart, meat (carefully stored in the second container)
Next, he put the leftover parts into another circle and exchanged them for:
arrowheads, shoulder armor, wrist bracers, two large quivers, a bull saddle, some salt and oil.
Thanks to his raised INT, now he can perform more exchanges per day.
Toka chopped fresh wood, placed feathers and wood in a new Exchange Map and injected mana to it.
FWOOOOSH.
He got nearly 100 arrows, His legs shook "Ha!!?… I'm running on fumes again."
He fixed the saddle onto Jojo then he hopped onto Jojo while placing all the loot carefully in the bag and holding on to the chemical pot that is tightly sealed with him.
"Let's go back before I pass out ." Jojo snorted and walked toward camp.
...
Ansu woke up with a yawn, rubbing her eyes. The morning breeze was chilly, but something else froze her —
Toka wasn't beside her, her eyes widened "A-Anna!? Where are you?!"
Before she could panic further, something jumped down from the tree.
PLOP!
"Neelu! You'll die if you jump like that!" she scolded Neelu.Then she looked closely "…Haaaa!!? Neelu, you look… different. How did this happen?"
Neelu happily bounced in response.
The horse grazing lazily in the background.
By this time, she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be worrying about Toka.
A moment later, the bushes rustled.
RUSTLE RUSTLE!!
Toka came out riding a young bull.
Ansu froze in shock "ANNA! DID YOU GET A NEW PET… WHAT IS ITS NAME?"
Toka scratched his cheek, awkward "Uhh… his name is Jojo."
Jojo noddedl.
Ansu immediately loved him.
GROOOOOWWWLLLL—
Toka's stomach interrupted their discussion.
Ansu laughed "Anna, are you hungry??, I'm hungry too"
Then they brushed their teeth together using twigs. Then Toka said with a grin "Today special is MEAT."
Ansu shouted "YEEEAAAAH!!!"
He took out the meat , washed it in the camping cauldron, added salt and water... and boiled it until it turned tender, then he separated the pieces, fried the meat and cooked it with some fruits, and tossed everything together.
A FEW MOMENTS LATER...
"Time to eat!"
They took their first bite of the meal.
Crispy, juicy, sweet, tender—meat.
Everyone got their share of the dish.
After they had eaten Neelu wiggled happily and cleaned the plates spotless.
"That's why I let it eat the bull and told it to leave the bones. I had to check if Neelu eats everything like a vacuum cleaner… or if it only eats what I told it to."
Ansu giggled, patting the bouncing slime."Neelu is useful!"
Toka gave some metal scraps to Neelu as a treat for cleaning.
After eating, Toka sat in the lotus position, starting his Infinity Mana Furnace Technique
After a while, he opened his eyes, energized.
He piled up all his scrap loot, divided them into categories, and drew exchange circles and injected mana into them.
Fwoooosh—
7 steel ingots.
30 wooden planks.
Two rolls of fabric.
And one straw hat.
He placed the straw hat on Ansu's head.
She grinned "Do I look cute?"
"Yeah, yeah…you are" he muttered, turning away.
Next, he used Jojo's mother's bones to make something out of it and gave it to Jojo as its mother's memento.
Fwoooosh—
A beautiful bone armor appeared. when he placed it on Jojo, the little bull looked very happy.
After packing everything into the cart, Toka placed Ansu and Neelu on Jojo's back and walked alongside them.
They traveled for hours through the forest, taking breaks to eat fruit and stretch.
Night is arriving, Eventually—
A village appeared in the distance.
Ansu's eyes glowed "Anna! There! There !! A village "
Toka couldn't help smiling "Yeah I can see it too… Ah God...finally."
Then he released a huge sigh of relief.
As they crossed the boundary of the forest, Toka suddenly felt—
A faint, warm sensation. Like something slipping off from his body but when he checked, nothing seemed different.
He rubbed his chin, confused "…Weird."
As they stepped out of the forest, Toka noticed an old man in pure white clothes sitting cross-legged on a boulder, quietly meditating. He looked like a sage from some ancient painting and absolutely out of place.
Toka blinked, the old man opened one eye.
"You no longer have my protection, Kid" he said calmly.
Before Toka could even say "Huh?", the old man vanished in a blink like someone deleted him from reality.
Toka froze."…Ansu," he whispered with a trembling voice, "please tell me you saw that too or did I finally lose it and gone crazy?"
Ansu tilted her head "Anna… what are you talking about?"
Even in that confusion, he continued towards their first human settlement of their Adventure.
...